System and method for producing and verifying secure negotiable instruments
The present invention relates to producing and presenting negotiable instruments and, more specifically, to printing and presenting checks, which are resistant to forgery or fraud. The negotiable instrument comprises a numeric sequence printed in MICR font upside down across the top face of the negotiable instrument for electronic reading by a MICR reader. The numeric sequence provides for authentication of the payee name and the payment amount by a secure authentication server.
1. A system for printing a negotiable instrument in accordance with payment instructions, the payment instructions comprising at least a payee name and a payment amount, the system comprising:
a hash module for calculating:
a compressed number representing the result of operating a compression function on the truncated portion of the payee name and the payment amount, wherein the truncated portion of the payee name consists of a limited character set payee name resulting from mapping each character of a first portion of the payee name to a limited character set; and
a numeric sequence, the numeric sequence comprising a hash number representing the result of operating the hash function on a truncated portion of the payee name and the payment amount
a payment module for generating an image file, the image file comprising:
a recognizable alpha numeric representation of the payee name within a payee field;
a recognizable numeric representation of the payment amount within a numerical amount field;
a recognizable alpha numeric representation of the payment amount within an alpha numeric amount field;
a MICR representation of a routing number and an account number within a first MICR zone across the bottom of the negotiable instrument;
a MICR representation of the numeric sequence within a second MICR zone across the top of the negotiable instrument, the MICR representation in the second MICR zone being in an inverted relationship to the MICR representation in the first MICR zone;
wherein:
the numeric sequence comprising a hash number representing the result of operating the hash function on a truncated portion of the payee name and the payment amount.
2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a printer for printing at least the MICR representation of a routing number and an account number and the MICR representation of the numeric sequence in MICR ink on negotiable instrument stock.
3. A system for printing a negotiable instrument in accordance with payment instructions, the payment instructions comprising at least a payee name and a payment amount, the system comprising:
an encryption module for calculating a numeric sequence, the numeric sequence being an encrypted number comprising the result of operating an encryption function on a compressed representation of a truncated portion of the payee name and the payment amount; and
a numeric sequence by operating an encryption function on at least a portion of the payee name and the payment amount;
a payment module for generating an image file, the image file comprising:
a recognizable alpha numeric representation of the payee name within a payee field;
a recognizable numeric representation of the payment amount within a numerical amount field;
a recognizable alpha numeric representation of the payment amount within an alpha numeric amount field;
a MICR representation of a routing number and an account number within a first MICR zone across the bottom of the negotiable instrument;
a MICR representation of the numeric sequence within a second MICR zone across the top of the negotiable instrument, the MICR representation in the second MICR zone being in an inverted relationship to the MICR representation in the first MICR zone.
4. The system of claim 3 , wherein:
the truncated portion of the payee name comprises of the result of mapping each character of a portion of the payee name to a limited character set.
5. The system of claim 4 , further comprising:
a printer for printing at least the MICR representation of a routing number and an account number and the MICR representation of the numeric sequence in MICR ink on negotiable instrument stock.
6. A system for printing a negotiable instrument in accordance with payment instructions, the payment instructions comprising at least a payee name and a payment amount, the system comprising:
a compression module for calculating the numeric sequence by operating a compression function on at least a portion of the payee name and the payment amount, the numeric sequence comprising a compressed number representing the result of operating the compression function on a truncated portion of the payee name and the payment amount, the truncated portion of the payee name consisting of a limited character set payee name resulting from mapping each character of the truncated portion of the payee name to a limited character set;
a payment module for generating an image file, the image file comprising:
a recognizable alpha numeric representation of the payee name within a payee field;
a recognizable numeric representation of the payment amount within a numerical amount field;
a recognizable alpha numeric representation of the payment amount within an alpha numeric amount field;
a MICR representation of a routing number and an account number within a first MICR zone across the bottom of the negotiable instrument;
a MICR representation of the numeric sequence within a second MICR zone across the top of the negotiable instrument, the MICR representation in the second MICR zone being in an inverted relationship to the MICR representation in the first MICR zone.
7. The system of claim 6 , further comprising:
a printer for printing at least the MICR representation of a routing number and an account number and the MICR representation of the numeric sequence in MICR ink on negotiable instrument stock.
8. A method of printing a negotiable instrument, the method comprising:
receiving negotiable instrument printing instructions, the instructions comprising a payee name and a payment amount;
calculating a numeric sequence, using a hash function, the numeric sequence representing the result of operating a hash function on a truncated portion of the payee name and the payment amount, wherein the truncated portion of the payee name consists of a limited character set payee name resulting from mapping each character of a first portion of the payee name to a limited character set;
generating a negotiable instrument image file, the image file comprising:
a recognizable alpha numeric representation of the payee name within a payee field;
a recognizable numeric representation of the payment amount within a numerical amount field;
a recognizable alpha numeric representation of the payment amount within an alpha numeric amount field;
a MICR representation of a routing number and an account number within a first MICR zone across the bottom of the negotiable instrument;
a MICR representation of the numeric sequence within a second MICR zone across the top of the negotiable instrument, the MICR representation in the second MICR zone being in an inverted relationship to the MICR representation in the first MICR zone; and
sending a representation of the negotiable instrument image file to a printer that prints at least the MICR representation of a routing number and an account number and the MICR representation of the numeric sequence in MICR ink on negotiable instrument stock.
9. A method of printing a negotiable instrument, the method comprising:
receiving negotiable instrument printing instructions, the instructions comprising a payee name and a payment amount;
calculating a numeric sequence using an encryption function, the numeric sequence representing an encrypted number comprising the result of operating the encryption function on a compressed representation of a truncated portion of the payee name and the payment amount;
generating a negotiable instrument image file, the image file comprising:
a recognizable alpha numeric representation of the payee name within a payee field;
a recognizable numeric representation of the payment amount within a numerical amount field;
a recognizable aloha numeric representation of the payment amount within an alpha numeric amount field;
a MICR representation of a routing number and an account number within a first MICR zone across the bottom of the negotiable instrument;
a MICR representation of the numeric sequence within a second MICR zone across the top of the negotiable instrument, the MICR representation in the second MICR zone being in an inverted relationship to the MICR representation in the first MICR zone; and
sending a representation of the negotiable instrument image file to a printer that prints at least the MICR representation of a routing number and an account number and the MICR representation of the numeric sequence in MICR ink on negotiable instrument stock.
10. The method of printing a negotiable instrument of claim 9 , where the truncated portion of the payee name comprises of the result of mapping each character of a portion of the payee name to a limited character set.
11. A method of printing a negotiable instrument, the method comprising:
receiving negotiable instrument printing instructions, the instructions comprising a payee name and a payment amount;
calculating a numeric sequence using a compression, the numeric sequence representing a compression number representing the result of operating a compression function on a truncated portion of the payee name and the payment amount, wherein the truncated portion of the payee name consists of a limited character set payee name resulting from mapping each character of the truncated portion of the payee name to a limited character set;
generating a negotiable instrument image file, the image file comprising:
a recognizable alpha numeric representation of the payee name within a payee field;
a recognizable numeric representation of the payment amount within a numerical amount field;
a recognizable alpha numeric representation of the payment amount within an alpha numeric amount field;
a MICR representation of a routing number and an account number within a first MICR zone across the bottom of the negotiable instrument;
a MICR representation of the numeric sequence within a second MICR zone across the top of the negotiable instrument, the MICR representation in the second MICR zone being in an inverted relationship to the MICR representation in the first MICR zone; and
sending a representation of the negotiable instrument image file to a printer that prints at least the MICR representation of a routing number and an account number and the MICR representation of the numeric sequence in MICR ink on negotiable instrument stock.