Patent Publication Number: US-2018032983-A1

Title: Presence aware terminals

Description:
BACKGROUND INFORMATION 
     Terminals, such as may be located in restaurants, stores, within factories, on workplace desktops, and elsewhere, may take different forms. The forms of such terminals may be desktop and laptop personal computers, tablets, handheld computing devices, and other computing devices. Terminals may also be deployed for different purposes, such as in restaurants and stores as Self-Service Terminals (SSTs) on which different activities may be performed, such as ordering food, scanning and paying for items in a store, researching items offered for sale, interacting with a loyalty account a customer has with a retailer, operating a checkout stand by a teller, and the like. Similarly, terminals in workplaces may be deployed for different purposes, such as on a worker&#39;s desktop, in a factory to control a machine, in an office to control office equipment. Many of such terminals have controlled access for all or some functionality. For example, customers are not to have access to control teller-assisted checkout terminals, a terminal on the desk of an employee should be accessed only by that employee, and some employees may be able to access limited functionality on a terminal that controls a machine in a factory while other employees can access all functionality. 
     Access to terminals and the functionality they expose to users has traditionally be controlled through user identifiers and passwords. It is not uncommon though for passwords to be forgotten, to expire, or otherwise not work. Further, for users that are customers at stores, restaurants, and the like, such user identifiers and passwords may not be frequently used and therefore are easily forgotten. Such user identifiers and passwords often give rise to many issues that cause delays for customers, on production lines, in offices, in workplaces, and other locations where terminals are deployed. 
     SUMMARY 
     The various embodiments herein each include at least one of systems, methods, and software for presence aware terminals. Some such embodiments enable a user carrying a mobile device, such as a smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, or a handheld computing device having a radio device (e.g., BLUETOOTH® or Near-Field Communication (NFC)) to be automatically recognized at a terminal. The radio device of such a mobile device in some embodiments transmits a radio signal that is received by a terminal and is used to identify the user carrying the mobile device. The user may be identified based on a known MAC address of the radio on the mobile device, a data item included in the radio signal, and the like. The terminal may than provide the user access to the terminal. As such radio devices as BLUETOOTH® and NFC radio have a short range and the signal strength can be considered as well to approximate a distance between the mobile device and a terminal, the user may be determined with relative certainty. In some embodiments, additional security may be desired and security functions the mobile device may be used, such as providing a password on the user device, a biometric input such as a fingerprint, or requiring input within a particular mobile device app. Once the user is identified on the terminal, an application or app on the terminal may retrieve data to present to the user or to inform a process that executes thereon. 
     One such embodiment is in the form of a method that executes on a terminal. This method includes transmitting a first signal encoded with data identifying a device-type and receiving a second signal encoded with data including an account identifier. The method may then present a user interface to facilitate user interaction with an account of the account identifier. 
     Another embodiment is in the form of a method that may be performed by a mobile device. This method includes receiving a radio signal from a terminal including a terminal-type identifier encoded therein and replying to the radio signal with a reply signal including an account identifier encoded therein identifying an account with which a user will interact on the terminal. 
     Yet another embodiment is in the form of a terminal. A terminal in such embodiments may include a display device, at least one network interface device, a short-range radio transceiver device, at least one processor. The terminal further includes at least one memory device storing instructions that are executable by the at least one processor to perform data processing activities. The data processing activities may include transmitting, via the short-range radio transceiver device, a first signal encoded with data identifying a terminal-type. The data processing activities also include receiving, via one of the short-range radio transceiver device and the at least one network interface device, a second signal encoded with data including an account identifier. The data processing activities may then present, on the display device, a user interface to facilitate user interaction with an account of the account identifier. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an architectural diagram of a system, according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a computing device, according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a block flow diagram of a method, according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is a block flow diagram of a method, according to an example embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     As mentioned above, the various embodiments herein each include at least one of systems, methods, and software for presence aware terminals. Some such embodiments enable a user carrying a mobile device, such as a smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, or a handheld computing device having a radio device (e.g., BLUETOOTH® or Near-Field Communication (NFC)) to be automatically recognized at a terminal. The radio device of such a mobile device in some embodiments transmits a radio signal that is received by a terminal and is used to identify the user carrying the mobile device. The user may be identified based on a known MAC address of the radio on the mobile device, a data item included in the radio signal, and the like. The terminal may than provide the user access to the terminal. Note that the mobile device need not be connected to a network for some such embodiments to work. In some such embodiments, for example, the mobile device only needs to communicate with the terminal via direct radio communications between the mobile device and the terminal. 
     As such radio devices as BLUETOOTH® and NFC radio have a short range and the signal strength can be considered as well to approximate a distance between the mobile device and a terminal, the user may be determined with relative certainty. In some embodiments, additional security may be desired and security functions the mobile device may be used, such as providing a password on the user device, a biometric input such as a fingerprint, or requiring input within a particular mobile device app. Once the user is identified on the terminal, an application or app on the terminal may retrieve data to present to the user or to inform a process that executes thereon. 
     Through such embodiments, a terminal may be automatically unlocked and made ready for the user when the user approaches the terminal thereby removing any need for the user to login. Additionally, the time for a user to login is virtually eliminated and the user&#39;s ability to remember login credentials becomes irrelevant. 
     In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the inventive subject matter may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice them, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural, logical and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the inventive subject matter. Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred to, individually and/or collectively, herein by the term “invention” merely for convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any single invention or inventive concept if more than one is in fact disclosed. 
     The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limited sense, and the scope of the inventive subject matter is defined by the appended claims. 
     The functions or algorithms described herein are implemented in hardware, software or a combination of software and hardware in one embodiment. The software comprises computer executable instructions stored on computer readable media such as memory or other type of storage devices. Further, described functions may correspond to modules, which may be software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. Multiple functions are performed in one or more modules as desired, and the embodiments described are merely examples. The software is executed on a digital signal processor, ASIC, microprocessor, or other type of processor operating on a system, such as a personal computer, server, a router, or other device capable of processing data including network interconnection devices. 
     Some embodiments implement the functions in two or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and data signals communicated between and through the modules, or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Thus, the exemplary process flow is applicable to software, firmware, and hardware implementations. 
       FIG. 1  is an architectural diagram of a system  100 , according to an example embodiment. The system  100  includes a mobile device  102  and a terminal  104 . The terminal  104  is connected to at least one network  106 . Also connected to the network  106  is a backend system  108 , such as a system to which orders in a restaurant may be sent when the terminal  104  is deployed as an SST in a quick serve restaurant to receive food orders. 
     The mobile device  102  may be a smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, handheld computing device, and the like. The mobile device  102  includes at least one radio transceiver device, such as a short-range radio transceiver device. Such radio transceiver devices may include BLUETOOTH® and NFC. 
     The terminal  104  is a computing device that may be of various computing device types. The computing device types may be personal computers, tablets, handheld computing devices, smartphones, custom computing devices, and the like. Just as the mobile device  102  includes a short-range radio transceiver device, so does the terminal  104 . The terminal  104  also includes at least one network interface device, which may be wired and wireless devices, that are used to connected with and communicate data over the network  106 . 
     In some embodiments, the short-range radio device of the mobile device  102  is used to transmit a radio signal in response to a radio signal received from the short-range radio device of the terminal  104  that identifies the terminal-type. The terminal-type identifying signal received by the mobile device  102  from the terminal  104 , is received by an app on the mobile device and the app determines if the terminal-type is of interest, such as a terminal deployed at a restaurant or retailer where the user has a loyalty account, a library where the user has a library card, a with a machine in a factory the user controls, and the like. 
     The radio signal transmitted by the mobile device  102  in reply to the radio signal received from the terminal  104  includes data that uniquely identifies the user. That data may be a user identifier, a MAC address of the radio device, a GUID of the mobile device, and other unique identifiers that are known either to the terminal  104  or in data stored by the backend system  108  or in the database  110 . Note however that the user may be identified simply by the mobile device transmitting a radio signal, either by the short-range radio device or by another radio device such as a WI-FI® radio device, that includes a unique identifier. That unique identifier may be a MAC address or other identifier that is unique to the transmitting radio device that is also known to the terminal  104 , the backend system  108 , or in data stored in the database  110 . 
     In one embodiment, the terminal  104  broadcasts a radio signal that identifies the terminal-type. The radio signal is received by the mobile device  102  and an app thereon determines with the terminal-type is of interest. When the terminal-type is of interest, the app causes the mobile device  102  to reply with a radio signal identifying the user of the mobile device  102 . The terminal  104  receives the radio signal with user identifying data and determines whether to unlock the terminal  104  or set up the terminal for use by the user, depending on the particular embodiment. To make the terminal  104  ready, the terminal  104  may consult locally stored data. However, in some embodiments, the terminal  104  may instead retrieve data or call a process over the network  108  on the backend system  108  based on the user identifier. The result may be an authentication of the user to use the terminal, a dataset that is used to populate a user interface of the terminal  104 , data identifying a set of functionality that is to be enabled for the user, and the like. The result is returned to the terminal  104  from the backend system  108  via the network. 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a computing device, according to an example embodiment. In one embodiment, multiple such computer systems are utilized in a distributed network to implement multiple components in a transaction-based environment. An object-oriented, service-oriented, or other architecture may be used to implement such functions and communicate between the multiple systems and components. The computing device of  FIG. 2  is a general example that may be deployed as the mobile device  102 , the terminal  104 , and the backend system  108  of  FIG. 1 . 
     One example computing device in the form of a computer  210 , may include a processing unit  202 , memory  204 , removable storage  212 , and non-removable storage  214 . Although the example computing device is illustrated and described as computer  210 , the computing device may be in different forms in different embodiments. For example, the computing device may instead be a smartphone, a tablet, smartwatch, or other computing device including the same or similar elements as illustrated and described with regard to  FIG. 2 . Devices such as smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches are generally collectively referred to as mobile devices. Further, although the various data storage elements are illustrated as part of the computer  210 , the storage may also or alternatively include cloud-based storage accessible via a network, such as the Internet. 
     Returning to the computer  210 , memory  204  may include volatile memory  206  and non-volatile memory  208 . Computer  210  may include—or have access to a computing environment that includes a variety of computer-readable media, such as volatile memory  206  and non-volatile memory  208 , removable storage  212  and non-removable storage  214 . Computer storage includes random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) and electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technologies, compact disc read-only memory (CD ROM), Digital Versatile Disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium capable of storing computer-readable instructions. 
     Computer  210  may include or have access to a computing environment that includes input  216 , output  218 , and a communication connection  220 . The input  216  may include one or more of a touchscreen, touchpad, mouse, keyboard, camera, one or more device-specific buttons, one or more sensors integrated within or coupled via wired or wireless data connections to the computer  210 , and other input devices. The computer  210  may operate in a networked environment using a communication connection  220  to connect to one or more remote computers, such as database servers, web servers, and other computing device. An example remote computer may include a personal computer (PC), server, router, network PC, a peer device or other common network node, or the like. The communication connection  220  may be a network interface device such as one or both of an Ethernet card and a wireless card or circuit that may be connected to a network. The network may include one or more of a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), the Internet, and other networks. In some embodiments, the communication connection  220  may also or alternatively include a transceiver device, such as a BLUETOOTH® device that enables the computer  210  to wirelessly receive data from and transmit data to other BLUETOOTH® devices. 
     Computer-readable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium are executable by the processing unit  202  of the computer  210 . A hard drive (magnetic disk or solid state), CD-ROM, and RAM are some examples of articles including a non-transitory computer-readable medium. For example, various computer programs  225  or apps, such as one or more applications and modules implementing one or more of the methods illustrated and described herein or an app or application that executes on a mobile device or is accessible via a web browser, may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium. 
       FIG. 3  is a block flow diagram of a method  300 , according to an example embodiment. The method  300  is an example of a method that may be performed by a terminal  104  of  FIG. 1 . 
     The method  300  includes transmitting  302  a first signal encoded with data identifying a device-type and receiving  304  a second signal encoded with data including an account identifier. The method  300  further includes presenting  306  a user interface to facilitate user interaction with an account of the account identifier. 
     In some embodiments, the presented  306  user interface requests order input, such as an order within a quick service restaurant or merchandise within a store. 
     Some embodiments of the method  300  further include retrieving account data based on the account identifier. In such embodiments, presenting  306  the user interface may include populating the user interface with at least a portion of the retrieved account data to enable the user interaction with the account of the account identifier. The populating of the user interface with at least the portion of the retrieved account data in some embodiments includes a name of a holder of the account of the account identifier. In these and some other embodiments of the method  300 , the retrieved account data includes data representative of a transaction performed with regard to the account, such as a previous order, a banking deposit or withdrawal, and other transaction types. Further, the account data in some such embodiments is retrieved and the user interface is presented only when a strength of the second signal meets a threshold signal strength indicating a device that transmitted the second signal is in close proximity to a terminal performing the method. 
     In some other embodiments of the method  300 , the first signal and the second signal are transmitted and received, respectively, via a short-range radio transceiver device included within a terminal on which the method  300  is performed. As discussed above, the terminal may be a self-service terminal on which a transaction associated with the account of the account identifier can be initiated and payment can be received. Such a terminal may be a tabletop device in a restaurant on which a customer may enter an order and make a payment with a bankcard, such as a debit or credit card. 
     In another embodiment of the method  300 , the presented  306  user interface first requests account login input. The account login input may be a password, but in some embodiments the login input may be biometric input, such as a finger print, a view of a face that may be captured by a camera of a terminal, a retinal scan, and the like. 
       FIG. 4  is a block flow diagram of a method  400 , according to an example embodiment. The method  400  is an example of a method that may be performed by the mobile device  102  of  FIG. 1 . 
     The method  400  includes receiving  402  a radio signal from a terminal including a terminal-type identifier encoded therein. The method  400  further includes replying  404  to the radio signal with a reply signal including an account identifier encoded therein identifying an account with which a user will interact on the terminal. In some embodiments, the reply  404  signal is transmitted via a radio transceiver device that received the radio signal. In other embodiments, the reply signal is transmitted via the another radio device, such as a wireless network device. 
     It will be readily understood to those skilled in the art that various other changes in the details, material, and arrangements of the parts and method stages which have been described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of the inventive subject matter may be made without departing from the principles and scope of the inventive subject matter as expressed in the subjoined claims.