Client
Japan's largest online lottery system provider with sale outlets all over Japan. The online lottery is a computerized process where terminals are placed at retail outlets/dealer outlets such as department stores and grocery shops from which a player can generate a ticket by selecting numbers of their choice. The same number is registered with the Central Computer System and printed on the ticket by the computer terminal.
Key Business Requirements
The objective was to develop an online lottery terminal system which replaces the existing client terminals with high maintainability, reusability and with open architecture (Linux, CEN/XFS Complaint).
The online lottery is a computerized process where terminals are placed at retail outlets/dealer outlets such as department stores and grocery shops from which a player can generate a ticket by selecting numbers of their choice. The same number is registered with the Central Computer System and printed on the ticket by the computer terminal.
The basic policy of design in the development of this software includes:
- Standardization
It aims at the establishment of a standard framework using Linux and also a procedure which can be customized easily when another system is developed.
- High Performance
A design with optimal processing performance which achieves efficient memory usage was targeted.
- Extendibility
Development is done considering the availability of options to extend the system in future as per additional requirements.
- Reliability and Stability
The output is verified in each of the development process aiming at quality improvement and the best processing method is implemented.
- Development efficiency
Aims at a simple structure so that the business flow can be encoded as it is with adequate knowledge in C/C++. The introduction of a general-purpose tool which becomes effective is positively promoted as a development environment for the improvement of the development efficiency.
Challenges
- Understanding the domain – Study of similar systems from other vendors.
- Understanding the requirements – Study of product specifications.
- Understanding the technology options – Linux customization for target system, Selection of browser and JVM (no longer considered), Multi-head display under X Windows
Solution
The NeST team provided the solutions in
- Initial Feasibility Study
- The development of XFS Manager Clone in Linux
- Development of USB Device Drivers and Service Provider Interface for Ticket Printer, Mark Card Reader and Receipt Printer.
- Implementation of Business Logics for the Gaming Logic
- Implementation of Middleware Framework which takes care of communication between servers, Maintenance and Troubleshooting.
Technology Used:
The machine is hosted on Embedded Linux on a Celeron board with 128 MB Solid State Disk. There are a set of peripherals and multiple screens that are interfaces via COM / USB.
Layers involved are:
- Business Layer
It contains a set of application components each doing particular business logic developed in C++. User Interface was developed using Qt.
- Common Layer :
This involves common libraries used to communicate with Middleware which was developed in C++.
- Middleware :
The middleware is modeled on XFS architecture and was developed in C++.XFS Manager Clone was developed for Linux.
- Driver:
The lower layer driver development for the devices was done in C. The driver does connection establishment with the device and transmitting and receiving data. The driver design has included the possibility for multiple instances of same device.
Result
- Developed a cost-effective high performance system for Japanfs Largest Online Lottery Providers.
- Successfully designed and developed XFS equivalent Framework in Linux Platform.
- The new ticket issuing machines are deployed at around 10,000 locations around Japan.
