Patent ID: 7974921

Claim:
A bank cheque system comprising issued bank cheques each having a front face carrying imprinted and written visible data, a rear face for endorsement, and a storage chip in which invisible data is encoded on the front and/or rear face, the issued cheques each comprising a flexible thin portion carrying the imprinted and written visible data and a thick portion wherein the storage chip is merged, the storage chip being merged in a surface of the thick portion of the cheque such that said surface of the thick portion extends from opposite sides of the storage chip whereby the storage chip is situated between different surface parts of the thick portion and occupies only a part of the surface area of the thick portion, the flexible thin portion of the cheque that carries visible data extending from the thick portion, the rear face of the flexible thin portion being left for endorsement, the stored encoded data stored in the storage chip in the thick portion of the cheque being readable by means of a suitable reader so its conformity with visible data carried by the flexible thin portion of the cheque can be verified to detect any unauthorized alterations to the cheque, the stored encoded data including an identification of a cheque, bank and an account containing blocked funds available for the cheque to be paid or endorsed as a cash instrument, wherein: (i) said imprinted and written visible data carried by the flexible thin portion of the cheque and said stored encoded data stored in the storage chip each indicate a value of the cheque, said value being covered by a pre-paid amount credited to the cheque account; and/or (ii) said imprinted and written visible data carried by the flexible thin portion of the cheque and said stored encoded data stored in the storage chip each identify a current account from which the cheque account can be funded to cover said sufficient blocked amount on presentation of the cheque and after ascertaining, by passing or entering the cheque though a reader connected to a banking control system, and entering the value of the cheque, that the current account has a sufficient credit.