Patent Issued for Systems and methods for monitoring and processing an image of a check during mobile deposit (USPTO 11373150): United Services Automobile Association

2022 JUL 15 (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 11373150, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are 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).

This patent was filed on March 26, 2020 and was published online on June 28, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “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 By signing and transferring the check to the payee, the payor authorizes funds to be withdrawn from the payor’s account on behalf of the payee.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.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters 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 system comprising: an image capture device; an image screen; and a processor in communication with the image capture device and the image screen, the processor configured to: detect a target document in a field of view of the image capture device; control the image screen to display an image depicting the target document and present feedback information to a user of the image capture device describing an instruction for satisfying an assessment criterion of the target document; determine, based on the image of the target document, whether the assessment criterion has been satisfied; present on the image screen, a user option to capture the image of the target document in the field of view of the image capture device; and capture the image of the target document in response to a user selection of the user option to capture the current image of the target document.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to control the image screen to present the feedback information by displaying a written instruction on the image screen for satisfying the assessment criterion.

“3. The system of claim 2, wherein the written instruction requests a user to position the target document in the field of view of the image capture device.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to control the image screen to present the feedback information when the assessment criterion is determined not to have been satisfied.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to control the image screen to present the feedback information by displaying a non-alphanumeric visual indicator on the image screen for modifying the image of the target document.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein to assess the target document in the field of view of the image capture device with respect to the assessment criterion, the processor is further configured to: measure a distance from an edge of the target document in the field of view of the image capture device to an edge of the field of view of the image capture device; and compare the distance to a predetermined value to determine whether skew is present in the image depicting the target document.

“7. The system of claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to control the image screen to present a skew correction feedback information when the skew is determined to be present in the image depicting the target document.

“8. The system of claim 1, wherein the assessment criterion comprises whether a corner of the image depicting the target document is detectable.

“9. A method for capturing an image of a target document by a mobile computing device, the method comprising: detecting a target document in a field of view of a camera having a camera lens disposed in the mobile computing device; controlling an image screen to display an image depicting the target document and present feedback information describing an instruction for modifying the image of the target document to satisfy the assessment criterion, wherein the image screen is included in the mobile computing device; determining whether the image has been modified to satisfy the assessment criterion; and in response to determining the image satisfies the assessment criterion, controlling the mobile computing device to present on the image screen of the mobile computing device, a user option to capture the image in the field of view of the camera; and capturing the image in response to user selection of the user option to capture the image.

“10. The method of claim 9, wherein controlling the image screen to present the feedback information comprises displaying a written instruction on an image view screen for modifying the image based on the assessment criterion.

“11. The method of claim 10, wherein the written instruction requests a user to position the target document in the field of view of the camera.

“12. The method of claim 9, wherein controlling the image screen to present the feedback information comprises controlling the image screen to present the feedback information when the assessment criterion is determined not to be satisfied.

“13. The method of claim 9, wherein controlling the image screen to present the feedback information comprises displaying a non-alphanumeric visual indicator on the image screen for modifying the image of the target document.

“14. The method of claim 9, wherein detecting the target document in the field of view of the camera comprises: measuring a distance from an edge of the target document in the field of view of the camera to an edge of the field of view; and comparing the distance to a predetermined value to determine if skew is present in the image depicting the target document.

“15. The method of claim 14, further comprising controlling the image screen to present skew correction feedback information when a skew is determined to be present in the image depicting the target document.

“16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-readable instructions for depositing a check that, when executed by a processor of a mobile computing device, cause the processor to: detect a target document in a field of view of a camera having a lens disposed in the mobile computing device; control an image screen on the mobile computing device to display an image depicting the target document and present feedback information to a user of the camera describing an instruction for satisfying an assessment criterion of the image; determine, based on the image of the target document in the field of view of the camera, whether the assessment criterion has been satisfied; present on the image screen, a user option to capture the image of the target document in the field of view of the camera; and capture the current image of the target document in response to a user selection of the user option to capture the current image of the target document.

“17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the computer-readable instructions are further configured to cause the processor to control the image screen to present the feedback information by displaying a written instruction on a display screen for satisfying the assessment criterion.

“18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the computer-readable instructions are further configured to cause the processor to display written instruction requests for a user to position the target document in the field of view of the camera.

“19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the computer-readable instructions are further configured to cause the processor to control the image screen to present the feedback information when the assessment criterion is determined not to have been satisfied.

“20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the computer-readable instructions are further configured to cause the processor to control the image screen to present the feedback information by displaying a non-alphanumeric visual indicator on the image screen for modifying the image of the target document.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Bueche, Jr., Michael Patrick. Systems and methods for monitoring and processing an image of a check during mobile deposit. U.S. Patent Number 11373150, filed March 26, 2020, and published online on June 28, 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=11373150.PN.&OS=PN/11373150RS=PN/11373150

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