NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENT PROCESSING DEVICE, NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENT PROCESSING METHOD AND NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENT PROCESSING SYSTEM

The size of image data for a check or other negotiable instrument used for electronically clearing payments made by such negotiable instruments is reduced. A scanning process setup command received from a host system by a communication unit is interpreted by the command interpreting unit and settings for a specified image reading area and/or cropping areas to are stored in control data storage unit. The image reading unit is controlled and driven by the scanning control unit, and an image of the negotiable instrument is read by scanning the specified image reading area. An image cropping unit extracts only the image data in the specified cropping areas.