Intelligent check deposit machine

Abstract

A method for validating the physical parameters of a check to approve or deny the deposit transaction comprising the steps of scanning a physical check with a scanner, comparing the digital scan of the check against preset digital parameters by a field comparator to insure that the digital scan of the check meets predetermined physical check parameters and check fields and preparing a written rejection/acceptance to the check submitted in the form of a deposit receipt.

Claims

1. A method for validating a check before approval or rejection of a deposit transaction for the check comprising the steps of: scanning a deposited physical check with a check scanner apparatus to obtain a digital scan image of the check; comparing the digital scan image of said check with said check scanner apparatus to validate physical parameters of said digital scan image of the check, including checking for strike identification, torn edge identification and punch hole identification beyond the boundary of said check to insure that the digital scan of the check meets said physical digital check; further validating said digital scan image of said check with said check scanner apparatus and determining whether any data field on said digital scan image of said check is blank, whether any data field on the digital check image is a date that is predated with respect to a date the physical check is deposited, whether any data field on the digital check image is a date that is postdated with respect to said date the physical check is deposited, and determining whether any data field on the digital check image has any alteration/overwriting; and subsequent to said comparing and said further validaling, rejecting the deposit transaction and generating a written check rejection receipt with the check scanner apparatus based on said comparing and said further validating, where the written check rejection receipt includes a specific reason for the rejection of the check and the deposit transaction, and includes an image of a front side of the deposited physical check.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The present invention will be described with reference to the appended Figures, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of the invention check validation process.

(3) FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a check scanner and deposit slip generating machine.

(4) FIG. 3 is a representation of a check with physical damage.

(5) FIG. 4 is a representation of a check showing necessary data points which will be checked; and

(6) FIG. 5 is a receipt showing the scanned image of the check and receipt with data fields.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(7) The best mode and preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 1-5. The present invention is directed towards a check verification process invention.

(8) The check verification process 10 as shown in FIG. 1 addresses those problems previously noted by providing a process wherein check validation and quality analysis would be done at the time of depositing the check. In case there is any problem with damage to the physical check or with the data contained on the check, the process would raise a flag and the check deposit machine would not accept the check and then return it to the depositor with a reason for the refusal to accept.

(9) The intelligent check deposit system scans the check, validates check fields and gives acknowledgement to the check depositors for their respective action. The process tells whether the check is acceptable or not at the time of dropping the check in the check deposit machine.

(10) The System scans the check 30 using a check scanner apparatus 11 which receives the check in slot 112 and checks the scanned check image to inspect the physical parameters like torn edges, punch holes beyond the check boundary, and strike identification on the check. If system finds that check image validity is fine, it goes to next step to validate check fields such as blank field, invalid date, post or pre date, overwriting, and alteration. After validation, the system prepares and gives a deposit receipt from slot 114 for the corresponding user action with proper description. The deposit receipt 60 has a receipt number 62, a scanned copy of the check 140, an accepted/rejected blank 64 with the reason for rejection if not accepted placed in the space 66 with a date/time area 68.

(11) User instructions are shown on the apparatus monitor screen 110.

(12) The following are the sequence of steps followed by the process for the check analysis:

(13) As shown in FIG. 1, a check is scanned 12. The image validity of the scanned check in the check scanner 11 is checked by the check image validity step 14 of the scanned check to identify the following features: a. Strike identificationIf anything is marked out in the check, b. Torn edges identificationcheck the integrity of the check, and c. Punch holes beyond the check boundary.

(14) A check image validation 16 for image validity, a.-c. noted above is undertaken on the check image and if it does not meet the validation criteria, it is passed to rejection 18. If the check meets the image validation criteria, it is passed to a validity field comparator 20. The validity field comparator 20 undertakes a determination of the following: a. Determining whether any fields on the check are blank or not; b. Determining whether check is predated or not; c. Determining whether check is postdated or not; d. Determining date validation such as whether date is valid or not; and e. Determining any alteration/overwriting on check field.

(15) If the check does not pass the validity field criteria as noted in a.-e. above, it is rejected as shown in FIG. 1 by block 22 and handled by acknowledgement step 28. If the check passes the valid check field criteria as noted at block 20, the check is accepted as shown by block 24. After image validity analysis, the system accepts the check and queries the account number 26 in which check is to be deposited and generates a written acknowledgement 28 for the acceptation/rejection of the check with a valid reason for same.

(16) The system gives a deposit receipt 60, as shown in FIG. 5, through slot 114 as shown in FIG. 2 as acknowledgment to the validity or invalidity of the check for deposit.

(17) When a new check format 40 is used as shown in FIG. 4, the check is bathed in ultra violet light so that the bank logo 42 primed in invisible ink is illuminated. The void field 44 is viewed and the check printer details and CTS-2010 information 46 are received. The check number symbol 48 is viewed and the signature space 50 is viewed. The number symbol 48 refers to any currency sign description such as a Dollar sign, Pound sign, Euro sign, Rupee sign or any currency sign designation.

(18) The inventive intelligent check deposit machine adds benefit to the existing check deposit machine by adding more functionality like check scanned image quality analysis and check field validations thereby enhancing the overall performance of the check clearing process.

(19) It also saves time and manual labor involved in accepting/rejecting a check and enables the handling of more bulk images thus increasing the efficiency of the banks. It also provides enhanced customer experience as transaction time that could have been wasted is now saved.

(20) The principles, preferred embodiments and modes of operation of the present invention have been described in the foregoing specification. However, the invention should not be construed as limited to the particular embodiments that have been described above. Instead, the embodiments described here should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Variations and changes may be made by others without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims: