A method for effecting electronic payment, safeguarding banking and account information, while utilizing existing payment systems. The method comprises generating a system routing number and a payment identification code (PIC) relating to the beneficiary's account information, distributing payment identification codes to the existing payment system and financial institutions owning the account related to the payment identification codes, and the originator receiving a system routing number and the beneficiary's PIC number. The method also includes the originator communicating a payment instruction to a financial institution of the originator, wherein the payment instruction includes the system routing number beneficiary's payment identification code, the originator's financial institution receiving the payment instruction from the originator, wherein if the received PIC matches the originator's financial institution internal list of PICs, the originator's financial institution performs an “on us” transaction, and transmitting a payment instruction to an existing payment system in a case where the received PIC does not match originator's financial institution internal list of PICs. The method also includes the existing payment system validating the received PIC, wherein if the PIC is invalid, the payment instruction is returned to the originator's financial institution, converting the PIC and system routing number to a receiving payment instruction in a case where the PIC is a valid PIC, wherein the receiving payment instruction includes the beneficiary's financial institution's routing number and the beneficiary's account number. The existing payment system transmits the receiving payment instruction to a financial institution of the beneficiary, that financial institution credits the beneficiary's account if no problem exists, and otherwise returns a receiving payment instruction to the existing payment system. Upon receipt of the returned receiving payment instruction, the existing payment system translates the receiving payment instruction into the payment instruction prior to transmitting the payment instruction back to originator's financial institution.

Payment identification code and payment system using the same

A system and corresponding method are provided. The system includes a plurality of first entities (such as banks), each first entity communicatively connected to at least one distributed traffic agent (DTA), a second entity (such as a central facility) communicatively connected to a DTA, and a communication network communicatively connecting the DTAs. A payload containing a data file (such as electronic check presentment data, electronic payment data, or any other data type) is communicated from one first entity to another through their respective DTAs via the communication network. In addition, a transmittal containing control information corresponding to the payload is communicated from the one first entity to the second entity through their respective DTAs via the communication network.

Electronic payment clearing and check image exchange systems and methods

Within the span of a few years, image processing has evolved from an esoteric, expensive technology to an indispensable tool used by modern businesses to manage the overwhelming flood of paperwork. Some of the background for this evolution and the development of the IBM system solution for image processing, Image-Plus™, are described in this paper.

Operational image systems: a new opportunity

Image applications require complex processing on large amounts of data. The application designer is presented with difficult challenges that are exacerbated on personal systems which have limited processor speed and constrained memory. This paper discusses the problems relevant to personal systems image application architecture and how these problems were solved in the ImagEdit® program. A virtual array manager (VAM) consisting of a virtual memory manager (VMM) and an access scheduler was used to solve the data management problem. The VAM divided each image into segments and transferred them to the VMM for storage. These segments were swapped between memory and disk in response to a sequence of access requests, controlled by the access scheduler using performance-maximizing heuristics. Object-oriented design was used to address the functional complexity problem. The processing functions were divided into two classes. The data-stream class included scanning, printing, and filing, with each data-stream function decomposed into a series of demand-driven pipe objects. The editing class included cut and paste, textual and graphical annotation, and freehand drawing.

Personal systems image application architecture: lessons learned from the ImagEdit program

IBM's ImagePlus™ system is designed to permit the capture, storage, management, and retrieval of documents through digital imaging. The ImagePlus Workstation Program is that portion of the ImagePlus system that controls the user's workstation. This paper describes the challenges that were posed in designing an ImagePlus Workstation, and the approach taken by the development group to solve them. The primary design goal was to deliver operational performance for image processing in a cost-effective workstation, while permitting the user maximal control in viewing and manipulating scanned documents. The solution chosen implemented a Personal System® workstation that operates with a System/36, Application System/400®, or System/370 Multiple Virtual Storage host.

ImagePlus workstation program

Technical advances to image processing and the availability of the resulting technologies at reasonable cost have helped to promote the use of images in office, engineering, and scientific environments. As evidence of this use, a wide variety of applications and products designed for image processing have been introduced into the market in recent years. In order to encompass different applications and products in a single image processing system and to allow image data to be exchanged and interpreted consistently throughout the system, IBM has introduced the Image Object Content Architecture (IOCA). This paper discusses requirements for the architecture, concepts of the architecture, use of the architecture in the different data stream environments used by image processing systems, and the IOCA function sets that have been defined for interchange within Systems Application Architecture™ environments.

Y. Hakeda

Papers

The image object content architecture