JP2023178586A - Information processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an information processing device which can detect, at an early stage, a stoppage of an automatic transaction device.SOLUTION: An information processing device connected with an automatic transaction device via a first network comprises: state acquisition means which acquires, at a predetermined timing, information indicating whether the automatic transaction device is in a state ready for trading or in a state not ready for trading; state determination means which determines whether or not there are a certain number or more of the automatic transaction devices which are not ready for trading in a handling time zone, based on the state of the automatic transaction device acquired by the state acquisition means; and warning means which warns an external device that there are the certain number of the automatic transaction devices which are not ready for trading.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device.

For example, in one or more automatic teller machines (ATMs) installed in financial institutions, etc., there is a monitoring system that remotely monitors whether the ATMs are operating normally or not. (See Patent Document 1).

Specifically, when each ATM changes the status of its own device, it notifies the monitoring server of the information, and the monitoring server grasps the operating status of the ATM based on the information received from the ATM and updates the ATM as necessary. Then, a warning is sent to the higher level (for example, the host computer of a financial institution).

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2013-145426

By the way, with conventional monitoring technology, it is not possible to send a notification from the ATM to the monitoring system in the following cases.

For example, if the operating hours of an ATM installed at a financial institution, etc. start from 7 o'clock, the ATM will change from a state of suspension of operation (suspension of service) to a state of operation after 7 o'clock, based on instructions from the host computer. Transition to. Then, the monitoring system can know the change in the state of the ATM by receiving notification of the change in state from the ATM.

However, even after 7 o'clock, if the ATM remains out of service due to some reason (for example, there is no above-mentioned instruction from the host computer to the ATM), the ATM status will not change and the monitoring system will No notification will be given.

It is a problem that the status of an ATM does not change due to some reason, but it is also a problem that the monitoring system does not collect information from each ATM and cannot grasp the actual situation (large-scale ATM suspension).

Therefore, there is a need for an information processing device that can detect suspension of an automatic transaction device at an early stage.

The present invention is an information processing device that connects to an automatic transaction device via a first network, and includes: (1) at a predetermined timing, the automatic transaction device is in a transaction enabled state or in a transaction disabled state; (2) based on the state of the automatic transaction device acquired by the status acquisition means, the automatic transaction device is in a state in which transactions are not possible even during operating hours; and (3) a warning means for warning an external device that a certain number of states exist in which the automatic transaction device cannot perform transactions. shall be.

According to the present invention, suspension of an automatic transaction device can be discovered at an early stage.

1 is an overall configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of a financial transaction system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of an ATM according to an embodiment. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing the external configuration of an ATM according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of a relay device according to an embodiment. It is an explanatory view showing the format of an in-service status confirmation request message and an in-service status confirmation response message according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating the operation (ATM service discontinuation state detection process) of the financial transaction system according to the embodiment.

(A) Main Embodiment Hereinafter, embodiments of the information processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(A-1) Configuration of Embodiment (A-1-1) Overall Configuration FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of a financial transaction system according to an embodiment. In FIG. 1, a financial transaction system 5 includes an ATM 1, a host computer 2, a relay device 3, and a monitoring device 4.

The ATM 1 and the relay device 3 are connected through a network N1, and the relay device 3 and the host computer 2 are connected through a network N2. Further, the ATM 1 and the monitoring device 4 are connected via a network M.

The network N (N1, N2) is a communication network that can communicate data related to financial transactions, and for example, a dedicated network can be applied. In this embodiment, it is assumed that network N is a wider bandwidth communication network than network M.

The network M is a communication network that can communicate data regarding the operating status of the ATM 1, and can be a dedicated network, for example. In this embodiment, it is assumed that network M is a narrower band communication network than network N described above.

The ATM 1 is, for example, an automated teller machine (ATM) installed at a financial institution, station, convenience store, hotel, or the like. The ATM 1 can communicate with the host computer 2 via the relay device 3, and performs various financial transactions such as transfer transactions, deposit transactions (deposit transactions), and withdrawal transactions (withdrawal transactions). Note that in FIG. 2, only one ATM 1 is illustrated for ease of explanation. However, in reality, each of the plurality of ATMs 1 is connected to the host computer 2 via the relay device 3.

The host computer 2 is a host computer of a financial institution, and upon acquiring transaction-related information from the ATM 1, it manages the details of the transaction performed by the customer based on the acquired transaction-related information.

The relay device 3 is a device that relays message transmission and reception between the ATM 1 and the host computer 2. The relay device 3 is installed, for example, in a monitoring center (not shown). In this embodiment, the relay device 3 periodically transmits a status acquisition message (a message that acquires whether the ATM 1 is transaction enabled or disabled) to all ATMs 1 located at each base. . Then, the relay device 3 grasps the state of the ATM 1 based on the message sent back from the ATM 1, and issues a warning to the monitoring device 4 as necessary.

The monitoring device 4 is a device that monitors the operation of the ATM 1 and the occurrence of a failure by receiving from the ATM 1 a notification indicating a state change or a notification indicating the occurrence of a failure. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the monitoring device 4 is installed at the same base (monitoring center) as the above-mentioned relay device 3 and that they can communicate with each other.

(A-1-2) Detailed configuration of ATM 1 FIG. 3 is an external perspective view showing the external configuration of the ATM according to the embodiment. In FIG. 3, the ATM 1 of the embodiment has an operation display section 12, a card inlet/outlet 13, a bill inlet/outlet 14, and a receipt outlet 16.

The operation display section 12 displays, for example, a transaction type selection menu screen, an operation screen for each transaction, a transaction content confirmation screen, and receives input information input by a customer. The operation display section 12 can be, for example, a touch panel type operation display section. Note that the operation display section 12 is not limited to a touch panel type in which the operation section and the display section are integrated, but may be one in which the operation section and the display section are physically separate from each other.

The card entry/exit 13 is used by a customer to insert or take out a cash card.

The banknote inlet/outlet 14 is used by the customer to insert or take out banknotes. The banknote inlet/outlet 14 may be, for example, a bucket type having an opening/closing body that can be opened and closed. When a customer inserts a bill, the customer inserts the bill into the opening of the bucket, and then the ATM 1 closes the opening/closing body to take in the inserted bill. Further, when the ATM 1 returns the banknotes, the ATM 1 feeds out the banknotes into a bucket, and then the opening/closing body opens.

The receipt outlet 16 is for discharging a statement slip (receipt) on which transaction details are printed.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the ATM according to the embodiment. In FIG. 2, the ATM 1 includes a control section 10, a storage section 20, a communication section 25, an operation display control section 40, a card processing section 50, a banknote deposit/withdrawal section 60, and a statement issuing section 80.

The control unit 10 is mainly configured with a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown), and reads and executes a predetermined program from a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and a storage unit 20. It controls each part to perform various processes such as deposit transactions, withdrawal transactions, and balance inquiry transactions.

When the handling status control unit 11 receives an handling status confirmation request message, which will be described later, from the relay device 3, it refers to the handling status parameter P that holds the current state of the ATM 1. Subsequently, the handling status control unit 11 creates an handling status confirmation response message containing the value held in the handling status parameter P. Then, the handling status control unit 11 returns the created handling status confirmation response message to the relay device 3.

For example, when the ATM 1 is notified of an operation instruction by the host computer 2 and the ATM 1 is in a transaction ready state, the in-service status parameter P is set to "ATM in service". On the other hand, if the ATM 1 becomes in a state where transactions cannot be made due to an instruction to stop operation of the ATM 1 from the host computer 2 or a failure, etc., the setting is set to "ATM transaction suspension".

The storage unit 20 stores processing programs and the like executed by the control unit 10, and is configured of, for example, a flash memory, an HDD, or the like.

The communication unit 25 is a network interface for connecting to each device via the network N and the network M.

The operation display control section 40 controls the operation of the operation display section 12 under the control of the control section 10 . The operation display control unit 40 causes the operation display unit 12 to display a screen based on screen information from the control unit 10, or provides information input from the operation display unit 12 to the control unit 10.

The card processing section 50 processes a card (cash card) inserted into the card entry/exit 13. The card processing unit 50 processes cards under the control of the control unit 10.

The banknote deposit/withdrawal unit 60 stores and manages banknotes by denomination under the control of the control unit 10.

The statement issuing section 80 prints transaction results on a statement slip under the control of the control section 10 and issues (discharges) the statement slip from the receipt outlet 16 .

(A-1-3) Detailed configuration of relay device 3 FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the relay device according to the embodiment. In FIG. 4, relay device 3 includes a control section 30, a storage section 35, and a communication section 36.

The control unit 30 is mainly configured with a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown), and reads and executes a predetermined program from a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the storage unit 20. Performs various processes such as relaying messages.

The in-service status acquisition unit 31 transmits an in-service status confirmation request message to the ATM 1, and acquires the in-service status of the ATM 1 from the in-service status confirmation response message sent back from the ATM1.

The in-service status determination unit 32 determines whether there is a certain number of ATMs 1 that are in a transaction-unable state even during a time period (operating time zone) when the ATMs 1 should originally be in a transaction-available state. Determine (determine based on threshold T). For example, the threshold value T may be set to a value that is a percentage of the total ATM. Note that the above-mentioned determination may be performed in units of areas such as prefectures.

The warning unit 33 notifies the monitoring device 4 of an alarm when it is determined by the transaction state determination unit 32 that there are a certain number of ATMs 1 in a transaction-impossible state.

(A-1-4) Detailed configuration of in-service status confirmation request message and in-service status confirmation response message In this embodiment, in order for relay device 3 to obtain the status of ATM 1 (in-service status), Send a confirmation request message to ATM1. Then, the ATM 1 returns an in-service status confirmation response message including in-service status information to the relay device 3.

Although the formats of the in-service status confirmation request message generated by the relay device 3 and the in-service status confirmation response message generated by the ATM 1 are not limited, in this embodiment, the structure of each message is expressed as shown in FIG. I can do it.

Broadly speaking, the handling status confirmation request message 100 shown in FIG. 5A has two components: a header section 110 and a data section 120 representing the substantive contents of the message. The header section 110 includes "destination" indicating destination information (here, the destination is ATM1, so information related to ATM1), and information on the source (here, the source is relay device 3, so it is a relay). It has items of "sender" indicating the information regarding the device 3) and "message category" indicating the category of the transmitted message (here, information indicating the handling status confirmation request message). Further, the data section 120 includes a "transmission date and time" indicating the transmission date and time of the message, and a "terminal number" indicating information for identifying the ATM 1 whose handling status is desired to be confirmed.

On the other hand, the handling status confirmation response message 200 shown in FIG. 5B has two components: a header section 210 and a data section 220 representing the substantive contents of the message. The header section 210, like the above-described header section 110, includes the following items: "destination", "source", and "message classification". Here, information regarding the relay device 3 is described in the destination field, information regarding the ATM 1 is described in the source field, and information indicating an in-service status confirmation response telegram is described in the message category. In addition to the "transmission date and time" and "terminal number" shown in the data section 120 described above, the data section 220 also contains "in-service status" indicating whether or not the ATM 1 is in a transaction-enabled state. ”. The value held in the above-mentioned in-service status parameter P (a value indicating either the ATM is in use or the ATM has been discontinued) is written in the in-service status.

(A-2) Operation of the embodiment Next, the operation of the financial transaction system 5 of the embodiment having the above configuration will be explained. In the following description, it is assumed that a plurality of ATMs 1 exist.

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram illustrating the operation (ATM transaction suspension state detection process) of the financial transaction system according to the embodiment.

The in-service status acquisition unit 31 of the relay device 3 transmits an in-service status confirmation request message 100 to each ATM 1 at predetermined timing (for example, every few minutes) (S101). Here, the in-service status confirmation request message 100 is sent to all ATMs 1, but as a modified example, the in-service status acquisition unit 31 transmits the in-service status confirmation request message 100 to the ATM 1 outside the operating hours. There is no need to send. In other words, the handling status acquisition unit 31 may transmit the message only to the ATM 1 during the handling time period.

When each ATM 1 receives the transaction status confirmation request message 100, it refers to the transaction status parameter P and selects the transaction status confirmation response message 200 (the item of transaction status in the message is either "ATM in use" or "ATM 200 is generated, and the handling status confirmation response message 200 is transmitted to the relay device 3 (S102). In this embodiment, each ATM 1 is assumed to transmit an in-service status confirmation response message 200 at the timing when the transaction is completed, if the ATM 1 is in transaction when receiving the in-service status confirmation request message 100. As a modification, each ATM 1 may suspend the transaction and give priority to the process of transmitting the transaction status confirmation response message 200 when the ATM 1 is in transaction.

Based on the in-service status confirmation response message 200 received from each ATM 1, the in-service status determining unit 32 of the relay device 3 determines that there are a certain number of ATMs 1 that are suspended (suspended) even during the in-service time period. It is determined whether or not (S103). The timing to execute the process of step S103 is, for example, after a predetermined period has elapsed after the process of step S101 described above is performed. Further, the predetermined period here is determined, for example, in consideration of the communication environment of the network N1.

Specifically, the in-service state determination unit 32 counts the number of ATMs 1 that are in the suspended state even after the service time period has come, out of the in-service state confirmation response messages 200 received from each ATM 1. Then, the in-service status determining unit 32 calculates the ratio of ATMs 1 that are in a suspended status to the entire ATM 1, and determines whether a problem has occurred based on whether this ratio is equal to or greater than a threshold value T. The relay device 3 moves to the next step S104 when the percentage of ATMs 1 that are in a service-discontinued state is equal to or greater than the threshold T, whereas the relay device 3 moves to the next step S104 when the percentage of ATMs 1 that are in a service-discontinued state is equal to or greater than the threshold value T. If it is less than T, the series of processing ends (after this, the processing will be executed from step S101 described above in the next cycle).

In addition, when calculating the above-mentioned ratio, the above-mentioned ratio may be calculated by regarding the ATM 1 that does not reply with the handling status confirmation response message 200 in response to the handling status confirmation request message 100, regarding the ATM 1 as being in the transaction discontinued state.

The warning unit 33 of the relay device 3 issues a warning to the effect that there are a certain number of ATMs 1 that are suspended even during transaction hours, when the percentage of ATMs 1 that are in a transaction suspension state is equal to or higher than the threshold value T. is performed on the monitoring device 4 (S104). The specific content and method of this warning are not particularly limited, but for example, a message containing the number of canceled ATMs 1 and information identifying each ATM 1 may be sent to the monitoring device 4 via the internal network. Also good. The monitoring device 4 may display this warning content on the screen. In addition, the warning may be sent by e-mail, etc. In any case, the content of the warning and the warning means are not particularly limited.

(A-3) Effects of Embodiment As described above, this embodiment provides the following effects.

In the above-mentioned financial transaction system 5, for example, there is no problem with the ATM itself, but there is an event in which the ATM is not available for handling due to a problem with the financial institution host (sequence in which the ATM 1 operates based on instructions from the host computer 2). Even if a problem occurs, this problem can be detected early.

Further, generally, the network band (network M) between the ATM monitoring device and the ATM is often narrow, and the network (network N) for financial institution hosts often has a wide band. Therefore, if an ATM monitoring device attempts to periodically obtain the ATM status, there is a problem with the network bandwidth. In the above-described financial transaction system 5, this problem is solved by the relay device 3 acquiring the state of the ATM 1 via a wide band network (network N).

(B) Other Embodiments Although various modified embodiments have been mentioned in the embodiments described above, the present invention can also be applied to the following modified embodiments.

(B-1) In the operation of the above-described financial transaction system 5, an example is shown in which an alarm is notified to the monitoring device 4 in the above-described warning process of step S104. However, as a modified example, the host computer 2 may be notified. Generally, the ATM monitoring system and the financial institution host are isolated from each other on the network, and the ATM monitoring system cannot notify the financial institution host of an alarm. However, if it is the relay device 3 that relays messages with the financial institution host (host computer 2), notification can be made, and it becomes possible to notify the related parties of the abnormality.

(B-2) In the operation of the financial transaction system 5 described above, an example has been shown in which the in-service status of each ATM 1 is acquired using the relay device 3 as the starting point, but each ATM 1 may also be the starting point. That is, the ATM 1 periodically transmits to the relay device 3 a message corresponding to the above-mentioned handling status confirmation response message. Then, the relay device 3 executes the processing from step S103 described above.

(B-3) In the operation of the financial transaction system 5 described above, the relay device 3 plays a central role in determining that a certain number of ATMs 1 are in a suspended transaction state even during the operating hours. , this process (the processes in steps S101 and S103 described above) may be performed by the host computer 2.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...ATM, 2...Host computer, 3...Relay device, 4...Monitoring device, 5...Financial transaction system, 10...Control unit, 11...In-service status control unit, 12...Operation display unit, 13...Card entrance/exit, 14...Banknote inlet/outlet, 16...Receipt outlet, 20...Storage unit, 25...Communication unit, 30...Control unit, 31...Handling status acquisition unit, 32...Handling status determination unit, 33...Warning unit, 35... Storage unit, 36...Communication unit, 40...Operation display control unit, 50...Card processing unit, 60...Banknote deposit/withdrawal unit, 80...Statement slip issuing unit, 100...In-handling status confirmation request message, 110...Header unit, 120 ...data section, 200...handling status confirmation response message, 210...header section, 220...data section, M...network, N (N1, N2)...network.

Claims (4)

An information processing device connected to an automatic transaction device via a first network,
a state acquisition means for acquiring information indicating whether the automatic transaction device is in a transaction-enabled state or in a transaction-incapable state at a predetermined timing;
a state determining means for determining whether there are a certain number or more of said automatic transaction devices that are in a state in which transactions are not possible even during a transaction period, based on the state of said automatic transaction devices acquired by said state acquisition means; ,
An information processing device comprising: warning means for warning an external device that a certain number of states exist in which the automatic transaction device is unable to make transactions. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the information processing device is a host computer located above the first network, or a server that relays between the host computer and the automatic transaction device. The automatic transaction device is connected to the external device via a second network having a narrower band than the first network,
The information processing device according to claim 2, wherein the external device is a monitoring device that monitors the automatic transaction device. The status acquisition means transmits an in-transaction status confirmation request message to the automated transaction device requesting acquisition of the status of the automated transaction device, and sends an in-transaction status confirmation message from the automated transaction device that includes information on the status of the automated transaction device. The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein information on the state of the automatic transaction device is acquired by replying a status confirmation response message.

Images