Abstract: A point of service (POS) terminal having an integral field replaceable printer for printing a customer receipt and a method for replacing the integral printer are provided. The POS terminal comprises a single, unitary housing which houses the various components typically associated with a POS terminal, but which is also configured to accommodate an integral printer within the terminal housing. The integral print module may be easily accessed, removed and replaced by a merchant without the use of tools or special training and instruction. A moveable access panel associated with the terminal housing provides access to the removable, replaceable printer cartridge and allows the printer cartridge to be removed from the POS terminal and replaced without having to disassemble the POS terminal.

Abstract: The present invention includes the hardware and software necessary to perform virtually any volume of complex transactions, and particularly a large volume thereof, is disposed in a central Application Processing Front End (APFE) which is shared by a plurality of merchants, thereby spreading the cost of the APFE among a large number of users. By including only the minimum amount of hardware components in the POS terminals, such terminals may be made available to low volume users on a cost-effective basis. In the present invention, the APFE logical module is interposed between the POS terminal and the host computer. In one embodiment of the present invention, the APFE comprises a separate hardware module interposed between the POS terminal and the host computer; in an alternate embodiment, the APFE corresponds to a software module resident within the host.