Products and processes for vending a plurality of products via defined groups

• US 7,912,581 B2
• Filed: 10/23/2007
• Issued: 03/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Inventor Holdings LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Original Assignee: Walker Digital LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Inventors: Walker, Jay S., Breitenbach, Paul T., Tedesco, Daniel E., Lee, Sih Y., Signorelli, Paul D., Gelman, Geoffrey M., Jorasch, James A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Waggoner, Timothy R
• Application Number:
  US11/877,109
• Publication Number:
  US 20080109110A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,246 Days
• Field of Search: 700/236, 700/240
• US Class Current: 700/240
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty

Abstract

Products and processes are disclosed for defining at least one inventory group. This at least one inventory group includes at least two products that are available for sale by a vending machine. The vending machine outputs an indication of products that the at least one inventory group includes. The vending machine receiving, from a customer, a selection of a first product that the at least one inventory group includes. The vending machine processes a sale of a unit of the first product and a respective unit of at least one additional product for a single price.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

presenting, to a customer and via a vending machine, an offer to purchase at least two products for a single package price, wherein a first product must be selected from a first inventory group and wherein a second product must be selected from a second inventory group;

outputting indications of which products sold by the vending machine are included in the first and second inventory groups, wherein the outputting comprises selectively illuminating one or more lighting devices proximate to each product position within the vending machine;

receiving an indication that the customer desires to purchase the first product from the first inventory group and a third product also from the first inventory group;

presenting, to the customer and via the vending machine, an offer to purchase the first and third products for a single price that is greater than the single package price;

receiving an indication of a payment of the single greater price by the customer; and

dispensing, in response to the receiving of the indication of payment of the single greater price, the first and third products to the customer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer to purchase the at least two products for the single package price is presented in response to a selection, by the customer, of a package mode at the vending machine.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more lighting devices comprise a first color LED to indicate products in the first inventory group and a second color LED to indicate products in the second inventory group.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the offer to purchase the at least two products for the single package price comprises an indication that the customer may select a product associated with an indication by the first color LED lighting devices and another product associated with an indication by the second color LED lighting devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the single package price comprises one dollar.

6. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device in communication with the processor and storing instructions adapted to be executed by the processor to;

perform the method of claim 1.

7. A medium storing instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to:

perform the method of claim 1.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the single price that is greater than the single package price comprises one dollar and twenty-five cents.

9. A vending machine, comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device in communication with the processor and storing instructions adapted to be executed by the processor to;

monitor sales data generated by transactions occurring at the vending machine;

evaluate the sales data based on one or more stored rules;

determine, based on an evaluation of the sales data that is based on the one or more stored rules, a value rating for each product stored in inventory at the vending machine;

allocate a plurality of products stored in inventory into two or more inventory groups based on the value ratings;

selectively illuminate indicators proximate to each column of product storing the plurality of products in the vending machine, such that each such column is visually identified as containing products belonging to one of the two or more inventory groups;

output an offer for a customer to purchase a unit of product from each of the two or more inventory groups for a single package price;

receive an indication of an acceptance of the offer by the customer; and

process a sale of the unit of product from each of the two or more inventory groups.

10. The vending machine of claim 9, wherein the stored instructions are further adapted to be executed by the processor to:

update, after a processing of the sale of the unit of product from each of the two or more inventory groups, the sales data.

11. The vending machine of claim 9, wherein the stored instructions are further adapted to be executed by the processor to:

record sales data defined by a processing of the sale of the unit of product from each of the two or more inventory groups, in a database.

12. The vending machine of claim 9, wherein the stored instructions are further adapted to be executed by the processor to process the sale of the unit of product from each of the two or more inventory groups, by:

validating payment, from the customer, of the single package price; and

dispensing, after the validating, the unit of product from each of the two or more inventory groups.

13. The vending machine of claim 12, wherein the stored instructions are further adapted to be executed by the processor to validate payment, from the customer, of the single package price, by:

accessing a pre-paid unit account assigned to the customer; and

deducting an amount of pre-paid units equivalent to the single package price, from the pre-paid unit account assigned to the customer.

14. The vending machine of claim 12, wherein the stored instructions are further adapted to be executed by the processor to dispense, after the validating, the unit of product from a first one of the two or more inventory groups, by:

causing a digital audio file to be downloaded from the vending machine to a handheld electronic device operated by the customer.

15. The vending machine of claim 9, wherein the vending machine comprises two vending machines coupled together, each vending machine storing a subset of the plurality of products, and wherein a portion of each of the subset of products is allocated to each of the two or more inventory groups.

16. The vending machine of claim 9, wherein the stored instructions are further adapted to be executed by the processor to:

output an error message in the case that the customer selects a first unit of product from the first inventory group and a second unit of product also from the first inventory group.

17. The vending machine of claim 9, wherein the stored instructions are further adapted to be executed by the processor to:

output an offer, in the case that the customer selects a first unit of product from the first inventory group and a second unit of product also from the first inventory group, for the customer to pay a price higher than the single package price for the two units of product selected from the same inventory group.

18. The vending machine of claim 9, wherein prices for individual products are not displayed automatically.