Granted Patent B2

US 7,604,165 · App. 12/319,194 · Granted Oct 20, 2009

Abstract

Claims (39)

1. A method comprising:

(a) receiving a processing job through operation of at least one computer, wherein the processing job includes search image data related to a person, wherein the processing job corresponds to searching for at least one user of an automated banking machine which corresponds to the person, wherein the automated banking machine includes a card reader and is operative to carry out financial transactions for users of the automated banking machine;

(b) capturing first image data corresponding to a first user operating a first automated banking machine through operation of a camera, wherein the first image data is associated with first transaction data corresponding to operation of the first automated banking machine by the first user;

(c) authorizing through operation of the at least one computer at least one financial transaction by the first user at the first automated banking machine independent of the search image data, wherein the first transaction data corresponds to the at least one financial transaction;

(d) comparing through operation of the at least one computer, the first image data and the search image data;

(e) determining through operation of the at least one computer that the user depicted in the first image data is visually similar to the person depicted in the search image data; and

(f) generating search results data through operation of the at least one computer responsive to the determination in step (e), wherein the search results data includes at least a portion of the first transaction data.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein in step (f) the search results data further includes at least a portion of the first image data.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein in step (f) the search results data are generated through operation of at least one server, and further comprising:

(g) operating the at least one server to provide access to the search results data by at least one further computer located remotely from the at least one server.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein in step (g) the at least one server includes an HTTP server that is operative to transfer the search results data to the at least one further computer.

5. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one computer includes a server, and wherein in step (f) the search results data are generated by the server, wherein further comprising:

(g) retrieving the search results data from the server through operation of a second automated banking machine.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein further comprising:

(h) outputting indicia corresponding to the search results data through an output device of the second automated banking machine.

7. The method according to claim 5 , and prior to step (f) further comprising:

(h) capturing second image data corresponding to a second user operating the second automated banking machine through operation of a camera, wherein the second image data is associated with second transaction data corresponding to the operation of the second automated banking machine by the second user;

(i) comparing through operation of the at least one computer the second image data and the search image data;

(j) determining through operation of the at least one computer that the user depicted in the second image data is visually similar to the person depicted in the search image data; and

wherein in step (h) the search results data further includes at least a portion of the second transaction data.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein prior to step (f) further comprising:

(k) operating the at least one computer to assign a first ranking to the first image data and a second ranking to the second image data responsive to the relative similarities between the search image data and the first and second image data;

wherein in step (f) the search results data further includes the first and second rankings, and the first image data and the second image data are listed in an order that corresponds to the first and second rankings.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein in step (f) the portion of the first transaction data includes at least one of: information representative of a date and a time of the operation of the first automated banking machine by the first user; information representative of at least one financial account associated with the operation of the first automated banking machine by the first user; information corresponding to at least one account holder name associated with the at least one financial account; and information representative of a location of the first automated banking machine.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein step (d) is carried out through operation of at least one computer in the first automated banking machine, wherein the first automated banking machine includes a cash dispenser.

11. A method comprising:

(a) acquiring through operation of at least one computer from a plurality of automated banking machines, wherein each automated banking machine includes a card reader and is operative to carry out financial transactions, image data depicting users using the plurality of automated banking machines, wherein the image data for each user depicted in the image data is associated with transaction data corresponding to the use of the respective automated banking machine by the respective user, wherein at least one of the automated banking machines includes a cash dispenser;

(b) receiving through operation of the at least one computer search image data depicting a person being searched for, wherein the search image data did not originate from a camera associated with any of the plurality of automated banking machines;

(c) identifying through operation of the at least one computer at least one user depicted in the image data that is visually similar to the person depicted in the search image data; and

(d) generating search results data through operation of the at least one computer which includes both the image data and at least a portion of the transaction data associated with at least one user identified in step (c).

12. The method according to claim 11 , and further comprising:

(e) processing the image data through operation of the at least one computer to determine user identity data associated with each of the users;

(f) storing through operation of at least one computer in at least one data store the image data, the user identity data, and the transaction data;

(g) processing through operation of the at least one computer the search image data to determine search identity data associated with the person being searched for; and

wherein step (c) includes searching the at least one data store for at least one user for which at least a portion of the user identity data associated with the at least one user corresponds to the search identity data.

13. The method according to claim 12 , and further comprising:

(h) prior to step (f), transferring the image data from each of the plurality of automated banking machines, to at least one server,

wherein in step (f) the at least one server is operative to store the image data, the user identity data, and the transaction data in the at least one data store.

14. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the at least one computer operative to carry out step (c) is included in at least one of the automated banking machines.

Assignments (10)