Point-of-sale system including isolation layer between client and server software

A method of transferring information between a first software application and a second software application comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing the first software application by a first company;
• (b) providing the second software application by a second company different from the first company;
• (c) executing the first software application by a first computer;
• (d) executing the second software application by a second computer different from the first computer;
• (e) providing an isolation layer having hooks into the second software application, the isolation layer providing translation for commands and data communicated between the first software application and the second software application, the isolation layer including a translation layer producing custom outputs for communicating between the first software application and the second software application, the custom outputs being based on customized mappings and translations directed to facilitating communication between the first software application and the second software application;
• (f) executing the isolation layer;
• and
• (g) establishing communication between the first software application and the second software application by the isolation layer to transfer the information.

A method of transferring information between a client software application and a server software application comprising the steps of:

• (a) installing a client computer by a first company;
• (b) providing and installing the client software application by the first company;
• (c) installing a server computer by a second company different from the first company after installation of the client computer and the client software by the first company;
• (d) providing and installing the server software application by the second company;
• (e) providing and installing an isolation layer having hooks into the server software application by the second company, the isolation layer providing translation for commands and data communicated between the client software application and the server software application, the isolation layer including a translation layer producing custom outputs for communicating between the client software application and the server software application, the custom outputs being based on customized mappings and translations directed to facilitating communication between the client software application and the server software applications;
• (f) executing the client software application by the client computer;
• (g) executing the server software application and the isolation layer by the server computer;
• and
• (h) establishing communication between the client software application and the server software application by the isolation layer to transfer the information.

A method of transferring information between a client software application and a server software application comprising the steps of:

• (a) installing a server computer by a first company;
• (b) providing and installing the server software application by the first company;
• (c) installing a client computer by a second company different from the first company after installation of the server computer and the server software by the first company;
• (d) providing and installing the client software application by the second company;
• (e) providing and installing an isolation layer having hooks into the server software application by the second company, the isolation layer providing translation for commands and data communicated between the client software application and the server software application, the isolation layer including a translation layer producing custom outputs for communicating between the client software application and the server software application, the custom outputs being based on customized mappings and translations directed to facilitating communication between the client software application and the server software application;
• (f) executing the client software application and the isolation layer by the client computer;
• (g) executing the server software application by the server computer;
• and
• (h) establishing communication between the client software application and the server software application by the isolation layer to transfer the information.

A method of obtaining information for a client software application from a server software application comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing the client software application from a first company;
• (b) providing a server software application for accessing the information by a second company different from the first company;
• (c) providing an isolation layer between the client software application and the server software application, the isolation layer providing translation for commands and data communicated between the client software application and the server software application, the isolation layer including a translation layer producing custom outputs for communicating between the client software application and the server software application, the custom outputs being based on customized mappings and translations directed to facilitating communicating between the client software application and the server software application;
• (d) sending a call for the information to the isolation layer by the client software application;
• (e) sending a request message for the information to the server software application by the isolation layer;
• (f) instructing control software to obtain the information by the server software application;
• (g) sending the information to the isolation layer by the server software application;
• and
• (h) sending the information to the client software application by the isolation layer.