MEDIA REPLENISHMENT MANAGEMENT

• US 20150178670A1
• Filed: 12/19/2013
• Published: 06/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Inventors: Angus, Robin, Neilan, Michael James, Rojas, Edgar, Brown, Timothy
• Granted Patent: US 9,779,588 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1085 involving automatic teller machines [ATMs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/204 Loading of a stored value token using an ATM
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/209 Monitoring, auditing or diagnose of functioning of ATMs

Abstract

A method of method of managing media replenishment at a media terminal, the method comprising: receiving a media event from a media terminal; retrieving a next scheduled media replenishment event for that media terminal; evaluating if the next scheduled media replenishment event is scheduled to occur within an acceptable delay period; and initiating an unscheduled replenishment event only if the next scheduled media replenishment event is scheduled to occur after the acceptable delay period.

Claims

1. A method of managing media replenishment of a media terminal, the method comprising:

receiving a media event from a media terminal;

retrieving a next scheduled media replenishment event for that media terminal;

evaluating if the next scheduled media replenishment event is scheduled to occur within an acceptable delay period; and

initiating an unscheduled replenishment event only if the next scheduled media replenishment event is scheduled to occur after the acceptable delay period.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises the further steps of:

receiving media total updates relating to a media terminal;

calculating a time at which a media total at the media terminal is expected to fall below an acceptable threshold;

ascertaining if the next scheduled replenishment event will occur before that calculated time; and

changing a time of the next scheduled replenishment event so that it occurs before that calculated time.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of receiving a media event from a media terminal comprises receiving the media event directly from the media terminal.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of receiving a media event from a media terminal comprises receiving the media event from a management application operable to manage a media terminal network in which the media terminal is located.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises the further step of:

displaying the received media event on a graphical user interface (GUI) to indicate to a user of the GUI the type of media event and the time associated with that event.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the GUI provides a visual representation of a media terminal network including a plurality of media terminals within that network, the event type and time at the visual representation of that media terminal.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the graphical user interface allows a user of the GUI to select a media terminal and presents media events to the user.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the graphical user interface provides a color-coded notification of the status of the media terminal.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of retrieving a next scheduled media replenishment event for that media terminal occurs before receiving the media event.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein the acceptable delay period is predefined.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the acceptable delay period is derived dynamically.

12. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of initiating an unscheduled replenishment event only if the next scheduled media replenishment event is scheduled to occur after the acceptable delay period further comprises sending an electronic communication to a media replenishment center indicating an amount of media to be provided to the media terminal and a time at which media replenishment is to occur.

13. A method according to claim 1, wherein the media event comprises one or more of:

a media low event, a media threshold event and a media out event.

14. A method according to claim 1, wherein initiating an unscheduled replenishment event includes calculating an amount of media to be provided as part of the unscheduled media event.

15. A method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises the further step of adjusting the next scheduled media replenishment in response to initiating an unscheduled replenishment event.

16. A method according to claim 15, wherein adjusting the next scheduled media replenishment event includes reducing the amount of media required in the next scheduled media replenishment event.

19. A media terminal manager according to claim 14, wherein the media terminal manager further comprises a graphical user interface (GUI) including a visual representation of media terminals being managed by the media terminal manager.

17. A media terminal manager comprising:

(i) an event manager operable to receive events from media terminals being managed by the media terminal manager;

(ii) a replenishment manager operable to provide a user of the media terminal manager with information about scheduled media replenishment operations for the media terminals being managed by the media terminal manager; and

(iii) a replenishment dispatcher operable to issue media replenishment requests to a media replenishment center to implement (a) the scheduled media replenishment operations, and (b) qualified unscheduled media replenishment operations.

18. A media terminal manager according to claim 17, wherein the replenishment manager implements a cash optimization algorithm to create replenishment schedules for each media terminal.

20. A method of managing media replenishment at a media terminal, the method comprising:

receiving media total updates relating to a media terminal;

calculating a time at which a media total at the media terminal is expected to fall below an acceptable threshold;

ascertaining if a next scheduled replenishment event for that media terminal will occur before that calculated time; and

changing a time of the next scheduled replenishment event so that it occurs before that calculated time.