Patent Grant
10262488
The present invention relates generally to a compact currency recycling and accounting device and method for use. More specifically, the invention relates to a compact smart safe that can fit under a counter (e.g., in a convenience store) and is capable of receiving, sorting and dispensing both bills and mixed denomination coins.
Smart safes are currently used in convenience stores, and due to the limited space, these safes typically reside under the counter. These convenience store smart safes are stored under the counter and not accessible from the top. Moreover, they are usually abutted on the sides by other items, they can be accessed only from the front. The smart safes are used to both dispense and receive banknotes and coins. Dispensing of currency and coins from the safes is limited by the operators as to amount and time so as to deter theft. In the event of a robbery, neither the store employees, nor a thief, can operate the smart safe in a manner to expedite dispensing. Typically, these safes include bill validators that can receive, count and validate banknotes before storing them in a cassette. Currency and coins are dispensed from these safes using dispensable vending tubes, which are pre-loaded in fixed amounts.
Existing larger safes are not constrained by the space, height and size limitations of under the counter safes. Existing larger safes are accessible from the top and have increased functionality and operate as true currency recycling systems as compared to existing smart safes used under the counter in convenience stores. These existing larger safes include banknote recyclers and coin recyclers that are operated via a computer and an associated software application which controls the recyclers and guides users through the safe's operations via on-screen instructions. These larger safes prevent cashiers or cash managers from having to manually count cash register bills and coins at the beginning or end of a shift.
Banknote recyclers are typically used in retail, banking, automated teller machines and other cash-based operations where banknotes of various denominations are validated, counted and sorted for subsequent use. For example, a retail or banking cashier at the beginning of a shift requires an amount of bills in various denominations to use in a cash till drawer for dispensing change to customers. A typical banknote recycler has provisions for accepting banknotes of mixed denomination and then separating, validating, counting and sorting the banknotes. The accepted notes of each denomination are then placed into various recycling cassettes configured to receive that specific denomination. These recycling cassettes are capable of dispensing stored notes for use by the store in its operation, which is why they are called recycling cassettes. Low-quality notes and notes of denominations with no recycler cassette configured to accept that denomination are placed into one or more deposit cassettes, where they remain until picked up by a cash-in-transit courier or by the responsible party of the recycler who removes the bills for deposit. The banknote recyclers also have the capability to move notes from the recycling cassettes to the deposit cassette to raise the content of the deposit cassette to the desired monetary value for subsequent retrieval by the cash-in-transit courier. Typically, operators of banknote recyclers do not have the ability to remove notes once they have been placed inside the deposit cassette, as the deposit cassette is locked in place by the cash-in transit courier or the responsible party in the bank or retail environment.
Existing larger safes employ coin recyclers mounted on the top of the safe. Coin recyclers used to fill cash till drawers, like the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,625,272, are capable of receiving a batch of mixed denomination coins, sorting the coins into their denominations and dispensing the desired amount of each denomination into that denomination's proper coin receptacle in the cash till drawer or into a coin change cup. The devices are comprised of a coin input area for receiving the batch of mixed denomination coins, a coin sorter having a base, where the coin sorter is capable of validating, counting and sorting a batch of mixed denomination coins. Also included is a first manifold for receiving the sorted coins and directing them into the appropriate coin hoppers, coin hoppers capable of storing coins of a particular denomination and dispensing a desired number of coins on demand, and a second manifold for receiving the coins dispensed from the coin hoppers and directing them into the appropriate compartment in the cash till drawer (or coin change cup), which fits into a housing below the second manifold. Coin recyclers rely upon gravity to move the coins from the top of the safe into the coin sorter, through the first manifold and into the segregated coin hoppers. Further, gravity is used to move the coins after they are dispensed from the coin hoppers into the second manifold and ultimately into the cash till drawer receptacles or coin change cups in the bottom of the safe. These large safes lack the physical constraints of the minimum vertical distance available to under the counter safes.
It is therefore desirable to have a smart safe suitable for use in under the counter locations, such as convenience stores, that affords the functionality currently available only on larger safes including the ability to reduce employee time required to count currency.
The present invention affords the currency recycling functionality of a larger safe in a more compact safe capable of fitting under the counter of a convenience store. In order to provide a compact safe that operates equivalently to a larger currency recycling safe, several engineering challenges were presented due to the limited space available under a counter and the limited access to only the front of the safe. To overcome the challenge of less vertical space available under the counter and because coin denominations must be handled using gravity, the current device includes novel coin travel paths that are angled and stair-stepped to create a compact flow path. Because of the limited access to only the front of the device in under the counter applications, a forward sliding, coin-receiving tray is used to allow the loading of mixed denomination coins to the front of the device. Further, the banknote recycler and the coin recyclers are able to slide into and out from the front of the device for ease of access. Additionally, the touchscreen display is also mounted on a forward sliding tray to allow it to be pulled forward out from under the counter for access from the front and entry of commands by the user.
The compact currency recycler of the present invention includes a coin recycling unit, a banknote recycling unit, a touchscreen display, a power supply, a CPU and an integrated printer. The front doors of the currency recycler include interlocking hinges that afford crumple zones to deter tampering. If a lever is used in an attempt to remove the doors, the teeth will crumple, allowing buckling but increasing the difficulty of removing the door. The currency recycler can be linked to other devices to communicate status and usage information, and additional units can be appended to the recycler. In use, the compact currency recycler can be bolted to the floor to prevent theft.
The banknote recycler of the compact currency recycler of the present invention has the capability to accept banknotes of mixed denomination and then separate, validate, count and sort the banknotes. The accepted notes of a denomination are placed into at least one recycling cassette configured to receive that specific denomination that are capable of later dispensing these stored notes. Notes of denominations with no recycling cassette configured to accept that denomination (typically larger bills) are placed into one or more of the banknote recycler's deposit cassettes, where they remain until picked up by a cash-in-transit courier or by the responsible party of the recycler who removes the bills for deposit. The banknote recycler also has a load or refill cassette, which is filled manually by the operator and houses one denomination. Banknotes from the refill cassette are used to refill the recycling cassette if the recycling cassette has dispensed all of its banknotes.
The coin recycling unit of the compact currency recycler includes a coin-receiving tray, a coin reject slot, and a coin transport tray. The coin recycling unit is capable of receiving a batch of mixed denomination coins, sorting the mixed denomination coins into a plurality of sorted denomination coins and dispensing the sorted denomination coins. A first set of manifolds receive the sorted denomination coins from the coin sorter and direct the coins to a plurality of coin hoppers to store the sorted denomination coins. The coin hoppers each store one sorted denomination of coin and are operable to dispense the stored coins. A second set of manifolds connects the coin hoppers to a coin transport tray.
In use, the coin-receiving tray slides horizontally out from the front of the device to receive bulk, unsorted coins, which allows the coins to be placed into the tray from the front of the device as there is no way to load coins directly from the top due to the countertop. The coin receiving tray has a front portion with an optional perforated coin-receiving surface hinged on one end. The coin receiving surface can be rotated upward to load the coins into the coin sorter. Once the coin sorter has separated the coins into denominations, the coins enter the upper manifold, which is connected directly to the coin sorter output rather than base of the coin sorter as in existing larger, prior art coin recyclers. This modification was necessary to gain more vertical travel due to the under the counter size constraints and the necessity of using gravity in the coin sorting operation.
A user of the compact currency recycler interfaces with the device through the touchscreen display. A user identification PIN code can be entered. The safe can account for each user's activity with the safe including counting the amount of currency, both bills and coins, that have been inserted into the safe or dispensed from the safe. The safe can be set to monitor each employee or a specific cash drawer till used by multiple employees during a shift. The compact currency recycler therefore affords increased functionality and individual accountability while increasing the speed of processing by eliminating the time and effort required to manually count coins and banknotes. This automated accounting increases operator and manager accountability and can reduce losses.
The novel features and construction of the present invention, as well as additional objects thereof, will be understood more fully from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
The invention is further described and explained in relation to the following figures of the drawings wherein:
Like reference numerals are used to describe like parts in all figures of the drawings.
Referring to
Door 20 closes the side of compact currency recycling device 10 that houses the coin recycler. Door 20 is unlocked either at a specified time or by a command entered by an authorized user on touchscreen display 18, which causes an internal deadbolt to be disengaged. Once the deadbolt is disengaged, door 20 is opened by the user physically lifting handle 32. Door 20 is shaped to accommodate and not interfere with coin receiving tray 17 and touchscreen display 18, which both slide out independently of each other when in use as discussed below. Door 20 houses integrated printer 24, which is built into door 20. Coin reject slot 28 is located in door 20, which is where rejected coins and other non-coin items placed into the coin recycler arrive after being rejected by the coin recycler. Coin transport tray 26, which receives dispensed coins from the coin recycler, fits through an opening near the bottom of door 20.
Similar to door 20, door 14 closes the side of compact currency recycling device 10 that houses the banknote recycler. Door 14 is unlocked either at a specified time or by a command entered by an authorized user on touchscreen display 18 and opened via handle 30, which causes an internal deadbolt to be disengaged. Once the deadbolt is disengaged, door 14 is opened by the user physically lifting handle 30. Door 14 houses banknote validator 12, which accepts bills of various denominations before placing them in the desired cassettes housed inside compact currency recycling device 10.
Referring to
Because liquid spills can occur in certain environments, such as on countertops, coin receiving tray 17 includes vertical barrier 19, as shown in
Coin receiving tray 17 preferably includes features that limit the user's ability to manipulate tray 17 to prevent damage to tray 17 when it is being slid into or out of device 10. One such feature is a restrictor placed at the rear of the back portion of tray 17 that prevents coin receiving insert from being lifted vertically until tray 17 has been pulled out from the front of device 10 a certain distance. The restrictor travels through a path as it is pulled out and travels over the coin receiving bowl. When the restrictor is over the bowl, it can be rotated downwardly into the bowl as the front edge of coin receiving insert 16 is rotated vertically. Coin receiving tray 17 cannot be horizontally returned to the device if coin receiving insert 16 is in the uplifted position because of an additional restrictor located on compact currency recycling device 10.
Referring to
Referring to
Recycling cassette 36 preferably contains two drums and is configured to receive banknotes of two specific denominations—one denomination per drum. Typically in this two drum recycling cassette setup, one drum of recycling cassette 36 will store $1 bills and the other drum of recycling cassette 36 will store $5 bills. Alternatively, compact currency recycling device 10 can include a plurality of recyclying cassettes with each being capable of storing up to two denominations. Recycling cassette 36 is capable of dispensing the stored banknotes for re-use by the operator of device 10. Deposit cassettes 34a and 34b house banknotes of multiple denominations that are either of low-quality or when there is no recycling cassette configured to accept that denomination (e.g., $10, $20 and $100 bills). Additionally, the operator can control the banknote recycler to have recycling cassette 36 dispense banknotes into deposit cassettes 34a or 34b to reach a desired monetary value for subsequent retrieval by the cash-in-transit courier. Refill cassette 37 is manually filled by the operator and stores banknotes of one denomination that can be transported into recycling cassette 36 in case the operator has already emptied recycling cassettes 36 and needs to dispense additional banknotes.
Referring to
If coin sorter 42 encounters an item or debris that is not a valid coin of one of the denominations device 10 is set to recycle, the item or debris is deposited in chute 48, which is connected to coin reject slot 28 located in door 20 (shown in
Referring to
A user of compact currency recycling device 10 interfaces with device 10 through touchscreen display 18. In the preferred embodiment, each user would enter a unique user-identification PIN code on touchscreen display 18, which would allow device 10 to account for each user's activity with device 10 including counting the amount of currency, both banknotes and coins, that have been inserted into device 10 by that particular user or dispensed from device 10 to that particular user. Alternatively, device 10 may have integrated biometric technology to allow for the use of a user's fingerprints for example. After the user enters the PIN, the user can select to deposit banknotes into device 10. The user would be prompted to feed the banknotes into banknote validator 12, and device 10 would display to user via touchscreen display 18 the amount of banknotes deposited and record that amount. Device 10 also offers configurable user permission levels for device access wherein certain users (e.g., store employees) can perform limited tasks (e.g., deposit banknotes or coins) compared to more senior-level users that can perform additional tasks (e.g., withdraw banknotes or coins).
Compact currency recycling device 10 can be set to monitor each employee, or alternatively a specific cash drawer till used by multiple employees during a shift. Device 10 therefore affords increased functionality, individual accountability and speed of processing. Device 10 also eliminates the time and effort required to manually count coins and bill notes. The automated accounting increases operator and manager accountability and can reduce losses. Further, device 10 has reporting capabilities to both banks and cash-in-transit couriers. Device 10 also preferably runs automatic end of day reporting while also providing real time banknote and coin level monitoring capabilities.
Device 10 can be networked with other similar devices in use throughout the store or at a remote gas kiosk for example to allow total net reporting and provide complete store accounting and visibility. Device 10 can be networked with a bank or financial institution to offer provisional credit to the operator of device 10 when currency is deposited into deposit cassettes 34a or 34b.
Other alterations and modifications of the invention will likewise become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the present disclosure, and it is intended that the scope of the invention disclosed herein be limited only by the broadest interpretation of the appended claims to which the inventor is legally entitled.
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