Interactive Kiosks – Whitepaper

Introduction

An interactive kiosk is a multimedia-enabled computer system that provides information and services. Through the touchscreen interface of a kiosk, customers and visitors can browse useful information in an engaging, interactive way.

Self-service kiosks allow users to carry out business transactions. These include ticketing, registration, feedback, check-in, etc. Peripherals attached to a kiosk, such as cash dispensers, card readers, printers and scanners, help customers carry out these transactions quickly and easily.

Kiosks allow businesses to serve customers who are not familiar with technology through an electronic channel. They reduce transaction costs and can increase customer satisfaction. Thinvent provides a one-stop solution for all your kiosk needs. In the last two years, our customers have deployed more than a thousand kiosks using our technology.

Kiosk Applications

Your enterprise can use kiosk technology in many ways, including the following:

• Interactive kiosks can introduce your organisation to visitors and provide information on products and services. Users can register at the kiosk for future updates by email or post. The kiosk can also record user feedback and send it to your sales or customer service department.

• Ticketing kiosks can be used to sell travel, entry and lottery tickets. They are increasingly being used by transport companies, amusement parks, stadiums and lottery companies in India.

• Airlines use check-in kiosks at airports to provide quick check-in services to business passengers who do not carry check-in baggage.

• Reservation kiosks are used by hotels and transport companies, as well as their agents and travel websites.

• Prepaid services, such as telecom, DTH, toll tags and metro cards, can be recharged by consumers at kiosks. Such kiosks accept payment by cash, debit and credit card, direct debit from a bank account, and smart card-based cash cards. They can also update user smart cards directly.

• Banks are among the leading users of kiosks, and use them to provide customers with cheque collection, token dispensing and passbook update services.

Key Components

A kiosk consists of the following components:

Hardware

This includes the embedded computer, touchscreen, printer and other peripherals. UPS and network connectivity are often built into the kiosk.

Software

The operating system, remote management and monitoring, multimedia content management system and application stack are an integral part of every kiosk.

Chassis

The chassis encloses all the hardware components within an aesthetically appealing outer body. The strength and durability of the kiosk chassis are very important if it is placed in a public area.

Interactive Content

The multimedia content that users browse must be custom-developed for each project. This includes text, audio, video, background music, animation, and menu systems.

Business Application

Users carry out transactions on the kiosk through local or web-based business applications. These applications use peripherals such as card readers and printers to automate tasks and deliver quick service.

Thinvent provides you with the complete hardware, software and application for your kiosk. Chassis and content creation are more design-oriented than technology-oriented. We have therefore partnered with two leading chassis and content design houses in India, who work with us on all our projects.

Why Choose Thinvent?

Thinvent is an established provider of kiosk solutions. We provide customers with robust, reliable and long-lasting kiosks that are easy to maintain and service.

Our customers have chosen us to execute some of the largest kiosk projects in the country. The key benefits of Thinvent's kiosk solution are:

• 1. Robust and Secure: Thinvent's Thinux Kiosk operating environment is a highly stable OS. Thinux includes all the software that you require to run a kiosk. Users never see the inner workings of the kiosk. This provides a high level of security, which is critical in financial transactions such as banking and ticketing.
• 2. Quality Hardware: The core computer running the kiosk has no moving parts. This eliminates breakdowns due to wear and tear or dust accumulation. Reliable flash-based storage provides crash-free use for many years. We use 3M ClearTek capacitive touchscreens in our kiosks. We select the monitors, thermal printer mechanisms, smart card readers and other critical components carefully for years of trouble-free service.
• 3. Stable: A kiosk represents your business to your customers, and it should not display a screen full of error messages. If the network connection fails or the back end has problems, Thinux shows customers a pre-designed error page and nothing else.
• 4. Versatile: We provide integration with a wide range of peripheral devices. Biometric scanners, touchscreens, thermal printers, GPRS modems, large plasma displays, smart card readers, bar code scanners, cameras, LED displays, serial data loggers, relays, breath analysers, UPS battery level checkers, laser printers – these are just some of the devices that we have successfully integrated into kiosks for various projects.
• 5. Manageable: Remote management is a standard feature in all our kiosks. Administrators can perform numerous tasks remotely, including upgrades, shutdown and power-up, sending pop-ups to the user, and touchscreen calibration. Our management system is web-based and not tied to a single PC, so your administrators can fix kiosks from anywhere. A factory reset option allows the local operator to return the system to a known-good state. After the kiosk reboots, the central office can restore its settings.
• 6. Always-on Monitoring: All kiosks are constantly monitored for application and network usage, system temperatures and voltages, overload, component failure, etc. In case of a failure, the monitoring system alerts the administrators at the central office and sends an SMS to the operator on site. You can view the screen of any kiosk remotely and monitor usage. You can also operate the keyboard and mouse remotely to guide new users over the phone if required.
• 7. Customisable: We can tailor the entire user experience to your needs. Features such as right-click, which are common on desktops but not useful in kiosks, are disabled.
• 8. Wide Application Support: We support all web-based applications. We also support locally run applications built using technologies such as .NET, VB, Java, J2EE and GTK. With local SQL databases and web servers, you can deploy a wide range of business applications on our kiosks.
• 9. Experience: Our technical team has extensive experience with kiosks. The founders of Thinvent have 15+ years of experience in hardware and software development. We apply our knowledge of Linux, networking and embedded systems to provide you with sound technical solutions.

The Design Process

Kiosks come in many types, and no single kiosk suits every need. Even a small requirement calls for customised development. The following are some of the decisions you need to make when procuring kiosks:

Wall-mounted versus floor-standing kiosk: Wall-mounted kiosks are slightly cheaper and require less space. However, they are less attractive and offer very few options for peripheral devices. Illustration 3 shows a basic wall-mount design, and Illustration 4 shows a floor-standing kiosk.

1. Choose the peripheral devices that you need for your application:

Illustration 3: Wall Mount Design