Device management portal, system and method

• US 20090164250A1
• Filed: 12/20/2007
• Published: 06/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Inventors: Dickie, Sharon J., Hamilton, Carol J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,607,454 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06393 Score-carding, benchmarking or key performance indicator [KPI] analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/20 Automatic teller machines [ATMs]
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/207 Surveillance aspects at ATMs
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/211 Software architecture within ATMs or in relation to the ATM network
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

A device management system comprises a processor, a data storage device and a network connection. The data storage device stores weighting data associated with at least one ATM. The processor receives performance metric data from the ATM via the network connection and accesses the weighting data from the data storage device. The processor weights a portion of the performance metric data associated with the ATM with respect to a portion of weighting data associated with the ATM, to produce weighted performance data. The weighted performance data is used in estimating the number of customers unserved during a period of downtime of the ATM.

Claims

1. A device management system comprising a processor, a data storage device and a network connection, the data storage device being arranged to store weighting data associated with at least one managed device, the processor being arranged to receive performance metric data from the at least one managed device via the network connection, the processor being arranged to access the weighting data from the data storage device and being further arranged to weight a portion of the performance metric data associated with the at least one managed device with respect to a portion of weighting data associated with the at least one managed device, to produce weighted performance data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one managed device comprises a self-service device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the self-service device comprises at least one of the following:

an ATM, a medical record entry terminal or a self-check in/out terminal.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the weighting data comprises at least one of the following:

temporal usage data corresponding to a period over which the performance metric data was acquired, fee data corresponding to a fee associated with a transaction, temporal accessibility data corresponding to time periods when the at least one managed device is operable by a user, location data indicative of geographic factors associated with the at least one managed device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the weighted performance data comprises a measure of the number of users unable to perform a transaction at the managed device during a period of downtime of the at least one managed device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the weighted performance data comprises a measure of revenue lost by an operator of the at least one managed device during a period of downtime of the at least one managed device.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the temporal usage data comprises historical usage data.

8. The system of claim 4, wherein the temporal usage data comprises projected usage data.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further arranged to rank a plurality of managed devices with respect to values of at least one common weighted performance data set.

17. A graphical user interface (GUI) portal arranged to display a graphical representation of the weighted performance data of claim 1.

18. The GUI portal of claim 17 comprising a graphical representation of the location of the at least one managed device.

19. The GUI portal of claim 17 comprising graphical status indicators indicating the value of each of a plurality of performance metrics associated with the at least one managed device.

20. The GUI portal of claim 19, wherein the graphical status indicators are arranged to indicate the value of at least one set of weighted performance data.

21. The GUI portal of claim 17, comprising a field displaying a ranking of a plurality of managed devices with respect to at least one common weighted performance data set.

22. The GUI portal of claim 17 comprising a graphical display of trends in the weighted performance data.

23. The GUI portal of claim 17 comprising at least one selectable user defined graphical display arranged to display a user defined statistic derived from a selection of performance metric data.

24. Software which when executed upon a processor causes the processor to operate as the processor of claim 1.

25. Software which when executed upon a processor causes the processor to generate the GUI portal of claim 17.

10. A device management method comprising the steps of:

weighting performance metric data, associated with at least one managed device with respect to a respective portion of weighting data associated with the at least one managed device to produce weighted performance data.

11. The method of claim 10 comprising weighting the performance metric data by at least one of the following:

temporal usage data corresponding to a period over which the performance metric data was acquired, fee data corresponding to a fee associated with a transaction, temporal accessibility data corresponding to time periods when the at least one managed device is operable by a user, location data indicative of geographic factors associated with the at least one managed device.

12. The method of claim 10 comprising calculating an estimate of number of users unable to perform a transaction at the managed device during a period of downtime of the at least one managed device, using the weighted performance data.

13. The method of claim 10 comprising calculating an estimate of revenue lost by an operator of the at least one managed device during a period of downtime of the at least one managed device, using the weighted performance data.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising ranking a plurality of managed devices with respect to values of at least one common weighted performance data set.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one managed device comprises a self-service device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the self-service device comprises at least one of the following:

an ATM, a medical record entry terminal or a self-check in/out terminal.