Vending machine monitoring system
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for monitoring a vending machine, comprising:
- a wireless interface node having a serial data interface for receipt of at least one vending machine status data, operatively coupled to a transceiver for sending and receiving said at least one vending machine status data over a mesh network; and
a vending machine controller for monitoring the status of the vending machine and operatively coupled by a first serial data link to said wireless interface node to output said monitored status as said at least one vending machine status data to said serial data interface thereof.
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Abstract
A system and method for using mesh technology to remotely monitor a plurality of vending machines is provided. Each vending machine includes a node that supports the DEX/UCS standard using customized off-the-shelf mesh networking and metering components to reach a gateway node included in a vending machine to provide access to and by a vending machine data center.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. An apparatus for monitoring a vending machine, comprising:
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a wireless interface node having a serial data interface for receipt of at least one vending machine status data, operatively coupled to a transceiver for sending and receiving said at least one vending machine status data over a mesh network; and
a vending machine controller for monitoring the status of the vending machine and operatively coupled by a first serial data link to said wireless interface node to output said monitored status as said at least one vending machine status data to said serial data interface thereof. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for monitoring a plurality of vending machines comprising the steps of:
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modifying Wireless interface nodes (WINs) with firmware for a serial data interface;
equipping each vending machine of said plurality with a smart controller;
installing the modified Win in each vending machine of said plurality that is equipped with a “
smart”
controller;
each installed WIN periodically performing the steps of;
a. using a serial data link to retrieve a data set from the smart controller that is co-located in the same vending machine, b. if any reportable change in the data set has occurred, transmitting the data set to a vending company data center via a gateway node reached by a data link selected from the set consisting of a wireless mesh network 109 and an alternate wireless data link, and c. if no change in the data set is detected for a predefined continuous period of time, transmitting a “
heartbeat”
signal to indicate that it is still operating properly. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification