WO2017042618A1

WO2017042618A1 - Cash management system and associated method thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2017042618A1
Application number: PCT/IB2016/001262
Authority: WO
Inventors: Giulio QUAIA
Original assignee: Auriga S.P.A.; FORTECH S.r.l.
Priority date: 2015-09-09
Filing date: 2016-09-07
Publication date: 2017-03-16
Also published as: EP3347865A1; ITUB20153486A1

Abstract

The invention discloses an automatic payment system able to accept cash payments, in unattended mode, for the provision of a service or for the distribution of a commodity, at a service station equipped with a suitable dispenser. In the preferred application, said service station is a fuel station for the refueling of motor vehicles. The main innovation consists in substituting the OTP (Outdoor Payment Terminal), currently used for the cash acquisition, with an ATM (Automated Teller Machine) station as the ones widely used for several banking services, including cash deposits and cash withdrawals. These ATM stations, as it is well-known, have become an essential part of the computer systems that oversee some banking transactions, and therefore any interaction with non-banking systems must be properly decoupled so as to preserve the reliability of these crucial systems. The proposed solution, as well as offering substantial organizational, procedural and technical advantages, ensures that the development and the possible future evolutions of the system which is the object of the invention, are absolutely compatible with the reliability and security requirements of the banking environment.

Description

CASH MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD ASSOCIATED THEREOF DESCRIPTION

The field of application of the present invention is the sector of the

automated systems for cash payments. Automatic cash payment is a widespread practice in various application contexts; in fact, there are established and reliable procedures to support this practice.

For example, a typical application is the fuel payment; systems of this type are typically employed in case of refueling in self-service mode: they handle the cash, they execute a check of the amount and of the authenticity, they exchange information with other appropriate systems that are obviously needed to complete the supply and they also provide the financial reporting.

According to the known art, such systems are usually based on outdoor installed hardware machinery (therefore easily accessible to users) that are referred to by the acronym OPT (Outdoor Payment Terminal).

Said OPTs are of relatively complex systems and comprise a number of specific elements among which it is useful to mention just a few. Typically, they have a "mouth for banknotes acquisition" through which you can enter banknotes one at a time; banknotes entered are then scanned and recognized. Once a banknote is acquired, it is stored in a secure compartment able to resist to burglary attempts (the amounts to be retained in such systems are potentially considerable, and therefore it is important to ensure appropriate security against theft's attempts).

In short, it can be concluded that the systems used in the known art are particularly reliable for what concerns the mechanical acquisition and storage of the banknotes, and with respect to their recognition. In fact, the scanners used for reading the banknotes are sufficiently fast, reliable, and they have performances that also allow to evaluate the authenticity of the inserted banknotes.

In known art applications, and in particular for the case of fuel payment in occasion of refueling in self-service mode, the systems of cash acquisition (such OPTs) must have a computer interface with another operating system, which it is responsible for the actual delivery of the service that has been paid in the unattended mode.

In the case taken as a reference, which is the payment of a refueling in self-service mode, the banknotes' acquisition system, or OPT, is then connected to the management system of the gas station, also called "station management system" or, more commonly, in this case, "Forecourt Controller".

The user who wishes to make a refueling, after inserting the banknotes inside the OPT, must inform the "station management system" about the dispenser on which he intends to carry out the refueling. The "station management system", on the basis the information provided by the user, and those coming from the OPT, will send to the right dispenser the commands necessary for enabling it to the delivery of a quantity of fuel corresponding to the amount paid.

In the case in which the fuel replenished is less than that corresponding to the amount paid (e.g. If the tank is full and cannot hold all the paid fuel), the "station management system" must manage this case too. Typically, the piece of information corresponding to the rest of the payment which is due to the user is sent to the acquisition system of the cash (the OPT), which will produce the printing of a receipt (or of a voucher) usable by the user for subsequent purchases.

In short, it can be observed that, in general, two separate systems cooperate in carrying out the necessary procedures to support the automatic payment in cash of a particular service: an acquisition system of money (an OPT), and a "station management system", which is the system which manages the equipment with which the paid services, or the paid goods, are actually delivered to the user.

In the case of a refueling in self-service mode, payed by cash, the "station management system", that manages various elements of a service station, and the OPT, must cooperate by exchanging information with the aim of supporting correctly and reliably the various supplies and the related fuel payments.

The procedure outlined in brief here above requires further steps which do not involve the user, but which are particularly important (also in relation to the economic impact) from the point of view of the provider of the service paid automatically, and these steps, therefore, can be critical.

In this case, taken as a reference, the operator of the service station must in fact ensure that the money raised through the acquisition system of the cash (i.e. the

OPT) is safely transported in a bank and deposited into his bank account.

The cash shipment is typically a service provided by specialized companies, it has a considerable cost and it is performed periodically, therefore, the money paid by the users is generally credited into the bank account of the operator in a deferred time. A process, which in a certain sense is "complementary" with that of the automatic payments by cash, is the process of cash dispensing which is performed through some specific systems called ATM (Automated Teller Machine). Said service in Italy is commonly known as "Bancomat" service: the name is derived from the main circuit that takes care of this service, although there are also other circuits, mainly devoted to international services, which carry out, in Italy, the same service of cash supply.

Also in this case, the service is based on a reliable system, which exists from many years, and it is typically provided by the banks. In the beginnings, after its introduction, the cash dispensing service was offered independently from other services, but then it has been integrated with other services; so that, at the ATM desks, today a user can benefit of other offered services, including payment of taxes, of utility bills, or phone cards. Typically, they are services based on payments of the electronic type, in which the amount paid is subtracted from a user account, and added in another account, without passage cash.

Moreover, there are ATM desks predisposed for the cask deposit (not just dispensing). In this case, the service offered to the customer consists on the acquisition of the cash, and the subsequent accreditation in a bank account associated to the customer himself.

In some cases, the ATM desks arranged for the cash deposit are able to manage the banknotes in such a way that the same may be delivered later to users who withdraw cash, allowing significant savings in the handling of the cash. These ATM systems are referred to as ATM stations with cash recirculation.

In all these cases, the handling of cash inside an ATM system always involve the movement of amounts of money outgoing from the account of a user who withdraws or incoming into the account of a user who deposits. Even when the user uses a payment service which doesn't require manipulation of cash, it is always an electronic payment that is an operation on the bank account of said user. Thus, since it is an operation on a bank account, the user who is serving himself at the ATM terminal is always requested to identify himself. Such identification is typically made by means of a card (electronic or magnetic) and entering a security code.

The ATM systems are characterized by some typical elements. In particular they are provided with a subsystem able to "manipulate" the banknotes. The handling of banknotes is obviously necessary both for the withdrawals and for the deposits of the money in the safe. In the case of an ATM station with cash recirculation, the safe is unique, and serves to keep both the money available for withdrawals and that deposited, which immediately becomes potentially available for withdrawals. Eventual separate partitions of the safe can be provided for the guard of banknotes not usable for dispensing (for example, in the case where some cuts are not used for dispensing, or in other cases), but these details fall outside the level of depth to this description.

Even in this case, as in the OPTs, the amounts held in such systems are potentially high, and therefore the safes must be reliable against attempts of tampering.

Another element which characterizes the ATM systems is the user interface. This user interface generally comprises a monitor and a keyboard which allow the user to enter and receive information (for example, instructions that guide him in the withdrawal procedure).

The ATM system is then provided with suitable computer programs that allow the communication with other centralized banking systems in order to "authenticate" and recognize the user (normally through the reading of electronic or magnetic cards which the user must insert into the ATM system), and to check the services that the user is entitled to benefit.

In addition to these elements, which are visible for the user while he serves himself at an ATM desk, the cash withdrawal service needs the support of some important operational procedures that are functional to keep sufficient cash availability at every ATM system.

As in the case of automatic payments, it should be noted that a process of cash shipment is needed for the correct operability of the ATM desk. It is, also in this case, a delicate and costly procedure, especially in ATM systems which are not located at the branches of a bank.

The ATM systems with the recirculation of the cash may, up to a certain extent, reduce the supply frequency of the ATM systems but, being the levies generally more significant than the deposits (especially in positions that are not located at a bank office), the supply of the ATM systems necessarily continues to be a frequent function.

The brief description of the known systems, both as regards the acquisition of the cash in the automatic payment processes via the so-called OPT systems, and as regards the dispensing of money in the processes managed via the so-called ATM systems, highlights the potential utility of conceiving a system allowing the recirculation of cash acquired during automatic payments by cash at an OPT, for its re-use in the cash supply process during the withdrawals on ATM systems.

For example, in the case of the automatic payments of fuel, the amounts of cash used by customers for refueling are certainly considerable and they could constitute a significant reserve for a cash dispensing service, co-located in the same service station.

Depending on the circumstances, there could be an excess of incoming money (many supplies paid in cash), or a greater demand for levies of money (many withdrawals); in any case, at least one of the two operations which provides for the transport of cash, or to load the ATM systems, or to download the acquired cash, would be unnecessary and, in general, one can easily understand how the interventions for the money transfer could decrease, even drastically, their frequency.

Therefore, the main scope of the present invention is to conceive an integrated system that can serve to support both cash payments, at a service station, and cash levies, drawing from the cash reserves that are formed for effect of the payments.

A further scope of the present invention is to conceive an integrated system able to support both the payments in cash and the dispensing of cash, and said integrated system have to share, for both functions, as many subsystems as possible: e.g. the system for the "handling" of the money, or the user interface devices such as a monitor and a keyboard; in order to achieve the optimal hardware integration.

Again, a further scope of the present invention is to conceive a system in which the software control modules of the various subsystems involved, i.e. the cash handling and recognition, the management of the station apparatus, and the interbank procedures management, exchange information through communication interfaces predefined and as limited as possible, minimizing the need to make changes to the consolidated management systems already available in the known art, and also promoting the independent evolution of the individual control modules.

Finally, it is noted that the scopes set out with reference to a system that is designed considering the application of the cash payment of the fuel in self-service mode, can be extended, more generally, to all systems in which cash payment is expected for a service. In such cases, the so-called "station management systems", should be understood as the management systems of the subsystems that in turn will serve to the physical delivery of the service automatically paid.

The intended scopes for this invention are achieved through the use of a system comprising at least:

> an ATM terminal with cash recirculation which supports both cash deposits and cash withdrawals,

> a station system for the provision of a service or for the distribution of a commodity, and said service or commodity can be paid automatically by cash,

> a management system of the station that controls one or more station systems for the provision said service or for the distribution of said commodity,

and said ATM terminal is characterized in that it presents a user interface arranged to accept from a non-identified subject a user command of request of cash payment for said service or commodity, and said user command also determines the start of a procedure of deposit on a predefined bank account, without requiring that the holder of said bank account is identified, and said ATM terminal is also characterized in that it supports a procedure which, after the acquisition of cash following the generation of said user command of request of cash payment for said service or commodity, generates a sequence of further computer commands to be transmitted to said management system of the station; and said sequence of computer commands is equivalent to the sequence of commands that said management system of the station would receive from a cash acquisition system (OPT) associated to it for the management of the cash payment, in the unattended mode, of said service or commodity delivered by said station system for the provision of a service or for the distribution of a commodity. The main advantage of the present invention consists in the fact that an integrated system, realized according to the teachings of the present invention, fulfills the main purposes for which it was conceived.

This invention also has further advantages which will be made more apparent from the following description, the appended claims that form an integral part of the same description and the illustration of some examples of embodiment described, but not limited to, in what follows and in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows the architecture of a complete system for a refueling service station in the "self-service" mode, with the possibility of automatic payment in cash.

Figure 2a shows an ATM system.

Figure 2b shows a schematic representation of an ATM system.

Figure 3 shows a synthetic architecture of the system which is the subject of the invention.

In Figure 1 , designated by the reference number 100, it is represented the typical architecture of a system of a refueling station arranged for the "self-service" mode and the cash payment executed by means of an OPT device. With the number 1 10, the center of the diagram shows the "station management system ", normally referred to as "Forecourt Controller" in the gas stations.

Said "station management system" 1 10 typically communicates and exchanges data with all other subsystems that are located in the service station. In particular, the number 120 indicates a delivery station system, that in the specific case of a refueling station can be a dispenser for the fuel supply. Said "station management system" 1 10 is therefore able to exchange commands with said delivery station system 120 in order to control it. Of course, it can lock/unlock it, adjust the dispensing limits, take readings about the amounts paid and it generally oversees the procedures essential for its management such as test procedures and diagnostic, etc.

The pair formed by the "station management system" 1 10 and the delivery station system 120 is highly interdependent, and a change in the delivery station system 120 typically causes an update in the "station management system" 1 10.

With the number 130 is then indicated a cash acquisition system, installed in "outdoor", normally called OPT. Said OPT 130 performs the traditional functions of acquisition and handling of banknotes, and presents the user interface through which the user indicates the dispenser at which he intends to refuel. In the case of a refueling executed in self-service mode and paid by cash, said OPT 130 must communicate to the "station management system" 1 10 which dispenser has to be enabled and the amount of fuel to be dispensed; such information allow the "station management system" 1 10 to properly manage the supply required by the user. A dashed arrow, in Figure 1 , indicates also the possibility of direct communication between the delivery station system 120 and the OPT 130: in fact, the OPT 130 also incorporates a computer unit that can perform certain control functions, which are typical of the "station management system" 1 10. In some real cases, therefore, the function of said "station management system" 1 10, which consists in a software program executed on one or more servers, can also be partially integrated in the computer that is available in the OPT 130, and it may thus happen that there is a direct exchange of information and commands between the delivery station system 120 and the OPT130.

From an architectural point of view, however, it is more correct to intend the OPT limited to the subsystem 130 that manages the functions associated to the acquisition of money, while the "station management system" 1 10 includes all of the control functions of the various systems and apparatuses that are located in the service station. Thus, cases in which an OPT 130 exchanges information or commands with a delivery station system 120, from the architectural point of view are to be understood as cases in which a part of the "station management system" 1 10 is physically integrated in the computer available in the OTP 130.

Accordingly, the more correct architectural representation provides that the "station management system" 1 10, although physically distributed, is represented in a separate block. According to this architectural representation, the actions taken by a user at the OPT 130 (insertion of cash and commands through the user interface of the OPT itself) have their effect on the delivery station system 120 through the functions performed by the "station management system" 1 10.

Therefore, the dashed line of Figure 1 connecting the delivery station system 120 and the OPT 130 does not have a real meaning from the architectural point of view (from the architectural point of view it is as if there was not), but it just represents a flow of physical data that is often implemented in real systems 100 which are present in the actual refueling stations, where the possibility of supplies in "self-service" with automatic payment in cash is allowed.

Other elements of the overall system 100 are then also shown in Figure 1 , however, they have no relevance in the illustration of the present invention. In particular, with the number 140, it is indicated a system, called BOS (Back Office System), which allows the manager of the service station to interact with all the station devices through the "station management system" 1 10. Finally, with the number 150 it is represented a "gateway", which allows to the "station management system" 1 10 to interact with other systems, such as users' archives related to more or less complex loyalty initiatives: with the number 160, in fact, it is indicated a generic database that can be updated on the basis of events that take place in the service station.

In summary, however, for the purposes of illustration of the present invention, what has to be highlighted, it is the architectural structure that describes the interaction between an OPT 130, which is the system which allows a user to make a payment, and a delivery station system 120, which is the system where such user receives what he has paid for. This interaction is intermediated by a series of functions which, from an architectural point of view, are functions performed by a "station management system" 1 10 that exchanges information with the OPT 130, and subsequently controls the delivery station system 120.

In all this, it should be noted that the interactions between the delivery station system 120 and the "station management system" 1 10 are architecturally decoupled from the interactions between the OPT 130 and the "station management system" 1 10. Figure 2a shows an image of an ATM station with cash recirculation which supports both the levies of cash and deposits, and which is indicated with the number 200.

In Figure 2b, said ATM station 200 is represented in a sort of diagram that shows some of its elementary parts, which are of particular relevance in the description of the present invention.

The number 210 denotes a block representing the processing means (i.e. a computer); in fact, each ATM station 200 internally incorporates a computer on which computer programs (i.e. software) can be installed and executed. In Figure 2b, the number 300 generally indicates the various computer programs installed in the processing means 210.

The number 221 indicates a "mouth" for the acquisition of banknotes. Said banknotes' acquisition "mouth" 221 represents the point where the user inserts the money. There are various technologies with which it is possible to realize these banknotes' acquisition "mouth" 221 , depending on whether the banknotes are scanned one at a time or in bundles. It is not excluded the case that some ATM stations 200 may also be provided with two (or more) of these "mouths" having different technologies and different practical arrangements for money's acquisition. However, for the purposes of the description of the present invention, it is sufficient that these ATM stations have at least one "mouth" 221 for the acquisition of banknotes, through which a user can insert the banknotes, and these banknotes are acquired, recognized and counted in a reliable and fast manner.

The money acquired through said "mouth" 221 for the acquisition of banknotes, is then manipulated and placed in a built-in safe which is part of the system which constitutes said ATM station 200. The number 230 denotes that safe. The number 222 then indicates a "dispensing opening" for banknotes. In fact, on the occasion of levies by a user, the banknotes stored in the safe 230 are manipulated to be delivered through said " dispensing opening" for banknotes 222.

With the number 223 is then shown a further "mouth" for the reading of a magnetic or electronic card. In fact, when a user intends to use one of the services available at the ATM station 200, he is required to be identified; and the normally adopted identification method requires the user to enter in that "mouth" 223 for the reading of a magnetic or electronic card his personal card. The user identification, that the currently used systems perform through a personal magnetic or electronic card of the user, in the future may occur with other technologies able to support an identification process, such as short-range radio technologies (eg. NFC - Near Field Communication) or technologies for recognition of physiognomic features (fingerprint, voice or facial recognition, etc ...), or other technologies developed in the future. In such cases, said further "mouth" 223 for the reading of a magnetic or electronic card may be replaced or joined by other elements suitable for the acquisition of data useful for the identification of the user who intends to use a service available at said ATM station 200.

For the purposes of the description of the present invention, what is important is that each ATM station 200 integrates a device or a function dedicated to identify who is using the ATM station.

Given the variety of services that can be offered at these ATM stations, normally, the user must interact with the system (e.g. to enter a secret code for his identification, or to indicate the amount of money he wants to withdraw, etc. ...) through a user interface. The number 240 indicates the user interfaces which are provided on each ATM station 200. Said user interfaces 240 typically consist in a video screen that can also be of the type "touch screen", in a keyboard which possibly may also have special key buttons associated with specific services supported by the ATM 200 station, and in a speaker able to emit some audio alerts that can inform or request the user to perform certain operations. As usual, it cannot be excluded that, in the future, the user interfaces 240, may integrate also other further evolved interaction means, in addition to the monitor, keyboard and speaker (eg. Voice recognizers with microphones, cameras combined with video analysis programs, physiognomic scanner or others systems).

The computer programs 300 that an ATM station 200 must execute to work properly are numerous and also of a certain complexity. They include all the control software (drivers) for the operation of the various "mouths" and openings, for the banknotes' handling systems and for the safe, and for the control of any device, even those not mentioned explicitly in Figures 2a and 2b, such as the printer that is normally needed to print paper receipts.

In addition to the programs for the control of the various parts of the overall system which constitutes said ATM station 200 (the system drivers), the processing means 210 execute other computer programs which are necessary for the bank-type interactions. Such a set of computer programs is remarkably complex and above all, it is very critical because they have to interface with the banking information systems and, therefore, they have to execute extremely delicate operations where mistakes are not allowed. They must be robust with respect to all possible user behavior and respect to any performance on communication lines. Said "station management system" 1 10, as well as said delivery station systems 120 and the ATM systems 200, as shown above, are all systems based on mature technologies, therefore they are all particularly reliable systems, although significantly complex.

They are subsystems that are parts of the system disclosed in the present invention: however, for the sake of the proper functioning of the system, which is the object of the present invention, they must be adjusted by the integration of some characterizing changes. Such adjustments, to fully achieve the objects of the invention, should be circumscribed in order to have a minimal impact on existing known systems and, above all, the integration of these changes must be made so that these can also be easily integrated both with the subsystems currently in operation, and with those subsystems that will evolve in the future; the scope is that of not imposing onerous adaptation activities on known subsystems.

Therefore, the inventive activity that is at the root of the present invention consists in finding the minimum number of additions to existing systems to make them work together successfully to achieve the objectives of the invention itself. Those few additions have been designed so that they can be introduced without causing a chain impact on the various features of the known consolidated subsystem. In fact, this impact would make too onerous and complex the introduction of said required updates.

In Figure 3, they are shown the three subsystems, derived from the prior art, that make up the essential architecture of the system disclosed by the invention, which is indicated in Figure 3, as a whole, with the number 400. Said three subsystems, derived from the prior art, are: the delivery station system 120, the "station management system" 1 10 and the ATM system 200 with cash recirculation.

It is noted that the essential architecture of the system presented in Figure 1 (which is a complete system for a gas station which supports "self-service" refueling, with the possibility of automatic payment in cash) shows a normal the OPT 130, while, in Figure 3, said OPT is replaced by the ATM system 200.

Figure 3 then shows a computer procedure (a software program), indicated with the number 310, which may also consist of several distinct software modules, and which is installed and executed in the processing means 210 which are incorporated, as explained above, in said ATM system200.

Said computer procedure 310 allows to characterize and circumscribe all the various changes which allow that said ATM system 200 continues to operate as a normal ATM station, delivering all the services for which it is specifically designed (i.e. dispensing of cash, utility payments from a bank account of the user that has to be recognized, cash deposits, etc. ... ).

As a result of said computer procedure 310, said ATM station 200 appears enriched by an additional option, which is then made available through said user interface means 240: it is the option of executing cash payments for the automatic provision of a service or a commodity.

A user that approaches the ATM terminal 200 can therefore select the "delivery payment option". Up to this selection, the additional features of the ATM terminal 200 have not interacted in any way with the normal functionality of said ATM system. It is specified that with the expression "ordinary functionality" is meant those functionalities that implement the operation of an ATM workstation 200 with recirculation of money as those of the prior art systems.

The selection of said "delivery payment option" provides that said computer procedure 310 generates an interaction with one "ordinary functionality" of said ATM system 200. In particular, said computer procedure 310 emulates the early stages of a cash deposit process, in which, according to the "ordinary functions", a user is identified and announces its intention to deposit the cash in a specific account. Therefore, the selection of the "delivery payment option" will emulate the identification of a particular user and will select a particular account to which the paid money will be credited. Consequently, the subsequent insertion of one or more banknotes will be treated by the ATM terminal 200 as a deposit performed by a particular user on a particular account. Evidently the particular user, whose identification is emulated by that computer procedure 310, is a user associated with the service provider who delivers what is paid.

From this point onward, therefore, the treatment of the money paid, by inserting it in the "mouth" 221 for banknotes' acquisition, is analogous to the treatment of the cash as in the occasion of a generic deposit, made at this ATM station 200.

Said computer procedure 310 has to implement other essential elementary functions, including the acquisition of the information about the amount entered by the user. This acquisition requires further interaction with at least one of the computer programs 300 installed in the processing means 210 of said ATM station 200. However, it is a read-only interaction regarding a piece of information that is normally made available by said computer programs 300, or for the print of a receipt or for a monitor notification confirming the amount paid. Therefore, it is certainly an interaction with minimal impact on existing systems and on the execution of the "ordinary functionalities" of the ATM station 200.

Once said piece of information, about the amount of money inserted, is acquired, the ATM station 200 is no longer affected by other interactions with its "ordinary functionalities", and the amount paid will be considered paid, and safe, in the bank account associated to the service provider who delivers what has been paid.

Said computer procedure 310 will then perform some other functions to complete the integration of the whole system 400. In particular it will have to reproduce, in the user interface 240, the reports that are typically implemented in the user interface of the OPT systems 130. Furthermore, it will have to provide some information about the delivery station systems 120 that available and about their status, and it will have to offer to the user the option of selecting a delivery station system 120 where he can serve himself. Ultimately, said computer procedure 310 will have to manage a conversation with the user through said user interface means 240: a very simple conversation like the one that all users who make supplies in "self-service", by making payment in cash at an OPT system 130, are used to entertain. In any case, it is a feature implemented by the computer procedure 310, which is performed with complete independence from the other "ordinary functionalities" of that ATM station 200.

Once the amount of the sum paid is acquired, as well as the other relevant information for the refueling, obtained through the interaction with the user, said computer procedure 310 has all the data which are needed to establish an exchange of commands and data with the "station management system" 1 10. All the steps which follows are entirely analogous to the exchange of commands and information that occurs between an OPT 130 and a " station management system" 1 10 in a gas station for refueling.

Therefore, said computer procedure 310 must incorporate a module similar to those that are normally installed in the OPT systems. In practice this incorporation consists in integrating, in said computer procedure 310, well-known procedures that have been developed for the OPT systems.

It should be noted, once again, that such modules of said computer procedure 310 are totally independent of all other "ordinary functionalities" implemented in the ATM 200 station.

For the completion of all phases of the supply, said computer procedure 310 may use the user interface 240 for all interactions which have to be maintained with the user, of course, always without interacting with the " ordinary functionalities " of the ATM station 200.

It is important to note, in conclusion, that the "station management system" 1 10 and, even more so, the delivery station system 120, do not require any change with respect to the known systems (or systems already in the field). In fact, all the necessary additions, necessary to implement the system architecture 400, can be narrowed in the development of new distinct IT procedures running in the "processing means" 210 incorporated in the ATM station 200; which therefore works, in part, also as an OPT system, using the hardware of said ATM station without the need for any integration of additional hardware.

In short, it is important to highlight how the overall system 400, which is the object of the present invention, is largely composed of known systems. However, the particular cooperation that these known systems puts in place, when composing the system 400 taught by the present invention, is made possible by the development of a new computer program 310, which can be run on processing means already comprised in said known systems. Said computer program 310 than allows the implementation of a solution, which is useful and innovative, for a technical problem not yet handled in a satisfactory manner: that is, the problem of using the banknotes used for the automatic payments in cash, to load the cash reserves needed to the ATM workstations for dispensing cash.

The taught solution, in addition to solving the above mentioned problem, also offers additional benefits, both to the service provider (who immediately receives the payments on its account) and to the manager of the cash dispensing services, i.e. the banks (which may conveniently displace a number of fully automated branches at certain gas-stations).

It is here noted that the solution of the technical problems can have significant favorable impact on the procedural and organizational level: the mere fact of not seeing already widely implemented a solution of this type, given the advantages which are immediately obvious to the operators, is a demonstration of how it is far from being trivial and immediate to integrate two technology worlds that allow the implementation of the system 400 as disclosed in the present invention.

It is true that, however simple, the computer program 310 that enables such a solution is a program that, although in a very limited way, interoperates with two different specializations: the world of management systems of business environments, and the world of banking systems that, because of the sensitivity of the functions performed, is a world in which the involved operators are highly specialized.

It is also important to note that the inventive step has been particularly tested right in seeking a solution that would allow such two separated technological worlds to continue to evolve their products while maintaining limited the effects on the computer procedure 310 (implementing the "ordinary functionalities" of an ATM station), which makes it possible the system 400, conceived according to the teachings of the present invention, to be effective.

Well, the proposed architecture allows to keep independent the evolution of the "station management systems" 1 10 from the evolution (and the updates) of the ATM workstations 200; such independence, however, does not preclude the integration, even very strong, among the systems that compose the overall management system of the cash 400 as it is conceived according to the teachings of the present invention.

In fact, any ATM workstation comprises significant computing means 210 having respectable performance and reliability; and such computing means 210 are therefore able to host the programs (currently running on servers of the service stations) that implement said "station management system" 1 10.

Indeed, the qualifying part of said "station management system" 1 10 is a computer program not particularly heavy in terms of computational load; and there are no major technical drawbacks that such a computer program runs on the processing means 210 which are necessarily present in the ATM workstations, instead of running on a server of the gas station. An integration, as the proposed one, presents evident technical advantages as it would reduce the number of machines, and the exchange of commands between the ATM system 200 and the "station management system" 1 10 does not require to set up a communication channel.

However, such integration would require a greater level of cooperation between the world of the developers of banking services and the world of the developers of management systems (worlds that, as mentioned, today are not particularly integrated). This solution is simply enough, and allowed by the proposed architecture, but it is still an option to be taken into account or not, depending on how the two industries involved in the present invention will evolve.

It is also important to emphasize that the described system, that has been conceived to ensure the optimum management of cash still used by many users to pay the fuel, is also a system that naturally lends itself to support a wide variety of types of electronic payments. In fact, the OTP systems 130 which normally act as acquisition systems of banknotes, often act also as POS systems (Point of Sale), i.e. remote systems, placed at points of sale, which allow the management of payments by credit cards or debit card. Therefore, it is crucial that, in a service station, different payment methods are supported.

The management system of cash 400, implemented according to the teachings of the present invention is, by its nature, already prepared also for the management of electronic payments.

As already mentioned, in fact, the most recent ATM workstations already offer the possibility of executing various electronic payments, taking a sum of money from an account associated to the payer and crediting the correspondent amount on an account associated to the paid subject. In this case, since the payment is of the electronic type, the payer must identify himself (e.g. by means of a magnetic or electronic card); after that, the user can access that service that, as regards the management of payment, is treated as a further application of electronic payment (analogous to the known applications already present in many ATM workstations), while, as regards the functionality for the control of the delivery station systems 120, the process is completely analogous to that developed according to the teachings of the present invention outlined above.

Ultimately, it can be affirmed that the system 400 disclosed in the teachings of the present invention appears absolutely versatile and suitable to support, with simplicity and efficiency, all modes of payment that will presumably emerge, also in view of future developments.

Having said about the architectural simplicity of the cash management system 400 according to the teachings of the present invention, it is now important to highlight that said system 400 allows to implement a very efficient method for the management of the cash used for the unassisted payment of services or goods. Said method, despite being quite articulated, is characterized in that it includes the two essential steps that are summarized below:

a) a first not-identified subject (or a subject of which any identifying information, if available, is not exploited) deposits a sum of cash on an account associated to a second subject at an ATM terminal 200, enabled to the cash deposit service, where there is the possibility of this type of payment after the insertion of a specific user command proposed by the user interface 240 of said ATM terminal 200; b) said deposit of that sum of money, carried out by said first non-identified subject, as mentioned in the previous step a), is a start event for a computer procedure which provides for exchange of information between said ATM terminal 200 and a "station management system" 1 10.

Obviously, the whole cash management method implemented by the system 400, in its entirety, is very complex and presents many phases. However, the two characterizing phases described above (in summary) are particularly important because they are new compared to the methods with which the cash is managed and handled in the prior art systems. In fact, when the money is paid into a bank account associated with a subject, this is always done after the identification of the person who pays, then step a) introduces a new element compared to the known deposit methods.

Furthermore, the known ATM systems, that interact with the computer systems of a bank, do not perform procedures that require their interaction (and the exchange of commands and information) with other local computer systems. In the case of the method according to the invention, this is made possible by the fact that the architecture of the proposed system guarantees a clear decoupling between the functions of impact in the banking environment and the functions that operate within the local "station management system"1 10.

The aforementioned decoupling makes feasible the complete method for the management of the payments in cash; and the associated provision of the paid services can be developed by following the typical steps normally implemented by the involved systems. In fact, the deposit of the amount of the cash introduced, is paid into the account of the station manager, by following the typical procedures of a deposit at an ATM station, while the control of the delivery service station 120 (performed by the "station management system" 1 10) will be executed according to the ordinary methods of the "station management system" 1 10 in question, and this will work just on the basis of the few essential information provided by the ATM terminal 200 as stated in the step b) of the aforementioned method.

The invention just described can also lend itself to numerous variations that may offer additional advantages compared to those previously mentioned. And these further variants can be developed by the man skilled in the art without departing from the invention as it is clear from the present description and the claims appended hereto.

Therefore, the technology used in some of the items can be modified, while these continue to perform their essential function; furthermore, the invention can be realized in a partial way, with particular limitations, or applied in varied contexts, as well as many described details can be replaced by technically equivalent elements. In particular, and as already said, the various technologies for the acquisition and handling of banknotes, as well as the various techniques and procedures of authentication of a user, are not the characterizing parts of the present invention and therefore, if in the future more advantageous technologies should be available, or whether the current technologies will evolve towards better performance or quality-price ratios, other types of subsystems may be used to realize the system architecture which characterizes the present invention, without in any way changing its inventive nature.

Finally, the described invention lends itself to incorporate and to support additional features in order to enhance and further enrich the performance of the recirculation system of the cash taught in the present invention: such arrangements, not described here, may eventually be the subject of further patent applications associable to this invention.

Claims

1 . Cash management system (400) comprising at least:

S an ATM terminal (200) with cash recirculation which supports both cash deposits and cash withdrawals,

^■ a station system (120) for the provision of a service or for the distribution of a commodity, and said service or commodity can be paid automatically by cash by non-identified users,

■ a management system of the station (1 10) that controls one or more station systems (120) for the provision said service or for the distribution of said commodity,

and said ATM terminal (200) is characterized in that it presents a user interface (240) arranged to accept from a non-identified subject a user command of request of cash payment for said service or commodity, and said user command of request of cash payment for said service or commodity also determines the start of a procedure of deposit of a cash amount on a predefined bank account, associated to said station system (120), and the cash money deposited in such occasion is then available, at least in part, to be dispensed to the identified users who want to withdraw some cash from their own bank accounts, and said ATM terminal (200) is also characterized in that it supports a procedure which, after the acquisition of cash following the generation of said user command of request of cash payment for said service or commodity, generates a sequence of further informatic commands to be transmitted to said management system of the station (1 10).

2. Cash management system (400) according to the preceding claim in which said station system (120) for the provision of a service or for the distribution of a commodity, is a fuel dispenser for motor vehicles.

3. Cash management system (400) according to the preceding claim, in which said ATM terminal (200), by means of a command given, through said user interface (240), by a non-identified real user, executes a computer procedure which emulates the initial steps of a cash deposit process on said ATM terminal (200), and in this deposit process, an emulated virtual user is identified and he is enabled to deposit the cash on a default bank account associated to the manager of the fuel station where said fuel dispenser for motor vehicles is located.

4. Cash management system (400) according to the preceding claim in which said sequence of further informatic commands transmitted by said ATM terminal (200) to said management system of the station (1 10), includes a command of request to enable a fuel dispenser for motor vehicles for the fuel delivering, and said fuel dispenser is selected by said non-identified user, by means of a specific command predisposed on said user interface (240).

5. Automatic method of payment, in unattended mode, for the provision of a service or for the distribution of a commodity, at a service station in which there is a cash management system (400) as in any one of the preceding claims, and which comprises the following stages:

a) a first non-identified subject, or a subject for whom is not used any identifying information, if available, deposits an amount of cash on a bank account associated to a second subject by means of a ATM terminal (200), which is enabled to the service of cash deposit, in which there is the possibility of this type of payment following the insertion of a specific user command proposed by the user interface (240) of said ATM terminal (200);

b) the deposit of said amount of cash, carried out by said first non- identified subject, as said in the previous step a), constitutes a start event for a computer procedure which provides for information exchange between said ATM terminal (200) and a management system of the station (1 10).

6. A computer program comprising a software suitable for implementing the method according to claim 5.

7. A product for computer programs on which the computer program according to claim 6 is stored.

8. Processing means (210) forming part of said ATM system (200) configured to execute the computer program according to claim 6