WO1999027488A1

WO1999027488A1 - Commercial currency destruction

Info

Publication number: WO1999027488A1
Application number: PCT/US1998/015502
Authority: WO
Inventors: Richard G. Haycock
Original assignee: Currency Systems International
Priority date: 1997-11-25
Filing date: 1998-07-28
Publication date: 1999-06-03
Also published as: AU8663698A

Abstract

The invention accomplishes the commercial destruction of currency notes by routing unfit notes (40) segregated from currency inputted into a commercial currency processor (100) to a secure area for further processing. Once inside the secure area, the notes are processed by proprietary detectors to confirm authenticity and then destroyed. All functions within the secure area (160) are monitored in real-time. The invention thus increases the security of currency destruction and reduces the labor steps involved by eliminating the need for transporting unfit notes between a commercial facility and a government or central bank facility for destruction.

Description

COMMERCIAL CURRENCY DESTRUCTION TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of this invention relates to the commercial destruction of currency notes by nongovernment facilities in conjunction with the commercial processing of currency notes

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The destruction of national currency notes is presently conducted exclusively by central banks or other government functions However, the initial determination that a note is unfit, and therefore must be destroyed, often takes place m the commercial sector Consequently, unfit notes must be sorted and collected by the commercial sector and then shipped to a central bank or other government function for destruction This government function then again sorts the notes and confirms the selection of notes for destruction

By way of example, a commercial bank may process currency notes with a present art high- volume currency processing machine This high-volume currency processing machine detects vanous fitness characteristics of notes, for example tears, discoloration and soiling, to determine if a particular note is fit for circulation The notes are sorted into vanous stacks at the output of the processing machine Unfit notes are thus sorted, counted, and bundled for shipment These unfit notes are then transported, typically by armored car, to a central bank or other government function The central bank again processes the currency through a high-volume currency processing machine to confirm the commercial sector identification of unfit notes and to again sort notes into vanous stacks, including an unfit stack, based on standard detected features The unfit notes are destroyed at the end of this processing function at the central bank

Under the above-descnbed method, notes are processed at two separate facilities before they are destroyed and must be transported between the separate facilities in between the two processing

steps The present invention combines the two processing steps and eliminates the need for transporting the currency from the commercial facility to the government facility This is accomplished by allowing for the destruction of currency notes after being processed at the commercial facility This invention incorporates several secunty features which insure the full and accurate accounting of the destruction of unfit notes just as would occur at the central bank or government facility The present invention reduces labor steps in destroying unfit notes and increases secunty by eliminating the need for processing at two separate facilities and the transportation of notes between a commercial facility and a central bank or government facility

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

This invention relates to commercial currency note destruction involving the destruction of currency notes immediately after processing by a high- volume processing machine at a commercial facility, as opposed to the destruction occurnng after processing at a later date by a central bank or government facility. The invention incorporates secunty and monitonng methods to insure fully secure and accurate destruction of unfit notes at the commercial facility. The invention eliminates duplicate currency processing efforts and a need for transporting unfit notes from a commercial facility to a central bank or government facility.

Cntical goals of the invention include the incorporation of sufficient secunty and monitonng functions to insure that the destruction of notes at a commercial facility is as reliable, accurate, and resistant to theft or fraud as the destruction of unfit notes at a central bank or government facility Another goal of the invention involves reducing the labor steps involved in the destruction process and is accomplished by eliminating the transportation step between the commercial and government function and the second processing step at the government function. By reducing these steps, opportunities for secunty breaches or theft are eliminated Consequently, the invention actually leads to enhanced secunty over the present methods of cunency destruction

By way of explanation, currency notes are presently processed in the commercial sector by high-volume currency processing machines The volume of currency notes involved makes the processing of notes by the government sector at this stage impractical A stack of notes is loaded in the feeder on the currency processing machine, and the notes are then run past vanous standard detectors on a conveyor belt. These detectors measure and quantify certain note features, for example soiling levels, tears or missing portions of the notes, and coloration. The currency processing machine also can detect specific identifying features to each note, for example a note's seπal number. Notes are typically sorted by denomination and also sorted into stacks of fit notes, unfit notes, and suspect notes, which may include counterfeit notes or notes that were not otherwise recognized by the currency processing machine The unfit notes are then bundled and transported, typically by armored car, to a central bank or like government facility The commercial activity is eventually credited with turning in the unfit notes for destruction At the central bank or government facility, the notes are once again run through a similar high-volume currency processing machine The currency processing machine will again detect vanous standard physical features and usually has several propnetary detectors developed by the central bank to detect specific clandestine features of the notes The central bank currency processing machine again sorts notes into fit notes, unfit notes, and suspect or counterfeits The senal numbers for the unfit notes are recorded and the unfit notes are then destroyed, thereby taken out of circulation

The present invention combines the two processing steps detailed above and eliminates the need for transportation of the unfit notes between the commercial facility and the government facility This is accomplished by combining a commercial facility, high- volume cunency processing machine with a cunency destruction function (often referred to herein as a "commercial destruction unit") with adequate accounting and secunty measures and monitonng

Pursuant to the present invention, the currency is processed through the commercial currency processing machine as previously descπbed occurs in the pnor art Unfit notes are passed into a physically secure area of the commercial processing facility This area can be made physically secure by containing the below descπbed functions completely within a unit or separate room or other enclosed area to which personnel from the commercial bank do not have access The unfit notes are then passed through special propnetary detectors installed by the central bank or government monitonng personnel These detectors confirm the authenticity of the unfit notes The specific seπal number and/or images of each unfit note could optionally also be recorded The note is then destroyed, just as it would have been at the central bank, or rejected as a suspect counterfit into a holding unit

The entire process can be monitored in real time by off-site monitonng personnel at the central bank This is accomplished by a real-time data link between the secure portion of the commercial facility processing function and the central bank Real-time video monitonng and motion detectors might also be placed in the secured area to insure the stenle environment of the destruction function at the commercial facility By allowing for the real-time monitonng of both data and video information, and by insunng the secunty of a separate cunency destruction function at the commercial facility, the present invention eliminates the need for duplicate off-site processing and the transportation of unfit notes from the commercial facility to the government facility while also enhancing the overall secunty of the entire process

This present invention is a substantial improvement over the pnor art in providing the reduced labor steps and increased secunty descnbed above

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a flow chart of the note processing stages related to the invention.

Figure 2 is a diagram depicting the modules of the commercial destruction unit.

Figure 3 is a flow chart demonstrating the data flow relating to the processing steps and security measures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Figure 1 is a flow chart of the note processing stages related to the invention Currency notes 10 are currently processed in commercial facilities by high speed, commercial cunency processing machines 100 A commercial cunency processor 100 is inputted with cunency notes 10 These cunency notes then travel on a conveyor past a senes of detectors which detect vanous note charactenstics, such as coloration, soiling levels, and physical continuity of the note The senal number of each individual note can also be detected and recorded The cunency processor 100 then sorts the cunency notes 10 into vanous stacks For example, the currency processor 100 can sort the currency notes 10 into vanous stacks of fit notes 20 of uniform denomination as well as suspect or counterfeit notes 30 The cunency processor 100 additionally sorts out unfit notes 40 Unfit notes 40 are authentic notes which have detected fitness charactenstics below a standardized fitness level For example, the cunency processor 100 can be programmed to identify a note as unfit if the soiling level exceeds a certain detected level, if the coloration of the note has faded to a certain detected level, or if the note lacks a certain percentage of its surface area through πps, tears, or missing portions of the note

Under the pnor art methods for destroying cunency, the unfit notes 40 would next be shipped to a central bank or other government facility for further processing and, ultimately, destruction Under the present invention, the unfit notes 40 are instead immediately routed to a receiving point 110 This transfer can occur in a continuance process directly from the output of the commercial cunency processor, thereby requmng no manual intervention or transfer The receiving point 110 not only acts as the next depository of the unfit notes 40, but also receives any data collected on the unfit notes 40 by the cunency processor 100 For example, the number of notes transmitted, the specific denomination of each note, and each note's senal note might be transmitted to the receiving point 110 concurrent with the physical transmission of the unfit notes 40 to the receiving point 110 Figure 1 also illustrates a secure and monitored area 160 enclosed by a physical barner 150

This secure area 160 could be contained within a separate room adjacent to the receiving point 110 or could involve a means to enclose the commercial destruction unit 200 in a protective casing such that it appears as an add on to the commercial cunency processor 100 and can be located m the same room within the facility

Within the secure and monitored area 160 is a commercial destruction umt 200 The output components of the commercial destruction unit 200 are also shown on Figure 1 as the granulator or shredder 50, audit or unfit notes 60, suspect or counterfeit notes 70, and the overflow/emergency bin 80 Unfit notes 40 transfened from the receiving point 110 to the commercial destruction unit 200 are processed in the commercial destruction umt by again running the notes on a conveyor past several detectors used to detect charactenstics of the notes Unlike the commercial cunency processor 100, the commercial destruction unit 200 might also contain detectors propnetary to the central bank or government function specifically designed to detect clandestine note features as a further check on the authenticity of each note The commercial destruction unit 200 further sorts the unfit notes 40 to sort out any suspect or counterfeit notes not detected by the commercial cunency processor 100 The suspect or counterfeit notes are then routed to the suspect or counterfeit note bin 70 Any notes that are detected as having fitness charactenstics greater than destruction standards are routed to a fit note bin 60 This bin, in the preferred embodiment illustrated, also could be designated as an audit bin, meaning certain test notes could be sent to this bin as a quality assurance check on the processing function of the commercial destruction unit 200 Any malfunction detected dunng the processing by the commercial destruction unit 200 would result in routing notes to an overflow/emergency bin 80

The unfit notes 40 that the commercial cunency destruction unit 200 confirms are below acceptable fitness parameters, and thus wanantmg destruction, are then routed to the granulator or shredder 50 for destruction. All of the output bins 50, 60, 70, 80 route their respective notes or material back outside of the secure and monitored area 160 and through the physical barrier 150 to an output point 120.

Figure 2 is a diagram depicting the individual modules of one prefened embodiment of the commercial destruction unit in further detail. Figure 2 shows the commercial cunency processor 100 separated from the commercial destruction unit 200 by the physical barrier 150. The commercial currency processor 100 would pass to the first module 210 of the commercial destruction unit 200 the unfit notes segregated from the processed cunency notes by the commercial cunency processor 100. The first module 210 accepts a counting handoff from the commercial currency processor 100 and, in the preferred embodiment illustrated, detects for mechanical fitness and uses two separate means for detection of doubles, for example a capacitance thickness measurement in combination with an infrared transmissive measurement. The first module 210 also performs an initial authentication check of the notes. The second module 220 performs an authentication detection functions, both an optional second standard level and a third proprietary level authentication. The third proprietary level authentication check would utilize proprietary detectors to detect clandestine note features. The third module 230 could also perform an optical fitness check checking for soiling level, graffiti, and other optical characteristics. The fourth module 240 performs an optional image lift and or optical character recognition (OCR) lift .and read with either a batch collection of serial numbers or an online extraction of the data. The fifth module 250 contains the output bins for all but the notes not routed to the granulator of shredder 50. In the prefened embodiment illustrated, these output bins are shown as a suspect or counterfeit notes bin 70, an audit or fit notes bin 60, and an overflow/emergency rejects bin 80. The sixth module 260 of the preferred embodiment incorporates the granulator or shredder unit 50 to which the unfit notes designated for destruction are routed. Each of the output bins 60, 70, 80 and the granulator or shredder umt 50 contain independent counters 251, 252, 253, and 261 for recording the number of notes deposited into each bin or the granulator or shredder unit 50 Figure 2 also shows a vacuum or extraction port 262 through which the granulated or shredded unfit notes are extracted from the commercial destruction umt 200 Figure 3 is a chart demonstrating the data flow relating to the processing steps and vanous secunty measures As noted previously, information collected on the unfit numbers by the commercial cunency processor 100, such as the number of notes, denomination, the individual seπal numbers and fitness charactenstics, are transmitted to the receiving point 110 In the embodiment shown in Figure 3, the receiving point then passes all of this data into the secure and monitored area 160 to both the commercial destruction unit 200 for a counting handoff and to data and secunty control functions 300 The commercial destruction unit 200 then processes the unfit notes and passes on all the data collected dunng this processmg, including the senal number of each individual note processed and its routing within the umt, to both the data and secunty control function 300 and to the output point 120 The output point 120 then transmits the information received from the commercial destruction umt 200 to both the data and secunty control function 300 within the secure and monitored area 160 and to a companson loop outside the secure and monitored area 160 back to the commercial cunency processor 100 Figure 3 thereby displays two complete data loops for confirming the processing of the unfit notes, a secure loop and an unsecure loop The unsecure data loop between the output point 120 and the commercial processor 100 would confirm that the number of unfit notes by denomination and seπal number have been inputted into the secured and monitored area 160 and have either been destroyed or sent back outside of the secure and monitored area 160 Within the secure and monitored area 160, the data loop confirms that the number, denomination, and senal numbered notes inputted into the receiving point 110 are likewise processed by the commercial destruction unit 200, and that the physical results of such processing is routed to the output point 120. All of the data confirming the processing of the notes within the secure and monitored area 160 is accumulated at the data and security control functions 300 and then transmitted in real-time to an off-site central bank or government monitoring function 350. This monitoring function might also be performed on-site by government inspectors assigned to the commercial facility.

Figure 3 shows additional security measures to maintain the security and integrity of the secure .and monitored area. In a embodiment utilizing a separate room with the enclosure 150 representing physical walls, access into the secure and monitored area 160 would only be permitted through a single entry 170 with security locking means which would only permit entry of authorized personnel or representatives of the central bank or government monitoring facility. A motion detector 330 monitors the secure and monitored area 160 for any motion within said area. Any detected motion would be transmitted to the data and security control functions 300. Figure 3 also depicts a prefened embodiment with security video cameras 310, 320 which provide real-time video monitoring data to the data and security control functions 300. The accumulated output from the motion detector 330 and the security cameras 310, 320 is transmitted real-time from the data and security control functions 300 to the central bank or government monitoring facility 350. To confirm the authenticity of the real-time data received by the monitoring facility 350, test messages from the monitoring facility 350 to the data and security control function 300 and real-time control of security functions, such as directional control of the video cameras 310, 320, can be incorporated into the system.

It is also understood that changes in the details, materials, methods, and arrangements of the present invention, which has been described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of the invention, may be made by those skilled in the art within the principal and scope of the invention as expressed in the following claims.

Claims

I CLAIM:

1 A method for the commercial destruction of currency, compπsing the steps of.

(a) segregating cunency into fit and unfit notes by use of a commercial cunency processing machine at a non-government related facility;

(b) routing said unfit notes to a receiving point within the facility for secure handling;

(c) processing said unfit notes routed to the receiving point in a secure area withm the facility to confirm the step (a) segregation of unfit notes; and

(d) destroying the unfit notes.2. The method of claim 1 further compnsing the step of:

The method of claim 1 further compnsing the step of

(e) routing the destroyed note matenal to an output point outside of the secure area

The method of claim 2 wherein data on the type and number of notes segregated, routed, processed, and destroyed is collected at each step of the method

The method of claim 3 wherein said data is compared as between each step

The method of claim 4 further compnsing the step of

(f) transmitting in real-time said data to a monitonng function

The method of claim 1 wherein the note processing of step (c) utilizes a government propnetary detection method for the detection of clandestine note features

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the secure area is physically inaccessible to non-government approved personnel.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the secure area is visually monitored by video equipment providing real-time images of the area to a monitoring function.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the secure area is monitored by a motion sensing device.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein real-time data on the processing of step (c) is transmitted to a monitoring function.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein real-time data on the destruction of notes of step (d) is transmitted to a monitoring function.

12. An apparatus for the commercial destruction of cunency comprising: a physically secure enclosure; a cunency processor within said enclosure; means for real-time monitoring of the cunency processor function; and, means for real-time monitoring of the security of the enclosure.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said means forreal-time monitoring of the security of the enclosure includes a video monitor.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said means for real-time monitoring of the security of the enclosure includes a motion sensor.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the cunency processor includes detection means for detecting clandestine note features.

AMENDED CLAIMS

[received by the International Bureau on 23 February 1999 (23.02.99); original claims 5, 8, 10, 11 and 12 amended; new claims 16-20 added; remaining claims unchanged (4 pages)]

1. A method for the commercial destruction of currency, compnsing the steps of:

(a) segregating cunency into fit and unfit notes by use of a commercial currency processing machine at a non-government related facility;

(b) routing said unfit notes 10 a receiving point within the facility for secure handling;

(c) processing said unfit notes routed to the receiving point in a secure area within the facility to confirm the step (a) segregation of unfit notes; and

(d) destroying the unfit notes within the secure area at the non-govemment facility.

2. The method of claim 1 further compnsing the step of:

(e) routing the destroyeα note matenal to an outDUt point outside of the secure area

3. The method of claim 2 wherein data on the type and number of notes segregated, routed, processed, and destroyed is collected at each step of tne method.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said data is compared as between each step.

5. The method of claim 4 further comDnsing the step of

(0 transmuting in real-time said data to a monitonng function which provides a means for governmental oversight of the destruction of said unfit notes.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the note processing of step (c) utilizes a government propnetary detection method for the detection of clandestine note features. The method of claim 1 wherein the secure area is physically inaccessible to nongovernment approved personnel

The method of claim 1 wherein the secure area is visuallv monitored by video equipment providing real-time images of the area to a government monitonng function

The method of claim 1 w herein the secure area is monitored by a motion sensing device

The method of claim 1 wherein real-time data on the processing of step (c) is transmitted to a monitonng function which provides a means lor go% ernmental oversight of the destruction of said unfit notes

The method of claim 1 wherein real-time data on the destruction of notes of step (d) is transmitted to a government monitonng function

12. An apparatus for the commercial destruction of currency comprising: a physically secure enclosure at a non-government facility; a currency processor within said enclosure; means for real-time monitoring by a government entity of the currency processor function; and, means for real-time monitoring by a government entity of the security of the enclosure.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said means for real-time monitoring of the security of the enclosure includes a video monitor.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the currency processor includes detection means for detecting clandestine note features.

16. A method for the destruction of unfit currency notes at a non-government facility comprising the steps of:

(a) separating fit notes from unfit notes;

(b) routing said unfit notes to a secure and monitored .area within a non-govemm∞t facility;

(c) confiπning the receipt of the imfit notes into the secure and monitored area; and,

(d) destroying the unfit notes in the secure and monitored area.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the secure and monitored area of step (b) comprises a means for governmental oversight of the destruction of the unfit notes.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the confinning step (c) comprises transmitting accounting information in real-time to a government affiliated monitoring function.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein the routing of said unfit notes in step (b) occurs immediately after separating the fit note from the unfit notes.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein the separating of the fit notes from the unfit notes of step (a) occurs in close physical proximity to the secure area within the non-government facility.

- 18- AM.END.ED SHEET (ARTICLE 19)