International Business Machines Corporation

Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Holdings Corporation

Richard John Kairis, Jr

Julio Alvarez

Susan Elizabeth Wince

Kevin H Bell

Coin types of coins with which a user is permitted to pay for a transaction are divided into first and second groups. The coin types of the second group are of lower value than those of the first group. A difference in which a total amount of the transaction is a minuend is determined. Where the difference is positive and can only be exactly paid for by the user using just coins of the coin types of the second group, and where a community escrow has a current balance greater than the difference, the following is performed. In response to the user indicating that the difference should be paid for from the community escrow, the transaction is electronically credited from the community escrow by an amount equal to the difference, and the difference is electronically debited from the community escrow.

Electronically maintained community escrow

As disclosed herein, a method for determining when a coin storage bin having a bottom and sides is filled to a predetermined percentage of the volume of the coin storage bin comprises: determining a coin volume for a coin entering the coin storage bin, adding the coin volumes for each coin entering the coin storage bin to provide a running total volume of all coins entering the coin storage bin, comparing the running total volume of all coins entering the coin storage bin with the volume of the coin storage bin, and determining when the running total volume of all coins entering the coin storage bin is greater than or equal to the predetermined percentage of the volume of the coin storage bin. The volume for a coin can be determined from information provided by a coin acceptor, where the information is thickness, diameter, weight, or a combination comprising at least one of these.

Using coin dimensions and coin storage bin volume to estimate when bin is full

A method for increasing ease-of-use of a touch screen application by dynamically resizing touch screen input areas is disclosed. The touch screen application includes a user interface that displays one or more touch screen input areas. Each of the touch screen input areas include a viewable area and a clickable area, wherein a user's touch of the clickable area activates the corresponding touch screen input area. Aspects of the present invention include collecting coordinates of touches on the display in response to user interaction, and analyzing the touch coordinates to determine how often the user has missed the input areas. In response to the number of missed touches reaching a predetermined threshold, both the size of the viewable area and the clickable area of at least one of the input areas, and possibly all areas of a similar size or type, are increased so that the input areas will be easier to touch.

Dynamic resizing of clickable areas of touch screen applications

A system receives AC power from an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) on an AC power cable. The AC power cable couples a primary AC line voltage or a switched secondary AC line voltage depending on the quality of the primary AC line voltage. The UPS has a modulating circuit with a power line carrier protocol that receives a power down signal from the UPS if the primary AC line voltage indicates that the system should power down in a controlled manner or take other power down actions. The modulating circuit generates a modulated power down signal that is coupled to the AC power cable. The system has a corresponding demodulating receiving circuit with the power line carrier protocol that receives the modulated power down signal and regenerates the power down signal. The power down signal is coupled to circuitry in the system that initiates power down sequencing options.

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Raleigh, NC, United States of America

Richard John Kairis, Jr