Retailers require to accept a variety of denominations of banknote at high speed. They ideally want to eliminate suspect notes immediately and store high denominations securely in an undercounter"vault"rather than in the cash register.

Conventional solutions involve UV forgery detection of forgery checking pen plus operator judgement then placement of note into"vault"hopper and operator activation of lever to stack note into vault.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a banknote handling system which obviates or

mitigates the disadvantages of previously proposed systems.

According to the present invention there is provided a banknote handling system comprising: banknote verifying means adapted to input banknotes and verify the integrity of a banknote; means to pass the checked banknote to a secure cassette: and means associated with the cassette to record the value and status of the notes checked by the verifying means.

Preferably, the record means is integral with the cassette.

Preferably, the verifying means also effects stacking of the banknotes.

Preferably, the secure cassette, together with the record means are removable for subsequent emptying and resetting.

The system also includes means for interrogating the record means.

Preferably, the handling system is located at a point of sale.

Preferably, the removable cassette can only be opened at a remote secure site.

The invention also provides a cassette for use in the foregoing system, the cassette comprising a

secure housing formed to receive banknotes one at a time and salable against unloading, the cassette also comprising non-volatile memory means for receiving and storing data defining the number and value of banknotes inserted into the cassette.

A further aspect of the invention resides in a method of handling banknotes comprising: receiving banknotes at a point of sale, passing the banknotes one at a time through banknote verifying means into a cassette at the point of sale, storing data relating to the value and number of banknotes in a memory integral with or attached to the cassette, transporting the cassette to a secure site, and opening the cassette at the secure site.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Fig. 1 illustrates schematically a banknote handling system made in accordance with the present invention, illustrating a point of sale installation.

Fig. 2 illustrates the system in use at a secure, remote, emptying site; and Fig. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a signal processing means for the record means mounted on the cassette.

Referring to the drawings, a banknote handling system comprising a unit 10 mountable at a point of sale designated generally at 1. The unit 10 comprises a housing 11 which carries a banknote verifying unit 12, a removable secure cassette 13 and a data processing unit 14.

The bank note verifying unit 12 is adapted to, receive banknotes 120 and includes motorised means 121 for handling the banknote 120, verifying its status and effecting stacking of the banknote.

Banknote verifying units of this type are known per se being used, for example, in vending machines and accordingly will not be further described herein.

The verifying unit 12 passes the checked, counted and stacked banknotes to a secure removable cassette 13 mounted in the housing 11 behind a lockable door 110. The removable cassette is equipped with record means in the form of a non-volatile memory device 130 which receives from the verifying unit 12 the number and value of the notes stacked in the cassette, and maintains a running total. As the memory device 130 is mounted on the cassette, the information relating to the value of the notes travels with the cassette and can thus be externally read, thus avoiding the need to open the cassette at any stage prior to the final secure counting station.

The non-volatile memory device 130 is provided with a unique serial number which identifies the location of the cassette. The unit is provided with a data processing system 14 which allows information to be made available at a point of sale.

Accordingly, as banknotes are fed into the cassette 13 after being processed by the verifying unit 12, the appropriate information is stored in the non- volatile memory device 130 which thus carries complete data of the number and value of the notes in the cassette 13.

Referring no to Fig. 2, there is illustrated a system for interrogating the cassette in, for example, a cash office after the cassette has been removed from the point of sale unit. The sealed cassette, removed from the point of sale unit, is passed to a reader/writer unit 20 which interrogates the memory device 130 for further processing.

Alternatively, the cassette data may have already been interrogated where the vault reader/writer electronics is fitted with the optional communications interface.

The unopened cassette 13 can be deposited in a safe for uplifting by the bank or security company. The unique identifier number of each cassette identifies the retailer, branch number and cash register number from which the cassette came, without the need for accompanying paperwork.

Once the cassette 13 is opened (usually by the bank or security company) and the banknotes removed, the memory device 130 may be"cleared"by use of the reader"wand"or by means of a command sent on the vault communications port once the cassette 13 is re-inserted in the vault.

The banknote handling system of the present invention has significant advantages to the retailer.

-automating the verification and stacking of banknotes at Point of Sale (POS) -counting the notes automatically at POS -allowing a locked or sealed, secure, identifiable and reusable cassette to be taken direct from POS to bank -tracking of a cassette to an individual retailer, branch, register and operator is possible by virtue of unique serial number carried in every non- volatile memory device -vaults may be interfaced to the retailers POS system to provide continuous, on-line data.

Optionally, the vault may be fitted with a communications port to allow direct connection to the retailers'central systems, to a network or to a hand held device thus allowing access to the cassette memory data without removal of the cassette from the vault.

Modifications and improvements mat be incorporated without departing from the scope of the invention, for example: a) The interface between the vault reader/writer electronics and the memory device attached to the cassette may involve physical contacts, a wireless or inductive contactless system, an optical link or any other suitable interface. b) The external communications interface of the reader/writer electronics may be a conventional serial or parallel interface, a network port (such as RS485 or Ethernet) or an optical links (such as IrDA). c) The reader wand may be a"cradle"into which the cassette is placed, a hand-held device, or any suitable apparatus. d) The reader wand may be fitted with a printer to allow the cassette data to be printed as, for example, a receipt or audit trail.