Patent Issued for Systems and methods for processing an image of a check during mobile deposit (USPTO 11321679): United Services Automobile Association

2022 MAY 20 (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 March 26, 2020, was published online on May 3, 2022.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11321679, 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 By signing and transferring the check to the payee, the payor authorizes funds to be withdrawn from the payor’s account on behalf of the payee.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 non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-readable instructions for depositing a check that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: display an image of the check in a field of view of a camera of a mobile device; assess an image criterion of the displayed image with an image assessment software object stored on the mobile device; instruct a user of the mobile device to manually capture the image of the check with the camera when the image of the check passes the image criterion; and provide a digital file of the captured image of the check from the camera to a depository via a communication pathway between the mobile device and the depository.

“2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that provide feedback, via the mobile device to a user of the mobile device, regarding the image of the check with respect to the image criterion prior to capturing the image of the check.

“3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the feedback is provided if the image fails to pass the image criterion.

“4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the feedback comprises instructions for the user to follow to modify the displayed image of the check and manually capture a second image of the check in the field of view of the camera that passes the image criterion.

“5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 4, wherein the feedback is displayed visually in the field of view of the camera.

“6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 4, wherein the feedback comprises alphanumeric instructions.

“7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 4, wherein the feedback comprises a non-alphanumeric visual indicator.

“8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the computer-readable instructions cause the processor to assess the image of the check in the field of view of the camera with respect to an image criterion without providing feedback, via the mobile device, regarding the assessment of the image of the check in the field of view of the camera.

“9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-readable instructions for depositing a check that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: initialize a first software object on a mobile device operated by a user, the first software object configured to communicate with a camera; display on a display of the mobile device an image of a check in a field of view of the camera; assess the image of the check in a field of view of the camera with respect to an image criterion using a second software object associated with the mobile device; instruct the user to manually capture, and store the image of, the check in a digital image file using the camera when the image of the check in the field of view passes the image criterion; and transmit the image of the check from the mobile device to a deposit system configured to clear the check and deposit funds of the check into a deposit account of the user.

“10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions that provide feedback, via the mobile device to the user, prior to storing the image of the check in the digital image file.

“11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the feedback comprises instructions to the user to adjust a position of the check relative to the camera.

“12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the image criterion comprises light contrast or light brightness of the image.

“13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the image criterion comprises skewing of the image or warping of the image.

“14. A server for depositing a check, comprising: a network interface configured to receive a request for access to a deposit system from a mobile device; a processor configured to: receive, from the mobile device via the network interface, an image of the check in a field of view of a camera associated with the mobile device; assess the image with respect to an image criterion; transmit instructions from the server to the mobile device to inform the user to manually activate the camera and create a digital image of the check when the image passes the image criterion; receive the digital image at the server from the mobile device; process the digital image at the server; and deposit funds of the check into an account associated with the deposit system using the processed digital image.

“15. The server of claim 14, wherein the image criterion is based on light in the image.

“16. The server of claim 15, wherein processor is configured to assess the image with respect to the image criterion by generating a histogram using the image and using the histogram to determine when the image passes the image criterion.

“17. The server of claim 14 wherein the processor of the server is further configured to provide feedback to the mobile device regarding the image with respect to the image criterion prior to the image passing the image criterion.

“18. The server of claim 14, wherein the processor is configured to, after receiving the digital image, transmit a query to the mobile device requesting instructions to proceed with depositing funds of the check.

“19. The server of claim 14 wherein the mobile device comprises a video source and the image of the check is received at the network interface in a video received from the mobile device.

“20. The server of claim 14, wherein the image of the check is a frame of a live video of the check.”

For more information, see this patent: Bueche, Jr., Michael Patrick. Systems and methods for processing an image of a check during mobile deposit. U.S. Patent Number 11321679, filed March 26, 2020, and published online on May 3, 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=11321679.PN.&OS=PN/11321679RS=PN/11321679

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