Vending machine route management

• US 9,613,346 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2015
• Issued: 04/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vendwatch Telematics LLC
• Original Assignee: Vendwatch Telematics LLC
• Inventors: Crow, James J., Barragn Trevio, Alfonso Javier
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayles, Ashford S
• Application Number:
  US14/962,641
• Publication Number:
  US 20160162865A1
• Time in Patent Office: 483 Days
• Field of Search: 705 22
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/308 using the Internet of Things
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4015 using location information
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty

Abstract

An embodiment includes a method executed by at least one processor comprising: determining inventories for first and second times for a first vending machine (VM); determining inventories for first and second times for a second VM; determining inventories for first and second times for a third VM; and determining a service route to visit the first and second VMs on a specific date, and to specifically avoid visiting the third VM on the specific date, in response to determining the inventories for the second times for the first, second, and third VMs. Other embodiments are described herein.

Claims

1. At least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon data which, when processed by at least one processor of a system, causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

calculate inventories for first and second times respectively for each of first, second, and third vending machines (VM) in response to communications between the system and at least one telemetry module coupled to at least one of the first, second, and third VMs;

calculate first space-to-sales (StS) for the first VM;

calculate first rate of consumption (RoC) for the first VM;

adjust the first StS for the first VM to calculate an adjusted first StS for the first VM in response to;

(a) calculating the first RoC, and (b) calculating the inventory for the first time for the first VM; and

generate a service route to visit the first and second VMs on a specific date, and to specifically avoid visiting the third VM on the specific date, in response to calculating the inventories for the second times for the first, second, and third VMs.

2. The operations of claim 1 comprising:

calculate cash balances for the first, second, and third VMs in response to the communications; and

generate the service route in response to calculating the cash balances for the first, second, and third VMs.

3. The operations of claim 1, comprising:

visually display the adjusted first StS; and

visually prompt a user regarding whether the user accepts the adjusted StS.

4. The operations of claim 3, comprising:

determine whether the user accepts the adjusted first StS;

visually prompt the user to adjust a plan-o-gram (PoG) for the first VM in response to determining the user accepts the adjusted first StS; and

specifically avoid prompting the user to adjust the PoG for the first VM in response to determining the user does not accept the adjusted first StS.

5. The operations of claim 1, comprising:

visually display the service route; and

visually prompt a user regarding whether the user accepts the service route;

calculate a single quantity of a product required to restock both the first and second VMs in response to calculating the inventories for the second times for the first and second VMs and further in response to determining the user accepts the service route; and

visually display the single quantity of product required to restock the first and second VMs.

6. The operations of claim 5 comprising:

calculate quantities of products removed from an inventory of the user and replaced into an inventory of the vendor in response to communications between the system and a mobile computing node; and

calculate the single quantity of product required to restock both the first and second VMs in response to calculating quantities of products removed from the inventory of the user and replaced into the inventory of the vendor.

7. The operations of claim 1 comprising:

calculate the first VM will exhaust total inventory for a product at a first exhaustion time that follows the first time for the first VM in response to the communications;

calculate the second VM will exhaust total inventory for a product at a second exhaustion time that follows the first time for the second VM in response to the communications; and

calculate that the first exhaustion time precedes the second exhaustion time;

wherein generating the service route includes determining to visit the first VM before the second VM in response to calculating the first exhaustion time precedes the second exhaustion time.

8. The operations of claim 7 comprising:

calculate inventories for first and second times for a fourth VM in response to communications between the system and at least one of the at least one telemetry module and an additional at least one telemetry module coupled to the fourth VM; and

generate the service route to visit the fourth VM between visiting the first and second VMs; and

determine locations for the first, second, and fourth VMs;

wherein the location of the first VM is closer to the location of the second VM than the location of the fourth VM.

9. The operations of claim 8, wherein the first VM is located in a building and the third VM is located in the building.

10. The operations of claim 8, wherein the first VM is located in a building and the third VM is located in another building within 1 mile of the building.

11. The operations of claim 1, wherein the first time is for a time occurring before execution of the service route commences and the second time is for a time projected to occur during the execution of the service route.

12. The operations of claim 1 comprising:

in a first step visually prompt a user to access a digital vending record for the first VM;

in a second step visually prompt the user to withdraw financial proceeds from the first VM;

in a third step visually prompt the user to adjust a plan-o-gram (PoG) for the first VM; and

in a fourth step visually prompt the user to restock the first VM;

wherein the first, second, third, and fourth steps are to be performed in a first sequence that is to be repeated when the second VM is visited.

13. The operations of claim 1 comprising:

calculate the inventories for the first and second times for the first VM before execution of the service route commences;

adjust the inventory for the second time for the first VM after the service route commences but before the first VM is restocked;

calculate a quantity of a product required to restock the first VM in response to adjusting the inventory; and

visually display the quantity of product required to restock the first VM before the first VM is restocked.

14. The operations of claim 1 comprising:

calculate maximum production potential for the first VM in response to the communications; and

adjust the first StS for the first VM to calculate the adjusted first StS for the first VM in response to calculating the maximum production potential.

15. A distributed computing system comprising:

a first computing node including at least one first processor and at least one non-transitory machine readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed on the at least one first processor, cause the first node to execute first operations comprising;

calculating inventories for first and second times for each of first, second, and third vending machines (VM) in response to communications between the first node and at least one telemetry module coupled to at least one of the first, second, and third VMs;

generating a service route to visit the first and second VMs on a specific date, and to specifically avoid visiting the third VM on the specific date, in response to calculating the inventories for the second times for the first, second, and third VMs;

calculating a first space-to-sales (StS) for the first VM via a first StS module that is coupled to the first node;

calculating first rate of consumption (RoC) for the first VM; and

adjusting the first StS for the first VM to calculate an adjusted first StS for the first VM, via the first StS module, in response to;

(a) calculating the first RoC, and (b) calculating the inventory for the first time for the first VM;

a second computing node including at least one second processor and at least one non-transitory machine readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed on the at least one second processor and additional communications between the first and second nodes conducted via an antennae coupled to the second computing node, cause the second node to execute second operations comprising;

visually displaying the adjusted StS and at least a portion of the service route; and

visually prompting a user regarding whether the user accepts the adjusted StS.

16. The system of claim 15, the second operations comprising:

determining the user accepts the adjusted StS;

visually prompting the user to adjust a plan-o-gram (PoG) for the first VM in response to determining the user accepts the adjusted StS.

17. The system of claim 15:

the first operations further comprising;

calculating the inventories for the first and second times for the first VM before execution of the service route commences;

adjusting the inventory for the second time for the first VM after the service route commences but before the first VM is restocked; and

calculating a quantity of a product required to restock the first VM in response to adjusting the inventory;

the second operations comprising visually displaying the quantity of product required to restock the first VM before the first VM is restocked.

18. At least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon data which, when processed by at least one processor of a system, causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

calculate inventories for first and second times for each of first, second, and third vending machines (VM) before execution of a service route commences and in response to communications between the system and at least one telemetry module coupled to at least one of the first, second, and third VMs and the system;

generate the service route to visit the first and second VMs on a specific date, and to specifically avoid visiting the third VM on the specific date, in response to calculating the inventories for the second times for the first, second, and third VMs;

adjust the inventory for the second time for the first VM after the service route commences but before the first VM is restocked in response to additional communications between the system and the at least one telemetry module;

calculate a quantity of a product required to restock the first VM in response to adjusting the inventory; and

visually display the quantity of product required to restock the first VM before the first VM is restocked.

19. The operations of claim 18 comprising:

calculate cash balances for the first, second, and third VMs in response to the communications; and

generate the service route in response to calculating the cash balances for the first, second, and third VMs.

20. The operations of claim 18 comprising:

calculate first space-to-sales (StS) for the first VM;

calculate first rate of consumption (RoC) for the first VM;

adjust the first StS for the first VM to calculate an adjusted first StS for the first VM in response to;

(a) calculating the first RoC, and (b) calculating the inventory for the first time for the first VM;

visually display the adjusted first StS; and

visually prompt a user regarding whether the user accepts the adjusted first StS.

21. The operations of claim 20 comprising:

determine whether the user accepts the adjusted first StS;

visually prompt the user to adjust a plan-o-gram (PoG) for the first VM in response to determining the user accepts the adjusted first StS; and

specifically avoid prompting the user to adjust the PoG for the first VM in response to determining the user does not accept the adjusted first StS.

22. The operations of claim 18 comprising:

visually display the service route; and

visually prompt a user regarding whether the user accepts the service route;

calculate a single quantity of a product required to restock both the first and second VMs in response to calculating the inventories for the second times for the first and second VMs and further in response to determining the user accepts the service route; and

visually display the single quantity of product required to restock the first and second VMs.

23. The operations of claim 22 comprising:

calculate quantities of products removed from an inventory of the user and replaced into an inventory of the vendor in response to communications with a mobile computing node; and

calculate the single quantity of product required to restock both the first and second VMs in response to calculating quantities of products removed from the inventory of the user and replaced into the inventory of the vendor.

24. The operations of claim 18 comprising:

calculate that the first VM will exhaust total inventory for a product at a first exhaustion time that follows the first time for the first VM;

calculate that the second VM will exhaust total inventory for a product at a second exhaustion time that follows the first time for the second VM; and

calculate that the first exhaustion time precedes the second exhaustion time;

wherein generating the service route includes determining to visit the first VM before the second VM in response to calculating the first exhaustion time precedes the second exhaustion time.

25. The operations of claim 24 comprising:

calculate inventories for first and second times for a fourth VM in response to communications between the system and at least one of the at least one telemetry module and an additional at least one telemetry module coupled to the fourth VM; and

generate the service route to visit the fourth VM between visiting the first and second VMs; and

calculate locations for the first, second, and fourth VMs;

wherein the location of the first VM is closer to the location of the second VM than the location of the fourth VM.

26. The operations of claim 25, wherein the first VM is located in a building and the third VM is located in the building.

27. The operations of claim 25, wherein the first VM is located in a building and the third VM is located in another building within 1 mile of the building.

28. The operations of claim 18, wherein the first time is for a time occurring before execution of the service route commences and the second time is for a time projected to occur during the execution of the service route.

29. The operations of claim 18 comprising:

in a first step visually prompt a user to access a digital vending record for the first VM;

in a second step visually prompt the user to withdraw financial proceeds from the first VM;

in a third step visually prompt the user to adjust a plan-o-gram (PoG) for the first VM; and

in a fourth step visually prompt the user to restock the first VM;

wherein the first, second, third, and fourth steps are to be performed in a first sequence that is to be repeated when the second VM is visited.

30. The operations of claim 18 comprising:

calculate first space-to-sales (StS) for the first VM;

calculate first rate of consumption (RoC) for the first VM;

calculate maximum production potential for the first VM; and

adjust the first StS for the first VM to calculate an adjusted first StS for the first VM in response to calculating;

(a) the first RoC, (b) the inventory for the first time for the first VM, and (c) the maximum production potential.