Ncr Corporation

Liem H Leong

Grant Charles Paton

Kenneth A Nicoll

Michael Robertson McNamara

Brian E Storey

Wolf-Dieter Rossmann

A self-service terminal ( ) includes a non-contact interface ( ) for enabling a user to interact with the terminal without requiring physical contact with the terminal, a biometric sensor ( ) for establishing the identity of the user by sensing a physical trait or characteristic of the user, and a processor ( ) for controlling the terminal. The interface ( ) may utilize speech recognition and generation.

Terminal

The invention concerns a bank note scanner (2) for assessing the authenticity of a bank note, which includes a vacuum pump (4), an olfactory sensor (8), an authentication means (28) for producing an electrical output indicative of the authenticity of a bank note, and suction means (10) connected to the vacuum pump (4) via the olfactory sensor (8). In operation, a bank note is fed through an entry slot (50) in the scanner (2) into co-operative relationship with the suction means (10) such that the bank note covers, and is sucked against, the suction means (10), thus enabling the sensor (8) to test the note. The authentication means (28) comprises a neural network (26) which can be taught the olfactory characteristics of an authentic bank note. The authentication means (28) is arranged to make a determination of the authenticity of the bank note based on the comparison of the electrical output of the olfactory sensor (8) and the olfactory characteristics of one or more authentic bank notes.

Bank note scanner utilizing olfactory characteristics for authentication

The invention relates to a method of and apparatus for optically scanning bank notes, the method including the steps of transmitting the bank notes along a transport path, illuminating each of the bank notes from one side of the transport path and forming a representation of the bank note utilizing a photo-electric means located on the opposite side of the transport path. The invention is characterized by determining the location of any defect in the bank note in relation to the boundaries of the bank note and determining whether or not the bank note is acceptable for use in an automated teller machine (ATM), dependent on the location of any detected defect.

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Dundee, United Kingdom

Liem H Leong