US 4,731,524 AGranted

Real time item processing apparatus using a thermal encoder

AssigneeNCR Canada Ltd - NCR Canada Ltee

InventorRalf M. Brooks

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

An apparatus for use in endorsing documents, like checks, in a banking system. A magnetic stripe is printed or encoded on the back of each document entering the processing system. Human readable, endorsement data is also printed next to the magnetic strip at the time that the stripe is being printed. The endorsement data is also magnetically written into a portion of the magnetic stripe during a subsequent, real-time operation to provide both machine-readable and human-readable forms of data to facilitate tracing a document's processing trail through several banks. A low-cost method of providing endorsements on checks through using the MICR encoder to print the usual monetary amount, inverting the check, re-entering the check, and using the MICR encoder to print the endorsement on the back of the check is also disclosed.

Claims8

Dependent claims

An apparatus for processing documents comprising:

a document track and means for moving said documents sequentially along said document track;
said documents having machine readable data thereon;
processing means for processing said documents to obtain data relative to said documents and also for controlling the operation of said apparatus;
reading means coupled to said processing means for determining whether or not each said document in said document track has a magnetic stripe thereon, and also for reading data on a said magnetic stripe when said magnetic stripe is present;
printing means coupled to said processing means for printing a magnetic stripe on those of said documents which do not have a magnetic stripe thereon as determined by said first reading means;
writing means coupled to said processing means for magnetically writing at least a portion of the data obtained from said processing means for a said document onto the associated said magnetic stripe while said document is in said document track;
said printing means also being capable of printing data received from said processing means in human readable form as said magnetic stripe is being printed on the associated said document.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.