Check Serial Number - CognitiveTPG A776 ColorPOS Programming Manual

116 Chapter 5: Programming commands

Check serial number

Parsing the check serial number
Most banks print the check serial number in three easily recognizable spots. The printer firmware will look for the
number in these spots, using the following ordered algorithm. The examples use letters to represent symbols on the
check:
t Transit symbol
o
"on us" symbol
$
Amount symbol
- Dash
c
Check serial number
x Any other number
A number bracketed by "on us" symbols in the auxiliary "on us" field is the check serial number.
occcccco txxxxxxxxxt xxxxxxxxo
Otherwise, a three or more digit number to the right of the rightmost "on us" symbol, and to the left of the leftmost
amount symbol if an amount field is present, is the check serial number.
txxxxxxxxxt xxxxxxxxo cccc
txxxxxxxxxt xxxxxxxxo cccc $xxxxxx$
If both of these searches fail to produce the check serial number, extract the whole account number field from
between the rightmost transit symbol and the rightmost "on us" symbol. A three, four, or five-digit number to the right
of the rightmost transit symbol, separated by a space or a dash from the rest of the account number is the check serial
number.
txxxxxxxxxt cccc xxxxxxxxo
txxxxxxxxxt cccc-xxxxxxxxo
txxxxxxxxxt cccc xxxxxxxxo xx
If all of these searches fail to produce the distinct check serial number, and the check serial number field has been
specified in the parsing parameter string options, no check serial number will be returned. If it is imbedded within the
account number field, it will be returned as part of that variable length field.
Exceptions
Some banks print the check serial number in a location that cannot be electronically distinguished without specific
exception information, although it can be visually distinguished because it is repeated in the upper right corner of
the check. For these cases, the printer can hold up to nine exceptions for specific banks in its non-volatile memory
(NVRAM), which is accessed by the read and write NVRAM commands. The specific bank is picked out by its transit
number, and the firmware will look in the exception table for a transit number match before looking in the normal
check serial number locations.
In this example, without an exception table entry, the firmware would always pick the rightmost four-digit number as
the check serial number following rule two above. The bank with the three digit check serial number and the four digit
extension after the "on us" symbol would need to be exceptionally recognized:
txxxxxxxxxt ccc-xxxxxxxxxxoxxxx
txxxxxxxxxt xxx-xxxxxxxxxxocccc
In this example, without an exception table entry, the firmware would not be able to pick out the check serial number
because it is not separated from the rest of the account number:
txxxxxxxxxt ccccxxxxxxxxxxo
In this example, without an exception table entry, the firmware would not be able to pick out the check serial number
correctly, because it is imbedded within the rest of the account number:
txxxxxxxxxt xxx-ccc-xxxxxxxxxxo
A776 (B780) Programming Guide A776-PG00001 D 07/13