ARTICLE VENDING MACHINE AND METHOD FOR EXCHANGING AN INOPERABLE ARTICLE FOR AN OPERABLE ARTICLE

• US 20170148006A1
• Filed: 01/09/2017
• Published: 05/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Redbox Automated Retail LLC (Chicken Soup For The Soul Holdings LLC)
• Original Assignee: Redbox Automated Retail LLC (Chicken Soup For The Soul Holdings LLC)
• Inventors: Kapcar, ChristopHer A., Lowe, J. Mitchell, Hoersten, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 9,830,583 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/407 Cancellation of a transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0237 at kiosk
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 Rental transactions; Leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/54 about vertical axes

Abstract

An article vending machine in a network of article vending machines capable of exchanging an inoperable rental article received from a user for an operable replacement article. The article dispensing machine checks customer identification information against one or more customer rental criteria to determine if the customer is eligible to exchange an inoperable article for an operable one. The article vending machine searches for an identical replacement article within an inventory of the machine itself and within inventories of the networked article vending machines. Alternatively, the article vending machine may provide a refund for the inoperable article.

Claims

1. A method for receiving an inoperable article via an article vending machine and providing an exchange of the inoperable article for a replacement article, the article vending machine having a user interface, a processor, a receptacle, a selector arm, and an inventory of articles housed in the article vending machine, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a command through the user interface requesting to initiate a return of an inoperable article;

receiving the inoperable article via the receptacle;

engaging the inoperable article at a first position proximate to the receptacle, using the selector arm;

transferring the inoperable article, using the selector arm, from the first position to a second position within the article vending machine;

disengaging the inoperable article at the second position;

identifying a customer associated with the inoperable article using program code operating with the processor;

determining if the customer is eligible to receive the exchange of the inoperable article for the replacement article using the program code;

in response to determining that the customer is eligible for the exchange, determining if the inventory contains the replacement article that is identical to the inoperable article, using the program code, wherein the determining if the inventory contains a replacement includes;

accessing a database comprising identifying information for each article included in the inventory, and

comparing identifying information of the inoperable article with the identifying information of the articles included in the inventory to find a replacement article that has the same identifying information as the inoperable article;

in response to determining that the inventory does contain an identical replacement article;

transmitting to the user interface an option to receive the identical replacement article, and receiving a selection of at least one of the option to receive the identical replacement article or the option to receive a refund

receive a request from a service person via the user interface to purge all inoperable articles, and in response to the request to purge;

access the database to identify each article identified as inoperable; and

provide for removal, from the second position, each of the identified inoperable articles.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the article vending machine is networked to a plurality of remote vending machines each having an inventory of articles, the method further comprising the steps of, in response to determining that the inventory of the article vending machine does not contain an identical replacement article:

determining which remote vending machines comprise an identical replacement article within the respective remote vending machine inventories;

transmitting a list of remote vending machines having identical replacement articles to the user interface;

transmitting, to the user interface, an option to reserve the identical replacement article at one of the remote vending machines; and

receiving a selection of at least one of the option to reserve the identical replacement article.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of transmitting to the user interface an option to reserve the identical replacement article at one of the remote vending machines.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of, in response to determining that the article vending machine inventory does not contain a replacement article:

transmitting to the user interface an option to receive a non-identical replacement article and an alternative option to receive a refund for the cost of the rental of the inoperable article; and

,

receiving a selection of at least one of the option to receive a non-identical replacement article or the option to receive a refund.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of transmitting to the user interface an option to receive refund for the cost of the rental of the inoperable article if the article vending machine inventory does not contain an identical replacement article.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of whether a customer is eligible to receive an exchange is based, at least in part, on at least one customer criterion selected from the group consisting of number of returned inoperable articles, frequency of returns of inoperable articles, percentage of transactions resulting in an returns of an inoperable article, and time of last return of an inoperable article.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of whether a customer is eligible to receive an exchange for the inoperable article is based on whether the customer is listed on an inoperable article refund blacklist.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

reading an article identifier from the inoperable article; and

referencing a database to obtain identifying information for the returned article based on the article identifier, using program code operating with the processor.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of identifying a database entry for the inoperable article in the database using program code operating with the processor.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of modifying the database entry for the inoperable article to indicate that the corresponding article is inoperable.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of prohibiting rental of the inoperable article.

12. The article vending machine of claim 1 wherein the article vending machine is networked to a plurality of remote vending machines each having an inventory of articles.

13. The article vending machine of claim 12, wherein the program code is further configured to, in response to determining that the inventor does not contain an identical replacement article:

determine which of the remote vending machines have in their inventories an identical replacement article,

provide a list of the remote vending machines having identical replacement articles to the user interface,

provide, to the user interface, an option to reserve one of the identical replacement articles at one of the remote vending machines on the list of the remote vending machines having identical replacement articles;

provide, to the user interface, an alternative option to receive a refund for the cost of the rental of the inoperable article; and

receive a selection of at least one of the option to reserve one of the identical replacement articles or the option to receive a refund.

14. The article vending machine of claim 13 wherein the program code is further configured to permit a user to reserve one of the identical replacement articles at one of the remote vending machines on the list of the remote vending machines having identical replacement articles.

15. The article vending machine of claim 1, wherein the program code is further configured to, in response to determining that the inventory does not contain an identical replacement article:

transmit to the user interface an option to receive a non-identical replacement article, provide, to the user interface, an alternative option to receive a refund for the cost of the rental of the inoperable article; and

receive a selection of at least one of the option to receive non-identical replacement article or the option to receive a refund.

16. The article vending machine of claim 1, herein the program code is further configured to, in response to determining that the inventory does not contain an identical replacement article:

provide, via the user interface, an option to receive a coupon for a rental article,

provide, via the user interface, an alternative option receive a refund for the cost of the rental of the inoperable article, and

receive a selection of at least one of the option to receive a coupon and the option to receive a refund.

17. An article vending machine comprising:

an inventory comprised of a plurality of articles;

a receptacle for receiving an inoperable article;

a selector arm for transferring articles within the first article vending machine, the selector m being configured to;

engage the inoperable article at a first position proximate to the receptacle, transfer the inoperable article from the first position to a second position within the first article vending machine, and

disengage the inoperable article at the second position; and

a user interface configured to receive a request to initiate an exchange of the inoperable article for a replacement article;

a memory configured to store one or more databases, the one or more databases including a list of the articles that comprise the inventory of the article vending machine; and

a processor configured using program code to;

identify a customer associated with the inoperable article;

determine if the customer is eligible to receive an exchange of the inoperable article for the replacement article;

in response to determining that the customer is eligible for the exchange, determine if the inventory of the article vending machine contains a replacement article that is identical to the inoperable article by;

accessing the one or more databases to obtain identifying information for each article included in the inventory of the article vending machine, and

comparing identifying information of the inoperable article with the identifying information of the articles included in the inventory to find a replacement article that has the same identifying information as the inoperable article;

in response to determining that the inventory does contain an identical replacement article;

offer, via the user interface, an option to receive the identical replacement article; and

receive a selection of the option to receive the identical replacement article;

receive a request from a service person via the user interface to purge all inoperable articles, and in response to the request to purge;

access the database to identify each article identified as inoperable; and

provide for removal, from the second position, each of the identified inoperable articles.

18. The article vending machine of claim 17, wherein the articles are automatically dispensed via the receptacle in response to the request from the service person to purge all of the articles identified as inoperable in the database.

19. The article vending machine of claim 17, wherein the selector arm includes a picker device that is configured, in response to receiving the request to purge, to engage each inoperable article in the second position within the article vending machine, and to continue engaging the inoperable article while the selector arm transfers the article from the second position to the receptacle.

20. The article vending machine of claim 17, wherein the selector arm includes a conveying device that is configured to dispense the inoperable articles through the receptacle by transferring the inoperable articles towards the receptacle.