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US 7,520,430 B1Granted
Multiservice merchant gateway
AssigneeAcumera, Inc.
InventorsBrett B. Stewart, Charles O. Golson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A multiservice merchant gateway (MMG) allows point of sale terminals and other devices to be interfaced with a wide area network, thereby improving speed and service to terminal owners and users, allowing for more efficient systems on merchant premises, and also allowing the merchant to provide and/or utilize various additional features and services. Support infrastructure for configuring MMGs, managing MMGs, and providing related services are also disclosed.
Claims40
A method comprising:
- receiving a first message from a point-of-sale terminal, wherein the receiving the first message comprises intercepting the first message as the first message is being sent from the point-of-sale terminal, and wherein the first message is formatted for transmission via a public switched telephone network (PSTN);
- preparing a second message based at least in part on the first message;
- transmitting the second message over a wide area network;
- providing a client of a merchant with access to the wide area network, wherein the receiving, the preparing, the transmitting, and the providing are performed by a merchant gateway device located on a premises operated by the merchant, and wherein the client is one of a device operated by a customer of the merchant and a device operated by the merchant;
- and
- converting the second message into a third message;
- and
- sending the third message via the PSTN, wherein the receiving, the preparing, and the transmitting are performed by the merchant gateway device, and wherein the converting and the sending are performed by a PSTN proxy server coupled to the merchant gateway device by the wide area network.
5 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a memory storing program instructions;
- a processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute the program instructions stored in the memory;
- a first communications interface coupled to the processor and configured to interface with a point-of-sale terminal;
- and
- a second communications interface coupled to the processor and configured to interface with a wide area network,
- wherein the first communications interface is configured to intercept a first message being sent from the point-of-sale terminal,
- wherein the first message is formatted for transmission via a public switched telephone network (PSTN),
- wherein the second communications interface is configured to transmit a second message over a wide area network,
- wherein the second message is based, at least in part, on the first message,
- wherein the program instructions are executable by the processor to provide a client of a merchant with access to the wide area network, wherein the client is one of a device operated by a customer of the merchant and a device operated by the merchant,
- wherein the second message is converted into a third message by a PSTN proxy server coupled to the second communications interface by the wide area network, and
- wherein the third message is sent via the PSTN by the PSTN proxy server.
9 more elements
A method comprising:
- receiving a first message from a point-of-sale terminal, wherein the receiving the first message comprises intercepting the first message as the first message is being sent from the point-of-sale terminal, and wherein the first message is formatted for transmission via a public switched telephone network (PSTN);
- preparing a second message based at least in part on the first message;
- transmitting the second message over a wide area network;
- converting the second message into a third message;
- and
- sending the third message via the PSTN, wherein the receiving, the preparing, and the transmitting are performed by a merchant gateway device, and wherein the converting and the sending are performed by a PSTN proxy server coupled to the merchant gateway device by the wide area network;
- and
- contacting a check in server via the wide area network, wherein the receiving, the preparing, the transmitting, and the contacting are performed by the merchant gateway device, and wherein the contacting comprises sending status information to the check in server.
5 more elements
A method comprising:
- receiving a first message from a point-of-sale terminal, wherein the receiving the first message comprises intercepting the first message as the first message is being sent from the point-of-sale terminal, and wherein the first message is formatted for transmission via a public switched telephone network (PSTN);
- preparing a second message based at least in part on the first message;
- transmitting the second message over a wide area network;
- providing a client of a merchant with access to the wide area network, wherein the receiving, the preparing, the transmitting, and the providing are performed by a merchant gateway device located on a premises operated by the merchant, and wherein the client is one of a device operated by a customer of the merchant and a device operated by the merchant;
- sending communications generated by a peripheral device to a PSTN proxy server via the wide area network, wherein the sending is performed by the merchant gateway device;
- and
- converting one of the communications received from the merchant gateway device to a PSTN communication, wherein the converting is performed by the PSTN proxy server.
4 more elements
A computer readable storage medium encoding program instructions executable to implement a merchant gateway device, wherein the merchant gateway device is configured to:
- intercept a first message as the first message is being sent from a point-of-sale terminal, wherein the first message is formatted for transmission via a public switched telephone network (PSTN);
- prepare a second message based at least in part on the first message;
- initiate transmission of the second message over a wide area network;
- and
- provide a client of a merchant with access to the wide area network, wherein the merchant gateway device is configured to be located on a premises operated by the merchant, and wherein the client is one of a device operated by a customer of the merchant and a device operated by the merchant;
- wherein the second message is converted into a third message by a PSTN proxy server coupled to the merchant gateway device by the wide area network;
- and
- wherein the third message is sent via the PSTN by the PSTN proxy server.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.