Decentralized system and method for the remote capture, processing and transmission of check 21™ compliant checking document information

• US 7,571,848 B2
• Filed: 02/18/2006
• Issued: 08/11/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Skyline Data Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Skyline Data Incorporated
• Inventors: Cohen, Lawrence, Rosenbaum, Stephen, Lederman, Jeryl, Krug, Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Seung H
• Application Number:
  US11/357,488
• Publication Number:
  US 20070194102A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,270 Days
• Field of Search: 235/379, 235/487, 235/375, 705/35
• 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 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A de-centralized, or non-centralized, system and method facilitates the capture and processing of checks and related bank document information at a remote client subsystem and locally processing the checks and information at the remote client site, for transmission to a main subsystem, for direct routing of the bank document information to the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, circumventing intermediate transmission to the Bank of First Deposit (BOFD), all in compliance with the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act.

Claims

1. A system for decentralized batch processing of paper checking documents at a remote client location to enable direct routing of checking document information, in a format compliant with the Check Clearing for the 21^st Century Act (Check 21), to a Federal Reserve bank, bypassing Bank of First Deposit operations, the system comprising:

a first subsystem configured for receiving electronically transmitted digital data files created from said paper checking documents, the first subsystem including a rules engine capable of automatically determining, without any human intervention, whether individual checking documents represented by said digital data files are properly formatted for processing in accordance with Check 21 standards to enable direct transmission of said digital data files to said Federal Reserve Bank; and

a second subsystem at said client location, in secure communication with said first subsystem, configured for receiving checking document data, converting the checking document data into a format in conformance with Check 21 processing requirements, and securely transmitting said formatted data to said first subsystem for direct routing to said Federal Reserve bank.

2. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said client location further comprises a non-bank entity.

3. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said first subsystem is configured to analyze check data received from said second subsystem, in a manner enabling determination at said as to whether said formatted check information should be processed in accordance with an Automated Clearing House (ACH) procedure or in accordance with Check 21 procedure.

4. A system as recited in claim 3, wherein said first subsystem is configured to analyze check data received from said second subsystem, in a manner enabling determination as to where said check information should be routed.

5. A system as recited in claim 3, wherein said first subsystem is configured to enable reformatting of said received formatted data for processing in accordance with at least one of an ACH procedure or a Check 21 procedure.

6. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said first subsystem is configured to analyze check data received from said second subsystem, in a manner enabling determination as to where said check information should be routed.

7. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said second subsystem further comprises electronic storage means for locally archiving check related data and images.

8. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said second subsystem further comprises:

optical character recognition (OCR) apparatus;

check scanning apparatus having a software scanning module running thereon to enable both sides of paper checks to be scanned, a magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) line to be read, and a customized physical endorsement to be printed thereon.

9. A system as recited in claim 8, wherein said second subsystem further comprises means for parsing said MICR line data to determine a check amount, a bank routing number, a bank account number, and a check number.

10. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said second subsystem further comprises means for assigning quantitative confidence level indications to value date represented by said digital data files.

11. A system as recited in claim 10, wherein said quantitative confidence level indications further comprise color-coding.

12. A system as recited in claim 10, wherein second subsystem further comprises means for assigning a profile configuration value to automatically determine which of said value data requires manual inspection.

13. A computer-implemented method for decentralized processing of batch paper checking documents in accordance with the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (Check 21), comprising the steps of:

providing a second subsystem configured for analyzing digital data files representing said paper checking documents;

providing a first subsystem configured for securely electronically receiving said digital data files, the first subsystem including a rules engine capable of automatically determining, without requiring any human intervention, whether individual checking documents represented by said digital data files are properly formatted for processing in accordance with Check 21 standards to enable direct transmission of said digital data files to said Federal Reserve Bank;

analyzing said digital data files at said second subsystem;

transmitting said digital data files to said first subsystem from said second subsystem;

receiving said digital data files at said first subsystem and exposing said digital data files to a rules engine running on said first subsystem, said rules engine automatically determining whether individual checking documents represented by said digital data files are properly formatted for processing in accordance with Check 21 standards to enable direct transmission of said digital data files to said Federal Reserve Bank;

routing the received digital data files determined to be Check 21 compliant directly to said Federal Reserve Bank.

14. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein the step of providing a second subsystem configured for analyzing digital data files representing said paper checking documents further comprises providing Optical Character Recognition (OCR) apparatus and check scanning apparatus having a software scanning module running thereon to enable both sides of paper checks to be scanned, a magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) line to be read, and a customized physical endorsement to be printed thereon.

15. A method as recited in claim 14, further comprising, before the step of analyzing, the steps of:

receiving said batch paper checking documents at said second subsystem;

subjecting said documents to said check scanning apparatus;

performing Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on said paper checking documents; and

convening data from said scanned checks to digital data files.

16. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the step of converting further comprises convening data from at least some of said scanned checks to digital data files in having a format in conformance with Check 21 processing requirements.

17. A method as recited in claim 16, further comprising the step of transmitting said digital data files to said first subsystem.

18. A method as recited in claim 17, further comprising the step of determining which of said digital data files are in conformance for processing in accordance Check 21 procedures.

19. A method as recited in claim 18, further comprising the step of securely routing said digital data files that conform with Check 21 procedures directly to said Federal Reserve bank.

20. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein said paper checking documents further comprise a combination of checking documents and payment coupon documents.