Mobile device conduit for a transaction device

• US 9,964,994 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2013
• Issued: 05/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NCR Atleos Corp.
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation (NCR Voyix Corporation)
• Inventors: Horgan, Kevin, Chisholm, Gordon David
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky, Moustafa M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hurst, Andrea
• Application Number:
  US14/068,757
• Publication Number:
  US 20150120878A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,650 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/165 the additional display being small, e.g. for presenting status information
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• 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: G07F 9/023 Arrangements for display, data presentation or advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/71 Hardware identity

Abstract

Methods and a system for a mobile device conduit of a transaction device are provided. A connection from a mobile device to a transaction device is made. Information is gathered from the transaction device and/or supplied to the transaction device from and/or to the mobile device. In an embodiment, the transaction device is used to remote a display of the mobile device to the transaction device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

establishing, via a mobile device, a communication session with a transaction device, wherein establishing further includes operating the mobile device by a technician that is interacting with the transaction device through the mobile device during the communication session, wherein establishing further includes scanning, by the mobile device, a Quick Response (QR) code having an identifier for the transaction device, and automatically providing, by the mobile device, the identifier to a remote server service, and receiving, by the mobile device, from the remote server service an automated mechanism, and automatically processing, by the mobile device, the automated mechanism for establishing the communication session between the mobile device and the transaction device; and

acquiring, via the mobile device, service information associated with a physical resource connected to the transaction device, and providing through the mobile device a wide area network connectivity to the transaction device that was previously unavailable to the transaction device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, processing, from the mobile device the information to remote an interface display of the mobile device to the transaction device during the communication session.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising, relaying, from the mobile device, the information to a remote network resource independent of the mobile device and the transaction device via a second communication session.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising, acquiring, at the mobile device, results from the remote network resource in response to the relayed information.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising, instructing, from the mobile device, a second resource on the transaction device to terminate in response to the results.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprising, remoting, from the mobile device, the results to a display of the transaction device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing further includes identifying the transaction device as a stand-alone Self-Service Terminal (SST).

8. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing further includes creating the communication session via one of:

a wired and a wireless connection between the mobile device and the transaction device and authenticating the communication session.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes identifying the resource and a type of information for the information based on evaluation of a policy.

10. A method, comprising:

connecting, at a transaction device, to a mobile device, wherein connecting further includes operating the mobile device by a technician that is interacting with the transaction device through the mobile device over a connection between the transaction device and the mobile device, wherein connecting further includes scanning, by the mobile device, a Quick Response (QR) code having a transaction identifier for the transaction device, and automatically providing, by the mobile device, the transaction identifier to a remote server service and receiving, by the mobile device, an automated mechanism, and automatically processing, by the mobile device, the automated mechanism that establishes the connection between the mobile device and the transaction device; and

processing, by the transaction device, a request from the mobile device permitting the mobile device through the request to service at least one physical resource connected to the transaction device and obtaining by the transaction device a wide area network connection through the mobile device when the wide area network connection was unavailable to the transaction device but for the mobile device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein connecting further includes permitting the transaction device to become a thin client controlled based on a policy by the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein processing further includes dynamically installing one or more services that interrogate the transaction device in response to the request.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein processing further includes terminating a specific resource on the transaction device in response to the request.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein processing further includes remoting display details from the mobile device to a display of the transaction device in response to the request.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein remoting further includes permitting the display of the transaction device to act as an interface for the mobile device.

16. A system, comprising:

a server having a remote server service programmed as executable instructions within a non-transitory computer-readable memory and the executable instructions of the remote server service executed from the non-transitory computer-readable memory by one or more processors of the server;

wherein the remote server service when executed interacts with a transaction device via a network connection supplied by a mobile device acting as a conduit between the remote server service and the transaction device, and wherein the transaction device lacks wide-area network connectivity but for the conduit provided by the mobile device using the network connection, and wherein the remote server service receives from the mobile device a transaction identifier for the transaction device, wherein the mobile device scans a Quick Response (QR) code for obtaining the transaction identifier, and the mobile device automatically provides the transaction identifier to the remote server service, the remote server service provides back to the mobile device an automated mechanism and the mobile device automatically processes the automated mechanism to establish a connection between the mobile device and the transaction device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the mobile device is one of:

a smartphone, a laptop, a tablet, and a wearable device.