First in First Out Vending Systems

• US 20110284569A1
• Filed: 07/15/2011
• Published: 11/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Coca-Cola Company
• Original Assignee: The Coca-Cola Company
• Inventors: Masters, Michael Alan, West, Ryan Lee, Insolia, Gerard E., Howell, Thomas P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,820,574 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 221/1
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty

Abstract

A vending machine for dispensing a number of products. The vending machine may include a transparent panel, a number of visible product columns, a number of non-visible product columns, and a product delivery system.

Claims

1-25. -25. (canceled)

26. A method of dispensing a number of products from a vending machine shelf with a number of product columns, comprising:

selling down a first column of the number of product columns;

selling down a number of adjacent columns one by one while leaving one or more remaining product columns stocked in part or in full;

restocking the sold down columns; and

selling down the first of the one or more remaining column.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of selling down the rest of the one or more remaining columns one by one until the one or more remaining columns are depleted.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the restocking step comprises pushing in a number of new products from the front of each of the plurality of product columns.