Power and telecommunications access vending machine
First Claim
1. A method for vending telecommunications channel access to a customer, said method comprising the steps of:
- receiving payment information from the customer to initiate a vending transaction;
providing a customer interface for indicating the status of the vending transaction;
providing an electronic circuit for determining when the vending transaction is completed;
enabling access to at least one external telecommunications channel at the beginning of the vending transaction and disabling access at the end of the vending transaction;
enabling a connection to an external telecommunications device of the customer; and
providing a control unit for receiving payment information from the customer and controlling the electronic circuit and a telecommunications channel access circuit.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A vending machine for dispensing telecommunications access is disclosed. A customer interested in using the telecommunications access makes a payment into the payment processing unit which forwards the payment information to the central control unit. The central control unit reports the transaction information to a central computer system via its modem connected to a telecommunication channel. Access to the same telecommunication channel or another channel can be made available to the customer via a switchable telecommunications access circuit which is also controlled by the central control unit. The customer connects to the telecommunications channel via the telecommunications access connector. The central control unit provides information on the progress of the vending transaction to the customer via the user interface. The central control unit determines when the transaction is completed by sensing the cessation of usage via the usage detection circuit or via customer action at the user interface.
-
Citations
50 Claims
-
1. A method for vending telecommunications channel access to a customer, said method comprising the steps of:
-
receiving payment information from the customer to initiate a vending transaction;
providing a customer interface for indicating the status of the vending transaction;
providing an electronic circuit for determining when the vending transaction is completed;
enabling access to at least one external telecommunications channel at the beginning of the vending transaction and disabling access at the end of the vending transaction;
enabling a connection to an external telecommunications device of the customer; and
providing a control unit for receiving payment information from the customer and controlling the electronic circuit and a telecommunications channel access circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
-
-
50. A method for vending telecommunications channel access to a customer using a vending system, said method comprising the steps of:
-
receiving payment information from the customer to initiate a vending transaction;
providing a customer interface for indicating the status of the vending system;
providing an electronic circuit for determining when the vending transaction is completed;
enabling access to at least one external telecommunications channel at the beginning of the vending transaction and disabling access at the end of the vending transaction;
enabling a connection to an external telecommunications device of the customer; and
providing a control unit for receiving payment information from the customer and controlling the electronic circuit and a telecommunications channel access circuit.
-
Specification