Abstract:
An assembly and device provides for automatically adding stability to a kiosk having carriage bearing equipment that is serviceable external to the inner portion of the kiosk by withdrawing the carriage. The carriage includes a pivoted stabilizer foot that is deployed responsive to the relative motion of withdrawing the carriage.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. The Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates in general to an assembly and device that provides stabilization to a mounted computer terminal such as a kiosk. More particularly, the present invention relates to a stabilizing assembly and device that automatically increases kiosk stability for maintenance.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     It is widely known that computer systems are used and integrated with most retail related environments. Examples of this include the use of Point of Sale (POS) devices, cash registry and inventory control devices, and various computerized systems in retail environments such as groceries, superstores and department stores. Now, it is becoming more commonplace for consumers to be offered the opportunity to use a localized POS device, also known as a kiosk, for financial transactions, advertising and even entertainment.  
         [0005]     Kiosks are gaining use in shopping centers, airports and areas where convenience and ease of use are desired. Kiosks often offer an ideal solution to improve information flow to customers at a significantly lower cost than information desks, which require staff. Typically, it is the ability to reduce costs that is the real driver in identifying strategic implantations of kiosks.  
         [0006]     Kiosks can be placed in remote areas, require very little floor space (or even be portable), and can operate 24 hours and 7 days a week without the traditional 2-3 persons that may be required at a traditional staffed location. These computer-based convenience centers and similar other types of kiosk-like systems are referred to hereinafter as kiosks, POS systems, assemblies and devices, and terminals, though such descriptions are intended to be inclusive and instructive to any and all computer systems that are for transactions with multiple users, in operation, and are typically mounted for use by the public in an area of convenience.  
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a depiction of an existing type of kiosk  100  of a tower type that is free standing on a floor and has a desirable slender tower, so as to not consume excessive valuable space, for example, in a mall area. This tower type of kiosk places customer interaction equipment such as a display  110  (usually a touch panel display), a credit card reader  112 , a printer  114  and a coupon dispenser  116  at a convenient level for a standing customer or user. As is seen more clearly in  FIG. 2 , the kiosk has two main parts, an enclosure  122  which defines a front opening at opposing edges  124  (one side viewable) and a pull-away equipment carriage  130 . The enclosure  122  includes a large base portion  126  which serves to stabilize the kiosk  100  from tipping over when the carriage  130  is withdrawn for service.  
         [0008]     The carriage  130  has a panel  132  that fills the front opening and mates with edges  124  when in a closed position for the kiosk  100  (shown in  FIG. 1 ). The panel is mounted to a frame  134  which supports the panel  132  and equipment  138 , which may include a central processing unit, telecommunications devices and other items to support the function of the kiosk. The carriage  130  is coupled to the enclosure base, for example by a guide  134  running in a track  135 , such as a drawer slide mechanism, which allows the carriage  21  to be withdrawn from the enclosure  122  (as shown in  FIG. 2 ). This pullout capability as is highly desirable to facilitate maintenance on the equipment  138  and saves technician time compared to an approach requiring the technician to work within the enclosure.  
         [0009]     While offering convenience features for servicing, the kiosk  100  has a big base plate to prevent tipping when the carriage is withdrawn, and this greatly increases the room it occupies and causes the customer to step up onto the base plate to consummate a transaction. Other attempts to reduce the likelihood of tipping of a slender kiosk during service have included adding a counterweight to offset imbalances, or manually placing a support under the carriage, when withdrawn by the service technician seeking to access the internal equipment  138 .  
         [0010]     Unfortunately, in many of the attempts at kiosk design, access to internal parts is inconvenient because access requires dismantling the enclosure. And, where a pullout carriage or drawer is provided, provision for avoiding tipping is unsatisfactory. Bulk is added or an undesirable base is added, which extends into the customer location for access. Often, the appearance of the kiosk is impaired.  
         [0011]     Therefore, what is needed is an assembly and device for providing added stability to a kiosk having carriage-mounted equipment that is withdrawn for service. Such an assembly and device should also provide the functional and aesthetic benefits of a traditional kiosk and nonetheless permit a rich offering of interaction capabilities for users.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0012]     The present invention has been developed in response to the present state of the art regarding kiosk stability during servicing, and in particular, in response to the problems and needs in the art regarding kiosk stability that have not yet been fully solved by currently available retail devices and processes.  
         [0013]     Accordingly, it is an overall object of the present invention to provide an assembly and device that provides for automatically adding stability to a kiosk having carriage-mounted equipment that is serviceable external to the inner portion of the kiosk by extending or retracting in relation to the opening or closing of the equipment carriage. It is a further object of the invention that the present invention be configured to be easily maintained and customizable by the owner, and still provide the customer interaction benefits of a kiosk such as printing coupons, displaying messages, swiping cards and dispensing materials such as tickets.  
         [0014]     The present invention overcomes many or all of the above-discussed shortcomings in the art. To achieve the foregoing objects, and in accordance with the invention as embodied and broadly described herein in the preferred aspects and embodiments, a device and assembly for stabilizing a kiosk comprising a front vertical plate having a front face configured with a frame and a base guide; wherein, said frame cooperates with an enclosure portion of the kiosk to permit guided retraction/insertion of the carriage such that when the carriage is withdrawn enclosure the relative motion is linked to force a pivoted foot to move to extend in the direction of motion.  
         [0015]     In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a kiosk having improved stability during servicing, comprising: a CPU, a display, an input device, a stand separable into at least a front drawer or carriage and a rear enclosure, a guide track defining a carriage path, there being a stabilizing device which is driven to extend beyond the carriage in the direction of carriage motion when the carriage is being withdrawn from the enclosure.  
         [0016]     These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter. The above is merely a summary of the invention and thus contains, by necessity, simplifications, generalizations and omissions of detail; consequently, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be comprehensive or limiting with regard to the invention at hand. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]     In order to better understand the manner in which the advantages, aspects and objects of the invention are obtained, a more particular description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:  
         [0018]      FIGS. 1 and 2  are perspective views of a prior art kiosk with an equipment carriage the may be withdrawn (as shown in  FIG. 2 ) from an enclosure portion of the kiosk to permit servicing;  
         [0019]      FIGS. 3, 4  and  5  are bottom views of a stabilized device and assembly for a kiosk, which includes an automatic stabilizer foot in accordance with a preferred embodiment for the invention;  
         [0020]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a kiosk according to a preferred embodiment for the invention, which shows a stabilizing foot member as positioned in response to withdrawal of equipment carriage from the kiosk enclosure. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0021]      FIGS. 3, 4  and  5  show a stabilized device and assembly with a stabilizer foot  306  for a kiosk  100 , in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention.  FIG. 3  shows carriage  130  fully inserted  21  as in normal operation, whereas  FIG. 4  shows partial withdrawal and  FIG. 5  shows full withdrawal as would occur for servicing access. During withdrawal, motion between carriage  130  and enclosure  122  is coupled by a cam follower  300  to a linkage  302 , then through a linkage  304  to the stabilizer foot  306 , which is pivotally mounted to the bottom of carriage  130  by a pin  308 . As is seen in the progression of  FIGS. 3-5  the linkages  302  and  304  drive the stabilizer foot  306  to rotate and extend in the direction of carriage motion. The use of the am follower  300  and a spring  301  with one end attached attached at carriage  130  the other to linkage  302  is presently preferred and urges the stabilizer foot  306  to deploy more fully in an early portion of the travel. The spring  301  is energized by moving the carriage  130  to the normal or inserted position ( FIG. 3 ) and urges the stabilizer foot  306  to the deployed or extended position ( FIG. 5 ) through the linkage  302 . As a result the kiosk  100  is stabilized by the stabilizer foot  306 , which is deployed to the extended position, early in the withdrawal motion for the carriage  130  and is withdrawn from extended position, later in the insertion motion for the carriage.  
         [0022]      FIG. 6  shows, in a perspective view, the stabilizer foot  306  as positioned (the deployed or extended position) when the carriage  130  is withdrawn from the enclosure  122 . As can be readily seen ( FIGS. 3-5 ), the foot  306  automatically responds to the carriage  130  being withdrawn to provide added stability of the kiosk  100  to prevent tipping forward during servicing. There is no reliance on manual placement of a stabilizer by the service technician and there is no need to have the kiosk base be specially enlarged to extend into the intended user space to accommodate weight shifting due to carriage removal to a service position during maintenance.  
         [0023]     Linkages as used herein are intended to include any link, connection, adaptation, configuration or arrangements, including electrical or fluid linkages, where the resulting function of a link mechanism is to produce motion as a result of motion between the carriage  130  and enclosure  122  to cause the stabilizer foot  306  to advance in the direction of relative motion by the carriage.  
         [0024]     By way of example and not of limitation, a four link mechanism may be used, as preferred, for a kinematic linkage, where it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that a variety of useful arrangements can be formed from a four-link mechanism through slight variations, such as changing the character of the pairs, proportions of links, etc. It should be appreciated, by those skilled in the art, that a linkage could be achieved by sensing, electrically, the relative motion of the carriage  130  and the enclosure  122  and triggering an actuator to advance a stabilizer foot  306  to extend in the direction of motion of the carriage relative to the enclosure.  
         [0025]     Advantages of the present invention include: providing: improved stability and resistance to tipping, easy access to equipment within a kiosk type of device, and maintaining a sleek and aesthetically pleasing design. The present invention may include customized or off the shelf technology and products without limitation.  
         [0026]     The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.