GB2025644A - Photocopiers - Google Patents

Abstract

A photocopier comprises transport means for transporting the document to a position in which it can be photographed, means to determine when the document is in position to be photographed, means of photographing the document when in said position, the photographic means including a support or housing for a photographic film, optical means of forming an image of the document in the correct position on the film, a shutter between the film of the document when the document is in said position, and means for forming an image of additional information on the film adjacent the image of the document, so that this information is also recorded on the film. The photocopier is particularly applicable to storing information on documents involving financial transactions, e.g. gambling on horse races or lotteries.

Description

SPECIFICATION Device for recording and storing information The present invention concerns a device for storing information, particularly information from docu ments resulting from operations involving sums of money.

This invention is concerned with an electronic device in which the storage of information on photographic material, particularly on small-format films is effected, and especially electronic devices for storing, without risk of errors or arguments, transac tions involving sums of money.

The invention is applicable for example to devices for use in the following applications: - gambling (bets on horse races, lotteries, lottos and similar games); travel and other booking agencies (airline tickets, tickets for trains, cruises, excursions and possibly theatre tickets); banking (control of cheques and other credit or bank documents, bank note dispensers operated by the introduction of a card such as a credit card); cash registers, particularly in the case of payment by cheque.

The use of electronic equipment to effect financial transactions should, if it is desired to automate them without risk, offer sufficient guarantees as to security against fraud and control of the documents to be analysed.

Various methods are known to make difficult or impossible the falsification or the copying of the documents used in such terminals; use has there fore been made of magnetic tracks, special codes, and stylised prints.

The object of the present invention is to permit the use of photography, particularly on small format film (particularly on super eight film or on simple eight film in cassette form), at the moment of electronic analysis in an electronic terminal.

Equally it aims to permit the specially coded marking of each image on the film (flat or roll film) on which the photographic image is recorded, in order to permit after developing, the easy, principal ly automatic, search for the particular image that one wishes to examine, the marking comprising particu larly an order number and/or a date and possibly a time, as well as possibly other supplementary information.

A record such as this on photographic film makes tampering with the documents very difficult, if not impossible, and allows the accuracy of the photo graphic record to be beyond dispute in the case of a later fraud.

According to this invention we provide a device for recording and storing the information on a docu ment, comprising transport means for transporting the document to a position in which it can be photographed, means to determine when the docu ment is in position to be photographed, means of photographing the document when in said position, the photographic means including a support or housing for a photographic film, optical means of forming an image of the document in the correct position on the film, a shutter between the film of the document when the document is in said position, means for opening the shutter so that it is open when the document is in said position, and means for illuminating the documentin when in said position and means for forming an image of additional information on the film adjacent the image of the document, so that this information is also recorded on the film.

In a preferred embodiment the device also includes means for reading the information on the document these means being rendered operative just before the photographing of the document.

The invention will, in any case, be well understood with the aid of the following description and the accompanying drawings, which are by way of example only.

Figure 1 represents diagrammatically in cross section the structure of a terminal including a device for storing information according to the invention.

Figure 2 shows the reproduction on "super eight" film of three successive documents obtained by means of the terminal of Figure 1.

Figure 3, finaliy, represents the diagram of the command signals of-the device for stocking information in Figure 1.

Figure 1 represents a terminal according to the invention, designed for example for the sale and for the payment of betting slips (for gambling bets on horse races or lotto, for example).

The slips or tickets used are each in the form of a card, being for example 120mm x 80mm, on which are marked boxes arranged in a grid which the person making the bet or the player marks. Each box is about 5mm square and the surface of the ticket on which the grid is marked will henceforth be called the "Marked face".

For a bet to be placed, the ticket is introduced into a slot 1 of the terminal, shown in Figure 1-, with the marked face upwards. The ticket is then conveyed by a transport mechanism 2 comprising drive pulleys 3, a reverse roller 4 and an endless dribe belt 5 in the direction of the arrow F until it is positioned in front of the photographic device 6. Before reaching this position, each ticket passes in front of a reading device 7 which reads the coded marks appearing on the tickets. This reader 7 is of known type and it is not described in detail here. This reader 7 analyses the information appearing on the ticket in coded form, in order to check its validity. If the reader 7 incidates that the markings are valid, it activates the photographic device 6 which is described hereafter.

The arrival of the ticket 8 at the correct position relative to the photographic device 6 is detected by a conventional photo-electric cell system (not shown) which triggers the operation of the device 6. This device contains a cassette 9 containing for example a super eight film, a device 10 for winding the film on a lens 1, a shutter 12 and an electronic flashbulb 13 with associated electronic circuitry 14. The device 6 also includes electronic display means 15 described in more detail below and a mirror 16 permitting the recordal owing to the lens 11, of the image of the display device 15 on the film contained in the cassette 9.

The photo electric system mentioned above, once it has sensed the passage of the ticket (that is the front edge of the ticket) activates the complete opening of the shutter 12. After the necessary time for the complete opening of the shutter, the ticket 8 is located in the correct position to be photographed (i.e. the part of the ticket to be photographed is located in front of the device 6 so that the image of this part is focussed by the lens 11 onto the film in the cassette 9).

In order to take account of any variation in the speed of advance of the ticket or in its length a second photoelectric detector may be provided, which will determine exactly when the photograph should be taken.

At this moment the terminal activates the display means 15 and triggers the illumination of the flashbulb 13.

The length of the flash should be sufficiently short for a clear image of the moving ticket to be recorded on the film; thus, for an advancement speed of the ticket of 1 m/ second and a desired resolution of 0.1 mm on the ticket, the length of the flash should be less than 1/10,000th of a second.

At the end of the flash, the shutter 12 recloses automatically and the device 10 winds on the film.

The display means 15 can include for example: - a liquid crystal display means indicating the date and possibly the time, as well as a serial number.

- a light-emitting diode display means, ensuring encoding by means of lines.

The mirror 16 permits the reduction of the overall length of the terminal. Mirrors may also be provided to project the image of the ticket onto the film, further reducing the overall depth.

The ticket 8 once read by the reader 7 and photographed by the device 6 emerges from the terminal and the operation can then be repeated with a new ticket.

In Figure 2 is shown a portion of film bearing recordings of three tickets. The upper part 17 of each recording is the image of that part of the ticket which is to be recorded. The lower part, 18 is the zone containing information such as the date, time, serial number, and linear coding. Perforations are provided on one side only of the film.

Figure 3 is a control diagram for the photographic device 6. In this figure are illustrated from top to bottom successively: - an impiuse a of length t1 triggering the device 7 for reading coded marks on the ticket 8; - an impluse b of very short duration triggering the opening of the shutter 12; - an impulse ccontrolling operation of the display means 15; - an impulse dof length t2 the beginning of which corresponds to the beginning of the opening of the shutter and the end of which corresponds to the instant at which complete opening of the shutter is attained; -finally an impulse e operating the flashbulb 13, the front edge of which is simultaneous with or slightly behind the rear edge of the impulse d, so that the flashbulb is activated when the shutter 12 is completely open.

On the Figure 3, the durations are carried in abscissa and the amplitutes in ordinates.

The lengths t1 and t2 depend on the speed of operation of the reading device 7, and also on the length of time necessary to bring about complete opening of the shutter 12.

The cassette 9 can be brought into operation by means of a viewer preferably equipped with a revolving prism in order to avoid dazzling the image.

A reading head equipped with photodetectors can be used in the case of the inscription in form of coded image being used on the film. Electronic control means analyses the codes and the other inscriptions found on the film when the required image is found. One can use for this purpose a serial number.

A control panel permits: - the entry by means of a keyboard of the reference of the particular image required to be displayed; - the control of the unrolling of the film (advance image by image, search, stop); - the display of the reference of the film in the course of being examined.

The device according to the invention presents numerous advantages, particularly; - a modest cost price - a very much reduced running cost; thus, for example, a standard bobbin super eight film (with a projection time of about three minutes to eighteen images/second permits the recordal of more than three thousand images); - the preservation of a faithful image of the inscriptions or marks used for the transaction, with no possible dispute on the part of the player or user, with the possibility of checking the information memorised; ease of transport and development of the printed film; - the possibility of automated search for an image, corresponding to a particular ticket, on the basis of reference number.

Claims (4)

1. A device for recording and storing the information on a document, comprising transport means for transporting the document to a position in which it can be photographed, means to determine when the document is in position to be photographed, means of photographing the documentwhen in said position, the photographic means including a support or housing for a photographic film, optical means of forming an image of the document in the correct position on the film, a shutter between the film of the document when the document is in said position, and means for forming an image of additional information on the film adjacent the image of the document, so that this information is also recorded on the film.

2. A device according to claim 1, which also includes means of reading the coded marking on the document, these means being operable just before the photographing of the document.

3. A device according to claim 1 or 2, characte rised in the fact that the said display means is arranged to display one or more of the following pieces of information: date, time, a serial number of a code.

4. A device according to any of the preceding claims, characterised by the fact that the said display means is provided with a liquid crystal and/or a light-emitting diode display.