Granted Patent B2

US 9,680,660 · App. 12/004,366 · Granted Jun 13, 2017

Abstract

Claims (29)

1. A method of operating a self-service terminal, the method comprising:

receiving commands from a host at a communication stack of the self-service terminal, the commands relating to actions for the self-service terminal to perform in the form of device functions usable by a management application and screens the self-service terminal is to display while performing the actions;

receiving management information from the management application of the self-service terminal via the communications stack of the self-service terminal, wherein the communications stack has an Internet Protocol (FP) address and supports communication with the management application using Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Internet Protocol (IP) (TCP/IP) to obtain the management information from the management application, wherein the management information including a type of device identifier, a status code, and a time at which a fault occurred;

preparing a message using a different protocol for transmission across a network between the self-service terminal and a host, where the message includes the management information from the communications stack, wherein the network is a legacy network that does not support TCP/IP;

transmitting the message to the host via the network by sending the message as an incident trap back to the communications stack where it is processed as an unsolicited message that is sent to the host over the network from the communications stack, wherein the unsolicited message includes a special identifier to indicate that the unsolicited message includes the management information and that the unsolicited message is to be forwarded to a management centre by the host;

receiving the message prepared using the different protocol at the host;

parsing the message to ascertain if the message contains management information, wherein the step of parsing the received message to ascertain if the message contains management information includes ascertaining if a predetermined device identifier is associated with the message;

in the event that the message contains management information, forwarding the management information to a remote management centre responsible for maintaining the self-service terminal in normal operation;

utilizing, by the management centre, at least the status code to ascertain an action to be taken to remedy the fault; and

transmitting, by the management centre, a text message to a service technician, the text message including the management information and the remedy.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the management application is a simple network management protocol (SNMP) agent.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving management information via the communications stack includes monitoring the communications stack for messages received at a predetermined port.

4. method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of preparing a message using a different protocol for transmission across a network includes encrypting the management information.

5. A self-service terminal system, the system comprising:

a management centre;

a host coupled by a legacy network to a plurality of self-service terminals, each of the self-service terminals controlled by the host using a request sent the self-service terminals;

each of the self-service terminals including:

a plurality of devices, each device providing management information, wherein the management information includes a type of device identifier, a status code, and a time at which a fault occurred while executing the request,

a management agent adapted to monitor the plurality of devices and to create and transmit a notification in the event that management information from a device indicates the fault occurred, wherein the management agent only supports communication using Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP),

a communications stack having an IP address for receiving the transmitted notification from the management agent and receiving the request; and

a self-service terminal application adapted to:

receiving commands from the host at the communication stack, the commands relating to actions for the self-service terminal to perform in the form of device functions usable by a management application and screens the self-service terminal is to display while performing the actions;

monitor the communications stack to receive the transmitted notification and commands,

package the notification within a host message conforming to a host messaging format, and

transmit the host message to the host via the legacy network by sending the host message that conforms to the host messaging format back to the communications stack as an incident trap to be processed as an unsolicited message to deliver to the host from the communications stack, wherein the unsolicited message includes a special identifier to indicate that the unsolicited message includes the management information and that the unsolicited message is to be forwarded to a management centre by the host,

wherein the management centre is operable to:

utilize at least the status code to ascertain an action to be taken to remedy the fault, and

transmit a text message to a service technician, the text message including the management information and the remedy,

wherein transmitting the host message to the host via the network by sending the host message as the incident trap back to the communications stack comprises accessing, by the communications stack, a loopback adapter driver to allow the management application to send the host message to a virtual IP address, wherein the virtual IP address does not have corresponding hardware and is configured to be a loopback adapter IP address.

Assignments (9)