Card dispensing apparatuses and associated methods of operation

• US 20110042403A1
• Filed: 08/12/2010
• Published: 02/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Coinstar Asset Holdings, LLC
• Original Assignee: Outerwall Inc.
• Inventors: Martin, Douglas A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,550,294 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 221/1
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 1/06 for separation from bottom of pile
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2220/01 indicating an entity as a function of which control, adjustment or change is performed, i.e. input
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2220/02 indicating an entity which is controlled, adjusted or changed by a control process, i.e. output
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2301/544 Reading; Scanning
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2405/33 Compartmented support
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2511/40 Identification
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2513/42 Route, path
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2701/1914 Cards, e.g. telephone, credit and identity cards
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 3/44 Simultaneously, alternately, or selectively separating articles from two or more piles
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 5/04 by movable tables or carriages rotary tables B65H5/18 ; suction gripper or gripper tables B65H5/10
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 5/26 Duplicate, alternate, selective, or coacting feeds
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/354 Card activation or deactivation
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/60 the storage containers or supports being rectilinearly movable
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0028 Use of a wired telephone or public communication device charging and metering the use of the telecommunication network H04M17/02

Abstract

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for dispensing credit cards, phone cards, in-store gift cards, and the like from customer-operated kiosks and other machines. In one embodiment, a card dispensing apparatus can include a plurality of card hopper assemblies arranged in an array of two or more vertical columns, each column including two or more card hopper assemblies. Each card hopper assembly can include a card hopper configured to hold a vertical stack of horizontally oriented cards. Each card hopper assembly can further include a card ejector assembly configured to eject the bottom-most card from each card stack. The card dispenser can further include a movable card carriage that can be selectively positioned to receive a card from any of the card hoppers and read information from the card before dispensing the card to a customer.

Claims

1. A card dispensing apparatus comprising:

an array of card hoppers, wherein the array of card hoppers includes at least two vertical columns of card hoppers positioned side by side, wherein each vertical column includes two or more card hoppers, and wherein each of the individual card hoppers is configured to hold a plurality of horizontally oriented cards in a vertical stack; and

a card carriage configured to respond to a card selection by moving into position proximate a corresponding one of the card hoppers and receiving the selected card from the corresponding card hopper, wherein the card carriage is further configured to transport the received card toward a card accept chute and dispense the card into the card accept chute for retrieval by a user.

2. The card dispensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the card carriage includes a card reader, and wherein the card carriage is configured to dispense the card into the card accept chute after the card reader has sufficiently read information off the card.

3. The card dispensing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a card reject chute, wherein the card carriage is configured to dispense the card into the card reject chute and retrieve another card from the corresponding card hopper if the card reader has insufficiently read information off the card.

4. The card dispensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the array of card hoppers includes at least two horizontal rows of card hoppers, wherein each horizontal row of card hoppers includes two or more card hoppers, wherein the vertical columns of card hoppers are aligned with a Z axis and the horizontal rows of card hoppers are aligned with a Y axis, and wherein the card dispensing apparatus further comprises:

a vertical support extending adjacent to the card hopper array and aligned with the Z axis; and

a horizontal support extending outwardly from the vertical support and aligned with the Y-axis, wherein the card carriage is movably mounted to the horizontal support, wherein the horizontal support is movably coupled to the vertical support and configured to move up and down along the vertical support to position the card carriage at an appropriate elevation relative to the corresponding card hopper, and wherein the card carriage is configured to move back and forth along the horizontal support to position the card carriage adjacent to the corresponding card hopper.

5. The card dispensing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the array of card hoppers is a 3×

5 array of three vertical columns of five card hoppers each.

6. A card dispensing apparatus comprising:

a vertical array of card hopper assemblies, the vertical array including a first row of card hopper assemblies positioned above a second row of card hopper assemblies, wherein each row of card hopper assemblies includes two or more card hopper assemblies; and

wherein each of the card hopper assemblies includes an individual card ejector assembly operably coupled to a corresponding card hopper, wherein the card hopper is configured to hold a stack of cards, and wherein the ejector assembly is configured to selectively drive one of the cards out of the stack to eject the card from the card hopper in response to a signal associated with a card selection.

7. The card dispensing apparatus of claim 6, wherein the ejector assembly is configured to drive the bottom-most card from the card stack to eject the bottom-most card from the card hopper.

8. The card dispensing apparatus of claim 6, further comprising a chassis that supports the vertical array of card hopper assemblies, wherein each of the card hopper assemblies includes one or more releasable attachment features which enable the card hopper assemblies to be readily installed on the chassis without the use of special tools.

9. A method for dispensing cards from a kiosk, the method comprising:

receiving a request for a selected card;

in response to the request, moving a card carriage a first distance along a vertical axis and a second distance along a horizontal axis to position the card carriage proximate one of a plurality of card hoppers in an array of card hoppers;

ejecting the selected card from a stack of cards held in the card hopper;

receiving the selected card from the card hopper;

reading information off the card;

moving the card carriage to a card accept chute and dispensing the card into the accept chute when the information was sufficiently read off the card; and

moving the card carriage to a card reject chute and dispensing the card into the reject chute when the information was insufficiently read off the card.