Intermediate Module Routing Kiosk Payment Status to POS Display
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Solution Overview
Problem
Unattended kiosks often experience transaction failures due to customers missing prompts and error messages displayed on the small card reader LCD, as their focus is on the larger kiosk display, leading to timeouts and incomplete transactions.
Innovation Solution
An intermediate processing module is introduced to communicate between the card reader and POS modules, receiving status information from the card reader, generating messages associated with this information, and presenting them on the POS display to assist the customer through the payment process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If prompts and error messages are displayed on the card reader LCD, then transaction information is provided to the customer, but the customer may miss these messages because their focus is on the larger kiosk display
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the display functions of the card reader and the POS device by routing transaction status messages from the card reader module through the intermediate processing module to the POS display. This merging ensures that transaction information appears on the larger, more visible POS display where customer attention is focused, while eliminating the contradiction between providing information and ensuring customer awareness.
2Ease of operation
If the customer focuses on the larger kiosk display, then the customer can see service options and make selections, but transaction status messages on the card reader LCD go unnoticed
Solution Approach 1:
The intermediate processing module acts as a mediator that receives transaction status information from the card reader module and forwards it to the POS display. This intermediary function allows the system to maintain the customer's focus on the large POS display for service selection while reliably transmitting transaction status information to the same display, ensuring both ease of operation and transaction reliability.
3Reliability
If transaction messages are only displayed on the card reader LCD, then the card reader can provide feedback, but the transaction may time out and fail due to customer inattention
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the transaction status display function into the POS display system, combining the advantages of both displays. The POS display provides larger, more visible feedback that prevents customer inattention, while the intermediate processing module ensures reliable transmission of transaction status information. This combination eliminates transaction timeouts caused by missed messages while maintaining efficient communication.
Data Source
AI summary
A point-of-sale system has a card reader, a point-of-sale device, and an intermediate processing module configured to communicate with the card reader and the point-of-sale device. The card reader has a card reader module configured to receive information from a payment card. The point-of-sale device has a POS display and a POS module. The intermediate processing module is configured to receive status information from the card reader module, generate a message associated with the status information, and provide the message to the POS module for presenting on the POS display.