Granted Patent B2

US 8,186,516 · App. 12/145,542 · Granted May 29, 2012

Abstract

Claims (25)

1. A document processing system comprising: one or more document guide components defining a path of travel of documents, the path of travel of documents including an intersection portion that separates a first portion from a second portion; and a component reposition element at the intersection portion of the path of travel of one or more documents, the component reposition element arranged to align a document processing component with a first portion of the path of travel when a first side of one of the documents is closer to the document processing component than a second side of one of the documents and a second portion of the path of travel when the second side of one of the documents is closer to the document processing component than the first side of one of the documents; wherein the component repositioning element is configured to move the image scanner between first and second positions, wherein in the first position the image scanner is oriented to scan a first side of the document and in the second position the image scanner is oriented to scan a second side of the document; and wherein the path of travel includes a turn-around loop.

2. The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more document guide components include a roller.

3. The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the document processing component includes an image scanner configured to capture an image of a surface of a document as the document passes through the path of travel.

4. The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the document processing system is arranged to serially receive documents from a document feeder.

5. The document processing system of claim 1 , further comprising one or more document recovery bins.

6. The document processing system of claim 1 , further comprising a magnetic character reader arranged to read alphanumeric characters printed on a portion of the document.

7. The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the turn-around loop has a length greater than a maximum size of a document receivable by the document processing system.

8. The document processing system of claim 1 , wherein the turn-around loop has a length greater than the size of a personal check.

9. The document processing system of claim 1 , further comprising an endorsing mechanism located in a turn-around loop.

10. The document processing system of claim 9 , wherein the endorsing mechanism is configured to print an endorsement on a back side of a check.

11. A method of processing documents in a document processing system, the method comprising:

receiving a document into a path of travel of a document processing system;

providing a document processing component located approximately at an intersection portion of the path of travel the intersection portion separating a first portion from a second portion, wherein the document processing component is aligned with the first path of travel to process a feature on a first side of the document, and further wherein the first side of the document is closer to the document processing component and the second side of the component;

moving the document along the path of travel past the intersection portion and into the second portion of the path of travel;

repositioning the document processing component so that it is aligned with the second path of travel to process a feature on the second side of the document, wherein the second side of the document is closer to the document processing component than the first side of the document; and

moving the document along a remainder of the path of travel, the remainder including the intersection portion; wherein the document processing component includes a scanning element and wherein the component repositioning element is arranged to pivot the scanning element.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein receiving a document into a path of travel of a document processing system includes receiving the document from a document feeder.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising reading characters printed on the document with a magnetic character reader.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising, while moving the document along the path of travel past an intersection portion, scanning a first side of the document.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising, while moving the document along a remainder of the path of travel, scanning a second side of the document.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein moving the document along a remainder of the path of travel includes depositing the document in a document recovery bin.

17. A document processing system comprising:

one or more document guide components defining a path of travel of documents, the path of travel of documents including an intersection portion; and

a component repositioning element at the intersection portion of the path of travel of documents, the component repositioning element arranged to pivot a image scanner between first and second positions, the first position aligned with a first portion of the path of travel and the second position aligned with a second portion of the path of travel, wherein the first and second paths of travel are substantially non-parallel; wherein, in the first position the image scanner captures an image of the first side of the document, and in the second position the image scanner captures an image of a second side of the document.

18. The document processing system of claim 17 , wherein, in the first position the image scanner captures an image of a first side of the document, and in the second position the image scanner captures an image of a second side of the document.

Assignments (19)