Patent Issued for Systems and methods for image monitoring of check during mobile deposit (USPTO 11341465): United Services Automobile Association

2022 JUN 13 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Bueche, Jr., Michael Patrick (San Antonio, TX, US), Liang, Minya (San Antonio, TX, US), Medina, Reynaldo (San Antonio, TX, US), Oakes, III, Charles Lee (Boerne, TX, US), Prasad, Bharat (San Antonio, TX, US), filed on December 12, 2019, was published online on May 24, 2022.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11341465, is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

Reporters 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 By signing and transferring the check to the payee, the payor authorizes funds to be withdrawn from the payor’s account on behalf of the payee.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 subsequent detection and extraction of the information from the digital image is difficult.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “An image of a check that is in the field of view of a camera is monitored prior to the image of the check being captured. The camera is associated with a mobile device. The monitoring may be performed by the camera, the mobile device, and/or a financial institution that is in communication with the mobile device. When the image of the check in the field of view passes monitoring criteria, 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 image capture may be performed automatically by the camera, the mobile device, and/or the financial institution as soon as the image of the check is determined to pass the monitoring criteria. In an implementation, feedback may be provided to the user of the camera regarding the image of the check in the field of view. The user may reposition the check and/or the camera, for example, responsive to the feedback. Alternatively, the user may capture an image of the check responsive to the feedback.

“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:

“1. A mobile computing device comprising: an image capture device; a display screen; and a processor configured to: communicate with the image capture device; display an alignment guide on the display screen; monitor, with respect to the alignment guide, an object within a field of view of the image capture device; determine the object satisfies a monitoring criterion relating to the alignment guide; and control the image capture device to capture a digital image depicting at least a part of the object, wherein the digital image is captured in a first digital image format with at least a threshold level image quality standard.

“2. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: convert the digital image into a supplemental image; and store the supplemental image in a second digital image format that is different from the first digital image format.

“3. The mobile computing device of claim 2, wherein the second digital image format is a down converted grayscale or black and white digital image.

“4. The mobile computing device of claim 2, wherein the first digital image format is a higher quality image including a larger data size when compared to the second digital image format.

“5. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the object is a document, and the monitoring criterion determines one or more edges of the document are aligned with the alignment guide.

“6. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the object is a document, and the monitoring criterion determines one or more corners of the document are aligned with the alignment guide.

“7. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine the object fails the monitoring criterion relating to the alignment guide; and display, on the display screen, a feedback message identifying the failed monitoring criterion.

“8. The mobile computing device of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to: display, on the display screen, instructions for curing the failed monitoring criterion.

“9. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine the object fails the monitoring criterion relating to the alignment guide; and output, through a speaker, a feedback message relating to the failed monitoring criterion.

“10. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: process the digital image to obtain target information included on the object depicted in the digital image, wherein the target information includes an account number.

“11. A method for capturing a digital image, the method comprising: displaying, on a display screen of an image capture device, an alignment guide; monitoring, by a processor of the image capture device, an object within a field of view of the image capture device; determining, by the processor, the object satisfies a monitoring criterion relating to the alignment guide; and controlling, by the processor, the image capture device to capture the digital image depicting at least a part of the object, wherein the digital image is captured in a first digital image format with at least a threshold level image quality standard.

“12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: converting, by the processor, the digital image into a supplemental image; and storing, in a memory, the supplemental image in a second digital image format that is different from the first digital image format.

“13. The method of claim 12, wherein the second digital image format is a down converted grayscale or black and white digital image.

“14. The method of claim 12, wherein the first digital image format is a higher quality image including a larger data size when compared to the second digital image format.

“15. The method of claim 11, wherein the object is a document, and the monitoring criterion determines one or more edges of the document are aligned with the alignment guide.

“16. The method of claim 11, wherein the object is a document, and the monitoring criterion determines one or more corners of the document are aligned with the alignment guide.

“17. The method of claim 11, further comprising: determining, by the processor, the object fails the monitoring criterion relating to the alignment guide; and displaying, on the display screen, a feedback message identifying the failed monitoring criterion.

“18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: displaying, on the display screen, instructions for curing the failed monitoring criterion.

“19. The method of claim 11, further comprising: determining the object fails the monitoring criterion relating to the alignment guide; and outputting, through a speaker, a feedback message relating to the failed monitoring criterion.

“20. The method of claim 11, wherein the alignment guide includes a rectangular shape.

“21. The method of claim 11, wherein the processor controls the image capture device to capture the digital image depicting at least a part of the object after the determination, by the processor, that the object satisfies the monitoring criterion relating to the alignment guide.

“22. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to control the image capture device to capture a digital image depicting at least a part of the object after the determination that the object satisfies the monitoring criterion relating to the alignment guide.”

For more information, see this patent: Bueche, Jr., Michael Patrick. Systems and methods for image monitoring of check during mobile deposit. U.S. Patent Number 11341465, filed December 12, 2019, and published online on May 24, 2022. 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=11341465.PN.&OS=PN/11341465RS=PN/11341465

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