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Geovision POS Cash Register Compatibility

Geovision DVR Card Geovision surveillance systems support an add-on module to capture the output of a point of sale or cash register along with your surveillance video. Of course, customers always ask which model cash registers and point of sale systems will work with Geovision. The below instructions document how you can test if your POS system can properly output data and text to a GV-Data capture box, which in turn makes it possible to capture cash register data using a Geovision system.

GeoVision provides separate solutions for the text-mode and graphic-mode POS system/cash register. However, how do you know the printing mode of your POS system/cash register? This document answers the question with the HyperTerminal program. Included in all versions of Microsoft Windows, HyperTerminal offers an easy way to verify the printing mode of your POS system/cash register. The latter part of this document describes how to use HyperTerminal to send transaction data to GV-System.

Geovision POS Compatibility Test

Definitions
  • POS System: POS stands for Point of Sale. It is an electronic device that records sales transaction data with a receipt printer attached externally.
  • Cash Register: Like POS System, Cash Register is also an electronic device that records sales transaction data but with a receipt printer attached internally.
  • DB9: This type of connector can be identified as having 9 pins.
  • DB25: This type of connector can be identified as having 25 pins.
  • The Printing Mode of POS System/Cash Register

Verifying the Printing Mode of your point of sale with Windows HyperTerminal

The following instructions explain how to verify the printing mode of your POS system/cash register using Windows XP. If you have Windows Vista, the Hyperterminal program is no longer available, so you will need to download a 3rd party terminal application such as Putty.

Equipment Needed
  • 1 PC or Notebook computer with the HyperTerminal program
  • 1 GV-Data Capture V2 box
Verifying the Printing Mode of a DB9-Interface POS System
  1. Attach the computer to the POS system as illustrated below.

    Geovision Point of Sale
  2. Click Windows Start/Programs/Accessories. Within Accessories, click HyperTerminal. (If you don’t see HyperTerminal, click the Communications folder and then click HyperTerminal.)
  3. When the Location Information window displays, click the Cancel button. Then just click Yes for the prompt and OK for the next prompt.
  4. Type a name under the Name field, and then click OK.
  5. The same window in Step 3 may appear again. Follow Step 3 to close the window and the prompts.
  6. In the Connect Using field, select the COM port that is connected to the POS system. Then click OK.
  7. Select the corresponding POS port values, choose None in the Flow Control field, and then click OK. (If you are not sure about these values, it is recommended to contact your POS manufacturer or check its user manual.)
  8. Click the Transfer menu, and select Capture Text.
  9. Click Browse and assign a path to store the testing file. Then click Start to start the POS test session.
  10. Enter a transaction at the POS system; the transaction data will then be sent to and captured by HyperTerminal. One of the three conditions may occur here:
    A) If the connection is established, the transaction data will appear in the HyperTerminal window. See the following illustration of the HyperTerminal window, compared with a copy of a receipt from the same transaction. When the data is displayed in the HyperTerminal window, it is verified that the POS system is text mode.
    Note:
    A small amount of garbage text may occur here, the problem can be solved later by our customized solutions.
    Remember to keep the verified values, including Baud Rate (Bits per second), Data Bits, Parity and Stop Bits for GV-System configuration later.



    B) If the HyperTerminal window does not respond or respond entirely with garbage text, the port settings may be configured incorrectly in HyperTerminal. Go back to Step 7 to ensure the port values are the same in both the POS system and HyperTerminal.
    C) If the HyperTerminal window is halted after you enter a transaction at the POS system or after all port re-settings, it is verified that the POS system is in graphics mode.
  11. Click the File menu, and then select Exit to stop the testing.

Click here for a PDF document that contains additional Geovision POS Testing.