SYSTEM AND METHOD OF TELEMETRY APPLIED TO VENDING MACHINES

• US 20140012414A1
• Filed: 03/04/2013
• Published: 01/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Alvaro Osnaya Perez, Jorge Corredor Villarreal, Jose Luis Perez Magana
• Original Assignee: Alvaro Osnaya Perez, Jose Luis Perez Magana
• Inventors: Prez, lvaro Osnaya, Prez Magaa, Jos Luis, Villarreal, Jorge Corredor
• Application Number:
  US13/784,521
• Publication Number:
  US 20140012414A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/241
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/001 Interfacing with vending machines using mobile or wearable devices
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/002 Vending machines being part of a centrally controlled network of vending machines
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty

Abstract

System and method of telemetry applied to vending machines. This system possesses telemetry modules (AE2.0) specially designed to be installed in each of the vending machines that make up the system. These modules possess 8 bit microcontrollers with RISC architecture (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) that contain an embedded application (firmware) that controls all of its functions. On the other hand, the system involves applications and web services that are located in servers and/or some computer system, and have as their main functions the management and operation of the entire system. The entire system is composed of vending machines, telemetry modules (one per machine), and computer management and operation systems.

Claims

1. An adaptable system of telemetry and sale of intangible products for vending machines comprising:

at least one vending machine;

at least one telemetry module;

at least one control card in the vending machine;

a coin slot (optional);

a bill slot (optional);

a means of communication DEX;

a communication bus MDB;

means of wireless communication;

at least one database; and

peripherals.

2. The adaptable system of telemetry and sale of intangible products for vending machine of claim 1, wherein:

the control card that is incorporated into the vending machines (within the module) connected through DEX and MDB ports and that furthermore connects with various applications (web and desktop) designed for their administration and operation (jointly called Backoffice);

a monochromatic 128×

64 pixels graphic liquid crystal screen with backlighting, that enables the display of texts in different fonts and sizes, images, and animations in 2D and 3D;

a 4×

4 keypad with numerical characters and some extra keys such as;

#, *, <

, >

, x, and Enter; and

the means of wireless communication includes a communication protocol used between the telemetry module and the computer system (Backoffice) that contains the management, operation, and database(s) applications.

3. The adaptable system of telemetry and sale of intangible products for vending machine of claim 1, further comprising:

a serial port for the microcontroller with the function of cleaning and monitoring the functions of the module.

4. The adaptable system of telemetry and sale of intangible products for vending machine of claim 1, wherein the telemetry module is comprised of:

a microcontroller;

an LCD screen;

a WiFi port;

an NFC port;

a Bluetooth port;

a slave MDB circuit;

an external power supply;

an MDB port;

a reliever;

a DEX port;

a Series RS-232 port;

a reader for cards with a chip;

a numerical keypad;

a magnetic stripe card reader;

a thermal printer;

an Ethernet port;

ADC channels;

a wireless modem;

a Flash memory 1; and

a Flash memory 2.

5. A method of implementing an adaptable system of telemetry and sale of intangible products for vending machines, the method comprising:

updating firmware;

initiating peripherals, all peripherals that form a part of the microcontroller such as DEX, MDB, SPI, among other ports, are initiated;

updating firmware, a new version of firmware is stored in the memory of the controller, which begins to operate immediately after the module has been restarted;

initiation of the operational system tasks, whether the tasks are used or not;

review that there exists a valid SIM card in the corresponding port;

configure connection parameters, these parameters correspond to the APN network to which the connection is intended;

connect to the APN, and ServerV;

verify connections

display a connection error number in a main screen, in case of error; and

display main menu.