Apparatus and system for imaging currency bills and financial documents and method for using the same

• US 8,433,123 B1
• Filed: 04/13/2010
• Issued: 04/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cummins-Allison Corporation (Crane Company)
• Original Assignee: Cummins-Allison Corporation (Crane Company)
• Inventors: Csulits, Frank M., Jones, William J., Mennie, Douglas U., Anderson, Matthew L., Klein, Robert J., Watts, Gary P., Jones, John E., Jones, Paul A., Jaeger, Ralf H., Badalamenti, David R.
• Primary Examiner(s): BHATNAGAR, ANAND P
• Application Number:
  US12/758,857
• Time in Patent Office: 1,113 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100, 382/135, 382/136, 382/137, 382/138, 382/139, 382/140, 382/181, 382/190, 382/195, 194/4, 209/534, 235/379, 356/71, 902/7, 705/45
• 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 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/108 Remote banking, e.g. home banking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0185 Product, service or business identity fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/0047 using checkcodes, e.g. coded numbers derived from serial number and denomination
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/202 using pattern matching
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/20 Automatic teller machines [ATMs]
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/202 Depositing operations within ATMs depositing in general G07D11/00

Abstract

A document processing system includes a communications port and a controller. The communications port is configured to communicatively couple the document processing system to a network and to receive a data file associated with a deposit amount. The data file includes customer deposit information associated with documents. The controller is configured to determine if any of the first plurality of documents are suspect documents based on a comparison of the customer deposit information with suspect information. The controller is configured to generate a credit instruction for an amount equal to a percentage of the deposit amount minus an amount associated with ones of the documents determined to be suspect documents. In response to the controller determining that one of the first plurality of documents is a suspect document, the controller is configured to transmit a notice over the network. The notice includes image data associated with the determined suspect document.

Claims

1. A method of detecting suspect documents comprising:

receiving a plurality of image files from a network, each of the image files including identifying information tagged to image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a document;

in response to the receiving, comparing the identifying information included in each one of the plurality of image files with suspect information to determine if any of the image files is associated with a suspect document;

determining that one of the image files is associated with a suspect document based on the act of comparing; and

in response to the determination that one of the image files is associated with a suspect document;

i) flagging the image file associated with the suspect document; and

ii) transmitting a signal to the network, the signal indicating that a suspect document has been identified.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying information associated with currency bills includes a respective currency bill serial number and the suspect information includes a plurality of suspect serial numbers.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the comparing includes comparing the currency bill serial number in each one of the records with all of the suspect serial numbers.

4. A method of detecting suspect documents comprising:

receiving a plurality of image files from a network, each of the image files including image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a document;

in response to the receiving, extracting identifying information from the image data for each of the received image files;

comparing the extracted identifying information for each of the image files with suspect information to determine if any of the image files is associated with a suspect document;

determining that one of the image files is associated with a suspect document based on the act of comparing; and

in response to the determination that one of the image files is associated with a suspect document;

i) flagging the image file associated with the suspect document; and

ii) transmitting a signal to the network, the signal indicating that a suspect document has been identified.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising tagging the extracted identifying information to the respective image data for each of the received image files.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising storing the image data and tagged identifying information in a memory device.

7. A method of detecting suspect documents, wherein a financial institution system performs the acts comprising:

receiving a plurality of electronic records, each of the electronic records including identifying information and image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a document;

in response to the receiving, comparing the identifying information included in each one of the plurality of electronic records with suspect information to determine if any of the electronic records is associated with a suspect document;

determining that one of the electronic records is associated with a suspect document based on the act of comparing; and

in response to the determination that one of the electronic records is associated with a suspect document

automatically transmitting a suspect notice.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein each electronic record is associated with a respective currency bill, a respective check, or a respective deposit slip.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the identifying information included in each one of the plurality of electronic records associated with a currency bill includes a currency bill serial number and wherein the comparing includes comparing the currency bill serial number in each one of the electronic records with suspect serial numbers.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the identifying information included in each one of the plurality of electronic records associated with a currency bill includes a currency bill serial number, a currency bill denomination, a federal reserve letter/number, a check letter and face plate number, a check letter and quadrant number, a back plate number, a series, or any combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the identifying information included in each one of the plurality of electronic records associated with a check includes a checking account number.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the identifying information included in each one of the plurality of electronic records associated with a check includes a checking account number, a check number, a routing number, a check amount, or any combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the act of automatically transmitting includes electronically transmitting the suspect notice to one or more financial institutions, a third party, or both.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein each electronic record is associated with a respective currency bill.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the respective identifying information is tagged to the respective image data in each electronic record.

16. The method of claim 7, wherein the identifying information included in the electronic record that is determined to be associated with the suspect document corresponds with the suspect information.

17. The method of claim 7, wherein the suspect notice includes the identifying information included in the electronic record determined to be associated with the suspect document.

18. The method of claim 7, further comprising flagging the electronic record associated with the suspect document including tagging a suspect indicator to the flagged record and storing the flagged record in a memory of the financial institution system.

19. The method of claim 7, further comprising flagging the electronic record associated with the suspect document including tagging a suspect indicator to the flagged record and transmitting the flagged record from the financial institution system to a customer document processing system.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the customer document processing system performs the acts comprising:

receiving the flagged electronic record and storing the flagged electronic record in a memory of the customer document processing system;

receiving a plurality of documents;

determining if any of the documents correspond with the flagged electronic record; and

off-sorting a document that has been determined to correspond with the flagged electronic record.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the customer document processing system performs the acts comprising:

receiving the flagged electronic record and storing the flagged electronic record in a memory of the customer document processing system;

receiving a plurality of documents in an input receptacle of the customer document processing system;

transporting the documents from the input receptacle to a single output receptacle via a transport mechanism;

determining if any of the documents correspond with the flagged electronic record during the transporting act; and

halting the transport mechanism such that a document that has been determined to correspond with the flagged electronic record is the last document delivered to the single output receptacle.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the plurality of documents received in the input receptacle of the customer document processing system are transported at a rate of at least about 300 documents per minute.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein each document received in the input receptacle of the customer document processing system has a wide edge, and wherein the transport mechanism is configured to transport each document in a wide-edge leading manner.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the plurality of documents received in the input receptacle of the customer document processing system are U.S. currency bills.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the plurality of documents received in the input receptacle of the customer document processing system include currency bills associated with multiple countries including two or more of the following currencies:

U.S. dollar, euro, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, Japanese yen, and pound sterling.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein the plurality of documents received in the input receptacle of the customer document processing system are transported at a rate of at least about 600 documents per minute.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein the plurality of documents received in the input receptacle of the customer document processing system are transported at a rate of at least about 800 documents per minute.

28. The method of claim 21, wherein the plurality of documents received in the input receptacle of the customer document processing system are transported at a rate of at least about 1000 documents per minute.

29. The method of claim 21, wherein the plurality of documents received in the input receptacle of the customer document processing system are transported at a rate of at least about 1200 documents per minute.

30. The method of claim 7, wherein each of the received plurality of electronic records is encrypted.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising decrypting the received plurality of electronic records.

32. A method of processing currency bills and checks associated with a single deposit transaction in a document processing system, the method comprising:

receiving in the document processing system a data file associated with the single deposit transaction from a network, the data file including image data associated with a plurality of physical currency bills and a plurality of physical checks, the image data being reproducible as respective visually readable images of at least a portion of each currency bill and each check, each of the currency bills being associated with currency bill identifying information, each of the checks being associated with check identifying information;

determining if any of the physical currency bills associated with the single deposit transaction are suspect currency bills based on a comparison of the respective currency bill identifying information with currency bill identifying information in a database;

determining that one of the physical currency bills associated with the single deposit transaction is a suspect currency bill based on the comparison; and

in response to the determination that the one of the physical currency bills is a suspect currency bill, automatically transmitting a suspect currency bill notice from the document processing system to the network.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the suspect currency bill notice further includes image data reproducible as at least a portion of the visually readable image of the determined suspect currency bill.

34. The method of claim 32, further comprising determining if any of the physical checks associated with the single deposit transaction are suspect checks based on a comparison of the respective check identifying information with check identifying information in a database.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising determining that one of the physical checks associated with the single deposit transaction is a suspect check and in response to the determination that the one of the physical checks is a suspect check, automatically transmitting a suspect check notice from the document processing system to the network.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the act of automatically transmitting the suspect check notice is only performed if a check amount of the suspect check associated with the single deposit transaction is greater than a predetermined threshold.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the predetermined threshold is one thousand dollars.

38. The method of claim 34, wherein the database including the currency bill identifying information and the database including the check identifying information are stored in a memory in the document processing system.

39. The method of claim 34, wherein the database including the currency bill identifying information and the database including the check identifying information are stored in a memory of a system coupled to the document processing system via the network.

40. The method of claim 32, further comprising updating the database including the currency bill identifying information with serial numbers associated with suspect currency bills.

41. The method of claim 32, wherein the image data is reproducible as respective visually readable images when printed on a printing device or when displayed on a display device.

42. A method of processing currency bills and checks associated with a single deposit transaction in a document processing system, the method comprising:

receiving in the document processing system a data file associated with the single deposit transaction from a network, the data file including image data associated with a plurality of physical currency bills and a plurality of physical checks, the image data being reproducible as respective visually readable images of at least a portion of each currency bill and each check, each of the currency bills being associated with currency bill identifying information, each of the checks being associated with check identifying information;

determining if any of the physical checks associated with the single deposit transaction are suspect checks based on a comparison of the respective check identifying information with check identifying information in a database;

determining that one of the physical checks associated with the single deposit transaction is a suspect check based on the comparison; and

in response to the determination that the one of the physical checks is a suspect check, automatically transmitting a suspect check notice from the document processing system to the network.

43. A method of processing documents associated with a deposit transaction of a customer, the method comprising:

receiving in a document processing system a data file associated with the deposit transaction from a network, the data file including a plurality of records, each record including image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective document associated with the deposit transaction, a respective value, and respective identifying information;

determining if one or more of the plurality of records is a suspect record based on a comparison of the respective identifying information with suspect information stored in the document processing system;

determining that one of the records included in the data file associated with the deposit transaction is a suspect record; and

in response to the determination of the suspect record, automatically making a suspect notice electronically available, the suspect notice including information indicative of the determination of the suspect record associated with the deposit transaction.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the act of automatically making the suspect notice electronically available comprises posting the suspect notice to a website accessible by the customer.

45. The method of claim 43, further comprising in response to the determination of the suspect record, determining a credit amount, the credit amount being based on a sum of the respective values included in each record minus the value included in the suspect record.

46. The method of claim 45, further comprising transmitting a credit instruction from the document processing system to an accounting system and crediting a financial account of the customer an amount based on the calculated credit amount in response to receipt of the credit instruction.

47. The method of claim 43, wherein the data file includes deposit information, the deposit information at least including a declared deposit amount associated with the deposit transaction.

48. The method of claim 47, further comprising in response to the determination of the suspect record, determining a credit amount, the credit amount being a percentage of the declared deposit amount minus the value included in the suspect record.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the percentage is 100 percent.

50. The method of claim 43, wherein the visually readable images have a resolution of at least about 50 DPI by at least about 50 DPI.

51. The method of claim 43, wherein the visually readable images have a resolution of at least about 200 DPI by at least about 100 DPI.

52. The method of claim 43, wherein the visually readable images have a resolution of at least about 200 DPI by at least about 200 DPI.

53. The method of claim 43, wherein the visually readable images have a resolution of at least about 300 DPI by at least about 300 DPI.

54. The method of claim 43, wherein the visually readable images have a resolution of at least about 400 DPI by at least about 200 DPI.

55. The method of claim 43, wherein the visually readable images have a resolution of at least about 400 DPI by at least about 400 DPI.

56. A method of depositing U.S. currency bills and checks associated with a deposit transaction, comprising:

receiving U.S. currency bills and checks associated with the deposit transaction in a document processing system;

imaging the received U.S. currency bills and checks in the document processing system to generate first records associated with the deposit transaction, each of the first records including respective identifying information and respective image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective one of the U.S. currency bills or checks associated with the deposit transaction;

transmitting the first records associated with the deposit transaction from the document processing system to a network;

transmitting deposit information associated with the deposit transaction from the document processing system to the network, the deposit information being associated with the transmitted first records, the deposit information including a total declared deposit amount;

receiving in a financial institution system the transmitted first records associated with the deposit transaction and the transmitted deposit information associated with the deposit transaction;

in response to receiving the transmitted records and deposit information, determining that one of the received first records is a suspect record based on a comparison of the respective identifying information included in the one of the received first records with suspect information in a database; and

provisionally crediting a customer financial account maintained within the financial institution system an amount, the amount being a percentage of the total declared deposit amount minus a value associated with the determined suspect record.

57. The method of claim 56, further comprising generating the deposit information in the document processing system based on the image data included in the first records.

58. The method of claim 56, wherein the deposit information is transmitted as a virtual deposit slip.

59. The method of claim 56, wherein the deposit information is transmitted as image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of a deposit slip.

60. The method of claim 56, wherein the first records and the deposit information are transmitted together.

61. The method of claim 56, wherein the deposit information is tagged to the first records prior to being transmitted.

62. The method of claim 56, further comprising, in response to the determination that one of the received first records is a suspect record, automatically transmitting a suspect notice from the financial institution system to the document processing system.

63. The method of claim 62, wherein the suspect notice includes the respective identifying information included in the determined suspect record.

64. The method of claim 56, wherein the financial institution system includes one or more financial institution document processing devices, one or more financial institution computers, an accounting system, a teller system, or a combination thereof.

65. A document processing system, comprising:

a communications port configured to communicatively couple the document processing system to a network, the communications port being configured to receive a data file associated with a deposit amount, the data file including customer deposit information associated with a first plurality of documents; and

a controller configured to determine if any of the first plurality of documents are suspect documents based on a comparison of the customer deposit information with suspect information in a database, the controller being configured to generate a credit instruction for an amount equal to a percentage of the deposit amount minus an amount associated with ones of the first plurality of documents determined to be suspect documents,

wherein in response to the controller determining that one of the first plurality of documents is a suspect document, the controller is configured to automatically transmit a notice to the network, the notice including image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of the determined suspect document.

66. The document processing system of claim 65, further comprising an authentication sensor positioned adjacent the transport path.

67. The document processing system of claim 65, wherein the document processing system has a footprint of less than about 2 square feet and a weight of less than about 30 pounds.

68. A method of calculating a provisional credit for a deposit of U.S. currency bills and checks associated with a deposit transaction based solely on records of the U.S. currency bills and checks, the method comprising:

receiving in a financial institution system first records associated with the deposit transaction via a network, the first records including one or more records associated with U.S. currency bills and one or more records associated with checks, each of the first records including respective identifying information that is tagged to respective image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective one of the U.S. currency bills or checks associated with the deposit transaction;

receiving in the financial institution system deposit information associated with the deposit transaction via the network, the deposit information being associated with the first records and including a total declared deposit amount;

in response to receiving the first records and the deposit information, determining that one of the first records is a suspect record based on a comparison of the respective identifying information included in the one of the received first records with suspect information in a database;

in response to the determination that one of the received first records is a suspect record, automatically transmitting a suspect notice from the financial institution system to a remote document processing system, the suspect notice including at least a portion of the respective identifying information and at least a portion of the respective image data included in the determined suspect record; and

in response to the determination that one of the received first records is a suspect record, provisionally crediting a customer financial account maintained within the financial institution system an amount, the amount being a percentage of the difference of the total declared deposit amount and a value associated with the determined suspect record.

69. A method of calculating a provisional credit for a deposit of U.S. currency bills and checks associated with a deposit transaction based solely on records of the U.S. currency bills and checks, the method comprising:

receiving in a financial institution system records associated with the deposit transaction via a network, the records including one or more records associated with U.S. currency bills and one or more records associated with checks, each of the records including respective image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective one of the U.S. currency bills or checks associated with the deposit transaction;

in response to receiving the records, denominating each of the U.S. currency bills and each of the checks based solely on the received records to obtain a value for each of the U.S. currency bills and each of the checks associated with the deposit transaction;

in response to receiving the records, extracting identifying information from the image data for each of the received records;

comparing the extracted identifying information for each of the records with suspect information in a database to determine if any of the records is associated with a suspect document;

in response to the determination that one of the received records is associated with a suspect document, automatically transmitting a suspect notice from the financial institution system to a remote document processing system, the suspect notice including at least a portion of the respective identifying information tagged to at least a portion of the respective image data associated with the determined suspect document; and

in response to the determination that one of the received records is associated with a suspect document, provisionally crediting a customer financial account maintained within the financial institution system an amount, the amount being a percentage of the difference of the sum total of all of the values of the U.S. currency bills and checks associated with the deposit transaction and a value associated with the determined suspect document.