Hand Held Products, Inc.

Edward Hatton

Timothy A Good

H Sprague Ackley

Patrick Anthony Giordano

Sean Philip Kearney

Edward C Bremer

Erik Van Horn

Michael Vincent Miraglia

William Ross Rapoport

Gennady Germaine

Christopher Allen

Gregory Mark Rueblinger

Paul Poloniewicz

James Vincent Guiheen

Kevin Saber

Robert M Pierce

Chirag Patel

David J Ryder

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.

Devices, systems, and methods for optical validation

A method for template matching can include iteratively selecting a template set of points to project over a centerline of a candidate symbol; conducting a template matching analysis; assigning a score to each template set; and selecting a template set with a highest assigned score. For example, the score can depend on proximity of the template points to a center and/or boundaries of a principal tracing path of the symbol. Additionally, one or more template sets having a top rank can be selected for a secondary analysis of proximity of the template points to a boundary of a printing of the symbol. The method can further include using the template with the highest score to interpret the candidate symbol.

High-speed OCR decode using depleted centerlines

In one exemplary embodiment in accordance with the disclosure, an image processing system is configured to use a distance authentication template to execute a detection procedure that detects at least one non-linear distortion in a subject image. The distance authentication template can be generated by mapping a set of spatial coordinates of three features in a distortion-free image to a set of pixel coordinates of the three features in the distortion-free image. Addressing a non-linear distortion in the subject image can include performing remedial actions to remedy the non-linear distortion, or taking into consideration the non-linear distortion when using the distance authentication template to identify one or more features in the subject image.

Systems and methods for processing a distorted image

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Kanata, Canada

Edward Hatton