Method and apparatus for determining the state of bank notes

1. A method for determining a condition of degradation of bank notes, comprising:

evaluating at least two different properties of a bank note, wherein the at least two different properties of the bank note relates to soiling, limpness, tears, adhesive tape, dog-ears, holes and missing parts of the bank note;

assigning, according to the evaluation of the data of the at least two different properties, a certain value to each property characterizing the condition of degradation of the respective property;

linking the values of the at least two different properties of each bank note with each other by calculating a linear combination of the values of the different properties, and

deriving the condition of degradation of the bank note from a comparison of the linear combination of the different properties of the bank note with a given value; and

processing the bank note in a bank note processing device according to the condition of degradation.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein an average is determined for the values of each of the different bank notes to determine the condition of degradation of the set of bank notes for the particular different property.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein an average is determined for the values of each of the different properties linked by means of the linear combination for a set of bank notes to determine the overall condition of degradation of the set of bank notes.

4. An apparatus for determining a condition of degradation of bank notes, comprising sensors for detecting data of at least two different properties of the bank notes, and a control device for determining the condition of degradation of the bank notes from the data of the at least two different properties of the bank notes, wherein the at least two different properties of the bank notes relate to soiling, limpness, tears, adhesive tape, dog-ears, holes or missing parts of the bank note,

wherein the control device is arranged to evaluate the data of the at least two different properties of each bank note and to assign, according to the evaluation, a certain value to each property characterizing the condition of degradation of the respective property;

the control device is arranged to link the values of the at least two different properties of each bank note with each other by calculating a linear combination of the values of the different properties, and

the control device is arranged to derive the condition of degradation of the bank note from a comparison of the linear combination of the different properties of the bank note with a given value.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the apparatus comprises a hank note processing machine.