System for vending products and services using an identification card and associated methods

A method for accessing at least one consumer account using a system, comprising:

• (a) receiving a form containing information about a consumer into the system;
• (b) optically analyzing the form to electronically determine information about the consumer;
• and
• (c) using the information to electronically access at least one consumer account in communication with the system.

A method for allowing a consumer to pay for a good or service having a purchase price at a vending machine using a system, the method comprising:

• (a) receiving at the system consumer account registration information to establish at least one electronic consumer account accessible by the system;
• (b) receiving a form containing information about the consumer into the vending machine;
• (c) optically analyzing the form to electrically determine information about the consumer;
• and
• (d) using the information to electronically charge the purchase price from the at least one consumer account.

A method, implementable on a system, for making a plurality of electronic consumer accounts accessible by a single consumer identification form, comprising:

• (a) associating each account with information about the consumer;
• (b) enabling the receipt of the form at a terminal in the system;
• (c) optically analyzing the form to electrically determine the information about the consumer;
• and
• (d) using the determined information to access the plurality of consumer accounts.

A system for accessing at least one consumer account registered with a system, comprising:

• (a) at least one terminal for receiving a form containing information about a consumer and for producing an optical image of the form;
• (b) a program for analyzing the optical image and determining consumer information therefrom;
• and
• (c) at least one integrated system in communication with the system which contains at least one consumer account, wherein the at least one consumer account is accessible using the determined consumer information.

A method for determining information about an individual using a form, comprising:

• (a) receiving the form at a first system;
• (b) optically analyzing the form to determine first information about the individual;
• (c) transmitting the first information to a second system containing second information about the individual;
• (d) using the first information to access the second information;
• and.
• (e) receiving the second information.

A method for verifying the identity of a person using a terminal, comprising:

• (a) receiving optical image data from a first form at the terminal;
• (b) analyzing the optical image data to determine first information about the person;
• (c) receiving magnetic data from a magnetic strip on a second form at the terminal;
• (d) analyzing the magnetic data to determine second information about the person;
• and
• (e) comparing the first information and the second information to verify the identity of the person.

A method for verifying the identity of a person using a terminal and a form, the form including a magnetic strip, comprising:

• (a) receiving both optical image data from the form and magnetic data from the magnetic strip on the form at the terminal;
• (b) analyzing the optical image data to determine first information about the person;
• (c) analyzing the magnetic data to determine second information about the person;
• and
• (d) comparing the first information and the second information to verify the identity of the person.

A system, comprising:

• (a) at least one terminal containing a form reader capable of taking an optical image of a form containing personal information to determine indicia indicative of the identity of the person;
• (b) a server in communication with the at least one terminal for receiving the indicia;
• and
• (c) an integrated system in communication with the server for receiving the indicia from the server and providing in return information concerning the person.

A method for optically analyzing a test image in a system containing memory, comprising:

• (a) storing a test image D(i,j) in a first memory;
• (b) storing K templates Tk(i,j), each representative of a character, in a second memory;
• (c) adjusting the contrast of the K templates to match the contrast of the test image D(i,j,);
• (d) electronically positioning the test image relative to each template to calculate a minimum least squares difference between the test image and each template;
• (e) storing the minimum least squares difference for each template in a third memory;
• and
• (f) selecting the template with the smallest minimum least squares difference to determine the test image.

A method for optically analyzing a test image in a system containing memory, comprising:

• (a) storing a test image D(i,j) in a first memory;
• (b) storing K templates Tk(i,j), each representative of a character, in a second memory, each template having respective vertical and horizontal dimensions of mk and nk;
• (c) electronically positioning the test image relative to each template by offsets r and s to calculate a minimum least squares difference distk(r,s) between the test image and each template in accordance with the following equation:
• 8 dist k ⁡ ( r , s ) = ∑ i = 1 m k ⁢ ∑ j = 1 n k ⁢ ( D ⁡ ( r + i , s + i ) - [ α ⁢ ⁢ T k ⁡ ( i , j ) + β ] ) 2 ;
• where α and β are dependent upon both D(i,j) and Tk(i,j);
• (d) storing the minimum least squares difference for each template in a third memory;
• and
• (e) selecting the template with the smallest minimum least squares difference to determine the test image.

A method for generating a template T(i,j) representative of a character in a system containing memory, comprising:

• (a) scanning N of examples of the character to produce a plurality of example images AN(i,j) representative of the character;
• (b) storing the example images in a first memory;
• (c) determining an offset (rk,sk) for each example image to bring the images into alignment with each other;
• (d) calculating the template in accordance with the following equation:
• 11 T ⁡ ( i , j ) = 1 N ⁢ ∑ k = 1 N ⁢ ⁢ A k ⁡ ( r k + i , s k + j ) ;
• and
• (e) storing the template in a second memory.

A method, implementable on a system containing data, for analyzing a form containing a form header and at least one cluster which contains at least one element, comprising:

• (a) scanning the form to create a computerized optical image of the form;
• (b) electronically determining the form type by comparing the optical image of the form header with form header template data associated with the form type;
• (c) using offset data associated with the form type to determine the location of a cluster on the form;
• and
• (d) assessing at least one element within the cluster by comparing the element to character template data associated with the form type.

A method, implementable on a system containing data, of analyzing a form to create an optical template file for the form, the form containing a form header, at least one cluster, and at least one element within the cluster, comprising:

• (a) optically scanning a form to create an image file;
• (b) storing a portion of the image file containing the form header as form header template data associated with the optical template file;
• (c) determining, from the image file, the origin of the form header, and storing the form header origin data in association with the optical template file;
• (d) determining, from the image file, the cluster origin for at least one cluster, and storing the cluster origin data in association with the optical template file;
• and
• (e) determining, from the image file, the element origin of at least one element within the cluster and storing the element origin data in association with the optical template file.

A method for optically analyzing a sequence of symbols using a system containing memory, wherein the set of symbols comprises a plurality of different symbol types, comprising:

• (a) storing a pattern specification in a first memory, wherein the pattern specification is comprised of a sequence of pattern characters, wherein each pattern character corresponds to a symbol type in the sequence of symbols, and wherein each pattern character references data stored in a second memory;
• (b) optically scanning the sequence of symbols to form an image comprising images of each symbol type, and storing the image in a third memory;
• and
• (c) analyzing the image by assessing the image of each symbol type with respect to the data referenced by the corresponding pattern character of the symbol type.

A method for optically analyzing a continuous sequence of symbols using a system containing memory containing a plurality of optical templates, comprising:

• (a) optically scanning the sequence of symbols to form an image comprised of a plurality of images of each symbols;
• (b) determining a first subset of the plurality of templates;
• and
• (c) comparing a first subset of the plurality of templates to at least one symbol image to identify that symbol.

A method for allowing a user to initialize a machine to be connected to a network, comprising in order:

• (a) accessing the network;
• (b) inputting configuration data for the machine at the network;
• (c) connecting the machine to the network, whereby the machine automatically establishes a communication channel with the network;
• and
• (d) transmitting the configuration data to the machine through the communication channel.

A method for configuring the functionality of a machine containing an optical scanning unit connected to a network, comprising:

• (a) accessing the network using a user interface;
• (b) selecting configuration options for the machine using a graphical user interface;
• and
• (c) transmitting the configuration options to the optical scanning unit in the machine.