Technical Overview: Flow of Information

Users interact with the unit, swipe their credit cards and work through a 4-5 minute flow of easy to use directed screens, making their own epostcards.

Step 1: Capture
As you can see, the kiosk serves to merely ‘capture’ the choices of the user in the station’s computer through the microphone, camera and keyboard and card reader.

Step 2: Upload
The kiosk is connected to the internet all the time, but batches all the captured information and stores it until such time as it uploads it all to the central server. This occurs every hour, but can be pre-set for a pre-arranged time-interval.

Step 3: Server Logging/Storage
The server then batches the incoming postcard ‘files’ from each Station and processes the outgoing mail into specifically composed choices which the users have inputted to the system. Selected backgrounds are stored on the server, which are composited with the photosnaps and videos and messages typed or captured by the kiosk customer. Text is composited onto the postcards, and as well, audio or video mail recordings are coded and attached.

Step 4: Server Outgoing Notice
e-mails notices are then sent out to the designated recipients to retrieve their postcard from EPC’s web-site. They can either click on the link sent to them, or key in the postcard code into the pick-up box on the site home page.

Step 5: Server Retrieval/Viewing Page Reconstruction
Here customers view the postcard/viewing page, see the sender customer ePostcard Receipt