System and method for producing and verifying secure negotiable instruments
AssigneeBottomline Technologies (DE) Inc.
InventorsGregory Ernest Park, Timothy P. O'Hagan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention relates to producing and presenting negotiable instruments and, more specifically, to printing and presenting checks, which are resistant to forgery or fraud. The negotiable instrument comprises a numeric sequence printed in MICR font upside down across the top face of the negotiable instrument for electronic reading by a MICR reader. The numeric sequence provides for authentication of the payee name and the payment amount by a secure authentication server.
Claims21
A system for printing a negotiable instrument in accordance with payment instructions, the payment instructions comprising at least a payee name and a payment amount, the system comprising:
- a module for calculating a numeric sequence, the module selected from a group of modules consisting of:
- i) a hash module for calculating the numeric sequence by operating a hash function on at least a portion of the payee name and the payment amount;
- ii) an encryption module for calculating the numeric sequence by operating an encryption function on at least a portion of the payee name and the payment amount;
- and
- iii) a compression module for calculating the numeric sequence by operating a compression function on at least a portion of the payee name and the payment amount;
- and
- a payment module for generating an image file, the image file comprising:
- a recognizable alpha numeric representation of the payee name within a payee field;
- a recognizable numeric representation of the payment amount within a numerical amount field;
- a recognizable alpha numeric representation of the payment amount within an alpha numeric amount field;
- a MICR representation of a routing number and an account number within a first MICR zone across the bottom of the negotiable instrument;
- a MICR representation of the numeric sequence within a second MICR zone across the top of the negotiable instrument, the MICR representation in the second MICR zone being in an inverted relationship to the MICR representation in the first MICR zone.
Method of printing a negotiable instrument, the method comprising:
- receiving negotiable instrument printing instructions, the instructions comprising a payee name and a payment amount;
- calculating a numeric sequence, using a function selected from a group of functions consisting of:
- i) the numeric sequence representing the result of operating a hash function on at least a portion of the payee name and the payment amount;
- ii) the numeric sequence representing the result of operating an encryption function on at least a portion of the payee name and the payment amount;
- and
- iii) the numeric sequence representing the result of operating a compression function on at least a portion of the payee name and the payment amount;
- generating a negotiable instrument image file, the image file comprising:
- a recognizable alpha numeric representation of the payee name within a payee field;
- a recognizable numeric representation of the payment amount within a numerical amount field;
- a recognizable alpha numeric representation of the payment amount within an alpha numeric amount field;
- a MICR representation of a routing number and an account number within a first MICR zone across the bottom of the negotiable instrument;
- a MICR representation of the numeric sequence within a second MICR zone across the top of the negotiable instrument, the MICR representation in the second MICR zone being in an inverted relationship to the MICR representation in the first MICR zone;
- sending a representation of the negotiable instrument image file to a printer that prints at least the MICR representation of a routing number and an account number and the MICR representation of the numeric sequence in MICR ink on negotiable instrument stock.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.