Patent ID: 7464044

Claim:
A method for providing a point of sale environment for developing an application on a development system independently of a point of sale system, the application for use with point of sale equipment having a device, the application capable of utilizing the device when the application is executed on the point of sale equipment, the application interfacing with an operating system on the development system, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing an emulation module interfacing directly with the operating system and corresponding to the device; (b) ensuring that the application will utilize the emulation module when the application is executed on the development system; and (c) executing the application on the development system independently of the point of sale system, wherein the emulation module and the application emulate the interaction between the application and the device that occurs when the application is executed on the point of sale equipment; wherein the emulation module and the application both interface directly with the operating system of the development system; and wherein the device is specialized for the point of sale equipment.