Method and apparatus for use in entering financial data into an electronic device

A system for use in entering magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) characters to an electronic device, the entry system comprising:

• a manual data entry device in communication with the electronic device and being operable to allow a user to input the MICR characters to the electronic device;
• a software program for use in connection with the electronic device and being operable to generate computer recognizable code corresponding to the MICR characters;
• a visual display unit in communication with the electronic device;
• and
• wherein the software program is operable to generate a command signal causing a plurality of virtual entry buttons to be displayed by the visual display unit, each virtual entry button displays a respective MICR character, and wherein the software program is operable to generate a respective computer recognizable code when the user activates one of the virtual entry buttons with the manual data entry device.

A method of entering a magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) line into an electronic device, the MICR line having a plurality of MICR line characters including at least one MICR symbol, the method comprising:

• providing a manual data entry device in communication with the electronic device;
• inputting the first MICR line character with the manual data entry device;
• converting the first MICR line character into a first computer recognizable code;
• and
• repeating the acts of inputting the MICR line character and converting the MICR line character for the remaining plurality of MICR line characters.

A method of entering a magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) line into an electronic device, the MICR line having a plurality of MICR line characters, the method comprising:

• providing a manual data entry device in communication with the electronic device;
• inputting the first MICR line character with the manual data entry device;
• converting the first MICR line character into a first computer recognizable code;
• repeating the acts of inputting the MICR line character and converting the MICR line character for the remaining plurality of MICR line characters;
• providing a visual display unit in communication with the electronic device;
• displaying a plurality of virtual entry buttons on the visual display unit;
• displaying respective MICR display characters on each virtual entry button;
• and
• wherein the acts of inputting the MICR line characters includes the act of activating one of the plurality of virtual entry buttons.

A method of providing a magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) line from a client to a server, the MICR line including a plurality of MICR line characters, the client and server being in communication via a distributed network, and the client including a computer, a display unit, a storage device and a pointer device, the method comprising:

• providing a MICR line entry program at the server;
• transmitting the MICR line entry program to the client;
• displaying a plurality of virtual entry buttons with the display unit, each virtual entry button includes a MICR character and an associated computer recognizable code;
• displaying a finish virtual entry button with the display unit;
• displaying a pointer with the visual display unit;
• controlling the pointer device to move a pointer over one of the virtual entry buttons;
• activating the virtual entry button;
• storing the associated computer recognizable code after the respective virtual entry button is activated;
• displaying the MICR character on the display unit after the respective virtual entry button is activated;
• repeating the acts of controlling the pointer device, activating the virtual entry button, storing the associated computer recognizable code and displaying the MICR character on the display unit for the remaining line characters, the repeating act results in a computer recognizable MICR line and an entered MICR line;
• controlling the pointer device to move a pointer over the finish virtual entry button;
• activating the finish virtual entry button;
• and
• transmitting the computer recognizable MICR line to the server.