Patent ID: 8255499

Claim:
A system for interfacing predetermined external services provided by third party service providers to a user at a fixed location, comprising: a central office operable to communicate with the external services to conduct financial transactions; a kiosk remote from the central office at the fixed location, the kiosk including: a processing platform running an operating system; a plurality of physical system resources mounted in the kiosk, the physical system resources including at least one visual display and a user interface enabling a user to input personal information sufficient to enable the central office to initiate a financial transaction with one or more user selected predetermined external services; a plurality of physical system resource hardware interfaces for interfacing the physical system resources with the processing platform, the physical system resources allowing a user to gain access to at least two predetermined external services; a data store for storing configuration information, the configuration information defining the at least two external services that are available to a user wherein there are at least two configurations stored in the data store, each identifying the physical system resources required to access the at least two predetermined external services and wherein the use of the same physical resource is required for access to each of the at least two external services; and a communication resource for interfacing with the operating system to allow communication of the operating system with a central office for downloading of configuration information identifying the physical system resources required to access the at least two external services; and wherein the communications resource in conjunction with configuration information facilitates access to a selected one of the at least two external services whereby the user interface and the processing platform are operative to facilitate at least one first user action with the physical system resources to initiate the financial transaction and the central processing center is operative to execute at least a second action to facilitate the financial transaction and to communicate with a financial institution that executes a third action to conduct the financial transaction.