Patent Issued for Systems and methods for remote deposit of checks (USPTO 11488405): United Services Automobile Association

2022 NOV 22 (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 11488405, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Gavia, Gabriel Glenn (San Antonio, TX, US), Harpel, Greg Alan (San Antonio, TX, US), Major, Frank Kyle (San Antonio, TX, US), Medina, III, Reynaldo (San Antonio, TX, US), Morlen, Randy Ray (San Antonio, TX, US), Morris, Michael Frank (San Antonio, TX, US), Oakes, III, Charles Lee (San Antonio, TX, US), Pollack, Jeffrey Neal (San Antonio, TX, US), Prasad, Bharat (San Antonio, TX, US).

This patent was filed on May 11, 2020 and was published online on November 1, 2022.

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 By signing and transferring the check to the payee, the payor authorizes funds to be withdrawn from the payor’s account on behalf of the payee in return for the goods and/or services provided by the payee.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, a novel system may include financial institution electronics, such as a server equipped with appropriate hardware and software for facilitating deposit of a check. Such electronics may be configured for receiving from a customer computer an identification of an account for deposit of a check, and an amount of said check. They may be further configured for receiving an image of a front side of said check, and for analyzing said image to determine if it meets at least one criterion. The criterion could be, for example, image size, image legibility, image orientation, image format, presence of certain image features that indicate the image in fact represents a check, and so forth. Financial institution electronics may be also configured for determining if there is an error in a deposit transaction. Numerous errors are possible candidates for detection, and several exemplary errors are provided herein. If there are no errors that warrant aborting the transaction, then such electronics may be further configured to initiate a deposit of the check.

“In another embodiment, a novel system may include, for example, a computer readable medium bearing instructions that can configure a customer’s general purpose computer to facilitate a check deposit. Acting under direction of such instructions, the general purpose computer may instruct a customer, for example via a display coupled such computer, in utilizing an image capture device to generate an electronic image of a front side of a check, such that said electronic image of a front side of a check meets at least one first criterion such as image size, image legibility, image orientation, image quality, and location and/or orientation of the check within the image. Instructions may further be provided for receiving the image of a front side of a check from said image capture device, and optionally instructing the customer to process the image, e.g., by approving the image and/or modifying it to meet at least one second criterion. A second criterion might also be, for example, one or more of image size, image legibility, image orientation, image quality, and location and/or orientation of the check within the image. Finally, the customer computer, acting under direction of the instructions, may deliver an approved electronic image to financial institution electronics.

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

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method for processing a document depicted in a digital image, comprising: transmitting, by a mobile computing device, a request for a document processing application to a remote server, wherein the document processing application identifies a deposit server; receiving, by the mobile computing device, the document processing application from the remote server; and implementing, with a processor of the mobile computing device, the document processing application by: controlling an image capturing device in communication with the mobile device and capturing an image of the document; determining whether the image satisfies a predetermined image criteria based on at least one of a size dimension of the document depicted in the image satisfying a predetermined size threshold or an alignment of the document depicted within the image satisfying a predetermined alignment threshold; modifying the image to satisfy the predetermined criteria by at least one of cropping, rotating, or changing an orientation of the image to satisfy the predetermined image criteria; and transmitting deposit information to the deposit server, wherein the deposit information includes the modified image, deposit account information, deposit amount information, or a combination thereof.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the image capturing device is a digital camera.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein implementing, with the processor of the mobile computing device, the document processing application further comprises: authorizing the mobile computing device when the mobile computing device is confirmed by the deposit server to have an authorized digital certificate installed on the mobile computing device; and transmitting the deposit information to the deposit server when the mobile computing device is authorized.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein implementing, with the processor of the mobile computing device, the document processing application further comprises: when the image is determined to satisfy the predetermined criteria, enabling the image capturing device to capture a second image of the document, wherein the image depicts a front side of the document and the second image depicts a back side of the document.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein implementing, with the processor of the mobile computing device, the document processing application further comprises: when the image is determined not to satisfy the predetermined criteria, displaying, on a display screen, editing instructions for editing an image characteristic of the image.

“6. The method of claim 5, wherein the editing instructions include an image cropping instruction and an image rotation instruction.

“7. The method of claim 5, wherein implementing, with the processor of the mobile computing device, the document processing application further comprises: storing, on a memory of the mobile computing device, an edited image that has been edited from the image of the document; determining the edited image satisfies the predetermined criteria; and transmitting the edited image to the deposit server.

“8. The method of claim 1, wherein implementing, with the processor of the mobile computing device, the document processing application further comprises: generating a log file comprising identification information of the image capturing device; generating a folder location dedicated to the document processing application in a memory of the mobile computing device; and storing the log file and the image of the document in the folder location.

“9. The method of claim 8, wherein implementing, with the processor of the mobile computing device, the document processing application further comprises: deleting the log file and the image of the document from the folder location according to a cleanup protocol of the document processing application after the image of the document is transmitted to the deposit server.

“10. The method of claim 1, wherein implementing, with the processor of the mobile computing device, the document processing application further comprises: authorizing the mobile computing device when a fingerprint obtained from the mobile computing device is confirmed by the deposit server.

“11. A mobile computing device for processing a document depicted in a digital image, the mobile computing device comprising: a communication interface configured to receive a document processing application from a remote server based on the mobile computing device being authorized to receive the document processing application; and a processor configured to implement the document processing application to: control an image capturing device and capture an image of a document; determine whether the image satisfies a predetermined image criteria based on at least one of a size dimension of the document depicted in the image satisfying a predetermined size threshold or an alignment of the document depicted within the image satisfying a predetermined alignment threshold using the processor; modify the image to satisfy the predetermined criteria by at least one of cropping, rotating, or changing an orientation of the image to satisfy the predetermined image criteria; and transmit the image of the document to a deposit server.

“12. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein the image capturing device is a digital camera.

“13. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein the mobile computing device is authorized by the deposit server when the mobile computing device is confirmed to have an authorized digital certificate installed on the mobile computing device.

“14. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to implement the document processing application to: when the image is determined to satisfy the predetermined criteria, enable the image capturing device to capture a second image of the document, wherein the image depicts a front side of the document and the second image depicts a back side of the document.

“15. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to implement the document processing application to: when the image is determined not to satisfy the predetermined criteria, display editing instructions within the graphical user interface for editing a visual characteristic of the image.

“16. The mobile computing device of claim 15, wherein the editing instructions include an image cropping instruction and an image rotation instruction.

“17. The mobile computing device of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to implement the document processing application to: store an edited image that has been edited from the image of the document; determine the edited image satisfies the predetermined criteria; and transmit the edited image to the deposit server.

“18. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to implement the document processing application to: generate a log file comprising identification information describing the image capturing device; generate a folder location dedicated to the document processing application in a memory of the mobile computing device; and store the log file and the image of the document in the folder location.

“19. The mobile computing device of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to implement the document processing application to: delete the log file and the image of the document from the folder location according to a cleanup protocol of the document processing application after the image of the document is transmitted to the deposit server.

“20. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein the mobile computing device is authorized by the deposit server when a fingerprint obtained from the mobile computing device is confirmed by the deposit server.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Gavia, Gabriel Glenn. Systems and methods for remote deposit of checks. U.S. Patent Number 11488405, filed May 11, 2020, and published online on November 1, 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=11488405.PN.&OS=PN/11488405RS=PN/11488405

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