Cash flow refers to the movement of cash and/or other currencies over a particular time period within a business or enterprise. Business personnel in charge of cash flow management may use various tools to assist in the cash flow process, including cash handling devices, which may include cash recyclers, depository and/or dispensing machines that allow a retail establishment to maintain and re-use an amount of cash on-site. Currency recycler devices, or cash recyclers, may interact with multiple different users acting in different capacities within the business, for example, cashiers temporarily transferring cash to and from points of sale (e.g., cash registers) operating at a store, or employees exchange cash into different denominations, and managers making various withdrawals and deposits in the course of business operations. Cash recyclers may be configured to process currency transactions, accept cash deposits and dispense cash withdrawals, and calculate and manage use of cash flows in real-time.
While cash handling devices, such as cash recyclers or depositories, may allow businesses to manage their cash flows in a more seamless manner, difficulties in currency reconcilement may confuse users during deposits, cause delays in crediting financials accounts, and potentially result in costly accounting errors. For example, a user may want to deposit a type of currency that is not accepted by the user's recycler. For instance, coins, checks, and certain foreign currencies may be acceptable forms of payment to a business, but might not be accepted by the cash recycler used by the business. Additionally, certain accepted currencies might not be successfully validated by the recycler, for instance, worn or damaged bills, counterfeits, and other defective currency. When a currency deposit is not fully accepted or validated, reporting this deposit to a corporate office of the business may result in confusion due to the possibility that the temporarily unreconcilable currency may or may not eventually prove to be valid currency. Transmitting these deposits to a financial institution may also be difficult because the financial institution might not credit the business's account until the entire deposit is validated. Furthermore, temporarily unreconcilable currency deposits pose a challenge with respect to storing and organizing the unaccepted and/or unvalidated currency efficiently and securely while avoiding commingling with validated currencies.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds