Computer Systems in Daily Life

Automated Teller Machines

http://www.atmms.com/blog/when-did-atms-become-popular/ 

On your way to the mall and you figure out you're low on cash- you look for the nearest ATM. Nowadays these machines can be found almost anywhere from supermarkets to gas stations. You insert your credit/ debit card and follow the instructions- within a minute you're walking with your cash and a receipt. In this blog we're going to take a deeper look into the  history, working and importance of an ATM.

History of ATM

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/7746651/John-Shepherd-Barron.ht

People have been working on the Automated Teller Machine for quite sometime- the original idea is dated back to the 1930's. Luther George Simjian was the first person to patent the idea and further develop on it. However his patent was not accepted and had been dismissed. The idea was then worked on by John Shepherd-Barron, who compared the machine to a chocolate dispenser. Switching out chocolate bars for cash, he submitted his idea to Barclays Bank. Customers inserted a single-use paper voucher and punched in a four-digit pass-code that we know now as a PIN(personal identification number), and they were given their money.

Working of ATM

On insertion of your debit/ credit card, the Automated Teller Machine reads the info encoded on the magnetic strip present on the back of your card. The encoded info consists of a unique number also known as (CVV), PIN and expiration date. 

The machine will then prompt you to enter your PIN- this is done to verify your authorization to access account information. Once your PIN has been verified, the ATM communicates with your bank to access personal information regarding your account. The ATM is connected to a collection of huge interbank networks. A particular ATM can only allow access to bank accounts that are registered in the interbank networks. 

If you want to check your account balance, the Automated teller machine asks your bank through the interbank network about your account details. It then displays savings and checking account balance to you. A few ATM's are capable of the displaying the available line of credit on a credit card.

If you are requesting cash withdrawal, the ATM goes through the same first step of communicating with your bank through the interbank networks to get find out balance available. However instead of giving out a balance it spits out cash from cash cartridges within its internal vault. Notes of different values are stored in various cartridges to enable the ATM to efficiently distribute the required amount of money. The ATM machine then releases the cash and sends a message to your bank to withdraw the amount, and other fees from your bank account.

Advantages 

The biggest benefit of an ATM is definitely convenience. One does not have to travel far and wait in long lines at banks to get a hold of a teller just to withdraw or check balance. Like mentioned above ATM's can be found almost anywhere. Also customers are not required to carry large sums of money from home as the amount can easily be withdrawn from a nearby ATM.

Drawbacks

A main concern related with ATM's is personal safety- especially in isolated places where there is a risk of someone robing you of all your money when you are done. Another issue might be how some thieves will your Personal Identification number. The chances of this happening is more with poorly maintained machine.