Event Stream Processor for Real-Time Transaction Consistency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing transaction-based systems in financial environments often lack real-time updates across disparate locations, leading to stale data and consistency issues due to batch processing, which affects multichannel ecosystems and online transaction processing.
Innovation Solution
A distributed system capable of streaming events in near real-time from various sources to a central or regional event store, incorporating event generators and receivers to transmit transaction events efficiently, utilizing protocols like UDP, TCP, and database communications, with buffering and monitoring capabilities to ensure data consistency across channels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If batch processing is used to communicate transaction information, then system complexity is reduced and ease of operation is improved, but data freshness deteriorates and real-time capability is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an event stream processor as an intermediary component that sits between transaction sources and consumers. This mediator captures transaction events, transforms them into standardized event streams, and distributes them to multiple consumers in real-time. The intermediary handles the complexity of real-time processing internally while presenting a simple interface to external systems, thus achieving data freshness without increasing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the monolithic batch processing architecture into independent event production, processing, and consumption components. Each component handles specific aspects of transaction processing independently, allowing real-time event streams to be generated and consumed without requiring complete system redesign. This segmentation enables gradual adoption of real-time processing while maintaining compatibility with existing batch systems.
2Reliability
If real-time event streaming is implemented, then data consistency across channels is improved, but system complexity increases and ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The event stream processor is designed as a universal component that handles multiple types of transaction events from various sources and distributes them to multiple types of consumers. This multi-functional design consolidates what would otherwise require multiple specialized systems, maintaining data consistency across different channels while providing a unified interface that simplifies operation. The same core infrastructure serves diverse real-time processing needs without requiring separate systems for each function.
3Speed
If existing systems are recoded to support real-time event generation, then real-time capability is improved, but manufacturing cost increases and ease of manufacture deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables existing transaction sources to generate events in real-time without requiring recoding by implementing self-service mechanisms. Event source agents are deployed to existing systems that automatically capture transaction events as they occur and forward them to the event stream processor. This approach allows legacy systems to participate in real-time processing without modification, achieving high event transmission speed while avoiding the costs and complexity of system recoding.
Data Source
AI summary
A system is provided that permits events to be propagated between systems in near real time for the purpose of ensuring consistency in a transaction-based environment. In one implementation, transactions are streamed between systems using a lightweight protocol shortly after they are processed, rather than being communicated in a one-way batch mode as is typically done in conventional retail store systems.