RU64406U1 - MULTIPLAYER COMPUTER - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to the field of digital information technologies and, together with a check thermal printer when installed in collective access places, can be used to receive monthly invoice notifications for services rendered by vital activity enterprises, to receive notification information in hard copy and / or in electronic forms to a cell phone in the form of an SMS message and to an e-mail address E-mail, as well as for payment by the population of bill-notices using I eat smart cards. Additionally, at enterprises, employees receive notification information depending on the profile of the activity. The indicated result is achieved by using a multi-user computer in which a liquid crystal alphanumeric indicator, a truncated 4 × 4 keyboard, a microprocessor with built-in program and data memory, a memory card up to 1 gigabyte, a bi-directional parallel port, as well as an industrial cellular modem with a card reader controlled by two serial ports through the corresponding interfaces.

Description

The utility model relates to the field of digital information technology and can be used to obtain residents of a specific settlement information of a mandatory nature in the form of monthly invoice notifications for the payment of services of enterprises for ensuring vital functions (housing and communal services, power supply, telephone exchange, etc.) , annual invoice notices from the tax office (for the use of roads by motorists, for privatized apartments, etc.) and, if necessary, various information is taken away expressive in print and / or electronic forms, as well as for payment by the public on notification bills using electronic plastic cards (smart cards).

Currently, personal computers (PC) with a wired or cellular modem and GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) mobile phones in SMS (Shot Message Service - short message service) and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service - a service for packet data transmission over the air), and the receipt of wages and payment for goods and services is increasingly carried out using smart cards.

A necessary condition for ensuring the normal functioning of the population, as well as the normal functioning of enterprises for ensuring vital functions, is the timely and reliable provision of information to the population of mandatory and notification nature from enterprises of the corresponding profile in order to take adequate and sufficient measures to ensure the life of the population in accordance with the information received.

Smart cards are widely used when paying for various goods in stores and for utility and other services at payment points,

which are the branches of various banks. The payer gives the smart card to the bank operator, who inserts it into the card reader connected to the PC via the appropriate interface and dials the access code on the remote keyboard. The payer also informs the operator of its initial data: last name, first name, middle name, address of residence, amount of payment and type of paid service. After the payer’s operator is in the database, a transaction is carried out, money is withdrawn from the client’s smart card with the issuance of a check and payment is recorded in the bank’s database. Similarly, the payer can transfer money from his bank account to a smart card. Thus, the payment process is rather cumbersome, which is associated with manual entry and manual search of the source data in the database and costly due to the need for the operator to participate in the payment process.

The desire of banks to reduce the cost of this process has led to the use of non-specialized, expensive and bulky equipment — ATMs — to pay for utility bills on smart cards. After installing the card in an ATM, the payer must select a paid service from the menu, then dial the personal account number and payment amount and enter data and receive a check.

Currently, information terminals have been distributed, consisting in the simplest case of a PC computer, monitor, often touch-sensitive, and special software that works mainly under the control of one of the versions of the WINDOWS operating system. Information terminals can be equipped with specialized peripheral devices (receipt printer, bill acceptor, video camera, card reader, motion sensor, etc.). When equipped with a bill acceptor and / or card reader, the information terminal turns into an information and payment terminal, for example, the Constant XL terminal of the Sensor Systems company (konstantaXL_leaflet.pdf).

Information terminals allow you to get easy and convenient access to the Internet, reference information in places of public access:

a) public, educational institutions - the time of reception of visitors, the work schedule of the institution and individual departments, information phones, tariffs;

b) hotels, bars, restaurants, shopping centers - availability of places, goods, menu and drinks, prices ...;

c) airports, railway stations, bus stations - transport schedules, availability, travel time ...;

d) exhibitions - exhibition plan, list of participants and their location, multimedia presentations of participating companies ...;

e) petrol stations - maps, routes, Internet access, E-mail ...;

f) Internet cafe - Internet access, sending E-mail, use as a gaming terminal ...

Information and payment terminals expand the ability of banks to provide services to individuals. Transferring the load of information services and payment operations to the terminal increases the efficiency of using the ATM network. Placing an information and payment terminal in the bank’s office allows you to free bank employees from part of the routine work of filling out and printing standard documents. They provide customers with extracts, various forms of reports, operations related to utility bills, telephone bills, etc. cash or smart cards.

A prerequisite for the effective use of such terminals in order for the population to obtain mandatory and

the notification character is their installation near the place of residence, work and study of residents of the village. Such places are payment acceptance points, post offices, bank branches, the most visited shops, directly through passage of large enterprises and educational institutions. This approach minimizes the loss of time for information. In the vast majority of cases, information will be received along the way when residents perform some other obligatory actions: pay utility bills and other services, send correspondence or receive pensions at post offices, make purchases in stores, at the time of arrival or departure from work, study, or simply walking past one of the above places.

The use of information and information-payment terminals for the monthly receipt by the population of information of a mandatory and notification nature is not possible for the following reasons:

1. The use of conventional PCs with a cellular or wired modem, bill acceptor and uninterruptible power supply at the base forces developers to wrap the terminals in a metal case to prevent theft, i.e. perform in vandal proof performance. As a result, the cost of such a terminal reaches $ 2,000 USA and more without software, which, combined with the need to install a significant number of identical devices, requires significant financial costs to provide information to the entire village.

2. A significant amount of installed terminal power reaching 0.5-0.7 kW and overall dimensions (at a height of ~ 1.5 meters, the required area for installation is about 1 sq. M) require large operating costs for paying for electric energy and renting space for installation .

3. Difficult maintenance and repair work, because All components of the terminal are made in a modular design in their own enclosures and are additionally protected by an anti-vandal enclosure.

4. The lack of the possibility of mobile updating of terminal software over the network requires such an operation by an on-site specialist, which increases the cost of maintaining the terminals and significantly increases the time required to update the entire installed fleet of terminals for the public to obtain information.

The validity of such allegations is confirmed by the absence of any data on the use of such terminals for the monthly receipt by the population of information of a mandatory and notification nature.

Currently, the provision of mandatory information to the public for provided or future services is carried out in the form of invoice notifications from life support enterprises. Delivery of invoice notices on paper is carried out by posting them to apartments or mailboxes.

In order to reduce the costs of posting invoice notices and their payment, simplify the procedure for resolving numerous other issues between the population and service providers, the EIRC (Unified Information and Settlement Center) is created in the settlements. In the EIRC, on the basis of data from the service provider enterprises, unified invoice notifications are generated to pay for all or most of the services, followed by posting by the center employees and / or outsiders.

The method of delivering information by foot is the oldest known method. This was reflected even in the name of one of the Olympic disciplines - the Marathon running distance in honor of the Greek village of Marathon, from which a warrior ran to Athens with news

victory over the Persians (5th century BC). This method requires large financial costs and considerable human resources and does not guarantee the mandatory and confidential receipt by citizens of bill-notices that may be mistakenly put in a nearby mailbox, lost among the pages of advertising newspapers or simply be seized by completely strangers. In addition, invoice notices can be easily faked using a conventional laser printer PC. Every year, due to the increase in crime, the distribution of invoice notices to apartments of city residents is becoming more complicated due to the installation of entrance metal doors with combination locks in the entrances of residential buildings, i.e. doors literally close in front of the existing posting system. Internet users can receive duplicate invoice notices in electronic form after going to the service provider's organization’s website (if any) and entering their initial data, which does not exclude the delivery of invoice notices to the apartment on paper.

Notification information regarding individual houses (for example, temporary shutdown of certain utilities, a list of debtors, etc.) is also communicated to the population by the difference of announcements and their stickers on the porch doors or special stands in frequently visited places. Information of a mandatory and notification nature related to cash costs and charges is communicated through the postal service using letters. Such information includes one-time messages from tax inspectorates about the need to pay a tax for the use of roads by motorists and for privatized apartments with the submission of notification bills; insurance companies about the expiration of the insurance period for a car and other property, by the pension fund of the amount of the insurance and funded part of future pensions for the previous year. The use of postal services significantly increases the cost of information delivery, given the cost of the envelope and the need for its proper design. Total number of emails sent with

information of this kind is estimated at many tens of millions of pieces per year throughout the country.

Notification information of a more general nature, mainly relating to the issues of ensuring the vital activity of the population in connection with the possibility of, for example, an epidemic of a disease, is provided through the media - newspapers, radio, television, which is also not cheap and does not guarantee coverage of the entire population .

The need for the delivery of information on paper for employees also occurs in enterprises of any kind of activity. These are checklists about the monthly salary with all deductions, accruals, deductions, additionally in secondary and higher educational institutions, informing teachers and students of the class schedule for the semester, passing exams in the session and when admitting to the educational institution, in hospitals the patients' everyday state. These issues are solved depending on the type of information after printing to a printer using a PC also by posting to the appropriate recipients or placing on special stands.

The proposed multi-user computer (multi-user computer - MS) is intended for the public to receive information of a mandatory and notification nature in printed form using a receipt thermal printer and / or electronic forms in the form of SMS messages to cell phones and e-mails, as well as for payment people consumed services using smart cards.

On the MS case are installed:

- sign-synthesizing liquid crystal alphanumeric indicator, for example 20 × 4 (four lines of twenty characters each) by DATA VISION, INTECH;

- 4 × 4 keyboard (keys 0-9 for dialing numbers, the enter key '#' and the cancellation '*' key for entering numbers and four specialized keys A, B, C, D);

- A connector for connecting a parallel printer LPT port;

- smart card reader (card reader);

- power cord with external power supply.

Two printed circuit boards are fixed inside the MS case. On the first printed circuit board are installed:

- a microprocessor with appropriate elements for setting the frequency of operation, programming and debugging using a personal computer (PC) via a connecting cable via a JTAG (Joint Test Action Group) interface, for example, ATMEL type ATmega64 (2490S.pdf), Atmega128 ( 2467S.pdf);

- an external memory card (Winchester) connected to the microprocessor through a logic chip with a voltage level converter, for example, such as Multi Media Card (TS64MMC.pdf) or Secure Digital Card (SDIO-SimpleSpec-1.00_A.pdf) with a memory capacity of up to 1 GB .

- Two bi-directional buffer circuits for organizing data exchange via LPT port;

- sound emitter with built-in oscillator type SMA13.

An industrial cellular modem, for example, WAVECOM type М2106 В (М2106 В-PTS.pdf) with an antenna and SIM (Subscriber Identification Module - Subscriber Identification Module) card from one of the cellular service providers and a connector for connecting a card reader with corresponding elements for setting the operating modes of each of the devices and physical communication interfaces with two serial COM ports of the microprocessor.

The connections between the printed circuit boards and the elements mounted on the housing are made in the form of flat cables with connectors at the ends. The overall dimensions of the MS in a rectangular case are only 180 × 130 × 50 mm, and the weight is about 1.0 kg.

In MS there is no external RAM (random access memory

device) for temporary storage of information, as The internal RAM of the microprocessor itself is used up to 4 KB. The number of input / output ports is seven, of which six are eight bit and one is five bit. The internal program memory has a capacity of up to 64-128 Kbytes at a clock frequency of 16 MHz, which is quite enough for the proposed field of application.

In fact, MS is a terminal device in the information chain Service Providers - EIRC - Service Consumers.

After loading the debugged and ready-to-work program for the JTAG interface into the microprocessor of the MS, a modular database of residents of a particular microdistrict of the settlement where the MS will be installed is downloaded to the hard drive via the LPT port to the hard drive. The number of modules corresponds to the number of apartments in a given microdistrict and contains a minimal but sufficient amount of information on all citizens registered at this address for an unambiguous search and finding information about them in the database. Such data include surname, name, patronymic, taxpayer identification number (TIN), address of residence, city telephone number (if any). Also, the source data is recorded in the module for the correct calculation of payments for utilities and other services (apartment area, benefits for the apartment and telephone, etc.). A database of tariffs for services to the public and a database of information of a notification nature are also downloaded.

The MS and the receipt thermal printer are installed in the selected place in accordance with the information recorded in the MS. A receipt printer (for example, a receipt printer TM-L90 from EPSON, tm-190_eng.pdf) prints on a receipt tape 80 mm wide, 64 characters per line, print speed 150 mm / sec. The thermal printer has the function of printing a two-dimensional bar code. Within 2-3 seconds, the information is printed and cut off with the built-in cutter. Dimensions TM-L90 140 × 148 × 201 mm, weight 1.9 kg, MTBF is 360,000 hours or

70 million lines, auto cutter is designed for 1.5 million clippings.

A set of MCs with a receipt thermal printer takes up very little space. MS can be made in various versions: wall or desktop. The TM-L90 thermal printer can be mounted horizontally or mounted on a wall using a special mounting device.

Servicing the MS with a thermal printer consists in supplying 220 V power, as the paper is used to install a new roll and rubbing the printer thermocouple with alcohol solution once every three months.

The issuance of the necessary information to any resident can be carried out upon request in the following three ways:

1. By typing on the keyboard your personal tax number (TIN) or city phone number, which during the dialing process is displayed on the top line of the display. Pressing any of the keys is accompanied by a short-term signal from the sound emitter. After pressing the '# - Enter' key, the last two lines of the display display the last name with the initials and the address of this citizen and request information on the readings of electricity, cold and hot water, gas meters. At this time, by pressing the A, B or C keys, you can enter or change the access code, register or change your cell phone number or your Internet E-mail address. Information in the future can be obtained only after additional entering the access code, as well as by calling from a cell phone or to a cell phone, or to the Internet address. If the information displayed on the display and the requested information are entered and the meter readings are entered, the '#' key is repeatedly pressed and thereby a command is given for calculating the program incorporated in the MS and the specified tariffs for a single invoice notification to pay for vital services of enterprises. After the calculation is completed, this information of a mandatory nature is automatically output to the receipt thermal printer. Then all the information embedded in the MS is displayed.

of a noticeable nature regarding this particular citizen and family members registered at this address. Upon initial receipt of information without fail, the number of the cellular modem of this MS is indicated in the notification information.

2. Ordinary voice call to the cellular modem from your cell phone registered in the MS. After the cellular modem determines the caller’s number, the end command is issued and the connection is disconnected. According to the program embedded in the MS, the source data is searched by the cell phone number. After they are in the database, the last two lines of the display display the last name with the initials and the address of the caller. The further procedure is similar to typing from the keyboard.

3. A remote way to obtain information in electronic form by sending SMS messages to the cellular modem of the MS with the readings of the meters of electric energy, hot and cold water, gas. After receiving and processing SMS messages in the MS, a response SMS message is sent with the amounts of necessary payments for specific services and notification information. In case of exceeding the amount of sent SMS information of the permissible amount, several SMS messages are sent. If there is an email address in the database, the information will be sent and / or to the email address. In this case, it is possible to obtain information in printed form from the MS in this case without entering the meter readings from the keyboard.

At the end of the month, all new or changed data is received from residents of each MS in the EIRC via the cellular communication channel in the GPRS mode when information is received by residents (meter readings, access codes, cell phone numbers, email addresses, etc.). In turn, at the beginning of next month, all the necessary information is transmitted to each MS from the EIRC to generate unified invoice notifications at the last place they were received (possible changes in the initial data when calculating payments, availability

debt or advance payments, tariff changes, etc.), as well as notification information. The received data is recorded in the appropriate sections of the database on the MS hard drive according to the program embedded in the microprocessor.

Citizens themselves choose their place of receipt of information and can change it at any time. At the initial change of the place of receiving information, the requested information is delivered via cellular communication channels within ~ 3-5 seconds from the EIRTs and printed on the printer. In the future, information on this apartment will be delivered to the newly selected MS.

The microprocessor program can be changed to another version remotely without opening the MS and reprogramming via the JTAG interface using a PC. A debugged and ready-to-work program is transferred from the EIRC via the cellular communication channel in GPRS mode to the MS and is recorded in the allocated hard drive memory area for it. Then, by a special command from the EIRC, the microprocessor self-programming mode is activated. The old program is erased from the program memory area, and the new one from the hard drive is overwritten into this memory area, starting from the zero address. The whole process of reprogramming together with the transfer of the program takes very little time and mainly depends on its volume (about one minute).

The proposed scheme excludes residents from receiving fake invoice notifications for fictitious services, since they do not need to deliver anything to anyone, and the printout itself is carried out on a narrow tape with a specialized receipt thermal printer that is not used in everyday life. The confidentiality of the information received is ensured by the introduction of an access code or its receipt by a call from your cell phone.

Obtaining information by the public of a notification nature according to the proposed scheme using MS in conjunction with a check

thermal printer will allow to solve a number of urban problems in a new way:

- increase the safety of citizens by providing timely and compulsory information to each family with the city’s vital services (Ministry of Emergencies, police, medicine, gas workers, energy, epidemiologists, psychologists, etc.). Give your hotline phone numbers, address, time of work, and, if necessary, more detailed information, for example, briefly about the main symptoms of the disease in case of danger of epidemics of influenza, fever, tick bite, etc .;

- organize urban Internet mail of one-time messages, which will allow enterprises of various forms of ownership and activities in a concise, concise form to bring to the appropriate citizens the necessary information of non-commercial content regarding them. For example, messages from insurance companies about the expiration of insurance for a car and other property, tax inspectorates about the need to pay a tax for the use of roads by car enthusiasts and for privatized apartments with the presentation of invoice notices; the pension fund the amount of the insurance and funded part of future pensions, both for the previous year and quarterly, the place and time of various reporting meetings, celebrations, some meetings (veterans of enterprises, graduates of schools, universities), etc .;

- promptly, the city authorities organize absentee electronic voting on issues of interest to them or on the orders of other city organizations. Voting ballots are printed and issued at the same time as the notification accounts and, after corresponding marks, by the voters are lowered into the voting box set up nearby.

- organize an electronic subscription of the population for the delivery of free urban advertising newspapers. From subscribing to free

advertising newspapers will benefit both city dwellers and newspaper publishers themselves. Considering the low income of most working and especially pensioners, it can be safely assumed that most copies of advertising newspapers are simply thrown away without reading. This is evidenced by the clogging of many house entrances with these newspapers. For the first, house entrances will become cleaner, less time will have to be devoted to recycling waste paper. The second will reduce the cost of publishing essentially the same waste paper. Subscription to the desired publications is made via the 'D' key before printing information on a thermal printer. From the names of advertising newspapers appearing on the liquid crystal display, the desired publications are selected by entering the corresponding serial numbers from the list and then pressing the '# - Enter' key. Information is entered into the subscription database and subsequently transmitted via cellular communication to the EIRC and further to the newspaper publishers.

Payment for utilities is made after installing a smart card in the MS card reader. With full payment, the '# - Enter' key is pressed and the corresponding amount is removed from the smart card and recorded in the database with the necessary payer details. A check on the payment made is issued by a check thermal printer. In case of partial payment, the payment amount is preliminarily entered using the keyboard. Information can be sent to the EIRC about the payments made immediately after each payment, as information is accumulated, at the fixed time allotted for this, or upon request from the EIRC.

The installation of an MS with a check thermal printer in checkpoints of industrial enterprises, scientific and educational institutions, medical institutions will additionally give out information to employees and students related to work or study.

This type of information includes receipts about the monthly salary with all deductions, accruals, deductions, additionally in secondary and higher educational institutions, bringing to teachers and

students of the class schedule for the semester, passing exams in the session and when admitting to the educational institution, in hospitals the everyday condition of patients.

Preparation of databases for downloading is carried out in the appropriate departments of the enterprise (accounting, bureau schedule, etc.) equipped with the necessary software for the PC and industrial cellular modem and transmitted via cellular communication in GPRS mode to the MS. Information will be automatically issued upon receipt of utility invoice notifications or only related to the activities of a particular enterprise after entering a password or making a call from a cell phone, the patient’s room number in the hospital and selecting the necessary item in the menu.

Claims (4)

1. A multi-user computer intended for the population to receive the same, but different information in the form of one or several blocks in printed form using a receipt thermal printer and / or electronic form in the form of an SMS message to a cell phone and to an e-mail address, as well as for payment the population of consumed services using electronic plastic cards (smart cards), characterized by the presence on the case of a liquid crystal alphanumeric display, a 4 × 4 keyboard, an output connector of a parallel LPT port and a credit card reader (card reader), an output power cord with an external power supply, and inside the case there are two printed circuit boards with a microprocessor installed on the first printed circuit board with the corresponding elements for setting the frequency of operation, start-up circuits when applying power and programming using a personal computer ( PC) via connecting cables via the JTAG interface, an external memory card (hard drive) connected to the microprocessor via a logic chip with a voltage level converter, two buffer chip designed for two-way independent organizations communicating over LPT port, the sound emitter, the second PCB presence industrial cellular modem and card reader connector for connecting with corresponding reference elements working modes of physical interfaces and communication with two COM ports of the microprocessor. 2. The use of the multi-user computer according to claim 1 in conjunction with a check printer controlled by the LPT port in settlements and set up at reception points for utility and other payments, in places frequently visited by residents and at enterprises as a terminal device of the settlement’s information network will allow to arrange the population of unified invoice notices on paper to pay for utilities, electricity, landline telephone, etc., receipt of invoice notices in the form of SMS messages to your mobile the first phone number and (or) to your e-mail E-mail, as well as receive information of notification on life support. 3. The use of a multi-user computer in conjunction with a check printer with LPT port management according to claim 1 will make it possible to arrange payment for utilities, electricity, landline telephone, etc. on smart cards in automatic mode without the participation of payment acceptance operators, 4. The use of a multi-user computer in conjunction with a check printer controlled by LPT port at enterprises according to claim 2 will additionally allow the issuance of paperwork information to employees on the size of wages for the past month, as well as any other notification information, depending on the profile of the enterprise .