WEB SITE-REAL WORLD INTERFACING

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to interfacing between websites and physical operations in the real world. In particular, the present invention relates to interfacing between third party websites running third party applications and terminals that perform physical operations in the real world, such as, but not limited to the printing and scanning of documents, such as tickets, reading barcodes and receiving and dispensing money. However, other applications are also envisaged.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

The use of communication networks, such as the Internet, local and wide area networks, are now an everyday occurrence for many people in their day to day activities, from online banking and shopping, to the booking of travel arrangements and entertainment. For example, one commonplace online activity is the booking of tickets for a cultural performance, sporting event or air travel. Using a computer, smartphone or other suitably equipped device, typically a user accesses the website of a venue, such as a sports ground, theatre or museum or an organization, such as an airline, that allows the booking of tickets for an event at that venue or with that airline. Alternatively, a user accesses the website of a ticketing organization that allows the booking of tickets for a range of events at a number of different venues or with a range of airlines. Once the ticket has been booked, the user can pay for the ticket via the website using a credit, debit or gift card or an electronic payment mechanism, such as PayPal or BPay. Alternatively, the user can pay for their tickets when collecting the tickets at the venue. The user can often print their own tickets, boarding passes or the like, for example via their home printer, or print the tickets at the venue. For example, after checking in for a flight online, boarding passes can be printed at home or at an airport from a machine provided by the airline.

One problem with the above arrangement is that each venue and organization must set up appropriate systems to facilitate such activities which must comply with various regulations and standards. Such systems are replicated by each organization, such as each vendor or service provider in each group or category, such as each bank, each airline, and each sporting venue. Furthermore, when there is a software update required for the system, every machine, such as every ticket printing machine, must be updated individually. Such requirements are time consuming, expensive and inefficient.

Furthermore, many websites simply do not currently interface with hardware, such as ticket printing machines at remote locations or do so at an unsophisticated level. OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is a preferred object of the present invention to provide a system and/or a method and/or an apparatus that addresses or at least ameliorates one or more of the aforementioned problems of the prior art.

It is a preferred object of the present invention to provide a system and/or a method and/or an apparatus that interface(s) between a plurality of third party websites and terminals in the real world that automatically perform physical operations, such as but not limited to, receiving and/or dispensing money and/or money substitutes, such as tokens, printing tickets, scanning barcodes and/or reading magnetic strips.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Generally, embodiments of the present invention relate to systems, methods and apparatus for enabling and managing a plurality of third party servers running third party applications to interface with terminals in the real world that automatically perform physical operations, such as printing and/or scanning tickets, scanning barcodes, reading magnetic strips and/or chips, receiving and/or dispensing money or money substitutes, such as tokens.

According to one aspect, but not necessarily the broadest aspect, the invention resides in a system to automate the performance of physical operations on one or more terminals effected over a communications network, the system including:

a management server including operational logic for performing the physical operations and a web service application programming interface; a plurality of third party servers coupled to be in communication with the management server via the communications network, wherein each third party server is pre-registered with the management server and has a respective third party application residing thereon including transactional logic for performing transactions associated with the physical operations; wherein the one or more terminals for performing one or more physical operations are coupled to be in communication and registered with the management server via the communications network, each terminal including a hardware interface; and

wherein in response to communication with one of the third party applications on one of the third party servers via the web service application programming interface and communication with one of the terminals via a respective hardware interface, the management server manages the performance of a physical operation performed automatically by the respective terminal.

Suitably, the physical operations performed by the terminals via the operational logic on the management server include one or more of the following: receiving or dispensing cash, such as bank notes and/or coins; receiving or dispensing a cash substitute, such as tokens and/or chips; printing a document or ticket; reading a barcode or magnetic strip; detecting a signal, such as a radio frequency (RF) signal.

Preferably, the operational logic of the management server provides regulated access for the third party applications over the communications network to the terminals. Preferably, each web service application programming interface is a RESTful interface conforming to Representational State Transfer (REST) software architecture constraints.

Suitably, the web service application programming interface of the management server receives a web service request from third party applications pre-registered with the management server and communicates responses from the hardware interfaces of the relevant terminals to the third party applications.

Preferably, the system further comprises a master control server coupled to be in communication with the management server via the communications network for one or more of the following: management, authentication and/or updating of the management servers; reporting and/or monitoring of the management servers and/or terminals; configuration of terminals, management servers and/or access.

According to another aspect, but not necessarily the broadest aspect, the invention resides in an apparatus for managing and automating the performance of physical operations by one or more terminals effected over a communications network, the apparatus including:

operational logic for performing the physical operations and a web service application programming interface for:

receiving web service requests from one of a plurality of third party servers coupled to be in communication with the apparatus via the communications network, wherein the third party server transmitting the web service requests is pre-registered with the apparatus and the third party server includes a respective third party application residing thereon including transactional logic for performing transactions associated with the physical operations; and communicating with a respective hardware interface of one or more terminals to automatically perform one or more physical operations, each terminal coupled to be in communication with the apparatus via the communications network and registered with the apparatus.

According to a further aspect, but not necessarily the broadest aspect, the invention resides in an apparatus for managing communications between one or more terminals and a plurality of third party servers, the one or more terminals and the plurality of third party servers pre-registered with the apparatus and coupled to be in communication with the apparatus via a communications network, the apparatus including operational logic for performing the physical operations and a web service application programming interface for:

communicating with a respective hardware interface of one of the terminals in response to the terminal automatically performing a physical operation; and

communicating with one of the plurality of third party servers in response to the physical operation automatically performed by the terminal, wherein the third party server includes a respective third party application related to the physical operation performed by the terminal including transactional logic for performing transactions associated with the physical operations.

According to a yet further aspect, but not necessarily the broadest aspect, the invention resides in a method for managing and automating the performance of physical operations by one or more terminals over a communications network, the method including:

a web service application programming interface of a management server receiving a web service request from one of a plurality of third party servers coupled to be in communication with the management server via the communications network, each third party server including a respective third party application residing thereon including transactional logic for performing transactions associated with the physical operations and each third party server is pre-registered with the management server; and

the management server including operational logic for performing the physical operations and the web service application programming interface of the management server communicating with a respective hardware interface of one or more terminals coupled to be in communication with the management server via the communications network to perform one or more physical operations automatically, wherein each terminal is pre-registered with the management server.

According to another aspect, but not necessarily the broadest aspect, the invention resides in a method for managing and automating the performance of physical operations by a terminal over a communications network, the method including:

a respective hardware interface of the terminal communicating with a web service application programming interface of a management server in response to the terminal automatically performing a physical operation, the terminal registered with the management server; and

the web service application programming interface of the management server communicating with one of a plurality of third party servers in response to the physical operation performed by the terminal, wherein each third party server includes a respective third party application thereon including transactional logic for performing transactions associated with the physical operations.

Further aspects and/or features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the invention may be readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numbers refer to identical elements. The drawings are provided by way of example only, wherein:

FIG 1 is a schematic diagram of a system to automatically perform physical operations over a communications network in accordance with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG 2 is another schematic diagram of the system according to embodiments of the present invention; FIG 3 is a further schematic diagram of the system according to embodiments of the present invention showing functionality of various elements of the system; and

FIGS 4 and 5 are general flow diagram illustrating methods according to embodiments of the present invention.

Skilled addressees will appreciate that elements in the drawings are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the relative dimensions of some of the elements in the drawings may be distorted to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to systems, methods and apparatus for enabling and managing a plurality of third party servers running third party applications to interface with terminals in the real world that automatically perform physical operations, such as, but not limited to printing and/or scanning tickets, scanning barcodes, reading magnetic strips and/or chips, detecting a signal, such as a radio frequency (RF) signal, receiving and/or dispensing money, such as notes and/or coins, or receiving and/or dispensing money substitutes, such as tokens and/or chips.

In this specification, references will be made to communications between various elements via one or more communications networks. In some embodiments, the communications network is the Internet. However, the present invention is not limited to communications via the Internet and the use of other communications networks is envisaged, such as, but not limited to one or more of public communications networks, private communications networks, local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), management area networks (MANs), intranets, extranets or any combination thereof as are known to the skilled addressee and which can be implemented via known wired and/or wireless communication means. Consequently, references herein to websites are not limited to websites that can only be accessed via the Internet.

It should also be appreciated that in the described embodiments, third party servers comprising third party applications hosting third party websites and the terminals performing physical operations can be in the same location, such as the same sporting venue, theatre, airport etc., or can be in different locations remote from each other.

With reference to FIG 1 and in accordance with one aspect, embodiments of the invention reside in a system 10 to automate the performance of physical operations by one or more terminals 18 effected over one or more communications networks 12, such as the Internet, intranets, WANs, LANs etc. The system 10 includes one or more management servers 14 coupled to be in communication with a plurality of third party servers 16 via the one or more communications networks 12. Each third party server 16 is pre-registered with one of the management servers 14 and has a respective third party application residing thereon including transactional logic for performing transactions associated with the physical operations.

The system 10 includes one or more terminals 18 for automatically performing one or more physical operations, such as, but not limited to printing and/or scanning tickets, scanning barcodes, reading magnetic strips and/or chips, receiving and/or dispensing money, such as notes or coins, or receiving and/or dispensing money substitutes, such as tokens. Each terminal 18 is coupled to be in communication with one of the management servers 14 via one or more of the communications networks 12. Each terminal 18 is pre-registered with one of the management servers 14. The management servers can operate on a white list basis such that only the terminals 18 registered with a particular management server 14 can be served by that server and all other terminals are denied. Each terminal 18 can be located at one of a plurality of venues 20, such as, but not limited to sporting venues, performance venues, such as theatres and cinemas, transport venues, such as airports, train stations and bus stations, shopping malls, individual retailers or wholesalers etc.

The system 10 further comprises a master control server 22 coupled to be in communication with each management server 14 via the one or more communications networks 12 for one or more of the following, which will be described in further detail herein: management, authentication and/or updating of the management servers 14; reporting and/or monitoring of the management servers 14 and/or the terminals 18; configuration of terminals 18 and/or management servers 14; system updates and/or access.

As indicated in FIG 1 , all communications between elements of the system 10 are secure. For example, communications between management servers 14, terminals 18, venues 20 and the master control server 22 can use secure and encrypted tunneling protocols and communications via the Internet, for example, can utilize secure sockets layer (SSL) based encryption. However, other encryption and/or tunneling protocols can be employed to maximize the security of communications within the system 10.

With reference to FIG 2, management servers 14 are responsible for all communication between the outside world and the third party applications as well as maintaining the integrity of and upgrading the software of the terminals 18. Each management server 14 includes operational logic for managing the performance of the physical operations by the terminals 18 and a respective web service application programming interface (API) 24. In preferred embodiments, the web service interface 24 is a RESTful interface conforming to Representational State Transfer (REST) software architecture constraints. However, it will be appreciated that other types of web service interface 24 can be employed.

As illustrated in FIG 2, each terminal 18 includes a respective hardware application programming interface (API) 26 which manages all messages to and from the terminal 18 The terminal 18 can perform one or more physical operations depending on the purpose of the terminal. The hardware interface 26 is therefore in communication with one or more modules or devices for performing such physical operations, such as, but not limited to a printer 28, a bank note acceptor (BNA) 30, a barcode scanner 32, a ticket scanner 34 and/or a magnetic card reader 36. The modules or devices may be integrated with or connected to the respective terminal 18.

Each management server 14 provides regulated access for the third party applications over the one or more communications networks 12.

When one of the third party servers 6 is registered with a respective one of the management servers 14, in some scenarios, the web service interface 24 receives web service requests from the third party server 16 running the third party application software. The third party application can be stand alone or running in a browser and in some scenarios uses web service calls to operate the terminals 18. The web service interface 24 communicates with the hardware interface 26 of the relevant terminal(s) 8 to cause the respective terminal(s) 18 to automatically perform the required physical operation(s) without the need for human intervention, such as a teller or attendant receiving money, performing a service and/or dispensing change.

Responses from the hardware interfaces 26 of the relevant terminals 18 to the third party applications of the third party servers 16 also pass through the web service interface 24 of the respective management server 14. In other scenarios, the initiating action is the performance of a physical operation by the terminal 18, such as the reading of a barcode, which causes communication with the third party server 16 via the hardware interface 26 of the relevant terminal 18 and the web service interface 24 of the relevant management server 14 with which the terminal is registered.

As shown in FIG 2, the management servers 14 also comprises a callback application programming interface (API) 38 to manage callbacks from the hardware interface 26 of the terminal 18 for any hardware event, such as user interactions and activity as well as faults.

Hence, according to another aspect, embodiments of the invention reside in an apparatus in the form of the management server 14 for managing and automating the performance of physical operations effected by terminals 18 over one or more communications networks 12. The apparatus 14 includes operational logic for performing the physical operations and the web service interface 24 for receiving web service requests from one of a plurality of third party servers 16 coupled to be in communication with the apparatus 14 via the communications network(s) 12. As described above, the third party server 16 transmitting the web service requests is pre-registered with the apparatus 14 and the third party server 16 includes respective third party application software residing thereon, which is independent of, and not under the control of, the respective management server 14. The third party server 16 also includes transactional logic for performing transactions associated with the physical operations performed by the terminals 18. The web service interface 24 communicates with a respective hardware interface 26 of one or more terminals 18 to automatically perform one or more physical operations. As described above, each terminal 18 is coupled to be in communication with the apparatus 14 via one or more communications networks 12 and is pre-registered with the apparatus 14.

According to a further aspect, embodiments of the invention reside in an apparatus in the form of the management server 14 for managing communications between one or more terminals 18 and a plurality of third party servers 16. As described above, the one or more terminals 18 and the plurality of third party servers 14 are pre-registered with the apparatus 14 and are coupled to be in communication with the apparatus 14 via one or more communications networks 12. The apparatus 14 includes operational logic for performing the physical operations and the web service interface 24 for communicating with a respective hardware interface 26 of one of the terminals 18 in response to the terminal automatically performing one or more physical operations. Subsequently, in response to the one or more physical operations performed by the terminal 18, the hardware interface 26 communicates with one of the plurality of third party servers 16 running the applicable third party application software via the web service interface 24 of the respective management server 14.

According to some embodiments, terminals 18 are grouped to a management server 14 with which they are registered and then sub-grouped again dependant on the hardware profiles of the terminals 8. The hardware profiles describe the hardware that exists in a particular group of terminals 18 and the software update versions that are compatible according to the associated update profile.

FIG 3 illustrates some examples of the functionality of the management server 14, third party web servers 16, terminals 18 and master control server 22 as described herein. However, it will be appreciated that at least some variations from the specified functionality are envisaged whilst remaining within the scope of the present invention. For example, other secure communication protocols can be employed and other types of hardware interfaces can be utilised.

According to another aspect, embodiments of the present invention reside in methods for managing the performance of physical operations effected over one or more communications networks 12. Such methods will be described with reference to some specific examples and to FIGS 4 and 5.

Referring to FIG 4, in some embodiments, such methods 40 can include at step 42 the web service interface 24 of one of the management servers 14 receiving a web service request from one of a plurality of the third party servers 6 coupled to be in communication with, and registered with, the management server 14. The web service request can be a RESTful web service request. The web service request can be defined using a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) if required.

The method 40 includes at step 44 the web service interface 24 of the management server 14 communicating with the respective hardware interface 26 of one or more of the terminals 18 coupled to be in communication with and registered with the management server 14 via the communications network to automatically perform one or more physical operations in accordance with the web service request. This can be any physical operation of which the terminal is capable, such as dispensing a product ordered via the third party application, printing a ticket or voucher etc.

Referring to FIG 5, in some embodiments, such methods 50 can include at step 52 the respective hardware interface 26 of the terminal 18 communicating with the web service interface 24 of the management server 1 with which the terminal is registered in response to the terminal 18 performing a physical operation. For example, a user/customer can be at a venue, such as a sporting venue or shopping mall, and scan a barcode on a ticket or voucher via the terminal 18. The physical operation of scanning the barcode causes the terminal 18 to communicate with the management server 14 as described.

Methods 50 can include at step 54 the web service interface 24 of the management server 14 communicating with one of a plurality of third party servers 16 in response to the physical operation performed by the terminal 18. The third party application on the third party server 16 can then cause a further physical operation to be performed by the terminal 18 as a consequence at step 56. For example, the initial scanning of the barcode can entitle the user/customer to an award, such as a free meal, a discount on a subsequent purchase, a seat upgrade, bonus loyalty points, a monetary reward etc. This can be effected via the terminal 18, for example by the printing of a voucher or the addition of points or money to a loyalty or payment card inserted into the terminal 18 etc.

It will be appreciated that a wide range of physical operations can be effected by the terminals 18 for a wide variety of third party applications running on third party servers 16 and the examples provided herein are by no means an exhaustive list.

The master control server 22 directs terminals 18 to the appropriate management server 14 with which the terminal will be registered. The master control server 22 also manages updates to and authentication of all of the management servers 14 in the system 10 as well as reporting, monitoring and alerts received from the terminals 18 via the respective management servers 14. In some embodiments, the master control server 22 comprises a client control panel that allows client servers 16 to review reports on terminals 18 used by that client server. It will be appreciated that multiple, unrelated client servers 16 can use the same terminals 18. However, reporting for each separate server 16 is available because such activity relates to the third party application operated by each respective server 16. The master control server 22 can also comprise an administrator's control panel that allows configuration of terminals 18, management servers 14, client access and proxy access lists. The master control server 22 also enables a disaster recovery plan to be implemented whereby a redundant system facilitates database replication and important file synchronisation.

Communication within the system 10 according to embodiments of the present invention can be synchronous whereby, for example, the physical operation is performed by the terminal 18 substantially immediately following instructions received from the third party application via the management server 14 as described herein. Alternatively, communication within the system 10 can be asynchronous whereby, for example, the physical operation is performed by the terminal 18 at some later time following instructions received from the third party application on the third party server 16. Conversely, it can be the third party application that performs some event or action synchronously or asynchronously with a physical operation performed by the terminal 18, i.e. processes can be initiated by the terminal 18 or by the third party application.

It will be appreciated that the management server 14, third party servers 16 and terminals 18 can comprise storage media in the form of memories comprising computer readable media. The computer readable media comprise computer readable program code components at least some of which are selectively executed by respective processors to cause the execution of embodiments of the present invention described herein. According to some embodiments, Error Correction Code (ECC) RAM is used and checked at regular intervals for memory corruption.

Hence, the systems, methods and apparatus according to embodiments of the present invention thus provide solutions to the aforementioned problems of the prior art by providing one or more management servers 14 with which a plurality of third party servers 16 running third party application software can be registered. A plurality of terminals for performing physical operations, such as printing, scanning, receiving and/or dispensing money and the like, as described herein, are also registered with a respective management server 14. The management server 14 in conjunction with the master control server 22 of the system 10 manages and monitors all interactions between the third party servers 16 and the terminals 18. Embodiments of the present invention enable physical operations to be performed automatically by the terminals 18 thus providing an interface between the third party application software of multiple unrelated vendors and multiple terminals without the need for human intervention in the form of a teller, attendant or other service personnel. The terminals 18 can be located remotely from the third party servers 16 and/or the management server 14 or in the vicinity of each other as required.

In embodiments of the present invention, local transactions and operations via a browser on the terminals 18, whether they be currency or token based and whether they be exchanged for services, money or tokens via the terminals are pushed to the remote third party servers 16. The third party servers 16 use the web service API on the management server 14 to automatically perform the physical operations on the terminal 18. These transactions do not require human intervention and so provide significant cost-savings. Terminals 18 can receive notes, change, credit cards, eftpos, tokens and/or read barcodes automatically and transmit data relating to the payment received to the relevant third party server 16 to process the transaction. The third party server 16 communicates with the management server 14 to manage performance of the resultant operation by the terminal 18, such as print receipts, print tokens and/or dispense cash.

Hence, embodiments of the present invention remove both the functional and regulatory burdens typically encountered by vendors associated with implementing interfaces between third party application software, such as websites, and terminals performing physical operations. A single management server 14 can service multiple, unrelated third party servers and provide an interface to multiple, remotely located terminals to provide a wide range of physical operations.

When system updates are required, these can be performed centrally via the management server 14 thus obviating the need for each third party to update each terminal 18, which can be many in number and widely distributed.

Therefore, embodiments of the present invention improve the efficiency of rolling out such systems, in particular to new market entrants, and significantly reduce the associated costs of implementation and maintenance of such systems. It is envisaged that a wide array of vendors can utilise embodiments of the present invention thus increasing competition in the marketplace and providing greater flexibility to both vendors and users/consumers.

Embodiments of the present invention thus benefit users and society as a whole by facilitating efficient, regulated interactions between third party application software and terminals performing physical operations, thus contributing to the economic benefit of each country in which the invention is implemented.

In this specification, the terms "comprises", "comprising" or similar terms are intended to mean a non-exclusive inclusion, such that an apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include those elements solely, but may well include other elements not listed.

The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that the prior art forms part of the common general knowledge.

Throughout the specification the aim has been to describe the invention without limiting the invention to any one embodiment or specific collection of features. Persons skilled in the relevant art may realize variations from the specific embodiments that will nonetheless fall within the scope of the invention.