VENDING MACHINE WITH AUTOMATED DETECTION OF PRODUCT POSITION
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A vending machine, comprising:
- at least one horizontally oriented shelf for supporting products to be vended;
a plurality of vertically oriented dividers coupled to the shelf, the dividers being individually adjustable side-to-side of the shelf for accommodating different sized products between the dividers;
a plurality of location markers located on the dividers, on the shelf, or on both the dividers and the shelf; and
an optical recognition module configured to optically recognize the location markers and to determine horizontal positions of the location markers relative to the shelf.
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Abstract
Embodiments of a vending machine are disclosed that can comprise one or more horizontally oriented shelves for supporting products to be vended, a plurality of vertically oriented dividers coupled to the shelves, a plurality of location markers located on the dividers and/or on the shelves, and an optical recognition module configured to optically recognize the location markers and to determine positions of the location markers and products relative to the shelves. In some embodiments, the optical recognition module can recognize the products by comparing images of the products to stored product images.
67 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A vending machine, comprising:
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at least one horizontally oriented shelf for supporting products to be vended; a plurality of vertically oriented dividers coupled to the shelf, the dividers being individually adjustable side-to-side of the shelf for accommodating different sized products between the dividers; a plurality of location markers located on the dividers, on the shelf, or on both the dividers and the shelf; and an optical recognition module configured to optically recognize the location markers and to determine horizontal positions of the location markers relative to the shelf. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method comprising:
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in a vending machine having multiple shelves and a movable carriage, scanning the shelves for location markers using the movable carriage; determining locations of the location markers relative to the shelves; and determining product position on the shelves of the vending machine based on the locations of the location markers. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method comprising:
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in a vending machine comprising a support structure, products supported by the support structure, and a movable camera, optically scanning the products using the movable camera; determining identification information of the products based on the optical scanning of the products; and determining location information of the products relative to the support structure based on the optical scanning of the products. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification