Banknote processing is an automated process to check the

security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...

(or authenticity) features and the fitness of

banknote A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable instrument, negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes w ...

s in circulation, to count and sort them by denomination and to balance deposits. This processing of

currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general ...

is performed by security printing companies,

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a centra ...

financial institution Financial institutions, sometimes called banking institutions, are business entities that provide services as intermediaries for different types of financial monetary transactions. Broadly speaking, there are three major types of financial inst ...

s and cash-in-transit (CiT) companies.

Cash Cycle

The cash cycle is driven by

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in orde ...

s for lower values and banknotes for higher values (called ''denominations''). The central bank orders the banknotes from security printing companies and stocks them. To get banknotes, financial institutions raise a credit at the central bank with paying interests and depositing securities. On request of their customers they pay them out over the bank counter or cash dispensers (i.e., automated teller machines, ATM) and put them into

circulation Circulation may refer to: Science and technology * Atmospheric circulation, the large-scale movement of air * Circulation (physics), the path integral of the fluid velocity around a closed curve in a fluid flow field * Circulatory system, a bio ...

. After paying at

cash register A cash register, sometimes called a till or automated money handling system, is a mechanical or electronic device for registering and calculating transactions at a point of sale. It is usually attached to a drawer for storing cash and other ...

s of

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and th ...

gas station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasol ...

vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The fir ...

s (e.g., cigarettes, tickets, drinks) or depositing in ATMs the cash is returned to the financial institutions. In most cases, CiT companies pick up the cash receipts by armored cars and refill the cash dispensers or store it in bank vaults. Depending on the country the cash cycle is regulated and structured differently. Some central banks (e.g., the Bank of England or the

Reserve Bank of Australia The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is Australia's central bank and banknote issuing authority. It has had this role since 14 January 1960, when the ''Reserve Bank Act 1959'' removed the central banking functions from the Commonwealth Bank. T ...

) delegate their tasks for maintaining the fitness and checking the authenticity to the financial institutions and accept only unfit banknotes to be deposited (returned). Otherwise they may charge a penalty or a fee. The

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important centra ...

(ECB) stipulates that the financial institutions may always return the banknotes as standardized units (bundles of 1,000 banknotes, sorted by denomination, banded as packages of 100 banknotes) without having sorted them for the fitness level. The

Deutsche Bundesbank The Deutsche Bundesbank (), literally "German Federal Bank", is the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany and as such part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Due to its strength and former size, the Bundesbank is the most ...

(DBB) even accepts unsorted banknotes as "multi-denomination deposit" for a moderate

fee A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Republic of Ireland) receive a fee in contra ...

independent from the amount of the payment. This attractive offering supports a high quality of the cash in circulation and the reliable and early detection of

counterfeit money Counterfeit money is currency produced without the legal sanction of a state or government, usually in a deliberate attempt to imitate that currency and so as to deceive its recipient. Producing or using counterfeit money is a form of fraud or fo ...

all over

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. The

National Bank of Belgium The National Bank of Belgium (NBB; nl, Nationale Bank van België, french: Banque nationale de Belgique, german: Belgische Nationalbank) has been the central bank of Belgium since 1850. The National Bank of Belgium was established with 100% pr ...

, the

Oesterreichische Nationalbank The Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) is the central bank of Austria and, as such, an integral part of both the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the Eurozone. It started operations on , replacing the Austro-Hungarian Bank of whic ...

with its participation in ''Geldservice Austria'' (GSA) and the Central Bank of Luxembourg apply similar models of the optimized cash cycle. The central banks define the conditions for the recirculation of fit banknotes by the financial institutions. The ECB, with its ''Decision on the authenticity and fitness checking and recirculation of euro banknotes'' (ECB/2010/14), defines a minimum standard for the recirculation of

euro banknotes Banknotes of the euro, the common currency of the Eurozone (euro area members), have been in circulation since the first series (also called ''ES1'') was issued in 2002. They are issued by the national central banks of the Eurosystem or the Eur ...

by financial institutions and other professional cash handlers. This includes the verification of authenticity and sufficient fitness level by certified ''banknote processing machines''. Damaged and soiled banknotes must be returned to the National Central Bank (NCB). Suspect counterfeit money must be handed over to the competent national authorities.

History

Counting machines

First mechanical means for the sorting and counting of banknotes existed in the 1920s already. In 1916, the USA granted the

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling disclo ...

''Machine for Assorting and Counting Paper Money''. The machine offered several slots for feeding banknotes by a cashier and used mechanical counters. It was used as ''Federal Bill Counter'' by the

Federal Reserve System The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

over several decades. From 1957, the British

De La Rue De La Rue plc (, ) is a British company headquartered in Basingstoke, England, that designs and produces banknotes, secure polymer substrate and banknote security features (including security holograms, security threads and security print ...

marketed the first counting machine based on spindle principles, i.e., with counting the pieces on the edges.

Sorting machines

When

microelectronics Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture (or microfabrication) of very small electronic designs and components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-s ...

became available by the end of the 1960s, the development of sorting machines started to check the authenticity and fitness of banknotes in one step. First prototypes were developed by

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems ...

in Japan, by Crosfield Business Machines under the guidance of John Crosfield in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, by ''Società di Fisica Applicata'' (SFA) in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, and by ''Gesellschaft für Automation und Organisation'' (GAO), a subcompany of Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), in

under the guidance of

Helmut Gröttrup Helmut Gröttrup (12 February 1916 – 4 July 1981) was a German engineer, rocket scientist and inventor of the smart card. During World War II, he worked in the German V-2 rocket program under Wernher von Braun. From 1946 to 1950 he headed a grou ...

. In 1976 the US company ''Recognition Equipment Inc'' (REI) joined. The demand was driven by the central banks, mainly

Bank of Japan The is the central bank of Japan. Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in The bank is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chūō, Tokyo. History Like most modern Japanese institutions, the Bank of Japan was fou ...

, Banca d'Italia,

De Nederlandsche Bank De Nederlandsche Bank NV (DNB) is the central bank of the Netherlands. Founded by King William I in 1814, it is part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). De Nederlandsche Bank is a public limited company ( Dutch: '' naamloze vennoot ...

and the German

. The sorting machines of the first generation achieved a processing speed of 4 up to 20 banknotes per second. In many cases they were built on the technology of reading

punched card A punched card (also punch card or punched-card) is a piece of stiff paper that holds digital data represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Punched cards were once common in data processing applications or to di ...

s or mail sorting or used synergies in manufacturing such machines. The model ''ISS 300'' of G+D was a product of the first generation and designed as a ''semi-automatic machine''. It sorted the banknotes of a preselected denomination by authenticity and fitness, achieved a processing speed of 8 banknotes per seconds and was introduced by the Deutsche Bundesbank in 1977. It was manufactured until 2000 and set a world-wide reference of banknote processing systems with more than 2,100 sold systems to 67 countries. In 2006, an early machine was exhibited in the

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology, with about 28,000 exhibited objects from ...

to demonstrate

pattern recognition Pattern recognition is the automated recognition of patterns and regularities in data. It has applications in statistical data analysis, signal processing, image analysis, information retrieval, bioinformatics, data compression, computer graphic ...

as an early application of

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system ...

. From 1985, the progress of microelectronics on base of

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...

s enabled banknote processing systems with a processing speed of up to 40 banknotes per second with fully automated functions of debanding, banding, bundling and online destruction by a paper shredder. The ''BPS 3000'' from G+D was a second generation machine which dominated the market as ''fully automatic machine'' after achieving a large order from the US

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

in 1990 and replaced the ''Currency Verification and Counting System'' (CVCS) from REI. The Deutsche Bundesbank and further central banks followed. As variant BPS 2000 OBIS it became a world-wide standard for the final quality inspection of single notes in banknote printing works.'' File:Banknote Processing System ISS 300PS.jpg, Banknote processing system ISS 300PS exhibited im Deutschen Museum (1986/2006) File:REI CVCS mit Bill Counter.jpg, REI CVCS banknote processing system with Federal Bill Counter (1994) File:Banknote Processing in India with BPS 200.jpg, Banknote processing in an Indian cash center with BPS 200 from G+D (2004) File:Banknote Processing in the Central Bank of Democratic Republic of the Congo.jpg, Banknote processing in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

with BPS 200 and a DLR 8762 tabletop sorter from De La Rue (2010)

Functions of banknote processing

The machines for banknote processing offer different levels of

automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

with a processing speed of up to 44 banknotes per second.

Automated feeding

With the highest automation level the banknotes are automatically fed to the singler by using the following principles: * Feeding of printed sheets of paper with up to 60 banknotes in security printing into a cutting system and subsequent filling of circulating carriers with up to 1,000 loose banknotes each * Feeding of loose banknotes from standardized trays * Feeding of packaged banknotes by automated opening of parcels and bundles (e.g., a

carton A carton is a box or container usually made of liquid packaging board, paperboard and sometimes of corrugated fiberboard. Many types of cartons are used in packaging. Sometimes a carton is also called a box. Types of cartons Folding carto ...

or a

shrink wrap Shrink may refer to: Common meanings * Miniaturization *Shrink, a slang term for: ** a psychiatrist ** a psychoanalyst ** a psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cogn ...

ped parcel of 10 bundles with 10 packages of 100 banknotes) * Debanding of the packages by cutting and removing the

currency strap A currency strap, currency band or bill strap is a simple paper device designed to hold a specific denomination and number of banknotes. It can also refer to the bundle itself. In the United States, the American Bankers Association (ABA) has a ...

Singler

Banknote quality in circulation in Nigeria (year 2000)

The singler pulls single banknotes from a stack. Simple machines are using the

friction Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding (motion), sliding against each other. There are several types of friction: *Dry friction is a force that opposes the relative la ...

principle (friction singler), grip them at the long edge and transport, and evaluate and sort them by a short-edge transport. High-speed machines additionally use compressed air and

suction Suction is the colloquial term to describe the air pressure differential between areas. Removing air from a space results in a pressure differential. Suction pressure is therefore limited by external air pressure. Even a perfect vacuum cannot ...

, grip the banknotes at the short edge (long-edge transport) and bring them within milliseconds to a speed of up to 11 m/s (approx. 40 km/h or 25 miles/hour). This banknotes are accelerated by more than 500-fold

earth gravity The gravity of Earth, denoted by , is the net acceleration that is imparted to objects due to the combined effect of gravitation (from mass distribution within Earth) and the centrifugal force (from the Earth's rotation). It is a vector quan ...

(i.e., >5,000 m/s²). A special challenge is the singling of banknotes with poor quality, e.g., due to limpness, soiling, mechanical defects, glued by adhesive tape or

chewing gum Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/ plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating. Its ...

, often distorted by long storage, or high moisture. By using separator cards or header cards, different deposits can be accounted separately without interrupting the singling.

Detectors

The detectors check each single banknote for the following features: * Detecting the denomination, series and orientation, e.g., distinguishing

between series ES1 and ES2 or sorting

US dollar The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

for faced orientation * Reading the serial number for statistical purposes, if applicable for the search of

blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to f ...

money * Checking the authenticity of banknote based on machine-readable security features * Determining the fitness for recirculation by evaluating

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former ...

, stains, ink wear, and mechanical damages (e.g.,

tearing Tearing is the act of breaking apart a material by force, without the aid of a cutting tool. A tear in a piece of paper, fabric, or some other similar object may be the result of the intentional effort with one's bare hands, or be accidental. ...

, holes, adhesive tapes, dog ears, missing parts, fold, crumpling, limpness) * Detecting dyed banknotes which were neutralized by an ''Intelligent Banknote Neutralisation System'' (IBNS), e.g., when a stolen ATM cassette was opened without authorization Optical and other physical measuring systems are used to detect these characteristics. Security features of banknotes are strictly

covert Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

with regard to composition and detection principles. Banknotes which cannot be verified as genuine are rejected to a special output pocket for manual inspection. This also applies for multiple items if the singler pulls more than one banknote at once. The machine operator can refeed them to the singler or check the human-readable authenticity features.

Stacking and packaging

The processed banknotes are output to various stackers depending on the evaluated category. In general stackers with

spiral In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point. Helices Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

operation) are assigned to one sorting category. * Pre-packaging of bundles with 5 or 10 output packages for a unit of 500 or 1,000 banknotes, optionally with a

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed d ...

printed with processing data * Bundling of the units by a packaging machinery with using

vacuum packing Vacuum packing is a method of packaging that removes air from the package prior to sealing. This method involves placing items in a plastic film package, removing air from inside and sealing the package. Shrink film is sometimes used to have a t ...

. This procedure protects the banknotes from soil and dirt and prevents the

theft Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for so ...

of single banknotes. * Aggregation of 4 to 20 bundles with using shrink wrap or

(secondary packaging) * Automated palletizing by a

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be ...

Destruction

The destruction of unfit or recalled banknotes is a responsibility of the central bank. In general, the destruction is performed by a shredder. The machine cross-cuts the banknotes to particles (shreds) with an area of less than 25 mm². This work process is executed under very high security provisions to preclude manipulation of authenticity detection and counting. Optionally,

digital signature A digital signature is a mathematical scheme for verifying the authenticity of digital messages or documents. A valid digital signature, where the prerequisites are satisfied, gives a recipient very high confidence that the message was created b ...

s are used to protect the

application software Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a ...

and transmission of counting data. In a second stage the shreds are collected by a special suction system and briquetted to reduce the volume. The briquettes may be disposed of in a landfill of burnt for heat generation. Some central banks offer shreds as a popular

souvenir A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a ...

. File:Euro banknote shreds.jpg, Shreds of euro banknotes (series ES2) with a typical size of 1.5 x 14 mm² File:Geldscheine geschreddert und zu Block verpresst P5130163.jpg, Briquetted euro banknotes by

(approx. 1 kg) File:Shreds US Dollar Details.jpg, Shredded

with a typical size of 1.5 × 14 mm² File:Fed-Shreds of US dollar from FRB San Francisco.jpg, Shredded US dollar by

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (informally referred to as the San Francisco Fed) is the federal bank for the twelfth district in the United States. The twelfth district is made up of nine western states— Alaska, Arizona, Califor ...

as souvenir File:Shredded US-Dollar Notes front view.jpg, Briquetted US dollar by Federal Reserve Bank of New York (approx. 1,000 pieces, 1 kg)

Market and manufacturers

Since 1995 the offering of banknote processing machines has differentiated to the following product classes: * Modular high-speed systems with a high degree of automation and a processing speed of more than 20 banknotes per second with up to 20 output stackers for the concurrent processing of mixed denominations (multi-denomination processing) or mixed currencies * Modular desktop systems for mid-range performance (mainly used by cash centers of CiT companies and financial institutions) * Compact tabletop systems with up to 4 output stackers for the use in the

back office A back office in most corporations is where work that supports '' front office'' work is done. The front office is the "face" of the company and is all the resources of the company that are used to make sales and interact with customers and clie ...

of a

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit. It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with co ...

branch * Simple tabletop systems for the cashier for counting and low-level authenticity verification (no sorting) The preeminent market leader for high-speed systems is the German Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), followed by the Japanese

and the British-American ''Cash Processing Solutions'' (CPS) with low market shares. The CPS products are based on the technology of Recognition Equipment Inc. (REI), which was acquired by ''Currency Systems International'' (CSI) in 1990, by ''De La Rue'' in 2002 and divested to CPS in 2016 . The Japanese ''Glory'', followed by G+D and several Chinese, Korean and Japanese suppliers, leads the desktop and compact tabletop market. Super-large cash centers have a capacity of processing upt to 20 million banknotes per day. They are protected by the highest security provisions to protect from heists. The world-wide largest cash canters are: * Federal Reserve Bank of New York:

East Rutherford Operations Center The East Rutherford Operations Center (EROC) at 100 Orchard Street, East Rutherford, New Jersey, is the regional office for cash handling and banknote processing of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The facility, which was constructed by Tor ...

(EROC) with high-speed systems from G+D, operational since 1992. For the first time it used an

automated storage and retrieval system An automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS or AS/RS) consists of a variety of computer-controlled systems for automatically placing and retrieving loads from defined storage locations. Automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) are ty ...

(AS/RS) and automated guided vehicles (AGV). *

: Center in Toda (North of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

) with high-speed systems from Toshiba, operational since 1993. It has a very high degree of automation with nearly unmanned operation from the deposited to the withdrawn parcel, using conveyor belts and packaging machinery. *

People's Bank of China The People's Bank of China (officially PBC or informally PBOC; ) is the central bank of the People's Republic of China, responsible for carrying out monetary policy and regulation of financial institutions in mainland China, as determined by ...

: Several large cash centers in metropolitan areas, mainly with high-speed processing systems from G+D, operational since 2003 *

: Cash center in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is th ...

, operational since July 2021. It is using a high degree of automation with a standardized "P-Behälter" and relies on conveyors belts, automated guided vehicles and packaging systems.

Related technologies

Banknote processing is a special application of

document processing Document processing is a field of research and a set of production processes aimed at making an analog document digital. Document processing does not simply aim to photograph or scan a document to obtain a digital image, but also to make it digital ...

for currency based on security paper or

polymer A polymer (; Greek ''poly-'', "many" + '' -mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic and ...

. Therefore some manufacturers tried adapting existing technology for banknote processing, especially for the singling and

image scanner An image scanner—often abbreviated to just scanner—is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting or an object and converts it to a digital image. Commonly used in offices are variations of the desktop ''flatbed scanner'' ...

. Such applications comprised: *

Punched card sorter A Punched card sorter is a machine for sorting decks of punched cards. Sorting was a major activity in most facilities that processed data on punched cards using unit record equipment. The work flow of many processes required decks of cards to b ...

: Reading of binary encoded information and sorting of punched cards, see also

Hollerith machines Starting at the end of the nineteenth century, well before the advent of electronic computers, data processing was performed using electromechanical machines collectively referred to as unit record equipment, electric accounting machines (EAM) or ...

checks Check or cheque, may refer to: Places * Check, Virginia Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Check'' (film), a 2021 Indian Telugu-language film * ''The Checks'' (episode), a 1996 TV episode of ''Seinfeld'' Games and sports * Check (chess), a thr ...

: Reading of checks (or cheques) by magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) and sorting for the paying financial institutions. In 2000, the US Federal Reserve System processed more checks (approx. 40 billion per year) than banknotes. Since 2003, with Check 21 Act and check truncation, the full image scanning of checks is used and physical return if the checks to the paying financial institution is no longer necessary. *

Voucher A voucher is a bond of the redeemable transaction type which is worth a certain monetary value and which may be spent only for specific reasons or on specific goods. Examples include housing, travel, and food vouchers. The term voucher is also a ...

s and

coupon In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be redeemed for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in re ...

s: Reading of documents with a defined value, mainly used in

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live enterta ...

s and retail. In some countries food coupons are used to subsidize the deserving poor. *

Medical prescription A prescription, often abbreviated or Rx, is a formal communication from a physician or other registered health-care professional to a pharmacist, authorizing them to dispense a specific prescription drug for a specific patient. Historica ...

s: Scanning and reading of printed documents for central accounting with health insurance companies * Mail sorting: Reading the address of letters and sorting by the

postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal ...

. Modern systems are capabel to sort the letters according to the detailed sequence of destinations for the distribution by the mailman. Meanwhile these applications are differentiated because the requirements for banknote processing are quite special. Only Toshiba is offering banknote processing and mail sorting machinery from the same division.

Patents

One of the first comprehensive

patent application A patent application is a request pending at a patent office for the grant of a patent for an invention described in the patent specification and a set of one or more claims stated in a formal document, including necessary official forms and rel ...

s was filed by the Italian ''Societá di Fisica Applicata'' (SFA) on May 31, 1972, as "Automatic Used Banknote Selecting Machine". It described an apparatus for the detection of counterfeits (by

watermark A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations ...

fluorescence Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore a lower photon energy, ...

and intaglio printing), the measuring of the wearing by comparison with a sample banknote, and the reading of the serial number. SFA developed the machine ''Selenota'' which was used by the central banks of Italy and Spain until the early 1980s. The patent US 3,800,155 which was granted on March 26, 1974, was easily avoided due to weak claims and only had little market impact. In the 1990s, the US company Cummins Allison Corp. installed a comprehensive patent protection for tabletop machines, especially for the combination of short-edge transport with a processing speed of more than 800 banknotes per minute. In 2003 it filed infringement lawsuits against Japanese Glory and Korean Shinwoo for compensation of the damage and fine with severals tens of million US dollar. With this success Cummins Allison could seal the US market of tabletop machines off from competition until the main patents expired in 2017. Meanwhile the relevant basic patent have expired for all product segments. Therefore manufacturers from China and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

have tried to enter the market of high-speed machines by copied technology, but with little success due to issues of

product quality In business, engineering, and manufacturing, quality – or high quality – has a pragmatic interpretation as the non-inferiority or superiority of something (goods or services); it is also defined as being suitable for the intended purpose (f ...

Literature and media

* Criminal fiction ''Montecristo'' from Martin Suter describing a white-collar crime by unauthorized printing of Swiss franc * Documentary film ''Tonbridge Securitas Heist'' on Securitas depot robbery in

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

, Kent, with a prey of £53.1m in 2006 * Action film Den of Thieves with a fictional raid on a cash transport and the Los Angeles branch of the

.{{cite web, title=Den of Thieves (official trailer), url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HusPt_1-qto, url-status=, format=, access-date=2022-04-22, archive-url=, archive-date=, last=, date=2018, year=, language=, pages=, quote= The scenery of banknote processing does not correspond to the principle of FRB operations.

References

Banknotes Security