US6810137B2
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Automated document processing system and method
Assignee: Cummins Allison Corp
•
Filing: 2002-02-11
•
Granted: 2004-10-26
•
Expires: 2022-02-11
Abstract
Abstract A document processing system comprises an input receptacle for receiving documents. A transport mechanism receives the documents from the input receptacle and transports the documents past a full image scanner and a discrimination unit. An output receptacle receives the documents from the transport mechanism after being transported past the full image scanner and the discrimination unit. The full image scanner includes means for obtaining a full video image of said documents, means for obtaining a image of a selected area of said documents, and means for obtaining information contained in said selected area of said document. The discrimination unit includes means for determining the authenticity of said document. A system controller directs the flows of documents over the transport mechanism.
Inventors
- 👤 John E. Jones
- 👤 Paul A. Jones
- 👤 William J. Jones
- 👤 Douglas U. Mennie
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-07 08:27
CPC Classifications
G; G07; G07D; G07D7/00; G07D7/06; G07D7/12; G06; G06Q; G06Q10/00; G06Q10/10; G06Q20/00; G06Q20/04; G06Q20/042; G06Q20/0425; G06Q20/08; G06Q20/10; G06Q20/105; G06Q20/108; G06Q20/1085; G06Q20/18; G06Q20/20; G06Q40/00; G06Q40/02; G06T; G06T1/00; G06V; G06V30/00; G06V30/10; G06V30/12; G06V30/127; G06V30/26; G06V30/262; G06V30/274; G07D11/00; G07D11/50; G07D7/1205; G07D7/20; G07F; G07F19/00; G07F19/20; G07F19/202; G07F19/207; G07F7/00; G07F7/04; G07D7/04
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 105
Claim 1
Independent Claim
171 words
A document processing system for accepting bank notes and financial institution documents, comprising: an input receptacle receiving bank notes and financial institution documents; an image scanner; a discrimination unit; a transport mechanism coupled to the input receptacle adapted to receive the bank notes and financial institution documents from the input receptacle and transport the financial institution documents for imaging by the image scanner and the bank notes or discriminating by the discrimination unit; an output receptacle receiving the bank notes and the financial institution documents from the transport mechanism after being transported past the discrimination unit and the full image scanner; the image scanner being adapted to obtain images of the financial institution documents, optically recognize fields within the financial institution documents and to extract information from the fields; the discrimination unit being adapted to obtain the denomination of the bank notes; and an interface adapted to communicate with an accounting system, the accounting system being adapted to update financial accounts associated with the financial institution documents and the bank notes.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
171 words
A document processing system for accepting bank notes and financial institution documents, comprising: an input receptacle receiving bank notes and financial institution documents; an image scanner; a discrimination unit; a transport mechanism coupled to the input receptacle adapted to receive the bank notes and financial institution documents from the input receptacle and transport the financial institution documents for imaging by the image scanner and the bank notes or discriminating by the discrimination unit; an output receptacle receiving the bank notes and the financial institution documents from the transport mechanism after being transported past the discrimination unit and the full image scanner; the image scanner being adapted to obtain images of the financial institution documents, optically recognize fields within the financial institution documents and to extract information from the fields; the discrimination unit being adapted to obtain the denomination of the bank notes; and an interface adapted to communicate with an accounting system, the accounting system being adapted to update financial accounts associated with the financial institution documents and the bank notes.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
16 words
The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the output receptacle is a single bin.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
17 words
The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the output receptacle is a plurality of bins.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
20 words
The document processing system of claim 3 , wherein one of the plurality of bins is an off sort bin.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
21 words
The document processing system of claim 1 , further comprising a communications panel adapted to communicate operational instruction to a user.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
27 words
The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the interface is further adapted to send the images of the financial institution documents to the accounting system.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
16 words
The document processing system of claim 6 , wherein the accounting system is a deposit system.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
16 words
The document processing system of claim 6 , wherein the accounting system is a payment system.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
43 words
The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the financial institution documents and the bank notes have wide and narrow dimensions and the financial institution documents and the bank notes are transported with their narrow dimension parallel to a direction of transport.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
43 words
The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the financial institution documents and the bank notes have wide and narrow dimensions and the financial institution documents and the bank notes are transported with their wide dimension parallel to a direction of transport.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
24 words
The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the discrimination unit includes an authenticator adapted to determine the authenticity of the bank notes.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
18 words
The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the financial institution documents are checks and deposit slips.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
16 words
The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the financial institution documents are transfer slips.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
30 words
The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the financial institution documents have first and second surfaces and the financial institution documents are imaged on first and second surfaces.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
15 words
The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the output receptacle comprises two bins.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
19 words
The document processing system of claim 15 , wherein one of the two bins is an off sort bin.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
26 words
The document processing system of claim 1 , further comprising means for flagging financial institution documents and bank notes meeting or failing to meet predetermined criteria.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
54 words
The document processing system of claim 17 , wherein the means for flagging financial institution documents and bank notes flags a document by suspending the operation of the transport mechanism, the transport mechanism being halted so that the flagged document is located at a predetermined position within the system when the transport mechanism stops.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
29 words
The document processing system of claim 1 , further comprising a stacking wheel comprising flexible blades positioned to restack financial institution documents and bank notes in the output receptacle.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
28 words
The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the system is further adapted to image and discriminate at a rate of at least 800 documents per minute.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
21 words
The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the discrimination unit is adapted to discriminate bank notes from multiple countries.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
22 words
The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the image scanner is further adapted to obtain images of the bank notes.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
29 words
The document processing system of claim 1 wherein the accounting system updates financial accounts associated with the financial institution documents and the bank notes substantially immediately without human intervention.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
16 words
The document processing system of claim 1 wherein the financial institution document images are video images.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
37 words
The document processing system of claim 1 further including: a display for displaying images obtained by the image scanner; and a data entry device for user input of field information not optically recognized by the image scanner.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
47 words
The document processing system of claim 1 wherein the financial institution documents are checks, and wherein the extracted optically recognized field information comprises check monetary value, and wherein the accounting system updates the financial account to account for the check monetary values and the currency bill denominations.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
17 words
The document processing system of claim 26 wherein the accounting system update is an account crediting update.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
17 words
The document processing system of claim 26 wherein the accounting system update is an account debiting update.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
82 words
A document processing method, comprising: receiving bank notes and financial institution documents in an input receptacle; transporting the bank notes and financial institution documents from the input receptacle to an output receptacle; obtaining images of the financial institution documents; optically recognizing fields within the financial institution documents; extracting information from the fields; obtaining the denomination of the bank notes; communicating with an accounting system; updating, by the accounting system, of financial accounts associate with the financial institution documents and the bank notes.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
82 words
A document processing method, comprising: receiving bank notes and financial institution documents in an input receptacle; transporting the bank notes and financial institution documents from the input receptacle to an output receptacle; obtaining images of the financial institution documents; optically recognizing fields within the financial institution documents; extracting information from the fields; obtaining the denomination of the bank notes; communicating with an accounting system; updating, by the accounting system, of financial accounts associate with the financial institution documents and the bank notes.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
38 words
The document processing method of claim 29 wherein the step of transporting comprises the steps of: transporting the financial institution documents for imaging by an image scanner; and transporting the bank notes for discriminating by a discrimination unit.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
16 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , wherein the output receptacle is a single bin.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
17 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , wherein the output receptacle is a plurality of bins.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
20 words
The document processing method of claim 32 , wherein one of the plurality of bins is an off sort bin.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
25 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , further comprising the step of sending the images of the financial institution documents to the accounting system.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
16 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , wherein the accounting system is a deposit system.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
16 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , wherein the accounting system is a payment system.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
50 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , wherein the financial institution documents and the bank notes have wide and narrow dimensions and the step of transporting includes the step of transporting the financial institution documents and the bank notes with their narrow dimension parallel to a direction of transport.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
50 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , wherein the financial institution documents and the bank notes have wide and narrow dimensions and the step of transporting includes the step of transporting the financial institution documents and the bank notes with their wide dimension parallel to a direction of transport.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
20 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , further including the step of determining the authenticity of the bank notes.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
18 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , wherein the financial institution documents are checks and deposit slips.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
16 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , wherein the financial institution documents are transfer slips.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
36 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , wherein the financial institution documents have first and second surfaces and the step of obtaining images comprises the step of obtaining images of the first and second surfaces.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
15 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , wherein the output receptacle comprises two bins.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
19 words
The document processing method of claim 43 , wherein one of the two bins is an off sort bin.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
27 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , further comprising the step of flagging financial institution documents and bank notes meeting or failing to meet predetermined criteria.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
30 words
The document processing method of claim 45 , wherein the step of flagging comprises the step of suspending transport so that the flagged document is located at a predetermined position.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
24 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , further comprising the step of restacking financial institution documents and bank notes in the output receptacle.
Claim 50
Dependent Claim
28 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , wherein the steps of obtaining images and obtaining denomination occur at a rate of at least 800 documents per minute.
Claim 51
Dependent Claim
23 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , wherein the step of obtaining denomination is capable of discriminating bank notes from multiple countries.
Claim 52
Dependent Claim
24 words
The document processing method of claim 29 , wherein the step of obtaining images comprises the step of obtaining images of the bank notes.
Claim 53
Dependent Claim
39 words
The document processing method of claim 29 wherein the step of updating by the accounting system further includes the step of updating financial accounts associated with the financial institution documents and the bank notes substantially immediately without human intervention.
Claim 54
Dependent Claim
16 words
The document processing method of claim 29 wherein the financial institution document images are video images.
Claim 55
Dependent Claim
27 words
The document processing method of claim 29 further including the steps of: displaying images; and entering by a user of field information which is not optically recognized.
Claim 56
Dependent Claim
56 words
The document processing method of claim 29 wherein the financial institution documents are checks, and wherein the extracted optically recognized field information comprises check monetary value, and wherein the step of updating by the accounting system includes the step of updating the financial account to account for the check monetary values and the currency bill denominations.
Claim 57
Dependent Claim
17 words
The document processing method of claim 54 wherein the accounting system update is an account crediting update.
Claim 58
Dependent Claim
17 words
The document processing method of claim 54 wherein the accounting system update is an account debiting update.
Claim 59
Dependent Claim
113 words
A bank note processing system, comprising: an input receptacle receiving bank notes; an image scanner; a discrimination unit; a transport mechanism coupled to the input receptacle and adapted to receive the bank notes from the input receptacle and transport the bank notes past the image scanner and discrimination unit; an output receptacle receiving the bank notes from the transport mechanism after the bank notes have been transported past the image scanner and discrimination unit; the image scanner being adapted to obtain images of the bank notes, optically recognize fields within the bank notes and extract information from the fields; and the discrimination unit being adapted to determine the authenticity of the bank notes.
Claim 60
Dependent Claim
113 words
A bank note processing system, comprising: an input receptacle receiving bank notes; an image scanner; a discrimination unit; a transport mechanism coupled to the input receptacle and adapted to receive the bank notes from the input receptacle and transport the bank notes past the image scanner and discrimination unit; an output receptacle receiving the bank notes from the transport mechanism after the bank notes have been transported past the image scanner and discrimination unit; the image scanner being adapted to obtain images of the bank notes, optically recognize fields within the bank notes and extract information from the fields; and the discrimination unit being adapted to determine the authenticity of the bank notes.
Claim 61
Dependent Claim
17 words
The bank note processing system of claim 57 , wherein the output receptacle is a single bin.
Claim 62
Dependent Claim
18 words
The bank note processing system of claim 57 , wherein the output receptacle is a plurality of bins.
Claim 63
Dependent Claim
21 words
The bank note processing system of claim 59 , wherein one of the plurality of bins is an off sort bin.
Claim 64
Dependent Claim
34 words
The bank note processing system of claim 57 , further comprising an interface adapted to communicate with an accounting system, the accounting system being adapted to update financial accounts associated with the bank notes.
Claim 65
Dependent Claim
27 words
The bank note processing system of claim 61 , wherein the interface is further adapted to transmit the images of the bank notes to the accounting system.
Claim 66
Dependent Claim
30 words
The bank note processing system of claim 61 , wherein the interface is further adapted to transmit a full video image of the bank notes to the outside accounting system.
Claim 67
Dependent Claim
34 words
The bank note processing system of claim 57 , wherein the bank notes have wide and narrow dimensions and the bank notes are transported with their narrow dimension parallel to a direction of transport.
Claim 68
Dependent Claim
31 words
The bank note processing system of claim 57 , wherein the bank notes comprise first and second sides and the image scanner obtains an image of the first and second sides.
Claim 69
Dependent Claim
16 words
The bank note processing system of claim 57 , wherein the output receptacle comprises two bins.
Claim 70
Dependent Claim
20 words
The bank note processing system of claim 66 , wherein one of the two bins is an off sort bin.
Claim 71
Dependent Claim
23 words
The bank note processing system of claim 57 , further comprising means for flagging bank notes meeting or failing to meet predetermined criteria.
Claim 72
Dependent Claim
52 words
The bank note processing system of claim 68 , wherein the means for flagging documents flags a bank note by suspending the operation of the transport mechanism, the transport mechanism being halted so that the flagged bank note is located at a predetermined position within the system when the transport mechanism stops.
Claim 73
Dependent Claim
26 words
The bank note processing system of claim 57 , further comprising a stacking wheel comprising flexible blades positioned to restack bank notes in the output receptacle.
Claim 74
Dependent Claim
21 words
The bank note processing system of claim 57 , wherein the predetermined field is a serial number of the bank note.
Claim 75
Dependent Claim
22 words
The bank note processing system of claim 57 , wherein the extracted field information represents a monetary value of the bank notes.
Claim 76
Dependent Claim
38 words
The bank note processing system of claim 72 , further comprising an interface adapted to communicate the monetary value information with an accounting system, the accounting system being adapted to update financial accounts associated with the bank notes.
Claim 77
Dependent Claim
26 words
The bank note processing system of claim 73 wherein the accounting system updates the financial accounts with the bank note value substantially immediately without human intervention.
Claim 78
Dependent Claim
34 words
The bank note processing system of claim 57 , wherein the transport mechanism conveys the bank notes past the image scanner and discrimination unit at a rate of at least 800 documents per minute.
Claim 79
Dependent Claim
22 words
The bank note processing system of claim 57 , further including a communications panel adapted to communicate operational instructions to a user.
Claim 80
Dependent Claim
21 words
The bank note processing system of claim 57 , further including a display for communicating an obtained image to a user.
Claim 81
Dependent Claim
40 words
The bank note processing system of claim 57 , wherein the image scanner is further adapted to recognize a predetermined field in the bank note, the system further comprising a memory to store the extracted information from that predetermined field.
Claim 82
Dependent Claim
32 words
The bank note processing system of claim 78 , wherein the predetermined field is a serial number field of the bank note and the extracted information is a bank note serial number.
Claim 83
Dependent Claim
86 words
A bank note processing method, comprising: receiving bank notes in an input receptacle; transporting the bank notes received from the input receptacle past an image scanner and a discrimination unit; receiving the bank notes in an output receptacle after the bank notes have been transported past the image scanner and discrimination unit; obtaining images of the bank notes with the image scanner; optically recognizing fields within the bank notes; extracting information from the fields; and determining the authenticity of the bank notes with the discrimination unit.
Claim 84
Dependent Claim
86 words
A bank note processing method, comprising: receiving bank notes in an input receptacle; transporting the bank notes received from the input receptacle past an image scanner and a discrimination unit; receiving the bank notes in an output receptacle after the bank notes have been transported past the image scanner and discrimination unit; obtaining images of the bank notes with the image scanner; optically recognizing fields within the bank notes; extracting information from the fields; and determining the authenticity of the bank notes with the discrimination unit.
Claim 85
Dependent Claim
17 words
The bank note processing method of claim 80 , wherein the output receptacle is a single bin.
Claim 86
Dependent Claim
18 words
The bank note processing method of claim 80 , wherein the output receptacle is a plurality of bins.
Claim 87
Dependent Claim
21 words
The bank note processing method of claim 82 , wherein one of the plurality of bins is an off sort bin.
Claim 88
Dependent Claim
29 words
The bank note processing method of claim 80 , further comprising: communicating with an accounting system; and updating, by the accounting system, financial accounts associated with the bank notes.
Claim 89
Dependent Claim
26 words
The bank note processing method of claim 84 , wherein the step of communicating includes transmitting the images of the bank notes to the accounting system.
Claim 90
Dependent Claim
28 words
The bank note processing method of claim 84 , wherein the step of communicating includes transmitting a video image of the bank notes to the outside accounting system.
Claim 91
Dependent Claim
38 words
The bank note processing method of claim 80 , wherein the bank notes have wide and narrow dimensions and the step of transporting includes transporting the bank notes with their narrow dimension parallel to a direction of transport.
Claim 92
Dependent Claim
33 words
The bank note processing method of claim 80 , wherein the bank notes comprise first and second sides and the step of obtaining includes obtaining an image of the first and second sides.
Claim 93
Dependent Claim
16 words
The bank note processing method of claim 80 , wherein the output receptacle comprises two bins.
Claim 94
Dependent Claim
20 words
The bank note processing method of claim 89 , wherein one of the two bins is an off sort bin.
Claim 95
Dependent Claim
21 words
The bank note processing method of claim 80 , further comprising flagging bank notes meeting or failing to meet predetermined criteria.
Claim 96
Dependent Claim
30 words
The bank note processing method of claim 91 , wherein the step of flagging includes suspending document transport so that the flagged bank note is located at a predetermined position.
Claim 97
Dependent Claim
18 words
The bank note processing method of claim 80 , further comprising restacking bank notes in the output receptacle.
Claim 98
Dependent Claim
21 words
The bank note processing method of claim 80 , wherein the predetermined field is a serial number of the bank note.
Claim 99
Dependent Claim
21 words
The bank note processing method of claim 80 wherein the extracted field information represents a monetary value of the bank notes.
Claim 100
Dependent Claim
34 words
The bank note processing method of claim 95 , further comprising communicating the monetary value information to an accounting system, and updating, by the accounting system, of financial accounts associated with the bank notes.
Claim 101
Dependent Claim
28 words
The bank note processing method of claim 96 wherein the step of updating includes updating the financial accounts with the bank note value substantially immediately without human intervention.
Claim 102
Dependent Claim
36 words
The bank note processing method of claim 80 , wherein the step of transporting includes conveying the bank notes past the image scanner and discrimination unit at a rate of at least 800 documents per minute.
Claim 103
Dependent Claim
19 words
The bank note processing method of claim 80 , further including displaying a bank note image to a user.
Claim 104
Dependent Claim
35 words
The bank note processing method of claim 80 , wherein the step of optically recognizing includes recognizing a predetermined field in the bank note, and further including storing the extracted information from that predetermined field.
Claim 105
Dependent Claim
32 words
The bank note processing method of claim 100 , wherein the predetermined field is a serial number field of the bank note and the extracted information is a bank note serial number.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2007-10-26 | 2008-04-26 | 2008-10-26 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2011-10-26 | 2012-04-26 | 2012-10-26 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2015-10-26 | 2016-04-26 | 2016-10-26 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |