SALES KIOSK

• US 20140148946A1
• Filed: 01/30/2014
• Published: 05/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Junfang Zhang
• Original Assignee: Junfang Zhang
• Inventors: Zhang, Junfang
• Application Number:
  US14/169,137
• Publication Number:
  US 20140148946A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/236
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/02 from non-movable magazines
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/54 about vertical axes
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/40 for devices for accepting orders, advertisements, or the like
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 5/18 specially adapted for controlling several coin-freed apparatus from one place
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/10 Casings or parts thereof, e.g. with means for heating or cooling

Abstract

This disclosure is directed to a smart sales kiosk, a smart kiosk system and a process for dispensing or ordering one or more target products or samples of the target products. This disclosure is further directed to a kiosk system having a plurality of the sales kiosks connected via wired or wireless connections. The sales kiosks can be particularly useful for dispensing samples of sales products, such as furniture, typically not suitable to dispense at the sales location; or customized products that need to be customized. The sales kiosk can further be useful for ordering sales products. The sale kiosks can provide advantages for seeing and experiencing the sales products even the sale products cannot be directly displayed or dispensed. The kiosk can be modular and can comprise one or more modules. The kiosk can comprise a dispense ID identifier to identify each of said storage devices based on a storage device ID affixed to each of said storage devices, each of said stored products based on a dispense package ID affixed to said stored products, or a combination thereof. The kiosk can further have the capability of facial identification and link the facial image to user data.

Claims

1. A kiosk system comprising one or more kiosks for dispensing one or more target products, each of said kiosks comprising:

A1) a kiosk housing (200);

A2) a user interface system (201) comprising one or more input devices, one or more display devices, or a combination thereof; and

A3) one or more dispensing systems (203) housed in said kiosk housing, each of said dispensing systems comprises one or more storage devices for storing a plurality of stored products, a dispensing control system for selecting said target products from said stored products and dispensing said target products based on a dispensing signal;

wherein;

at least one of the dispensing systems comprises the storage devices arranged into a storage grid (900) that comprises m×

n storage devices assembled in a grid, wherein m and n each is independently selected from in a range of from 1 to 200;

said dispensing control system comprises a grid dispensing device (901) that comprises a grid dispensing positioning device (902), a grid dispensing drive (903) and a grid dispensing head (904), wherein the grid dispensing positioning device (902) is functionally coupled to the grid dispensing drive (903) and the grid dispensing head (904).

2. The kiosk system of claim 1, wherein said dispensing control system further comprises a dispense ID identifier (907) to identify each of said storage devices based on a storage device ID affixed to each of said storage devices, each of said stored products based on a dispense package ID affixed to said stored products, or a combination thereof.

3. The kiosk system of claim 2 further comprising a dispense verification system (908) to verify each of said target products that is dispensed based on said dispense package ID and said dispensing signal, wherein said dispensing signal comprises package ID of said target products.

4. The kiosk system of claim 1, wherein said grid dispensing head (904) comprises a vacuum head (905) for dispensing said target products.

5. The kiosk system of claim 1 further comprising a database comprising product data, said product data comprise interrelated images of one or more sales products, motion images of said sale products, text descriptions of said sales products, identifiers of the sales products, or a combination thereof, said database is functionally coupled to each of said kiosks.

6. The kiosk system of claim 5, each of said kiosks further comprises:

A4) a payment processing device (300) for receiving payments and generating said dispensing signal;

said dispensing signal is generated based on a selection input for selecting said one or more target products and a payment approval signal.

7. The kiosk system of claim 6, wherein said selection input is based on images of said sales products, motion images of said sales products, text descriptions of said sales products, identifiers of said sales products, or a combination thereof, displayed on said one or more display devices.

8. The kiosk system of claim 7, wherein each of said kiosks further comprises:

A5) a computing device coupled to said one or more input devices and said one or more display devices, said computing device is functionally coupled to a computing program product comprising computing program codes for;

C1) receiving a request input from said one or more input devices;

C2) displaying product display data on said one or more display devices, said product display data are retrieved from said database and comprise images of one or more of said sales products, motion images of one or more of said sales products, descriptions of one or more of said sales products, identifiers of one or more of said sales products, or a combination thereof, based on said request input or a predetermined product display scheme;

C3) optionally, receiving one or more modified request inputs and repeating the steps C1)-C3); and

C4) receiving the selection input from said one or more input devices selecting said one or more target products from said sales products.

9. The kiosk system of claim 8, wherein said computing program product further comprises computing program codes for:

C5) generating a product availability data based on said selection input and availability of one or more of said stored products associated to said one or more target products, said availability data comprise product location data and product quantity data of said plurality of stored products;

C6) displaying said product availability data on said display devices; and

C7) generating an order data for ordering said at least one of said target products if at least one of said target products is not available from said kiosk system, said order data comprise a target identifier of said at least one of said target products based on an order selection.

10. The kiosk system of claim 8, wherein said computing program product further comprises computing program codes for:

C8) generating a payment request based on said selection input and the payment schedule;

C9) displaying said payment request on said one or more display devices;

C10) generating said payment approval signal after receiving and verifying payments according to said payment request;

C11) generating said dispensing signal; and

C12) outputting said dispensing signal to said one or more dispensing systems where said one or more target products are stored to dispense said one or more target products.

11. The kiosk system of claim 8, wherein each of said kiosk further comprises a dispensing opening (210) positioned on said kiosk housing (200) for dispensing said target products, one or more subsequent display devices for displaying product information based on predetermined schedule, the selection input, history of selection inputs, a display input, one or more physical display structures, one or more testing spaces, one or more designing spaces, or a combination thereof.

12. The kiosk system of claim 8, wherein at least one of the kiosks comprises one or more functionally coupled modules selected from a display module, a dispensing module, a user interface module, an imaging device, a signal receiving device, a security system, or a combination thereof.

13. The kiosk system of claim 12, wherein said security system comprises a security connection to a remote security control device via wired connections, wireless connections, or a combination thereof, for monitoring, controlling and protecting said kiosk.

14. The kiosk system of claim 12, wherein said imaging device is configured to capture a user'"'"'s facial image for generating a user identification data of said user.

15. The kiosk system of claim 12, wherein said signal receiving device is configured to receive a remote input signal to dispense and send said remote input signal to said computing device.

16. The kiosk system of claim 1 further comprising a host computing device functionally coupled to each of said kiosks via wired connections, wireless connections, or a combination thereof.

17. The kiosk system of claim 16, wherein said kiosk system comprises two or more said kiosks connected via wired connections, wireless connection, or a combination thereof.

18. A process for dispensing one or more target products, said process comprising the steps of:

P1) providing at least one kiosk comprising a user interface system comprising one or more input devices, one or more display devices, or a combination thereof; and

one or more dispensing systems each comprising one or more storage devices for storing a plurality of stored products and a dispensing control system;

P2) obtaining a request input from said one or more input devices;

P3) displaying product display data said on one or more display devices, said product display data comprise images of one or more of sales products, motion images of one or more of said sales products, descriptions of one or more of said sales products, identifiers of one or more of said sales products, or a combination thereof, based on said request input or a predetermined product display scheme;

P4) optionally, receiving one or more modified request inputs and repeating the steps P2)-P4);

P5) obtaining a selection input from said one or more input devices to select one or more target products or one or more selected sales products; and

P6) generating a product availability data based on said selection input and availability of one or more of said stored products associated to said one or more target products, and availability of said selected sales products, said availability data comprise product location data and product quantity data of said plurality of stored products, said selected sales products, or a combination thereof;

wherein said stored products comprise one or more said sales products, one or more parts of said sales products, one or more specimens of said sales products, one or more simulated specimens of said sales products, one or more image products of said sales products, one or more digital data products of said sales products, or a combination thereof; and

wherein

at least one of the dispensing systems comprises the storage devices arranged into a storage grid (900) that comprises m×

n storage devices assembled in a grid, wherein m and n each is independently selected from in a range of from 1 to 200;

said dispensing control system comprises a grid dispensing device (901) that comprises a grid dispensing positioning device (902), a grid dispensing drive (903), a grid dispensing head (904), wherein the grid dispensing positioning device (902) is functionally coupled to the grid dispensing drive (903) and the grid dispensing head (904), and a dispense ID identifier (907) to identify each of said storage devices based on a storage device ID affixed to each of said storage devices, each of said stored products based on a dispense package ID affixed to said stored products, or a combination thereof.

19. The process of claim 18 further comprising the steps of:

P7) generating a payment request based on said selection input and a payment schedule;

P8) displaying said payment request on said one or more display devices;

P9) generating a payment approval signal after receiving and verifying payments based on said payment request;

P10) generating a dispensing signal; and

P11) dispensing based on said dispensing signal said one or more target products from said one or more dispensing systems according to said product availability data.

20. The process of claim 19 further comprising the steps of:

P1a) providing said kiosk further comprises an imaging device, a signal receiving device, or a combination thereof; and

wherein said payment approval signal is generated by a payment process comprising the steps of;

P15) receiving a user identification data selected from one or more facial images of a user captured from said imaging device, a digital or optical deification signal received from said signal receiving device, or a combination thereof;

P16) comparing said user identification data to registered user data stored in a user database;

P17) retrieving matching registered user data from said user database if said user identification data match a registered user data and generating said payment approval signal if said matching registered user data comprises payment data of the user.