SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COMMUNICATING VENDING INFORMATION
First Claim
1. A method of inventory rebalancing comprising the steps of:
- receiving inventory data from a first vending controller disposed within a first vending apparatus, the inventory data comprising a listing of vendible products within the first vending apparatus and data representing the percent of time that each vendible product has been stored within the first vending apparatus over a fixed period of time;
receiving inventory data from a second vending controller disposed within a second vending apparatus, the inventory data comprising a listing of vendible products within the second vending apparatus and data representing the percent of time that each vendible product has been stored within the second vending apparatus over the fixed period of time;
determining from the inventory data a subset of high-demand vendible products, wherein the percent of time that each high-demand vendible product has been stored within its respective vending apparatus over the fixed period of time is less than a pre-determined value;
determining from the inventory data a disparity between the quantity of vendible products within the subset contained within the first vending apparatus and the quantity of vendible products within the subset contained within the second vending apparatus; and
relocating one or more of the high-demand vendible products from one of the first and second vending apparatuses to the other for decreasing the disparity.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for communicating vending information for a vendible product is provided. A plurality of vending transaction data is received, wherein each of the plurality of data comprises a transaction timestamp and corresponds to a rental transaction for a vendible product. The plurality of vending transaction data is stored in a memory of a vending apparatus, and is encrypted. It is determined whether a predetermined period of time has elapsed since a first transmission of transaction data from the vending apparatus, and a communication request is transmitted upon such determination to a remote control center. A signal is received at the vending apparatus from a control center in response to the communications request, and a plurality of vending transaction data is transmitted to the remote control center in response to receiving the signal.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of inventory rebalancing comprising the steps of:
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receiving inventory data from a first vending controller disposed within a first vending apparatus, the inventory data comprising a listing of vendible products within the first vending apparatus and data representing the percent of time that each vendible product has been stored within the first vending apparatus over a fixed period of time; receiving inventory data from a second vending controller disposed within a second vending apparatus, the inventory data comprising a listing of vendible products within the second vending apparatus and data representing the percent of time that each vendible product has been stored within the second vending apparatus over the fixed period of time; determining from the inventory data a subset of high-demand vendible products, wherein the percent of time that each high-demand vendible product has been stored within its respective vending apparatus over the fixed period of time is less than a pre-determined value; determining from the inventory data a disparity between the quantity of vendible products within the subset contained within the first vending apparatus and the quantity of vendible products within the subset contained within the second vending apparatus; and relocating one or more of the high-demand vendible products from one of the first and second vending apparatuses to the other for decreasing the disparity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for balancing the quantity of high demand vendible products across a plurality of vending apparatuses comprising:
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a vending controller disposed within each of the plurality of vending apparatuses, wherein each vending controller is adapted to monitor an inventory of the vendible products within its respective vending apparatus; and a central controller in communication with each of the vending controllers through a network, the central controller adapted to receive inventory data from the vending controllers and use the inventory data to identify specific high demand vendible products to be relocated from a first vending apparatus to a second vending apparatus; wherein the inventory data comprises the percentage of time that each vendible product has been contained within its respective vending apparatus over a fixed period of time. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An inventory management system comprising:
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a first vending apparatus containing an inventory of vendible products; a first vending controller disposed within the first vending apparatus for monitoring and recording the inventory of vendible products contained within the first vending apparatus over a fixed period of time, and for determining a subset of high demand vendible products that are absent from the first vending apparatus at least a predetermined percentage of the fixed period of time; a second vending apparatus containing an inventory of vendible products; a second vending controller disposed within the second vending apparatus for monitoring and recording the inventory of vendible products contained within the second vending apparatus over the fixed period of time, and for determining a subset of high demand vendible products that are absent from the second vending apparatus at least the predetermined percentage of the fixed period of time; and a central controller in communication with the first and second vending controllers through a network for determining an imbalance between the quantity of high demand vendible products in the first vending apparatus and the quantity of high demand vendible products in the second vending apparatus, and for generating an instruction to relocate a specific subset of high demand vendible products from one of the first and second vending apparatuses to the other. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification