Surrogate document indicator and methods of using same

1. A method of processing an image of a document, the method comprising:

using at least one computer to perform the following:

receiving a captured image of the document from among a plurality of images of documents;

performing a quality inspection of the captured image to determine if the captured image possesses acceptable image quality;

storing the captured image without a surrogate document image indicator in response to the captured image being determined to possess acceptable image quality;

retrieving a surrogate document image and replacing the captured image with the surrogate document image when the captured image does not possess acceptable image quality, wherein the surrogate document image includes the surrogate document image indicator comprising computer-readable indicia of surrogate status; and

storing the surrogate document image among the plurality of images of documents.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

retrieving at least some of the plurality of images of documents;

examining the at least some of the plurality of images of documents to detect the presence of the surrogate document image indicator; and

including the surrogate document image in an exception list based on the presence of the surrogate document image indicator.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the surrogate document image is a tagged image file format (TIFF) image and wherein the surrogate document image indicator is included in a header of the TIFF image.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the surrogate document image is a tagged image file format (TIFF) image and wherein the surrogate document image indicator is included in a header of the TIFF image.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the storing of the surrogate document image further comprises storing the surrogate document image in a check image management system.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein:

the storing of the surrogate document image further comprises storing the surrogate document image in a check image management system; and

the retrieving of the at least some of the plurality of images comprises retrieving the at least some of the plurality of images from the check image management system.

7. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions for performing the method of claim 1 .

8. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions for performing the method of claim 2 .

9. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions for performing the method of claim 3 .

10. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions for performing the method of claim 4 .

11. Apparatus for processing an image of a document, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a captured image of the document from among a plurality of images of documents;

means for performing a quality inspection of the captured image to determine if the captured image possesses acceptable image quality;

means for storing the captured image without a surrogate document image indicator in response to the captured image being determined to possess acceptable image quality;

means for retrieving a surrogate document image and replacing the captured image with the surrogate document image when the captured image does not possess acceptable image quality, wherein the surrogate document image includes the surrogate document image indicator comprising computer-readable indicia of surrogate status; and

means for storing the surrogate document image among the plurality of images of documents.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 further comprising:

means for retrieving at least some of the plurality of images of documents;

means for examining the at least some of the plurality of images of documents to detect a presence of the surrogate document image indicator; and

means for including the surrogate document image in an exception list based on the presence of the surrogate document image indicator.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the means for storing the surrogate document image comprises a check image management system.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the means for storing the surrogate document image and the means for retrieving the at least some of the plurality of images comprise a check image system.

15. A system comprising:

connectivity to receive scanned images including a captured image;

a computer to:

perform a quality inspection of the captured image to determine if the captured image possesses acceptable image quality;

replace the captured image with a surrogate document image when a captured image does not possess acceptable image quality, wherein the surrogate document image includes a surrogate document image indicator comprising computer-readable indicia of surrogate status; and

store the captured image without the surrogate document image indicator in response to the captured image being determined to possess acceptable image quality;

and

a storage medium connected to the computing platform to store at least some of the scanned images and the surrogate document image.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising a check image management system.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the surrogate document image is a tagged image file format (TIFF) image and wherein the surrogate document image indicator is included in a header of the TIFF image.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein the surrogate document image is a tagged image file format (TIFF) image and wherein the surrogate document image indicator is included in a header of the TIFF image.