Digital camera processing system

• US 10,402,638 B1
• Filed: 10/19/2018
• Issued: 09/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Original Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Inventors: Oakes, III, Charles Lee, Morlen, Randy Ray, Morris, Michael Frank, Medina, III, Reynaldo, Harpel, Greg Alan, Gavia, Gabriel Glenn, Prasad, Bharat, Major, Frank Kyle, Pollack, Jeffrey Neal
• Primary Examiner(s): Liu, I Jung
• Application Number:
  US16/165,622
• Time in Patent Office: 319 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10861 sensing of data fields affixed to objects or articles, e.g. coded labels postal sorting B07C3/14, conveying articles B65G47/48
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/042 characterized in that the payment protocol involves at least one cheque
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/108 Remote banking, e.g. home banking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3223 Realising banking transactions through M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/16 Image preprocessing
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/2253 Recognition of characters printed with magnetic ink G06V30/2247 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/40 Document-oriented image-based pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/12 Fingerprints or palmprints
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00204 with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server programmed control between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device H04N1/32561
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00244 with a server, e.g. an internet server fax-servers or the like for store and forward H04N1/324
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00307 with a mobile telephone apparatus constructional features of portable telephone sets H04M1/0202; mobile radio systems H04W84/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00816 Determining the reading area, e.g. eliminating reading of margins
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/387 Composing, repositioning or otherwise geometrically modifying originals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/403 Discrimination between the two tones in the picture signal of a two-tone original
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/001 Sharing resources, e.g. processing power or memory, with a connected apparatus or enhancing the capability of the still picture apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0084 : Digital still camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0096 : Portable devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/632 : for displaying or modifying preview images prior to image capturing, e.g. variety of image resolutions or capturing parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/64 : Computer-aided capture of images, e.g. transfer from script file into camera, check of taken image quality, advice or proposal for image composition or decision on when to take image

Abstract

A digital camera processing system with software to manage taking photos with a digital camera. Camera software controls the digital camera. A downloaded software component controls the digital camera software and causes a handheld mobile device to perform operations. The operations may include instructing a user to have the digital camera take photos of a check; displaying an instruction on a display of the handheld mobile device to assist the user in having the digital camera take the photos; or assisting the user as to an orientation for taking the photos with the digital camera. The digital camera processing system may generate a log file including a bi-tonal image formatted as a TIFF image.

Claims

1. A system for allowing a customer to deposit a check using a customer'"'"'s own handheld mobile device, the system including:

a customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device including a downloaded app, the app associated with a bank and causing the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device to perform the following steps;

receiving input entered by the customer indicating an amount of the check;

after the receiving, instructing the customer to take a photo of the check;

using a display of the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device to assist the customer in having a digital camera take the photo of the check;

assisting the customer as to an orientation for taking the photo;

presenting the photo of the check to the customer after the photo is taken; and

using a wireless network, transmitting a copy of the photo over the Internet from the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device and submitting the check for mobile check deposit in the bank after presenting the photo of the check to the customer;

a bank computer programmed to update a balance of an account to reflect an amount of the check submitted for mobile check deposit by the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device;

the system being configured to check for errors before the submitting is performed by the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device;

the system being configured to confirm that the mobile check deposit can go forward after;

optical character recognition is performed on the check in the photo, the optical character recognition including determining an amount shown on the check, and

the amount determined by optical character recognition is compared to the amount entered by the customer; and

the system being configured to update the balance of the account after optical character recognition is performed on a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) line of the check in the photo.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the confirming step takes place after duplicate detection is performed on the check in the photo.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to initiate the mobile deposit after the confirming step is performed.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to perform the update step after it is determined that some mark or signature is present in an endorsement location in the photo of a back side of the check.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructing step includes instructing the customer to have the digital camera take a photo of a front side of the check and a photo of a back side of the check.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital camera is separate from the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device is a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to convert the photo into a bi-tonal Tag Image File Format (TIFF).

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless network is a cellular network.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device further includes camera software that controls a customer'"'"'s digital camera, the camera software being separate from the downloaded app, the downloaded app at least partially controlling the camera software.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the app manages taking the photo.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the app instructs the customer to place the check in front of the digital camera before taking the photo.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the submitting step is performed after the customer is authenticated.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to generate a log file for the mobile check deposit.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the log file includes an image of the check submitted for mobile check deposit.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the image is a bi-tonal Tag Image File Format (TIFF).

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the copy is a modified version of the photo taken with the digital camera.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the copy has a different format than the photo taken with the digital camera.

19. The system of claim 1, further comprising a third-party vendor computer.

20. A system for allowing a customer to deposit a check using a customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device, the system configured to authenticate the customer using data representing a customer fingerprint, the system including:

a customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device including a downloaded app, the app associated with a bank and causing the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device to perform the following steps;

instructing the customer to take a photo of the check;

using a display of the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device to assist the customer in taking the photo of the check;

assisting the customer as to an orientation for taking the photo; and

using a wireless network, transmitting a copy of the photo from the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device and submitting the check for mobile check deposit;

a bank computer programmed to update a balance of an account to reflect an amount of the check submitted for mobile check deposit by the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device;

the system being configured to check for errors before the submitting is performed by the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device; and

the system being configured to confirm that the mobile check deposit can go forward after optical character recognition is performed on the check in the photo.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein a digital camera is separate from the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device is a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).

26. The system of claim 20,

wherein the downloaded app causes the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device to perform additional steps including receiving input entered by the customer indicating an amount of the check, the receiving being performed before the instructing;

and

wherein the system is configured to confirm that the mobile check deposit can go forward after;

optical character recognition is performed on the check in the photo, the optical character recognition including determining an amount shown on the check, and

the amount determined by optical character recognition is compared to the amount entered by the customer.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the system is configured to update the balance of the account after optical character recognition is performed on a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) line of the check in the photo.

23. A system for allowing a customer to deposit a check using a customer'"'"'s own handheld mobile device with a digital camera, the system configured to authenticate the customer using data representing a customer fingerprint, the system including:

a customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device including;

camera software that controls the digital camera; and

a downloaded app associated with a bank to control the camera software and to control submitting a check for deposit by causing the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device to perform the following steps;

instructing the customer to have the digital camera take photos of front and back sides of the check;

using a display of the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device to assist the customer in having the digital camera take the photos of the check;

assisting the customer as to an orientation for taking the photos;

presenting the photos of the check to the customer after the photos are taken;

receiving input from the customer indicating an amount of the check; and

using a wireless cellular network, transmitting a copy of the photos over the Internet from the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device and submitting the check for mobile check deposit in the bank after the photos of the check are presented to the customer;

a computer associated with the bank programmed to update a balance of an account to reflect the check submitted for mobile check deposit by the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device; and

the system configured to perform additional steps including;

confirming that the mobile check deposit can go forward after optical character recognition is performed on the check, the optical character recognition determining an amount of the check, reading a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) line, performing duplicate detection, and comparing the determined amount to the amount indicated by the customer;

initiating the mobile check deposit after the confirming step is performed; and

generating a log file for the mobile check deposit, the log file including an image of the check submitted for mobile check deposit.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the digital camera is separate from the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device is a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).

28. A system for allowing a customer to deposit a check using a customer'"'"'s own handheld mobile device, the system including:

a bank computer programmed to update a balance of an account to reflect an amount of a check submitted for mobile check deposit by the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device, the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device including a downloaded app, the app associated with a bank and causing the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device to perform;

receiving input entered by the customer indicating an amount of the check;

after the receiving, instructing the customer to take a photo of the check,

using a display of the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device to assist the customer in having a digital camera take the photo of the check,

assisting the customer as to an orientation for taking the photo,

presenting the photo of the check to the customer after the photo is taken, and

using a wireless network, transmitting a copy of the photo over the Internet from the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device and submitting the check for mobile check deposit in the bank after presenting the photo of the check to the customer;

the system being configured to update the balance of the account after optical character recognition reads a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) line of the check in the photo, optical character recognition determines an amount shown on the check, and the amount determined by optical character recognition is compared to the amount entered by the customer.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the digital camera is separate from the customer'"'"'s handheld mobile device.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the app manages taking the photo.