Server for reconfiguring control of a subset of devices on one or more kiosks

• US 6,195,694 B1
• Filed: 11/19/1997
• Issued: 02/27/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Shuang, Ohshima, Mitsuru, Kobayashi, Makoto, Yoshida, Yoichi, Fujisaki, Tetsunosuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Matar, Ahmad F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Barot, Bharat
• Application Number:
  US08/974,214
• Time in Patent Office: 1,196 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200-204, 709/217-221, 709/227-229, 709/223-225, 709/245-246, 707/100-104, 707/501, 707/513, 713/200-201, 235/380
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0014 for vending, access and use of specific services not covered anywhere else in G07F17/00 meter-controlled dispensing of liquid, gas or electricity G07F15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A server system that is connected to one or more networks, e.g., the Internet, corporate or government intranets, extranets, etc. The server has one or more application files or configuration sets that the server serves to from one or more kiosks on the network. The configuration sets are application specific. (An application is a use for which the kiosks are configured or reconfigured.) One or more of the files in the configuration sets include one or more embedded (control) programs that are used to control the local APIs of one or more of the devices on the kiosk. In this way, the devices are controlled to configure the kiosk to perform the application.

Claims

1. A server comprising:

one or more connections to a network, one or more requests received through the connections;

one or more configuration sets having one or more files and at least one embedded control function sent by the server to one or more remote kiosks connected to the network, one or more of the configuration sets and one or more of the embedded control functions being associated with an application and capable of being executed by a browser on the remote kiosks, the embedded control function capable of invoking one or more browser application programming interface programs, the browser application programming interface programs capable of communicating between the embedded control function and a driver subset of local application programming interface programs associated with a respective subset of devices on the kiosk but external to the browser, and the embedded control function capable of selecting and causing the driver subset to control the subset of devices to configure the respective kiosk to perform the application.

2. A server, as in claim 1, where the request comes from one or more of the kiosks to be configured.

3. A server, as in claim 1, where the request comes from an agent computer.

4. A server, as in claim 1, where the configuration sets include any one of the following:

a remote device control, a remote message display, a file transfer, and an agent/client collaboration.

5. A server, as in claim 1, where one or more of the embedded control functions are a system monitoring program for determining operating status of one or more of the local kiosk functions of one or more kiosks.

6. A server, as in claim 5, where the operating status is used to determine any one or more of the following:

maintenance required for one or more of the peripheral devices, maintenance history for one or more of the peripheral devices, which application files to serve on the network to respond to one or more of the requests, and marketing information about one or more kiosk users.

7. A server, as in claim 5, where the operating status determines which configuration sets the server will serve on the network.

8. A server, as in claim 1, where the configuration sets comprise one or more HTML files having zero or more hypertext components.

9. A server, as in claim 1, where the application is a financial application.

10. A server, as in claim 9, where the financial application includes any one or more of the following:

providing a user with financial information, opening an account, dispensing cash, paying bills, applying for loans, making deposits, applying for a mortgage, making a loan payment, making a mortgage payment, getting financial advice, trading one or more capital assets, and obtaining assistance from an agent.

11. A server, as in claim 1, where the application is a customized application that is customized to a user.

12. A server, as in claim 1, where the application program is an access to the internet through one or more kiosks that the configuration set configures.

13. A server, as in claim 12, where the access to the internet provides a communication link between one or more second users through one or more designated servers.

14. A server, as in claim 1, where the application is a communication application.

15. A server, as in claim 14, where the communication application includes any one or more of the following:

a telephone call, an electronic mailing, a teleconference, a fax transmission, a training session, a search for information on the network, and a web based collaboration.

16. A server, as in claim 1, where the application is a service application.

17. A server, as in claim 16, where the service application includes providing any one or more of the following:

an advertisement, a service, and a service charge.

18. A server, as in claim 1, where the application is providing information to a user using a kiosk configured by the configuration set.

19. A server, as in claim 1, where one or more of the embedded control functions is capable of causing one or more of the kiosks to request one or more of the configuration sets.

20. A server, as in claim 1, where the communication between the embedded control function and the driver subset of local application programming interface programs passes through the browser application programming interface programs and any one or more of the following:

an interprocess communication program, a message passing program, a name server function, and an application programming interface program mechanism that communicates with the local application programming interface.

21. A method, performed by a server on a network, comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from one or more kiosks connected to the network;

sending, to the kiosk, one or more configuration sets having one or more files and at least one embedded control function, one or more of the configuration sets and one or more of the embedded control functions being associated with an application, the embedded control functions capable of selecting a driver subset of one or more local application programming interface programs, the driver subset being external to a browser on the kiosk and associated with a subset of devices on the kiosks and the embedded control function further communicating through one or more browser application programming interface programs with the driver subset to cause the local application program interface programs to reconfigure a control of the subset of devices to configure the respective kiosk to perform the application.

22. A server comprising:

one or more connections to a network, one or more requests received through the connections;

one or more configuration sets having one or more files and at least one embedded control function, one or more of the configuration sets and one or more of the embedded control functions being associated with an application, the embedded control functions capable of selecting a driver subset of one or more application program interface programs, the driver subset associated with a subset of devices on one or more local kiosks and a communication between the application and the driver subset caused by the embedded control function to cause the application program interface programs to reconfigure a non content based control of the subset of devices to configure the respective local kiosk to perform the application.

23. A server comprising:

one or more connections to a network, one or more requests received through the connections;

one or more configuration sets having one or more files and at least one embedded control function, one or more of the configuration sets and one or more of the embedded control functions being associated with an application, the embedded control functions capable of selecting a driver subset of one or more application program interface programs, the driver subset associated with a subset of devices on one or more local kiosks and the embedded control function further causing a communication between the application and the driver subset to cause the application program interface programs to reconfigure a control of the subset of devices to configure the respective local kiosk to perform the application, where the device subset and the application are different than a previous device subset associated with a previous application.