Patent ID: 8421594

Claim:
A machine-implemented method, comprising: receiving, by an authentication server configured to control a plurality of kiosk computing devices through a network, from a mobile device, a plurality of data packets associated with a display tag and an account identifier, wherein the display tag identifies one of said plurality of kiosk computing devices and includes a network address of the authentication server, and wherein the account identifier identifies an account associated with the mobile device; identifying, by the authentication server, the one of said plurality of kiosk computing devices based on the plurality of data packets; authenticating, by the authentication server, the account associated with the mobile device utilizing the account identifier associated with the plurality of data packets; and transmitting, in response to said receiving, by the authentication server, instructions to the one of said plurality of kiosk computing devices to cause the one of said plurality of kiosk computing devices to activate an account-specific mode, wherein the account-specific mode is associated with the account associated with the mobile device.