Patent Issued for Systems And Methods For Alignment Of Check During Mobile Deposit (USPTO 10,530,993)

2020 JAN 20 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Prasad, Bharat (San Antonio, TX); Liang, Minya (San Antonio, TX); Medina, III, Reynaldo (San Antonio, TX), filed on March 23, 2017, was published online on January 20, 2020.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 10,530,993 is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Checks typically provide a safe and convenient method for an individual such as a payor to transfer funds to a payee. To use a check, the individual usually opens a checking account, or other similar account, at a financial institution and deposits funds, which are then available for later withdrawal. To transfer funds with a check, the payor usually designates a payee and an amount payable on the check. In addition, the payor often signs the check. Once the check has been signed, it is usually deemed negotiable, meaning the check may be validly transferred to the payee upon delivery. By signing and transferring the check to the payee, the payor authorizes funds to be withdrawn from the payor’s account on behalf of the payee.

“While a check may provide a payor with a convenient and secure form of payment, receiving a check may put certain burdens on the payee, such as the time and effort required to deposit the check. For example, depositing a check typically involves going to a local bank branch and physically presenting the check to a bank teller. To reduce such burdens for the payee, systems and methods have been developed to enable the remote deposit of checks.

“For example, the payee may capture a digital image of a check using a mobile device. The financial institution may then receive from the payee the digital image of the check. The financial institution may then use the digital image to credit funds to the payee. However, such a technique requires the efficient and accurate detection and extraction of the information pertaining to a check in the digital image. Capturing a digital image at a mobile device that allows for detection and extraction of the information from the digital image is difficult.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “An alignment guide may be provided in the field of view of a camera associated with a mobile device used to capture an image of a check. When the image of the check is within the alignment guide in the field of view, an image may be taken by the camera and provided from the mobile device to a financial institution. The check may be deposited in a user’s bank account based on the image. Any technique for sending the image to the financial institution may be used.

“In an implementation, the alignment guide may be adjustable at the mobile device. The adjustment may be made by the user, the financial institution, the camera, and/or the mobile device. In an implementation, an image may be captured when the image of the check is detected to be within the alignment guide. The image capture may be performed automatically by the camera or the mobile device as soon as the image of the check is determined to be within the alignment guide.

“This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed:

“1. A mobile device comprising: a memory configured to store an application; a camera configured to capture an image within a field of view of the camera; a display screen configured to display a field of view projection corresponding to the field of view of the camera; and a processor, wherein the processor is configured to run the application to: project an alignment guide in the field of view projection displayed on the display screen; present at least a portion of the field of view projection, including the alignment guide, to a server; receive adjustment instructions from the server; adjust the alignment guide within the field of view projection displayed on the display screen to align the alignment guide with an edge of a document based on the adjustment instructions; and automatically initiate the camera to capture a captured image depicting the field of view of the camera when the alignment guide aligns with the edge of the document.

“2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the document comprises one or more of a negotiable instrument, a credit instrument, a debit instrument, a financial document, a vehicle accident document, and an insurance document.

“3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to run the application to: obtain financial information from the captured image.

“4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to run the application to: transmit the captured image to the server via a communication pathway between the mobile device and the server.

“5. The mobile device of claim 4, wherein the processor is further configured to run the application to: crop at least a portion of the captured image around the alignment guide prior to transmitting the captured image to the server.

“6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to run the application to: open a communication pathway with the server; obtain identification information pertaining to the captured image; and transmit the identification information to the server through the communication pathway.

“7. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the memory is further configured to store additional alignment guides.

“8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions executable by a processor of a mobile device to: project an alignment guide in a field of view projection displayed on a display screen of the mobile device, the field of view projection corresponding to a field of view of a camera included in the mobile device; present at least a portion of the field of view projection, including the alignment guide, to a server; receive adjustment instructions from the server; adjust the alignment guide within the field of view projection displayed on the display screen to align the alignment guide with an edge of a document based on the adjustment instructions; and automatically initiate the camera to capture a captured image depicting the field of view of the camera when the alignment guide aligns with the edge of the document.

“9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the document comprises one or more of a negotiable instrument, a credit instrument, a debit instrument, a financial document, a vehicle accident document, and an insurance document.

“10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, further including instructions executable by a processor to: obtain financial information from the captured image.

“11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, further including instructions executable by a processor to: transmit the captured image to the server via a communication pathway between the mobile device and the server.

“12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, further including instructions executable by a processor to: clean the captured image prior to transmitting the captured image to the server.

“13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, further including instructions executable by a processor to: crop at least a portion of the captured image around the alignment guide prior to transmitting the captured image to the server.

“14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, further including instructions executable by a processor to: open a communication pathway with the server; obtain identification information pertaining to the captured image; and transmit the identification information to the server through the communication pathway.

“15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, configured to store additional alignment guides.

“16. A method comprising: projecting an alignment guide in a field of view projection displayed on a display screen of the mobile device, the field of view projection corresponding to a field of view of a camera included in the mobile device; presenting at least a portion of the field of view projection, including the alignment guide, to a server; receiving adjustment instructions from the server; adjust the alignment guide within the field of view projection displayed on the display screen to align the alignment guide with an edge of a document based on the adjustment instructions; and automatically initiating the camera to capture a captured image depicting the field of view of the camera when the alignment guide aligns with the edge of the document.

“17. The method of claim 16, further comprising: transmitting the captured image to the server via a communication pathway between the mobile device and the server.

“18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: cleaning the captured image prior to transmitting the captured image to the server.

“19. The method of claim 17, further comprising: cropping at least a portion of the captured image around the alignment guide prior to transmitting the captured image to the server.

“20. The method of claim 16, further comprising: opening a communication pathway with the server; obtaining identification information pertaining to the captured image; and transmitting the identification information to the server through the communication pathway.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Prasad, Bharat; Liang, Minya; Medina, III, Reynaldo. Systems And Methods For Alignment Of Check During Mobile Deposit. U.S. Patent Number 10,530,993, filed March 23, 2017, and published online on January 20, 2020. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,530,993.PN.&OS=PN/10,530,993RS=PN/10,530,993

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