Cabinet monitoring and reporting apparatus and system
First Claim
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1. A vending cabinet monitoring system, comprising:
- a plurality of cabinets configured to hold inventory, each cabinet comprising;
at least one sensor configured to sense data about at least one of an operation of the first cabinet and an amount of inventory within the first cabinet; and
a computer device for collecting data from the at least one sensor and transmitting the data;
a host system in communication with the computer device of each cabinet, the host system for receiving the data from each cabinet, the host system configured to process the data to determine whether a cabinet needs to be restocked or maintained.
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Abstract
Embodiments of the invention include a vending cabinet monitoring system, apparatus and method. A system according to the invention includes a plurality of cabinets configured to hold inventory. Each cabinet has at least one sensor configured to sense data about at least one of an operation of the first cabinet and an amount of inventory within the first cabinet and a computer device for collecting data from the at least one sensor and transmitting the data. A host system is in communication with the computer device of each cabinet. The host system receives the data from each cabinet processes the data to determine whether a cabinet needs to be restocked or maintained.
64 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A vending cabinet monitoring system, comprising:
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a plurality of cabinets configured to hold inventory, each cabinet comprising;
at least one sensor configured to sense data about at least one of an operation of the first cabinet and an amount of inventory within the first cabinet; and
a computer device for collecting data from the at least one sensor and transmitting the data;
a host system in communication with the computer device of each cabinet, the host system for receiving the data from each cabinet, the host system configured to process the data to determine whether a cabinet needs to be restocked or maintained. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A cabinet monitoring apparatus, comprising:
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a cabinet configured to hold inventory;
a weight sensor for sensing a weight of the cabinet and any inventory; and
a computer device for collecting data from the weight sensor. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A cabinet monitoring apparatus, comprising:
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a cabinet configured to hold inventory;
an entry sensor for sensing when the cabinet is accessed; and
a computer device for collecting data from the entry sensor and storing the number of time that the cabinet is accessed during a period of time. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method of monitoring a vending cabinet, comprising:
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providing a plurality of cabinets at a plurality of locations, each cabinet configured to hold inventory and comprising a computer device;
sensing data about a first cabinet, the data comprising at least one of an operation of the first cabinet and an amount of inventory within the first cabinet;
collecting the data using the respective computer device;
transmitting the data and first cabinet identification information to a remote host system; and
processing the data to determine whether the first cabinet needs to be restocked or maintained. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification