Identifying duplicate printed paper cash letters

• US 8,573,498 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2007
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (Federal Reserve System)
• Original Assignee: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (Federal Reserve System), Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (Federal Reserve System)
• Inventors: Mueller, Randall Lee, Rodrigues, Richard, Treptow, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Michael G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mikels, Matthew
• Application Number:
  US11/983,035
• Publication Number:
  US 20090114715A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,191 Days
• Field of Search: 235/462.01, 235/379
• US Class Current: 235/462.01
• 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

Abstract

A printed cash letter includes a machine-readable identifier, such as a barcode, identifying the cash letter. Upon printing, information from the identifier is read and stored in a first record. To determine whether the cash letter is a duplicate, a check presentment module compares information from the identifier with information in the first record. If information identifying the cash letter already exists in the first record, the cash letter is a duplicate. To verify cash letter printing, information identifying multiple cash letters to be printed is stored in a second record. Upon printing a portion of the cash letters, information read from identifiers on the printed cash letters is compared with information in the second record. If the second record includes information regarding a cash letter not identified in the information scanned from the barcodes, then the check presentment module identifies the cash letter as having not been printed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for identifying duplicate printed cash letters, comprising the steps of:

receiving by a check presentment module information obtained from a printed machine-readable identifier comprising information identifying a printed cash letter associated with the printed machine-readable identifier, the printed cash letter comprising at least one substitute check that is a legal equivalent of a corresponding paper check, the check presentment module implemented in a computer system that comprises instructions stored in a machine-readable medium and a processor that executes the instructions;

determining by the check presentment module whether the cash letter was printed twice by determining whether information stored in a record corresponds to the received information, wherein the information stored in the record identifies cash letters that were printed previously; and

outputting by the check presentment module an alert advising that the cash letter was printed twice in response to determining that the cash letter was printed twice.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the printed machine-readable identifier comprises a barcode.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information in the printed machine-readable identifier comprises information uniquely identifying the cash letter.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the information uniquely identifying the cash letter comprises at least one of a total value of items in the cash letter, an ABA number of a bank that will receive a printed copy of the cash letter, a total number of item bundles in the cash letter, and a total number of items in the cash letter.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining whether the cash letter was printed twice comprises the step of determining whether the record comprises information uniquely identifying the cash letter.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of the check presentment module storing the received information in the record in response to determining that the cash letter was not printed twice.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert uniquely identifies the cash letter.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

generating via the check presentment module a print stream for the cash letter, the print stream comprising information to be included in the printed machine-readable identifier; and

printing the cash letter and the machine-readable identifier based on the generated print stream.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the check presentment module performs the receiving step by reading the information from the printed machine-readable identifier.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of, prior to the receiving step, printing the cash letter and the associated machine-readable identifier.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the check presentment module determines that the cash letter was printed twice in response to determining that the information stored in the record comprises the received information.

9. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium having computer-executable program code embodied therein for preventing duplicative electronic check processing, the computer-readable medium comprising;

computer-readable program code for receiving information obtained from a printed machine-readable identifier comprising information identifying a printed cash letter associated with the printed machine-readable identifier, the printed cash letter comprising at least one substitute check that is a legal equivalent of a corresponding paper check;

computer-readable program code for determining whether the cash letter was printed twice by determining whether information stored in a record comprises the received information, wherein the information stored in the record identifies cash letters that were printed previously; and

computer-readable program code for outputting an alert advising that the cash letter was printed twice in response to determining that the cash letter was printed twice.

10. A system for identifying duplicate printed cash letters, comprising:

means for reading information in a printed machine-readable identifier, the printed machine-readable identifier comprising information identifying a printed cash letter associated with the printed machine-readable identifier, the printed cash letter comprising at least one substitute check that is a legal equivalent of a corresponding paper check;

means for storing information in a record, wherein the information stored in the record identifies cash letters that were printed previously; and

means for determining whether the cash letter was printed twice by determining whether the information stored in the record comprises the read information,

wherein the means for storing stores the read information in the record in response to a determination that the cash letter was not printed twice.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the printed machine-readable identifier comprises a barcode.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the information in the printed machine-readable identifier comprises information uniquely identifying the cash letter.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the information uniquely identifying the cash letter comprises at least one of a total value of items in the cash letter, an ABA number of a bank that will receive a printed copy of the cash letter, a total number of item bundles in the cash letter, and a total number of items in the cash letter.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the step of determining whether the cash letter was printed twice comprises the step of determining whether the record comprises information uniquely identifying the cash letter.

15. The system of claim 10, further comprising the step of outputting an alert advising that the cash letter was printed twice in response to determining that the cash letter was printed twice.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the alert uniquely identifies the cash letter.

17. The system of claim 10, further comprising;

means for generating a print stream for the cash letter, the print stream comprising information to be included in the printed machine-readable identifier; and

means for printing the cash letter and the machine-readable identifier based on the generated print stream.

27. The system of claim 10, further comprising means for printing the cash letter and the associated machine-readable identifier.

18. A system for identifying duplicate printed cash letters, comprising:

a check presentment module that generates a print stream for printing a cash letter, the print stream comprising information to be included in a printed machine-readable identifier comprising information identifying the cash letter, the printed cash letter comprising at least one substitute check that is a legal equivalent of a corresponding paper check;

a reading device that reads the information in the printed machine-readable identifier; and

a database that stores information in a record, wherein the information stored in the record identifies cash letters that were printed previously,

wherein the check presentment module determines whether the cash letter was printed twice by comparing the read information with the information stored in the record to determine whether the information stored in the record corresponds to the read information, stores the read information in the record in the database in response to determining that the cash letter was not printed twice, and outputs an alert advising that the cash letter was printed twice in response to determining that the cash letter was printed twice.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the printed machine-readable identifier comprises a barcode.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the information in the printed machine-readable identifier comprises information uniquely identifying the cash letter, the information uniquely identifying the cash letter comprising at least one of a total value of items in the cash letter, an ABA number of a bank that will receive a printed copy of the cash letter, a total number of item bundles in the cash letter, and a total number of items in the cash letter.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the step of determining whether the cash letter was printed twice comprises the step of determining whether the record comprises information uniquely identifying the cash letter.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the alert uniquely identifies the cash letter.

28. The system of claim 18, further comprising a printer that receives the print stream and that prints the cash letter and the associated machine-readable identifier.

23. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium having computer-executable program code embodied therein for preventing duplicative electronic check processing, the computer-readable medium comprising;

computer-readable program code for generating a print stream for a cash letter, the print stream comprising information to be included in a printed machine-readable identifier comprising information identifying the cash letter;

computer-readable program code for printing the cash letter and the machine-readable identifier, the printed cash letter comprising at least one substitute check that is a legal equivalent of a corresponding paper check;

computer-readable program code for receiving the information from the printed machine-readable identifier;

computer-readable program code for determining whether the cash letter was printed twice by determining whether information stored in a record corresponds to the received information;

computer-readable program code for storing the received information in the record in response to determining that the cash letter was not printed twice; and

computer-readable program code for outputting an alert advising that the cash letter was printed twice in response to determining that the cash letter was printed twice.

29. An apparatus for identifying duplicate printed cash letters, comprising a check presentment system that generates a print stream comprising information to be included in a printed machine-readable identifier identifying a cash letter and thereafter determines whether the cash letter was printed twice by comparing the printed machine-readable identifier with stored information identifying cash letters that were printed previously, the check presentment system outputting an alert advising that the cash letter was printed twice in response to determining that the stored information corresponds to the information in the printed machine-readable identifier, the printed cash letter comprising at least one substitute check that is a legal equivalent of a corresponding paper check.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising a database that maintains the stored information in a record.

31. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising a reading device that reads the information in the printed machine-readable identifier.

32. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the information in the printed machine-readable identifier comprises information uniquely identifying the cash letter, the information uniquely identifying the cash letter comprising at least one of a total value of items in the cash letter, an ABA number of a bank that will receive a printed copy of the cash letter, a total number of item bundles in the cash letter, and a total number of items in the cash letter.

33. A computer-implemented method for identifying duplicate printed cash letters, comprising the steps of:

generating, via a check presentment module, an electronic print stream for a cash letter, the print stream comprising a plurality of substitute check records for the cash letter, at least one bundle summary control record for the cash letter, and at least one cover page control record for the cash letter, the electronic print stream further comprising information for a machine-readable identifier, the information identifying the cash letter, wherein printing of the print stream produces a printed version of the cash letter and a printed version of the machine-readable identifier;

communicating the print stream to a location that is remote from the check presentment module;

receiving by the check presentment module the information obtained from the printed version of the machine-readable identifier, thereby indicating that the electronic print stream has been printed to create the printed version of the cash letter;

determining by the check presentment module whether the paper version of the cash letter has been printed twice by determining whether information stored in a record corresponds to the received information, wherein the information stored in the record identifies cash letters that were printed previously; and

communicating, by the check presentment module, an alert to the remote location advising that the cash letter has been printed twice in response to determining that the cash letter was printed twice,

wherein the check presentment module is implemented in a computer system that comprises instructions stored in a machine-readable medium and a processor that executes the instructions.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the printed machine-readable identifier comprises a barcode.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the information identifying the cash letter comprises at least one of a total value of items in the cash letter, an ABA number of a bank that will receive a printed copy of the cash letter, a total number of item bundles in the cash letter, and a total number of items in the cash letter.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of determining whether the cash letter was printed twice comprises the step of determining whether the record comprises the information identifying the cash letter.

37. The method of claim 33, further comprising the step of the check presentment module storing the received information in the record in response to determining that the cash letter has not been printed twice.