Secondary market and vending system for devices

• US 8,463,646 B2
• Filed: 06/04/2012
• Issued: 06/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ecoatm Incorporated (Coinstar Asset Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Ecoatm Incorporated (Coinstar Asset Holdings, LLC)
• Inventors: Bowles, Mark, van Rooyen, Pieter, Librizzi, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): KELLEY, HEIDI RIVIERE
• Application Number:
  US13/487,299
• Publication Number:
  US 20120246083A1
• Time in Patent Office: 372 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1.1, 705/14.37, 705/308, 902/30, D14/302
• US Class Current: 705/14.37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/30 Administration of product recycling or disposal
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0237 at kiosk
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0278 Product appraisal
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/06 by returnable containers , i.e. reverse vending systems in which a user is rewarded for returning a container that serves as a token of value, e.g. bottles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02W 30/82 Recycling of waste of electrical or electronic equipment [WEEE]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02W 90/00 Enabling technologies or technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions mitigation

Abstract

The system enables one to securely recycle an electronic device in a publicly accessible location. In particular, the embodiment described may be used by a mobile phone owner to submit his/her mobile phone for recycling via an electronic kiosk and receive compensation in some form. The compensation might be dispersed via cash, voucher, credit or debit card, or other magnetic or electronic transaction methods.

Claims

1. A system for recycling portable electronic devices, the system comprising:

a plurality of kiosks, each of the plurality of kiosks positioned in a public location, each of the plurality of kiosks comprising

a housing having an input region for placement of an electronic device therein,

a plurality of cameras positioned in the input region for imaging the electronic device,

an electrical connector to connect to the electronic device within the input region,

a computer in communication with the plurality of cameras for processing an image of the electronic device, the computer in communication with the electrical connector, the computer configured to perform an electrical inspection of the electronic device to determine a status of at least one of a battery, screen, memory, button functionality and structural integrity of the electronic device,

wherein at least one image from at least one of the plurality of cameras is analyzed at the computer to determine a height, width, and depth of the electronic device;

wherein the computer is configured to utilize optical character recognition to identify at least one of a brand, model and serial number of the electronic device; and

a communications component for transmitting communications from the kiosk and receiving communications for the kiosk; and

a kiosk server in communication with each of the plurality of kiosks, the kiosk server communicating with each of the plurality of kiosks through the communication component of each of the plurality of kiosks.

2. The system according to claim 1 further comprising a communications network.

3. The system according to claim 1 wherein the communications component is a wireless modem.

4. The system according to claim 1 wherein the communications component is a wired Ethernet connection to the Internet.

5. The system according to claim 1 wherein the electronic device is at least one of a mobile phone, a GPS receiver, a camera, a printer, a computer, a televisions and a stereo.

6. The system according to claim 1 further comprising a biometrics server in communication with the kiosk server, the biometrics server configured to conduct fraud detection and fraud prevention activities.

7. The system according to claim 1 further comprising a content server in communication with the kiosk server, the content server configured to store user interface content and advertising for use on the each of the plurality of kiosks.

8. The system according to claim 1 wherein the image from at least one camera is transmitted to the kiosk server for comparison to a reference image on a database at the kiosk server utilizing optical character recognition to determine the cosmetic condition of the electronic device.

9. The system according to claim 1 wherein the computer determines a compensation value for the electronic device based on the identification of the electronic device and the cosmetic condition of the electronic device wherein the compensation value is determined by a current market price obtained via communication to a recycling server using the communications component.

10. A method for recycling an electronic device at a kiosk, the method comprising:

receiving an electronic device from a user at an input region of a kiosk, the electronic device selected from the group of mobile phone, a GPS receiver, a camera, a printer, a computer, a televisions and a stereo;

imaging the electronic device at the input region utilizing at least one camera;

performing optical character recognition to identify at least one of a brand, model and serial number of the electronic device;

performing an electrical inspection of the electronic device to determine a status of at least one of a battery, screen, memory, button functionality and structural integrity of the electronic device, the electrical inspection performed by a processor of the kiosk;

automatically inspecting the electronic device to determine a cosmetic condition of the electronic device;

determining a compensation value for the electronic device, the compensation value based on the identification, the electrical inspection, and the cosmetic condition of the electronic device; and

offering the compensation value to the user on a display screen of the kiosk.

11. The method according to claim 10 further comprising transmitting the identification and cosmetic condition of the electronic device over a communications network to a kiosk server to determine the compensation value for the electronic device, determined by a current market price obtained via communication to a recycling server using the communications network and receiving the compensation value from the kiosk server over communications the network at the kiosk.

12. The method according to claim 10 wherein automatically inspecting the electronic device comprises at least one of identifying scratches, cracks, wear patterns, dents, broken or missing pieces, inclusion of features such as lenses, buttons, connectors, badges, labeling and branding.

13. The method according to claim 10 wherein the electronic device is a mobile phone and the method further comprises contacting a phone carrier for the mobile phone for at least one of validation, authentication, registered ownership, account status, and time in service.

14. The method according to claim 10 wherein the electronic device is a mobile phone and the method further comprises erasing personal data from the mobile phone.

15. The method according to claim 10 further comprising using a pre-auction system to determine the compensation value.

16. A system for recycling portable electronic devices, the system comprising:

a plurality of kiosks, each of the plurality of kiosks positioned in a public location, each of the plurality of kiosks comprising

a housing having an input region for placement of an electronic device therein,

an electrical connector to connect to the electronic device within the input region;

a processor in communication with the electrical connector, the processor configured to perform an electrical inspection of the electronic device to determine a status of at least one of a battery, screen, memory, button functionality and structural integrity of the electronic device, and

a communications component for transmitting communications from the kiosk and receiving communications for the kiosk; and

a kiosk server in communication with each of the plurality of kiosks, the kiosk server communicating with each of the plurality of kiosks through the communication component of each of the plurality of kiosks.