| US 7,481,702 B2 | ||
| Using coin dimensions and coin storage bin volume to estimate when bin is full | ||
| Kevin H. Bell, Wake Forest, N.C. (US); Richard J. Kairis, Jr., Raleigh, N.C. (US); and Susan E. Wince, Oxford, N.C. (US) | ||
| Assigned to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, N.Y. (US) | ||
| Filed on Nov. 10, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/558,664. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2008/0110722 A1, May 15, 2008 | ||
| Int. Cl. G07D 9/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 453—16 [702/156] | 9 Claims |
| 1. A method for determining when a coin storage bin is filled to a predetermined percentage of the volume of the coin storage
bin, comprising:
determining a coin volume for an unsorted cylindrical coin entering the coin storage bin, along with other unsorted cylindrical
coins, from information provided by a coin acceptor as being equal to a volume of a smallest rectangular prism into which
the cylindrical coin will fit along with empty space in corners of the prism which at least partly accounts for a volume of
spaces between the unsorted coins in the coin storage bin,
adding the coin volumes for each of the unsorted cylindrical coins entering the coin storage bin to thereby generate an estimate
of a height of a coin pile formed of each of the unsorted cylindrical coins in the coin storage bin,
comparing the estimate of the height of the coin pile with a height of the coin storage bin, and
determining when the estimate of the height of the coin pile is greater than or equal to the height of the coin storage bin.
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