# US 12,008,533 B2 · Point of sale register health monitoring

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- Number: US 12,008,533 B2
- Document ID: US12008533B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/365,301
- Filed: 2021-07-01
- Published: 2021-10-21
- Granted: 2024-06-11
- Earliest claimed: 2017-06-09
- Assignees: Target Brands, Inc.
- Applicants: Target Brands, Inc.
- Inventors: Steven J. Chin; Robert H. Henke; Joseph C. Eckberg
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12008533B2

## CPC

- 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}
- G06F 11/0709: {in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems}
- G06F 11/0793: {Remedial or corrective actions (recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40)}
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure describe systems and methods for continuously monitoring the health of a point-of-sale (POS) device, at a central location, and executing self-healing software from the malfunctioning POS device. The self-healing software may be stored locally on the POS device itself, occupying a small footprint and therefore easily be stored in and execute on both older and newer POS devices. Embodiments further describe a central server as coordinating both identification of the particular self-healing process to execute on each POS device as well as the timing of execution associated therewith.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for executing a self-healing process on a point-of-sale (POS) device wherein the point of sale device is one among a plurality of point of sale devices within a single location for a retailer, the method comprising:
scanning, by the POS device, the POS device to determine a health status for each of one or more predetermined health markers;
sending, from the POS device, health status information to a computing system, the health status information comprising one or more health statuses;
receiving, at the POS device, a self-healing instruction, wherein the self-healing instruction includes an identification of a self-healing process and a time to execute the identified self-healing process, wherein the time to execute the identified self healing process at the POS device is:
determined based on a number of POS devices within the plurality of POS devices that have an unhealthy health status; and
staggered so as to not overlap another time to execute another self healing process for another one or more of the plurality of POS devices within the single location such that that the retailer continues to maintain at least one POS device in operation during operating hours at the single location; and
executing, at the POS device, the identified self-healing process at the time.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the identified self-healing process is stored in a storage device of the POS device.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
re-evaluating whether the identified self-healing process properly executed; and
based on a determination that the self-healing process did not properly execute, re-executing the identified self-healing process.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein executing, at the POS device, the identified self-healing process comprises:
manually executing the identified self-healing process.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the time to execute the identified self-healing process is based on a criticality of the POS device to the operation of a retailer in which the POS device is located.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein the criticality of the POS device relates to one or more of: time of day, and retailer occupancy.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of POS devices is identified based on a unique identifier.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the scanning is performed at periodic intervals.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more pre-determined health markers relate to one or more of: hard drive usage, memory capacity, computer services running, errors in log files and attached peripherals.

### Claim 10

A system for executing a self-healing process on a point-of-sale (POS) device wherein the point of sale device is one among a plurality of point of sale devices within a single location for a retailer, the system comprising:
a computing device including a processor and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
scan, by the POS device, the POS device to determine a health status for each of one or more predetermined health markers;
send, from the POS device, health status information to a computing system, the health status information comprising one or more health statuses;
receive, at the POS device, a self-healing instruction, wherein the self-healing instruction includes an identification of a self-healing process and a time to execute the identified self-healing process, wherein the time to execute the identified self healing process at the POS device is:
determined based on a number of POS devices within the plurality of POS devices that have an unhealthy health status; and
staggered so as to not overlap another time to execute another self healing process for another one or more of the plurality of POS devices within the single location such that the retailer continues to maintain at least one POS device in operation during operating hours at the single location; and
execute, at the POS device, the identified self-healing process at the time.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein the identified self-healing process is stored in a storage device of the POS device.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions when executed by the processor further cause the processor to:
re-evaluate whether the identified self-healing process properly executed; and
based on a determination that the self-healing process did not properly execute, re-execute the identified self-healing process.

### Claim 13 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein executing, at the POS device, the identified self-healing process comprises:
manually executing the identified self-healing process.

### Claim 14 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein the time to execute the identified self-healing process is based on a criticality of the POS device to the operation of a retailer in which the POS device is located.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The system of claim 14, wherein the criticality of the POS device is based on one or more of: time of day, and retailer occupancy.

### Claim 16 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of POS devices is identified based on a unique identifier.

### Claim 17 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein the scanning is performed at periodic intervals.

### Claim 18 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more pre-determined health markers relate to one or more of: hard drive usage, memory capacity, computer services running, errors in log files and attached peripherals.