Chapter II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

There are several existing technologies, literatures and studies that were used

as the foundations of this study, and these are the following:

Inside the Kiosk: Cash Handling and Security

The article Inside the Kiosk: Cash Handling and Security discusses the need

why there is a need to provide a very high measure of security in a Kiosk system.

TIO Networks COO Joseph Nakhla has summed up the status of cash

management as a very difficult job to do. He mentioned "It is specialized work, and

taking shortcuts around manufacturing, transactions record keeping or cash

collection processes will simply bite you."

The level of fraud has soared high compared to that of 30 years ago. Fraud

could take any form such as inserting fake bank notes or coin-to-string trick, and a

kiosk machine that handles the cash should be able to do its job by handling cash

securely. The security of a Kiosk machine must be technologically advanced as well

to safeguard the client and to ensure that only the authentic bank notes must be

accepted. The vault where the money is stored must be secured enough to hold the

money until it will be taken out from it by an authorized personnel.

There are a number of kiosks that, by default, offers the state of the art

security systems. However, according to Joseph Nakhla, it is not a guarantee that

having a secured Kiosk machine solves the problem. A company must have the

holistic approach in managing cash rather than just by one or two components. This
holistic approach must include all the people, processes, offices, hardwares, and

softwares that are involved in cash handling. [11]

The researcher has utilized the concept of having a secured money collection

scheme. However, this study is limited to building a secured device for cash

handling, thus the researcher is only able to do necessary security measures in the

device by identifying a controlled group of users stored in a dedicated server, thus

not anyone can use the system, minimizing the risk of sabotage and fraud. Only the

authorized users are allowed to use the system. Also, the kiosk will be integrated

with an advanced technology to make sure that only the authentic bank notes and

coins will be accepted. The system design can be integrated in the mentioned

secured holistic approach because the system itself has an already built in security

measures.

How does UV Counterfeit Money Detection Work?

Currency counterfeiting is a common problem around the world. Special

devices that are able to print currencies that look exactly the same as the authentic

banknotes proliferated and has successfully infiltrated the market.

One device that checks the authenticity of bank notes is the UV Counterfeit

Money Detector. It works by scanning the UV ink printed banknotes by a UV light.

The UV ink must be specified by the U.S. Bureau of Printing and Engraving. The

ink uses UV-fluorescent phosphors that create reactions under an ultraviolet light.

The bank notes UV ink appearance remains hidden under normal lighting.
 The design of authentic bank notes reveals patterns or words under the UV

light which is not visible under normal lighting. [12]

This has become a globally accepted method in identifying counterfeit

currencies. Despite of its global acceptance and affordability, some establishments

have not utilized such device because they opt to use human skills in identifying

fake currencies, or advanced softwares and machines that train the acceptor to

identify fake from authentic bank notes.

In this study, the researcher has used the concept like that of the UV Money

Detector that allows the machine to detect fake currencies and its benefits of having

a counterfeit banknote checker device. Though the UV money Detector was not

installed in the system, the researcher has integrated advanced means to check the

authenticity of every banknotes and coins inserted into the kiosk.

A3 Payment Kiosk

A3 Payment Kiosk is a self-contained and secure technology created by

SCAN COIN which accepts payments through a device. This technology can accept

bills, coins, and credit or debit card, and it can dispense the exact change for cash

payments. The machine is also able to print a receipt for every transactions done.

The main design of A3 Payment Kiosk is used for applications such as bill

payment for the local government, transport sector for bus ticketing and for

hospitals, pharmacies and medical charges. Since A3 Payment Kiosk was designed

for commercial use, this can be installed in any public place which can be used

anytime of the day for the convenience of the paying public. [13]
 The researcher adopted the idea of having the convenience of a secured kiosk

for paying for this has greatly increased human productivity. However, the

researcher focused on a kiosk system designed for the academe. The main server and

database of this study is tailored fit for the academes master databases of its

bonafide students. Unlike the A3 Payment Kiosk, the users of this system are

predefined, thus adding more limitations and more security into it. The predefined

users of this system are identified through their student numbers or employee

numbers.

Gift Card Exchange Kiosks and Associated Methods of Use

The study conducted by Elizabeth J. Larrick, Sarah C. Heffernan, and Walter

Paulsen is a kiosk system that validates, accepts and exchange gift cards for cash or

redeemable cash voucher.

The Gift Card Exchange Kiosk allows a gift card input through a user

interface device or a card reader. After the kiosk system verifies the gift cards

authenticity, activation status and face value, it displays options for the costumer the

methods of exchange. The customer can either exchange it with cash or a

redeemable cash voucher. The machine also stores the gift cards to be sold again at

the kiosk or any other remote location. [14]

The researcher has adopted the method used by Gift Card Exchange Kiosks

of having a user interface that interacts with the client. In this research, the user

interface allows the machine to communicate with the client and provides them with

options on how the transaction would be carried out.

Automatic Settlement of User Account with Creditor From Transaction Kiosk

The system Automatic Settlement of User Account with Creditor From

Transaction Kiosk is an advanced, cutting edge technology that allows the clients to

settle payment obligations through a remotely installed kiosk. The kiosk system

automatically sends notification to the users creditor about the transactions that has

transpired. The creditor recognizes the transaction and automatically claims the cash

asset paid by the user. The kiosk system acts as a broker between the customer and

the creditor. The key application of this system are banks. [15]

In this research, the researcher foresees the kiosk system to also act as a

broker between the academe and the student in the future, thus, the server and

database in this study was designed in accordance to that of the academe, which is

the ISAT U. Although, the scope of this study was limited from doing automatic

mediation transaction between the customer and the creditor, the design was based

on the Automatic Settlement of User Account with Creditor From Transaction Kiosk

on which future researchers who would want to enhance the system as an automatic

broker system will be possible.

The Use of Kiosk Technology in General Practice

The study was focused on the benefit of a kiosk system for both patients and

doctors or general practitioners (GP). According to the study, the kiosk system was

placed at the waiting room of GPs. A significant time saving difference has been

noted in GPs and nurses as well as patients waiting time. The study shows that the

time saving would equal to at most 1 healthcare worker in a 10:12,000 healthcare

patient ratio. Aside from saving service and waiting time, the income was also

enhanced resulting from thorough information gathering and quality customer

service. The study could be used as a basis for a successful implementation of a

kiosk system. [16]

The researcher has established the benefit of a kiosk system as a time saving

and income enhancing technology that is highly advantageous to both the

organization and its clients and customers. The study Interactive Cash Collection

Kiosk is seen as the same valuable and beneficial device for both the academe and

its students because it was designed to save service time, cut long queues, and offer

a quality customer service and experience.

The APEX 7000 Series

The APEX 7000, which is a product of Pyramid technologies from the United

States, is an advanced engineered indoor bill acceptor device that is highly

configurable according to the clients needs since it uses DIP switches. This device

is able to detect fraudulent or counterfeit bills and has a self- calibration mechanism.

Other features also includes Lighted arrows on bill entry mechanism capture

interest and increase usage, Flash updates using a PC, can be used in multiple

interfaces, Pinouts compatible with other manufacturers, Dual-stage optical anti-

stringing technology, 2VDC standard or optional 120VAC internal power supply,

and is able to accept bills up to 72mm wide.

The product, which is shown in Figure 2, is designed for kiosks. It has an

eight (8) position DIP switches which are located at the bottom of the unit that
allows the device to be configured easily. The device can be configured through a

personal computer (PC) or a configure cards if all DIP switches are switched off.

Figure 2. The APEX 7000 Bill Acceptor Device

The configuration switches design is shown in Figure 3. If all switches are

off, it enables configuration via a PC, however, if one switch is on, it overrides all

other PC configuration. To accept different kinds of bills, switches 1 through 4 must

be toggled to on or off depending on the desired bills the system must accept. [17]
Figure 3. The Configuration Switch Design of APEX 7000 Series.

The technology has been established as a credible device that is able to

accept bills in a kiosk system, thus, the researcher has integrated the APEX 7000 for

Philippine peso in the study as the bill acceptor that plays the major role in

accepting bills as payment.

Coin Acceptor - Programmable (6 coin types)

The product, Coin Acceptor, is a device that accepts 6 different types of

coins. This is highly programmable that allows the system administrator to train

this device on what types of coins to accept. This device is equipped with sensors

that can be trained to read the coins thickness, fall time, and diameter, thus enabling
it to accept any countries currency. To make this device work according to ones

preference, this device must be introduced to the valid coins profiles by inserting a

lot of coin sample. This method programmed the coin acceptor to accept only coins

that matches the profiles of the samples and reject coins that do not match sample

coins profiles.

The coin acceptor, which is shown in Figure 4, has the following features: (1)

high accuracy; (2) self-programmable; (3) able to accept 6 different types of coins

of different denominations; (4) prevents electro-magnetic interference and electric

shock; (5) able to accept coins from 17-30.5mm in Diameter and 1.25-3.2mm in

Thickness; (6) can be set to stop accepting all coins; and (7) able to release coins in

jam [18].

Figure 4. The Coin Acceptor Device

In this study, the researcher has used this highly efficient coin acceptor

device that plays the major role in accepting coins for the kiosk system.
Arduino

Arduino is a highly programmable electronic platform that is able to accept

input, perform processes based on simple or complex instructions called computer

programs, and is able to provide the output. This open-source electronic platform is

able to accept remote instructions sent into its micro controllers on the board. These

instructions maybe coming from twitter or other web sites, sensors, press on a

button, or tap on a touch screen device. Arduino only requires arduino based

programming language and arduino software to be used.

This affordable platform has become one of the most used technology for

electronic projects done by students, hobbyist, or Information Technology (IT)

professionals because of the following features: (1) inexpensive; (2) cross-platform

which means it can be used in different operating systems (OS); (3) Simple, clear

programming environment which means it can be used by beginners; (4) Open

source and extensible software which means expert programmers can extend the use

of this this technology into C++ libraries or other advance programming languages

such as AVR C; and (5) open source and extensible hardware which means that this

technology can be integrated with other hardware devices such as the breadboard

[19].

The Arduino Mega, which shown in Figure 5, is the Arduino platform that

has been used in this study as the major bill controller for the kiosk system. This

technology is used to power up and power down both the bill and coin acceptors and

reads the data passed by the coin and bill acceptors to be forwarded to the systems

program that performs the calculations.

 Table 1 shows the summary of Arduino Mega Features. The summary

includes microcontroller type, operating voltage, recommended Input Voltage,

maximum Input Voltage, Digital I/O Pins, Analog Input Pins, DC Current per I/O

Pin DC Current for 3.3V Pin, Flash Memory, SRAM, EEPROM, and Clock Speed.

Figure 5. The Arduino Mega [20]

Table I. The Summary of the Features of Arduino Mega [21]

Microcontroller ATmega1280

Operating Voltage 5V

Input Voltage (recommended) 7-12V

Input Voltage (limits) 6-20V

Digital I/O Pins 54 (of which 15 provide PWM output)

Analog Input Pins 16

DC Current per I/O Pin 40 mA

DC Current for 3.3V Pin 50 mA

Flash Memory 128 KB of which 4 KB used by bootloader

SRAM 8 KB

EEPROM 4 KB

Clock Speed 16 MHz

 The Arduino Uno R3, whose image is shown in Figure 6, is used in this study

to read the coins that has been inserted by the user as payment, and it passes the data

into the system program for computations.

Figure 6. The Arduino Uno [22]

Table II. The Summary Features of Arduino Uno R3 [22]

Microcontroller ATmega328P
Operating Voltage 5V
Input Voltage (recommended) 7-12V
Input Voltage (limit) 6-20V
Digital I/O Pins 14 (of which 6 provide PWM output)
PWM Digital I/O Pins 6
Analog Input Pins 6
DC Current per I/O Pin 20 mA
DC Current for 3.3V Pin 50 mA
Flash Memory 32 KB (ATmega328P)
of which 0.5 KB used by bootloader
SRAM 2 KB (ATmega328P)
EEPROM 1 KB (ATmega328P)
Clock Speed 16 MHz
Length 68.6 mm
Width 53.4 mm
Weight 25 g
 Table II shows the features of Arduino Uno R3 which shows its

Microcontroller type, Operating Voltage, recommended Input Voltage, maximum

Input Voltage, Digital I/O Pins, PWM Digital I/O Pins, Analog Input Pins, DC

Current per I/O Pin, DC Current for 3.3V Pin, Flash Memory, SRAM, EEPROM

Clock Speed, Length, Width, and Weight.

SRD-05VDC-SL-C Relay

The SRD Series Relay SRD-05VDC-SL-C, which is shown in Figure 7, is

manufactured by Songle Relay. It is applied for technologies such as domestic

appliances, office machine, audio, equipment, automobile, etc. and is used for

technologies such as remote control TV receiver, monitor display, audio equipment,

and high rushing current use application.

Figure 7. The SRD-05VDC-SL-C Relay [23]

The main feature of this device are the following: (1). Switching capacity

available by 10A in spite of small size design for highdensity P.C. board mounting

technique; (2) UL, CUL, TUV recognized; (3). Selection of plastic material for high
temperature and better chemical solution performance; (4) Sealed types available;

and (5). Simple relay magnetic circuit to meet low cost of mass production. The

device has 250VAC 10A, 28VDC 10A, Indicator LEDs, and 5V control voltage [23].

The study uses this device as a switch or channel for the two (2) arduinos

that has been set up in the kiosk system. This device is connected to a ground

connection that enables and disables the ground connection of both coin and bill

acceptors.

THE ISO 25010: 2011

The International standard ISO 25010 was set by ISO( International

Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical

Commission), an independent, international non-government organization which

have 163 contributing members. [24]

As an umbrella of the SQuaRE series, ISO/IEC 25010 cancels and replaces

ISO/IEC 9126-1:2001, and is defined as A product quality model composed of

eight characteristics (which are further subdivided into sub characteristics) that

relate to static properties of software and dynamic properties of the computer

system. The model is applicable to both computer systems and software products.

[25].

Figure 8 shows the new quality standards of the ISO 25010 series. The eight

criteria for an internationally acclaimed software are functionality suitability,

reliability, performance efficiency, operability, security, compatibility,

maintainability, and portability.

Figure 8. ISO 25010 Software Quality Characteristics [26]

Functionality suitability refers to the systems functional appropriateness and

accuracy compliance; reliability refers to maturity, availability, fault tolerance, and

recoverability compliance; performance efficiency refers to time behavior and

resource utilization compliance; operability refers to appropriateness,

recognisability, learnability, ease of use, attractiveness, and technical accessibility

compliance; security refers to confidentiality, integrity, non-repudiation,

accountability, and authenticity compliance; compatibility refers to co-existence and

interoperability compliance; maintainability refers to modularity, reusability,

analyzability, changeability, modification stability, and testability compliance; and

portability refers to adaptability, installability, and replaceability compliance. [26]

The scope of ISO 25010 covers software products and computer systems. The

eight (8) quality characteristics provides complete definition for specifying,

measuring and evaluating system and software product quality. [27]