Interface module, system and method

1. A sales processing system, comprising:

at least one processor configured to implement a communication interface module, the communication interface module comprising component modules including:

a first interface module operable to support a first protocol for communication with a sales processing module of the sales processing system;

a second interface module operable to support a second protocol for communication with a payment system;

a third interface module operable to support a third protocol for communication with a transaction system for external services and operable to extend a communication ability of the sales processing system to the transaction system for external services, the external services including an element selected from the group consisting of a direct currency conversion host and a tax-free shopping host; and

a routing module operable to:

receive incoming messages from the first, second and third interface modules, the incoming messages having corresponding incoming message protocols;

determine corresponding destinations for the incoming messages;

transform the incoming messages into outgoing messages having corresponding outgoing message protocols, wherein the outgoing message protocols are determined based on source and destination information from the incoming messages; and

transmit the outgoing messages to the determined destinations;

wherein the routing module includes message type entries accessible based on message identifiers from the incoming messages, the message type entries defining respective message types; and

wherein the routing module includes field definition entries accessible based on field identifiers from the incoming messages, the field definition entries defining contents of respective message fields.

2. The sales processing system of claim 1 , wherein the routing module includes a route management module and a mapping module.

3. The sales processing system of claim 2 , wherein:

the route management module is configured to perform the receiving the incoming messages, the determining the corresponding destinations, and the transmitting the outgoing messages; and

the mapping module is configured to perform the transforming the incoming messages.

4. The sales processing system of claim 3 , wherein the mapping module is configurable using information from a configuration host system to enable transformation of different types of incoming messages.

5. The sales processing system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the component modules of the communications interface module is configurable using configuration information from a configuration host system.

6. The sales processing system of claim 1 wherein at least one of said modules comprises a computer program.

7. The sales processing system of claim 1 , further comprising the sales processing module, wherein the sales processing module is operationally connected to the first interface module.

8. The sales processing system of claim 7 , wherein the sales processing module is further configured to communicate with a remote server system.

9. The sales processing system of claim 7 , wherein the sales processing module is configured as a sales processing terminal.

10. The sales processing system of claim 7 , further comprising the payment system, wherein the payment system is operationally connected to the second interface module.

11. The sales processing system of claim 10 , wherein the payment system comprises a card payment terminal.

12. The sales processing system of claim 10 , further comprising the transaction system that is operationally connected to the third interface module.

13. The sales processing system of claim 10 , further comprising a configuration host system that is operationally connected to the third interface module.

14. A method of operating a sales processing system, wherein the method comprises:

controlling, by one or more processors, routing of messages between first, second and third interface modules of a communication interface module, wherein the controlling includes reformatting of the messages in accordance with first, second and third protocols, respectively, and wherein:

the first interface module supports a first protocol for communication with a sales processing module of the sales processing system;

the second interface module supports a second protocol for communication with a payment system; and

the third interface module supports a third protocol for communication with a transaction system for external services, the third interface module being operable to extend a communication ability of the sales processing system to the transaction system for external services, the transaction system including an element selected from the group consisting of a direct currency conversion host and a tax-free shopping host; wherein routing a message between the first, second and third interface modules includes:

receiving the message from one of the first, second and third interface modules, the message having an incoming message protocol, a message identifier usable to access a message type entry defining a respective message type, and field identifiers usable to access message field definition entries defining contents of respective message fields;

determining, by the one or more processors, a destination for the message;

transforming, by the one or more processors the message into an outgoing message having an outgoing message protocol, wherein the outgoing message protocol is determined based on source and destination information from the received message; and

transmitting, by the one or more processors, the outgoing message to the determined destination.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising configuring the communication interface module using configuration information provided from a configuration host system.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the configuration information is provided by the configuration host system in response to a configuration initialization request identifying an implementation configuration.