System and method for check fraud detection using signature validation

• US 20060124726A1
• Filed: 12/10/2004
• Published: 06/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitek Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Mitek Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Nepomniachtchi, Grigori, Kotovich, Nikolay
• Granted Patent: US 7,168,614 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/379
• 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 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3825 Use of electronic signatures
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/389 Keeping log of transactions for guaranteeing non-repudiation of a transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/403 Solvency checks

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for validating the authenticity of a signature on a document by providing a document from an account, the document including an actual signature and a machine-readable identifier, wherein the machine-readable identifier contains a string of data representing the integral characteristics of all valid account signatures and a person-specific confidence threshold. When the document is presented at a point of presentment, the document is scanned into a document-processing machine and the actual signature is compared against all valid account signatures.

Claims

1. A method of validating the authenticity of a signature on a document, the method comprising the steps of:

creating a fingerprint comprising machine-readable data corresponding to authorized account signatures, the fingerprint comprising a one-dimensional skeletonized version of account signature data, wherein the fingerprint contains 500 bytes of information or less;

providing a document from an account, the document including an actual signature and a fingerprint;

presenting the document at a point of presentment;

scanning the document, including the actual signature and the fingerprint, into a document-processing machine; and

comparing the actual signature against the account signature data in the fingerprint.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating the fingerprint includes the step of printing the fingerprint onto the document as part of a two-dimensional machine-readable identifier.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the machine-readable identifier comprises a barcode.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the document-processing machine comprises a point of sale scanner.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of comparing the actual signature against the account signature data in the fingerprint is performed using the document processing machine.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein signature validation software is installed on the document-processing machine for performing the comparison.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the fingerprint represents integral characteristics of all valid account signatures.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the fingerprint identifies a person-specific confidence threshold for each account use.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the fingerprint contains 100 bytes of information or less.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of outputting a confidence value that indicates a degree of similarity between the actual signature and the corresponding account signature data in the fingerprint.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of determining that the actual signature is authentic if the confidence value is above a predetermined threshold.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of determining that the actual signature is potentially fraudulent if the confidence value is below a predetermined threshold.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of displaying an alert if the signature is deemed potentially fraudulent.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the document is a check.

9. (canceled)

16. A method of encoding a document with account signature data for signature validation, the method comprising the steps of.

compressing the account signature data into a fingerprint comprising machine readable data corresponding to one or more account signatures, the fingerprint comprising a one-dimensional skeletonized version of account signature data, wherein the fingerprint comprises 100 bytes of data or less;

encoding the fingerprint into a barcode; and

printing the barcode on the document.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the fingerprint represents integral characteristics of all valid account signatures.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the fingerprint identifies a person specific confidence threshold for each account user.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the document is a check.

19. (canceled)