Self-service terminal

• US 9,219,660 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2012
• Issued: 12/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NCR Atleos Corp.
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation (NCR Voyix Corporation)
• Inventors: Sanches, Ricardo Faria
• Primary Examiner(s): HOANG, HIEU T
• Application Number:
  US13/628,861
• Publication Number:
  US 20140089404A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,181 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/205, 709/206, 709/223, 709/224, 709227-229, 705/1.1, 713/154
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/386 using messaging services or messaging apps using mobile network messaging services for payment, e.g. SMS G06Q20/3255
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/209 Monitoring, auditing or diagnose of functioning of ATMs
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/001 Interfacing with vending machines using mobile or wearable devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/026 using e-messaging for transporting management information, e.g. email, instant messaging or chat
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1093 by adding participants; by removing participants
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]

Abstract

A method and apparatus are disclosed for determining a status of a Self-Service Terminal (SST) in a financial network. The method includes the steps of, from an SST comprising a node of a financial network, providing an instant message identifying a status of the terminal to a help desk terminal comprising a further node of the financial network.

Claims

1. A method of determining a status of at least one Self Service Terminal (SST) in a financial network, comprising the steps of:

sending a query instant message to the SST requesting a status of the SST from a node of the financial network, wherein the query instant message is in a natural language format and represents a command for processing by the SST;

receiving the status as an instant message from the SST in response to the query instant message, wherein the status is in the natural language format;

from the node of the financial network, providing the instant message identifying the status of the SST to a help desk terminal comprising a further node of the financial network.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

responsive to the instant message, sending a command comprising a further instant message from the help desk terminal to the SST;

executing the command at the SST; and

sending a status update comprising a still further instant message from the SST to the help desk terminal.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

sending the command to the SST via an instant message comprising an SST specific header element.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

additionally sending the command to a monitoring terminal comprising a still further node of the financial network.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising the steps of:

sending a command to the monitoring terminal via an instant message comprising a monitoring terminal specific header element.

6. The method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

if the status update comprises a command failed message, sending a dispatch command comprising an instant message to a user terminal of at least one field engineer associated with the financial network.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

sending a dispatched message comprising an instant message to at least the help desk terminal when a field engineer is dispatched to the SST responsive to the dispatch command.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

sending the dispatched message to the SST and to a supervisor terminal comprising a supervisor node of the financial network at a location where the SST is located.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, further comprising the steps of:

sending an arrived command comprising an instant message from a field engineer user terminal to a monitoring terminal comprising a monitoring node of the financial network.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

associating each terminal in the financial network with a unique IP address; and

at the help desk terminal, associating each IP address with a respective contact name and storing each contact name in a contact list.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

associating each of a plurality of field engineer user terminals and at least one monitoring terminal with a respective unique support IP address; and

at the help desk terminal, associating each support IP address with a respective contact name and storing each contact name in a contact list.

12. A financial network, comprising:

at least one Self-Service Terminal (SST), comprising a node in the financial network, comprising an instant message (IM) client or IM agent; and

at least one help desk terminal, comprising second node in the financial network, comprising a second IM client;

wherein

a status of the SST is identifiable to the help desk terminal via an instant message in a natural language format and the help desk terminal configured and adapted to invite at least one other party to a conversation relevant to the instant message and the SST configured and adapted to dynamically change from a first group having first SSTs to a second group with second SSTs based on the status.

13. The financial network as claimed in claim 12, further comprising:

each IM client comprises a software agent, running on a respective terminal, that is connectable to an IM server.

14. The financial network as claimed in claim 12, further comprising:

at least one IM server comprising a third node in the financial network.

15. A method of communicating information from a networked self-service terminal, the method comprising:

executing an instant message program at the self-service terminal; and

communicating via the instant messaging program with at least one other device on the network in response to a query instant message requesting a status from the self-service terminal sent by the at least one other device, and wherein the query instant message is in a natural language format, and wherein communicating further includes communication through instant messages in the natural language format.