Systems and methods for handwriting analysis in documents

• US 7,545,959 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2003
• Issued: 06/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Computer Sciences Corporation (DXC Technology Company)
• Original Assignee: Computer Sciences Corporation (DXC Technology Company)
• Inventors: Mason, James G., Blinova, Katerina, Berkhuysen, Johan Willem Piere, Shridhar, Malayappan, Nugmanov, Babur, Bakker, Ronny, Houle, Gilles
• Primary Examiner(s): Johns; Andrew W
• Application Number:
  US10/735,280
• Publication Number:
  US 20040218801A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,006 Days
• Field of Search: 382/115, 382/119, 382/123, 382/137, 382/138, 382/186
• US Class Current: 382/115
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/133 Evaluation of quality of the acquired characters
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/274 Syntactic or semantic context, e.g. balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/30 Writer recognition; Reading and verifying signatures

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for analyzing and assessing documents using a handwriting profile for documents, such as a payment instrument. A method may include providing one or more documents to a computer system. In one embodiment, handwriting profile representations may be determined for information fields of the document. The determination may use handwriting from at least one of the information fields of the documents. In some embodiments, handwriting profile representations may be updated from one or more additional documents. In certain embodiments, a document may be provided to a computer system for assessment. Assessment may include comparing handwriting in the information fields of the document to handwriting profile representations from information fields of at least one other document. In an embodiment, the method may include assessing fraud in the document using at least one of the comparisons.

Claims

1. A method of generating a handwriting profile representation for assessing the validity of a payment instrument on a computer system, comprising:

providing one or more payment instruments to a computer system, wherein the payment instruments comprise at least one amount field, wherein an amount field indicates the value of a payment instrument; and

defining at least one handwriting profile representation from handwriting in at least one amount field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein a handwriting profile representation comprises information to assess the validity of handwriting on one or more other payment instruments.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment instrument is a check.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment instrument is a giro.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein providing one or more payment instruments to the computer system comprises providing one or more images of the one or more payment instruments to the computer system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing one or more payment instruments to the computer system comprises providing one or more images of at least a portion of at least one amount field of the one or more payment instruments to the computer system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the provided payment instruments is a validated payment instrument.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining one or more mathematical representations of handwriting in at least one amount field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein at least one handwriting profile representation comprises one or more of the determined mathematical representations.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining one or more variants of handwriting in at least one amount field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein at least one handwriting profile representation comprises one or more of the determined handwriting variants.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining one or more characteristics of handwritten letters and numbers in at least one amount field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein at least one handwriting profile representation comprises one or more of the determined characteristics of letters and numbers.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining one or more characteristics of handwritten symbols in at least one amount field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein at least one handwriting profile representation comprises one or more of the determined symbol characteristics.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining one or more syntax patterns of handwritten information in at least one amount field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein at least one handwriting profile representation comprises one or more of the determined syntax patterns.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining one or more global characteristics of handwriting in at least one amount field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein at least one handwriting profile representation comprises one or more of the determined global characteristics.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining one or more local characteristics of handwriting in at least one amount field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein at least one handwriting profile representation comprises one or more of the detennined local characteristics.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the amount fields is a courtesy amount field.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the amount fields is a legal amount field.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing one or more additional payment instruments to the computer system, wherein the additional payment instruments comprise at least one amount field; and

updating at least one of the handwriting profile representations from handwriting in at least one amount field of one or more of the additional payment instruments.

17. A system, comprising:

a CPU;

a data memory coupled to the CPU; and

a system memory coupled to the CPU, wherein the system memory is configured to store one or more computer programs executable by the CPU, and wherein at least one of the computer programs are executable to implement a method of generating a handwriting profile representation for assessing the validity of a payment instrument on a computer system, the method comprising;

providing one or more payment instruments to a computer system, wherein the payment instruments comprise at least one amount field, wherein an amount field indicates the value of a payment instrument; and

defining at least one handwriting profile representation from handwriting in at least one amount field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein a handwriting profile representation comprises information to assess the validity of handwriting on one or more other payment instruments.

18. A method of generating a handwriting profile representation for assessing the validity of a payment instrument on a computer system, comprising:

providing one or more payment instruments to a computer system, wherein the payment instruments comprise;

at least one amount field, wherein an amount field indicates the value of a payment instrument; and

at least one other information field; and

defining at least one handwriting profile representation from handwriting in at least one amount field and one other information field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein a handwriting profile representation comprises information to assess the validity of handwriting on one or more other payment instruments.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the payment instrument is a check.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the payment instrument is a giro.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein providing one or more payment instruments to the computer system comprises providing one or more images of the one or more payment instruments to the computer system.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein providing one or more payment instruments to the computer system comprises providing one or more images of at least a portion of at least one amount field of the one or more payment instruments to the computer system.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein one or more of the provided payment instruments is a validated payment instrument.

24. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining one or more mathematical representations of handwriting in at least one amount field and/or in at least one other information field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein at least one handwriting profile representation comprises one or more of the determined mathematical representations.

25. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining one or more variants of handwriting in at least one amount field and/or in at least one other information fields of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein at least one handwriting profile representation comprises one or more of the determined handwriting variants.

26. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining one or more characteristics of handwritten letters and numbers in at least one amount field and/or in at least one other information field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein at least one handwriting profile representation comprises one or more of the determined characteristics of letters and numbers.

27. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining one or more characteristics of handwritten symbols in at least one amount field and/or in at least one other information field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein at least one handwriting profile representation comprises one or more of the determined symbol characteristics.

28. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining one or more syntax patterns of handwritten information in at least one amount field and/or in at least one other information field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein at least one handwriting profile representation comprises one or more of the determined syntax patterns.

29. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one of the other information fields comprises at least one signature field, and wherein at least one handwriting profile representation is defined from handwriting in at least one amount field and at least one signature field.

30. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining one or more lexicon profiles in at least one other information field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein at least one handwriting profile representation comprises one or more of the determined lexicon profiles.

31. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining one or more global characteristics of handwriting in at least one amount field and/or in at least one other information field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein at least one handwriting profile representation comprises one or more of the determined global characteristics.

32. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining one or more local characteristics of handwriting in at least one amount field and/or in at least one other information field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein at least one handwriting profile representation comprises one or more of the determined local characteristics.

33. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one of the amount fields is a courtesy amount field.

34. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one of the amount fields is a legal amount field.

35. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

providing one or more additional payment instruments to the computer system, wherein the additional payment instruments comprise at least one amount field; and

updating at least one of the handwriting profile representations from handwriting in at least one amount field of one or more of the additional payment instruments.

36. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

providing one or more additional payment instruments to the computer system, wherein the additional payment instruments comprise at least one amount field and at least one other information field; and

updating at least one of the handwriting profile representations from handwriting in at least one amount field and/or at least one other information field of one or more of the additional payment instruments.

37. A system, comprising:

a CPU;

a data memory coupled to the CPU; and

a system memory coupled to the CPU, wherein the system memory is configured to store one or more computer programs executable by the CPU, and wherein at least one of the computer programs are executable to implement a method of generating a handwriting profile representation for assessing the validity of a payment instrument on a computer system, the method comprising;

providing one or more payment instruments to a computer system, wherein the payment instruments comprise;

at least one amount field, wherein an amount field indicates the value of a payment instrument; and

at least one other information field; and

defining at least one handwriting profile representation from handwriting in at least one amount field and one other information field of one or more of the provided payment instruments, wherein a handwriting profile representation comprises information to assess the validity of handwriting on one or more other payment instruments.