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[EN] This paper presents the development of a portable system with the aim of allowing blind people to detect and recognize Euro banknotes. The developed device is based on a Raspberry Pi electronic instrument and a Raspberry Pi camera, Pi NoIR (No Infrared filter) dotted with additional infrared light, which is embedded into a pair of sunglasses that permit blind and visually impaired people to independently handle Euro banknotes, especially when receiving their cash back when shopping. The banknote detection is based on the modified Viola and Jones algorithms, while the banknote value recognition relies on the Speed Up Robust Features (SURF) technique. The accuracies of banknote detection and banknote value recognition are 84% and 97.5%, respectively., The work was supported by the project from the Generalitat Valenciana under the number GV/2014/015-Emergency projects.

We investigated machine learning-based joint banknote recognition and counterfeit detection method. Unlike existing methods, since the proposed method simultaneously recognize banknote type and detect counterfeit detection, it is significantly faster than existing serial banknote recognition and counterfeit detection methods. Furthermore, we propose an explainable artificial intelligence method for visualizing regions that contributed to the recognition and detection. Using the visualization, it is possible to understand the behavior of the trained machine learning system. In experiments using the United State Dollar and the European Union Euro banknotes, the proposed method shows significant improvement in computation time from conventional serial method.

This paper describes both hardware and software components to detect counterfeits of Euro banknotes. The proposed system is also able to recognize the banknote values. Differently than other state-of-the-art methods, the proposed approach makes use of banknote images acquired with a near infrared camera to perform recognition and authentication. This allows one to build a system that can effectively deal with real forgeries, which are usually not detectable with visible light. The hardware does not use any mechanical parts, so the overall system is low-cost. The proposed solution is reliable for ambient light and banknote positioning. Users should simply lean the banknote to be analyzed on a flat glass, and the system detects forgery, as well as recognizes the banknote value. The effectiveness of the proposed solution has been properly tested on a dataset composed by genuine and fake Euro banknotes provided by Italy's central bank.

Fitness classification is a technique to assess the quality of banknotes in order to determine whether they are usable. Banknote classification techniques are useful in preventing problems that arise from the circulation of substandard banknotes (such as recognition failures, or bill jams in automated teller machines (ATMs) or bank counting machines). By and large, fitness classification continues to be carried out by humans, and this can cause the problem of varying fitness classifications for the same bill by different evaluators, and requires a lot of time. To address these problems, this study proposes a fuzzy system-based method that can reduce the processing time needed for fitness classification, and can determine the fitness of banknotes through an objective, systematic method rather than subjective judgment. Our algorithm was an implementation to actual banknote counting machine. Based on the results of tests on 3856 banknotes in United States currency (USD), 3956 in Korean currency (KRW), and 2300 banknotes in Indian currency (INR) using visible light reflection (VR) and near-infrared light transmission (NIRT) imaging, the proposed method was found to yield higher accuracy than prevalent banknote fitness classification methods. Moreover, it was confirmed that the proposed algorithm can operate in real time, not only in a normal PC environment, but also in an embedded system environment of a banknote counting machine.

In general, dirty banknotes that have creases or soiled surfaces should be replaced by new banknotes, whereas clean banknotes should be recirculated. Therefore, the accurate classification of banknote fitness when sorting paper currency is an important and challenging task. Most previous research has focused on sensors that used visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light. Furthermore, there was little previous research on the fitness classification for Indian paper currency. Therefore, we propose a new method for classifying the fitness of Indian banknotes, with a one-dimensional line image sensor that uses only visible light. The fitness of banknotes is usually determined by various factors such as soiling, creases, and tears, etc. although we just consider banknote soiling in our research. This research is novel in the following four ways: first, there has been little research conducted on fitness classification for the Indian Rupee using visible-light images. Second, the classification is conducted based on the features extracted from the regions of interest (ROIs), which contain little texture. Third, 1-level discrete wavelet transformation (DWT) is used to extract the features for discriminating between fit and unfit banknotes. Fourth, the optimal DWT features that represent the fitness and unfitness of banknotes are selected based on linear regression analysis with ground-truth data measured by densitometer. In addition, the selected features are used as the inputs to a support vector machine (SVM) for the final classification of banknote fitness. Experimental results showed that our method outperforms other methods.

Despite a decrease in the use of currency due to the recent growth in the use of electronic financial transactions, real money transactions remain very important in the global market. While performing transactions with real money, touching and counting notes by hand, is still a common practice in daily life, various types of automated machines, such as ATMs and banknote counters, are essential for large-scale and safe transactions. This paper presents studies that have been conducted in four major areas of research (banknote recognition, counterfeit banknote detection, serial number recognition, and fitness classification) in the accurate banknote recognition field by various sensors in such automated machines, and describes the advantages and drawbacks of the methods presented in those studies. While to a limited extent some surveys have been presented in previous studies in the areas of banknote recognition or counterfeit banknote recognition, this paper is the first of its kind to review all four areas. Techniques used in each of the four areas recognize banknote information (denomination, serial number, authenticity, and physical condition) based on image or sensor data, and are actually applied to banknote processing machines across the world. This study also describes the technological challenges faced by such banknote recognition techniques and presents future directions of research to overcome them.