DOCUMENT IMAGING AND PROCESSING SYSTEM

• US 20080219543A1
• Filed: 03/07/2008
• Published: 09/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cummins-Allison Corporation (Crane Company)
• Original Assignee: Cummins-Allison Corporation (Crane Company)
• Inventors: Mennie, Douglas U., Klein, Robert J., Hallowell, Curtis W., Blake, John R., Anderson, Matthew, Watts, Gary, CSULITS, FRANK M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,204,293 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/135
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/042 characterized in that the payment protocol involves at least one cheque
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/95 Pattern authentication; Markers therefor; Forgery detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/127 with the intervention of an operator
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/12 Visible light, infrared or ultraviolet radiation

Abstract

A document processing system comprising one or more document scanning devices that extract information from document images that uniquely identify a document. The system further comprises a central processor remotely connected to the document scanning devices. The central processor is configured to receive the document images and the extracted information from the document scanning devices and is further configured to execute a correction routine configured to adjust errors in the extracted information from the document image.

Claims

1. A document processing device comprising:

an input receptacle configured to receive a plurality of documents;

an image scanner configured to obtain a document image of at least a portion of one side of each of said plurality of documents, said scanner further being configured to extract information from said document image;

a transport mechanism configured to transport each of said plurality of documents one at a time from said input receptacle passed said image scanner and to an output receptacle;

a controller coupled to said transport mechanism and to said image scanner, said controller configured to at least partially control said transport mechanism and said image scanner;

a memory coupled to at least one of said controller and said image scanner, said memory being configured to store at least one of information extracted from said document image and master information identifying at least one of counterfeit and forged documents; and

a processor coupled to said memory, said processor configured to compare said information extracted from said document image with master information stored in said memory, said master information for identifying at least one of counterfeit and forged documents, said processor further being configured to identify at least one of a suspected counterfeit and forged document based on said comparison operation;

wherein said document processing device continuously transports documents during said comparison and identification operations, and wherein said information extracted from said document image at least partially contains character information obtained from a predetermined field of said document image, said processor containing a search routine configured to search said character information.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein said input receptacle is a single receptacle configured to receive intermingled currency bills and checks.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein said input receptacle is configured to receive currency bills and checks intermingled in a single stack of documents, said input receptacle further being configured to transfer said currency bills into said transport mechanism in a direction perpendicular to a wider edge of said currency bill and to transfer said checks into said transport mechanism perpendicular to at least one of a wider edge and a narrower edge of said check.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein said image scanner has a depth of field of approximately 0.060 inches.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein said image scanner is capable of simultaneously scanning a front side and a back side of said documents.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein said transport mechanism is configured to transport said documents at a rate varying between 0 and 100 inches per second.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein a luminance control technique is initiated for said image scanner when said transport mechanism is transporting documents at a non-constant rate.

8. The device of claim 6, wherein an image processing technique is initiated for said image scanner when said transport mechanism is transporting documents at a non-constant rate.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein said transport mechanism is configured to transport said documents at a rate of up to 1,000 documents per minute.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein said transport mechanism is further configured to transport intermingled currency bills and checks, said currency bills and said checks being transported in a direction perpendicular to said wider edge of said currency bills and said checks.

11. The device of claim 1, further comprising an evaluation unit configured to determine currency denomination using information extracted from a predetermined field of said document image.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein said image scanner is further configured to locate a field in said document image and further configured to extract characters from said field as information to be associated with said document.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein at least one of said image scanner and said processor contains a correction routine configured to adjust an error in extracted information from said document image.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein said correction routine allows adjustment of said error by manual input into an input device.

15. The device of claim 13, wherein said processor operates remotely from said image scanner.

16. The device of claim 13, wherein said correction routine allows for adjustment of said error automatically.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein said automatic adjustment of said error occurs after said device finishes transporting said plurality of documents, said correction routine being capable of using additional algorithms.

18. The device of claim 12, wherein said image scanner employs optical character recognition to extract characters from a field and wherein at least one of said image scanner and said processor contains a correction routine configured to adjust an error in optically-recognized extracted characters, wherein said correction routine comprises an image enhancement routine configured to process a document image followed by an extraction of characters from said document image.

19. The device of claim 1, wherein said character information extracted from said documents includes serial numbers and said search routine is configured to search for partial serial numbers.

20. A document processing system comprising:

a plurality of document scanning devices that extract information from document images; and

a central processor remotely connected to said document scanning devices;

wherein said central processor is configured to receive said document images and said extracted information from said document scanning devices and is further configured to employ a correction routine configured to adjust an error in said extracted information from said document image.

21. A currency note processing device comprising:

at least one input receptacle configured to receive a plurality of currency notes;

an image scanner configured to obtain at least a partial image of at least one side of each of said plurality of currency notes;

a transport mechanism configured to transport each of said plurality of currency notes one at a time from said input receptacle to said image scanner and from said image scanner to an output receptacle;

a controller coupled to said transport mechanism and to said image scanner, said controller being configured to at least partially control said transport mechanism and said image scanner;

a memory coupled to said image scanner, said memory being configured to store said at least partial image of each of said plurality of currency notes; and

a processor coupled to said memory, said processor configured to denominate said plurality of currency notes by applying a denominating algorithm to said stored at least partial image of each of said plurality of currency notes.

22. The currency note processing device of claim 21, wherein said input receptacle is configured to receive currency notes and transfer said currency notes into said transport mechanism in a direction perpendicular to a wider edge of said currency notes at a rate up to 1000 currency notes per minute.

23. The currency note processing device of claim 21, wherein said image scanner is further configured to extract information from said image of each of said plurality of currency notes.

24. The currency note processing device of claim 23, wherein said extracted information uniquely identifies each of said plurality of currency notes.

25. The currency note processing device of claim 23, wherein said extracted information is at least one of a serial number, a signature, a denomination, a series, a back plate, a front plate, and a print code.

26. The device of claim 21, wherein said image scanner further comprises an optical character recognition capability to locate a field in said document image and to extract characters from said field as information to be associated with said currency note.

27. The device of claim 21, wherein said processor is further configured to denominate said plurality of currency notes by comparing said stored at least partial image with a denominating image.

28. The currency note processing device of claim 23, wherein said memory is configured to store one of extracted information from said image of each of said plurality of currency notes and master information identifying counterfeit currency notes.

29. The currency note processing device of claim 28, wherein said processor is configured to compare said extracted information with said master information identifying said counterfeit currency notes, said processor further being configured to identify at least one of a suspected counterfeit currency note based on said comparison operation.

30. The currency note processing device of claim 23, wherein at least one of said image scanner and said processor contains a correction routine capable of automatically adjusting an error in said extracted information from an image.

31. The currency note processing device of claim 30, wherein said automatic adjustment of said error occurs at least partially after said device processes said plurality of currency notes using an additional algorithm.

32. The currency note processing device of claim 21, further including a buffer memory coupled to said memory and coupled to said controller, wherein said controller reduces the rate said transport mechanism transports said currency notes from said input receptacle to said image scanner when said buffer memory approaches a predetermined buffer limit.

33. The currency note processing device of claim 32, wherein said controller stops said transport mechanism from transporting said currency notes when said buffer memory approaches a buffer overrun condition.

34. The currency note processing device of claim 21, wherein at least one of said image scanner and said processor applies a deskewing algorithm for deskewing said partial image of at least one side of each of said plurality of currency notes.

35. The currency note processing device of claim 21, wherein said image of at least one side of each of said plurality of currency notes is an image of an entire currency note, said processor being configured to apply a cropping algorithm to crop a portion of said image of an entire currency note.

36. The currency note processing device of claim 35, wherein said processor is configured to apply a deskewing algorithm for deskewing said cropped portion of said image.

37. The currency note processing device of claim 36, wherein said processor is configured to apply a denominating algorithm to said cropped and said deskewed portion of said image to denominate said currency note.

38. The currency note processing device of claim 35, wherein said processor is configured to apply an extraction algorithm to said cropped and said deskewed image to extract information from said image.

39. The currency note processing device of claim 38, wherein said extracted information includes a serial number associated with a currency note.

40. A document processing device comprising:

an input receptacle configured to receive a plurality of documents;

an image scanner configured to obtain a document image of at least a portion of at least one side of each of said plurality of documents, said scanner further being configured to extract information from said document image of each document;

a transport mechanism configured to transport each of said plurality of documents one at a time from said input receptacle to said image scanner and from said image scanner to an output receptacle;

a controller coupled to said transport mechanism and to said image scanner, said controller configured to at least partially control said transport mechanism and said image scanner;

a memory coupled to at least one of said controller and said image scanner, said memory being configured to store said extracted information from said document image; and

a processor coupled to said memory, said processor configured to execute a correction routine that applies a first algorithm for automatically adjusting errors identified in said extracted information.

41. The device of claim 40, wherein said input receptacle is a single input receptacle configured to receive intermingled currency notes and checks.

42. The device of claim 41, wherein said transport mechanism is configured to transport said intermingled currency notes and said checks at a rate of up to 1,000 documents per minute, said currency notes and said checks transported in a direction perpendicular to a wider edge of said currency notes and said checks and said device is further configured to transport said checks in a direction perpendicular to a narrower edge of said checks at a rate of about 50-100 documents per minute.

43. The device of claim 41, wherein at least one of said document images includes an image of at least a portion of a MICR code.

44. The device of claim 43, wherein said image scanner extracts information from said MICR code image.

45. The device of claim 41, wherein said check contains a MICR code parallel to a narrower edge of said check, said image scanner further configured to extract information from said MICR code parallel to said narrower edge of said check.

46. The device of claim 41, wherein said check contains a barcode parallel to at least one of a wider edge of said check and a narrower edge of said check, said image scanner further configured to extract information from said barcode.

47. The device of claim 41, wherein said memory is further configured to store a denominating image, said processor being further configured to compare said extracted information with said denominating image for denominating said currency notes.

48. The device of claim 41, wherein said document image is an image an entire document, and said processor crops and deskews a portion of said document image.

49. The device of claim 48, wherein said processor executes a cropping algorithm and a deskewing algorithm to crop and deskew said document image.

50. The device of claim 48, wherein said processor applies an algorithm to said cropped and said deskewed document image to denominate said currency notes.

51. The device of claim 50, wherein said algorithm is a denominating algorithm.

52. The device of claim 50, wherein said algorithm calculates a predetermined number of average luminance samples of pixels within said cropped and deskewed image.

53. The device of claim 52, wherein said processor compares said average luminance samples with at least one master characteristic pattern to denominate said currency notes.

54. The device of claim 48, wherein said processor applies an algorithm to said cropped and said deskewed portion of said side of said plurality of documents to extract information from said image.

55. The device of claim 40, wherein said processor operates remotely to said image scanner.

56. The device of claim 40, wherein said image scanner is configured to locate a field within said document image and to extract characters from said field as information to be associated with a corresponding document.

57. The device of claim 40, wherein said automatic adjusting of said error occurs at least partially after said device processes said plurality of documents using an additional algorithm.

58. The device of claim 40, wherein said transport mechanism transports said documents having an error that cannot be automatically corrected to a separate output receptacle.

59. The device of Claim 40, wherein at least one of said image scanner and said processor deskews said portion of at least one side of each of said plurality of documents.

60. The device of claim 40, further including a buffer memory coupled to said memory and coupled to said controller, wherein said controller is configured to reduce the rate said transport mechanism transports said currency notes from said input receptacle to said image scanner when said buffer memory approaches a predetermined buffer limit.

61. The device of claim 60, wherein said controller is configured to stop said transport mechanism from transporting said currency notes when said buffer memory approaches a buffer overrun condition.

62. The device of claim 40, further comprising a communications link between said document processing device and a network system, wherein said processor is further configured to compare said extracted information with information on said network system.

63. The device of claim 62, wherein said information on said network system is a suspect list of at least one of known counterfeit documents and known forgery documents.

64. The device of claim 63, wherein said controller is configured to cause the transport mechanism to transport documents matching at least one of said known counterfeits and said known forgery documents to a separate output receptacle.

65. The device of claim 40, further comprising a communications link between said document processing device and a banking network, wherein said processor is further configured to transmit at least one of said extracted information and said document image to a financial institution over said banking network.

66. The device of claim 65, wherein said processor is configured to transmit at least one of said document images and said extracted information to a bank for at least one of processing said checks, denominating said currency notes, comparing said currency notes to known counterfeits, and comparing said checks to known forgeries.

67. The device of claim 65, wherein said processor is configured to transmit at least one of said document images and said extracted information to a bank for a provisional credit to a customer account.

68. The device of claim 65, wherein said processor is configured to transmit a deposit amount for said plurality of documents to a banking device to allow a financial institution to perform a blind balancing of said plurality of documents.

69. The device of claim 68, wherein said blind balancing includes displaying said deposit amount of said plurality of documents only if said plurality of documents balances with said deposit amount transmitted to said banking device.

70. The device of claim 40, further comprising a printer for printing at least one of a portion of said document image and a portion of said extracted information.

71. The device of claim 70, wherein said document processing device is an automated banking machine configured to print a receipt including at least one of a portion of said extracted information and a portion of said document image.

72. The device of claim 71, wherein said receipt further includes customer identifying information.

73. The device of claim 71, wherein said automated banking machine is an automated teller machine.

74. A document processing method comprising:

receiving a plurality of documents in an input receptacle;

obtaining a document image of at least a portion of one side of each of said plurality of documents;

extracting information from said document image;

transporting each of said plurality of documents one at a time from said input receptacle to an output receptacle;

storing at least one of information extracted from said document image and master information identifying at least one of counterfeit and forged documents;

identifying suspect documents by comparing said information extracted from said document image with said master information identifying at least one of counterfeit and forged documents; and

searching said information extracted from said document image for character data extracted from a predetermined field of said document image.

75. The method of claim 74 wherein said plurality of documents are continuously transported one at a time from said input receptacle to said output receptacle.

76. A currency note processing method comprising the acts of:

receiving a plurality of documents in at least one input receptacle;

obtaining at least a partial image of at least one side of each of said plurality of currency notes;

transporting each of said plurality of currency notes one at a time from said input receptacle to an output receptacle;

storing said at least partial image; and

denominating said plurality of currency notes using said stored at least partial image.

77. A document processing method comprising the acts of:

receiving a plurality of documents in an input receptacle;

obtaining a document image of at least a portion of at least one side of each of said plurality of documents;

extracting information from said document image;

transporting each of said plurality of documents one at a time from said input receptacle to an output receptacle;

storing said information extracted from said document image; and

automatically correcting errors in said information extracted from said document image.

78. A computer-readable medium encoded with instructions for processing a plurality of documents in a document processing system, said instructions comprising:

extracting information from a document image obtained from at least a portion of one side of each of said plurality of documents;

controlling a transport mechanism that transports each of said plurality of documents one at a time along a transport path from an input receptacle to an output receptacle;

controlling an image scanner located along said transport path between said input receptacle and said output receptacle, said image scanner configured to obtain said document image;

identifying suspect documents by comparing said information extracted from said document image with master information identifying at least one of counterfeit and forged documents; and

searching said extracted information for character data obtained from a predetermined field of said document image.

79. A computer-readable medium associated with a document processing system, said computer-readable medium encoded with instructions for processing a plurality of currency notes, said instructions comprising:

extracting information from at least a partial image of at least one side of each of said plurality of currency notes;

controlling a transport mechanism and an image scanner, said transport mechanism for transporting each of said plurality of currency notes one at a time from an input receptacle to an output receptacle, said image scanner used to obtain said currency note image; and

denominating said plurality of currency notes using said at least partial image.

80. A computer-readable medium associated with a document processing system, said computer-readable medium encoded with instructions for processing a plurality of documents, said instructions comprising:

extracting information from a document image obtained from at least a portion of at least one side of each of said plurality of documents;

controlling a transport mechanism that transports each of said plurality of documents one at a time along a transport path from an input receptacle to an output receptacle;

controlling an image scanner located along the transport path between said input receptacle and said output receptacle, said image scanner configured to obtain the document image; and

automatically correcting errors identified in said information extracted from said document image.