Vending machine service scheduling

• US 9,286,588 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2013
• Issued: 03/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cantaloupe, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cantaloupe Systems Incorporated (Cantaloupe, Inc.)
• Inventors: Arora, Mandeep Singh, Agrawal, Anant, Cheng, Fred, Chu, Eric Matthew, Beaudoin, Amedee Louis
• Primary Examiner(s): Champagne, Luna
• Application Number:
  US14/034,958
• Publication Number:
  US 20140025423A1
• Time in Patent Office: 903 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1097 Task assignment
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/002 Vending machines being part of a centrally controlled network of vending machines
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty

Abstract

Techniques are provided for calculating vending machines'"'"' service priorities and scheduling the vending machines for service taking into account a number of factors and thresholds (520). In some embodiments, the machines (110) are subdivided into subroutes (320). Each subroute has one or more machines, and at least one subroute has a plurality of machines. The vending machine service schedule is generated by selecting the highest priority subroute (410) and selecting the machines in that subroute (420). Other subroutes can be selected (430, 440) if there is time left in the Service Period.

Claims

1. A system-implemented method for servicing a plurality of vending machines, the method comprising:

(A) for each vending machine, repeatedly performing operations of;

obtaining, by a controller in the vending machine, state data for the vending machine, the state data being indicative of the number of products in each product container of the vending machine;

transmitting, by a transmitter in the vending machine, the state data to a computer system over a network;

wherein the repeatedly obtained state data indicate a change, or absence of change, of the vending machine'"'"'s state over time;

(B) repeatedly receiving the state data from the vending machines by the computer system;

(C) for each service period of a plurality of service periods, the computer system selecting one or more of the vending machines for being serviced in the service period, wherein each service period is insufficient to service all the vending machines in the service period, wherein said selecting of the one or more of the plurality of vending machines comprises, for each service period;

(C-1) processing the state data by the computer system to generate, for each vending machine, an estimate E1 defining an estimated time remaining until a closest “

need-service time”

, wherein the “

need-service”

time is a time when the vending machine will need service as defined by one or more predefined service threshold parameters for the vending machine, wherein for each vending machine, the vending machine'"'"'s estimate E1 is generated regardless of whether or not the vending machine currently needs service as defined by the one or more service threshold parameters, wherein the one or more predefined service threshold parameters used to generate the estimate E1 define one or more of thresholds Th1 and Th2 for the vending machine, wherein;

(a) the vending machine'"'"'s threshold Th1 is a threshold for a number of the vending machine'"'"'s product containers satisfying a condition C1 which is a condition that an amount of a product in the container is at most a predefined alert level for the container;

(b) the vending machine'"'"'s threshold Th2 is a threshold for a number of the vending machine'"'"'s products vended by the vending machine that satisfy a condition C2 which is a condition that an amount of the product in the vending machine is at most a predefined alert level for the product;

(C-2) processing by the computer system the estimates E1 for the vending machines to prioritize the vending machines for service in the service period, and selecting by the computer system the most highly prioritized vending machines, but not all the vending machines, for service in the service period;

wherein for at least a first vending machine which is one of said vending machines, whether or not the first vending machine is selected depends on presence of higher priority vending machines;

(C-3) servicing each selected vending machine in the service period, wherein servicing each vending machine comprises the vending machine receiving one or more of the products, wherein the first vending machine is not serviced in the service period unless the first vending machine has been selected for service in the service period.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein for at least one vending machine, the one or more service threshold parameters comprise a first service threshold parameter which defines the threshold for the number of the machine'"'"'s product containers satisfying the condition C1, wherein if a group of containers carries the same product, then only one container in the group is taken into account in generating the estimate E1.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said one container in the group is a container that carries a maximum amount of the product among the containers in the group.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein for at least one vending machine, the one or more service threshold parameters comprise a first service threshold parameter which defines the threshold Th1 or the threshold Th2;

and

wherein generating the estimate E1 comprises;

(1) determining, for each of a first plurality of the product containers or products, a corresponding value t1 which defines an estimated time until (i) the container will satisfy the condition C1 for the container'"'"'s alert level or (ii) the product will satisfy the condition C2 for the product'"'"'s alert level; and

(2) for said first plurality of the containers or products, determining a container or product which has an order corresponding to the threshold Th1 or Th2 in an ordering in which the containers or products are ordered by their increasing values t1;

wherein the estimate E1 is generated as the value t1 corresponding to the container or product determined in operation (2).

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said first plurality of containers or products is a plurality of containers which comprises, for each group of the containers that carry the same product, only a container that carries the maximum amount of said product.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the operation (C-1) further comprises:

generating, for each vending machine, a corresponding estimate E2 with reference to (i) a number of the vending machine'"'"'s containers that will satisfy the condition C1 at the need-service time defined by the corresponding estimate E1, or (ii) a number of the vending machine'"'"'s products that will satisfy the condition C2 at the need-service time defined by the corresponding estimate E1;

generating, for each vending machine, a service priority indicator as a function of the vending machine'"'"'s estimates E1 and E2;

wherein the operation (C-3) comprises prioritizing the vending machines for service in the service period taking into account the vending machines'"'"' service priority indicators.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein for at least one vending machine, the estimate E2 is an estimate of the number of the vending machine'"'"'s containers that will satisfy the condition C1 at the need-service time defined by the corresponding estimate E1, wherein if a group of containers carries the same product, then only one container in the group is taken into account in calculating the estimate E2.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein for each vending machine, the service priority indicator is generated as a function which increases in E1 and decreases in E2, or decreases in E1 and increases in E2.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said function is determined by a ratio of:

a first value F1 which is linear in E2^P, where P is a predefined constant;

to

a second value F2 which is linear in E1^Q where Q is a predefined constant, and P is less than Q.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein P=0.5 and Q=1.75.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein in operation (C-2), the vending machine selection depends on whether or not a vending machine satisfies a condition Cond1 which is a condition that the service period precedes the vending machine'"'"'s need-service time defined by the corresponding estimate E1 by more than a predefined amount;

wherein any vending machine has a lower priority for being selected if the vending machine satisfies the condition Cond1.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing for each vending machine, with an output device, an estimate of a number of the product containers satisfying a condition C1 which is a condition that an amount of a product in the container will be at most a predefined alert level at an estimated time when the vending machine will need service.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more service threshold parameters used to generate the estimate E1 define at least one of:

a required service interval which is maximum time that the machine is to be allowed to operate without service;

a threshold for an amount of money in the vending machine.

13. A system comprising:

(A1) a plurality of sub-systems each of which is installable for each vending machine, each sub-system comprising;

a controller configured to repeatedly obtain state data for the corresponding vending machine, the state data being indicative of the number of products in each product container of the vending machine;

a transmitter configured to transmit the state data to a computer system over a network;

wherein in operation, the repeatedly obtained state data indicate a change, or absence of change, of the vending machine'"'"'s state over time;

(A2) non-transitory computer readable media comprising computer instructions operable to cause the computer system to perform a method comprising;

(B) repeatedly receiving the state data from the vending machines;

(C) for each service period of a plurality of service periods, selecting one or more of the vending machines for being serviced in the service period, wherein each service period is insufficient to service all the vending machines in the service period, wherein said selecting of the one or more of the plurality of vending machines comprises, for each service period;

(C-1) processing the state data to generate, for each vending machine, an estimate E1 defining an estimated time remaining until a closest “

need-service time”

, wherein the “

need-service”

time is a time when the vending machine will need service as defined by one or more predefined service threshold parameters for the vending machine, wherein for each vending machine, the vending machine'"'"'s estimate E1 is generated regardless of whether or not the vending machine currently needs service as defined by the one or more service threshold parameters, wherein the one or more predefined service threshold parameters used to generate the estimate E1 define one or more of thresholds Th1 and Th2 for the vending machine, wherein;

(a) the vending machine'"'"'s threshold Th1 is a threshold for a number of the vending machine'"'"'s product containers satisfying a condition C1 which is a condition that an amount of a product in the container is at most a predefined alert level for the container;

(b) the vending machine'"'"'s threshold Th2 is a threshold for a number of the vending machine'"'"'s products vended by the vending machine that satisfy a condition C2 which is a condition that an amount of the product in the vending machine is at most a predefined alert level for the product;

(C-2) processing by the computer system the estimates E1 for the vending machines to prioritize the vending machines for service in the service period, and selecting by the computer system the most highly prioritized vending machines, but not all the vending machines, for service in the service period;

wherein for at least a first vending machine which is one of said vending machines, whether or not the first vending machine is selected depends on presence of higher priority vending machines;

(C-3) identifying each selected vending machine on an output device for being serviced in the service period, to allow servicing each identified vending machine in the service period, wherein servicing each vending machine comprises the vending machine receiving one or more of the products, wherein the first vending machine is not identified by the output device to be serviced in the service period unless the first vending machine has been selected for service in the service period.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein for at least one vending machine, the one or more service threshold parameters comprise a first service threshold parameter which defines the threshold for the number of the machine'"'"'s product containers satisfying the condition C1, wherein if a group of containers carries the same product, then only one container in the group is taken into account in generating the estimate E1.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the operation (C-1) further comprises:

generating, for each vending machine, a corresponding estimate E2 with reference to (i) a number of the vending machine'"'"'s containers that will satisfy the condition C1 at the need-service time defined by the corresponding estimate E1, or (ii) a number of the vending machine'"'"'s products that will satisfy the condition C2 at the need-service time defined by the corresponding estimate E1;

generating, for each vending machine, a service priority indicator as a function of the vending machine'"'"'s estimates E1 and E2;

wherein the operation (C-3) comprises prioritizing the vending machines for service in the service period taking into account the vending machines'"'"' service priority indicators.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein in operation (C-2), the vending machine selection depends on whether or not a vending machine satisfies a condition Cond1 which is a condition that the service period precedes the vending machine'"'"'s need-service time defined by the corresponding estimate E1 by more than a predefined amount;

wherein any vending machine has a lower priority for being selected if the vending machine satisfies the condition Cond1.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the method further comprises sending to an output device for each vending machine, an estimate of a number of the product containers satisfying a condition C1 which is a condition that an amount of a product in the container will be at most a predefined alert level at an estimated time when the vending machine will need service.

18. The system of claim 17 further comprising the output device.

20. The system of claim 13 wherein the one or more service threshold parameters used to generate the estimate E1 define at least one of:

a required service interval which is maximum time that the machine is to be allowed to operate without service;

a threshold for an amount of money in the vending machine.