Diebold builds mobile banking patent base

Diebold Inc., maker of self-service and security systems including automatic teller machines and electronic voting machines, said that it has been granted five U.S. patents over the past 18 months that cover applications allowing mobile devices to interact with bank ATMs.
Diebold said the patents cover the technology to allow customers to locate and get directions to the nearest ATM using their mobile phones; to “order” cash withdrawals remotely; to transmit payments and conduct other wireless transactions “more securely and conveniently than they do presently;” and to generate electronic checks to pay for goods or services.
Jim Block, director of global advanced technology for Diebold, said that the company “is in discussions with technology partners that would bring these applications closer to reality. The know-how to marry mobile devices to ATMs has been lab-tested by Diebold engineers and could be in users’ hands within three to five years, facilitating faster ATM transactions and more of them, in more places and at more hours, with greater peace of mind.”