Blockchain System To Match Images Of Receipts With Stored Records

According to a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent filing published Nov. 13, American Express (AMEX)  a major financial service has filed a patent for a blockchain based system to catch and transmit the image of a receipt.

American Express Travel related Service Co.Inc is what the patent is listed as and it is the company’s travel subsidiary. The new filing is titled as “Linking digital images with related records,” and it included a new way of getting, listing and transmitting the image of a receipt.

The filing explains how the system allows users with a mobile device to capture the picture if a receipt. Through an “optical character recognition,” the system then deciphers the image and matches it with ‘’related records’’ called transaction history.

The filing includes the utilization of ‘’data blocks’’ and stresses that “Any databases discussed herein may include relational, hierarchical, graphical, blockchain, or object-oriented structure and/or any other database configurations.”

The reported advantages of using blockchain technology specifically for data storage are further explained in the filing:

“The blockchain structure may include a distributed database that maintains a growing list of data records. The blockchain may provide enhanced security because each block may hold individual transactions and the results of any blockchain executable.”

In July, the company filed another patent for a blockchain based network that would automate proof-of-payment by encrypting payment payload data with the public key on an initial node of a blockchain.

Before this spring, AMEX declared that it was integrating blockchain to allow traders to design their own offers for cardholders for them to expand customers’ engagement and interest.