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US 2014/0278555 A1Published application
Method and Apparatus for Driver's License Analysis to Support Rental Vehicle Transactions
AssigneeThe Crawford Group, Inc.
InventorsRyan S. Johnson, Scott Stephens, Dave G. Smith, Neil Fitzgerald, Ryan C. Flynn, Jerome V. Schmitt, Tom McAliney
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A number of techniques are disclosed for making it more convenient and efficient for customers to conduct various rental vehicle transactions. As an example, techniques are disclosed for capturing and analyzing images of driver's licenses to assess a validity for the driver's licenses in support of various rental transactions.
Claims43
A method comprising:
- receiving image data representative of a driver's license;
- analyzing the received image data to determine whether the driver's license is deemed valid;
- in response to the analyzing step, updating a customer record for a customer associated with the driver's license with validity data indicative of whether the customer's driver's license is deemed valid;
- and
- accessing the customer record including the validity data when processing a request from the customer to conduct a rental transaction with respect to a rental vehicle;
- and
- wherein the method steps are performed by a processor.
4 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a memory, the memory configured to store a customer record for a customer;
- wherein the processor is configured to (1) receive image data representative of a driver's license for the customer, (2) analyze the received image data to determine whether the driver's license is deemed valid, (3) in response to the analysis, update the customer record with validity data indicative of whether the customer's driver's license is deemed valid, and (4) access the customer record including the validity data when processing a request from the customer to conduct a rental transaction with respect to a rental vehicle.
1 more element
A method comprising:
- receiving image data representative of a driver's license;
- analyzing the received image data to determine whether the driver's license is deemed valid;
- and
- in response to the analyzing step resulting in a determination that the driver's license is deemed valid, permitting a customer associated with the driver's license to conduct an automated transaction for a rental vehicle;
- and
- wherein the method steps are performed by a processor.
3 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a processor configured to (1) receive image data representative of a driver's license, (2) analyze the received image data to determine whether the driver's license is deemed valid, and (3) in response to the analyzing step resulting in a determination that the driver's license is deemed valid, permit a customer associated with the driver's license to conduct an automated transaction for a rental vehicle.
An apparatus comprising:
- a mobile device, the mobile device configured to execute a mobile application, the mobile application configured to (1) present a GUI screen to a user through the mobile device, the GUI screen configured to prompt the user to capture an image of a driver's license for the user, (2) capture an image of the user's driver's license in response to user input, (3) analyze the captured image to determine whether the user's driver's license is deemed valid, and (4) in response to a determination that the user's driver's license is deemed valid, enable the mobile device to generate and output a signal that is configured for detection by a sensor on a rental vehicle to perform an automated pickup of the rental vehicle.
A computer program product comprising:
- a plurality of instructions executable by a processor of a mobile device and resident on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the instructions, upon execution by the mobile device's processor, are configured to cause the mobile device to:
- present a GUI screen to a user, the GUI screen configured to prompt the user to capture an image of a driver's license for the user;
- capture an image of the user's driver's license in response to user input;
- analyze the captured image to determine whether the user's driver's license is deemed valid;
- in response to a determination that the user's driver's license is deemed valid, generate and output a signal that is configured for detection by a sensor on a rental vehicle to perform an automated pickup of the rental vehicle.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.