GB2595522A

GB2595522A - Cartridge packing assembly

Info

Publication number: GB2595522A
Application number: GB2008128.7A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Naveed Mohammed
Original assignee: Vaultex UK Ltd
Current assignee: Vaultex UK Ltd
Priority date: 2020-05-29
Filing date: 2020-05-29
Publication date: 2021-12-01
Also published as: TW202211173A; GB202008128D0; WO2021240178A1

Abstract

A container assembly 32 for transporting banknotes comprises base member 44 and wall member 36 upstanding from the base member to define a tray member having an openable portion along a side of the base member comprising a movable wall member 48. A cover 64 is movable from an open configuration to a closed configuration to close a space defined by the base member 44 and wall member 36 of the tray member, and so close the container. An apparatus for dispensing a predefined number of banknotes comprises a dispenser having a banknote sensor to maintain a count of the number of banknotes dispensed and a collection part to support dispensed banknotes within a removable container and to support a moveable banknote supporting shelf within the removeable container. Movement of the shelf is controlled to maintain a drop distance from the dispenser to form a stack of banknotes until a pre-defined count of banknotes is reached. A system can include the container assembly and the apparatus. A method for using the system is disclosed, where the moveable shelf is removed from the container.

Description

Apparatus, system and method for value token handling

Field

The present invention relates to an apparatus, system and method for handling value tokens, for example, value tokens comprising cash. In particular, but not exclusively, the value tokens comprise banknotes.

Background

Cash, in the form of banknotes, is widely available through so-called Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), sometimes referred to as "cash machines". Automated Teller Machines are cash dispensing machines, which are available to be used by qualifying members of the public. For example, a qualifying member may be a person who holds a bank account identity card such as a debit or credit card for a bank which operates an ATM either alone or in cooperation with other bank organisations. ATMs are simple to use and may be operated by a combination of the automated inspection of an identity card and input of a personal identity number (PIN) in order to obtain cash.

ATMs need to be replenished with cash from time to time. Additionally, as part of an audit process, and/or to retrieve undispensed (residual) notes (for example those which have been unpicked from the store of banknotes for some reason) cash is retrieved from an ATM.

The very nature of cash, i.e. that it is difficult to trace, makes cash handling and distribution vulnerable to euphemistically entitled "losses" as it passes through the hands of the various people and organisations in the process chain for replenishing ATMs with cash and retrieving cash from ATMs.

ATMs are generally configured to receive "cassettes" filled with a recorded number of banknotes. The cassette and ATM machinery are interoperable to extract a requested number of banknotes from a cassette in response to customer input at the ATM user interface, i.e. screen and/or keypad. The use of cassettes is a convenient way to replenish an ATM with a recorded number of banknotes.

The management of banknote cassettes may be undertaken at a "cash handling" facility where banknotes are loaded into cassettes for distribution to ATMs. Given the physical characteristics of banknotes, used banknotes may be difficult to process as they can be creased and polymer banknotes may be particularly difficult to process as creasing and folding may result in, to all practical purposes, permanent deformation. The handling of banknotes to form them into suitably sized bundles for loading into a cassette and the loading of banknotes into a cassette may be done by hand. Manual loading of banknotes may result in inconsistencies in the distribution of banknotes within a cassette, such as the banknotes having an uneven height when in the cassette. This may be the case even when the loading is done by the same operator and such inconsistencies exacerbated if different operators are loading cassettes. Banknotes which protrude, even slightly, from the main bundle of banknotes can cause inconsistency in distribution from a cassette when the cassette is in an ATM or even jamming of the ATM.

Aspects and embodiments of the present invention were devised with the foregoing in mind.

Summary

Viewed from a first aspect there is provided a container assembly for the transporting of banknotes, the container assembly comprising: a base member; a wall member upstanding from the base member to define a tray member having an openable portion along a side of the base member; the openable portion provided by a movable wall member; and a cover movable from an open configuration to a closed configuration to close a space defined by the base member and wall member of the tray member in which the container is closed.

Such a container assembly may permit the loading of banknotes into the container assembly through the openable portion from a note counting and dispensing machine. Automatic loading of banknotes into the container assembly obviates, or at least reduces, the need for human handling of banknotes thereby reducing the opportunity for theft and to create a more efficient packing process.

Suitably, the cover is releasably couplable to the tray member to permit slidable release and removal of the cover from the container assembly. In particular, the cover is releasably couplable to the movable wall member, suitably for maintaining the movable wall member in a closed position for retaining contents of the container assembly. Typically, the movable wall member comprises a coupling member forming a complementary part of a releasable coupling arrangement with the cover.

Optionally or additionally, the cover is releasably couplable to the tray member at a position opposing the movable wall member. Typically, the position opposing the movable wall member comprises a coupling member forming a complementary part of a releasable coupling arrangement with the cover. Coupling the cover to the movable wall member and also to a location on the tray member opposing the movable wall member may assist in maintaining the movable wall member in a closed position. In particular, one or other of the coupling arrangements may comprise a resiliently biased material such that the cover may be retained under tension, for example by use of an elastic cord, to achieve a more reliable yet removable closure for the container assembly by the cover.

The cover may be of a transparent material. The cover may, for example, be made of polypropylene.

The tray member maybe transparent but is to be of more rigid construction than the cover material so as to maintain the configuration of the cover when it is closed over the tray member. In a particular embodiment the tray member is made of Correx ®.

In one or more embodiments a height of the wall member relative to the base member is sufficient to retain a banknote in the tray member. Suitably, the container is made to measure for each size of banknote to be loaded into the container thereby reducing the likelihood of movement of the banknotes packaged in the container and reducing the likelihood of the banknotes becoming misshapen. Previously, bundles of banknotes were strapped into stacks, known as "bricks", using plastic strapping material which compresses the brick around its middle and resulting in banknotes becoming misshapen. In one or more embodiments where banknotes are packaged in the container, no strapping is required and banknotes are packaged loose within the container. This means that banknotes may be more neatly stacked in the containers than previously strapped notes, resulting in a more uniform packing of ATM cassettes and fewer "pick" problems at the ATM thereby reducing the likelihood of outages and contributing to increased ATM availability.

In one or more embodiments the movable wall member is hingedly coupled to the base member which may aid in moving the movable wall member into a position to provide a chute or slide suitable for guiding bank notes into or out of the container.

Suitably, the movable wall member may comprise a low friction surface at a surface of the movable wall member to face an interior of the tray member. Thus, when the movable wall member is opened and configured as a chute banknotes and other container content elements may be more smoothly and easily moved over the chute than if it had a higher friction surface.

The movable wall member may be configurable and optionally configured to form a slide or chute to interface to an output of an automated banknote dispenser in order to guide banknotes from the dispenser into the container thereby assisting in automated loading of the container and reducing human operator involvement.

A container assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the tray member is configured for accommodating a stack of banknotes such that respective banknotes are supported along a major side edge by the base member.

Typically, the base member has a form factor to fit into an ATM cassette for holding banknotes. Such a form factor assists in loading banknotes into an ATM cassette.

More generally, the base member is rectangular in form; typically, wherein the container assembly has a cuboid configuration, in particular a rectangular cuboid configuration.

One or more embodiments in accordance with the present invention may provide for banknotes being packed more loosely in the container compared to conventional packing, keeping air between notes and reducing static. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) may also be utilised as a surface or as the container assembly walls and/or base to promote banknotes falling into an ATM cassette due to its anti-static properties. One or more embodiments may reduce the use of single use plastics in comparison to conventional banding and strapping for banknotes for ATM cassette packing. Moreover, the use of single use plastics for ATM fit or suitable banknotes being sent to Bank Branches and the subsequent return of Branch Cash to a Cash Centre for processing may be reduced or even eliminated, as the banknotes are placed in the same box as the outbound notes. This may mean that banknotes can go straight to processing in the Cash Centre thereby taking a processing step out of the current process (normally the staff in the Cash Centre would have to undertake this activity).

The cassette packing process may be improved by the design of one or more differently sized container to hold a number of notes most commonly required for cassette packing orders.

Viewed from a second aspect there is provided apparatus for dispensing a pre-defined number of banknotes, the apparatus comprising: a dispenser part comprising a sensor for sensing a banknote dispensed from the apparatus and initiating an increase in a count value for each sense event; and a collection part configured to support a removeable container for transporting banknotes dispensed from the apparatus and support a movable shelf within such a removeable container for supporting banknotes dispensed from the dispenser part; the apparatus further configured to: control movement of a shelf supported by the collection part to maintain a drop distance from the dispenser part for dispensed banknotes to form a stack of banknotes and move the shelf to an end of a removeable container supported by the collection part distal from the dispenser part responsive to the count value reaching the pre-defined number.

In an embodiment the apparatus may be further configured for the shelf to be removeable from the removeable container for the shelf located at the end of the removeable container, i.e. when the shelf has moved to the end of the removeable container during the loading of the container with contents, e.g. banknotes. In this regard the term "end" is not limited to meaning located at the very end of the removeable container or abutting an end wall of the removeable container but may include a location sufficiently close to an end wall for the contents, typically a stack of banknotes, for the contents to rest against the end wall and in the removeable container so as to be supported thereby and therein. Removing the shelf provides for a simpler removal of the removeable container from the apparatus than if the shelf was not removed. In particular the apparatus may be further configured for the shelf to be removeable to permit a stack of banknotes to be supported on a closed end of the removeable container.

Suitably, the apparatus for dispensing may be further configured to control movement of the shelf to maintain the drop distance which may assist in contents loaded in the removeable container to be reliably supported in the removeable container. In particular, the apparatus may be further configured to control movement of the shelf in accordance with the count value to maintain the drop distance at distance which results in contents being loaded, such as banknotes, to be controllably and reliably stacked in the removeable container.

The apparatus for dispensing may be further configured to receive a moveable wall of the removeable container. This may assist in supporting and coupling the removeable container to the apparatus. In particular, in one or more embodiments the moveable wall may be receivable in the apparatus to support the removeable apparatus in a position relative to the dispenser part. More particularly, the removeable wall may be receivable in the apparatus to provide a chute arrangement for banknotes dispensed from the dispenser part. Such a chute arrangement may assist in loading of a removeable container coupled thereto.

Suitably, the apparatus for dispensing may comprise anti-static brushes over which contents such as banknotes are passed and which may reduce any static electricity formed on contents to be dispensed, in particular one or more banknotes as the banknotes pass through the apparatus. Optionally or additionally, the apparatus for dispensing may apply blasts of air to separate the banknotes. In prior systems, static electricity may be reintroduced into the banknotes when the banknotes are bundled together. Contents and banknotes packaged in a removeable container in accordance with an embodiment may now have air kept between them because they are not packaged as tightly. This in conjunction with the PTFE strips at the opening end of a removeable container may reduce static and promote most, if not all, banknotes being emptied from the removeable container during emptying of the container such as during an ATM cassette packing process.

Viewed from a third aspect there is provided a system for transporting banknotes, the system comprising: a container assembly such as described above; and apparatus for dispensing such as described above.

Viewed from a fourth aspect, there is provided a method for transporting banknotes, the method comprising: disposing a banknote container assembly to receive banknotes via a closable end of the container from apparatus for dispensing a pre-defined number of banknotes; positioning a moveable shelf within a tray member defined by a base member and a wall member to receive banknotes from a banknote dispenser part of the apparatus; moving the shelf to maintain a drop distance from the apparatus for dispensed banknotes to form a stack of banknotes; responding to a predefined number of banknotes being dispensed to move the shelf to an end of the container distal from the dispenser part; removing the shelf to permit the stack of banknotes to be supported by an end wall of the tray member distal from the dispenser part Suitably, the method may further comprise controlling movement of the shelf in accordance with the count value to maintain the drop distance.

The method may further comprise closing the closable end of the container assembly. Suitably, the method may further comprise providing a removeable cover movable between an open configuration and a closed configuration to close and open a space defined by the base member and wall member of the tray member and closing the cover to close the tray member. In this way, contents in the tray member may be securely retained and the container assembly transported away from the apparatus for dispensing to another work station.

The method may further comprise: disposing the container assembly in a banknote cassette and supporting the container assembly on the removeable cover; and removing the removeable cover to permit banknotes in the container assembly to rest on a base face of the banknote cassette. In one or more embodiments, the banknote cassette may be an ATM cassette.

List of figures One or more embodiments in accordance with the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, and with reference to the drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of a conventional note counting and dispensing apparatus; Figure 2 is a diagrammatic perspective illustration of a container assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention having the cover open; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of a side view of a container assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention having the cover closed over the container; Figure 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of an openable end view of a container assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 5 is a diagrammatic illustration of a non-openable end view of a container assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 6 is a diagrammatic illustration of a note counting and dispensing apparatus supporting a container assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention after a plurality of notes have been dispensed; Figure 7 is a diagrammatic illustration of a top plan view of a container assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention having a pre-programmed number of notes disposed therein and the cover closed over the container; Figure 8 is a diagrammatic illustration of a filled container assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention disposed relative to the base of an ATM cassette for loading the ATM cassette with notes; Figure 9(a) is a photograph showing a conventional banknote channel for a conventional note counting and dispensing apparatus; Figure 9(b) is a photograph showing a banknote channel for a note counting and dispensing apparatus modified in accordance with the present invention and supporting a container assembly 32; Figure 10 is a photograph of an ATM cassette filled with notes by an experienced human operative shown adjacent an ATM cassette filled with notes by use of a container assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Description

Within the United Kingdom, and indeed many other countries, it is common to replenish ATMs by using cassettes for holding the banknotes. A reason for this is that the cassette may be sealed in order to render them "tamperproof" or at least make any tampering evident thereby reducing the likelihood of losses occurring in the ATM replenishment and cash recovery processes. There are four basic methodologies for the distribution of cash using cassettes and these are set out below.

* Cassette Exchange -Cassettes are packed in a cash centre and transported to and from site * Cash Exchange -Bagged cash is transported to the centre and cassettes are packed by crew at the back of the ATM with residual cash bagged * Cash swap in Vehicle -Cassettes are packed by a 3ffi crew person in the back of a CIT vehicle and residuals are counted in the back of the vehicle * Add cash -Bagged cash is transported to the ATM and added into cassettes. There is no residual returned but crews balance the cash at site periodically The acronym "CIT" stands for "Cash In Transit" which refers to the transfer of cash from the source of the cash, e.g. a cash centre or bank, to and/or from an ATM.

In all of the different methods there are opportunities for cash to go missing at the point it is handled by a human being. Taking the "cassette exchange" method as an example, at the point the cassettes are packed at the cash centre, cash may be stolen or otherwise go missing during the process of loading the cassettes. Likewise, when the cassettes are unloaded at the cash centre. In order to minimise the opportunities for cash to be stolen or go missing it is desirable to minimise the handling of cash by a human operator. The present inventor has identified a vulnerability in the conventional cash counting and dispensing process due to the bundle of notes being collected by a human operator who places a band around the bundle of notes typically indicating the denomination and value of the bundle. There is therefore opportunity for a dishonest human operator to take one or more notes when wrapping a band around the bundle. Just a few missing notes are unlikely to be noticed in the automatic monitoring systems because such monitoring systems are measuring for a large number of notes such as in a weight based measuring system and a few missing notes are unlikely to result in the measuring system recording a value within its error margins and so a "missing notes" alert is unlikely to be activated.

Additionally, it is desirable for bank notes to be loaded in an ATM cassette so that they are evenly and neatly distributed in order to ease the delivery of notes from the cassette when in the ATM and reduce the likelihood of notes jamming in the note cassette/ATM note dispensing system.

Apparatus, system and process for managing cash distribution and collection is described in UK Patent Application Publication Number GB 2529799, the teaching of which is hereby incorporated by reference Referring now to figure 1 of the drawings there is disclosed a schematic illustration of a conventional note counting and dispensing apparatus 1. The note counting apparatus 1 and under the control of control circuitry 4 which is coupled to one or more sensors for detecting the passage of a banknote 12 through dispensing chute or outlet 8. In this way, control circuitry 4 may determine the number of banknotes to be dispensed from apparatus 1. The conventional note counting and dispensing apparatus 1 comprises sidewalls 28 assisting in retaining banknotes once they have been dispensed from the apparatus 1.

A shelf member 24 supports banknotes 20 in a stack extending to portion 16 of the banknotes back and upon which individual banknotes 12 dispensed from the note counting and dispensing apparatus 1. Shelf 24 is controlled by control circuitry 4 to move away from dispensing outlet 8, typically descending away from dispensing outlet 8 because the apparatus 1 is generally configured so that the dispensing outlet is placed above the shelf 24 and the banknotes 12 dispensed under the influence of gravity to form the stack 16-20 of banknotes.

When a desired number of banknotes has been dispensed from the apparatus 1, usually the number of banknotes is programmed into the apparatus depending upon the denomination of the banknotes to be dispensed and the total value of a dispensed back. For example, a stack of £10 notes to have a total value of £3000 would comprise 300 banknotes and the control circuitry 4 would be configured by suitable user interface control elements to set the maximum count of the counter circuitry to 300. It may be the case that the note counting and dispensing apparatus 1 is automated such that a user may merely input the banknote denomination and total value of a stack, the control circuitry having processor circuitry that determines the total number of banknotes that need to be dispensed to achieve a banknotes stack having the desired total value. In a particular example, the number of banknotes to be stacked is determined by the programme code of the software running on the apparatus and is preset (but can be changed) so there is no user requirement to alter the note count.

Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of a container assembly 32 for containing banknotes in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Container assembly 32 comprises a base member 44 upstanding from which are sidewalls 36, 36a and 36b, end wall 40 and pivotally connected to a movable end wall 48 to form a tray like configuration. Movable wall 48 is pivotable to open thereby to form an open-end to the tray-like container assembly 32. In the illustrated embodiment wall 48 is pivotally connected to base member 44. Wall 48 comprises sidewalls, 52a and 52b, which in the described embodiment are configured to fit into respective slots 60a and 60b. Conveniently, the wall portion 56 of end wall 48 may serve as a chute coupled to an outlet of a note dispensing apparatus to facilitate feeding of banknotes into the container assembly 32.

Additionally, a cover member, 64, is releasably coupled to end wall 40 and may be moved to extend over the open top container assembly 32. In the described embodiment, cover member 64 is transparent but may be opaque. Cover member 64 comprises a flexible material having low friction surfaces, and in the described embodiment is of polypropylene. Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of a side view of a container assembly 32 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The container assembly 32 comprises sidewalls 36 with end wall 40 and movable end wall 48. A lug 68 is disposed on end wall 42 which the cover member 64 may be releasably coupled. The cover member 64 is shown extending across the top of the container assembly 32 and coupled to the movable end wall 48 by complimentary hook and eye connector 72/76 in order to close the container assembly 32. The cover member 64 when in the closed configuration and coupled to the movable end wall 48 serves to retain the movable end wall 48 in the closed configuration as illustrated in figure 3.

Figure 4 is a schematic illustration of the movable end wall 48 of container assembly 32. One of the complimentary portions of the hook and eye connector, 76, is shown disposed on the outer facing surface of movable end wall 48. In the described embodiment combination portion 76 comprises the "hook" portion of the hook and eye connector 72/76.

Figure 5 illustrates and wall 40 and shows the described embodiment having two lugs 68a and 68b. As will be apparent to the ordinarily skilled person, a single lug may be used or more that two lugs.

An embodiment of container assembly 32 fitted into a modified banknote counting and dispensing apparatus 82 is schematically illustrated in figure 6. Container assembly 32 is supported between respective sidewalls 84a and 84b of the apparatus 82, and in the described embodiment further supporting sidewalls 90a and 90b are provided to give further support and position container assembly 32 to receive banknotes into it. The positioning of container assembly 32 is important because it's with is such that only just accommodate the widest dimension of a banknote to be loaded into it.

A shelf, 86 for receiving and supporting banknotes dispensed on it is provided within the container assembly 32. Shelf 86 is arranged such that an arm, 87, extends from the shelf to beyond the sidewall of the container assembly and then across the sidewall to couple to a drive mechanism 88 which controllably moves the shelf 86 from its initial position at the open end of the container assembly 32 towards the rear wall 40.

Banknotes 92 are dispensed through the outlet of the banknote counting and dispensing apparatus to form a stack 94 supported by the shelf 86. In the described embodiment, a guide block 96 is used in the adapted conventional note dispensing and counting apparatus to guide the notes 92 towards the open end of the container assembly 32 so that they can enter through the relatively narrow opening to form the stack 94.

Although not shown, the modified note counting and dispensing apparatus 82 comprises control circuitry which receives user input or is preset as to the number of notes to be dispensed or the value and denomination of the notes to be dispensed. Notes are counted as they are dispensed from the apparatus and the drive mechanism is controlled to move the shelf 86 down towards the rear wall 40 in accordance with the number of notes that have been dispensed. The control circuitry may be configured to move the shelf 86 down to the end wall 41 is desired number of notes or value to be loaded into container assembly 32 has been reached. Optionally or additionally a shelf control override may be provided so that once the desired number of notes or value has been dispensed a human operator may disengage the shelf 86 from the drive mechanism and lower the shelf and stack of banknotes 94 to rear wall 40. Further optionally or additionally there may be a user operative interface mechanism for overriding the note/value counter in the control circuitry and activating the drive mechanism 88 to move the shelf 86 to the end wall 40.

A top view of a filled container assembly 32 is schematically illustrated in figure 7. Once the container assembly 32 is filled with the desire number or value of banknotes and the shelf 86 lowered to the end 40, the shelf is removed from the container assembly (shown by arrow labelled 86) so that the loaded banknotes 98 rest against rear wall 40. Cover member 68 is shown over container assembly 32 and coupled to the outer surface of end wall 40 by lugs 68a and 68b and to the openable wall 48 by the two hook and eye coupling arrangements 72/76. A filled container assembly 32 such as illustrated in figure 7 may be picked up by a human operator and moved from the note counting and dispensing apparatus 86 to another workstation.

Figure 8 schematically represents the loading of a banknote cassette using a container assembly 32 in accordance with the present invention. The base of the banknote cassette is schematically illustrated as reference 100. As the person of ordinary skill in the art will know, a banknote cassette is relatively complex mechanical arrangement into which banknotes are loaded and the banknote cassette subsequently loaded into an ATM for the delivery of banknotes to users of the ATM. The precise mechanical arrangement of a banknote cassette is not pertinent to the present invention merely that there is provided a substantially rectangular receptacle for banknotes having a bottom wall was in the present description is referred to as base 100. There were other elements of the banknote cassette illustrated in figure 8 because they are not relevant to the operation of the present invention.

Filled container assembly 32 is placed on banknote cassette base 100 with the cover 64 in contact with base 100. When in place, an operative may unclip cover member 64 from lugs 68 and uncouple the hook and eye arrangement 72/76. The operative may them remove cover 64 by pulling the openable end 44 in the direction of arrow 102. For the sake of clarity of figure 8 the sidewalls of openable end wall 44 are not illustrated.

By pulling the cover member 64 away from the container assembly 32 so that it follows the direction of the arrows 102 the banknotes in container assembly 32 may drop down on to base member 100. The operator may have to place their hand or some other retaining member onto the top of container assembly 32 in order to keep it in place while cover member 64 is removed. As mentioned earlier, cover member 64 should be of a low friction material such as a plastics material, for example polypropylene The inventor devised the described embodiments of the invention in order to provide a more uniform loading of banknotes into an ATM banknote cassette. The following photographs illustrate the more uniform approach to the dispensing of banknotes and the more uniform distribution one loaded into an ATM cassette.

Figure 9 is a photograph of banknote collection channels for note dispensing apparatus showing, figure 9(a) showing a conventional banknote channel and figure 9(b) showing a banknote channel modified in accordance with the present invention and supporting a container assembly 32. The conventional banknote channel 120 shows a shelf 126 supporting a stack of banknotes 122 with operator actionable interface elements 124. Elastic bands are shown illustrated at the bottom of the collection channel which are used to bundle the stack of notes together once the desired number or value has been dispensed.

Turning now to figure 9(b) a modified banknote collection channel 130 is illustrated in which a container assembly 134 is disposed in the modified channel 130. Additional sidewalls 132 also illustrated which act to maintain the container assembly 134 in position. The cover member 140 is shown open. The modified shelf member 138 is illustrated with an arm extending over a sidewall of the container assembly 34 coupling to a drive member which acts to move the shelf 138 down towards the bottom of the container assembly 134. To one side of the modified channel of figure 9(b) there is illustrated a channel containing a container assembly without any banknotes being dispensed where an open-end wall 142 is shown coupled in a manner to provide a "chute" for banknotes into the container assembly.

Figure 10(a) is a photograph showing an ATM cassette loaded with banknotes using an embodiment in accordance with the present invention. One can see a relatively even distribution, in particular in terms of the height of the banknotes. Conversely, when looking at figure 10(b) one sees a series of banknotes in which the height and lateral distribution is less uniform than the banknotes loaded into the ATM shown in figure 10(a). It should be noted that the ATM illustrated in figure 10(b) was loaded with notes by highly experienced operator and even with such experience the notes are not as uniformly loaded as when using an embodiment of a container assembly in accordance with the present invention. Consequently, it is possible to use operators with less experience and skills to load banknotes into an ATM in a uniform manner.

As used herein any reference to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular element, feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrase "in one embodiment" or the phrase "in an embodiment" in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

As used herein, the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," "including," "has," "having" or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary, "or" refers to an inclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example, a condition A or B is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true (or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (or present).

In addition, use of the "a" or "an" are employed to describe elements and components of the invention. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the invention. This description should be read to include one or at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise.

In view of the foregoing description it will be evident to a person skilled in the art that various modifications may be made within the scope of the invention. For example, the coupling between the cover and the hinged wall and or between the cover and tray member at a position opposite the movable wall segment need not to be of a "hook and eye" (Velcro OM construction but any other suitable releasably couplable arrangement such as a frangible seal, adhesive tape, complementary magnet elements and the like. The openable wall member 48 need not be pivotally connected to any part of the container assembly but may be entirely removable. Also, it may be pivotally coupled to another part of the container assembly such as one or other of the end of a sidewall 36a or 36b.

Although a hook and eye connector arrangement has been described it will be evident to a person of ordinary skill in the art that other releasable coupling arrangements may be implemented. Albeit suboptimal, a coupling arrangement comprising a frangible fixing which in effect end up destroying one or other or both of the end wall 48 and cover 64 may also be utilised. Openable end wall 44 has been described with sidewalls that are tucked away into slots within respective sidewalls 36a and 36b but the person of ordinary skill in the art would recognise that it is not essential to have such sidewalls.

Insofar as embodiments of the invention described above are implementable, at least in part, using a software-controlled programmable processing device such as a general purpose processor or special-purposes processor, digital signal processor, microprocessor, or other processing device, data processing apparatus or computer system it will be appreciated that a computer program for configuring a programmable device, apparatus or system to implement the foregoing described methods, apparatus and system is envisaged as an aspect of the present invention. The computer program may be embodied as any suitable type of code, such as source code, object code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like. The instructions may be implemented using any suitable high-level, low-level, object-oriented, visual, compiled and/or interpreted programming language, such as C, C++, Java, BASIC, Pert Matlab, Pascal, Visual BASIC, JAVA, ActiveX, assembly language, machine code, and so forth. A skilled person would readily understand that term "computer" in its most general sense encompasses programmable devices such as referred to above, and data processing apparatus and computer systems.

Suitably, the computer program is stored on a carrier medium in machine readable form, for example the carrier medium may comprise memory, removable or non-removable media, erasable or non-erasable media, writeable or re-writeable media, digital or analog media, hard disk, floppy disk, Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), Company Disk Recordable (CD-R), Compact Disk Rewriteable (CD-RW), optical disk, magnetic media, magneto-optical media, removable memory cards or disks, various types of Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) subscriber identity module, tape, cassette solid-state memory. The computer program may be supplied from a remote source embodied in the communications medium such as an electronic signal, radio frequency carrier wave or optical carrier waves. Such carrier media are also envisaged as aspects of the present invention.

The scope of the present disclosure includes any novel feature or combination of features disclosed therein either explicitly or implicitly or any generalisation thereof irrespective of whether or not it relates to the claimed invention or mitigate against any or all of the problems addressed by the present invention. The applicant hereby gives notice that new claims may be formulated to such features during prosecution of this application or of any such further application derived therefrom. In particular, with reference to the appended claims, features from dependent claims may be combined with those of the independent claims and features from respective independent claims may be combined in any appropriate manner and not merely in specific combinations enumerated in the claims.

Claims

Claims: 1. A container assembly for transporting banknotes, the container assembly comprising: a base member; a wall member upstanding from the base member to define a tray member having an openable portion along a side of the base member; the openable portion provided by a movable wall member; and a cover movable from an open configuration to a closed configuration to close a space defined by the base member and wall member of the tray member in which the container is closed.
A container assembly according to claim 1, wherein the cover is releasably couplable to the tray member.
A container assembly according to claim 2, wherein the cover is releasably couplable to the movable wall member, suitably for maintaining the movable wall member in a closed position for retaining contents of the container assembly.
A container assembly according to claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the movable wall member comprises a coupling member forming a complementary part of a releasable coupling arrangement with the cover.
A container assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the cover is releasably couplable to the tray member at a position opposing the movable wall member.
A container assembly according to claim 5, wherein the position opposing the movable wall member comprises a coupling member forming a second complementary part of a second releasable coupling arrangement with the cover.
A container assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the cover is transparent.
A container assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the tray member is transparent. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
9. A container assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein a height of the wall member relative to the base member is sufficient to retain a banknote in the tray member.
10. A container assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the movable wall member is hingedly coupled to the base member.
11 A container assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the movable wall member comprises a low friction surface at a surface of the movable wall member to face an interior of the tray member.
12 A container assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the movable wall member is configured to form a slide to interface to an output of an automated banknote dispenser.
13 A container assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the tray member is configured for accommodating a stack of banknotes such that respective banknotes are supported along a major side edge by the base member.
14. A container assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the base member has a form factor to fit into a cassette for holding banknotes.
A container assembly according to claim 14, wherein the base member is rectangular in form; typically wherein the container assembly has a cuboid configuration, in particular a rectangular cuboid configuration.
16 Apparatus for dispensing a pre-defined number of banknotes, the apparatus comprising: a dispenser part comprising a sensor for sensing a banknote dispensed from the apparatus and initiating an increase in a count value for each sense event; and a collection part configured to support a removeable container for transporting banknotes dispensed from the apparatus and support a movable shelf within such a removeable container for supporting banknotes dispensed from the dispenser part; the apparatus further configured to: control movement of a shelf supported by the collection part to maintain a drop distance from the dispenser part for dispensed banknotes to form a stack of banknotes and move the shelf to an end of a removeable container supported by the collection part distal from the dispenser part responsive to the count value reaching the predefined number.
17 Apparatus according to claim 16, further configured for the shelf to be removeable from the removeable container for the shelf located at the end of the removeable container.
18 Apparatus according to claim 16 or claim 17, further configured for the shelf to be removeable to permit a stack of banknotes to be supported on a closed end of the removeable container.
19. Apparatus according to any of claim 16 to claim 18, further configured to control movement of the shelf to maintain the drop distance.
20. Apparatus according to claim 19, further configured to control movement of the shelf in accordance with the count value to maintain the drop distance.
21. Apparatus according to any of claims 16 to 20, further configured to receive a moveable wall of the removeable container.
22 Apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the moveable wall is receivable in the apparatus to support the removeable apparatus in a position relative to the dispenser part.
23 Apparatus according to claim 21 or claim 22, wherein the removeable wall is receivable in the apparatus to provide a chute arrangement for banknotes dispensed from the dispenser part.
24 A system for transporting banknotes, the system comprising: a container assembly according to any of claim 1 to claim 15; and apparatus for dispensing according to any of claim 16 to 23.
25. A method for transporting banknotes, the method comprising: disposing a banknote container assembly to receive banknotes via a closable end of the container from apparatus for dispensing a pre-defined number of banknotes; positioning a moveable shelf within a tray member defined by a base member and a wall member to receive banknotes from a banknote dispenser part of the apparatus; moving the shelf to maintain a drop distance from the apparatus for dispensed banknotes to form a stack of banknotes; responding to a predefined number of banknotes being dispensed to move the shelf to an end of the container distal from the dispenser part; removing the shelf to permit the stack of banknotes to be supported by an end wall of the tray member distal from the dispenser part.
26. A method according to claim 25, further comprising controlling movement of the shelf in accordance with the count value to maintain the drop distance.
27. A method according to claim 24 or claim 25, further comprising closing the closable end of the container assembly.
28 A method according to claim 27, further comprising providing a removeable cover movable between an open configuration and a closed configuration to close and open a space defined by the base member and wall member of the tray member and closing the cover to close the tray member.
29 A method according to claim 28, further comprising: disposing the container assembly in a banknote cassette and supporting the container assembly on the removeable cover; and removing the removeable cover to permit banknotes in the container assembly to rest on a base face of the banknote cassette.