Remote automated document processing system
First Claim
1. An automated point-of-sale check processing system for processing customer transactions comprising:
- a document scanner located at a site of a customer transaction comprising a slot adapted to accept a document, the scanner acquiring at least one image therefrom, after having obtained an authorization agreement from a customer; and
a communication link coupled to a central clearinghouse and adapted to communicate information represented by the at least one image to the central clearinghouse for processing of the document.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An automated check processing system for accepting and processing checks from a customer, having a plurality of document scanners. The document scanners are adapted to obtain full images of checks fed into the document scanners and to obtain images of selected portions of the checks. A printer may be included for printing an authorization agreement on the checks and for inscribing a transaction amount on the checks. The system also utilizes a conveyor for returning the checks with the agreement to the customer for signing. The image scanned is then communicated to a central clearinghouse via a communication link.
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Citations
109 Claims
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1. An automated point-of-sale check processing system for processing customer transactions comprising:
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a document scanner located at a site of a customer transaction comprising a slot adapted to accept a document, the scanner acquiring at least one image therefrom, after having obtained an authorization agreement from a customer; and
a communication link coupled to a central clearinghouse and adapted to communicate information represented by the at least one image to the central clearinghouse for processing of the document. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method of processing a document at the site of a customer transaction comprising the steps of:
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obtaining an executed authorization agreement from a customer;
scanning the document and acquiring an image therefrom; and
communicating information represented by the image of the document to a central clearinghouse for processing of the document. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74)
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57. An automated check processing system for accepting and processing checks from a customer comprising:
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a plurality of document scanners, the document scanners adapted to obtain images of checks after obtaining an authorization agreement from the customer, wherein the checks are fed into the document scanners; and
a communication link coupled to a central clearinghouse and adapted to communicate the images to the central clearinghouse.
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75. An automated check processing system for accepting and processing checks from a customer purchasing merchandise having a transaction amount, the system comprising:
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a plurality of document scanners, the document scanners adapted to obtain images of checks having a first side and a second side, the checks being fed into the document scanners, wherein the scanners have a mirror for receiving images of a first side of the checks, a single scanhead for receiving the images from the mirror of the first side of the checks and receiving images of the second side of the checks, a transport mechanism for moving the checks past the mirror and the single scanhead and for transporting the checks to and from the customer, and a controller coupled to the transport mechanism and the document scanners;
a processor for obtaining information from the full images and selected images of the check and storing the information in a memory, whereby said memory creates image files and stores the full images and selected images; and
a communication link coupled to a central clearinghouse and adapted to communicate the image files to the central clearinghouse. - View Dependent Claims (76, 77, 78, 79)
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80. A method of accepting and processing checks from a customer comprising the steps of:
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providing a plurality of document scanners, the document scanners adapted to obtain images of checks fed into the document scanners after obtaining an executed authorization agreement from the customer; and
communicating the information to a central clearinghouse. - View Dependent Claims (81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90)
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91. A method of accepting and processing checks from a customer purchasing merchandise having a transaction amount, the method comprising:
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providing a plurality of document scanners;
obtaining full images of checks fed into the documents;
obtaining images of selected portions of the checks, wherein the checks have a first and a second side;
providing a mirror;
receiving images of the first side of the checks by the mirror;
providing a single scanhead;
reflecting the images of the first sides of the checks from the mirror to the single scanhead;
providing a transport mechanism;
moving the checks past the mirror and the single scanhead;
receiving images of the second side of the checks at the single scanhead;
obtaining information from the full images and selected images of the checks and storing the information in memory;
creating image files for storing the fill images and selected images;
printing an authorization agreement on the checks and means for returning the checks with the agreement to the customer;
inscribing the transaction amount on the checks; and
communicating the image files to a central clearinghouse. - View Dependent Claims (92, 93, 94)
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95. A document scanning system comprising:
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a plurality of remote image scanners, the image scanners comprising a full image scanner, a controller coupled to the full image scanners, a memory for storing images obtained by the full image scanner, and a printer coupled to the controller;
a remote processor coupled to the plurality of remote scanners, the remote processor for processing the images in a memory storage and for producing data responsive to the processing;
the memory storage coupled to the remote processor and for containing a plurality of images obtained from the plurality of remote image scanners; and
a central processor coupled to the remote processor, the central processor coupled to a central memory storage unit for storing images of the checks. - View Dependent Claims (96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102)
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103. An automated check processing system for accepting and processing checks from a customer comprising:
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a plurality of document scanning devices, the document scanning devices containing document scanners for obtaining full images of the checks that are fed into the scanning devices and obtaining images of the entirety of the checks and images of selected portions of the checks;
a printer adapted to print an authorization agreement on the checks and inscribing a transaction amount on the checks and for inscribing the transaction amount on the check in response to a customer purchase;
transport mechanism for returning the checks with the agreement to the customer;
a processor for obtaining data from the images obtained from the checks for processing the data, whereby the processor includes a memory for storing the data at scanning devices; and
a communication link coupled to a central clearinghouse and adapted to communicate the information to the central clearinghouse. - View Dependent Claims (104, 105, 106, 107)
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108. An automated check processing system for accepting and processing checks from a customer purchasing merchandise having a transaction amount, the system comprising:
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a plurality of document scanners, the document scanners adapted to obtain full images of checks having a first side and a second side and fed into the document scanners and obtaining images of selected portions of the checks, wherein the scanners have a mirror for receiving images of the first side of the checks, a single scanhead for receiving the images of the first side of the checks from the mirror and receiving images of the second side of the checks, a transport mechanism for moving the checks past the mirror and the single scanhead and returning the checks to the customer, and a controller coupled to the scanhead and the transport mechanism for controlling the movement of the transport mechanism;
a remote processor for obtaining information from the full images and selected images of the checks and storing the information in a memory and creating image files for storing the full images and selected images;
a printer adapted to print an authorization agreement on the checks and for inscribing the transaction amount on the checks;
a communication link coupled to a central clearinghouse and adapted to communicate the image files to the central clearinghouse;
a MICR data reader for obtaining MICR data from the images which are sent to the clearinghouse; and
a central office for receiving the image files. - View Dependent Claims (109)
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Specification