Patent Issued for Systems And Methods For Remote Deposit Of Checks (USPTO 10,460,295)

2019 NOV 12 (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 10,460,295, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Oakes, III, Charles Lee (San Antonio, TX); Morlen, Randy Ray (San Antonio, TX); Prasad, Bharat (San Antonio, TX); Huth, Troy Bartlette (La Vernia, TX).

This patent was filed on November 25, 2015 and was published online on November 11, 2019.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “As described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/321,025, checks typically provide a safe and convenient method for an individual to purchase goods and/or services. To use a check, the individual usually must open a checking account, or other similar account, at a financial institution and deposit funds, which are then available for later withdrawal. To pay for goods and/or services with a check, the payor (i.e., the buyer) usually designates a payee (i.e., the seller) 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 By signing and transferring the check to the payee, the payor authorizes funds to be withdrawn from the payor’s account on behalf of the payee in return for the goods and/or services provided by the payee.

“Checks have certain advantages over other forms of payment, such as cash. For example, while often considered the most liquid type of asset, cash also may be the least secure. Unlike a check, cash is usually freely transferable and does not have to be endorsed. Thus, the owner and possessor of cash is most often the same individual. Because cash is freely transferable, cash that is lost or stolen typically cannot be recovered. Therefore, the risks associated with cash transactions are often unacceptable, particularly with respect to transactions not conducted in person (e.g., by mail) and/or involving large sums of money. A check, on the other hand, provides a payor with more security because the check usually requires a payor to specify both the person and amount to be paid. Furthermore, as noted above, the check is usually not valid until it is properly signed by the payor. These safeguards help to reduce the risk that money will be lost and/or stolen and ensure that the proper payee receives the proper amount of money.

“Cash may have other disadvantages as well. For example, because cash is freely transferable, there may be little or no verifiable transaction history. It is often desirable for a payor and/or payee to have physical proof that a particular transaction took place. This typically requires that the payor receive a receipt. However, receipts may contain errors and can be easily misplaced. In contrast, a bank processing a check will ordinarily create a transaction history, which may include the identity of the payee, the amount to be paid, the date of the payment, and the signature of the payor. This enables both a payor and payee to independently verify the accuracy of most transactions involving a payment by check.

“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. In addition to the time commitment that may be required, visiting a bank branch may be problematic for the payee if the bank’s hours of operation coincide with the payee’s normal hours of employment. Thus, the payee may be required to leave work early and/or change work schedules.

“A check may pose other burdens for the payee. As noted above, a check may not be freely transferable, thereby limiting the payee’s ability to use funds from the check. For example, it is usually difficult to for the payee to purchase goods and/or services using a check issued by the payor. While the check may be endorsed and accepted by a third party, such transactions are often disfavored because the third party may not know the payor and, thus, may not be willing to accept the risk that the payor has insufficient funds to cover the check. Therefore, the payee may not have access to the funds from the check until the payee deposits the check at the bank, the check has cleared and the funds have been credited to the payee’s account. The payee may have to wait even longer if the payee chooses to deposit the check by mail. Therefore, there is a need for a convenient method of remotely depositing a check while enabling the payee to quickly access the funds from the check.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The described embodiments contemplate a system, method and computer-readable medium with computer-executable instructions for remotely redeeming a negotiable instrument. In an embodiment, the novel method may include delivering, via a publicly accessible computer network, a software component to a customer-controlled general purpose computer. The customer is instructed to identify an account via said computer, and to provide an image of at least a front side of a check, for example by scanning the check and appropriately rotating and cropping the scanned image as necessary. The image passes from scanner or other image capture apparatus to the software component, which manages delivery to bank servers.

“In another embodiment, the novel method may include receiving, at a server computer, a customer request for a customer capability to make at least one check deposit from a customer-controlled general purpose computer. The software component for facilitating a check image capture process is then delivered to the customer. A customer identification of an account for a deposit and an image of a front side of a check is received, and optical character recognition (OCR) is performed on a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) line location of the image. The received information and OCR information can be used in completing the deposit.

“In another embodiment, the novel method may include receiving a customer identification of an account for a deposit, receiving a first image of a front side of a check, wherein said first image is in a first file format, e.g. JPEG, and wherein said first image is received from a customer-controlled general purpose computer. A second image of said front side of a check may then be created by converting said first image into a second file format, e.g. a bi-tonal TIFF. A log file may be generated comprising one or more of said first image and said second image, in addition to a variety of other potentially useful information for processing and/or troubleshooting the deposit transaction.

“Additional advantages and features of the invention are described below.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A system comprising: a memory; and a processor in communication with the memory, the processor configured to: establish a secure connection over a communication network with a remote user device; receive an image of a check captured by an image capture device coupled to the remote user device over the secure connection, wherein the image of the check is in a first data format; perform optical character recognition on the image of the check to determine information about the check, including optical character recognition of a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) line in the image of the check, wherein the determined information includes MICR line information; generate a supplemental image of the check in a second data format from the image of the check in the first data format, wherein an image quality of the check in the first data format is higher than an image quality of the check in the second data format and the second data format is a bi-tonal format; store both the image of the check and the supplemental image of the check in a log file; store the information about the check in the log file; access the log file; and deposit the check into a customer account based, at least in part, on the image of the check, the supplemental image of the check, and the information accessed from the log file.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein data communicated over the secure connection is inaccessible, indecipherable, or both by third parties.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: transmit a confirmation message over the secure connection indicating that the customer account has been credited in an amount corresponding to the determined information obtained by the optical character recognition performed on the image of the check.

“4. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to: perform optical character recognition in real-time; and validate the determined information about the check before the confirmation message is transmitted over the secure connection.

“5. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor is further configured to: perform an initial duplicate detection procedure based on the determined information about the check before the confirmation message is transmitted over the secure connection; and perform a complete duplicate detection procedure after the confirmation message is transmitted over the secure connection.

“6. A method comprising: establishing a secure connection over a communication network with a remote user device; receiving an image of a check captured by an image capture device coupled to the remote user device over the secure connection, wherein the image of the check is in a first data format; performing optical character recognition on the image of the check to determine information about the check, including optical character recognition of a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) line in the image of the check, wherein the determined information includes MICR line information; generating a supplemental image of the check in a second data format from the image of the check in the first data format, wherein an image quality of the check in the first data format is higher than an image quality of the check in the second data format and the second data format is a bi-tonal format; storing both the image of the check and the supplemental image of the check in a log file; storing the information about the negotiable instrument in the log file; accessing the log file; and depositing the check into a customer account based, at least in part, on the image of the check, the supplemental image of the check, and the information accessed from the log file.

“7. The method of claim 6, wherein data communicated over the secure connection is inaccessible, indecipherable, or both by third parties.

“8. The method of claim 6, further comprising: transmitting a confirmation message over the secure connection indicating that the customer account has been credited in an amount corresponding to the determined information obtained by performing optical character recognition on the image the check.

“9. The method of claim 8, wherein performing optical character recognition occurs in real-time and further comprising: validating the determined information about the check before the confirmation message is transmitted over the secure connection.

“10. The method of claim 8, further comprising: performing an initial duplicate detection procedure based on the determined information about the check before the confirmation message is transmitted over the secure connection; and performing a complete duplicate detection procedure after the confirmation message is transmitted over the secure connection.

“11. The system of claim 5, wherein: in performing the initial duplicate detection procedure, the processor is further configured to analyze the MICR information associated with the MICR line of the negotiable instrument to determine whether the MICR line of the check comprises a money amount.

“12. The system of claim 11, wherein in performing the initial duplicate detection procedure the processor is further configured to: in response to a determination that the MICR line of the check comprises a money amount, provisionally detect a duplicate deposit of the check.

“13. The system of claim 5, wherein: in performing the initial duplicate detection procedure, the processor is further configured to analyze the MICR information associated with the MICR line of the check to determine whether a predetermined character is included in a predetermined position of the MICR line of the check.

“14. The system of claim 13, wherein in performing the initial duplicate detection procedure the processor is further configured to: in response to a determination that the predetermined character is included in the predetermined position of the MICR line of the check, provisionally detect a duplicate deposit of the check.

“15. The system of claim 14, wherein: in performing the initial duplicate detection procedure, the processor is further configured to compare the MICR information associated with the MICR line of the check with respective MICR information of each check deposited into the customer account within a predetermined time period.

“16. The method of claim 10, wherein: the performing of the initial duplicate detection procedure further comprises analyzing the MICR information associated with the MICR line of the check to determine whether the MICR line of the check comprises a money amount.

“17. The method of claim 16, wherein the performing of the initial duplicate detection procedure further comprises: in response to a determination that the MICR line of the check comprises a money amount, provisionally detecting a duplicate deposit of the check.

“18. The method of claim 10, wherein: the performing of the initial duplicate detection procedure further comprises analyzing the MICR information associated with the MICR line of the check to determine whether a predetermined character is included in a predetermined position of the MICR line of the check.

“19. The method of claim 18, wherein the performing of the initial duplicate detection procedure further comprises: in response to a determination that the predetermined character is included in the predetermined position of the MICR line of the check, provisionally detecting a duplicate deposit of the check.

“20. The method of claim 19, wherein: performing the initial duplicate detection procedure further comprises comparing the MICR information associated with the MICR line of the check with respective MICR information of each check deposited into the customer account within a predetermined time period.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Oakes, III, Charles Lee; Morlen, Randy Ray; Prasad, Bharat; Huth, Troy Bartlette. Systems And Methods For Remote Deposit Of Checks. U.S. Patent Number 10,460,295, filed November 25, 2015, and published online on November 11, 2019. 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=10,460,295.PN.&OS=PN/10,460,295RS=PN/10,460,295

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)