Mobile system and method for processing secure remote in person transactions

Abstract

A mobile system and method are provided for securely sending, receiving and signing documents remote from a home office. A mobile unit capable of connecting to a home corporate network where documents are stored relating to a transaction is used as part of the system. While in route to or at the remote signing location, the mobile unit connects to the corporate network and prints the documents, or the home office sends the documents through a secure wireless connection to the mobile unit. The transaction is conducted at a remote location, and the executed documents are scanned and sent securely to the corporate network. The housing and mobile unit may be moved to a subsequent location and the mobile unit connects, while in route to or at the subsequent location, prints the documents for the subsequent transaction.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of operating a mobile system for processing secure in-person transactions remote from a home office having an office network, with a mobile unit including a printer, scanner and a network device for communicating with said home office over a wide area network, said method comprising the steps of:
 receiving an order requiring in-person signing of documents;   preparing documents at the home office relating to the order;   traveling to the transaction location with the mobile unit;   pushing the prepared documents by the home office to the mobile unit;   automatically receiving the prepared documents over the wide area network in the mobile unit;   printing the prepared documents to create printed documents in response to said step of pushing the prepare documents by the home office;   preparing the printed documents for an in-person signing;   signing of the documents to create signed documents;   scanning of the signed documents to create electronic signed documents;   sending the electronic signed documents to the home office;   distributing the signed documents; and   wherein said step of said steps of pushing the prepared documents and sending the electronic signed documents to the home office do not include faxing of the documents.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said step of pushing the prepared documents by the home office to the mobile unit occurs while said step of traveling to the transaction location with the mobile unit is occurring. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further including the step of providing scheduling information to the mobile unit including a transaction location and expected time of signing. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said method does not include any step of faxing documents. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said method further includes the step of establishing a secure connection between the mobile unit and the home office over the wide area network using the network device. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein said step of establishing a secure connection further includes the steps of:
 providing power to the network device; 
 automatically connecting to the wide area network with the network device upon completing said step of providing power to the network device; and 
 automatically establishing a secure connection between the home office network and the mobile unit upon completing said step of automatically connecting to the wide area network. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  further including the steps of:
 providing a printer identification associated with the printer in the mobile unit to the home network upon completing said step of automatically establishing a secure connection between the home office and the mobile unit; 
 showing the printer identification on the home office network as connected to the home office network upon completion of said step of automatically connecting to the wide area network; and 
 sending any prepared documents in a queue for the printer in the mobile unit using the secure connection between the home office and the mobile unit as part of said step of pushing the prepared documents and then performing said step of printing the prepared documents to print any documents located in the queue. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  further including the steps of:
 verifying at the home office the signed documents; and 
 sending an approval of the signed documents from the home office. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein said step of verifying at the home office the signed documents is performed by automatically comparing the number of pages received in the electronically signed documents to the number of pages in the prepared documents in said step of pushing the prepared documents. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8  wherein said step of verifying at the home office the signed documents includes a manual review of the signed documents. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  further including the steps of:
 traveling to a second transaction location with the mobile unit; 
 printing a previously prepared document on said printer before said second transaction. 
 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein said step of printing a previously prepared documents on said printer before said second transaction occurs while performing said step of traveling to a second transaction location. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said step of travel to the transaction location further includes the step of leaving a base location and wherein said base location is not said home office and wherein said method further includes the step of returning to the base location after distributing the signed documents. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  further including the step of providing location information to at least party expected to be at the transaction location and wherein the location information includes an expected arrival time of the mobile unit at the transaction location. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  further including the step of updating the location information while performing said step of traveling with the mobile unit to the transaction location. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14  further including the step of notifying the at least one party through an electronic communication that the mobile unit has arrived at the transaction location. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said step of receiving an order includes at least one of the following steps selected from the group consisting of, uploading initial documents to the home office network and identifying initial documents on the home office network to be used in an expected transaction. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1  further including the step of locking the prepared document prior to said step of printing the prepared documents to prevent changes to the documents. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  further including the steps of:
 receiving a requested change by one of the parties to the transaction after said step of locking the documents; 
 notifying each party to the transaction of the requested change; 
 obtaining approval from each party to the transaction for the requested change; 
 unlocking the prepared document to allow changes to the prepared document; and 
 making the requested change to the prepared document to create a changed document. 
 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19  further including the steps of:
 notifying an operator of the mobile unit of the changes to the document; and 
 printing changed document on the printer in the mobile unit to create printed documents for use in the transaction. 
 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20  further including the step of destroying said printed document that were printed during said step of printing the prepared document to create printed document. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 1  further including the steps of:
 traveling to a second transaction locating after said step of distributing the documents; 
 receiving a schedule change from corporate to travel to a third transaction location; and 
 automatically printing prepared document relating to the third transaction. 
 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22  further including the step of automatically printing prepared document relating to the second transaction while traveling to the second location. 
     
     
         24 . A method of operating a mobile system for processing secure in-person transactions at a transaction location remote from a home office having an office network, using a mobile unit including a printer, scanner, a power source and a network device for communicating with said home office over a wide area network, said method comprising the steps of:
 electronically storing a set of prepared documents for electronic delivery from the home office to the mobile unit;   providing power from the power source to the printer and the network device each disposed in the mobile unit;   automatically connecting the network device disposed in the mobile unit to the wide area network upon completing said step of providing power from the power source;   automatically establishing a secure connection between the home office network and the mobile unit upon completing said step of automatically connecting said network device disposed in the mobile unit to the wide area network;   traveling to the transaction location with the mobile unit;   automatically receiving the stored set of prepared documents at the mobile unit over the established secure connection and automatically printing the stored set of prepared documents received over the established secured connection using the printer disposed in the mobile unit to create printed documents and wherein said step of receiving does not include receiving via fax;   arriving at the transaction location and obtaining the printed documents from the printer disposed in the mobile unit;   presenting the printed documents obtained from the printer disposed in the mobile unit to at least one party at the transaction location;   obtaining a signature on the printed documents from the at least one party at the transaction location to create signed documents; and   providing the signed documents to the home office.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24  wherein said step of providing the signed documents to the home office does not include faxing. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25  further including the steps of:
 scanning the signed documents using the scanner disposed in the mobile unit to create scanned electronic signed documents; and 
 automatically sending the scanned electronic signed documents from the mobile unit to the home office network over the established secure connection. 
 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 24  where said step of automatically printing is performed while performing said step of traveling to the transaction location. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 24  wherein said method does not include any step of faxing documents. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 22  further including the steps of:
 verifying the scanned electronic signed documents by automatically comparing the scanned electronic signed documents to the printed documents; and 
 sending a verification approval. 
 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 24  further including the step of automatically sending successful print notice to the home office after said step of automatically printing the prepared documents to create printed documents and before said step of presenting the printed documents obtained from the printer disposed in the mobile unit to at least one party at the transaction location. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 24  further including the step of automatically sending print error to the home office. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31  further including the step of automatically notifying an operator of the mobile unit of the print error received in said step of automatically sending print error to the home office and wherein said notification is not provided through the printer disposed in the mobile unit. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 31  further including the step of automatically notifying an operator of the mobile unit of the print error received in said step of automatically sending print error to the home office and wherein said notification is not provided through a laptop computer disposed in the mobile unit. 
     
     
         34 . A method of operating a mobile system for processing secure in-person transactions, including a transaction at a transaction location remote from a home office having an office network, using a mobile unit including a printer, scanner, a power source and a network device for communicating with said home office over a wide area network, said method comprising the steps of:
 providing power from the power source to the printer and the network device each disposed in the mobile unit;   automatically connecting the network device disposed in the mobile unit to the wide area network upon completing said step of providing power from the power source;   automatically establishing a secure connection between the home office network and the mobile unit upon completing said step of automatically connecting said network device disposed in the mobile unit to the wide area network;   traveling to the transaction location with the mobile unit;   automatically printing a set of prepared documents to create printed documents;   arriving at the transaction location and obtaining the printed documents from the printer disposed in the mobile unit;   presenting the printed documents obtained from the printer disposed in the mobile unit to at least one party at the transaction location;   obtaining a signature on the printed documents from the at least one party at the transaction location to create signed documents;   receiving an order requiring in-person signing of documents;   preparing documents at the home office relating to the order; and   wherein the steps of printing do not include faxing or printing of faxed documents.   
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 35  further including the step of providing scheduling information to the mobile unit including the transaction location and expected time of signing and providing scheduling information related to at least one subsequent transaction. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 34  further including the steps of:
 wherein said step of preparing documents at the home office includes the step of printing the prepared documents to a queue relating to the printer in the mobile unit and holding the documents in the queue; 
 wherein said step of printing the prepare documents to a queue further includes the step of providing a transaction date associated with the prepared documents and further including the step of holding the documents in the queue until the transaction date; 
 wherein said step of holding the documents in the queue further includes the steps of: 
 verifying the transaction date matches a current date; 
 verifying at least one of an actual location or an expected location of the mobile unit; 
 determining based upon said step of verifying at least one of an actual location or an expected location that the mobile unit is likely traveling to the transaction relating to the documents in the queue; and 
 automatically releasing the documents in the queue based on the location of the mobile unit so that said step of automatically printing a set of prepared documents to create printed documents while performing said step of traveling to the transaction location may be performed.