The disclosure relates to a double document detection apparatus and a method for conducting the same.
Document processing machines are known in the art. Although known document processing machines perform adequately for their intended use, improvements are nevertheless continuously being sought in order to advance the art.
The disclosure will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 11B′ is a cross-sectional view of a first document of the two partially overlapped exemplary documents according to line 11B′-11B′ of
FIG. 11B″ is a cross-sectional view of both of the two partially overlapped exemplary documents according to line 11B″-11B″ of
FIG. 11B′″ is a cross-sectional view of a second document of the two partially overlapped exemplary documents according to line 11B′″-11B′″ of
The figures illustrate an exemplary implementation of a double document detection apparatus and a method for conducting the same. Based on the foregoing, it is to be generally understood that the nomenclature used herein is simply for convenience and the terms used to describe the invention should be given the broadest meaning by one of ordinary skill in the art.
The processing of the at least one document, D, that is conducted by the document processor 10 may include the recording of and/or an analysis of one or more characteristics associated with one or more of a front surface, DF, of the at least one document, D, and a rear surface, DR, of the at least one document, D. In an implementation, the document processor 10 includes electronics 14 (see, for example,
In an implementation, the document processor 10 may include a communication interface that permits the document processor 10 to: receive commands from an operator and/or send processed document information to: a computer, C, database or the like. In an embodiment, the communication interface may permit wireless communication, W, or hardwired communication, H, to, for example, the computer, C, database or the like, by way of, for example, WiFi connection, an Ethernet connection, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection or the like.
In an implementation, the document processor 10 includes an outer protective shell 12. The outer protective shell 12 is supportably-connected to a baseplate (not shown) that supports the electronics 14 and one or more mechanical components 16 (see
One or more of the outer protective shell 12 and the baseplate may cooperate to form a first pocket portion 18 and a second pocket portion 20. In an embodiment, the first pocket portion 18 may be referred to as an “input hopper” for receiving at least one un-processed document, D, and, in an embodiment, the second pocket portion 20 may be referred to as an “output bin” for receiving/storing at least one processed document, D.
The nomenclature associated with the at least one un-processed document, D, and the at least one processed document, D, may be dependent upon (1) the location of the at least one document, D, relative to the structure of the document processor 10 and (2) the un/successful performance of the one or more processing application functions applied to the at least one document, D, as the at least one document, D, is moved along the document path. For example, when the at least one document, D, is located/disposed within the input hopper 18, the at least one document, D, may be referred to as the at least one un-processed document, D; subsequently, when the at least one un-processed document, D, is (1) drawn out of/moved from the input hopper 18, then (2) passed through the document processor 10 along the document path in order to attempt to perform the one or more document processing application functions and then (3) deposited into the output bin 20, the at least one un-processed document, D, may then be referred to as the at least one processed document, D.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
As seen in
Referring to FIGS. 11A-11B′″, at least one document, D, including a pair of documents that the document processor 10 may attempt to process are shown generally at D1, D4. The pair of documents, D1, D4, are aligned in manner such that the pair of documents, D1, D4, are described to be “partially overlapped.” As described in the following disclosure, because the pair of documents, D1, D4, are partially overlapped, the document processor 10 may attempt to process the pair of documents, D1, D4, but, upon learning of the partially overlapped condition, the document processor 10 will cease the processing attempt (by, for example, deactivating the one or more mechanical components 16 that would otherwise continue to advance the pair of documents, D1, D4, through the document processor 10).
As seen in FIGS. 11A-11B′″, each document of the pair of documents, D1, D4, include a front surface, DF, a rear surface, DR, and a thickness, T1, T4. Further, the first document, D1, may include different geometric and inherent characteristics when compared to the second document, D4; for example, the first document, D1, may include a shorter height and length when compared to the second document, D4, and, further, the first document, D1, may be characterized as a conventional paper-stock-based financial document (having a paper density (i.e., a pound weight) equal to approximately about 20-to-24-pounds), whereas the second document may be characterized as a conventional card-stock-based financial document (having a paper density (i.e., a pound weight) that is greater than approximately about 24-pounds).
Referring to
As will be explained in the following disclosure, the electronics 14 may be utilized for detecting a “double document situation,” which may include, for example, a “completely overlapped” document (see, e.g.,
Further, in some circumstances, the electronics 14 may detect a financial document (see, e.g., the document, D2, of
Referring to
The transmitter 14a′ may include a first pair of light sources 22a and a second pair of light sources 22b (i.e., each of the transmitter 14a′ and the receiver 14a″ may be alternatively referred to as a “light transmitter” and a “light receiver”). Referring to
As seen in
Referring to
As described above, depending upon which document or both documents of the pair of documents, D1, D4, traverse the sensor system 14a, a different amount (i.e., approximately the same amount, a lesser amount or an even lesser amount) of the infrared light, L, is received by/seen by the receiver 14a″. The receiver 14a″ utilizes the amount of received infrared light, L, to derive an analogue value that is then communicated to an analogue-to-digital (hereinafter, “A-to-D”) converter 14b, which may be a portion of the electronics 14. As seen in
In an embodiment, as described above, the A-to-D converter 14b firstly obtains an analogue signal related to the amount of the received infrared light, L. Subsequently, the A-to-D converter 14b derives a digital signal by converting the received analogue signal into a digital signal that is then sent to a controller 14c, which may also be a portion of the electronics 14.
The digital signal output by the A-to-D converter 14b may be quantified as having a value, such as, for example, one byte that ranges between a value of zero (0) and two-hundred-and-fifty-five (255). In an embodiment, a digital value approximately equal to about two-hundred-and-fifty-five (255) means that the receiver 14a″ is not saturated (i.e., little if none of infrared light, L, being seen by the receiver 14a″ due to, for example, a thickness of the one or more documents, D, being large enough to block substantially all of the light, L, which could be construed as a “double document situation”, or, the infrared light sources 22aU, 22bU, 22aL, 22bL are not working or turned off). In an embodiment, a digital value approximately equal to about zero (0) means that the receiver 14a″ is saturated (i.e., substantially all of the light, L, is being seen by receiving 14a″ due to none of the one or more documents, D, being located between the transmitter 14a′ and the receiver 14a″.
Referring to
The first segment 100a may generally relate to the orientation of the partially-overlapped documents, D1, D4, as seen in
The second segment 100b may generally relate to the orientation of the partially-overlapped documents, D1, D4, as seen in
The third segment 100c may generally relate to the orientation of the partially-overlapped documents, D1, D4, as seen in
Comparatively, because the thickness, T4, of the second document, D4, is greater than the thickness, T1, of the first document, D1, a greater amount of the light, L, is absorbed by the second document, D4, and, as a result, the “second document digital value” related to the third segment 100c of approximately about one hundred (i.e., approximately about one hundred on the zero-to-two-hundred-and-fifty-five scale) is greater than the “first document digital value” related to the first segment 100a of approximately about fifty (i.e., approximately about fifty on the zero-to-two-hundred-and-fifty-five scale). Further, because the combined thickness, T1+T4, of both of the first and second documents, D1, D4, is greater than the thickness, T4, of the second document, D4, the “combined first and second document digital value” related to the second segment 100b of approximately about two hundred (i.e., approximately about two hundred on the zero-to-two-hundred-and-fifty-five scale) is greater than the “second document digital value” related to the third segment 100c of approximately about one hundred (i.e., approximately about one hundred on the zero-to-two-hundred-and-fifty-five scale).
The fourth segment 100d may generally relate to the orientation of the partially-overlapped documents, D1, D4, as seen in
As seen in
Referring back to
Although a pictorial representation of a partially-overlapped double document situation (related to FIGS. 11A-11B′″) is shown above, the other above-described document situations (related to, e.g.,
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
An embodiment of the algorithm, program or logic 500 at
Once the light source is selected, the programmer of the controller 14c creates a histogram (see, e.g.,
Referring to
The plurality of trial run processing situations that were run by the programmer of the controller 14c included a majority of: manually known “non-overlapped, single document situations” (as a result of the programmer manually feeding of the plurality of single documents, D1, D2) and a minority of: manually known “partially overlapped double document situations” (as a result of the programmer manually feeding some partially overlapped documents, D1 and D4) and a minority of: “completely overlapped, double document situations” (as a result of the programmer manually feeding some completely overlapped documents, D3A, D3B). As an observation, the histogram of
In view of the results of the plurality of trial run processing situations shown in
AP=(25th Percentile Value+75th Percentile Value)/2 (1)
TVCO=AP+((256−AP)×Multiplier Value) (2)
In addition to the “AP,” the TVCO equation also calls for a “Multiplier Value,” which is also discussed in greater detail below.
Referring to
The “Multiplier Value” may be an arbitrary value determined by the programmer of the controller 14c. In an embodiment, the programmer may select a “Multiplier Value” equal to approximately about “0.3.”
Accordingly, utilizing fifty-five for the “AV” and “0.3” for the “Multiplier Value,” equation (2) above may be utilized to determine that the TVCO may be equal to approximately about “115.3” on the zero-to-two-hundred-and-fifty-five scale. In an embodiment, the programmer may then program “115.3” as the TVCO that may utilized in the algorithm 500 as a threshold value that is compared against one or more digital sensor value samples (of, e.g., a plurality of digital value sampled that collectively form, for example, the exemplary graphs 100, 200, 300, 400) to determine if the document situation of one or more documents, D, being processed by the document processor is a “completely overlapped, double document situation.”
Although the exemplary “Multiplier Value” is discussed above as being an arbitrary value of “0.3,” the invention is not limited to a “Multiplier Value” of “0.3.” That is, the “Multiplier Value” may be adjusted by the manufacturer of the document processor 10 and/or the programmer of the controller 14c as described below.
For example, the “Multiplier Value” of “0.3” may be an arbitrary value (i.e., the “Multiplier Value” may be kept as “0.3” or adjusted upwardly or downwardly by the programmer; adjustment upwardly or downwardly by the programmer may be dependent upon, for example, how a consumer (e.g., a bank)/user, U, will be utilizing the document processor 10). For example, upon determining that the consumer/user, U, will be processing more than one type of document thickness such as, for example, some relatively thin documents (see, e.g., D1, D3A, D3B) and some relatively thick documents (see, e.g., D2), the programmer may choose to retain the “Multiplier Value” of 0.3 when programming the controller 14c of the document processor. However, upon determining that the user, U, will be not be processing relatively thick documents (see, e.g., D2), the “Multiplier Value” may be reduced to a value of approximately equal to about “0.25;” alternatively, upon determining that the user, U, will not be processing relatively thin documents (see, e.g., D1, D3A, D3B), the “Multiplier Value” may be increased to a value approximately equal to about “0.35.” An exemplary table of Multiplier Values is shown below in Table 1.
An embodiment of the algorithm 500 may further call for the calculation of a “Partially Overlapped Double Document Situation Threshold Value” (see: TVPO in equation 3 below).
TVPO=Lower Sensor Value+((256−Lower Sensor Value)×Multiplier Value) (3)
As seen above, the equation for TVPO is substantially similar to the equation for TVCO with the difference being that a “lower sensor value” (of two sensor values) is utilized to calculate TVPO instead of calculating a value for the “AP.”
An embodiment of the algorithm 500 may further call for the comparison of a “higher sensor value” against the calculated TVPO. Further, the embodiment of the algorithm 500 may further call the determination that if, for example, the TVPO is less than the “higher sensor value,” the algorithm 500 will have determined that the document situation is that of a partially overlapped double document situation and cease the processing operation being conducted by the document processor 10.
In order to explain how TVPO is calculated, Table 2 is provided below, which shows twelve successive sensor value samples from the A-to-D converter 14b for each of the upper light source 22aU and the lower light source 22aL of the first pair of light sources 22a. The twelve successive sensor value samples may represent, for example, approximately about one-inch of a document containing a partially overlapped document that occurs for about half-of-an-inch. The data is then utilized in Table 3 below (noting that Table 3 only utilizes the values associated with the lower light source 22aL).
Upon obtaining at least three sensor values samples from Table 2, each row in Table 3 (shown below) may be populated with data. As seen in Table 3 below, the first sensor value sample (e.g., ‘100’ from Table 2 in relation to the Sensor Value Sample ‘1’ of the lower sensor 22aL) is compared to the second sample (e.g., ‘105’ from Table 2 in relation to the Sensor Value Sample ‘2’ of the lower sensor 22aL) in order to determine which of the first and second sensor values has a “lower value” and which sensor value has a “higher value.” In the first instance, the lower value is ‘100,’ and, as a result, ‘100’ is utilized as a variable in calculating the TVPO (i.e., ‘146.8’ on the zero-to-two-hundred-and-fifty-five scale); after calculating TVPO (e.g., by software within the controller 14c), the controller 14c determines (with, e.g., software) if the TVPO is less than the higher value (i.e., by comparing values ‘100’ and ‘105,’ with the higher value of the two values being ‘105’).
Next, the controller 14c determines if the TVPO (of ‘146.8’ in the above-described first instance) is less than the higher value (of ‘105’ in the above-described first instance); because ‘146.8’ is not less than ‘105,’ the methodology then considers the second subsequent sensor value (e.g., ‘103’ from Table 2 in relation to the Sensor Value Sample ‘3’ of the lower sensor 22aL). As seen in Table 3, the first sensor value sample (e.g., ‘100’ from Table 2 in relation to the Sensor Value Sample ‘1’ of the lower sensor 22aL) is compared to the second subsequent sensor value sample (e.g., ‘103’ from Table 2 in relation to the Sensor Value Sample ‘3’ of the lower sensor 22aL) in order to determine which of the first and second subsequent sensor values has a “lower value” and which sensor value has a “higher value.” The lower value of the two is ‘100,’ and, as a result, ‘100’ is utilized as a variable in calculating the TVPO (i.e., ‘146.8’ on the zero-to-two-hundred-and-fifty-five scale); after calculating TVPO (e.g., by software within the controller 14c), the controller 14c determines (with, e.g., software) if the TVPO is less than the higher value (i.e., by comparing values ‘100’ and ‘103,’ with the higher value of the two values being ‘103’).
After determining that the TVPO is still not less than the higher value (arising from the second subsequent sensor value of ‘103’), the methodology (as seen in Trial 2 of Table 3) then discards the previous first sensor value sample (e.g., ‘100’ from Trial 1 of Table 3) and replaces the first sensor value with the value of the previous subsequent sensor value (i.e., ‘105’ from Trial 1 of Table 3). Similarly, as seen in Trial 2 of Table 3, the methodology discards the previous subsequent sensor value (i.e., ‘105’ from Trial 1 of Table 3) and replaces the subsequent sensor value with the previous second subsequent sensor value (i.e., ‘103’ from Trial 1 of Table 3). The methodology also discards the previous second subsequent sensor value (i.e., ‘103’ from Trial 1 of Table 3) and replaces the second subsequent sensor value with the next available data value from Table 2 (e.g., ‘104’ from Table 2 in relation to the Sensor Value Sample ‘4’ of the lower sensor 22aL).
The above methodology is repeated until the controller 14c determines that the TVPO is less than the higher value. Referring to Trial 3 of Table 3, the controller 14c determines that the TVPO is less than the higher value, and, as a result, a leading edge (see, e.g., D4LE, in
In view of the data from Table 2 and the above-discussed aspect of the algorithm 500, Table 3 is populated with data as shown in an embodiment below. As seen below for the rows related to Trials 3 and 4, the right-most column indicates that TVPO is less than the higher value and a leading edge of a second document is said to be detected for declaring that a partially-overlapped double document situation has occurred; the trailing edge (see, e.g., D1TE, in
Referring to
Then, at step S.3, the A-to-D converter 14b provides a plurality of digital sensor values (on the zero-to-two-hundred-and-fifty-five scale) to the controller 14c as described above (i.e., one of an exemplary graph 100, 200, 300, 400 is created). The controller 14c may include memory that for storing the plurality of digital sensor values. Step S.3 may also include the step of the controller 14c determining (by way of software) a minimum digital sensor value of the plurality of digital sensor values.
Then, at step S.4, the controller 14c (using software) determines if the determined minimum digital sensor value is greater than the programmed TVCO that was coded into the controller 14c by the programmer. If the controller 14c determined, at step S.4, that the determined minimum digital sensor value is greater than the programmed TVCO, the algorithm 500 is advanced from step S.4 to S.4a where the controller 14c communicates with the one or more mechanical components 16 in order to instruct the one or more mechanical components to cease advancing the one or more documents, D, along the document path (i.e., by arriving at step S.4a, the electronics 14 have determined that a “completely overlapped double document situation” has occurred) such that the user, U, may manually resolve (see
At step S.4b (and with reference to, for example, the lower sensor values of 22aL in Table 2 and Table 3, above), the controller 14c (by using software) determines the “lower sensor value” and the “higher sensor value” of the first digital value sample and the subsequent (i.e., the second) digital value sample. Then, at step S.5, the controller 14c (by using software) calculates TVPO. Then, at step S.6, the controller 14c (using software) determines if the calculated TVPO is less than the determined “higher sensor value.” If the controller 14c determined, at step S.6, that the calculated TVPO is less than the determined “higher sensor value,” the algorithm 500 is advanced from step S.6 to S.6a (see
If, however, the controller 14c determined, at step S.6, that the calculated TVPO is not less than the determined “higher sensor value.” the algorithm 500 is advanced from step S.6 to S.6b where the subsequent (i.e., the second) digital value sample from the plurality of digital sensor values is substituted with that of the next (i.e., a third) digital value sample from the plurality of digital sensor values. The algorithm is then advanced to step S.7 where the controller 14c (by way of software) determines if the subsequent (i.e., the “next”/third) digital value sample is saturated. If the subsequent digital value is not saturated, the algorithm 500 is looped from step S.7 back to step S.4b (however, prior to returning to step S4.b from step S.7, the first digital value sample is replaced with the second digital value sample, and, the third digital value sample that was read at step S.6b now becomes the second digital value sample for the subsequent logic loop starting at step S.4b). If, however, at step S.7, it is determined that the subsequent digital value is saturated, the algorithm 500 is advanced to step S.7a where continued processing of the document, D, is permitted (due to the algorithm 500 determining that the document situation is a non-overlapped, single document situation). As step S.7a, if the input hopper 18 does not contain a document, D, the document processor 10 may be manually/automatically deactivated; however, at step S.7a, if the input hopper 18 contains one or more documents, D, the document processor 10 continues operating and the algorithm is looped back to step S.2 where subsequent one or more documents is/are analyzed to determine the single/double document situation of the subsequent document.
As seen in
Referring to
For teaching purposes herein, the exemplary embodiments have been described using the aid of a graphical/pictorial-based representation of a collection of data including a histogram. However, one skilled in the art will readily recognize that no such graphical/pictorial-based implementations are need to implement the present invention using a digital computer. Specifically, the data sample could be stored in ascending or descending order (within digital memory) and the desired percentile cut-off points (such as, for example, 25% or 75%) can be easily determined from the ordered data. Accordingly, the implementation of the algorithms disclosed herein is not limited to a graphical/pictorial-based display of data.
A number of implementations have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of the following claims. For example, the actions recited in the claims can be performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20130075970 A1 | Mar 2013 | US |