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Claims  |
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What is claimed is:
1. In a document sorter-processor where a high speed transport moves a
train of documents through an alphanumeric character reader means and a
first ink jet printer to addresses in a family of destinations selected on
the basis of data read from each said document by said reader means and
wherein means connected between said reader means and said printer
actuates said printer to imprint on each said document a bar coded
representation of signals from said reader means along with one unique
positive item control number from a sequentially ordered set of numbers,
the combination comprising:
a. a second ink jet printer through which said train passes to print data
on the faces of said documents,
b. means to inhibit said first printer in response to error in reading
account-amount data to each said document,
c. means to store for retrieval the control number for each document along
with account-amount data from each said document in a retrievable storage
means,
d. means to supply in said account-amount data an error symbol for each
character not identified in any account-amount field, and
e. means to correct said symbol in storage.
2. The system according to claim 1 wherein the means to correct said symbol
comprises a visual display and means responsive to manual entry of the
positive item control number to display the positive control number and
the account-amount data from storage on said display.
3. The combination set forth in claim 1 including means responsive to the
data read for delivering to a reject/sort bin all documents in which there
is error in reading the account-amount data from the document.
4. The combination set forth in claim 2 wherein means are provided
responsive to corrected data in storage for actuating said first printer
to print the account-amount data on the document to which the corrected
data pertain.
5. The combination of claim 1 wherein said second printer is an
alphanumeric printer positioned on the side of said train opposite said
first printer.
6. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein said first printer is a bar
code printer and said second printer is an alphanumeric printer.
7. An automated processing system for bank checks with magnetic ink
alphanumeric account-amount data printed along a line on the face of each
check, comprising:
a. means for transporting said checks serially at constant velocity through
a processor to a sorter,
b. means for generating an item control number unique to each said
document,
c. at a first station in said processor means for sensing each character in
said line to produce a string of account-amount data signals from each
document with an error marker in said string at the location of any
character present but not read from said document,
d. at a second station in said processor:
i. means for printing said control number on each document in human
readable form, and
ii. means for printing said control number on each document in machine
readable form, and
e. means to store in retrievable form the control number along with the
account-amount data including each said marker in location.
8. The system of claim 7 in which print means at a station intermediate
said first and second stations prints at a selected site on each said
document a bar code of said account-amount data read from said document
and means to inhibit said print means to prevent printing any
account-amount data containing one of said markers.
9. Automated processing system of claim 7 in which said means for printing
said control number includes means for printing at least part of said data
string on the back of each said document in bar code form and at least
said control number on the face of each document in human readable form.
10. In automatic processing of a stream of financial documents wherein
members of a series of positive item control numbers sequentially are
encoded in human readable form as well as machine readable form one such
number per document in said stream and wherein account-amount data is
machine read from each said document and stored in reproducible form in
the same order as said series of control numbers, the method of reentry of
documents into said stream which are relegated to a reject stack because
of failure to read one or more characters in the account-amount field,
comprising:
a. displaying in response to a call to storage and in response to said
control number for a rejected document characters preceding and following
a character present but not read from said rejected document,
b. manually producing an entry into storage of each character not read at
positions corresponding to the character position on said document,
c. reading the control number on a rejected document for addressing
corrected storage at a read control number, and
d. printing a bar code representative of said account number thereon under
control of a corrected storage.
11. In automatic processing of a stream of financial documents wherein
members of a series of positive item control numbers seuqentially are
encoded in human readable form as well as machine readable from one such
number per document in said stream and wherein account-amount data is
machine read from each said document and stored in reproducible form in
the same order as said series of control numbers, the method of reentry of
documents into said stream which are relegated to a reject stack because
of failure to read one or more characters in the account-amount field,
comprising:
a. displaying in reponse to addressing storage through said control number
for a rejected document a string of characters preceding and following
each marker signifying a character present but not read from said rejected
document,
b. manually producing an entry into storage of each character not read at
positions corresponding to said marker,
c. reading the control number on a rejected document for addressing
corrected storage at a read control number, and
d. printing a bar code representative of said account number thereon under
control of the corrected storage.
12. The method of processing financial documents wherein a document
sorter-processor moves a high speed train of documents through an
alphanumeric character reader and a first ink jet printer to addresses in
a family of destinations selected on the basis of data read from each
document by said reader means and wherein means connected between said
reader means and said printer actuate said printer to imprint on each said
document a coded representation of signals from said reader means, the
method which comprises:
a. printing on each said document as it passes through said system a
positive item control number, each number being unique to a given
document,
b. entering the positive item control number printed on the given document
in retrievable storage means along with the account-amount data read from
the document,
c. delivering all documents to a reject bin for which any error is
encountered in the reading account-amount data from a document while
entering a special marker indicating the point in any sequence of data
that an error occurs in said account-amount data in storage,
d. retrieving from storage on the basis of the positive item control number
characters preceding and following each special marker and displaying the
same in the sequence in which they were read from the document to signify
the point of error, and
e. entering a correction into storage to cause the display to correspond
with the data actually on each document so that reconciliation of
account-amount can be undertaken immediately upon correction of the
storage of data from all reject documents in a given block of documents. |
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Claims |
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Description |
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This invention relates to automatic processing of documents, or more
particularly, to a method and system for the re-entry of reject documents
in a stream of documents being automatically processed.
When in a first pass, there is failure to read all specified data on a
document, data read from a rejected document is displayed to assist manual
correction of the data in storage from such rejected document. The
document is then encoded with all of the data that should have been read
on the first pass.
In the processing of documents such as bank checks and the like by
financial institutions, a data capture system is employed for capturing
data from and sorting the document in dependance upon read information
therefrom. In accordance with a system described and claimed in patent
application Ser. No. 448,458, filed Mar. 6, 1974, for Trace Automated
Processing of Financial Documents, now abandoned a system is disclosed
wherein a Positive Item Control Number (PICN) is applied to each document
as it enters the system. Documents are fed at a rate of from 1800 to 2400
items per minute to a read module. They are normally read both
magnetically and optically. The two resultant data strings are then
reduced to a single character string, using redundant data to reduce the
number of rejects. The resultant data is stored in a suitable computer
memory.
In the handling of bank checks normally an account number and an amount are
printed thereon in MICR format. In such format the documents can be read
at the above high rate. In the above application, the unique Positive Item
Control Number (PICN) is applied not only to each document but also is
applied to a memory unit for storage and retrieval along with the account
number and the amount of the check. All documents also pass through an ink
jet printer station as they travel from the MICR-OCR read station. The
printer station is to apply bar codes to the back and alphanumerics to the
face or the back of the document as an operator may desire. Such bar codes
may include a block and sequence number, an account or transit number, an
amount number, an out-pocket and sequence code, a transit code, a second
pass pocket code and a third pass pocket code. Thereafter the processing
can be undertaken by reading and utilizing the bar codes.
In accordance with this invention where a document is rejected by the
system because of failure to read all of the information on the accound
field and the amount field, the account-amount data information is not
recorded on the document in the bar code. The account number and the
amount of the check, as they are read, along with the Positive Item
Control Number are entered into memory with a cursor or asterisk stored in
memory at the point at which any digit is not read.
Reentry of rejected documents is performed in response to a call to memory
storage based on the control number of a rejected document. A display is
produced of characters preceding and following a character present on the
document but not read. An entry is then made manually into storage to
correct each character in the stored information that was not read. The
manual entry is performed by reference to the document itself. Upon
completion of reject correction of a block, reconciliation of all
documents in the given block can be promptly performed. The reconciliation
includes data from all documents in a block including the data involved in
manual reentry wherein the data in storage is corrected.
Thereafter, the documents for which the memory data has been corrected are
passed through the ink jet printer and the bar coded account and amount
are applied to the document under control of the corrected memory
information.
The method therefore comprises displaying characters preceding and
following a character present but not read from the rejected document, in
response to a call to storage based upon the control number for a rejected
document. An entry into storage of each character not read at positions
corresponding to the character position on said document is manually
produced. Thereafter the rejected documents are passed through an encoder
to impress a bar code representative of said account-amount thereon under
control of the corrected storage.
For a more complete understanding of the present invention and for further
objects and advantages thereof, reference may now be had to the following
description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 illustrates a document process; and
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a processing system utilized in the present
invention.
Referring now to FIG. 1, the front and back of a bank check have been
illustrated. The bottom line on the face of the document comprises three
MICR fields 100-102. Lines 104 and 110 include additional informatin
printed on the face of the check during processing. On the back of the
check are lines 103 and 105-109. The example thus illustrated represents a
fully processed check.
The first eight digits on line 104 is the unique PICN number, for positive
item control, reflecting the item's relative sequence within a block of
items being processed and relating directly to the microfilm frame number.
A PICN is assigned as each item passes through the processing system. The
PICN on line 104 is shown in ink jet printed form on the front of the item
in alpha-numeric characters. The PICN is also encoded and printed in
machine-readable bar code form on the back of the item as indicated in
line 103.
The first MICR field 100 is coded to represent the identity of a bank on
which the check is drawn. The second field 101 is coded to represent the
identity of the maker. Field 102 is a field in which the amount for which
the check is drawn in encoded.
In operation as indicated in FIG. 1, information read from a check, namely
the account-amount fields along with PICN is to be (1) entered on a
journal ledger sheet; (2) stored serially on a disc or other memory; and
(3) stored on a microfilm storage system.
The PICN is ink jet printed in bar code form on line 103 and in numeric
form on line 104 to permit reconstructing an original sequence of input
documents; to provide a positive match for hard core re-entry; to assist
in investigation of errors or differences; and to provide a key for
detection of replacement of free and missing items. Before further
discussing re-entry of rejected documents, the processing system will
first be briefly described.
FIG. 2
A system which involves the present invention is shown in FIG. 2. A
document feeder 20 starts documents along their path beginning at point
50. A MICR read head 57, an OCR read head 62 and the alphanumeric ink jet
gun 74 are associated with the face of the documents at successive
downstream locations. A bar code reader 65, a bar code ink jet gun 70, a
bar code reader-verifier 72, and an alphanumeric ink jet gun 73 are
associated with the back of the documents at successive downstream
locations. A microfilm camera 24 is adapted to record both the face as
through a lens system 24a and a mirror 24b and the back by lens system
24c.
Output signals from the MIRC read head 57 and the OCR read head 62 are
applied to a merge unit 120. In accordance with known techniques, the two
inputs to merge unit 120 are employed to produce a single output data
stream on a bus 121. Failure of MICR to identify each given character in
fields 100-102 may thus be supplemented by use of the output from the OCR
reader whereby the incidence of read failure is greatly reduced relative
to systems which use either head 57 or an OCR reader 62 alone.
A channel 121 is connected to a multiplexer 122 in which the information on
channel 121 and information on a channel 123 are combined to provide an
output on channel 124 which includes the data on fields 100-102 combined
with the PICN on channel 123. Channel 123 leads from a PICN generator 125.
Generator 125 may be linked to the flow of documents from the feeder 20 as
by way of a linkage 126. Preferably, however, the generation of PICN is
correlated with the block number and the last four digits of the block
sequence from counters 24d and 24e in the microfilm camera 24 as applied
by a channel 127 from camera 124 to PICN generator 125. A sensor 24f is
shown in relation to a sequence counter 24e to provide for generation of
the PICN and to aid in operation of camera 24 and in use of the
photographic record produced by camera 24. A channel 128 extends from a
central computer 129 for synchronization purposes. Thus, the combination
of the data from fields 100-102, FIG. 1, appears on the output channel 124
along with the PICN for the document from which such data is obtained.
Data on channel 124 is then applied to computer 129, to a verify unit 130
and to a control/inhibit unit 131. Unit 131 applies the same output to a
comparison unit 132 and to delay buffers 133 and 134.
The output of a bar code reader 65 is applied by way of channel 135 to the
control/inhibit unit 131 and to the computer 129. If the bar code reader
65 senses a bar code previously printed on line 103, FIG. 1, for example,
it will inhibit bar code printer 70 and alphanumeric printer 74. If a
document has not been previously encoded, then the data from the
control/inhibit unit 131 will be applied by way of delay buffers 133 and
134 to the ink jet guns 70 and 74. Bar code reader 72 supplied a second
input to the comparison unit 132. If the data from channel 124 is the same
as that printed by the gun 70 and thereafter read from the document by
reader 72, then the document may pass through to a sorter 25. However, if
on comparison the imprinting on the document does not correspond with the
input to the gun 70, then the output of the compare unit 132 is applied to
a reject multiplexer 151 by way of selector switch 132d. The output of
multiplexer 141 appears on channel 140 and is applied to control unit 142
to actuate a gate 143 which diverts the improperly or incompletely coded
document into a reject bin 144.
The output of bar code reader 72 is connected to a gate 160 whose output is
connected to one input of a coincidence circuit 161. The output of compare
unit 132 is connected by way of switch 132e to the second input of
coincidence circuit 161. The yes output of circuit 161 is connected to a
failure counter 162. The no output of the coincidence circuit 161 is
connected to the reset terminal of counter 162. The output of counter 162
may be selected by means of switch 163 to apply a stop control signal by
way of line 164 to the document feeder. Gate 160 may be a monostable
multivibrator that is gated on once upon appearance of each document at
reader 72 and stays on for a period corresponding to the passage of the
document past reader 72. It will be recalled that comparison unit 132
provides a true output when there is failure in the comparison between
that which was applied to the printer 70 and that which is read by reader
72. The output of unit 132 may then be applied by way of switch 132e to
the second input of coincidence unit 161.
Each time there is failure in the comparison unit 132, a pulse will be
applied to counter 162, otherwise a reset pulse appears at the reset
terminal of counter 162. By means of the switch 132e, gate 160,
coincidence circuit 161, counter 162 and selector switch 163, the system
can be shut down if a selected number of consecutive documents are not
properly encoded by printer 72. In practice, the systems have been
operated to shut down when five consecutive documents are not properly
imprinted by printer 70.
The switch 132d also permits selection of the function of sorting to a
reject bin 144 every document which fails to meet the test of comparison
unit 132. Either or both of the functions provided by switches 132d and
132e may be employed. In some operations, it has been found to be more
economical to sort and re-enter documents not properly imprinted by the
printer 65 at a stage later than the first pass in the system. When both
switches 132d and 132e are conductive, rejects are sorted into bin 144 and
the system will be shut down if more than the number allowed by the
selected output appear in succession.
In accordance with the invention, data on channel 124 is applied to verify
unit 130. This provides a check to make certain that all of the characters
appearing in field 100-102 are successully identified. If any character is
not identified in a block where data is known to exist, then the reject
unit 141 is actuated to divert the document to the bin 144. It will be
noted that in such case, codes for all character fields not completely
read and identified appear on bus 124 and are inhibited from buffers 133
and 134 and guns 70 and 74 to avoid ink jet printing the account-amount on
the document on its first pass through the system. However, the PICN is
bar code printed on every document in the first pass as it appears on
lines 103 and 104, FIG. 1. Such partially coded documents are then
correlated with the record applied to a tape unit 150 by computer 129.
Complete encoding of the document ultimately is completed on lines 103 and
104 in response to corrected data stored in tape unit 150. A record
including corrections is stored by tape unit 150.
A channel 151 extends from computer 129 to provide for actuation of gun 73
when and if it is desired to endorse a train of checks as by imprinting on
one of lines 105, 108 or 109, FIG. 1. A channel 152 extends to gun 74 to
provide for cancellation by printing as on line 110, FIG. 1.
From the foregoing it will be understood that the system illustrated in
FIG. 2 may be used for first pass operations wherein the information is
initially captured by bar code imprinting on line 103, FIG. 1, and the
PICN is applied to the face of the document as on line 104, FIG. 1, as
well as for the correction operations precedent to reentry.
Control of the system will be understood generally to correspond to systems
currently in use involving operations of a system of Recognition Equipment
Inc. of Dallas, Texas, known as "Input 80" wherein alphanumeric
information is captured by an optical reader and employed in accounting
operations and operations described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,703,628 wherein bar
codes are printed on traveling documents and sorting operations
subsequently are carried out based on the applied bar codes. Preferably
the ink employed herein will be fluorescent so that bar codes applied over
prior printed matter such as stamped or printed endorsements may be
distinguished and read by readers 65 and 72.
Control of sorting and tracking documents preferably will be carried out in
accordance with the known methods and systems. A suitable system is
described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,102 entitled "Method and
Apparatus For Item Tracking". In general, document tracking and sorting is
well known and thus has not been further detailed herein. Another suitable
method of document sorting is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,673
entitled "Document Sorting Apparatus".
Discrete elements have been shown in the control system in FIG. 2. For
example, the multiplexer 122, the control/inhibit unit 131, delay buffers
133 and 134, comparison units 132, verify units 133, gate 160, coincidence
unit 161 and counter 162 are shown. It will be appreciated that these
units, as well as others, may be implemented through the use of software
in connection with operation of computer 129. However, they have been
separately shown in FIG. 2 in order that their functions may more readily
be understood.
The necessity for accurately reading on the first pass of the informatin
contained in the account-amount fields is apparent. Where any character in
the account-amount field is not read during the first operation of the
system in accordance with the present invention, the bar code printer that
would apply the bar codes on line 103, FIG. 1, is disabled by an inhibit
signal on line 130a leading to inhibit unit 131. The signal on line 130a
prevents printing the account-amount, but allows printing the PICN. Such
documents are delivered to reject bin 144. Data stored in memory, tape
150, from the initial capture pass contains the PICN and account-amount
data with reject characters or reject fields therein flagged.
The stack 200 of first pass reject documents are removed from the reject
pocket 144 utilized to aid reentry operations. More particularly, an
operator through a keyboard-display unit of a manual data entry system 204
calls up a block or part of a block of data stored on tape 150 by keying
into the keyboard 205 the starting and ending PICN which is printed on the
first item 201 and the last item 202 in the reject stack 200. For this
purpose, the contents of tape 150 are dumped onto a storage disc which is
inserted into system 204. The reject records are then displayed on a
screen 206. The successive displays are called up in the order of the PICN
on the reject documents. Each time the operator has matched a PICN from a
document in stack 200 with a PICN displayed on screen 206, he inspects the
document 201 to identify each reject character. A cursor that was
generated by merge unit 120 for each character not read correctly and
stored on tape 150 appears on screen 206 in association with preceding and
following characters in the series. The operator manually enters into the
storage disc in system 204 through keyboard 205 the correct characters
while viewing the top rejected document 201. When the stack of rejects 200
have been corrected in a buffer operation, the data is written back into
its proper location in memory, tape 150.
When a block of reject records is completed, a master list can immediately
be printed for reconciliation with all of the reject items flagged. This
permits the system immediately to continue its accounting processing.
Thereafter, reject documents are again entered at point 50, FIG. 2, into
the capture system and repassed for repair. The document has the
account-amount bar code printed on the back on line 103. As each rejected
document is passed, the PICN is read by a bar code reader and its
corrected data is extracted from a storage buffer and ink jet printed onto
the rejected items. The documents are then sorted to the appropriate
pockets in sorter 25.
The overall processing operation will now be described briefly to place the
above operation in perspective.
The ink jet printer 70 is employed at the first bank to which the check is
presented to record necessary transit information on the top line 103 on
the back of the document. Line 103 includes bar encoded fields including a
start code, PICN, the depositer identification, a transit routing and
amount and a stop code. Line 103 is coded by the first commercial or
Federal Reserve Bank with a suitable system. The bank tests for the
presence of bars in the transit routing field. If there are no bars and
the bank testing is a commercial bank, they encode the entire top line to
include their PICN, their depositor, transit routing and item amount. If
the one testing is a Federal Reserve Bank, they encode only transit
routing and amount. At the same time, an alphanumeric printer applies the
PICN on line 104 on the face of the document. An alphanumeric printer may
be employed to endorse the check on line 105 on the back indicating that
"any bank" is to be paid. The document is then sorted based upon the
transit routing code on line 103.
All checks in the first bank sorted and routed to a first Federal Reserve
Bank bin would, upon receipt, be read by a reader corresponding to reader
65. The Federal Reserve Bank with a suitable system tests for the presence
of bars in the first Federal Reserve Bank field of line 106. If there are
none, they encode their unique PICN and their depositor. If bars are
present in the first field, they encode the second Federal Reserve Bank
field. The Federal Reserve Bank also tests the transit routing field on
the first line 103. If there are no bars, they encode only the transit
routing and amount in line 103.
In the present example there would be no data in such field. Thus, the
first Federal Reserve Bank would apply on line 106 its code in the first
FRB depositor field along with the PICN. The first Federal Reserve Bank
would endorse the check on line 108 to the second Federal Reserve Bank.
The second Federal Reserve Bank would endorse the check on line 109 to the
on-us bank.
Checks are sorted by the second FRB for transmission to the banks on which
the checks are drawn. The on-us bank tests the MICR encoded transit
routing in field 100, FIG. 1, to determine if the item is drawn on them.
They encode on line 107 their unique PICN and on-us data such as account
number, amount (if not on top line), transaction code and serial number.
The on-us bank would then cancel the check by printing the notation
indicated on line 110 on the face of the check.
In connection with the initial pass and each of the succeeding
transactions, the encoded data is read into an accounting system in order
that bookkeeping operations for each institution through which the
document passes can be carried out under automated control and in
accordance with established and well known principles.
Computer 129 is illustrated as interfacing the entry system 204. A separate
computer in system 204 is employed for operating under control of the
keyboard 205. In one embodiment, system 204 was of the type manufactured
and sold by ENTREX Incorporated of Burlington, Mass., and identifed as
Model No. 481-1 comprising a mini CPU, a disk, a tape, a CRT and keyboard.
To this may be added up to nineteen additional consoles such as console
205-206 simultaneously to engage in making corrections to data stored on
first pass on tape 150 and transferred to a storage disk in system 204. In
this system, computer 129 was of the type manufactured and sold by Data
Craft Corp. of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and identified as Model No.
6024-5.
The example illustrated in the drawings and described above represents one
specific system and mode of carrying out the invention. It has been found
that in some applications the PICN will comprise more than eight
characters. In some operations PICN of eleven characters has been used.
Having described the invention in connection with certain specific
embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that further modifications may
now suggest themselves to those skilled in the art and it is intended to
cover such modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.
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