Point of sale (POS) systems and methods with dynamic kernel selection

摘要

A payment reader can have one or more kernels capable of performing certain payment processing functions but not capable of performing certain, more processing-intensive payment processing functions. The payment reader may be designed to selectively assign processing tasks to application layer kernels located on a mobile device and/or a cloud-based device external to the payment reader, the mobile device having more or different processing resources than the payment reader. The selective assignment may be made dynamically based on the measurement of a condition of the reader or an occurrence of an event, such as a determination that the payment reader cannot process a transaction, that the payment reader does not have sufficient battery strength to process the transaction, or that there has been a tempering attempt at the payment reader. The payment reader also has a physical layer module, which module maintains its processing on the payment reader. By these means, the processing related to a payment transaction is conducted on a hybrid system, using resources both local to and remote from the payment reader.