Claims
- 1. A method of selling controlled items requiring age verification through automated vending operation, wherein:
there are a controlled section 1 carrying the controlled items 2 and an open section 3 that carries uncontrolled items in a substantially large scale, and the vending capability of the controlled section 1 remains disabled unless an attendant 11 located in a remote central monitor office 10 enables the vending capability through a communication link 8, the communication link 8 carries the image of the customer 9, and the image of an identification card of the customer 9 for verifying his birthdate when age verification is deemed necessary; and the attendant 11 are responsible for monitoring a plurality of such vending operation sites; whereby the additional sales from the open section 3 and the sharing of the monitoring expenses among the many vending operation sites make the selling of the controlled items 2 through a vending operation economically feasible.
- 2. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the control of the vending capability is embodied into the form of a cage 5 with a lock 6 that remains locked unless the attendant 11 unlocks it.
- 3. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the vending capability is controlled by keeping the vending mechanism disabled unless the attendant enables the vending mechanism.
- 4. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the vending operation is located in apartment complexes.
- 5. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the controlled item is cigarettes, cigars, or the likes.
NOTE
[0001] This invention disclosure is related to a patent application Ser. No. 10/299,502, titled “Means of item-retrieval from a display hook, and methods of using it.”