Patent Issued for Mobile cash deposit system and method (USPTO 11526860): United Services Automobile Association

2022 DEC 30 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States) has been issued patent number 11526860, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Heldorf, Aaron Lee Van (Boerne, TX, US), Hu, Yongxiang (San Antonio, TX, US), Reyna, Diana (San Antonio, TX, US).

This patent was filed on August 18, 2021 and was published online on December 13, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for monetary deposits. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods that facilitate provision of monetary deposits at locations remote from a traditional deposit facility or device.

“Checks, credit cards, and debit cards are often considered secure and convenient methods for an individual to transmit funds (e.g., purchase goods and services). However, there is some level of inconvenience associated with the use of such fund transference devices. For example, in order to use a check for a purchase, a funding recipient must be willing to accept the check and properly deposit or cash it. Cash, in comparison, is generally considered the most liquid type of asset, which makes it very useful. While generally considered less secure than a check or similar payment method, cash is usually freely transferable and does not require endorsement. Thus, the possessor of cash is most often the owner of the cash. However, because cash is very liquid and freely transferable, an individual that loses cash or has it stolen from them will have difficulty recovering it. Therefore, while many individuals and businesses prefer to have a certain amount cash available for daily use, those in possession of a significant amount of cash that has accumulated over time will likely travel to a secure location, such as a bank, to deposit the accumulated cash. It is now recognized that improved systems and methods for facilitating the transfer of cash into secure facilities (e.g., banks) are desirable.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “A summary of certain embodiments disclosed herein is set forth below. It should be understood that these aspects are presented merely to provide the reader with a brief summary of these certain embodiments and that these aspects are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. Indeed, this disclosure may encompass a variety of aspects that may not be set forth below.

“In one embodiment, an electronic cash deposit system includes one or more processors that may receive a user-generated request for a deposit of cash into an account, receive data generated from a scan of a machine-readable image on a receptacle that receives the cash, and performs a validation of the deposit of the cash based on a correlation between the data generated from the scan and a transaction key associated with the machine-readable image. The processor may then generate a confirmation of the deposit of the cash in response to the validation of the deposit and send a notification to a banking system to update the account to reflect the deposit of the cash in response to the confirmation being generated.

“In another embodiment, a method may include receiving, via a processor, a user-generated request for a deposit of cash into an account and receiving, via the processor, data generated from a scan of a machine-readable image on a receptacle configured to receive the cash. The method may also include performing, via the processor, a validation of the deposit of the cash based on a correlation between the data generated from the scan and a transaction key associated with the machine-readable image and generating, via the processor, a confirmation of the deposit of the cash in response to the validation of the deposit. The method may then include sending, via the processor, a notification to a banking system to update the account to reflect the deposit of the cash in response to the confirmation being generated.

“In yet another embodiment, a system may include a first computing device that may receive a user request for a deposit of cash into an account and determine a location of the first computing device in response to receiving the user-generated request. The system may also include a second computing device that may receive the user request and the location from the first computing device, receive data generated from a scan of a machine-readable image on a receptacle configured to receive the cash, and perform a validation of the deposit of the cash based on a correlation between the data generated from the scan and a transaction key associated with the machine-readable image. The second computing device may then generate a confirmation of the deposit of the cash in response to the validation of the deposit and send a notification to a banking system to update the account to reflect the deposit of the cash in response to the confirmation being generated.

“Various refinements of the features noted above may exist in relation to various aspects of the present disclosure. Further features may also be incorporated in these various aspects as well. These refinements and additional features may exist individually or in any combination. For instance, various features discussed below in relation to one or more of the illustrated embodiments may be incorporated into any of the above-described aspects of the present disclosure alone or in any combination. The brief summary presented above is intended only to familiarize the reader with certain aspects and contexts of embodiments of the present disclosure without limitation to the claimed subject matter.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. An apparatus, comprising: one or more image sensors; an electronic display; and one or more processors configured to: receive one or more images of cash received by the apparatus, wherein the one or more images are acquired via the one or more image sensors; generate a machine-readable image representative of an amount of the cash received by the apparatus; and display the machine-readable image via the electronic display, wherein the machine-readable image comprises a transaction key, and wherein a server device is configured to: receive the transaction key; validate an identity of a user and an account associated with the user based on the transaction key; and transfer funds corresponding to the amount of the cash into the account associated with the user in response to validating the identity of the user.

“2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate the machine-readable image based on one or more serial numbers associated with the cash.

“3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the one or more image sensors are configured to employ optical character recognition (OCR) to acquire the one or more serial numbers.

“4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the machine-readable image is representative of the one or more serial numbers associated with the cash.

“5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the machine-readable image is configured to be scanned by an additional image sensor of a mobile device.

“6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the machine-readable image is configured to cause a mobile device to generate a visualization comprising a list of accounts for depositing the cash.

“7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to send a notification to a banking system to update an account to reflect a deposit of the cash.

“8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to wire an amount of funds to a banking system based on the cash.

“9. A method, comprising: receiving, via a processor, one or more images of cash received by a receptacle configured to receive the cash, wherein the one or more images are acquired via one or more image sensors disposed on the receptacle; generating, via the processor, a machine-readable image representative of an amount of the cash received by the receptacle; and displaying, via the processor, the machine-readable image via an electronic display disposed on the receptacle, wherein the machine-readable image comprises a transaction key, and wherein a server device is configured to: receive the transaction key; validate an identity of a user and an account associated with the user based on the transaction key; and transfer funds corresponding to the amount of the cash into the account associated with the user in response to validating the identity of the user.

“10. The method of claim 9, wherein the machine-readable image is generated based on one or more serial numbers associated with the cash.

“11. The method of claim 9, wherein the machine-readable image comprises a Quick Response (QR) code.

“12. The method of claim 9, comprising employing optical character recognition (OCR) to acquire one or more serial numbers associated with the cash.

“13. The method of claim 9, wherein the machine-readable image is configured to be scanned by an additional image sensor of a mobile device.

“14. The method of claim 9, wherein the machine-readable image comprises a validation key configured to confirm an authorization of a deposit of the cash into a bank account.

“15. A system, comprising: a receptacle, comprising: an image sensor configured to receive an image of cash placed in the receptacle; at least one processor configured to generate a machine-readable image based on the image of cash; and an electronic display configured to present the machine-readable image representative of an amount of the cash received by the receptacle; and a computing device, comprising a processor configured to: receive a request for a deposit of the cash into an account; receive the machine-readable image via one or more image sensors; determine a transaction key based on the machine-readable image; and send the transaction key to a server device, wherein the server device is configured to: validate an identity of a user and an account associated with the user based on the transaction key; and transfer funds associated with the deposit into the account associated with the user in response to validating the identity of the user.

“16. The system of claim 15, wherein the machine-readable image comprises a bar code or a Quick Response code.

“17. The system of claim 15, wherein the user request comprises a time, date, a location, a courier service provider, or any combination thereof.

“18. The system of claim 15, wherein the receptacle comprises a container configured to store the cash.

“19. The system of claim 15, wherein the image sensor is configured to capture one or more images of the cash as the cash is disposed in the receptacle.

“20. The system of claim 19, wherein the machine-readable image is configured to encode one or more serial numbers of the cash into the machine-readable image.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Heldorf, Aaron Lee Van. Mobile cash deposit system and method. U.S. Patent Number 11526860, filed August 18, 2021, and published online on December 13, 2022. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11526860)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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