MDB transaction string effectuated cashless vending

• US 7,131,575 B1
• Filed: 05/03/2002
• Issued: 11/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cantaloupe, Inc.
• Original Assignee: USA Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Kolls, H. Brock
• Primary Examiner(s): ST CYR, DANIEL
• Application Number:
  US10/138,385
• Time in Patent Office: 1,649 Days
• Field of Search: 235/379
• US Class Current: 235/379
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/08 Sorting, i.e. grouping record carriers in numerical or other ordered sequence according to the classification of at least some of the information they carry by merging two or more sets of carriers in ordered sequence G06F7/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty

Abstract

The present invention relates to a payment module implementing a MDB TRANSACTION STRING in memory to effectuate cashless vending. The MDB TRANSACTION STRING allows the payment module and or computing platform to manage cashless vending by monitoring data fields within the MDB TRANSACTION STRING.

The MDB TRANSACTION STRING is constructed and managed in payment module memory. The MDB TRANSACTION STRING includes at least one of the following data fields a VEND STATE field, a MAX VEND SALE field, a SALE PRICE field, a COLUMN field, or a VEND FLAG field.

In operation, the payment module obtains data from a vending machine and constructs and manages an MDB TRANSACTION STRING in memory. Utilization of the MDB TRANSACTION STRING occurs when the payment module application code and or a computing platform interconnected with the payment module reads the MDB TRANSACTION STRING to make certain determinations to effectuate cashless vending.

Claims

1. A payment module for effectuating a cashless vend, said payment module comprising:

a microcontroller;

a memory device, said microcontroller having data communication access to said memory device, said microcontroller implements an MDB TRANSACTION STRING in said memory device, said MDB TRANSACTION STRING further comprising at least one of the following data fields;

a VEND STATE field, a MAX VEND SALE field, a SALE PRICE field, a COLUMN field, or a VEND FLAG field, said COLUMN field is the column identification of the vend item selected, as reported by a vending machine controller, during an MDB vend request message transaction with said microcontroller; and

a vending equipment interface interconnected with said microcontroller for electrically interconnecting said payment module to and data communicating with said vending machine controller, said vending machine controller being interconnected with a vending machine;

wherein, said microcontroller constructs and manages said MDB TRANSACTION STRING based on data communications between said microcontroller and said vending machine controller to effectuate said cashless vend.

2. The payment module in accordance with claim 1, wherein said payment module further comprising:

an interactive interface interconnected with said microcontroller for interfacing said payment module to and data communicating with a computing platform, wherein said computing platform data communicates with said payment module for the purpose of monitoring and selectively controlling said cashless vend.

3. The payment module in accordance with claim 2, wherein said computing platform by way of said interactive interface data communicates a command to said microcontroller to request said MDB TRANSACTION STRING data be cleared.

4. The payment module in accordance with claim 3, wherein the command data communicated by said computing platform to said microcontroller, to request said MDB TRANSACTION STRING data be cleared, is an @<

esc>

C command.

5. The payment module in accordance with claim 2, wherein said vending machine controller is monitored by said computing platform by data communicating with said microcontroller to read said MDB TRANSACTION STRING.

6. The payment module in accordance with claim 2, wherein said computing platform and said payment module communicate, by way of said interactive interface, data related to at least one of the following:

a) said plurality of payment identification data to initiate said transaction;

b) data from said payment module to effectuate monitoring of said payment module operation by said computing platform;

c) data from said payment module to effectuate monitoring of vending equipment by said computing platform;

or

d) data to enable said computing platform to control said cashless vend.

7. The payment module in accordance with claim 2, wherein said computing platform by way of said interactive interface data communicates a command to said microcontroller to request said MDB TRANSACTION STRING be data communicated to said computing platform.

8. The payment module in accordance with claim 7, wherein said command is at least one of the following:

i) an @<

esc>

H command;

or

ii) an @<

esc>

V command.

9. The payment module in accordance with claim 2, wherein said computing platform by way of said interactive interface receives said MDB TRANSACTION STRING, in an INTERRUPT mode of operation, when said MDB TRANSACTION STRING changes.

10. The payment module in accordance with claim 2, wherein said payment module simulates said vending machine by manipulating said MDB TRANSACTION STRING such that said computing platform being interconnected with said payment module can monitor and selectively control said cashless vend.

11. The payment module in accordance with claim 1, wherein said VEND STATE field includes at least one of the following characters to indicate a particular MDB state:

‘

I’

for inactive state, ‘

D’

for disable state, ‘

E’

for enable state, ‘

S’

for in session state, or ‘

V’

for vend state.

12. The payment module in accordance with claim 1, wherein said MAX VEND SALE field is the value of the highest priced item, as reported by said vending machine controller, to said microcontroller during an MDB setup sequence.

13. The payment module in accordance with claim 1, wherein said SALE PRICE field is the vend sale price of the vend item selected, as reported by said vending machine controller, during an MDB vend request message transaction with said microcontroller.

14. The payment module in accordance with claim 1, wherein said VEND FLAG field includes at least one of the following characters to indicate a particular MDB data flag:

‘

C’

for clear flag, ‘

$’

for currency vend flag, ‘

P’

for vend pending flag, ‘

A’

for vend approved flag, ‘

D’

for vend declined flag, ‘

V’

for cashless vend occurrence flag, ‘

U’

for user selected amount flag, ‘

R’

for request vend approval flag, or ‘

F’

for vend fail flag.

15. The payment module in accordance with claim 1, wherein said memory device is a random access memory.

16. The payment module in accordance with claim 15, wherein said random access memory is nonvolatile.

17. The payment module in accordance with claim 1, wherein said microcontroller data communicates with said vending machine controller by way of said vending equipment interface to determine the state of said vending machine controller, said microcontroller updates said MDB TRANSACTION STRING to reflect the state of said vending machine controller.

18. The payment module in accordance with claim 1, wherein said vending equipment interface is at least one of the following interfaces:

i) a multi-drop-bus (MDB) interface;

ii) a DEX interface;

iii) a bill acceptor interface;

or

iv) a coin acceptor interface.

19. The payment module in accordance with claim 1, wherein said payment module is at least one of the following:

i) an audit-credit-interactive device;

ii) a G4;

iii) an E-PORT;

iv) a module;

v) an MDB controller;

or

vi) a semiconductor.

20. The payment module in accordance with claim 1, wherein said MDB TRANSACTION STRING construction and management is mutually exclusive from application code being executed by said microcontroller.

21. A payment module for effectuating a cashless vend, said payment module comprising:

a microcontroller;

a memory device, said microcontroller having data communication access to said memory device, said microcontroller implements an MDB TRANSACTION STRING in said memory device, said MDB TRANSACTION STRING further comprising at least one of the following data fields;

a VEND STATE field, a MAX VEND SALE field, a SALE PRICE field, a COLUMN field, or a VEND FLAG field, said COLUMN field is the column identification of the vend item selected, as reported by a vending machine controller, during an MDB vend request message transaction with said microcontroller; and

an interactive interface interconnected with said microcontroller for interfacing said payment module to and data communicating with a computing platform;

wherein said computing platform data communicates with said payment module for the purpose of monitoring and selectively controlling said cashless vend.

22. The payment module in accordance with claim 21, wherein said payment module simulates a vending machine by manipulating said MDB TRANSACTION STRING such that said computing platform being interconnected with said payment module can monitor and selectively control said cashless vend.

23. A payment module for effectuating a cashless vend, said payment module comprising:

a microcontroller;

a memory device, said microcontroller having data communication access to said memory device, said microcontroller implements an MDB TRANSACTION STRING in said memory device, said MDB TRANSACTION STRING further comprising at least one of the following data fields;

a VEND STATE field, a MAX VEND SALE field, a SALE PRICE field, a COLUMN field, or a VEND FLAG field, said VEND STATE field includes at least one of the following characters to indicate a particular MDB state;

‘

I’

for inactive state, ‘

D’

for disable state, ‘

E’

for enable state, ‘

S’

for in session state, or ‘

V’

for vend state; and

a vending equipment interface interconnected with said microcontroller for electrically interconnecting said payment module to and data communicating with a vending machine controller, said vending machine controller being interconnected with a vending machine;

wherein, said microcontroller constructs and manages said MDB TRANSACTION STRING based on data communications between said microcontroller and said vending machine controller to effectuate said cashless vend.

24. The payment module in accordance with claim 23, wherein said payment module further comprising:

an interactive interface interconnected with said microcontroller for interfacing said payment module to and data communicating with a computing platform, wherein said computing platform data communicates with said payment module for the purpose of monitoring and selectively controlling said cashless vend.

25. The payment module in accordance with claim 24, wherein said computing platform by way of said interactive interface data communicates a command to said microcontroller to request said MDB TRANSACTION STRING data be cleared.

26. The payment module in accordance with claim 25, wherein the command data communicated by said computing platform to said microcontroller, to request said MDB TRANSACTION STRING data be cleared, is an @<

esc>

C command.

27. The payment module in accordance with claim 24, wherein said vending machine controller is monitored by said computing platform by data communicating with said microcontroller to read said MDB TRANSACTION STRING.

28. The payment module in accordance with claim 24, wherein said computing platform and said payment module communicate, by way of said interactive interface, data related to at least one of the following:

a) said plurality of payment identification data to initiate said transaction;

b) data from said payment module to effectuate monitoring of said payment module operation by said computing platform;

c) data from said payment module to effectuate monitoring of vending equipment by said computing platform;

or

d) data to enable said computing platform to control said cashless vend.

29. The payment module in accordance with claim 24, wherein said computing platform by way of said interactive interface data communicates a command to said microcontroller to request said MDB TRANSACTION STRING be data communicated to said computing platform.

30. The payment module in accordance with claim 29, wherein said command is at least one of the following:

i) an @<

esc>

H command;

or

ii) an @<

esc>

V command.

31. The payment module in accordance with claim 24, wherein said computing platform by way of said interactive interface receives said MDB TRANSACTION STRING, in an INTERRUPT mode of operation, when said MDB TRANSACTION STRING changes.

32. The payment module in accordance with claim 23, wherein said MAX VEND SALE field is the value of the highest priced item, as reported by said vending machine controller, to said microcontroller during an MDB setup sequence.

33. The payment module in accordance with claim 23, wherein said SALE PRICE field is the vend sale price of the vend item selected, as reported by said vending machine controller, during an MDB vend request message transaction with said microcontroller.

34. The payment module in accordance with claim 23, wherein said COLUMN field is the column identification of the vend item selected, as reported by said vending machine controller, during an MDB vend request message transaction with said microcontroller.

35. The payment module in accordance with claim 23, wherein said VEND FLAG field includes at least one of the following characters to indicate a particular MDB data flag:

‘

C’

for clear flag, ‘

$’

for currency vend flag, ‘

P’

for vend pending flag, ‘

A’

for vend approved flag, ‘

D’

for vend declined flag, ‘

V’

for cashless vend occurrence flag, ‘

U’

for user selected amount flag, ‘

R’

for request vend approval flag, or ‘

F’

for vend fail flag.

36. The payment module in accordance with claim 23, wherein said memory device is a random access memory.

37. The payment module in accordance with claim 36, wherein said random access memory is nonvolatile.

38. The payment module in accordance with claim 23, wherein said microcontroller data communicates with said vending machine controller by way of said vending equipment interface to determine the state of said vending machine controller, said microcontroller updates said MDB TRANSACTION STRING to reflect the state of said vending machine controller.

39. The payment module in accordance with claim 23, wherein said vending equipment interface is at least one of the following interfaces:

i) a multi-drop-bus (MDB) interface;

ii) a DEX interface;

iii) a bill acceptor interface;

or

iv) a coin acceptor interface.

40. The payment module in accordance with claim 23, wherein said payment module is at least one of the following:

i) an audit-credit-interactive device;

ii) a G4;

iii) an E-PORT;

iv) a module;

v) an MDB controller;

or

vi) a semiconductor.

41. The payment module in accordance with claim 23, wherein said MDB TRANSACTION STRING construction and management is mutually exclusive from application code being executed by said microcontroller.

42. A payment module for effectuating a cashless vend, said payment module comprising:

a microcontroller;

a memory device, said microcontroller having data communication access to said memory device, said microcontroller implements an MDB TRANSACTION STRING in said memory device, said MDB TRANSACTION STRING further comprising at least one of the following data fields;

a VEND STATE field, a MAX VEND SALE field, a SALE PRICE field, a COLUMN field, or a VEND FLAG field, said VEND STATE field includes at least one of the following characters to indicate a particular MDB state;

‘

I’

for inactive state, ‘

D’

for disable state, ‘

E’

for enable state, ‘

S’

for in session state, or ‘

V’

for vend state; and

an interactive interface interconnected with said microcontroller for interfacing said payment module to and data communicating with a computing platform;

wherein said computing platform data communicates with said payment module for the purpose of monitoring and selectively controlling said cashless vend.

43. The payment module in accordance with claim 42, wherein said payment module simulates said vending machine by manipulating said MDB TRANSACTION STRING such that said computing platform being interconnected with said payment module can monitor and selectively control said cashless vend.

44. A payment module for effectuating a cashless vend, said payment module comprising:

a microcontroller;

a memory device, said microcontroller having data communication access to said memory device, said microcontroller implements an MDB TRANSACTION STRING in said memory device, said MDB TRANSACTION STRING further comprising at least one of the following data fields;

a VEND STATE field, a MAX VEND SALE field, a SALE PRICE field, a COLUMN field, or a VEND FLAG field, said VEND FLAG field includes at least one of the following characters to indicate a particular MDB data flag;

‘

C’

for clear flag, ‘

$’

for currency vend flag, ‘

P’

for vend pending flag, ‘

A’

for vend approved flag, ‘

D’

for vend declined flag, ‘

V’

for cashless vend occurrence flag, ‘

U’

for user selected amount flag, ‘

R’

for request vend approval flag, or ‘

F’

for vend fail flag; and

a vending equipment interface interconnected with said microcontroller for electrically interconnecting said payment module to and data communicating with a vending machine controller, said vending machine controller being interconnected with a vending machine;

wherein, said microcontroller constructs and manages said MDB TRANSACTION STRING based on data communications between said microcontroller and said vending machine controller to effectuate said cashless vend.

45. The payment module in accordance with claim 44, wherein said payment module further comprising:

an interactive interface interconnected with said microcontroller for interfacing said payment module to and data communicating with a computing platform, wherein said computing platform data communicates with said payment module for the purpose of monitoring and selectively controlling said cashless vend.

46. The payment module in accordance with claim 45, wherein said computing platform by way of said interactive interface data communicates a command to said microcontroller to request said MDB TRANSACTION STRING data be cleared.

47. The payment module in accordance with claim 46, wherein the command data communicated by said computing platform to said microcontroller, to request said MDB TRANSACTION STRING data be cleared, is an @<

esc>

C command.

48. The payment module in accordance with claim 45, wherein said vending machine controller is monitored by said computing platform by data communicating with said microcontroller to read said MDB TRANSACTION STRING.

49. The payment module in accordance with claim 45, wherein said computing platform and said payment module communicate, by way of said interactive interface, data related to at least one of the following:

a) said plurality of payment identification data to initiate said transaction;

b) data from said payment module to effectuate monitoring of said payment module operation by said computing platform;

c) data from said payment module to effectuate monitoring of vending equipment by said computing platform;

or

d) data to enable said computing platform to control said cashless vend.

50. The payment module in accordance with claim 45, wherein said computing platform by way of said interactive interface data communicates a command to said microcontroller to request said MDB TRANSACTION STRING be data communicated to said computing platform.

51. The payment module in accordance with claim 50, wherein said command is at least one of the following:

i) an @<

esc>

H command;

or

ii) an @<

esc>

V command.

52. The payment module in accordance with claim 45, wherein said computing platform by way of said interactive interface receives said MDB TRANSACTION STRING, in an INTERRUPT mode of operation, when said MDB TRANSACTION STRING changes.

53. The payment module in accordance with claim 44, wherein said VEND STATE field includes at least one of the following characters to indicate a particular MDB state:

‘

I’

for inactive state, ‘

D’

for disable state, ‘

E’

for enable state, ‘

S’

for in session state, or ‘

V’

for vend state.

54. The payment module in accordance with claim 44, wherein said MAX VEND SALE field is the value of the highest priced item, as reported by said vending machine controller, to said microcontroller during an MDB setup sequence.

55. The payment module in accordance with claim 44, wherein said SALE PRICE field is the vend sale price of the vend item selected, as reported by said vending machine controller, during an MDB vend request message transaction with said microcontroller.

56. The payment module in accordance with claim 44, wherein said COLUMN field is the column identification of the vend item selected, as reported by said vending machine controller, during an MDB vend request message transaction with said microcontroller.

57. The payment module in accordance with claim 44, wherein said memory device is a random access memory.

58. The payment module in accordance with claim 57, wherein said random access memory is nonvolatile.

59. The payment module in accordance with claim 44, wherein said microcontroller data communicates with said vending machine controller by way of said vending equipment interface to determine the state of said vending machine controller, said microcontroller updates said MDB TRANSACTION STRING to reflect the state of said vending machine controller.

60. The payment module in accordance with claim 44, wherein said vending equipment interface is at least one of the following interfaces:

i) a multi-drop-bus (MDB) interface;

ii) a DEX interface;

iii) a bill acceptor interface;

or

iv) a coin acceptor interface.

61. The payment module in accordance with claim 44, wherein said payment module is at least one of the following:

i) an audit-credit-interactive device;

ii) a G4;

iii) an E-PORT;

iv) a module;

v) an MDB controller;

or

vi) a semiconductor.

62. The payment module in accordance with claim 44, wherein said MDB TRANSACTION STRING construction and management is mutually exclusive from application code being executed by said microcontroller.

63. A payment module for effectuating a cashless vend, said payment module comprising:

a microcontroller;

a memory device, said microcontroller having data communication access to said memory device, said microcontroller implements an MDB TRANSACTION STRING in said memory device, said MDB TRANSACTION STRING further comprising at least one of the following data fields;

a VEND STATE field, a MAX VEND SALE field, a SALE PRICE field, a COLUMN field, or a VEND FLAG field, said VEND FLAG field includes at least one of the following characters to indicate a particular MDB data flag;

‘

C’

for clear flag, ‘

$’

for currency vend flag, ‘

P’

for vend pending flag, ‘

A’

for vend approved flag, ‘

D’

for vend declined flag, ‘

V’

for cashless vend occurrence flag, ‘

U’

for user selected amount flag, ‘

R’

for request vend approval flag, or ‘

F’

for vend fail flag; and

an interactive interface interconnected with said microcontroller for interfacing said payment module to and data communicating with a computing platform;

wherein said computing platform data communicates with said payment module for the purpose of monitoring and selectively controlling said cashless vend.

64. The payment module in accordance with claim 63, wherein said payment module simulates said vending machine by manipulating said MDB TRANSACTION STRING such that said computing platform being interconnected with said payment module can monitor and selectively control said cashless vend.