Vending machine and computer assembly
DCFirst Claim
Patent Images
1. A vending machine for sale of items selected by a customer, said vending machine including a door for retrofitting an existing vending machine, said door comprising:
- a storage unit for storing a plurality of items for sale and a dispensing mechanism for dispensing the items from said storage unit;
a selector device for selecting one or more of said items for sale by a customer;
a payment-control device for receiving and detecting an amount of payment required for sale of an item and for actuating said dispensing mechanism when a payment is received to dispense a selected item; and
a computer assembly connected to said storage and dispensing unit, selector device and payment control device and having a computer, video display screen and a communication network, whereby said computer is connected to and actuated by said selector device for automatically connecting said computer to a pre-selected internet site and automatically displaying information obtained from said internet site on said video screen for viewing by the customer, said computer assembly further including customer actuating means for enabling a customer to interface with said computer.
0 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A vending machine for purchasing selected items by a customer. The vending machine includes a dispensing assembly for dispensing an item and a selector assembly connected to the dispensing assembly. A computer assembly having a central computer, video display screen and a modem is connected to and actuated by the selector for connecting the computer to an internet site and displaying a received transmission on the video screen in response to a purchased item.
55 Citations
34 Claims
-
1. A vending machine for sale of items selected by a customer, said vending machine including a door for retrofitting an existing vending machine, said door comprising:
-
a storage unit for storing a plurality of items for sale and a dispensing mechanism for dispensing the items from said storage unit; a selector device for selecting one or more of said items for sale by a customer; a payment-control device for receiving and detecting an amount of payment required for sale of an item and for actuating said dispensing mechanism when a payment is received to dispense a selected item; and a computer assembly connected to said storage and dispensing unit, selector device and payment control device and having a computer, video display screen and a communication network, whereby said computer is connected to and actuated by said selector device for automatically connecting said computer to a pre-selected internet site and automatically displaying information obtained from said internet site on said video screen for viewing by the customer, said computer assembly further including customer actuating means for enabling a customer to interface with said computer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A door for retrofitting an existing vending machine for sale of items selected by a customer, said door comprising:
-
a storage unit for storing a plurality of different items for sale and a dispensing mechanism for dispensing the items from storage unit; a selector device for selecting one or more of said items for sale by the customer; a payment-control device for receiving and detecting an amount of payment required for sale of an item and for actuating said dispensing mechanism when a payment is received to dispense a selected item; and a computer assembly connected to said storage and dispensing unit, selector device and payment control device, and having a computer, video display screen and a modem, whereby said computer is connected to and actuated by said selector device for automatically connecting said computer to a pre-selected internet site and automatically displaying information obtained from said internet address on said video screen for viewing by the customer.
-
-
13. A method of increasing patronage to a dispensing machine comprising:
-
providing a dispensing machine capable of dispensing a selected physical item from among a plurality of physical items stored in the dispensing machine;
the machine permitting a patron to select at least one physical item to be dispensed to the patron;providing the dispensing machine with a connection to a communication network, a video screen, at least one of a camera and a microphone;
at least one of a credit information acceptor, a bill acceptor and a coin acceptor;
a computer, and a patron input device to input data to the computer;capturing at least one of video and audio of the patron with at least one of the camera and microphone; sensing the insertion at least one of a coin, a bill, or credit information to the dispensing machine in an amount in addition to any amount necessary to dispense the selected item in order to transmit the captured at least one of video and audio of the patron to a site remote from the dispensing machine, transmitting, in accordance with a customer input to the computer, at least one of the captured video and audio of the patron via the communication network to the site remote from the dispensing machine. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A method of providing a customer with access to at least one of a website, a home page and a computer database via dispensing machine connectable to a communication network, said method comprising:
-
providing a dispensing machine with a connection to a communication network, and at least one of a video screen or an audio communication capability; providing the dispensing machine with a storage element for storing a plurality of physical items; dispensing a selected physical item in response to a customer'"'"'s selection of said physical item from among said plurality of physical items; informing the customer through at least one of said video screen and said audio communication capability that the customer may access the communication network by activating a customer input device; and allowing the customer to access said communication network in order to retrieve and/or send information, via the Internet/word wide web, to said website, said home page or said database. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
-
Specification