Patent Application
20140222673
This invention relates to automated banking machines. Specifically this invention relates to an automated banking machine apparatus, method and system for communicating information between networked banking machines using a tagless data interchange format in a banking network.
Automated banking machines are well known. Two known examples of an automated banking machine which are commonly found in banks are a teller cash recycler (TCR) and a teller cash dispenser (TCD). A TCR can be used to deposit or dispense notes to a bank customer under the supervision of a bank teller. A TCD can dispense notes only, under bank teller supervision, to a customer. A further type of automated banking machine used by customers is an automated teller machine (“ATM”). ATMs enable customers to carry out banking transactions without any assistance from a teller. Common banking transactions that may be carried out with ATMs include the dispensing of cash, the making of deposits, the transfer of finds between accounts, the payment of bills and account balance inquiries. Another type of automated banking machine may include a personal computing system operated by a teller at a bank location. Other types of automated banking machines may allow customers to charge against accounts or to transfer funds. Other types of automated banking machines may print or dispense items of value such as coupons or vouchers. For the purposes of this disclosure an automated banking machine or automated transaction machine shall encompass any device which carries out transactions including transfers of value.
Automated banking machines typically exchange information over a network to implement requested financial transactions such as cash withdrawals, cash deposits, balance inquiries, postage transactions, etc. Communication of these financial transactions between networked machines has been performed using serial datagrams. However, serially transmitted datagrams required transmittal of a defined quantum of data where extension of the quantum of data often requires reconfiguration of the entire communication system. Serial data required the use of a defined starting indicator, followed by the requisite quantum of data, and punctuated by a terminal indicator.
In order to provide more robust networks, automated banking systems began using a standardized data interchange format, such as a markup language as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,965,879 to Richards, et al. The standardized data interchange format further provided the advantage of providing interoperability in which many different types automated banking machines, potentially made by different manufacturers, were able to effectively communicate. Markup languages allowed the use of appended data, extension, inclusions, etc. that allows greater flexibility. Markup languages are defined by the use of clauses and sub clauses, each delineated with markers indicating the beginning and end of the data quantum within the clause and/or sub clause. The markup language uses tags to indicate both the initiation and conclusion of each data quantum.
Additionally, each tag is further associated with a reference identifier. For example, a markup language may direct the processor to tag 15 if a variable has one value, tag 12 if the variable has a second value, etc. Accordingly, tags are also used for navigation through a computer code execution.
However, in order to provide this robustness, markup languages, and particularly tags associated with markup languages, increase the amount of overhead data that must be transferred along the network. This increased traffic reduces throughput and increases hardware costs, reducing the efficiency of the automated banking network.
What is needed is a system and method for implementing network communication of information between automated banking machines using a tagless data interchange format. The information may be financial transaction information transmitted in a JSON data interchange format in a secure socket layer. What is further needed is such a system and method where the tagless data interchange format allows an extensible data quantum within messages.
In one aspect, the invention consists of an automated banking machine including a computer and at least one transaction function device in operative connection therewith, wherein the computer is adapted to receive at least one JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) document and to cause the at least one transaction function device to carry out a transaction function responsive to the at least one JSON document.
In one example, the transaction function device comprises a sheet dispensing mechanism and the computer is adapted to operate responsive to the at least one JSON document to cause at least one sheet to be dispensed from the automated banking machine. Other examples of a transaction function device are a visual display and a sheet accepting mechanism.
JSON is a known text-based language-independent data interchange format. It is based on a sub-set of the JavaScript programming language and is very useful for sending structural data over the Internet. It has advantages over alternative formats of being lightweight, language-independent and easy to parse. Further, as it is not a document mark-up language, it is not necessary for the programmer to define tags or attributes to represent the data therein.
JSON documents can be transported over a variety of transport layers. In one embodiment, the at least one JSON document is transported over a Secure Socket Layer (SSL). SSL has the advantage of being able to provide point to point message security. Alternatively, JSON documents may be transferred using the http secure communication protocol.
In one embodiment, the sheet comprises a banknote, and the computer is adapted to operate responsive to the at least one JSON document to cause at least one banknote to be dispensed from the automated banking machine.
In a further embodiment, the automated banking machine comprises a Teller Cash Recycler (TCR), and the computer is adapted to operate responsive to the at least one JSON document to cause cash to be dispensed from the TCR or accepted into the TCR.
In an alternative embodiment, the automated banking machine comprises an Automated Teller Machine (ATM), and the computer is adapted to operate responsive to the at least one JSON document to cause cash to be dispensed from the ATM or, for a recycling ATM, accepted into the ATM.
In a further alternative embodiment, the automated banking machine comprises a Teller Cash Dispenser (TCD) and the computer is adapted to operate responsive to the at least one JSON document to cause cash to be dispensed from the TCD.
In yet a further embodiment, the computer is adapted to receive automated banking machine configuration data and a memory is provided for storing at least a portion of said automated banking machine configuration data which has been successfully installed in order to enable rollback to a restore point if a subsequent installation attempt should fail.
An automated banking machine in accordance with the invention may receive JSON documents over one or more communication channels from a teller workstation co-located in a bank or from a remote workstation or monitoring station, for example.
Furthermore, the computer may be adapted to transmit JS ON documents over such channels to a monitoring station.
These communication channels may operate using REST (Representational State Transfer) principles. REST-style architectures are built with combinations of clients and servers, the most commonly-known implementation being the Internet.
In one embodiment, a computer implemented method is used for transmitting information between automated banking machines over a communication network. The method includes receiving a message for network communication from a first automated banking machine to a second automated banking machine, formatting the message in a tagless data interchange format independent of the size of the message based on instructions stored on a computer readable medium within the first automated banking machine, and transmitting the formatted message to the second automated banking machine.
In another embodiment, a computer-implemented system for transmitting information between automated banking machines over a communication network is provided. The system includes a first automated banking machine including a first processor configured to implement network communications using a tagless data interchange format independent of the size of the messages being transmitted based on instructions stored on a computer readable medium. The machine is configured for receiving a message for network communication from the first automated banking machine to a second automated banking machine, formatting the message in the tagless data interchange format, and transmitting the formatted message to the second automated banking machine.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating exemplary embodiments of the present invention, are given by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the present invention without departing from the spirit thereof, and the invention includes all such modifications.
Exemplary embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals represent like parts throughout light and in which:
The automated banking machine described hereinbelow is a teller cash recycler (TCR). Its primary modes of operation involve receiving a stack of banknotes and storing them in appropriate storage modules, and dispensing banknotes from those storage modules to a user, typically a bank teller. Although a particular automated banking machine is described, the systems and methods described herein may be performed using any type of automated banking machine operating in a networked environment. The systems and methods may further be used to perform both the primary modes of operation and one or more secondary modes of operation such as communication of an initial machine configuration, maintenance communications, security communications, machine inventory communications, such as banknote amounts stored therein, etc.
With reference to
Various modes of the TCR of
Banknotes which have been placed into the input module 12 are fed one by one into the upper transport mechanism 17 for conveyance past the detector module 18 to the diverter switch 19. If the banknote is recognized by the detector module 18 as a bona fide note, the diverter switch 19 directs the banknote into the safe 3 and along the lower note transport mechanism 9 to a designated RSM 7a-7f. If a banknote is to be returned to the user, the diverter switch 9 directs the banknote to the stacker 13 from which it can be collected by the user. When a banknote is to be dispensed from a roll storage module 7a-7f, it is conveyed in the reverse direction out of the RSM along the lower note transport mechanism 9, and thence to the diverter switch 19 which directs the banknote to the stacker 13 where it can be collected by the user.
Instructions which cause the TCR to perform a transaction operation, such as depositing or dispensing one or more notes, are received by the interface controller. 21. In a first example, transaction operation instructions are generated at a teller workstation co-located with the TCR 1. These instructions are transmitted to the TCR 1 over a wired connection terminating at the wired-network socket 16 on the TCR 1. In an alternative arrangement, the instructions are transmitted wirelessly and the interface controller 21 is provided with a receiver for receiving such transmissions.
In either case, the instructions comprise at least one JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) document which is transported over a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). A JSON document may be any data communication received that uses the JSON data interchange format. Alternatively, the JSON document may be transported using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (I-ITTPS) communications protocol.
JSON is a data-interchange format configured to transfer information between potentially incompatible technologies, as may be found in providing communication between a number of different machines and different types of machines, often manufactured by different entities. Multiple machines manufactured by different entities is typically found in a banking environment on both a local level, for example at a branch bank location, and a larger level, such as a regional center communicating with a large number of branch locations. For example, an originating automated banking machine may be a teller computer system executing a Java application in web browsing application and the receiver automated banking machine could be a Visual Basic program in firmware on the TCR described above, the use of JSON also allows for data to be moved across different operating systems such as, for example, Windows and Linux. Using a Datagram structure, the data structures previously needed to be defined in advance.
XML can be used to provide the required flexibility. However, despite the proliferation of programming libraries to perform many common tasks, from extracting node attributes to searching for specific data in the hierarchy, programmers are still faced with a learning curve when having to deal with the tags. Further, using tags increases network traffic overhead, which can cause difficult in environments having less robust communication networks or in environments in which copious amounts of data are being transmitted.
Advantageously, JSON does not require the use of tags that are required for other markup languages. For example, XML has been used to describe structured data and to serialize objects and various XML-based protocols exist to represent the same kind of data structures as JSON for the same kind of data interchange purposes. However, when data is encoded in XML, the result is typically larger than an equivalent encoding in JSON, mainly because of XML's opening and closing tags.
To implement the tagless communication, JSON objects are delimited by curly braces { }. The curly braces are also used to enclose function bodies causing operator overloading requiring that the transaction function device parsing the JSON objects consider context. For example, JSON uses key-value pairs to represent the data, and further uses a colon (:) separating the key-value pairs to provide the context. In contrast, a tag has a name associated with it, meaning that a search may be executed for that name in a mark-up document while { } is purely a delimiter and as such cannot be searched.
In operation, on receipt of a dispense instruction by the interface controller 21, the interface controller 21 processes the JSON document and generates further instructions for transmission to the note handling module controller 20 and note transport and storage controller 10 which in turn, activate the roll storage modules 7a-7f, diverter switch 19 and lower note transport mechanism 9 in order to dispense the amount of cash requested in the instruction. The interface controller 21 also generates a control signal for the touch screen 14 which may optionally display a “Dispense in progress” message followed, optionally, by “Dispense complete” in order to notify the teller that the transaction operation has been successful.
On receipt of a deposit, or other operational, instruction by the interface controller 21 (typically from a teller workstation), the interface controller 21 processes the JSON document and generates further instructions for transmission to the note handling module controller 20, and note transport and storage controller 10 which in turn, activate the detector module 18, the roll storage modules 7a-7f, diverter switch 19 and transport mechanisms 9 and 17 in order to authenticate and store the notes which a teller has placed in the input module 12. The interface controller 21 also generates a control signal for the touch screen 14 which, optionally, displays the value of the deposited notes to the teller.
In a second example, transaction operation instructions are generated at a remote monitoring station, such as a banking network's central computer. As in the first example, these instructions are transmitted to the TCR 1 over a wired or wireless communications channel and comprise at least one JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) document which is transported over a Secure Socket Layer (SSL.) and using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
On receipt of a dispense or deposit instruction from the remote central computer by the interface controller 21, the interface controller 21 processes the JSON document and generates further instructions for transmission as in the first example.
In a third example of an operating mode of the TCR 1 the interface controller 21 generates JSON documents and transmits them over a communications link (wired or wireless) over SSL using TCP/IP to a monitoring station. These messages include status information and the monitoring station can be a banking network's central computer or a servicing agency. Status information can typically and usefully include fault reporting, the number of the notes in each RSM and the, number of transactions performed during a particular time period.
Referring now to
In a step 302, an automated banking machine receives a financial transaction. The financial transaction may be received from a user of an automated banking machine, directly from another automated banking machine, as a component in a batch of financial transactions, etc.
In a step 304, the received financial transaction is used to generate a JSON document including the financial transaction. The JSON document may be generated using an embedded web browser including a native JSON encoding/decoding module. Advantageously, native JSON encoding/decoding increases the performance of the automated banking machine due to the fact that functions no longer need to be parsed. Alternatively, an automated banking machine may be configured to include a JSON encoder and parser configured to generate and process JSON documents.
In a step 306, the generated JSON document may be transferred from a first automated banking machine to at least a second automated banking machine. According to exemplary embodiment, the first automated banking machine may transmit the JSON document to a plurality of automated banking machines as a broadcast-type transmittal. The JSON document may be transmitted using any secure messaging communication standard, such as SSL, https, etc. The JSON document may be transmitted using point to point communication, over an established communication network such as the Internet, etc.
In a step 308, the transmitted JSON document including the financial transaction is received at at least a second automated banking machine. In a step 310, the received JSON document is parsed by the second automated banking machine to obtain the financial transaction. In a step 312, the second automated banking machine is configured to implement the financial transaction received in the JSON document.
A method of downloading and installing configuration data into the teller cash recycling machine 1 of
Configuration data typically comprises at least some of the following; machine parameters, configuration scripts, firmware, operating system (OS) updates, pattern-sets, detection process configurations. The interface controller 21 is adapted to support the following three processes: download a configuration data package from the remote source into its internal memory; install the package; and on failure of installation or on demand, rollback to the last known working configuration. A configuration data package contains two major parts; meta-data and configuration elements. The package meta-data contains the following set of information; a UUID which unambiguously identifies the configuration package, a cryptographic signature which is: used to enforce package authenticity and integrity, a version id which is used for traceability purposes, and a descriptive text: which may be displayed on the touch screen 14 to give a summary of the package content. The package's configuration elements contain the actual machine configuration data, where each configuration element targets a specific “installation target.”
A configuration package will not contain more than one configuration element per installation target. The term “installation target” refers to physical machine sub-systems such as the roll storage modules 7a-7f, and also to logical sub-systems such as the note handling module controller 20, OS, detector module configuration (e.g. pattern-sets) or interface controller access control. Depending on the particular installation target (sub-system) a configuration element might contain a variety of configuration data types. The interface controller 21 is configured to handle these transparently. Configuration elements typically carry machine parameters, configuration scripts, firmware, OS updates, pattern sets, and detection process configurations. In order to allow the interface controller 21 to handle the configuration elements transparently, each element consists of meta-information and the configuration data itself. The configuration element meta-data includes: a UUID which: unambiguously identifies the configuration element, an installation target id which identifies the logical or physical target sub-system, a priority id which is used to define an order in which configuration elements are installed and rolled-back, a list of compatibility id's which are used to check if the element may be installed on the targeted subsystem or not, a version id: used for traceability only and a descriptive text: which may be displayed on the touch screen 14 to provide the characteristics of the configuration element (e.g. “Detector module configuration package”). In certain instances it may be desired to install or rollback individual configuration elements in a certain order (e.g. OS update first then firmware then parameters). The interface controller 21 is therefore configured to install or rollback individual configuration elements in the order of increasing priority. Optionally, a configuration element may reference additional configuration data that can be executed in order to undo a previous installation.
When the interface controller 21 has received a configuration data package it will validate it and, if successful, store it in its internal memory. If the package is not valid, it will be rejected. The validation process includes two steps. Firstly, the package's signature is validated. The configuration package's meta-data includes a cryptographic signature. This protects the package content against external, unauthorized manipulation and furthermore enables an integrity check on the package content (like a check-sum). Secondly, a hardware compatibility check is done. The configuration elements' meta-data contains a list of hardware compatibility IDs. The aim of this validation is to check if the configuration package content is compatible with the machine's hardware and software configuration. This check is repeated after a successful installation.
The next process is the installation of the particular configuration package (e.g. identified by its UUID).This installation comprises the following steps: compiling a map of the state of all user level configuration parameters (based on key-value pairs); iterating over all configuration elements (sorted by its priority field) and forwarding the configuration data to the corresponding sub-system; restoring all user-level configuration parameters to the state that has been cached in the compilation step; and creating a system restore point. Conveniently, the note handling module controller 20 can act as proxy for all device-level sub-systems. In cases where the UUID of a configuration element matches the UUID of a previously installed element or previously created restore point, the installation process may be skipped. The compiling and restoring steps facilitate recovery of potential user specific settings after the package installation. However there is a potential conflict between configuration package parameters and user defined settings. To resolve the issue of which should take precedence, the interface controller 21 maintains a configurable list of parameter keys that are to be restored after the successful installation of a configuration package. Hence, only those parameters whose keys are found in the list are restored.
The creation of a system restore point allows the interface controller 21 to prepare for configuration rollbacks. A system restore point is automatically created at the end of a successful installation by simply storing the whole set of successfully installed configuration elements in the memory 22 along with the last set of user defined settings (i.e. a list of key-value pairs). Physically this works by exactly just keeping the last successfully installed configuration element per sub-system. If a full configuration package is to be installed, then the complete last restore point is replaced by the new set of configuration elements. If, however, an update configuration package which just contains a sub-set of all configuration elements is to be installed, then the process just updates the relevant configuration elements out of the last restore point.
Another option allows for user defined restore points. For example, a field engineer creates a manual restore point (e.g. saved under the corresponding time-stamp) and subsequently performs an update of the machine. If the installation is successful but after some time the customer requests to go back to the previous configuration, having the manual restore point allows rollback to this point.
Another further option involves exporting system restore points to an external storage media and re-applying them to other automated banking machines. A cryptographic signature may be applied to the exported restore point.
A process for applying a restore point in the event of a rollback will now be described. In case anything goes wrong during the installation of a configuration package, the interface controller 21 will revert all configuration elements that have already been installed (including the one that has caused the failure) to the last automatic restore point. Note that an initial restore point will be an original factory setting restore point. The rollback algorithm works as follows. The interface controller 21 iterates over the set of configuration elements (sorted by priority-id) of the last restore point and checks if the UUID of the element matches the one that is installed in the corresponding sub-system. Further, the interface controller 21 checks if the last installation state of the configuration element is set to “VALID.” If one or the other check delivers ‘false’ the configuration element is reinstalled by the one that is hosted within the last restore point. After this procedure the interface controller 21 restores the last set of user-settings from the restore point. Note that the rollback scenario requires the restoration of all user-setting as in this scenario user-settings take precedence over package settings.
As an alternative to automatic rollbacks in cases of installation failures, rollback to a manual restore point, or rollback to an exported restore point can be implemented. The rollback procedure can advantageously provide a tool for automatically recovering the machine in cases of hardware repairs (e.g. replacement of PCBs or complete modules etc. in the field).
In a further embodiment, the teller cash recycling machine 1 of
A refinement to the authorization procedure described above can be provided as follows. The sequence of numbers which are displayed on the internal display 11 and entered into the touch screen 14 (or via other means such as a connected PC) are used by the interface controller 21 and the transport and storage controller 10 to compute a symmetrical secret key. This key is used by the interface controller 21 to encrypt its own serial number and that of the note transport and storage controller 10. Data comprising these encrypted serial numbers are then transmitted from the interface controller 21 to the note transport and storage controller 10 for validation.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2012/001432 | 7/24/2012 | WO | 00 | 4/9/2014 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61513023 | Jul 2011 | US |
