Patent ID: 7584148

Claim:
A method for processing a check payment transaction, comprising: using a scanner to capture at a first compression rate image data representing at least one part of a check received from a customer; using a computer processing unit to evaluate, based on the image data captured at the first compression rate, whether information contained in the at least one part of the check can be reproduced by image data at a second compression rate that is greater than the first compression rate; wherein when the evaluating step determines that the information in the at least one part of the check can be reproduced by image data at the second compression rate, then capturing at the second compression rate image data representing at least the at least one part of the check, storing the check image data captured at the second compression rate, and electronically processing the check payment transaction using the check image data captured at the second compression rate; and when the evaluating step determines that the information in the at least one part of the check image cannot be reproduced by image data at the second compression rate, then processing the check payment transaction using the check received from the customer without capturing check image data at the second compression rate.