Self-service terminal

• US 20070150364A1
• Filed: 12/22/2005
• Published: 06/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2005
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Inventors: Monaghan, Andrew, Han, Richard
• Application Number:
  US11/315,900
• Publication Number:
  US 20070150364A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A self-service terminal comprising: application flow logic which collates information provided by a user of the terminal; configuration information associated with each of a plurality of individually-controllable layers, and a presentation component responsive to the application flow logic. The presentation component operates on the configuration information for each layer to simultaneously render the plurality of layers on a display as a single screen while continuing to operate independently on each layer being displayed. The configuration information may include both instructions and content, and the presentation component may use the instructions to access advanced graphical manipulation routines for operating on the content.

Claims

1. A self-service terminal comprising:

application flow logic which collates information provided by a user of the terminal;

configuration information associated with each of a plurality of individually-controllable layers, and a presentation component responsive to the application flow logic, and which operates on the configuration information for each layer to simultaneously render the plurality of layers on a display as a single screen while continuing to operate independently on each layer being displayed.

2. A terminal according to claim 1, wherein the presentation component renders the layers on the display at a rate of at least thirty frames per second.

3. A terminal according to claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes both instructions and content.

4. A terminal according to claim 3, wherein the presentation component parses the instructions to render the content on the display according to the instructions.

5. A terminal according to claim 3, wherein the instructions relate to initial position and opacity.

6. A terminal according to claim 1, wherein the configuration information comprises a plurality of configuration files, and each layer has a dedicated configuration file.

7. A terminal according to claim 3, wherein the instructions include keyframes enabling a user to apply pre-defined operations to content.

8. A terminal according to claim 1, wherein the terminal includes a touch panel in registration with the display, thereby allowing the presentation component to present one or more touch-selectable controls on a layer and to provide the application logic with an indication of the control corresponding to the area of the display that was touched by a user.

9. A method of presenting information to a user, the method comprising:

accessing configuration information associated with each of a plurality of individually-controllable layers, and operating on the configuration information for each layer to simultaneously render the plurality of layers on a display as a single screen, and modifying at least one layer in response to an input received from the user.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein the method includes removing a layer when the information provided by that layer is no longer required for a transaction.

11. A method according to claim 9, wherein modifying at least one layer in response to an input received from the user includes fading out controls and/or text presented on that layer.

12. A method according to claim 9, wherein the method includes modifying multiple layers in response to a user input.

13. A method according to claim 9, wherein the method includes:

receiving a signal from a touch panel indicative of an area of the display touched by the user, determining which layer and which control this touch corresponds to, and informing application flow logic of the control selected by the user.

14. A method according to claim 9, wherein operating on the configuration information for each layer includes interpreting instructions provided in a configuration file.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein interpreting instructions provided in the configuration file includes interpreting keyframe instructions and applying them to content referenced by the file.

16. A method according to claim 9, wherein the method includes receiving a command to update a content object, and receiving updated information, and modifying the content object to include the received updated information.

17. A presentation component which simultaneously renders a plurality of layers on a display as a single screen, the presentation component comprising:

an interpreter for interpreting configuration information associated with each of the plurality of layers;

a command interface which (i) receives commands from a control program to transform a layer in response to a user activity, and which (ii) conveys status information to the control program.

18. An automated teller machine including a presentation program which accesses a video mixing renderer to implement instructions on a graphics adapter.