Card reading arrangement involving robotic card handling responsive to card sensing in banking system

US7392936B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• DIEBOLD, INC. · US

Inventors

• Patrick C. Green · North Canton, US
• Mark D. Smith · Panama City, US
• Natarajan Ramachandran · Uniontown, US
• Daniel J. Delaney · Pinckney, US
• David A. Barker · Walnut Creek, US
• Franklin M. Theriault · Canton, US
• Elizabeth Herrera · North Canton, US
• Jeffrey A. Hill · Canton, US
• Mark Douglas · North Canton, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 9, 2007
• Grant date: Jul 1, 2008
• Expiry date: Feb 9, 2027

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G07F19/206
• WIPO field: Control
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A banking facility includes therein plural customer stations and a service provider (SP) station. A robotic device acts as an intermediate item handling device between a customer and service provider. The robotic device can access each customer station and a transport device. The transport device includes a pneumatic tube for transporting a carrier to and from the SP station. In an operation, the robotic device receives an item from a customer at a customer station, then places the item in the carrier. Next the transport device transports the carrier to the SP station. The service provider can use the item in carrying out a banking transaction. The operation can be reversed to send an item from the service provider to the customer. The robotic device can also grip a card sensed in a customer station card slot and move the card toward a card reader.