POS Intermediary Layer for Direct Payment Gateway Communication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing Point of Sale (POS) devices often require complicated setup actions for users to make payments using their user devices, and the data captured by scanners and printers at commerce locations remains untapped, while limited-capability POS devices face inefficiencies in software updates due to memory constraints.
Innovation Solution
The system allows user devices to directly communicate with payment gateways, captures scanner and printer data without altering existing POS software, and enables efficient software updates for limited-capability POS devices without full-overwrite images.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If user devices are allowed to directly communicate with payment gateways, then user convenience is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer that facilitates communication between user devices and payment gateways. This intermediary handles the complex authentication and data transmission protocols, allowing users to make payments seamlessly without directly managing the complex communication protocols, thus improving ease of operation while managing system complexity through the intermediary component
2Loss of information
If scanner and printer data are captured without altering existing POS software, then data utilization is improved, but technical complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the data capture functionality from the existing POS software by implementing a separate interception mechanism. This allows scanner and printer data to be captured and utilized without modifying the core POS software, thereby improving data utilization while managing technical complexity through modular extraction of the capture function
3Reliability
If full-overwrite software images are used for updates, then update reliability is improved, but update costs and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the software update process into incremental updates rather than requiring full-overwrite images. This allows the POS device to receive and apply smaller update packages sequentially, reducing update time and memory requirements while maintaining reliability through verified incremental application of updates
4Reliability
If full-overwrite software images are used for updates, then update completeness is improved, but memory requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the software update into smaller segments that can be stored and applied incrementally. This segmentation reduces the peak memory requirements compared to storing a complete full-overwrite image, while ensuring update completeness through verified incremental application of each segment to the POS device
Data Source
AI summary
Transformation of inputs including beacon inputs, Global Positioning System (GPS) inputs, captured panorama inputs, user-penned descriptive inputs, and payment-amount-specifying inputs, via components, into outputs including user device POS configuration setting outputs and/or payment-gateway-directed authorization request outputs. Further, transformation of inputs including POS scanner inputs, POS keyboard inputs, and/or POS printer-directed inputs, via components, into outputs including compliance check outputs, tagged omnibus record outputs, SKU-UPC mapping outputs, and/or convergence/correlation outputs. Additionally, transformation of inputs including older limited-capability POS software image inputs and/or newer limited-capability POS software image inputs, via components, into outputs including update directive outputs. Functionality set forth includes allowing user devices to directly communicate with payment gateways, capturing and making use of scanner-obtained data and printer-destined data in a way that does not require code alternation of already-installed POS software, and allowing software of limited-capability POS devices to be updated without sending large, full-overwrite software images.