The invention relates to a bank note which is provided with an identification number expressed in a barcode.

Such a bank note is known from Dutch patent application 79 06934 which has resulted in Dutch patent 184.635. According to the prior art of the above patent application, the identi¬ fication number has been applied as a watermark on special paper for printing bank notes. Anyway, due to its functioning as watermark the number expressed in barcode gives the bank note the quality of being authentic, and moreover, the number expressed in barcode may be part of a machine-detectable number of a bank note.

This method of allocating an individual identification number to each bank note is common practice. The individual identifi¬ cation numbers enable one in a way to administer the notes.

Considering an identification number having thirteen charac¬ ters, a series number may be represented by four of the cha- racters, as is a note number by five characters, the denomina¬ tion of the note by one character, and the issue design by one character as well, and finally two characters may represent a modulo check which serves to check the correctness of the result of the machine reading of the characters. By adding one or two extra characters the identification number can also represent the geographical area, e.g. the country of issue, and in that case it may indicate e.g. the currency.

According to the invention, the bank note is provided with an identification number expressed in a barcode, characterized in

that the number expressed in barcode is applied on the bank note entirely in printed form and, if desired, also in printed form, in a human-readable alphanumeric code.

Preferably, the barcode is a binary two-out-of-five-code, wherein two of the five bars are wider in a fixed proportion to the other three bars which are of equal width, as seen in the direction of moving of a detector when scanning the bank note in the event of a successful detection.

Particularly three bars of each of the binary barcode charac¬ ters may be arranged repeatedly against a contrasting back¬ ground on the bank note, the first and fifth bar always being arranged within a fixed measure and being adjacent to a fixed space between the characters of the barcode.

The invention is illustrated below by describing a number of embodiments with reference to a drawing.

Figure 1 shows a bank note with a specific surface area for an identification number;'

figure 2 depicts two examples of the lay-out of a bank note identification number;

figures 3A and 3B show their respective ways of arranging an identification number according to the invention;

figure 4 presents a number of different formats of the bank note identification according to the invention;

figure 5 shows different relations between the detector-reada¬ ble code and the human-readable code in a bank note identifi¬ cation; and

• figure 6 presents some examples of bank note identifications using a currency code by way of a country code. *

The application of bank note identification numbers according 5 to the invention may have the following results:

Central banks or divisions of central banks (branches) are capable of sorting and counting one another's bank notes mechanically, or they can sort out foreign bank notes so as to 10 be able to repatriate them.

Moreover, it will be possible in the future to use cash dis¬ pensers for changing currencies by means of an identification number in barcode. The input of the daily fluctuating exchange 15 rates can be controlled from a central point.

Furthermore, in large shops automatic cash registers may be used so that the customer can pay with bank notes that are automatically read by the cash register, after which the cash

20 register automatically supplies the change to the customer. When closing the cash register a specified cash balance can be automatically made out which exactly lists the numbers of the different bank notes that ought to be present in the cash register. The bank notes can neither be seen nor touched by

25 the personnel and customers, which foils malice.

Central and local registration of specific bank notes will be less complicated thanks to a standardized barcode numeration. The detection of the bank note number by means of a barcode 30 reading device facilitates the tracing of forged bank notes and the locating of banknotes that are 'branded' with a cer¬ tain bank note number. Furthermore, the registration of bank notes that have been withdrawn from circulation can be perfor¬ med more efficiently.

Figure 1 shows a bank note 1 having a particular surface area 2 for an identification number. The identification number provides the bank note with a unique code consisting of a number of characters, such as characters from the alphabet, digits, and symbols.

The exact location of said particular surface area is optio¬ nal. However, preferably it should neither intersect one of the two centre lines nor be located close to any of the edges of the note. Even so, in such an embodiment, it is necessary indeed that the note passes the detection device for detecting or reading the number in the right position.

The bank note identification number as shown in figure 2 consists of n characters which constitute:

1) a human-readable code of alphabetical characters and di¬ gits; and

2) a detector-readable code, e.g. a barcode, of symbols.

The human-readable code may be arranged either above (figure 2a) or below (figure 2b) the detector-readable code. The ' i ' of figure 2 indicates the ordinal number of the character of the identification number.

A barcode is composed of a number of characters. A suitable code is a two-out-of-five-code. In that case each barcode character consists of five bars, three of which are e.g. narrow and two of them wide. The first and last bar of a character are always dark against a light background. Two characters are divided by a space which is always light-colou¬ red, thus corresponding to the background. The bars within a character are alternately,dark and light. Both the light and

the dark bars contain information. A narrow (light or dark) ' bar is, for example, a 0-bit, and consequently a wide (light or dark) bar is a 1-bit. In this way, ten different characters ' can be created. 5

Figure 3A and 3B depict examples of an identification number with n characters which consists of a number of elements, such as:

10 LC = country code, for example 31 for The Netherlands and 49 for Germany; D = denomination code, for example 5 for a note of 25 guil¬ ders, 4 for a note of 50 guilders and 3 for a note of 100 guilders; 15 M = design code, for example 1 for a bank note NLG 25/Design 1971 and 2 for a bank note NLG 25/Design 1989; SN = serial number, e.g. AB12 or 1234; NN = bank note number, e.g. 1234;

BN = bank note number (= SN + NN) , e.g. 123456789; 20 MC = modulo check, e.g. modulo-9 or modulo-98;

The modulo check serves as a check for the detector to read the detector-readable code.

25 Each element consists of a number of characters. As to figure 3A, the following values apply:

LC = 2 characters

D = 1 character

30 M = 1 character

BN = 9 characters

MC = 1 character

and, as to figure 3B:

LC = 2 characters

D = 1 character M = 1 character

SN = 4 characters

NN = 5 characters

MC = 2 characters

Figure 4 shows a number of examples (a-g) of arrangements of the bank note identification with a detector-readable code on top and - in most cases - a human-readable code below:

a) complete detector-readable code; b) complete detector-readable code and a human-readable code without modulo check; c) like b) , but without a design code in the human-readable code; d) like c) , but without a denomination code in the human- readable code; e) like d) , but without a country code in the human-readable ble code; f) like e) , but in different order; g) like e) , but without country code and with human-readable design code.

Figure 5 shows that within an element the detector-readable code can be rendered in different ways into a human-readable code. For the country code in detector-readable code, for example, the international dialling country code may be selec¬ ted. As for The Netherlands, the latter code is 31 (figure 5a) . In human-readable code this country code may be printed either as 31 as well (figure 5b) , or as the international

currency code, which is NLG for The Netherlands (figure 5c) , and even as the country code as being used for motor vehicles and driving licences, i.e. NL for The Netherlands.

Figure 6 represents some examples of a bank note identificati¬ on using a currency code by way of country code:

a) France: detector-readable code: 33 human-readable code: FF b) Germany: detector-readable code: 49 human-readable code: DM c) Belgium: detector-readable code: 32 human-readable code: BF d) European Monetary Union: detector-readable code: 00 human-readable code: ECU e) United Kingdom: detector-readable code: 44 human-readable code: £