Devices, systems, and methods for optical validation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017193727-A1
Application number	US-201615388082-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 22, 2016
Priority date	Dec 31, 2015
Publication date	Jul 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Existing currency validation (CVAL) devices, systems, and methods are too slow, costly, intrusive, and/or bulky to be routinely used in common transaction locations (e.g., at checkout, at an automatic teller machine, etc.). Presented herein are devices, systems, and methods to facilitate optical validation of documents, merchandise, or currency at common transaction locations and to do so in an obtrusive and convenient way. More specifically, the present invention embraces a validation device that may be used alone or integrated within a larger system (e.g., point of sale system, kiosk, etc.). The present invention also embraces methods for currency validation using the validation device, as well as methods for improving the quality and consistency of data captured by the validation device for validation.

First claim

1 . A currency validation (CVAL) device, comprising:
an illumination subsystem having one or more light sources and optics for illuminating items in a field of view; an imaging subsystem having an image sensor and optics for capturing digital images of items in the field of view while illuminated by the illumination subsystem; and a processor communicatively coupled to the illumination subsystem and the imaging subsystem, wherein the processor is configured by software to:
activate one or more light sources in the illumination subsystem to illuminate a currency item,
capture an image of the illuminated currency item, and
repeat activating one or more light sources and capturing digital images to obtain a plurality of digital images of the currency item, and
process the plurality of digital images to validate the currency item.

2 . The CVAL device according to claim 1 , wherein the subsystems and the processor are contained within:
a handheld housing, or a point of sale counter having a window onto which the currency item is placed for illumination and imaging.

3 . The CVAL device according to claim 1 , comprising a user-interface subsystem communicatively coupled to the processor for displaying at least one of: (i) a result of the currency validation and (ii) feedback to facilitate the positioning of the currency item.

4 . The CVAL device according to claim 1 , further comprising a mode-selection switch communicatively coupled to the processor for placing the CVAL device into either an indicia reading mode or a currency validation mode, wherein in indicia reading mode the processor is configured by software to:
activate the one or more light sources in the illumination subsystem to illuminate an indicia item, capture at least one image of the illuminated indicia item, and process the at least one captured image to decode at least one indicium.

5 . The CVAL device according to claim 4 , comprising an aiming subsystem communicatively coupled to the mode-selection switch and having one or more aiming-light sources and optics for projecting (i) a first targeting pattern into the field of view when the CVAL device is in indicia reading mode and (ii) a second targeting pattern into the field of view when the CVAL device is in CVAL mode.

6 . The CVAL device according to claim 5 , wherein the optics of the aiming subsystem include at least one of a diffractive optical element and shaping optics for creating the first targeting pattern and the second targeting pattern.

7 . The CVAL device according to claim 5 , wherein the aiming system's one or more aiming-light sources include a first laser for radiating light for the first targeting pattern and a second laser for radiating light for the second targeting pattern.

8 . A point of sale system, comprising:
a cash register for registering and calculating transactions at a point of sale; a handheld imager communicatively coupled to the cash register, the handheld imager operable in either (i) an indicia reading mode for reading indicia as part of a checkout process or (ii) in a CVAL mode for validating currency as part of a checkout process; wherein in the CVAL mode, the handheld imager illuminates an item in a field of view with illumination flashes of different spectral profiles and captures at least one image for each illumination flash, and wherein in the indicia reading mode, the handheld imager captures a digital image of an indicia item in the field of view, and processes the digital image to recognize and decode one or more indicia found in the digital image, the CVAL mode and the indicia reading mode each comprising a mode of operation of the handheld imager.

9 . The point of sale system according to claim 8 , wherein the handheld imager comprises processing circuitry and the mode of operation is set by signals from the processing circuitry, wherein the signals are generated by the processing circuitry in response to an analysis of the captured image.

10 . The point of sale system according to claim 8 , wherein the cash register is further configured to output signals, wherein the mode of operation is set by the signals from the cash register in response to a transaction event.

11 . The point of sale system according to claim 8 , wherein the handheld imager comprises interface circuitry and the mode of operation is set by signals from the interface circuitry, wherein the signals are generated by the interface circuitry in response to user input.

12 . The point of sale system according to claim 11 , wherein the interface circuitry includes at least one of:
a trigger switch and the mode of operation is set by a movement of the trigger switch and a microphone and the mode of operation is set by voice command spoken into the microphone.

13 . A method for currency validation (CVAL), comprising:
activating a CVAL device to begin operation once a currency item is positioned within a field of view of the CVAL device, the CVAL device capable of illuminating items in the field of view with a plurality of spectral profiles and capable of capturing digital images of the items for each illumination; illuminating the currency item with light having a particular spectral profile; capturing a digital image of the illuminated currency item; repeating the steps of illuminating and capturing to obtain a plurality of digital images of the currency item illuminated by different spectral profiles; processing the digital images; and validating the currency item using the results of the processing.

14 . The method for CVAL according to claim 13 , wherein the step of processing the digital images comprises:
recognizing at least one of characters and features on the currency item; identifying the currency item based on the recognized characters and features; and retrieving from memory one or more comparison standards for the identified currency item from a library of comparison standards and the step of validating the currency item comprises one of:
i) comparing the plurality of processed digital images to the one or more comparison standards, or
ii) identifying one or more regions of interest on the currency item;
obtaining pixel levels from the one or more regions of interest from each digital image; and
comparing the pixel levels from the one or more regions of interest to the one or more comparison standards.

15 . The method for CVAL according to claim 13 , wherein the step of validating the currency item comprises:
identifying multiple regions of interest on the currency item; obtaining pixel levels each from the multiple regions of interest for each digital image; and comparing, for each digital image, the pixel levels from a particular region of interest to other regions of interest.

16 . The method for CVAL according to claim 13 , further comprising the step of:
providing feedback based on the CVAL indicating that the currency item is valid or invalid.

17 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein the CVAL device is communicatively coupled to a point of sale system and the currency item is validated at a point of sale, the method further comprising:
if the validation finds the currency item counterfeit, then acting to gather information from the currency item and/or a customer at the point of sale.

18 . The method according to claim 17 , wherein the step of acting to gather information from the currency item and/or the customer comprises at least one of:
displaying a message on the point of sale system's display requesting a valid identification from t

Assignees

• Hand Held Prod Inc

Inventors

• Van Horn Erik
• Germaine Gennady
• Allen Christopher
• Ryder David
• Poloniewicz Paul
• Saber Kevin
• Kearney Sean Philip
• Hatton Edward
• Bremer Edward C
• Miraglia Michael Vincent
• Pierce Robert
• Rapoport William Ross
• Guiheen James Vincent
• Patel Chirag
• Giordano Patrick Anthony
• Good Timothy
• Rueblinger Gregory

Classifications

• G06K7/015

  Aligning or centering of the sensing device with respect to the record carrier · CPC title

• G07D7/206

  Matching template patterns · CPC title

• G07D2207/00

  Paper-money testing devices · CPC title

• G07D7/2016

  using feature extraction, e.g. segmentation, edge detection or Hough-transformation · CPC title

• G07D7/12

  Visible light, infrared or ultraviolet radiation · CPC title