Patent Application
20060219516
The present invention relates to a currency validator/dispenser where the unit temporarily stores banknotes or other currency received for payment as change in a future transaction.
A banknote validator/dispenser is disclosed in our earlier U.S. Pat. No. 6,371,473 and has a series of three banknote accumulators which cooperate with a banknote dispenser unit for providing the appropriate change for a transaction. Banknotes received for payment are processed by the validator to authenticate the banknotes and a controller in the unit determines whether the received banknotes should be stored for future use. Typically, each of the banknote accumulators stores a single denomination of banknotes.
The currency validator/dispenser of the present application as well as disclosed the banknote validator/dispenser in our earlier patent is in contrast to other systems which do not recycle banknotes provided to the unit during normal transactions to make them available to be returned as change for a future transaction. Some systems allow an operator to basically load the combination validator banknote dispenser with certain banknotes for dispensing as change but these systems do not allow recycling of banknotes between loading operations.
With combination banknote validator/dispenser which allow for recycling of banknotes the normal accepted practice is for an operator to assign each banknote accumulator such that it accumulates a single denomination of banknotes. The control system for the unit monitors each of the accumulators and monitors the received banknotes and appropriately directs banknotes received for payment of a transaction and determines whether any of these banknotes should be stored in any of the accumulators for future dispensing. The control system will know the capacity of each of the accumulators and appropriately make decisions with respect to the storage of the banknotes. It is also possible for this control system to recognize that although a certain banknote has been authenticated the quality of the banknote may be somewhat questionable and determined not to be appropriate for accumulation. These banknotes are directed to a banknote cassette or other storage unit and such banknotes are not available for recycling.
Similarly if a banknote is received that is not of a denomination that is being accumulated it is directed to the banknote cassette. Banknote validator/dispensers with a number of accumulators have the advantage of being capable of accepting payment for more transactions due to the banknotes accumulated from payments and available for dispensing as change. These units cannot accept payment based on inputted banknotes if the unit is not capable of providing the appropriate banknote change to the user. The probability of being able to provide the appropriate banknote change increases with the number of accumulators present.
It has been found that different banknote accumulators experience different conditions and it is difficult for operators to predict the most appropriate banknote value allocations for the banknote accumulators. Furthermore, it is difficult for an operator to predict whether any change in the allocation would improve the performance of the unit.
The present invention seeks to improve the performance of banknote validator/dispensers by more effective control of the accumulators of such units. This improved performance is also applicable to coin changers where different values of coins are stored and/or rejected. Therefore, although the theory of operation is described with respect to banknotes and the assignment of the denomination of banknotes to be stored, it is equally applicable to coin changers and the determination of denominations of coins to be stored and adjusted based on the actual experience. This application has particular application where the currency has some coins of significantly higher value. The system can be used for varying the accumulated denominations of a combination of coins and banknotes.
A currency validator/dispenser machine according to the present invention comprises a currency validator for receiving currency for payment, at least two currency accumulators cooperating with said validator and temporarily receiving and storing currency for dispensing as change for transactions, a currency dispenser operatively connected to each banknote accumulator to dispense currency provided thereto by said currency accumulators, a computer control module for storing currency receipt and dispensing transaction history information and using said history information for statistical analysis and model forecasting, each currency accumulator having an assignable currency denomination that determines the denomination of currency to be accumulated therein, the computer control module analyzing said transaction history information and based on the analysis reassigned the assignable currency denomination of at least some of the accumulators in response to the actual transaction history information of the validator/dispenser machine.
According to an aspect of the invention, the currency accumulators are banknote accumulators.
According to an aspect of the invention the at least two currency accumulators are at least 3 banknote accumulators.
In a further aspect of the invention the computer control module includes a forecasting procedure that makes a prediction of the performance of the validator/dispenser machine during a transition period associated with a change in the assigned denomination of the banknote accumulators.
In a further aspect of the invention the predicted performance of the validator during the transition period is a factor used by the validator/dispenser machine to determine whether a change in assigned denomination should occur.
In a different aspect of the invention the at least two banknote accumulator is at least 3 banknote accumulator and the computer control module controls the combination of banknotes to be dispensed as part of a transaction in a manner to maintain the ability of the machine to be capable of dispensing change for future transactions.
In another aspect of the invention the computer control module maintains information regarding the banknotes accumulated in each accumulator and uses this information in determining the combination of banknotes to be dispensed.
In a further aspect of the invention the computer control module also includes logic for rejecting a particular transaction due to a determined reduced capability of the banknote validator/dispenser machine to dispense banknotes necessary for future transactions.
In an aspect of the invention the computer control module includes logic for determining a preferred combination of banknotes to be dispensed for a given transaction based on the actual banknotes accumulated in the accumulators.
Preferably the at least 3 banknote accumulators is at least 4 banknote accumulators.
In a different aspect of the invention the computer control module determines the combination of banknotes to be dispensed in a manner to maintain where possible the accumulators at a target fill level based on the number of banknotes in each accumulator relative to the banknotes maintained in the other accumulators. With this system the target fill level for each accumulator can be set as a ratio relative to the other accumulators. Equal filling of each accumulator for example 1:1:1 for three accumulators or proportional filling for example 2:1:1 can be set. These fill ratio can be set by the operator or can be automatically set by the control module based on analysis of the actual experience.
A banknote validator/dispenser machine according to the present invention comprises a banknote validator for receiving banknotes for payment, at least three banknote accumulators cooperating with the validator and temporarily receiving and storing banknotes for dispensing accumulated banknotes as change for transactions, a banknote dispenser operatively connected to each banknote accumulator to dispense banknotes provided thereto by the banknote accumulators, a computer control module for storing banknote receipt and dispensing transaction history information and using said information for statistical analysis, the computer control module using the statistical analysis for determination of the combination of banknotes to be dispensed as change for said transactions taking into consideration the ability of the validator/dispenser machine to be capable of accepting future transactions.
A banknote validator/dispenser machine in a preferred aspect of uses the computer control module to control the operation of the banknote accumulators based on the actual banknote transaction history of the validator/dispenser machine and includes a forecasting model of future performance of the machine.
In an aspect of the invention each banknote accumulator has an assignable denomination of banknote for accumulation and the assigned denomination is controlled by the computer control modules, the computer control module uses the forecasting model to determine whether a different assignment of assigned denominations of the accumulators is predicted to significantly improve the performance of the banknote validator/dispenser machine and changes the assigned denominations when significant improved performance is predicted.
In a different aspect of the invention the computer control module includes a transition procedure for controlling operation of the accumulators during a transition period required to change assigned banknote denominations.
In a further aspect of the invention the computer control module uses the transaction history information to vary the transition procedure.
The above as well as other advantages and features of the present invention will be described in greater detail according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention in which;
The banknote validator/dispenser 2 shown in
The banknote validator/dispenser 2 includes a number of different components which are received and maintained within the housing 16. One such component is the removable locked banknote cassette 14. This locked bank cassette receives banknotes which the banknote validator/dispenser has determined are not necessary or are not appropriate for the temporary storage for recycling.
Some additional details of the banknote validator/dispenser are shown in
The banknote validator/dispenser depending upon its particular application and other factors will be provided with numerous banknotes 6 over time which are provided to the unit for payment of a particular transaction. These provided banknotes are reviewed by the combination unit to determine whether they are appropriate for temporary storage in any of the accumulators. As in any cash register type system, the unit needs a certain float to be able to provide appropriate banknote change. In stand-alone unmanned applications a transaction cannot be completed if the unit is not capable of providing the appropriate banknote change. The banknote validator/dispenser includes a logic controller 26 shown in
The modeling and forecasting of the banknote validator/dispenser additionally includes a review of the assigned denominations of the banknote accumulators. It is also allows the assigned values to be reassigned to different values which have been determined to be more appropriate. The validator/dispenser includes the ability of the unit to empty a particular accumulator if necessary by merely directing any further banknotes remaining in the accumulator to the banknote cassette. Once emptied the accumulator can be assigned a different value of banknotes to be accumulated and returned to its normal operation. It is further possible merely to leave the view banknotes remaining in the accumulator in the accumulator and reassign the denomination value. The logic keeps track of the positional point and thus can load new banknotes of the second denomination into the accumulator for recycling. These accumulators store banknotes on the principle of first and last out and as such the unit merely needs to keep track of the change point. It is preferred that the accumulator be emptied as discussed above.
A further description of the operation of the software in general terms with respect to the denomination assignment of the accumulators is provided below. This general description is helpful as different currencies have different denominations and interactions.
1. Optimal banknote accumulator assignment algorithm Problem definition: from the existing set of denominations N to choose the necessary M with the requirement to give the change in the amount of necessary banknote accumulators, and to maintain the ability to dispense change from a critically necessary banknote accumulator.
The objective is the search of the optimal solution with two restrictions:
If we can remove one of these restrictions it eliminates the necessary of optimization. In general the task is the multicriterion problem of discrete programming in following posedness: minimized criterion functions
min xj, where j=the number of banknote accumulators (1.1)
with the following restrictions
•ajxij=bi (all change should be given out) (1.2)
•xij<=ki (the number of banknotes in one given change is no bigger than •) (1.3)
•xij<=nj (the number of j-denomination banknotes, that were given out as a change, should not be more than the number of available banknotes in the banknote accumulator, i.e. existing ones plus entered banknotes) (1.4)
xij>=0; xij•Z; (the positivity and integral restrictions), (1.5)
where aj—banknote denomination that is designated for j-banknote accumulator; ki—the maximum amount of banknotes in change set; bi—amount of i-change (here, for example, two occurrences of dispensing $13 change we suppose as different i).
In restriction 1.4 the meaning of nj can be defined by the desired result. For example, to issue from the strategy of giving the change out (in proportion with amount of incoming currency or keeping the level of given out amount on a certain level), this amount can be calculated ad interim. The Gomory method is usually applied to resolve this task. However, if the number of change transactions is more than 500-1000, the task solution demand computational capability (running time, computational burden) more than is. Taking into account, that aj is some fixed series, it's possible simplify the task by using the peculiarity of the series. In particular, if for all aj the aj=n*ak is applied, where n is arbitrary integer, then any change can be present as uniquely expansion in terms of assigned accumulator denomination basis.
Definition 1. Under unequivocal we shall understand factorization, at which some representation of number (change) on the set basis and the representation of the same number, which is consecutive factorization of his basic component on the same basis, give unequivocal result.
Definition 2. Basis, when all the numbers from the finite set have uniquely factorization, is the simple basis, otherwise—we have the composed basis.
If the nominal series is simple basis then the solution of the task goes by the following algorithm:
The cycle continues up to the bill with the smallest denomination. The reserve of bill with the smallest denomination is the indicator of stability of the system. If after the algorithm is finished there is not enough bill of small nomination, then the system will stop after the certain number of transactions. In case the denomination series is the composed basis, which gives a finite set of certain change factorization, uses the algorithm 2:
As in algorithm 1, the reserve of smallest bill denomination is the indicator of the system's stability. Implementation of step 4 of the following algorithm is the independent task, which can be solved by any of the available methods of discrete programming, for example by the method of recession vector.
As the example we will use the following combination: the denomination series is 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500. The following denomination series is composed of two simple series: 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1, 2, 10, 200.
At the same time the ambiguous factorization is possible only for the following change: 6, 8, 10 (if it is not presented in the base), 60, 80, 100 (if is not presented in the base). At that the factorization of 8 and 80 as 2+6 (20+60) remove an ambiguity.
By entering the necessary corrections to the algorithm 1 for additional analysis of the best factorization change for the above-mentioned exceptions (6=5+1 or 6=2+2+2; 10=5+5 or 10=2+2+2+2+2 and the same way with higher denomination), we receive the necessary algorithm.
2. The algorithm of the forming optimal change. Problem definition: Forming change from available denomination in accumulator under constraints:
Let's notice, if we remove the constraint 2.3 than the solution of the task is simplifying and comes to the simple iterative formula:
xj=(Pj−Sj)/Nj, (2.6)
where xj—the number of banknotes for given out from banknote accumulator j; Pj—amount of many in accumulator from smaller denomination to j; Sj—change, stayed for given out on step j; Nj—denomination of bank note in accumulator j.
yj=Sj−k*Nj′/Nj′, (2.7)
where Nj′=Pj/Zj, Zj—the number of banknotes in banknote accumulator from smaller denomination to j; As a result the algorithm of the problem decision becomes:
The above description and explanation assumes the general principle to optimize the operation of the validator/dispenser machine in order to appreciate the various factors that affect the operation of the machine. Variations from full optimization still allow effective operation and are included as part of the present invention.
With the present system the banknote validator/dispenser is able to respond to its actual experience and make appropriate adjustments in the storage of banknotes for recycling to satisfy initially the anticipated needs of the unit and in time based on the actual needs of the unit. An initial assignment of the banknote accumulators is provided however over time the actual experience of the validator/dispenser is used to make appropriate adjustments and to have this information available for further analysis if it is deemed appropriate. In the preferred embodiment, the banknote validator/dispenser reviews the actual performance thereof and makes appropriate changes when it is deemed necessary. It is also possible that an operator makes such a final determination based on a recommendation from the banknote validator/dispenser. For example, operators are attending at these units for emptying of full banknote accumulators or perhaps providing banknotes to the unit for accumulation for banknote change on a daily, weekly or other basis. It is possible that the banknote validator/dispenser merely provides notice to such an operator that based on its actual experience a change in the banknote accumulator assignment (denomination being accumulated) should be made to the operator can then determine whether this step should be implemented.
With respect to the statistical information maintained the smart card reader can also include the capability of exporting the statistical information and transaction information to an operator. This can be taken for authentication purposes modeling purposes or as a test evaluation of a generally proposed banknote accumulator reassignment.
The invention has been described with respect to accumulating banknotes, however, the process also applies to accumulating coins for later dispensing as change. Various arrangements are known for accumulating coins in coin tubes which can include the automatic placement of the appropriately sized coin tube. Therefore, the system for tracking and improving performance applies to any currency type, including coins.
Also, this technology can be used to recommend changes in currency type accumulated and/or available for dispensing to improve the performance. Recycling of the currency types is not always required.
Although various preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variations may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.
