Provided adjacent to the passageway for the bill 14 is an image sensor 17 which converts symbols printed on the bill 14 into electric signals during movement of the bill 14 along a passageway by a conveyer 15. Printer 19 records on printing paper the symbols based on output signals of the image sensor 17. Thus, the symbols printed on the documents may automatically be recorded.
Methods for identifying a note with a partial OCR of one or more characters in the note's serial code. The methods record the characters read and associates each character read with its field position in the serial code. The method can use this information or combine the character and field information with positional information of the note within a stack in order to identify a note with a reasonable degree of statistical probability.
A valuable paper is provided which comprises on a surface of the paper 50 a characteristic pattern 51 detectable by a sensor 16 of a validator 10 to discriminate authenticity of a bill inserted into the validator 10. The bill has at least a distinctive portion detectable by the sensor 16. The paper 50 has its width W substantially same as the width of the bill. The characteristic pattern 51 of the paper 50 is formed on substantially same position in width W as that of the distinctive portion in the bill. The paper 50 is inserted into the validator 10 to detect the characteristic pattern 51 of the paper 50 by the sensor 16 for discrimination of the paper 50 by the validator 10.
Methods for identifying a note with a partial OCR of one or more characters in the note's serial code. The methods record the characters read and associates each character read with its field position in the serial code. The method can use this information or combine the character and field information with positional information of the note within a stack in order to identify a note with a reasonable degree of statistical probability.
A method to be used within a document image capture device, such as a document scanner (10) of detecting and measuring the document skew (25) while the document is still entering the imaging area and then effecting a rotation of the camera to accommodate the document skew so that the resulting image taken is not skewed. This can be accomplished by one of several methods, such as rotating the entire camera, rotating only the sensor element, or rotating another element in the optical path such as a prism. Use of the methods incorporated in this invention does not require the document motion to be stopped to measure and accommodate skew or to take the image.
A method and apparatus for verifying the authenticity of a document relative to a previously programmed document are disclosed. The method provides a broadband light source; illuminates a document with the light source; collects reflected light; converts it into a corresponding electrical signal or signals; digitizes the electrical signals; and prepares a spectral signature of the document for further analysis. The spectral signature can also be normalized to account for variations in analyzed documents caused by soiling and fading. The method also provides for comparing a previously programmed and stored spectral signature to the spectral signature of a test document using a matching value to indicate whether the test document is authentic or not. The apparatus provides a device for application of the method for verifying document authenticity.
