ATM Transaction Failover via Hash Routing and Biometric Auth
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Solution Overview
Problem
ATMs often experience operational issues, leading to failed transactions, and lack alternate channels for remediation, causing inconvenience to customers who may not know the ATM's condition until arrival.
Innovation Solution
A computing platform identifies alternate ATMs, generates navigation information, and sends hash information to these ATMs, allowing users to authenticate and complete pending transactions via biometric data, ensuring seamless transaction processing even with initial ATM failures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If ATMs are deployed to provide self-service transactions, then customer convenience and service efficiency are improved, but operational failures and service disruptions occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a computing platform as an intermediary between users and ATMs. This platform receives transaction data, identifies functional alternate ATMs, and coordinates transaction completion across different machines. The intermediary resolves the contradiction by managing the complexity of ATM failures and alternate routing, allowing the ATM network to maintain high productivity while improving reliability through failover capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes the operational parameters of transaction processing by transitioning from a single-ATM fixed location model to a multi-ATM flexible routing model. When an ATM fails, the system changes the destination parameter to an alternate ATM, maintaining transaction continuity. This parameter change approach allows the system to adapt to operational failures while preserving service efficiency.
2Device complexity
If ATMs operate independently without centralized coordination, then system complexity is reduced, but ability to handle failed transactions is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the ATM transaction system into independent functional modules: individual ATMs that process local transactions, a centralized computing platform that manages coordination, and communication interfaces that enable data exchange. This segmentation allows each component to remain relatively simple while the integrated system achieves high adaptability for handling failed transactions through centralized orchestration.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where ATMs report their operational status and transaction data to the computing platform. The platform analyzes this feedback, identifies failures, and coordinates remediation actions by routing transactions to alternate ATMs. This feedback loop enables the system to maintain low individual device complexity while achieving high overall adaptability through centralized monitoring and coordination.
3Reliability
If users must physically travel to an alternate ATM when one fails, then transaction completion is possible, but user time and convenience are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical approach of physical user travel to alternate ATMs with an electronic/digital solution. The computing platform electronically transmits transaction data and authentication credentials to alternate ATMs, and can initiate transactions remotely. This substitution eliminates the need for user physical movement in many cases, maintaining transaction completion capability while eliminating time loss associated with travel.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-staging transaction data, authentication information, and routing instructions at alternate ATMs before users arrive. When a failure is detected, the computing platform proactively prepares the alternate ATM with all necessary transaction parameters, so that when the user does arrive (or in many cases, remotely), the transaction can be completed immediately without delays for re-authentication or setup.
4Reliability
If transaction data is transmitted to multiple ATMs for failover capability, then transaction reliability is improved, but data security and authentication complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses copying mechanisms where the computing platform creates and transmits copies of transaction data, authentication credentials, and routing information to multiple alternate ATMs. Instead of managing complex distributed authentication protocols across multiple machines, the system replicates the authentication state to each alternate ATM. This copying approach maintains transaction reliability through failover capability while keeping the authentication model relatively simple and centralized.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the disclosure relate to intelligent processing of broken or failed ATM transactions. In some embodiments, a computing platform may receive transaction data associated with a pending transaction of a user and generate hash information corresponding to the received transaction data. Thereafter, the computing platform may identify one or more alternate ATMs for completing the pending transaction and generate navigation information corresponding to the one or more alternate ATMs. Subsequently, the computing platform may send the generated hash information to the one or more alternate ATMs. By sending the hash information, the computing platform may cause the one or more alternate ATMs to await input from the user. In response to receiving a message indicating completion of the pending transaction at the one or more alternate ATMs, the computing platform may initiate clearing of a pending status of the pending transaction.