Check Sleeve Orientation and Segmentation for Image Capture
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge lies in capturing high-quality images of checks for electronic presentment, as existing methods struggle to distinguish check portions from non-check portions and maintain proper orientation, especially when multiple checks need to be scanned simultaneously.
Innovation Solution
A check sleeve made of flexible material, such as plastic, with mechanisms like flaps and corners to hold checks in place, along with markings and barcodes for orientation and identification, assists in capturing images by minimizing optical interference and allowing for the detection of check presence and orientation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If ordinary image capture technology is used to capture check images, then the capturing process is simple, but it is difficult to distinguish check portions from non-check portions and maintain proper orientation
Solution Approach 1:
A check sleeve is introduced as an intermediary tool between the check and the scanning system. The sleeve contains alignment markings, orientation indicators, and contrast patterns that serve as reference elements for the image processing algorithms, enabling automatic detection of check orientation and boundaries without requiring complex manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The check sleeve incorporates specific color patterns and contrast elements (such as dark borders, colored alignment marks, or opaque/transparent regions) that create distinctive visual signatures in the captured image. These color and contrast variations enable the system to automatically differentiate between check portions, sleeve portions, and background areas through image analysis.
2Productivity
If multiple checks are placed in a single sleeve for simultaneous scanning, then productivity increases, but it becomes more difficult to distinguish individual check portions
Solution Approach 1:
The sleeve is designed with visual segmentation elements such as dividers, spacing patterns, or distinct background regions between check positions. These segmentation features create clear visual boundaries in the captured image, allowing the system to automatically identify and separate individual check areas even when multiple checks are present, thereby maintaining identification accuracy while enabling batch processing.
3Stability of the object's composition
If flaps or corners are added to the sleeve to hold checks in place, then check stability improves, but optical interference may occur in image capture
Solution Approach 1:
The sleeve design extracts or removes material in strategic locations to create cutouts, transparent windows, or open regions where optical interference would occur. These extracted areas allow unobstructed light paths between the check and scanner, eliminating shadows or reflections from flaps and corners while the remaining sleeve structure maintains check stability through alternative holding mechanisms such as friction-fit walls or magnetic elements positioned away from the scanning area.
Data Source
AI summary
Images of a plurality of checks to be presented for payment may be captured through the use of a check sleeve. The check sleeve includes check-holding mechanism to hold one or more checks in place in the sleeve, and contains various types of markings or other features that allow an image of the sleeve to be oriented, and to allow the portion of the image that represents a check to be distinguished from portions of the image that do not represent a check. One or more algorithms may be used to distinguish check from non-check portions of the image, and to orient the image. The check sleeves may have one or more barcodes imprinted thereon, which may encode various types of information.