Patent ID: 7461773

Claim:
A method of operating a publicly-accessible image-based check depositing terminal to allow a customer to conduct a check deposit transaction in an unattended environment when the check depositing terminal is in a non-fault condition and to allow a third party individual who is a non-customer to service the check depositing terminal when the check depositing terminal is in a fault condition, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a customer identification card from the customer when the check depositing terminal is in a non-fault condition and the customer is conducting a check deposit transaction at the check depositing terminal; receiving a non-customer identification card from the third party individual who is a non-customer when the check depositing terminal is in a fault condition and the third party individual is servicing the check depositing terminal to clear the fault condition; reading from the non-customer identification card data which is representative of an account number of a reconciliation account associated with a financial institution when the non-customer identification card is received from the third party individual servicing the check depositing terminal to clear the fault condition; receiving from the third party individual a check which has been recovered from the terminal by the third party individual while servicing the check deposit terminal to clear the fault condition; capturing an image of the check received from the third party individual; transporting the check received from the third party individual to a check storage bin after the image of the check has been captured; and transmitting to the financial institution the captured image of the check together with the data which has been read from the non-customer identification card and, wherein the data is representative of the account number of the reconciliation account associated with the financial institution.