Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Network computer configuring
Reexamination Certificate
1997-11-19
2001-02-27
Matar, Ahmad F. (Department: 2758)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Network computer configuring
C709S203000, C709S204000, C709S219000, C709S221000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06195694
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the field of servers that are connected to a computer network for the purpose of configuring configurable kiosks connected to the computer network.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Typically a kiosk is a machine placed in a location for general, e.g. public, access of users or clients so that a service provider can provide a service to these users/clients. Typically, these services are “self-services” that are conducted by the client without the service provider providing an agent to offer specific help to the client. Therefore, the services tend to be repetitive, simple, and specific tasks like: 1. getting information, and/or 2. completing certain simple transactions (e.g., buying tickets, getting cash, see the department store's floor map, etc.).
Tasks to be conducted need to be pre-programmed and predetermined and have to be self service. Therefore the kiosk designs are inflexible and offer no help customized to a specific user.
Generally these transactions involve the use of some device(s), e.g., one or more monitors, a card reader, a ticket printer, a laser printer, a cash dispenser, etc. These devices are typically dedicated to the predefined tasks inflexibly designed in the kiosk and therefore the devices have no other usage.
Advantages of kiosks are that they are convenient and reliable. Kiosks do not require full time human operators to perform their tasks and therefore, save operating costs and increase productivity.
Some kiosks in the prior art are connected by a network, e.g., bank ATM machines, airline ticket machines, etc. There are also stand alone kiosks such as information kiosk in shopping malls.
The prior art includes kiosks with video conferencing for banking applications to try to create a connection between the bank agent and the user/client. This is done by simply adding a video conferencing system to a traditional type of kiosk.
The prior art also has combined kiosks with the internet. This kiosk has a browser which displays the HTML pages on the screen of the kiosk. The screen displayed on the kiosk is controlled by the hyperlinks selected by the user. These kiosks are suitable for information access where the client/user can browse through the information provided by selecting “soft” buttons that invoke a hyperlink. These kiosks can also be used for certain personal communications like e-mail. In these systems, the screens are usually specially designed to present a user interface (e.g., having navigation buttons, etc.) and the kiosk further acts as a filter to limit the URLs the client can traverse so that only HTML pages (URLs) defined by the kiosk builder are accessible.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS WITH THE PRIOR ART
Most prior art kiosks are inflexible. They can not be changed or reconfigured easily, cheaply and quickly because their programming is typically specifically designed, developed (usually in a high-level computer programming language such as C or C++), and installed on the kiosk for a specific application. Any change would require re-coding, re-compiling, re-installing, and re-testing the program on the kiosk. This typically has to be done by the kiosk manufacturer. Changes to existing kiosks are difficult, especially if there are a lot of kiosks in the field that need to be updated.
Prior art kiosks fail to provide effective “face-to-face” service based applications, i.e., where an agent is needed to consult and/or guide the user or client in order to complete the service or transaction. An effective “face-to-face” environment for the customer service requires not only video/audio, but also synchronized screen sharing (e.g., the user/client sees the data while the agent enters the data) and remote device control (e.g., the agent can print a receipt for the kiosk user/client). The prior art does not provide synchronized screen sharing or remote device control of kiosks.
While some prior art offers a user help from an agent over a telephone, the agent generally can not view the kiosk screen directly. Therefore, the agent must rely on the user's description of any problems with the kiosk. The agent can not view the kiosk screen directly to assess problems. Further, the agent can not change the kiosk program/function from a remote location to fix any kiosk problem. Note that some kiosks in banking applications provide banks agents a view of the kiosk screen content. But this content is displayed by a separate application that is running on the agent's work station, not the application causing the screen content to be displayed on the kiosk.
Some prior art provides video conferencing as a function of the kiosk. However, while video conferencing provides the client with a audio/video connection to other parties, this architecture has not been successful in the market because of the lack of coherent integration between the audio/video communication and the content of the kiosk screen. While the client has a problem with one of the entries on kiosks screen, the agent may not have the same information on the agent screen as the client has on the kiosk, e.g., the kiosk has an ambiguous or erroneous value in a field on the screen but the agent will not see this erroneous value during the video conference. Further, the agent can not point to locations on the client's screen nor can the agent take control of the client's screen. In addition, the agent can not provide the client general information through the kiosk that the kiosk is not already preprogrammed to provide. As another example, if the customer needs information that is not available in the kiosk design, the agent can only provide the information by voice or camera video but can not provide any information on the client's kiosk screen or through other kiosk devices.
Some prior art discloses simple internet/browser-based kiosks that can only conduct a limited and specific application, i.e., limited information browsing. These kiosks can not provide an effective customer service environment with flexible applications because of its lack of kiosk control capability and collaboration between the client and the human agent.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
An object of this invention is a network server system and method that supports a flexible, reconfigurable, and collaborative kiosk architecture.
An object of this invention is a server system and method that provides the public ubiquitous, configurable, and directly accessible network interfaces for a variety of applications.
An object of this invention is a server system and method that supports a flexible, reconfigurable, and collaborative kiosk that supports “face-to-face” agent to client service and/or transactions.
An object of this invention is a network server system and method that configures kiosks and kiosk devices on the network(s) in different ways for different applications.
An object of this invention is a server system and method that can deliver very large number of stored or created applications to reconfigure remote kiosks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a server system and method that is connected to one or more networks, e.g., the internet corporate or government intranets, etc. The server(s) serve application files (also called configuration sets) over the network(s) to one or more remote kiosks in order to configure and reconfigure the kiosks to perform various applications that are defined by the application files.
In some preferred embodiments, part of the application includes a web page sharing function that allows an agent and client to collaborate over the network(s) through the kiosk and server.
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patent
Chen Shuang
Fujisaki Tetsunosuke
Kobayashi Makoto
Ohshima Mitsuru
Yoshida Yoichi
Barot Bharat
International Business Machines - Corporation
Matar Ahmad F.
Percello Louis J.
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