Importance

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Abstract

A currency handling system adapted to accommodate currencies of any denomination or type without having been pre-programmed with data representative of the denominations or types. The currency handling system is capable of generating such data internally, by scanning a set of master currency bills to obtain master information representative of the master bills which may be used to authenticate subsequent test bills according to selected or default sensitivity levels. The master information may comprise numerical and/or non-numerical data. The determination of authenticity of the test bills is based on a comparison of either pre-stored or self-generated master information with scanned data values associated with the test bills. In one embodiment, a note counter is provided which authenticates and counts a stack of same denomination bills after independently determining the denomination of the bills and selecting appropriate threshold levels corresponding to the denomination of the bills. Master information derived by one machine may be quickly and efficiently loaded into a plurality of additional machines through a flash card loading system. The master information is stored in a resident flash memory of a first machine, then copied onto the memory of a flash card electrically coupled to the first machine. The flash card may then be removed from the first machine and electrically coupled to a selected number of secondary machines, causing the master information to be transferred to the resident flash memory of the secondary machines. The master information is then used to authenticate test bills in the secondary machines in substantially the same manner described above. In one embodiment, the master information and characteristic data values are normalized before the authentication step is performed to account for variations in individual machines.

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First Claim