SELF VALIDATING PRINTER WITH TICKET VOIDING AND REPRINT FEATURES

摘要

Methods and apparatus (Fig. 1) are provided for printing and validating a document, such as a ticket or voucher printed on a substrate such as paper. After the document is printed (12), at least a portion thereof is read to te st a validity criteria (14 and 16). The document is dispensed to a recipient if the validity criteria is met (52). If the validity criteria is not met after the first read, the document can optionally be re-read (18 and 20). If the validity criteria is never met, the document is voided (26). The voided document is then dispensed to the recipient (28) and a replacement document is immediately printed (30), read for validation purposes (32 and 34) and dispensed (52). If the replacement document is not valid, it is voided prior to dispensing (44 and 46). Assistance from a machine attendant is required only in the event that a predetermined number of invalid/read/validate cycle s occur (48 and 50).