WO2012098389A1

WO2012098389A1 - Validation of paid out banknotes

Info

Publication number: WO2012098389A1
Application number: PCT/GB2012/050095
Authority: WO
Inventors: Robert Stacey
Original assignee: Innovative Technology Limited
Priority date: 2011-01-18
Filing date: 2012-01-18
Publication date: 2012-07-26
Also published as: GB201100779D0

Abstract

The invention relates to apparatus and a method which allows the receipt of banknotes and the paying out of banknotes. The apparatus includes a storage medium in which at least some of the received banknotes are stored and made available for retrieval to form part of a payout of required monetary value. The apparatus includes identification means past which the retrieved banknotes are moved in order to identify the monetary value of the one or more banknotes and ensure that the same is such as to allow the banknote to be used in the said payout.

Description

Validation of Paid Out Banknotes

The invention to which this application relates is apparatus and a method for use in relation to the handling of items of value, such as banknotes, bills, printed tickets and/or vouchers (hereinafter referred to as banknotes) . The method and apparatus can be used to check the value and authenticity of the banknotes when dispensing the same. The function of the invention is to ensure that the banknote which is to be dispensed has the same value as that which the currency handling apparatus requires to be dispensed. In addition to this, the authenticity of the item of currency may also be verified before dispensing.

The apparatus is particularly provided for the automatic handling of said banknotes. The apparatus has the ability to receive banknotes in payment for a service or product and, if necessary, to dispense banknotes to a person. Typically, the dispensing of the banknotes can be provided to the person as change or as a monetary prize.

The applicant, in their co-pending application, describes apparatus which allows the receipt o f banknotes, and, once the banknotes have been validated, allows the passage of those banknotes which are accepted into either a storage container or into a storage medium which may be in the form of one or more rolls or reels about which web s are wound and on which the banknotes are held. The banknotes contained within the storage container are not available to be paid out to a person, while the banknotes that are held within the storage medium are available to be transported from the storage medium to be paid out to a person as change or as a prize or win. Typically, tho se banknotes held in the storage medium, are placed in the storage medium in a known sequence such that, at least in theory, the location of each banknote in the storage medium is known and is held in a memory of the apparatus. Typically, in addition to the location and/or sequence, the particular denomination and/or monetary value of each banknote will be known and matched with each particular location. The aim of this is to ensure that when banknotes are dispensed from the storage medium, the correct monetary value banknotes are paid out to match the change or prize which is required to be paid out to the person from the apparatus. Thus, in theory, as the particular location of each banknote and the particular value of each of the banknotes on or in the storage medium is known, then when a pay out of bank notes is to be made, the specific banknotes which are required can be transported into a payout po sition such that the same can then be moved and paid out from the apparatus to the person and the appropriate payout value is obtained by the selection of particular banknotes from the storage medium.

While this apparatus and method of operation can be successful in paying out the appropriate value of banknotes, there are concerns that, in practice, the apparatus is susceptible to error which could result in, for example, an incorrect payout value being given to a person from the apparatus. This payout value could be too little or too great which would be unacceptable in terms of consumer rights and represents a significant problem in the commercial adoption of apparatus of this type.

The aim of the present invention is to ensure reliable dispensing of banknotes to the person and to allow the same to be performed automatically whilst, providing safeguards in the operation of the apparatus so as to ensure that the appropriate value of pay out is received by the person. In a first aspect of the invention there is provided apparatus for handling banknotes, including paying out banknotes, said apparatus including an aperture through which banknotes can be fed, a storage medium for receiving at least some of the valid banknotes, and control means to allow the retrieval of one or more banknotes from the storage medium to allow the one or more retrieved banknotes to be fed to the aperture via which the said one or more banknotes can be received by a person to form a payout of a predetermined monetary value and wherein prior to said one or more retrieved banknotes reaching the said aperture, the same pass identification means to identify the monetary value of the one or more banknotes and only if the identified monetary value of each banknote indicates that the same can form, or form part of, the predetermined monetary value, are the one or more banknotes passed to the aperture.

In one embodiment the apparatus also allows the input of banknotes and these banknotes can be validated and, if valid, placed into at least a storage medium from which the banknotes can be selectively retrieved.

In one embodiment, the pay in and dispensing apertures are provided as a common aperture in the apparatus.

In one embodiment, feed means are provided which are reversible depending on whether the banknote is to be fed into the apparatus as a pay in or to be dispensed from the apparatus as a pay out. Typically, the operation of the feed means is controlled by the result of the validation means and/or identification means as to whether the banknote is to be accepted and paid in or accepted and paid out respectively. In one embodiment, the validation means which are used for banknotes paid in will identify, firstly, whether the banknote is in fact a valid banknote or not and also the monetary value of that banknote. Typically the identification means used on banknotes leaving the apparatus will only need to identify the monetary value of the banknote as the validity of the banknote will already have been determined when the banknote has been paid into the apparatus.

In one embodiment, the identification means and validation means are provided as common apparatus and comprise appropriate sensing means which can sense the required characteristics of the banknotes and compute the monetary values and authenticity of the same from these characteristics. In this case, it is necessary for the feed means to transport the banknote which is being fed out past the identification means to a sufficient extent to allow the monetary value to be identified. This may result, if the identification of the monetary value does not match that of the predetermined monetary value, in the banknote being retained in the apparatus.

If the banknote is retained in the apparatus then the newly identified monetary value may be allocated accordingly to the banknote and the same is then stored.

In one embodiment, when the banknote is placed into the storage medium, the monetary value allocated to the same is held in a memory means along with a particular identified location of that banknote within the storage medium. Thus, the memory means will hold all details o f all banknotes held in the storage medium at that time along with the location of the same and, when a particular pay out value is to be paid out, will select banknotes with the appropriate monetary values from the locations within the storage medium to allow the appropriate pay out value to be achieved. In accordance with the invention, each of the selected banknotes which are retrieved from the storage medium will pass the identification means prior to being paid out so as to ensure that the monetary value of the banknotes which have been retrieved, match those which are believed by the memory means to have been retrieved.

In another embodiment of the invention, the particular location and monetary value of the banknotes held in the storage medium, will not be stored in the memory but instead, when a particular payout value is to be achieved, the banknotes are retrieved from or moved in the storage medium and each banknote passes identification means and the monetary value is identified. If the monetary value can be used to achieve the required pay out value, then the banknote is passed to the outlet. If the monetary value of the banknote can not be used, then the same is retained or returned to the storage means and the process is repeated until the appropriate monetary value payout has been achieved by those banknotes which are passed through the dispensing outlet or aperture.

In which ever embodiment, it will typically be the case that in addition to the storage medium, there is provided a further storage means in the form of a container and, when selecting the particular storage means into which input banknotes are placed, it may be attempted to provide a range of different monetary value banknotes on the storage medium so as to ensure that all possible combination of banknotes are available to ensure that as great a variety of monetary value payouts can be achieved.

In one embodiment, for the banknotes stored in the storage medium means of identification can be provided with regard to location of the banknotes within the storage medium. The banknotes are transported past the identification means until a banknote with appropriate monetary value is identified. That banknote is then fed from the storage medium towards the outlet. This can then be repeated for each of the required banknotes in order to achieve the monetary payout value.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided apparatus for dispensing one or more banknotes from a storage medium in which a plurality of banknotes are held, said apparatus including control means to identify the monetary value of the payout which is to be made and calculate the combination of banknotes required in order to achieve the monetary value of the payout, means for retrieving the selected one or more banknotes from eth storage medium and wherein, identification means are provided such that prior to the said selected one or more banknotes being fed to an outlet to form the payout, the identification means are used to identify the monetary value of each of the one or more banknotes and, if the identified monetary value matches that which is required, the banknote is fed to the outlet but if the identified monetary value does not match that which is required, the banknote is not fed to the outlet.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a banknote dispensing apparatus including a path along which a banknote travels to be dispensed and the banknote is validated to confirm it's value and/or validity before being dispensed from the apparatus.

In one embodiment the value to be confirmed is that which has previously been determined upon paying in of the banknote into the apparatus.

In one embodiment the accepting or paying in banknote path and the dispensing banknote path are sub stantially the same. In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of dispensing one or more banknotes from an apparatus in which the same is stored, said one or more banknotes retrieved from a storage medium in which a plurality of banknotes are held, said method comprising the steps of identifying the monetary value of the payout which is to be made, calculating the combination of banknotes required in order to achieve the monetary value of the payout, and wherein, prior to the said selected one or more banknotes being fed to an outlet to form the payout, the same pass identification means provided to identify the monetary value of each of the one or more banknotes and, if the identified monetary value matches that which is required, the banknote is fed to the outlet but if the identified monetary value does not match that which is required, the banknote is not fed to the outlet.

In one embodiment, the calculation and selection of the banknote occurs prior to any of the banknotes reaching the identification means.

In another embodiment, the calculation of the monetary value required occurs prior to any of the banknotes reaching the identification means but the selection of the particular banknotes which are fed out are identified as the same pass the identification means.

In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of receiving banknotes into the apparatus, validating the banknotes in terms of confirming that the banknote is genuine and also the monetary value of the same and selectively placing at least some of the received banknotes into the storage means for subsequent retrieval. Specific embodiments of the invention are now described with reference to the accompanying drawings; wherein

Figure 1 illustrates one form of apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 illustrates the passage of banknotes in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; and

Figure 3 illustrates the passage of banknotes in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention.

Turning firstly to Figure 1 , there is illustrated apparatus (2) in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The apparatus is provided with an aperture (4) at the front (6) of the apparatus. The aperture (4) is provided to receive banknotes which are placed into the apparatus to pay into the same and these banknotes are transferred either to storage means in the form of a container (8) in which they are stacked or a storage medium (10) which will be described subsequently.

The banknotes which are stacked in storage means (8), are retained therein and the container will be required to be removed and emptied at intervals. The banknotes that are passed to the storage medium (10) are available for selection and retrieval to allow the selected banknotes to be paid out to a person via the aperture (4) . Thus, the apparatus can be used to receive banknotes as payment and to dispense banknotes as a payout.

Turning now to Figures 2 and 3, there are illustrated first and second embodiments of operation of the apparatus of the invention. In Figure 2 the banknote (5) is shown in a position externally of the front face (6) of the apparatus. When the banknote is being paid in to the apparatus, the banknote moves in the direction of arrow (7) through the aperture (4) and along a feed means (10) . As the banknote moves along the feed means (10), it is transported past validation means (12) which are provided, in a conventional form, to firstly, identify that the banknote is valid and secondly, the monetary value of the banknote. If the banknote is identified as being valid, then the banknote continues in direction (7) along the feed path (10) but if the banknote is deemed to be invalid the direction o f movement changes such that the same is reversed to move in direction (1 6) and leaves the aperture (4) .

Downstream of the validation means (12) there is provided a junction (17) at which the banknote can be moved selectively along either path (1 8) towards the storage container (8) or along path (14) towards storage means (10) that can allow the retrieval of banknotes therefrom to be used as a payout. In addition, the monetary value of the banknotes is also identified and matched with the particular location of each of the banknotes and these details are held in a memory means (not shown) provided as part of the control means of the apparatus.

In accordance with the embodiment shown in Figure 2, if a person secures a win through use of gaming apparatus with which the apparatus of the invention is provided or, has input a banknote (5) which is greater in value than that which is required for a particular product or service, then the apparatus can be provided to automatically generate a payout of a specific monetary value to a person by moving banknotes from storage medium 10 in the direction (16), through the aperture (4) .

The banknotes which are used to achieve the monetary value payout are retrieved from the storage medium (10) . In accordance with the invention in Figure 2, the following method is performed. Firstly, the monetary value which is to be paid out is calculated along with the number of banknotes which are required and the specific monetary values of those banknotes to achieve the payout value. In accordance with Figure 2, the particular location and monetary value of each of the banknotes in the storage medium 10 is known, so the appropriate banknotes can be identified, and then retrieved from the storage medium to be transported along path (14) in direction (1 6) . The banknotes then pass, in sequence, junction (17) along feed path (10) towards the validation means (12) which also, according to the invention in this embodiment act as identification means. The identification means (12) are operated, as each banknote passes therethrough to identify the monetary value of that banknote. The identified monetary value for each banknote is then checked against that which was held in memory. If the banknote monetary value identified by the identification means (12) matches that which is to be paid out then that banknote will continue along path (10) in direction (16) to the aperture (4) . If the monetary value of the banknote which is identified does not match that which is to be paid out then the banknote will be passed either to storage means (8) with the appropriate monetary value allocated to it or back to the storage means (10) , once again with the appropriate monetary value allocated to it. A further banknote can then be retrieved from the storage medium 10 to meet the appropriate monetary value which is required and again this will be checked by identification means (12) . This can be repeated as many times as necessary for the appropriate banknotes to be passed through aperture (4) in direction (1 6) to achieve the required monetary value payout.

Turning now to Figure 3, there is illustrated an alternative embodiment of the invention in which a similar apparatus is again provided and, where appropriate, the same reference numerals have been used as with Figure 2. The main difference in this embodiment is that while the banknotes are again moved along path (10), in direction (7) as they are input into the apparatus and go past validation means (12) en route, if valid, to either storage means (8) or storage means (10), via junction (17) , the movement of the banknotes in the reverse direction (16), differs.

In this case, it is not necessary for the location and/or monetary value of the banknotes in storage medium (10), to be known.

In this embodiment, once the monetary value of a payout is calculated and the number of banknotes and the monetary value of the same required to make the payout is known, identification means (30) provided at or adjacent to the storage means (10) , are operated. The identification means (30) are operated to identify the monetary value of banknotes which pass from the storage device, by the identification means (30) . The identification means (30) are able to identify the monetary value of each of the banknotes and once, a banknote of a required monetary value to achieve the payout is identified, that banknote is moved to a dispensing position and moved onto feed path (14) and sub sequently feed path (10) in direction (16) towards aperture (4) . The validation means (12) do not need to be operated as the appropriate monetary value of the banknote has already been identified by identification means (30) . This process is repeated until all the required banknotes of the required monetary value have been identified and dispensed via aperture (4) to achieve the monetary value of the payout.

In either of the embodiments of the invention herewith described it will be appreciated that the invention allows greater certainty with regard to the monetary value of the payout which is made. Safeguards are provided and maintained by the identification of the banknote as it is transported from the storage medium to the exit aperture by acquiring characteristics of the banknote from the sensing system and analysing these characteristics by electronic or software means

Claims

1. Apparatus for handling banknotes, including paying out banknotes, said apparatus including an aperture through which banknotes can be fed, a storage medium for receiving at least some of the valid banknotes, and control means to allow the retrieval of one or more banknotes from the storage medium to allow the one or more retrieved banknotes to be fed to the aperture via which the said one or more banknotes can be received by a person to form a payout of a predetermined monetary value and wherein prior to said one or more retrieved banknotes reaching the said aperture, the same pass identification means to identify the monetary value of the one or more banknotes and only if the identified monetary value of each banknote indicates that the same can form, or form part of, the predetermined monetary value, are the one or more banknotes passed to the aperture.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the apparatus also allows the input of banknotes for validation and, if valid, at least some of the banknotes are placed into a storage medium from which the banknotes can be selectively retrieved.

3 Apparatus according to claim 1 and 2 wherein a common aperture is provided to allow the paying in and dispensing o f banknotes into and from the apparatus.

4 Apparatus according to claims 1 and 2 wherein reversible feed means are provided to allow the banknote to be fed into the apparatus if being paid in or to be dispensed from the apparatus as a pay out.

5 Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the operation of the feed means is controlled with reference to validation means and/or identification means as to whether the banknote is to be accepted and paid in or accepted and paid out respectively.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the validation means which are used for banknotes paid in identify whether the banknote is valid and the monetary value of that banknote.

7 Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein feed means transport each of the banknotes which is being paid out past the identification means to a sufficient extent to allow the monetary value to be identified but not as far as the aperture and if the identification of the monetary value does not match that of the predetermined monetary value, the banknote is retained in the apparatus.

8 Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein if the banknote is retained in the apparatus then the newly identified monetary value is allocated to the banknote and the same is then stored.

9 Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein when a banknote is placed into the storage medium, the monetary value allocated to the same is held in a memory means along with a particular identified location of that banknote within the storage medium and the predetermined monetary value for that banknote is that which is held in the memory means.

10 Apparatus according to claim 9 wherein when a payout monetary value is known control means identifies the required banknotes to make the said payout, identifies the location of the same in the storage medium, retrieves the appropriate banknotes and uses the feed means to move the retrieved banknotes in succession past the identification means to confirm the monetary value which is identified matches that which is held in the memory means.

1 1 Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein when a particular payout value of banknotes is to be made, banknotes are retrieved from the storage medium and successively moved past the identification means and the monetary value of each of said banknotes is identified and if the monetary value of a banknote achieves, or can be used to achieve, the required pay out value, then that banknote is passed to the outlet aperture and the movement of successive banknotes past the identification means is continued until sufficient banknotes have been passed to the aperture to achieve the monetary value of the payout which is to be made.

12 Apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein if the monetary value of a banknote identified by the identification means is such that the banknote cannot be used to make a payout the banknote is retained in, or returned to, the storage medium and the process is repeated until the appropriate monetary value payout has been achieved by those banknotes which are passed through the dispensing outlet or aperture.

13. Apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein in addition to the storage medium, there is provided a further storage means in the form of a container and banknotes are selectively moved to one or the other of the storage medium or storage means.

14. Apparatus for dispensing one or more banknotes from a storage medium in which a plurality of banknotes are held, said apparatus including control means to identify the monetary value of the payout which is to be made and calculate the combination of banknotes required in order to achieve the monetary value of the payout, means for retrieving the selected one or more banknotes from the storage medium and wherein, identification means are provided such that prior to the said selected one or more banknotes being fed to an outlet to form the payout, the identification means are used to identify the monetary value of each of the one or more banknotes and, if the identified monetary value matches that which is required, the banknote is fed to the outlet but if the identified monetary value does not match that which is required, the banknote is not fed to the outlet.

15 Banknote dispensing apparatus including a path along which a banknote travels to be dispensed and the banknote is validated to confirm it's value and/or validity before being dispensed from the apparatus.

16 Apparatus according to claim 15 wherein the value to be confirmed is that which has previously been determined upon paying in of the banknote into the apparatus.

17 Apparatus according to claim 1 5 wherein the accepting or paying in banknote path and the dispensing banknote path are sub stantially the same.

18 A method of dispensing one or more banknotes from an apparatus in which the same is stored, said one or more banknotes retrieved from a storage medium in which a plurality of banknotes are held, said method comprising the steps of identifying the monetary value of the payout which is to be made, calculating the combination of banknotes required in order to achieve the monetary value of the payout, and wherein, prior to the said selected one or more banknotes being fed to an outlet to form the payout, the same pass identification means provided to identify the monetary value of each of the one or more banknotes and, if the identified monetary value matches that which is required, the banknote is fed to the outlet but if the identified monetary value does not match that which is required, the banknote is not fed to the outlet.

19. A method according to claim 1 8 wherein the calculation and selection of the banknote or banknotes to be paid out occurs prior to any of the banknotes reaching the identification means, with the identification means used to confirm the value of the selected banknotes prior to the same being moved to the aperture to allow the same to be paid out.

20 A method according to claim 18 wherein the calculation o f the monetary value required occurs prior to any of the banknotes reaching the identification means and the selection of whether or not a banknote is to form part of the payout is identified once the same has past the identification means.

21 A method according to claim 1 8 wherein the method includes the steps of receiving banknotes into the apparatus, validating the banknotes in terms of confirming that the banknote is genuine and identifying the monetary value of the same and selectively placing at least some of the received banknotes into a storage medium for subsequent retrieval.