United Services Automobile Association – InsuranceNewsNet

2023 JAN 05 (NewsRx) — By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News — United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States) has been issued patent number 11531973, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Morris, Michael Frank (San Antonio, TX, US), Prasad, Bharat (San Antonio, TX, US).

This patent was filed on March 24, 2022 and was published online on December 20, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Customers demand more of the products and services they use than ever before. They insist that the companies they deal with provide them greater levels of access and information. One of the methods of providing this increased information and access has been through the mobile telephone channel. Mobile services, enabled through slimmed down interfaces, have proliferated. Customers can receive alerts over a mobile channel, they can check the minutes left on their mobile voice plan, and through pre-set shorthand access numbers vote for their favorite contestant on a reality show.

“Mobile banking is in its infancy. Customers have very limited access to their account information. One of the reasons for this limited access is a perceived lack of security over a mobile channel. In a bank branch, a person’s identity can be visually verified. Over a web channel, they are required to authenticate themselves. However, on the mobile channel financial institutions are forced to operate through the Simple Message System (SMS) or through a very limited interface (both in screen resolution and in the throughput of the data channel) that provides little or no authentication facility.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “An image of a negotiable instrument may be taken by a camera associated with a mobile device and provided from a user to a financial institution via the mobile device. The negotiable instrument may be deposited in a user’s bank account based on the image. Any technique for sending the image to the financial institution may be used.

“In an implementation, the mobile device may process the image prior to sending the image to the financial institution. Additionally or alternatively, the financial institution may process the image.

“In an implementation, processing the image may comprise one or more cleaning operations at the mobile device, the camera, and/or the financial institution. Cleaning operations may include at least one of the following for example: deskewing the image, dewarping the image, converting the resolution of the image to a predetermined resolution, converting the image from JPEG to TIFF, detecting information from the negotiable instrument, verifying non-duplicate presentment, and verifying signature.

“This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A processor-implemented method of depositing a negotiable instrument, comprising: with a processor of a server of a financial institution in communication with a mobile device, the mobile device comprising an imaging device, the processor: authenticating a user of the mobile device, the authenticating of the user, comprising: receiving, from the mobile device, authentication information of the user of the mobile device for authenticating the user to a server of the financial institution; and authenticating, through the authentication information, that the user is an authorized consumer of the financial institution; instructing an application on the mobile device, after the authenticating of the user, to enable execution of a remote deposit processing component on the mobile device; receiving, from the remote deposit processing component, confirmation from the user that the user wishes to proceed with depositing the negotiable instrument; receiving, from the remote deposit processing component, an image file of the negotiable instrument, wherein the image file comprises an image of the negotiable instrument generated by the imaging device of the mobile device of the user; obtaining financial information pertaining to the negotiable instrument from the image file; and depositing funds of the negotiable instrument into an account based on the financial information pertaining to the negotiable instrument.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the processor further performs acts of: verifying that the image file is readable such that the financial information may be obtained from the negotiable instrument; and obtaining the financial information pertaining to the negotiable instrument from the image file, wherein the financial information includes information regarding an account for depositing funds of the user.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein the image file is received via an Internet connection or a wireless cellular transmission.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein: the image of the negotiable instrument comprises a first side of the negotiable instrument, and the image file further comprises a second image comprising a second side of the negotiable instrument.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein the processor further performs acts of: determining whether the financial information is invalid, and if so, transferring the financial information to a representative.

“6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the financial information is invalid, and if so, advising the user; receiving a second image file from the user; obtaining second financial information pertaining to the negotiable instrument from the second image file; and depositing funds of the negotiable instrument into an account based on the second financial information pertaining to the negotiable instrument.

“7. A computer-readable medium comprising: computer-readable instructions for depositing a negotiable instrument, said computer-readable instructions comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor of a server of a financial institution, cause the processor to: authenticate a user of a mobile device, where to authenticate the user, the processor is configured to: receive, from the mobile device, authentication information of the user of the mobile device for authenticating the user to a server of the financial institution; and authenticate, through the authentication information, that the user is an authorized consumer of the financial institution; instruct the application on the mobile device, after the authenticating of the user, to enable execution of a remote deposit processing component on the mobile device; receive confirmation from the user that the user wishes to proceed with depositing the negotiable instrument; receive, from the remote deposit processing component, an image file of the negotiable instrument, wherein the image file comprises an image of the negotiable instrument generated by an imaging device of the mobile device of the user; obtain financial information pertaining to the negotiable instrument from the image file; and deposit funds of the negotiable instrument identified by the financial information obtained from the negotiable instrument into an account held by the user at the financial institution.

“8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the processor to: verify that the image file is readable such that financial information may be obtained from the negotiable instrument; and obtain the financial information pertaining to the negotiable instrument from the image file, wherein the financial information includes information regarding an account for depositing funds of the user.

“9. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the image file is received via an Internet connection or a wireless cellular transmission.

“10. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein: the image of the negotiable instrument comprises a first side of the negotiable instrument, and the image file further comprises a second image comprising a second side of the negotiable instrument.

“11. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, further comprising instructions that determine whether the financial information is invalid, and if so, transfer the financial information to a representative.

“12. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, further comprising instructions that determine whether the financial information is invalid, and if so, advise the user; receive a second image file from the user; obtain second financial information pertaining to the negotiable instrument from the second image file; and deposit funds of the negotiable instrument into an account based on the second financial information pertaining to the negotiable instrument.

“13. A system for depositing a negotiable instrument, comprising: a server of a financial institution, the server comprising: a memory storing instructions; a processor disposed in communication with said memory, the processor configured to execute the instructions to: authenticating a user of a mobile device, the authenticating of the user, comprising: receive, from the mobile device, authentication information of the user of the mobile device for authenticating the user to the server of the financial institution; and authenticate, through the authentication information, that the user is an authorized consumer of the financial institution; instruct an application on the mobile device, after the authenticating of the user, to enable execution of a remote deposit processing component on the mobile device; receive, from the remote deposit processing component, an image file of the negotiable instrument, wherein the image file comprises an image of the negotiable instrument generated by an imaging device of the mobile device of the user; obtain financial information pertaining to the negotiable instrument from the image file; and deposit funds of the negotiable instrument identified by the financial information obtained from the negotiable instrument into an account held by the user at the financial institution.

“14. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to: verify that the image file is readable such that financial information may be obtained from the negotiable instrument; and obtain the financial information pertaining to the negotiable instrument from the image file, wherein the financial information includes information regarding an account for depositing funds of the user.

“15. The system of claim 13, wherein the image file is received via an Internet connection or a wireless cellular transmission.

“16. The system of claim 13, wherein: the image of the negotiable instrument comprises a first side of the negotiable instrument, and the image file further comprises a second image comprising a second side of the negotiable instrument.

“17. The system of claim 13, further comprising at least one subsystem that determines whether the financial information is invalid, and if so, transfers the financial information to a representative.

“18. The system of claim 13, further comprising at least one subsystem that determines whether the financial information is invalid, and if so, advises the user; receives a second image file from the user; obtains second financial information pertaining to the negotiable instrument from the second image file; and deposits funds of the negotiable instrument into an account based on the second financial information pertaining to the negotiable instrument.

“19. A processor-implemented method of depositing a negotiable instrument, comprising: with a processor of a mobile device comprising an imaging device, the mobile device in communication with a server of a financial institution, the processor: authenticating a user of the mobile device, the authenticating of the user, comprising: sending, via an application on the mobile device, authentication information to the financial institution to authenticate that the user of the mobile device is an authorized consumer of the financial institution; receiving an instruction from the financial institution to enable execution of a remote deposit processing component on the mobile device; generating an image of a negotiable instrument with the imaging device of the mobile device; performing a cleaning procedure via the remote deposit processing component on the captured image of the negotiable instrument, the cleaning procedure including deskewing and dewarping the captured image of the negotiable instrument; sending the cleaned image of the negotiable instrument to the financial institution via the remote deposit processing component; and receiving an indication including information related to a status of depositing the negotiable instrument.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Morris, Michael Frank. Systems and methods for mobile deposit of negotiable instruments. U.S. Patent Number 11531973, filed March 24, 2022, and published online on December 20, 2022. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11531973)&db=USPAT&type=ids

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)