Method and system for the optimal formatting, reduction and compression of DEX/UCS data

• US 7,013,337 B2
• Filed: 05/11/2001
• Issued: 03/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Crane Merchandising Systems Incorporated (Crane Company)
• Original Assignee: Isochron, LLC
• Inventors: Defossé, Erin M., Chaput, James L., Pathan, Arif
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEE, PHILIP C
• Application Number:
  US09/853,366
• Publication Number:
  US 20010042121A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,768 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709/217, 707/8, 714/38, 340/5.92, 340/5.82
• US Class Current: 709/224
• 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

Abstract

A method and system for communicating data between a network operations center and a remote device is described. Vending machine state information is communicated between a vending site and a network operations center using a delta scheme. A database, maintained by the network operations center, maintains a history of the activity of a variety of vending machines located at a variety of vending sites. To minimize the data needed to be transmitted between the vending site and the network operations center, the network operations center, in one embodiment, will request information from the vending site regarding the change in state of the various vending machines. The vending machines are responsible for restructuring a data block, calculating a delta for the change in state of the machine, applying a compression algorithm to the calculated delta and then transmitting the delta to the network operations center. Upon receipt of the delta, the network operations center can update the database by combining the delta with the previous state information stored in the database.

Claims

1. A method for communicating information, associated with states of a remote device, between a network operations center and the remote device using a wide area network device and a local area network device comprising:

communicating information associated with the states of the remote device between the network operations center and the remote device using a DEX/UCS protocol for transmitting data, based on an original DEX/UCS data block associated with the states of the remote device;

communicating information associated with the states of the remote device between the network operations center and the remote device using a delta scheme for transmitting data between the wide area network device and the local area network device to reduce the amount of data necessary to provide a complete update of information concerning the remote device stored at the network operations center and an associated database;

storing a previous state of the remote device selected from the group consisting of inventory levels, conditions of device hardware and any other characteristic capable of being monitored and contained in the original DEX/UCS data block stored in the database associated with the network operations center;

transmitting at least one request for information concerning a current state of the remote device from the network operations center to the remote device;

transmitting an error checking cyclic redundancy check value from the network operations center to the at least one remote device as part of the request;

receiving the at least one request by the remote device;

establishing the current state of the remote device selected from the group consisting of inventory levels, conditions of device hardware and any other characteristic capable of being monitored and communicated using the DEX/UCS protocol in response to the at least one request;

selecting records at the remote device based upon the at least one request as specified in a template from the original DEX/UCS data block;

restructuring, at the remote device, the selected records in a preferred order according to the template;

calculating a delta between the restructured records corresponding with the current state of the remote device and a stored set of restructured records corresponding with a previous state of the remote device;

applying a data compression algorithm to the calculated delta;

restructuring of the selected records, based upon the template, allowing higher compression ratios to be achieved when the data compression algorithm is applied to the calculated delta;

preparing a device response at the remote device which includes a current cyclic redundancy check value and the compressed delta, wherein the current cyclic redundancy check value is calculated based on a comparison of the error checking redundancy check value from the network and a cyclic redundancy check value accessible by the remote device;

(pages 19–

20, spec.)

transmitting the device response to the network operations center;

receiving the device response at the network operations center; and

creating a current state of the remote device at the network operations center based on stored values in the associated database, the current cyclic redundancy check value and the compressed delta provided in the device response.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising evaluating at least one characteristic of the at least one request for information to determine the type of information being requested.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising writing the restructured records to a device response.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

transmitting at least one check value; and

comparing the at least one check value with at least one stored value.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein transmitting is supported by a wireless network.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein transmitting is supported by a wire-line network.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing the current state of the remote device as the previous state of the remote device in the database; and

storing the previous state of the remote device as a reference state for the remote device in the database.

8. A method for communicating data between a network operations center and at least one remote device comprising:

receiving data from the remote device at the network operations center and transmitting data from the network operations center to the remote device;

processing data received from the remote device at the network operations center and storing the processed data in a database associated with the network operations center;

transmitting a data request for a current state of the at least one remote device from the network operations center to the at least one remote device;

transmitting an error checking cyclic redundancy check value from the network operations center to the at least one remote device as part of the data request;

establishing a current state for the at least one remote device by selecting records from a data block at the remote device indicative of the current state of the remote device;

restructuring the selected records at the remote device, based upon a template, to establish the current state of the remote device;

accessing a previous state for the at least one remote device;

calculating a delta between the current state and the previous state for the at least one remote device;

applying a data compression algorithm to the calculated delta;

restructuring of the selected records, based upon the template, allowing higher compression ratios to be achieved when the data compression algorithm is applied to the calculated delta;

preparing a device response at the remote device which includes a current cyclic redundancy check value and the compressed delta, wherein the current cyclic redundancy check value is calculated based on a comparison of the error checking redundancy check value from the network and a cyclic redundancy check value accessible by the remote device;

(pages 19–

20, spec.)

transmitting the device response to the network operations center;

receiving the device response at the network operations center; and

creating a current state of the remote device at the network operations center based on stored values in the associated database, the current cyclic redundancy check value and the compressed delta provided in the device response.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising sorting the delta by the remote device.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein selecting records comprises selecting the records from a DEX/UCS data block.

11. The system of claim 8 further comprising the remote device operable to calculate and transmit the delta in response to a predetermined event.

12. A system for communicating data between a network operations center and at least one remote device comprising:

a wide area network operable to communicate data between the network operations center and the remote device;

the network operations center operable to establish communications with the remote device using the wide area network;

the remote device operable to establish communications with the network operations center using the wide area network;

the network operations center operable to process data received from the remote device and to store the processed data in an associated database;

a data block having at least one set of records communicatively coupled to the remote device;

the remote device operable to receive a request for data from the network operations center;

the remote device operable to receive an error checking cyclic redundancy check value from the network operations center as part of the request;

the remote device operable to select records from the data block based on the data request from the network operations center;

a template for restructuring the selected records by the remote device;

the remote device operable to restructure the selected records according to the template;

the remote device operable to calculate a delta between the restructured records and a stored set of records according to the template;

the remote device operable to apply a data compression algorithm to the calculated delta;

the remote device operable to restructure the selected records, based upon the template, allowing higher compression ratios to be achieved when the data compression algorithm is applied to the calculated delta;

the remote device operable to prepare a device response which includes a current cyclic redundancy check value and the compressed delta, wherein the current cyclic redundancy check value is calculated based on a comparison of the error checking redundancy check value from the network and a cyclic redundancy check value accessible by the remote device;

(pages 19–

20, spec.)

the remote device operable to transmit the device response to the network operations center;

the network operations center operable to receive the device response; and

the network operations center operable to create a current state of the remote device based on stored values in the associated database, the current cyclic redundancy check value and the compressed delta provided in the device response.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein that at least one remote device comprise a vending machine.

14. The system of claim 13 further comprising a plurality of vending machines.