METHOD OF ENHANCING POINT-OF-SALE SYSTEMS

• US 20140222545A1
• Filed: 07/13/2012
• Published: 08/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ecrebo Limited
• Original Assignee: Ecrebo Limited
• Inventors: Hajji, Hassan
• Granted Patent: US 9,911,109 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.38
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR

Abstract

A method of operating a point-of-sale (POS) system (1), the POS system comprising a POS terminal (3) having a software module (17, 21) thereon for enabling a retailer to process transactions within a transaction environment, and a peripheral device (5, 7) in communication with the POS terminal (3), the POS system (1) further comprising a driver software module (40) installed between the POS terminal (3) software module (17, 21) and the peripheral device (5, 7), the method comprising: receiving, at the driver software module (40), data sent between the software module (17, 21) and the peripheral device (5, 7) in communication with the POS terminal (3); communicating with a further device (44, 60, 64) in dependence on the data received at the driver software module (40); receiving modified data from the further device (44, 60, 64); and outputting the modified data.

Claims

1. A method of operating a point-of-sale (POS) system, the POS system comprising a POS terminal having a software module for enabling a retailer to process transactions within a transaction environment, and a peripheral device in communication with the POS terminal, the POS system further comprising a driver software module between the software module and the peripheral device, the method comprising:

receiving, at the driver software module, data sent between the software module and the peripheral device communication with the POS terminal;

communicating with a further device in dependence on the data received at the driver software module;

receiving modified data from the further device; and

outputting the modified data.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the POS terminal comprises a point of sale application software module and the data received at the driver software module comprises transaction data.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the module is in communication with a database comprising details of transaction items.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the POS terminal comprises a payment application software module and the data received at the driver software module comprises payment data related to the transactions processed by the POS system.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communicating step comprises the driver software module sending the data received in the first receiving step or a portion thereof to the further device.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the driver software module receives data formatted to the requirements of the peripheral device from the POS terminal.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the modified data received from the further device is formatted to the requirements of the peripheral device.

8. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the modified data is formatted by the driver software module to the requirements of the peripheral device.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the further device is a remotely located server.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the peripheral device comprises at least one of a printer and a scanner.

12. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the peripheral device is a printer and the modified data comprises the data received from the POS terminal and a barcode, the modified data being output to the printer.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the barcode is a two-dimensional code or QR code.

14. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the barcode comprises an identifier for retrieving a transaction offer from a transaction server.

15. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the barcode comprises a copy of transaction data.

16. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the barcode comprises an identifier for retrieving a copy of transaction data from a transaction server.

17. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the barcode comprises an identifier for retrieving a questionnaire for completion by a consumer.

18. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the driver module receives data from a scanner peripheral device that has scanned a voucher barcode;

analyses the barcode for a unique identifier and communicates with a remotely located server device to validate the unique identifier.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the modified data comprises the voucher barcode and the driver module outputs the modified data to the POS terminal.

20. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the driver module formats the modified data received from the further device to the requirements of the POS terminal.

21. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the driver module sends details of voucher barcodes scanned at the scanner and transaction details of transactions recorded by the POS terminal to the further device.

22. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the driver software module receives transaction item data from the POS terminal and receives voucher related data from a scanner.

23. A method as claimed in claim 22, wherein the transaction item data and voucher related data are communicated to the further device to allow the presence of transactions associated with the scanned vouchers in the transaction item data to be determined in order to verify that the terms of an offer have been met.

24. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the POS terminal comprises an OPOS device, the OPOS device comprising an OPOS device control module and an OPOS device service module, the driver module being located between the OPOS device control module and the OPOS device service module.

25. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the POS terminal comprises a JAVAPOS device, the JAVAPOS device comprising a JAVAPOS device control module and a JAVAPOS device service module, the driver module being located between the JAVAPOS device control module and the JAVAPOS device service module.

26. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the POS terminal comprises a device driver stack arranged to control operation of the peripheral device and the driver software module is arranged to be installed as a filter driver within the driver stack.

27. A method as claimed in claim 26, wherein the POS terminal comprises a JAVAPOS or OPOS layer and the driver software module is arranged to be installed as logical service object in the JAVAPOS or OPOS layer.

28. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the driver software module comprises an API hook.

29. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the modified data is output to the peripheral device.

30. A method as claimed in claim 29, wherein the modified data is output to a further peripheral device.

31. A method as claimed in claim 30, wherein the further peripheral device is a near-field communication (NFC) enabled device and the modified data is transmitted from the POS terminal to the further peripheral device via a NFC communication.

32. A method as claimed in claim 29, wherein the modified data comprises transaction data.

33. A method as claimed in claim 29, wherein the modified data comprises formatting data for a printer device.

34. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the driver module comprises a data parser module.

11. (canceled)

35. A point-of-sale (POS) terminal comprising:

a software module for enabling a retailer to process transactions within a transaction environment, the POS terminal being in communication with a peripheral device;

a driver software module installed between the software module and the peripheral device wherein the driver software module is arranged to;

receive data sent between the software module and the peripheral device in communication with the POS terminal;

communicate with a further device in dependence on the data received at the driver software module;

receive modified data from the further device; and

output the modified data.

37. A method of operating a transaction server in communication with a POS terminal according to claim 35, comprising:

receiving data from the POS terminal;

processing the data to generate modified data; and

outputting the modified data to the POS terminal.

38. A method as claimed in claim 37, wherein data received from the POS terminal comprises transaction item data and voucher related data and the processing step comprises determining the presence of transactions associated with scanned vouchers in the transaction item data in order to verify that the terms of an offer have been met.

39. A method as claimed in claim 37, wherein data received from the POS terminal comprises transaction data which is stored in combination with loyalty and payment card information.

40. A method as claimed in claim 37, further comprising receiving a request from a mobile device for transaction data stored in the transaction server.

41. A method as claimed in claim 37, further comprising receiving transaction data and loyalty sign-up data from a mobile device.

42. A method as claimed in claim 37, comprising storing future transaction data associated with the mobile device.

36. A method of enhancing the functionality of a point-of-sale (POS) system, the POS system comprising a POS terminal having a software module for enabling a retailer to process transactions within a transaction environment, and a peripheral device in communication with the POS terminal, the method comprising:

installing a driver software module between the software module and the peripheral device, the driver software module being arranged, in use, to;

receive data sent between the software module and the peripheral device in communication with the POS terminal;

communicate with a further device in dependence on the data received at the driver software module;

receive modified data from the further device; and

output the modified data.

43. (canceled)

44. (canceled)