Claims
- 1. A method for processing vending machine removable, good-holding magazines in connection with a plurality of vending sites, each site having at least one of said vending machines, said method comprising the steps of:assigning to each magazine an identification code; marking said magazine with said code; establishing a plurality of price-and-location menus for said magazines, each of said menus listing the locations in a magazine of a series of goods and the sale price of each of said goods; filling said magazines in accordance with said menus; keeping a record of each of said magazines by identification numbers and related menus; assigning a set of said magazines to a route including a number of said sites; recording on a machine-readable medium, a route distribution database including magazine identification codes, menus and site identification codes; transporting said magazines to their respective sites; at each of said sites and in at least one of said vending machines, compiling an account of selling transactions out of a magazine previously installed in said vending machine; replacing said previously installed magazine with one of said transported magazines; downloading from said vending machine and onto said machine-readable medium, said compiled account; reading from said machine-readable medium and writing into said machine, a menu corresponding to said identification code; returning said previously installed magazine to a processing center; at said processing center, inventorying the contents of said previously installed magazine; and reconciling said contents with said downloaded, compiled account.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of marking said magazine comprises applying said identification code to said magazine in a machine-readable form.
- 3. The method of claim 2, wherein said machine-readable form comprises a bar-coded indicium.
- 4. The method of claim 2, wherein said step of inventorying comprises machine-reading said indicium.
- 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of recording a database comprises recording a vending machine opening pass-word.
- 6. The method of claim 5, which further comprises, at each site, opening said vending machine by reading from said machine-readable medium said pass-word.
- 7. The method of claim 6, which further comprises programming each of said vending machines to periodically require a modified pass-word.
- 8. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of establishing menus comprises listing a combination of at least two locations under a single price;whereby two goods may be dispensed by a vending machine at a discount price.
- 9. The method of claim 1 which further comprises, at said processing center, replacing sold goods in said previously installed magazines and adding said magazine to said record.
- 10. The method of claim 1 which further comprises:maintaining an inventory of said goods available for filling said magazines; and integrating said filling and inventorying with said inventory.
- 11. The method of claim 10 which further comprises:maintaining an inventory of said goods available for filling said magazines; and integrating said filling, inventorying and replacing with said inventory.
- 12. The method of claim 1, wherein said steps of recording on, downloading onto and reading from, said machine-readable medium comprises recording on, downloading onto and reading from a smart-card.
- 13. The method of claim 12, wherein said steps of recording on, downloading onto and reading from said machine-readable medium comprises recording on, downloading onto and reading from a single smart-card for all machines on said route.
- 14. The method of claim 1 which further comprises marking each of said magazines with an indicium of an assigned menu.
- 15. The method of claim 1 which further comprises marking each of said magazines with an indicum of destination vending machine.
- 16. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of compiling comprises accumulating a record of payments received by said vending machine.
- 17. The method of claim 16, wherein said step of accumulating comprises calculating the amount of currency collected by said vending machine into said magazine.
- 18. The method of claim 17, wherein said step of inventorying comprises counting currency accumulated in said magazine.
- 19. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of compiling comprises indexing said selling transactions with time information.
- 20. The method of claim 1 which further comprises generating from said downloaded compiled account, statistical sales data.
- 21. A method for processing vending machine removable, good-holding magazines in connection with a plurality of vending sites, each site having at least one of said vending machines, said method comprising the steps of:assigning to each magazine an identification code; establishing a plurality of price-and-location menus for said magazines, each of said menus listing the location in a magazine of a series of goods and the sale price of each of said goods; filling said magazines in accordance with said menus; keeping a record of each of said filled magazines; assigning a set of said magazines to a route including a number of said sites; recording on a machine-readable medium, a route distribution database including magazine identification codes, and menus; transporting said magazines to their respective sites; at each of said sites and in at least one of said vending machines, compiling an account of good-selling transactions out of a magazine previously installed in said vending machine; replacing said previously installed magazine with one of said transported magazines; downloading from from said vending machine and onto said machine-readable medium, said compiled account; reading from said machine-readable medium and writing into said machine, a menu corresponding to said identification code; returning said previously installed magazine to a processing center; at said processing center, inventorying the contents of said previously installed magazine; and reconciling said contents with said downloaded, compiled account.
- 22. A method for managing vending machines in connection with a plurality of vending sites, each site having at least one vending machine, said method comprising the steps of:assigning to each of said vending machines an identification code; establishing a plurality of price-and-location menus for said machines, each of said menus listing the locations in a machine holding series of goods and the sale price of each of said goods; filling said machines in accordance with said menus; keeping a record of each of said machines by identification numbers and related menus; recording on a machine-readable medium, a route database including machine identification codes, menus and site identification codes; at each of said sites and in at least one of said vending machines, compiling an account of good-selling transactions for a set of goods previously installed in said vending machine; downloading from from said vending machine and onto said machine-readable medium, said compiled account; reading from said machine-readable medium and writing into said machine, a menu corresponding to said identification code.
- 23. The method of claim 22, wherein said step of recording comprises writing said database on a chip-carrying smart-card.
- 24. The method of claim 22, wherein said step of recording a database comprises recording a vending machine opening pass-word.
- 25. The method of claim 23 which further comprises, at each site, opening said vending machine by reading said pass-word from said machine-readable medium.
- 26. The method of claim 25 which further comprises programming each of said vending machines to periodically require a modified pass-word.
- 27. The method of claim 22, wherein said step of establishing menus comprises listing a combination of at least two of said locations under a single price;whereby two goods may be dispensed by a vending machine at a discount price.
- 28. The method of claim 22, wherein said steps of recording on, downloading onto and reading from, said machine-readable medium comprises recording on, downloading onto and reading from a smart-card.
- 29. The method of claim 28, wherein said steps of recording on, downloading onto and reading from said machine-readable medium comprises recording on, downloading onto and reading from a single smart-card for all machines on said route.
- 30. The method of claim 22, wherein said step of compiling comprises accumulating a record of payments received by said vending machine.
- 31. The method of claim 30 wherein said step of accumulating comprises calculating the amount of currency collected by said vending machine.
- 32. The method of claim 22, wherein said step of compiling comprises indexing said good selling transactions with time information.
- 33. The method of claim 22 which further comprises generating from said downloaded compiled account, statistical sales data.
PRIOR APPLICATION
This is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/666,038 filed Sep. 20, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,653, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/414,910 filed Oct. 8, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,330,958, a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. PCT/US98/08064 filed Apr. 15, 1998, a continuation-in-part application of Ser. No. 08/844,767 filed Apr. 22, 1997 and now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
4306219 |
Main et al. |
Dec 1981 |
A |
4412292 |
Sedam et al. |
Oct 1983 |
A |
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
WO 0031701 |
Jun 2000 |
WO |
Continuation in Parts (4)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/666038 |
Sep 2000 |
US |
Child |
10/119227 |
|
US |
Parent |
09/414910 |
Oct 1999 |
US |
Child |
09/666038 |
|
US |
Parent |
PCT/US98/08064 |
Apr 1998 |
US |
Child |
09/414910 |
|
US |
Parent |
08/844767 |
Apr 1997 |
US |
Child |
PCT/US98/08064 |
|
US |