The present invention relates to validating systems, such as but not necessarily limited to mobile validating systems having capabilities sufficient to facilitate exchange of safes configured to validate paper or other types of currency.
A validating system may be configured to validate, count, or otherwise process paper currency or other forms of currency, typically by scanning or otherwise electronically processing the currency. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/903,119, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, relates to one type of validating system. U.S. Pat. No. 7,063,252, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, relates to a centralized electronic safe and accounting control system, which may be suitable for use in facilitating control and processing of safes and/or other devices associated with a validating system.
As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.
The lock 20 may be actuated will between a locked and an unlocked position such that the safe 12 can be easily removed when actuated to the unlocked positioned and easily secured when actuated to the locked position.
The exchange program allows the safe contents to remain secured within the safe 12 at all times during transport. One would need to crack the safe 12 or otherwise actuate a lock 24 on the lockable door in order to gain access to the safe contents. This capability allows the present invention to maintain security over the safe contents during transportation to another location for further processing, or at least an enhanced level security beyond that provided by the storage cassette. The safe 12 may be removed from the sleeve 16 through an opening 26 of an approximately equal dimensional configuration. The safe removal process may occur by pulling on the lock 24, a door handle 26 of the lockable door 14 or through some other means, which may be dependent on a weight, size or configuration of the particular safe 12 and/or the sleeve 16.
A plurality of fasteners 40 may be configured to secure the sleeve 16 to the cabinet 18 or an associated support structure, such as but not limited to a cement floor supporting the cabinet 18. The fasteners 40 are shown to be screws configured to be anchored to the cabinet 18, optionally with assistance from an adhesive or other element. The sleeve 16 may include a plurality of apertures 42 configured to receive the fasteners 40 for connection to the cabinet 18. The apertures 42 may be sized and shaped relative to a head of the fasteners 40 such that a portion of the fasteners extend beyond the aperture 42 to compress the sleeve 16 against the cabinet 18 in a secure manner. The fasteners 40 may be screwed into place or otherwise embedded within the cabinet 18 using a tool, such as but not necessarily limited to a screwdriver. The tool used to secure the fasteners 40 may be unsecured in comparison with a key, combination, code, etc. used to secure the lockable door 14 of the safe 12, at least in so far as the implement used to remove the fasteners 40 may be generally available whereas the implement to access the storage cassette may be not so generally available. The safe 12 may be sufficiently sized and shaped and configured to operate in cooperation with the size and shape of the sleeve 16, including the positioning of the apertures 42, to prevent access to the fasteners 40 while the safe 12 is seated within the sleeve 16. The hidden position of at least some of the fasteners 40 or other similar retaining element may be beneficial in essentially preventing their removal while the safe 12 is properly seated.
The sleeve 16 may include one or more bumpers 46 or other types of offsets to prevent contact between the fasteners 40 and the safe 12 during insert and removal. A single bumper 46 is shown but any number of bumpers 46 may be included. The bumper 46 is shown to be a fixed element configured to remain stationary during movement of the safe 12 but it may also be a moveable element, such as being a motorized element configured to facilitate motorized movement of the safe 12 into and out of the sleeve 16, e.g., using a motorized latch configured to pull on a clip included on the safe 12. The bumper 46 may be sized to prevent contact by being configured with a depth slightly greater than a distance by which the fasteners 40 would extend internally into the sleeve 16. The bumper 46 may also be configured to facilitate supporting the safe 12 against lateral movement within the sleeve 16. The upper portion 34 of the front sleeve wall 36 may include a ledge 48 extending rearwardly to support a bottom portion of the safe 12. The ledge 48 may extend approximately an entire length of the sleeve 16. The ledge 48 is not shown to include rollers or other features to facilitate insert in removal of the safe 12 but such features may be included, particularly dependent on the difficulties associated with moving the safe 12 relative to the sleeve 16, i.e., rollers may be desirable in the event the safe 12 is relatively heavy.
The safe 12 is shown to include a junction box or other electrical interface 60. The electrical interface 60 may include a plurality of ports 62 to facilitate connecting various wires to electronic components of the safe. As shown in
The safe 12 may include a housing 70 configured to enclose or otherwise secure the electronic touchscreen 64, the bill validator 66, the lockable door 14 and other elements, i.e., the storage cassette, etc. The housing 70 may generally define a front side 72, a left side 74, a right side 76, a top side 78, a bottom side 80, and a rear side 82 of the safe 12. A forward end 86 of the sleeve 16 may be configured to extend slightly past the front side 72 of the housing 70 in order to extend past or at least cover substantially all of a lateral portion of a hinge 90 included on the lockable door 14. The sleeve wall 36 may be correspondingly shaped and sized such that the sleeve 16 covers the lateral side of the hinge 90 to thwart access to an underside of the hinge 90 in order to limit an ability of a jack or other element to be inserted under the hinge 90 to facilitate prying the safe 12 from its anchoring to the floor/cabinet 18. The sleeve 16 is shown to include the opening 26 of approximately the same size and shape as the front side 72 of the safe 12 with a length, height, and width approximating the length, height, and width of the sides of the safe 12. In this manner, the sleeve 16 essentially encloses at least the top 78, bottom 80, left 74, and right sides 76 of the safe 12, or most of an outer perimeter of the safe 12. Depending on particular configurations of the cabinet 18 or other feature to which the sleeve 16 is affixed, the sleeve 16 may be sized and shaped to enclose more or less of the safe 12, e.g., the sleeve 16 may be configured to enclose a 4 half of the top 78, bottom 80, left 74, and right sides 76 of the safe 12.
Block 98 relates to determining a need for safe exchange. The need may be determined from signals transmitted from one of a plurality of deployed safes. The safes may be configured to electronically monitor currency or other elements stored within the safe and to generate a particular exchange signal when it becomes desirable to replace the safe. This may occur for various reasons. The safe determined for exchange may be assessed according to various messages to identify its particular configuration, shape and other operating requirements. Block 100 relates to processing these variables in order to identify a suitable replacement safe. Once the suitable replacement safe is determined, Block 102 relates to dispatching a safe exchanger. The safe exchanger may be associated with a secured entity responsible for transporting currency and other valuables between different locations. An electronic message may be transmitted to the safe exchanger with information regarding the safe needed to replace the existing safe and/or other information regarding security or other cautions to be taken when transporting the old safe.
Block 104 relates to removing the old safe determined for safe exchange. This may include transmitting instructions to the safe exchanger regarding particular requirements to unlock the sleeve, i.e., a message may be transmitted to a wireless device associated with the safe exchanger to provide instructions on how to deactivate or otherwise unlock the sleeve from the safe. This may also include providing the safe exchanger with a key or other mechanical device sufficient to facilitate unlocking the sleeve lock. The sleeve lock shown above is a mechanically actuated device but the present invention fully contemplates the sleeve having an electronic combination lock or other lock. In the event the sleeve includes an electronic combination lock, the safe exchanger may be provided with a combination suitable for unlocking the sleeve. Optionally, while the safe is shown to be connected through wires to a network, the sleeve may be similarly connected such that the process of removing the old safe may include transmitting a message to the sleeve instructing the sleeve to unlock the safe.
The removal of the old safe may occur without unlocking the safe, i.e., the lockable safe door behind which the storage cassette maintains the items provided in the safe for safekeeping may remain locked. The process of removing the old safe may include electronic and non-electronic operations. The electronic operations may relate to transmitting a message to the safe instructing the safe to prepare for removal by locking the safe door and/or engaging other security measures designed to prevent access to the safe while being transported, i.e., wiping or deleting the electronic combination currently in use in order to revert to another combination that becomes valid only after successful delivery of the safe to a secure location. Additional electronic operations may occur in the event that the sleeve lock is electronically operable and/or if removal of the safe can be electronically controlled, e.g., in the event a motor is used to insert and remove the safe. The non-electronic operations may include the safe exchanger mechanically actuating the sleeve lock from the locked position to the unlocked position. Block 106 relates to inserting the new safe once the sleeve lock is rotated to the unlocked position and thereafter re-locking the safe.
While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not intended that these embodiments describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Additionally, the features of various implementing embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments of the invention.