Cashless vending system with tethered payment interface

• US 7,464,867 B1
• Filed: 02/07/2006
• Issued: 12/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cantaloupe, Inc.
• Original Assignee: USA Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Kolls, H. Brock
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Michael G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Haupt; Kristy A
• Application Number:
  US11/348,744
• Time in Patent Office: 1,043 Days
• Field of Search: 235/381, 235/449, 235/451, 700/231, 700/232, 700/236, 700/237
• US Class Current: 235/381
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/08 Sorting, i.e. grouping record carriers in numerical or other ordered sequence according to the classification of at least some of the information they carry by merging two or more sets of carriers in ordered sequence G06F7/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty

Abstract

The present invention relates to a cashless vending system that utilizes a tethered payment interface. The tethered payment interface is mountable on the external surface of a vending machine while the payment module portion of the system resides inside the vending machine. An advantage of this system is that when a bill validator slot opening in the vending machine is available the tethered payment interface can be secured to an adapter plate and mounted in the available slot. However, when a slot opening in the vending machine is not available, then the tethered payment interface can be located and secured on the external surface of the vending machine. In addition, the tethered payment interface is configured to be user accessible, provide an informational display, accept magnetic cards (i.e. credit cards, employee badges, hotel room keys, others), and accept RFID device data (i.e. FOBS, touch, RFID credit cards, others).

Claims

1. An audit-credit-interactive system for facilitating cashless vending, said system comprising:

a tethered payment interface, said tethered payment interface is accessible by a user and mounts on an external surface of a vending machine, said tethered payment interface further comprising;

a magnetic card payment interface;

an RFID payment interface;

a display;

a first interactive interface; and

an enclosure, said magnetic card payment interface, said RFID payment interface, said display, and said first interactive interface are packaged in said enclosure;

and;

a payment module, said payment module is not accessible to a user and is secured inside of said vending machine, said payment module further comprising;

a microcontroller;

a vending equipment interface interconnected with said microcontroller, said payment module, by way of said vending equipment interface, interconnects to and data communicates with a vending machine controller, said vending machine controller is interconnected with and controls said vending machine; and

a second interactive interface interconnected with said microcontroller, said second interactive interface interconnects said payment module to said tethered payment interface by way of said first interactive interface,

data communicated between said first interactive interface and said second interactive interface includes said magnetic card payment interface data, said RFID payment interface data, and said display data, based in part on data communicated between said tethered payment interface and said payment module and data communicated between said payment module and said vending machine controller, said audit-credit-interactive system monitors said vending machine activity, and selectively controls said vending machine vending cycles effectuating cashless vending.

2. The audit-credit-interactive system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said enclosure mounts on an adapter plate, said adapter plate mounts in a vending industry standard size bill validator slot opening.

3. The audit-credit-interactive system in accordance with claim 1, wherein additional data bytes are added to data received from said magnetic card payment interface, and or data received from said RFID payment interface to distinguish between magnetic card data and RFID data.

4. The audit-credit-interactive system in accordance with claim 3, wherein said additional data bytes added to data received from said magnetic card payment interface includes the characters CARD.

5. The audit-credit-interactive system in accordance with claim 3, wherein said additional data bytes added to data received from said RFID payment interface does not include the characters CARD.

6. The audit-credit-interactive system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said tethered payment interface and said payment module are powered from a power source that is mutually exclusive from said vending machine power source.

7. The audit-credit-interactive system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said vending equipment interface is a multi-drop-bus (MDB) interface.

8. The audit-credit-interactive system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said tethered payment interface formats data obtained from said RFID payment interface to look like magnetic card data causing said payment module to process said RFID payment interface data as if it were magnetic card data.

9. The audit-credit-interactive system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said tethered payment interface adds data bytes to data obtained from said magnetic card payment interface enabling said payment module and a remote transaction processing system to distinguish between magnetic card data and other types of payment data.

10. The audit-credit-interactive system in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a plurality of light emitting diodes (LED).

11. The audit-credit-interactive system in accordance with claim 10, wherein said plurality of light emitting diodes are illuminated in a predetermined sequence when said RFID payment interface receives data from an RFID device.

12. The audit-credit-interactive system in accordance with claim 10, wherein said plurality of light emitting diodes are illuminated in a predetermined sequence to indicate certain said audit-credit-interactive system states.

13. The audit-credit-interactive system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said tethered payment interface further comprising a plurality of buttons.

14. The audit-credit-interactive system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said vending equipment interface is at least one of the following:

i) a multi-drop-bus (MDB);

ii) a DEX interface;

or

iii) a serial communication interface.

15. The audit-credit-interactive system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said payment module is at least one of the following:

i) an audit-credit-interactive device;

ii) a G4;

iii) a cashless payment device;

iv) a card reader assembly;

v) a vending interface unit;

vi) a combination bill validator and card reader;

vii) embodied with a bill acceptor;

viii) embodied with a coin mechanism;

ix) an audit device;

x) an E-PORT;

xi) a module;

xii) an MDB controller;

or

xiii) a semiconductor.

16. An audit-credit-interactive system for facilitating cashless vending, said system comprising:

a tethered payment interface, said tethered payment interface is accessible by a user and mounts on an external surface of a vending machine, said tethered payment interface further comprising;

a magnetic card payment interface;

an RFID payment interface;

a first interactive interface; and

an enclosure, said magnetic card payment interface, said RFID payment interface, and said first interactive interface are packaged in said enclosure;

and;

a payment module, said payment module is not accessible to a user and is secured inside of said vending machine, said payment module further comprising;

a microcontroller;

a vending equipment interface interconnected with said microcontroller, said payment module, by way of said vending equipment interface, interconnects to and data communicates with a vending machine controller, said vending machine controller is interconnected with and controls said vending machine; and

a second interactive interface interconnected with said microcontroller, said second interactive interface interconnects said payment module to said tethered payment interface by way of said first interactive interface,

data communicated between said first interactive interface and said second interactive interface includes said magnetic card payment interface data, and said RFID payment interface data, based in part on data communicated between said tethered payment interface and said payment module and data communicated between said payment module and said vending machine controller, said audit-credit-interactive system monitors said vending machine activity, and selectively controls said vending machine vending cycles effectuating cashless vending.

17. An audit-credit-interactive system for facilitating cashless vending, said system comprising:

a tethered payment interface, said tethered payment interface is accessible by a user and mounts on an external surface of a vending machine, said tethered payment interface further comprising;

a magnetic card payment interface;

a display;

a first interactive interface; and

an enclosure, said magnetic card payment interface, said display, and said first interactive interface are packaged in said enclosure;

and;

a payment module, said payment module is not accessible to a user and is secured inside of said vending machine, said payment module further comprising;

a microcontroller;

a vending equipment interface interconnected with said microcontroller, said payment module, by way of said vending equipment interface, interconnects to and data communicates with a vending machine controller, said vending machine controller is interconnected with and controls said vending machine; and

a second interactive interface interconnected with said microcontroller, said second interactive interface interconnects said payment module to said tethered payment interface by way of said first interactive interface,

data communicated between said first interactive interface and said second interactive interface includes said magnetic card payment interface data, and said display data, based in part on data communicated between said tethered payment interface and said payment module and data communicated between said payment module and said vending machine controller, said audit-credit-interactive system monitors said vending machine activity, and selectively controls said vending machine vending cycles effectuating cashless vending.