Network for transporting and processing images in real time

• US 6,661,910 B2
• Filed: 04/14/1998
• Issued: 12/09/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cummins-Allison Corporation (Crane Company)
• Original Assignee: Cummins-Allison Corporation (Crane Company)
• Inventors: Gafron, Ronald M., Mennie, Douglas U., Jones, John E., Jones, William J., Jones, Paul A.
• Primary Examiner(s): CHANG, JON CARLTON
• Application Number:
  US09/059,813
• Publication Number:
  US 20020001393A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,065 Days
• Field of Search: 382/138, 382/140, 382/137, 382/139, 382/135, 382/136, 705/42, 705/45, 235/379
• 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: G06Q 20/0425 the cheque being electronic only
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/108 Remote banking, e.g. home banking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1085 involving automatic teller machines [ATMs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/00 General purpose image data processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/95 structured as a network, e.g. client-server architectures
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/96 Management of image or video recognition tasks
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/2253 Recognition of characters printed with magnetic ink G06V30/2247 takes precedence

Abstract

An image processing network for processing image files and coupled to an outside data communication network comprising a plurality of remote image capture units, the units scanning documents and creating a plurality of image files of said documents; the image processing means is coupled to said plurality of remote image capture units for processing the image files; the accounting means is coupled to the image processing means for immediately updating accounts associated with said image processing means; and the plurality of remote capture units are coupled to the outside network, the outside data communication network is connected to outside financial institutions, the image processing means transmits said image files to the outside financial institutions via the data communication network and receives image files from the outside financial institutions over the network.

Claims

1. A system for accepting deposits of documents including currency bills and checks, the system comprising:

an input receptacle adapted to receive a plurality of documents associated with a deposit transaction, the documents including one or more currency bills and one or more checks;

an image scanner;

a currency denominator;

a transport mechanism adapted to transport the documents, one at a time, from the input receptacle past the image scanner and the currency denominator to one or more output receptacles, the image scanner being adapted to obtain an image of each passing document as well as process the obtained images to extract serial number data from the currency bills and MICR data from the checks, and the currency denominator being adapted to denominate those documents which are currency bills;

a memory adapted to store an image file for the deposit, the image file including the images of all documents as well as the extracted serial number data for the imaged currency bills and the MICR data for the imaged checks.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the transport mechanism is adapted to transport documents at a rate in excess of 800 documents per minute for imaging and denominating.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the transport mechanism is adapted to transport documents at a rate in excess of 1000 documents per minute for imaging and denominating.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the image scanner is a digital imager and the stored images are digital images.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising an interface adapted to communicate the images of the documents along with the currency bill serial number and check MICR information to a financial institution.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the memory is located remote from the image scanner and currency denominator.

7. A method of depositing checks and currency into an account at a financial institution comprising:

entering an itemized declared value balance of the checks and currency;

feeding checks and currency into a document processing system, the document processing system having an input receptacle adapted to receive documents associated with the deposit transaction, a transport mechanism adapted to transport the documents, one at a time, from the input receptacle past an image scanner and currency denominator to one or more output receptacles, the image scanner being adapted to obtain an image of each passing document and process the check images to obtain check value, the currency denominator being adapted to obtain currency bill value, and a memory adapted to store the images of the documents deposited along with itemized and accumulated check values and currency bill values for the deposit transaction; and

updating the account to reflect the itemized declared value balance for the deposit transaction.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising providing a receipt of the deposit transaction.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising depositing coins into the document processing system to be counted and authenticated.

10. A method of processing deposits of checks and currency bills that have been inserted into a document processing device, comprising:

transporting a plurality documents from an input to an output receptacle, wherein the plurality of documents include checks and currency bills;

obtaining an image of each document as it is transported past an image scanner;

denominating each document which is a currency bill as it is transported past an currency denominator;

processing the obtained check images to extract MICR information and processing the obtained currency bill images to extract serial number information; and

storing an image file for the deposit, the image file including the images of all of the documents as well as the extracted MICR information for the imaged checks and the extracted serial number information for the imaged currency bills.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising receiving a plurality of coins, denominating the plurality of coins, and including a summary of the coin deposit on the review of the deposit transaction.

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising receiving an input indicating the account to which the deposit is to be deposited.

13. The method according to claim 10, further comprising providing a review of the deposit transaction.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the review of the deposit transaction provides a detail of all of the documents transported.

15. The method according to claim 10, further comprising printing a receipt of the deposit transaction, detailing all of the documents imaged.

16. A system for accepting deposits of documents, including currency bills and checks, the system comprising:

an input receptacle adapted to receive a plurality of documents associated with a deposit transaction, the plurality of documents including one or more U.S. or foreign currency bills and one or more checks;

at least one output receptacle for receiving the documents after they have been processed;

an image scanner adapted to digitally image at least one side of said documents, the image scanner further operable to process the images to extract check value from the check images;

a currency denominator operable to determine bill value for the currency bills;

a transport mechanism adapted to transport the documents, one at a time, from the input receptacle past the image scanner and the currency denominator to the output receptacle; and

a memory adapted to store the document images along with itemized and accumulated check values and bill values for the deposit transaction.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the transport mechanism is adapted to transport documents at a rate in excess of 800 documents per minute past the image scanner and currency denominator.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the transport mechanism is adapted to transport documents at a rate in excess of 1000 documents per minute past the image scanner and currency denominator.

19. A method of depositing checks and currency into an account at a financial institution comprising:

entering an itemized declared accumulated value of the checks and currency;

feeding the checks and currency into a document processing system having

an input receptacle adapted to receive documents associated with the deposit transaction,

at least one output receptacle for receiving the documents after they have been processed,

an image scanner adapted to digitally image at least one side of said documents, the image scanner further operable to process the check images to extract check value,

a currency denominator adapted to denominate a currency value for each currency bill,

a transport mechanism adapted to transport the documents, one at a time, from the input receptacle past the image scanner and the currency denominator to the output receptacle, and

a memory adapted to store a record of the document images as well as itemized and accumulated check values for the imaged checks and the bill values for the imaged currency bills; and

comparing the record of the deposit transaction with the itemized entered declared accumulated value.

20. A method of accepting deposits of checks and currency bills into a document processing device, comprising:

accepting a plurality of documents into an input receptacle of the document processing device, wherein the plurality of documents include one or more U.S. or foreign currency bills and one or more checks;

imaging each accepted document;

converting the image on at least one side of said documents to electronic data representing the document image;

processing the check images to extract check value;

denominating documents which are currency bills to extract bill values;

receiving the documents in at least one output receptacle after they have been imaged and denominated; and

storing the document images along with itemized and accumulated check values and bill values for the deposit transaction.