Information management and entertainment system

1. An information management and entertainment system comprising a plurality of user terminals, and a switching system having interfaces for receiving media streams and for routing the streams to the terminals, wherein:

the switching system comprises a core switch;

the terminals are connected to the core switch by edge switches;

the system comprises at least one management server connected to the core switch and being adapted to route for control signals to components of the system,

the core switch and the management server are adapted for bi-directional communication, and the management server is adapted to transmit control signals to the core switch,

the management server and the terminals execute a middleware engine for communication within the system, and

the middleware engine comprises a services processor executing on the management server and functions executing on the terminals for controlling provision of information management and entertainment services to users via the terminals,

wherein the middleware engine services processor automatically maintains a transaction database in a database server, each record of which relates to a user service transaction,

wherein the middleware engine comprises a secure data processor having a function on each terminal for authorizing access by a person having high-security access, and functions executing on the management server for allowing access to high-security data upon authorization by a terminal,

wherein said secure data processor is adapted to limit high-security data access to database records associated with a user linked with the terminal which receives the high-security data access request,

wherein the secure data processor is adapted to determine said linking by verifying an association between a user and a terminal, and wherein said verification is performed by reference to the user profile database,

wherein the services processor comprises update functions executing on the terminals and said update functions automatically transmit live status updates to services processor functions executing on the server, and said functions log the updates; and wherein the updates are triggered according to time and according to service transaction events; and wherein the server-executing functions automatically parse the updates to determine update data and wherein server-executing functions use the updates to verify user-requested transactions.

2. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein:

the system further comprises at least one vending machine for vending user cards for usage of services,

the vending machine writes a unique user identifier to each card,

each terminal comprises a card reader, and

the terminal middleware functions receive and validate a card and allow provision of services upon validation of a card.

3. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the services processor automatically accesses data in an external database to verify a card.

4. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the terminal middleware functions allow provision of services up to a limit set by a credit amount read from a card.

5. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the vending machine writes the user identifier comprising a component having a card factory-set identifier and a component freshly-generated upon issuance of the card.

6. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the vending machine writes the user identifier comprising a component having a card factory-set identifier and a component freshly-generated upon issuance of the card; and wherein the freshly-generated component is a value which is incremented from a previous value, and said value is not used again by the system.

7. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the vending machine comprises a receiver for receiving used cards, and a card issuer for re-issuing said cards with a different user identifiers.

8. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein: the vending machine comprises a receiver for receiving used cards, and a card issuer for re-issuing said cards with different user identifiers; and wherein the services processor automatically terminates a user on the system upon return of the user's card.

9. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 2 wherein: the vending machine comprises a receiver for receiving used cards, and a card issuer for re-issuing said cards with different user identifiers; and wherein the services processor automatically terminates a user on the system upon return of the user's card; and wherein the services processor automatically terminates a user upon polling an external database of user data and if said external database indicates that the user should be terminated.

10. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the middleware engine services processor comprises a function executing on each terminal for validating a presented card, functions executing on the server and on the terminal for prompting input of user profile data to establish a user profile upon first presentation of a card, and middleware engine server functions identify the user by the card identifier.

11. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 1 , each record of the vendor log database relates to a transaction involving a card vending machine, including a credit amount read from the card.

12. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the middleware engine services processor automatically maintains a vendor log database, each record of which relates to a transaction involving a card vending machine, including a credit amount read from the card; and wherein the middleware engine services processor dynamically manages service provision to the terminals according to real time updating of the transaction and vendor log databases, writing of fresh records to these databases allowing provision of fresh services after validation by the middleware engine with reference to the user profile database.

13. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the secure data processor validates a high-security card presented to a card reader in the terminal.

14. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the services processor comprises update functions executing on the terminals and on the vending machines, and said update functions automatically transmit live status updates to services processor functions executing on the server, and said functions log the updates.

15. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the services processor functions communicate within the system using the http protocol.

16. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the switching system comprises a local area network core switch and local area network edge switches linked with the terminals.

17. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the switching system comprises a local area network core switch and local area network edge switches linked with the terminals; and wherein the local area network core switch is connected to a TV head-end, in turn linked with broadcast networks, and said core switch is also connected to a VoIP gateway.

18. The information management and entertainment system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the switching system comprises a local area network core switch and local area network edge switches linked with the terminals; and wherein the local area network core switch is connected to a TV head-end, in turn linked with broadcast networks, and said core switch is also connected to a VoIP gateway; and wherein the VoIP gateway is connected to an integrated voice response system.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising software code for performing operations of a middleware engine of a system of claim 1 when executing on a digital processor.