Point of sale system

1. A point of sale system for facilitating interactions between a customer and a merchant in a payment transaction, and for communicating with a payment server to complete the transaction, the point of sale system comprising:

a central processor configured to execute an operating system that is configured to manage operating functions of the point of sale system, and further to execute a transaction engine configured to manage payment transaction specific functions of the point of sale system;

a payment object processor communicatively coupled to the central processor, wherein the payment object processor is configured to be controlled at least in part by the transaction engine via a driver of the operating system;

a payment object reader interface communicatively coupled to the payment object processor, wherein the payment object reader interface is configured to be controlled at least in part by the transaction engine via a driver of the operating system and via the payment object processor;

a touch screen communicatively coupled to the central processor, wherein the touch screen is configured to be controlled at least in part by the transaction engine via a driver of the operating system; and

a communication device communicatively coupled to the central processor and to the payment server, wherein the communication device is configured to be controlled at least in part by the transaction engine via a driver of the operating system,

whereby the central processor controls the touch screen to display payment transaction information on the touch screen, the payment object processor controls the payment object reader to receive payment object information and transmit the payment object information to the central processor via the payment object processor, and the central processor controls the communication device to transmit the payment object information and payment transaction information to the payment server.

2. The point of sale system of claim 1 , wherein the operating system coordinates access of the transaction engine to a privileged layer defined by the operating system.

3. The point of sale system of claim 2 , wherein the central processor is configured to execute, in coordination with the transaction engine, an application configured to manage at least one of web browsing functions, messaging functions, and email functions of the point of sale system.

4. The point of sale system of claim 1 , wherein the payment object processor is configured to encrypt payment object information before sending the payment object information to the central processor, and the central processor is configured to transmit the encrypted payment object information to the payment server.

5. The point of sale system of claim 1 comprising:

wake up electronics configured to wake up at least one component of the point of sale system.

6. The point of sale system of claim 1 comprising:

a battery electrically connected to the central processor and the payment object processor.

7. The point of sale system of claim 1 comprising a biometric scanner.

8. The point of sale system of claim 1 , wherein the touch screen is configured to accept numbers, characters, or signatures input by the customer.

9. The point of sale system of claim 1 , wherein the payment object processor is configured to detect attempts to tamper with the point of sale system.

10. The point of sale system of claim 1 , wherein the point of sale system is associated with a unique identifier, and

the payment object processor is configured to encrypt at least a portion of the payment object information using a cryptographic key, to generate encrypted financial transaction data, the payment object processor is configured to transmit the encrypted financial transaction data to the central processor, and

the central processor is configured to transmit the encrypted financial transaction data along with the non-encrypted unique identifier to the payment server using the communication device.

11. The point of sale system of claim 10 , wherein the payment object processor is configured to run a checksum on the cryptographic key to ensure the cryptographic key has not been modified.

12. The point of sale system of claim 4 , wherein the wake-up electronics are configured to signal the payment object processor to put the payment object processor into an active mode from a sleep mode, and back into the sleep mode.

13. The point of sale system of claim 1 , wherein the payment object reader interface is a magnetic stripe reader.

14. A method executed by a point of sale system device for conducting a payment transaction, the method comprising:

executing, by the central processor, an operating system configured to manage operating functions of the point of sale system, and a transaction engine configured to manage payment transaction specific functions of the point of sale system;

presenting, by the transaction engine, payment transaction information on a touch screen, the payment transaction information inviting a payment object to be applied to the payment transaction;

reading payment object information from a payment object by a payment object reader;

transmitting, by the payment object processor, the payment object information to the central processor;

receiving by the central processor, the payment object information from the payment object reader from a payment object processor; and

instructing, by the central processor, a communication device under the control of the operating system to transmit the payment object information and payment transaction information to a payment server.

15. The method of claim 14 comprising:

wherein the operating system coordinates access of the transaction engine to a privileged layer defined by the operating system.

16. The method of claim 14 comprising:

executing instructions by the payment object processor, the instructions cause the payment object processor to perform the receiving the payment object information and the transmitting the payment object information, the instructions further cause the payment object processor to encrypt the payment object information before the sending the payment object information to the central processor.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the instructing the communication device by the central processor to transmit the payment object information comprises instruction the communication device to transmit the encrypted payment object information received from the payment object processor.

18. The method of claim 14 , comprising:

detecting by the payment object processor attempts to tamper with the point of sale system.

19. The method of claim 14 , comprising:

signaling, by wake-up to the payment object processor to put the payment object processor into an active mode from a sleep mode, and back into the sleep mode.