Standardizing point of sale services and leveraging instances of the PLU data
AssigneeNCR Corporation
InventorThomas V. Edwards
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An adaptable and extensible interface is described for connecting one or more point of sale (POS) applications to one or more at a wide variety of retail application is described. The interface may be embodied as a programmable state machine employing XML tiles to customize its operation reusable retail applications may be utilized as part of the interface approach.
Claims19
An adaptable and extensible retail interface system comprising:
- a programmable state machine which transitions from one state to another based upon occurrence of a sequence of inputs from a retail application, the programmable state machine executing on a self-service checkout terminal;
- and
- XML files to establish mappings and operation rules for the programmable state machine, the XML files including states produced from the programmable state machine, wherein the programmable state machine receives a message as an input from the retail application and provides emulated outputs as necessary for compatible communication with a point of sale (POS) application having one or more incompatibilities preventing direct communication of the message from the retail application to the POS application and correct operation in response to the message, the programmable state machine configured as a wrapper to the POS application controlling the POS application's inputs and outputs, and wherein when the POS application is changed, the wrapper ensures there is no disruption in the compatible communication between the retail application and the POS application, and processing the programmable state machine with the XML files for providing a POS interface for interaction between the retail application and the POS application.
A method of adapting and extending a retail interface system utilizing a programmable state machine which transitions from one state to another based upon occurrence of a sequence of inputs from a retail application comprising:
- establishing mappings and operation rules, on a self-service checkout terminal, for the programmable state machine utilizing XML files, and each XML file include states produced by the programmable state machine;
- receiving, on the self-service checkout terminal, a message as an input from the retail application by the programmable state machine through an interface provided by the retail application;
- providing, by the self-service checkout terminal, emulated outputs by the programmable state machine as necessary for compatible communication with a point of sale (POS) application having one or more incompatibilities preventing direct communication of the message from the retail application to the POS application and correct operation in response to the message;
- and
- acting as a wrapper to the POS application, on the self-service checkout terminal, controlling the POS application's inputs and outputs and ensuring, by the wrapper that when the POS application is changed there is no disruption in the compatible communication between the retail application and the POS application, and wherein acting further includes processing the method as a POS interface for communication between the retail application and the POS application.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.