Communication of Managing Vending Operations Based on Wireless Data

• US 20110106585A1
• Filed: 01/06/2011
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sierra Wireless America Incorporated (Sierra Wireless Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Numerex Corporation (Sierra Wireless Incorporated)
• Inventors: Nicolaides, Alexander, Comer, Edward Irby, Peralta, Juan Manuel Garcia, Jansson, Edward R., Murray, Tomás
• Granted Patent: US 8,126,764 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.31
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/025 Indirect paging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A system coupled to one or more vending machines, such as soft drink vending machines, via a wireless data link can acquire operational vending data, for example sales data, hardware status, and product temperature. The system can compile data from multiple vending machines dispersed across a geographic area such as a city or state. The system can include software that refines the vending operations of one or more such vending machines based on analysis of acquired data, taking into consideration other information such as market, business, seasonal, or environmental factors. Refining vending operations can include adjusting product offerings, relocating vending machines, replicating favorable conditions, and addressing unexpected sales variations.

Claims

1. A method for operating a vending machine comprising the steps of:

monitoring sales of each of a plurality of product offerings for the vending machine by receiving sales information from the vending machine transmitted via a wireless network;

analyzing the received sales information with a computer and identifying an underperforming product offering in the plurality of product offerings; and

responsive to the analyzing step, replacing the underperforming product offering with another one of the product offerings.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the sales information comprises receiving data transmitted in a control channel of a cellular communication system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the received sales information comprises forecasting sales for each product offering in the plurality of product offerings based on the received sales information;

and the identifying step comprises identifying an underperforming product offering based on the forecast sales.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the step of analyzing the received sales information comprises performing statistical analysis; and

the replacing step comprises replacing the underperforming product offering with the another product offering if the statistical analysis indicates that the underperforming product offering exhibits a statistically significant level of underperformance.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

another vending machine is linked to the data processing system via the wireless network;

the method further comprises the steps of;

analyzing product offerings in the another vending machine based on received sales information transmitted from the another vending machine via the wireless network; and

identifying a product offering providing desirable sales performance in the another vending machine; and

the replacing step comprises replacing the underperforming product offering with the identified product offering providing desirable sales performance in the another vending machine.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the underperforming product offering comprises determining if any product offering in the plurality of product offerings is in a marketing test.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the underperforming product offering comprises determining if sales performance of at least one product offering in the plurality of product offerings is expected to improve.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

defining a stocking level for one product offering in the plurality of product offerings; and

adjusting the stocking level based on analyzing the received sales information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein adjusting the stocking level comprises increasing the stocking level if the one product offering exhibits higher inventory depletion than at least one other product offering in the plurality of product offerings.