The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 11, 2012
Filed:
Nov. 25, 2008
Ronald Bruce Blair, Flower Mound, TX (US);
Ronald Bruce Blair, Flower Mound, TX (US);
De La Rue North America Inc., Irving, TX (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides a method for determining the physical fitness of documents such as bank notes. The method comprises passing a document past an image sensor while sequentially illuminating the document using multi-mode illumination, wherein a predetermined mode of illumination is used for each line scanned by the image sensor, producing an interleaved image of the document. A multi-dimensional transformation function is applied to this interleaved image to produce a composite measurement, which is then projected onto an empirically determined fitness vector to yield a scalar fitness value for the document. This value is compared against empirically prescribed fitness values to determine if the document is fit enough to remain in circulation or should be taken out of circulation and retired (destroyed).