Patent ID: 8983862
Filing Date: 2015-03-17
Classification: G06F,G06Q,G07G

Abstract:
1. A method of initiating a service call for a hardware malfunction in a Point Of Sale (‘POS’) system, the POS system having one or more POS controller domains, each POS controller domain composed of a POS controller and one or more POS terminals, the POS controller operatively coupled to a service dispatcher for a hardware service provider through a data communications connection, the method comprising: receiving, by a POS operating system installed on the POS controller, an error message which specifies an error code; determining, by the POS operating system, based on the error code and an error code table, that the malfunction in the POS controller domain is a hardware error, wherein the error code table associates error codes with indications of whether the error specified by the error code is a hardware error or a software error; in response to determining that the malfunction in the POS controller domain is a hardware error, detecting, by a POS operating system, the hardware error within a POS terminal controller domain, by polling hardware components of the POS controller domain for hardware error data, wherein the hardware error data specifies a particular hardware component of the POS controller domain that is generating the hardware error; wherein the POS controller aggregates and administers POS transaction data received from and provided to each of the POS terminals in the POS controller domain controlled by the POS controller; notifying, by the POS operating system, an on-site system administrator of the detected hardware error in dependence upon the hardware error data; generating, by the POS operating system, a service request message in dependence upon the hardware error data; and transferring, by the POS operating system, the service request message to the service dispatcher, the service dispatcher initiating a service call by the hardware service provider.