Automated merchandise dispensing and retrieval system
DCFirst Claim
1. An improved system for dispensing and receiving article, said system comprising:
- a plurality of vending machines adapted for dispensing and receiving articles, said vending machines including;
a carousel having a plurality of bins for storing articles wherein articles may be placed in or removed from said bins through an access door a positioning system for aligning said bins with said access door, and controlling the rotation of said carousel, a control computer, said control computer including;
means for recording customer billing information, means for tracking machine inventory, and data communication means; and
host computer means including;
means for communicating with each of said plurality of vending machines, means for receiving and processing said recorded customer billing information, and inter-vending means for controlling inter vending of inventory of articles within said system.
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Litigations
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system from which a customer may rent and return videocassettes. The system has a plurality of vending machines for dispensing and receiving videocassettes including a carousel rotated about a horizontal axis and having bins for storage of videocassettes and access doors for dispensing and receiving videocassettes. A computer controlled positioning system scans a barcode ring affixed to the carousel and an aperture detector counts the passage of apertures in a ring about the carousel for determining the position of the carousel. The control computer also maintains an inventory database which tracks inventory in the bins by scanning barcodes affixed to the each videocassette and viewable via an opening at each bin location. A host computer communicates with machine control computers for maintaining a system wide inventory database, communicating with financial institutions for customer billing purposes, logging machine faults and controlling inter-vending of videocassettes, wherein inter-vending permits videocassettes rented from one machine within the system to be returned to another machine in the system and be re-rented from that machine with automatic adjustment of the inventory databases.
223 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An improved system for dispensing and receiving article, said system comprising:
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a plurality of vending machines adapted for dispensing and receiving articles, said vending machines including;
a carousel having a plurality of bins for storing articles wherein articles may be placed in or removed from said bins through an access door a positioning system for aligning said bins with said access door, and controlling the rotation of said carousel, a control computer, said control computer including;
means for recording customer billing information, means for tracking machine inventory, and data communication means; andhost computer means including;
means for communicating with each of said plurality of vending machines, means for receiving and processing said recorded customer billing information, and inter-vending means for controlling inter vending of inventory of articles within said system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An improved system for dispensing and receiving articles, said system comprising:
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a plurality of vending machines adapted for dispensing and receiving articles, each of said vending machines including; a carousel having a plurality of bins for storing articles wherein articles may be dispensed from or received into said bins through an access door; a positioning system that aligns said bins with said access door and controls the rotation of said carousel; a control computer for controlling said positioning system, said control computer further including; machine inventory tracking means, data communications means, a host computer means, said host computer means including; system communication means for communicating with each of said data communications means; and inter-vending means including; means for permitting vending of an article from one of said vending machines and return of the article to another of said vending machines from which location the article may be re-vended; and means for transferring article vending, return and re-vending data to each of said machine inventory tracking means for updating said machine inventory tracking means. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A video media inter-vending network which permits the renting of video media from on location in said inter-vending network and the return of the rented video media to another location in the network from which it can be re-rented, said inter-vending network comprising:
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a plurality of video media vending machines for dispensing and receiving video media at different locations, each of said video media vending machines including;
a control computer, said control computer including;
means for tracking machine inventory, data communications means;a host computer means, said host computer means including; means for tracking network inventory, means for controlling communications with each of said data communications means; and inter-vending means, said inter-vending means includes; means for permitting vending of an article from one of said vending machines and return of the article to another of said vending machines from which location the article may be revended; and means for transferring article vending, return and re-vending data to each of said means for tracking machine inventory and means for tracking network inventory. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification