EP0171380A1 - Automatic terminal made secure by printing and delivery of documents - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to office automation. The subject is an automatic terminal which prints indications of personalisation on documents such as tickets, cheques, travellers' cheques etc. with all guarantees of security in order to avoid that documents thus printed, but the text of which has errors or printing faults, are not delivered to the client at 7, by virtue of verification of the quality and of the content of the printed indications of personalisation. The terminal is preferably used to deliver printed documents without time constraint. <IMAGE>

Description

The subject of the present invention is a secure automatic station for printing personalization indications on documents and issuing documents thus printed having value, such as checks, traveller's checks, air tickets, etc. ., intended to be ordered by a customer.

Increasingly, cash and other routine banking transactions are automatic, which has a number of advantages, including considerable time savings and no time constraints.

These operations are carried out using automatic devices, generally linked to a central computer.

Are known in particular automatic machines for distributing banknotes, controlled using a coded document and capable of functioning as an automatic cash register, so as to carry out cash transactions which previously had to be done at the counters of bank branches. These automatic devices are linked to a bank's central computer and allow the bank's customers to withdraw money from their own account. An installation comprising devices of this type connected to a central processing unit is described in Belgian patent 813,735.

There are also known automatic devices which issue receipts, account statements and other slips. These devices can optionally be combined with the above banknote dispensing devices.

Check distributing devices are also known. A device of this type, described by Belgian patent 864,281, makes it possible to print on blank check forms personal details. reading. This device is associated with a banknote dispensing device and also makes it possible to provide the customer with a printed stock relating to the withdrawal of banknotes made.

More and more automation and the generalization of devices operating autonomously require a very high level of security.

Automatic banknote dispensing machines, the use of which is becoming more widespread, are equipped with sufficient security means to allow installation in public places and their automatic operation without supervision.

It is not the same for devices that print and issue checks. Indeed, a device of the type described in Belgian patent 866.206 which includes a device for printing checks, among other things, is not equipped with any device for checking the indications printed on these checks and the print quality. of these indications and therefore presents insufficient guarantees of security to allow autonomous operation.

There is therefore a demand for a device which prints and delivers documents bearing indications of personalization and having value, such as checks, with sufficient security guarantees to allow their use in the same way as the devices automatic cash dispensers.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide an automatic station which prints personalization indications on documents such as tickets, checks, traveller's checks, etc., with all the security guarantees to avoid documents thus printed, but the text of which contains errors or printing defects, do not are delivered to the customer, through verification of the quality and content of the printed personalization instructions.

Another object of the invention is to provide such an automatic station capable of invalidating printed documents presenting errors or printing defects.

Another object of the invention is to provide an automatic station which prevents documents correctly printed and made available to the client but not withdrawn within a pre-established period of time, from falling into the hands of persons not interested or unauthorized, by removing these documents so as to put them out of access.

The invention as defined above makes it possible to produce an automatic station, accessible 24 hours a day, which can be placed in a public place (station hall, terminal, bank, hotel reception, facade of a building, etc.), and possibly combined with an automatic machine for dispensing banknotes.

In what follows, the invention will be described more particularly in its application to the printing and issuing of checks, but it is obvious that the invention can also be applied to the printing and issuing of other documents presenting of value and bearing the impression of indications of personalization.

• - un ensemble de commande, comprenant un clavier apte à introduire des séquences de commande et de mode de fonctionnement, un lecteur de cartes d'identification, des moyens permettant de contrôler l'identité du client utilisateur, un dispositif d'affichage apte à afficher des instructions pour la manipulation de la station, et des indications sur l'état de fonctionnement de celle-ci,
• - des dispositifs de stockage des documents vierges,
• - une imprimante,
• - une unité de vérification, apte à lire le contenu d'une partie ou de la totalité des zones imprimées dans la station et/ou préimprimées, et à en vérifier la qualité d'impression,
• - un dispositif empileur, apte à empiler les documents correctement imprimés suite à une séquence de commande, avant délivrance au client,
• - une unité de délivrance, apte à délivrer la pile de documents ainsi produite,
• - un dispositif d'invalidation de documents,
• - des moyens de transport, aptes à transporter les documents vierges à partir des dispositifs de stockage vers l'imprimante, puis vers l'unité de vérification,
• - des moyens de transport aptes à transporter les documents correctement imprimés vers le dispositif empileur et aptes à détourner les documents présentant des erreurs ou des défauts d'impression vers un conteneur de rebut, à partir de l'unité de vérification,
• - des moyens de transport aptes à transporter les documents empilés vers l'unité de délivrance,
• - des dispositifs de contrôle, aptes à contrôler l'alimentation des documents à partir des dispositifs de stockage et leur acheminement le long du circuit qu'ils parcourent dans la station, pour les opérations d'impression, de vérification et de délivrance ou de mise au rebut,
• - une unité centrale de gestion reliée à un ensemble de traitement central, apte à agir sur les moyens de transport, sur le dispositif d'affichage, sur l'imprimante, sur le dispositif empileur, sur l'unité de délivrance et sur le dispositif d'invalidation, suivant les données introduites par l'ensemble de commande et en fonction des informations fournies par l'ensemble de traitement central, les dispositifs de contrôle et l'unité de vérification, pour prélever un à un les documents vierges dans les dispositifs de stockage et les introduire un à un dans l'imprimante, imprimer les indications requises suite à une séquence de commande, les transporter ensuite vers l'unité de vérification, transporter les documents correctement imprimés vers le dispositif empileur, puis l'unité de délivrance, ou détourner les documents présentant des erreurs ou défauts d'impression vers le dispositif d'invalidation, puis vers le conteneur de rebut.

The invention relates to an automatic station, guessed to be controlled by a customer, for printing personalization indications on documents such as checks, traveller's checks, transport tickets or the like, and the delivery of these documents, including

• - a control unit, comprising a keyboard capable of introducing command and operating mode sequences, an identification card reader, means making it possible to control the identity of the user client, a display device capable of displaying instructions for handling the station, and indications on the operating status of the station,
• - blank document storage devices,
• - a printer,
• a verification unit, capable of reading the content of part or all of the areas printed in the station and / or pre-printed, and of verifying the print quality thereof,
• - a stacking device, capable of stacking the correctly printed documents following an order sequence, before delivery to the customer,
• - a delivery unit, capable of delivering the stack of documents thus produced,
• - a document invalidation system,
• - means of transport, suitable for transporting blank documents from the storage devices to the printer, then to the verification unit,
• means of transport capable of transporting the correctly printed documents to the stacking device and capable of diverting the documents presenting errors or printing defects to a waste container, from the verification unit,
• - means of transport capable of transporting the stacked documents to the delivery unit,
• - control devices, capable of controlling the supply of documents from the available storage sifs and their routing along the circuit which they traverse in the station, for the operations of printing, checking and delivery or disposal,
• a central management unit connected to a central processing unit, capable of acting on the means of transport, on the display device, on the printer, on the stacking device, on the delivery unit and on the device of invalidation, according to the data entered by the control unit and according to the information provided by the central processing unit, the control devices and the verification unit, to take one by one the blank documents in the devices and insert them one by one into the printer, print the information required following an order sequence, then transport it to the verification unit, transport the correctly printed documents to the stacker, then the delivery unit , or divert documents with printing errors or faults to the invalidation device and then to the waste container.

According to one embodiment, the means for controlling the identity of the operator client include the keyboard for entering a secret code.

According to another embodiment, the means making it possible to control the identity of the operator client include a dynamic signature control device.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the station further comprises means of transport controlled by the central management unit, capable of withdrawing from the issuing unit the correct documents. printed which have not been collected within a pre-established time interval, and to transport these to the invalidation device, then to the waste container.

According to one embodiment, the storage devices are secure containers whose loading and unloading are protected by electronic and mechanical locks.

• - un lecteur optique, situé à proximité de l'imprimante, apte à prendre une image du document, ou d'une partie de celui-ci, et à transmettre cette image, sous forme de données codées, à
• - une matrice de digitalisation, apte à reconnaître et transcrire cette image en données codées destinées à l'unité de contrôle et de gestion, par comparaison avec des données de référence conservées dans une mémoire.

According to a particular embodiment, the verification unit is of the optical reading type and comprises

• - an optical reader, located near the printer, capable of taking an image of the document, or of a part thereof, and of transmitting this image, in the form of coded data, to
• - a digitization matrix, capable of recognizing and transcribing this image into coded data intended for the control and management unit, by comparison with reference data stored in a memory.

According to another particular embodiment, the verification unit is of the bar code reading type.

According to another particular embodiment, the verification unit is of the direct optical reading type, such as for example the OCR-A, OCR-B systems, etc.

According to another particular embodiment, the verification unit is of the magnetic reading type, such as, for example, the MICR-E-13B or MICR-CMC-7 systems.

According to one embodiment, the blank document storage devices comprise several separate containers which can contain several types of documents.

The display device is a display with luminous characters, by liquid crystals, or by cathode ray tubes.

• - la Fig. 1 est une vue de face d'une station suivant l'invention;
• - la Fig. 2 est une coupe verticale d'une station suivant l'invention, et
• - la Fig. 3 est un schéma simplifié des circuits utilisés dans une forme d'exécution de l'invention.

The invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, which represent a preferred embodiment thereof, and in which:

• - Fig. 1 is a front view of a station according to the invention;
• - Fig. 2 is a vertical section through a station according to the invention, and
• - Fig. 3 is a simplified diagram of the circuits used in an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a front view of an automatic station according to the invention. This station includes a frame 1 made of thick sheet steel and intended to contain all the organs of the station. The front face of the frame is provided with a console 2 grouping all the control means and operating indicators of the station, namely a keyboard 3 for entering sequences of command and operating mode, a card reader 4 identification, for example bank cards, a display device 5, capable of displaying instructions for handling the station, as well as indications on the operating state thereof. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the console 2 is also equipped with a device 6 making it possible to control the identity of the user client, such as, for example, a dynamic signature control device or a fingerprint verification device, etc. However, it is also planned to combine the customer's identity control means with the control keyboard 3, by means of which a code secret can be introduced. The console 2 also includes one or more slots 7 intended for the output of printed documents. The automatic station can be provided for issuing several types of documents following a single sequence of commands, for example, checks issued by a first slot, an account statement by a second slot, etc.

Fig. 2 is a section through the automatic station of FIG. l, in which the main organs of the station are represented. The blank documents are stored in storage devices 8, which can comprise several separate containers and thus contain several types of documents, such as stumps, slips, checks, traveller's checks, transport tickets, etc. These blank documents can be stored in the containers either in the form of rolls (to be cut) or in stacks of pre-cut documents, as shown in FIG. 2.

The printer 9 is able to print not only personalization indications on the documents, for example the name and address of the customer, his bank account number as well as his situation, etc., but also special characters, such as graphics or characters used by banking organizations for the electronic reading and verification of checks (characters of the OCR-A, OCR-B, CMC 7 type, etc.).

This printer can be of the daisy type (character wheel), needle type (multiple needle matrix), ink jet, etc., or any other commonly used type.

A verification unit 10 located downstream of the printer 9 verifies the content and the print quality of the personalization indications printed on the documents, the documents thus verified are transported by means of transport (not shown) to a stacking device 11, where they are stacked before being made available to the client by the delivery unit 12. If they are correctly printed, the path traveled by the correctly printed documents is shown in solid lines in FIG. 2. On the other hand, if they carry errors or printing defects, they are diverted to an invalidation device 13 where they are invalidated (by punching, as shown, or by chemical means such as application of an indelible colored substance) before being transported to a waste container 14. The path thus traveled by the printed documents presenting errors or printing defects is shown in center line in FIG. 2.

A control device 15, for example a thickness detector located upstream of the printer verifies that only one document at a time is introduced into the printer. In fact, it may happen that two blank documents which have remained stuck together are taken from a container 6; it can also happen that a document is crumpled during its manipulation; as soon as the anomaly is detected, the document or documents are diverted to the invalidation device 13, then to the waste container 14. The path traveled by these documents is shown in broken lines in FIG. 2.

Likewise, a thickness detector, not shown, can be located at the entrance to the stacking device 11 in order to detect a printed document, checked and deemed acceptable, but having been crumpled during its routing to the delivery unit. This document is hijacked and invalidated as described above.

Finally, a presence detection device 16 located in the delivery unit 12 or downstream of it detects the presence of a document or a stack of documents in the output slot 7. If the documents thus made available to the client have not been picked up by the latter within a predetermined time interval, for example a few tens of seconds, these are removed from the exit slot 7 and sent to the device 13, then to the waste container 14.

Transport means, not shown, ensure the transport of documents along the circuit they travel through the station, for successive printing, verification and delivery or disposal operations.

These means of transport include drive rollers, conveyor belts, or other equivalent systems.

A central management unit 17, also located in the frame 1, which can be a computer or a microprocessor, manages the automatic station. This central management unit 17 is connected to the keyboard 3, to the card reader 4 and to the means for checking the identity of the client 6, to the verification device 10 and to the checking means 15 and 16 by means of a coded data exchange and transmission circuit, designated as a whole by 18 and shown in center line in FIG. 3. This central management unit is also connected to a central processing unit 19 by a line interface 20.

The central management unit 17 is also connected to the card reader 4, to the display device 5, to the means for checking the identity of the client 6, to the printer 9, to the verification unit 10, to the stacking device 11, to the delivery unit 12, to the invalidation device 13 as well as to the various means of transport (not shown) by means of a control circuit designated as a whole by 21 and shown in broken lines in FIG. 3.

Thus, the central management unit 17 is able to order the printing, the verification of the content and the quality of this printing, then the delivery of documents, after having checked the identity and the characteristics (for example account situation customer).

The automatic station is also provided with a supply installation 22 which supplies the various organs of the station, including the central unit 17, via a supply circuit generally designated by 23 and shown in solid lines in FIG. 3.

The power supply 22, of a common type, is used and adapted according to needs and working conditions, is supplemented by a backup installation 23 with batteries, in order to ensure the completion of an operation in progress, in the event of a deficiency in the supply network. An automatic monitoring device 24 connected to the central management unit 17 ensures the commissioning of the emergency installation 23.

The automatic station described above is intended for printing and issuing checks, but it is obvious that the invention can be extended to stations which print and issue traveller's checks or transport tickets. In the latter case, and more particularly for the issue of an international ticket, the central management unit must be linked not only to the central computer of a banking organization which provides the information and characteristics to the client, but also to the central computer of a travel agency, airline, etc., which will provide the information necessary to establish the ticket.

Claims (13)

1.- Automatic station, intended to be ordered by a customer, for printing personalization indications on documents such as checks, traveller's checks, transport tickets or the like, and issuing these documents, characterized in what she understands - a control unit, comprising a keyboard (3) capable of introducing command and operating mode sequences, a reader (4) for identification cards, means making it possible to control the identity of the user client, a device display (5) capable of displaying instructions for handling the station, and indications on the operating state of the station, - blank document storage devices (8), - a printer (9), - a verification unit (10), capable of reading the content of part or all of the areas printed in the station and / or pre-printed, and in checking the print quality, - a stacking device (11), capable of stacking the correctly printed documents following an order sequence, before delivery to the customer, - a delivery unit (12), capable of delivering the stack of documents thus produced, - a document invalidation device (13), - means of transport, able to transport the blank documents from the storage devices (8) to the printer (9), then to the verification unit (10), - means of transport suitable for transporting documents correctly printed towards the stacking device (11) and capable of diverting documents presenting errors or printing defects towards a waste container (14), from the verification unit (10), - means of transport suitable for transporting the stacked documents to the delivery unit (12), - control devices (15, 16), capable of controlling the supply of documents from the storage devices (8) and their routing along the circuit which they travel through the station, for printing operations, verification and delivery or disposal, - a central management unit (17) connected to a central processing unit (19), capable of acting on the means of transport, on the display device (5), on the printer (9), on the device stacker (11), on the delivery unit (12) and on the invalidation device (13), according to the data entered by the control unit and according to the information provided by the central processing unit (19 ), the control devices (15, 16) and the verification unit (10), for removing the blank documents one by one from the storage devices (8) and feeding them one by one into the printer (9) , print the information required following an order sequence, then transport it to the verification unit (10), transport the correctly printed documents to the stacking device (11), then the delivery unit (12), or divert documents with printing errors or faults to the invalidation device (13), then to the e waste container (14). 2.- Station according to claim 1, characterized in that the means for controlling the identity of the operator client include the keyboard (3) for entering a secret code. 3.- Station according to claim 1, characterized in that the means for controlling the identity of the operator client include a dynamic signature control device (6). 4.- Station according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it further comprises means of transport controlled by the central management unit (17), capable of withdrawing from the delivery unit ( 12) properly printed documents which have not been removed within a predetermined time interval, and to transport these to the invalidation device (13), then to the waste container (14). 5.- Station according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the storage devices (8) are secure containers whose loading and unloading are protected by electronic and mechanical interlocks. 6.- Station according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the verification unit (10) is of the optical reading type and comprises - an optical reader, located near the printer, capable of taking an image of the document, or of a part thereof, and of transmitting this image, in the form of coded data, to - a digitization matrix, capable of recognizing and transcribing this image into coded data intended for the control and management unit, by comparison with reference data stored in a memory. 7.- Station according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the verification unit (10) is of the type with barcode reading. 8.- Station according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the verification unit (10) is of the type with direct optical reading. 9.- Station according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the verification unit (10) is of the magnetic reading type. 10.- Station according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the blank document storage devices (8) comprise several separate containers which can contain several types of documents. 11.- Station according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the display device (5) is a display device with light characters. 12.- Station according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the display device (5) is a liquid crystal display device. 13.- Station according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the display device (5) is a display device by cathode ray tubes.

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