Patent Application
20240371227
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the US Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
If an Application Data Sheet(s) (ADS) has been filed in this application, it is incorporated by reference herein. Any applications claimed in an ADS for priority under 35 USC 119, 120, 121 or 365, and any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, etc. applications of such applications, are also incorporated by reference, including any priority claims made in those applications and any material incorporated by reference, to the extent such subject matter is not inconsistent herewith.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
The present invention relates, generally, to vending systems, apparatus and methods. Particularly, the invention relates to a vending machine. Most particularly, the invention relates to a smart vending machine that permits and facilitates, among other benefits, vending plural or multiple items in a single customer transaction, and improved and more secure transaction authorization by way of facial recognition or account numbers. The systems, apparatus and methods are particularly useful in controlled facilities such as prisons, jails, and other correctional institutions.
Existing technology in this field is believed to have significant limitations and shortcomings. For this and other reasons, a need exists for the present invention.
All US patents and patent applications, and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The invention provides a vending machine apparatus, method, method of manufacture and method of use which are practical, reliable, accurate and efficient, and which are believed to fulfill a need and to constitute an improvement over the background technology.
In one embodiment of the invention, the invention provides a smart vending machine that permits and facilitates, among other benefits:
In one aspect, the invention provides a vending apparatus comprising a cabinet having an ingress door for loading merchandise into an interior compartment of the cabinet and a merchandise egress and retrieval assembly; an automated merchandise delivery assembly disposed in the interior compartment of the cabinet for storing merchandise and for delivering merchandise to the merchandise egress and retrieval assembly; a electronic user interface communicatively connected to the cabinet and providing merchandise information and selection capability for the user, and providing user information for the apparatus; and a vending controller electronically communicatively connected to the user interface and to the automated merchandise delivery assembly, whereby the apparatus dispenses at least one item of merchandise without presentation of currency nor an external card device by the user.
In another aspect, the invention provides a smart vending machine for use in jails, prisons and the like, comprising:
The systems, apparatus and methods are particularly useful in controlled facilities such as prisons, jails, and other correctional institutions.
The aspects, features, advantages, benefits and objects of the invention will become clear to those skilled in the art by reference to the following description, claims and drawings.
The description that follows describes, illustrates and exemplifies one or more embodiments of a smart vending machine that permits and facilitates, among other benefits, vending plural or multiple items in a single customer transaction, and improved and more secure transaction authorization by way of facial recognition, account numbers, and/or PIN numbers. The systems, apparatus and methods are particularly useful in controlled facilities such as prisons, jails, and other correctional institutions. This description is not provided to limit the disclosure to the embodiments described herein, but rather to explain and teach various principles to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to understand these principles and, with that understanding, be able to apply them to practice not only the embodiments described herein, but also other embodiments that may come to mind in accordance with these principles. The scope of the instant disclosure is intended to cover all such embodiments that may fall within the scope of the appended claims, either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.
It should be noted that in the description and drawings, like or substantially similar elements may be labeled with the same reference numerals. However, sometimes these elements may be labeled with differing numbers in cases where such labeling facilitates a more clear description. Additionally, the drawings set forth herein are not necessarily drawn to scale, and in some instances proportions may have been exaggerated to more clearly depict certain features.
Vending machines are well known in the world. The first machines appeared in Europe in the late 1800's. Vending machines are automated mechanical or electromechanical machines that dispense snacks, beverages and other items to a customer who inserts cash (coin or bills) or a credit card for payment before receiving goods or services. Vending machines are typically not monitored. Recently, vending machines have also appears with or as part of micro-markets in institutions such as offices, municipal facilities, educational facilities, and correctional institutions such as prisons and jails. Vending machines have evolved in the last century, but at a relatively slow pace.
Vending machines have typically dispensed one (1) single item per payment transaction by a customer. This limitation has been endured despite the fact that vending machines may offer numerous items, in some cases in excess of thirty (30) unique products and that customers who use the vending require speed, efficiency, and convenience. Single item selection, payment and dispensing causes delays in use, duplication of transactions and other problems and inconveniences. Insofar as is known, no vending machine has been used which permits a customer to select, purchase, and receive plural products with one payment transaction. Nor are vending machines known which permit receipt of vended goods or services based on facial recognition or account numbers.
In one embodiment of the invention, the vending machine 10 utilizes a known base automated merchandising device or system available in the market. An example device or system is provided by AMS Vending Machines, Inc. of Kearneysville, WV (USA).
The device 10 includes a cabinet 12 with fixed bottom, top, back and side walls which define an interior merchandise compartment 14. An automated merchandise delivery system 16 is disposed in the interior compartment 14. A front door 18 is attached to the cabinet 12. The front door 18 permits ingress and egress of product to the automated merchandise delivery system 16, and it has a clear viewing panel 20 that permits viewing of merchandise by users/customers. The front door 18 also has a lower merchandise retrieval device (and panel) 22 whereby the customer retrieves product that is selected and delivered by the system 16. Alternatively, the door may be disposed on a surface other than the front of the cabinet 12 and may omit the clear viewing panel whereby an electronic viewing screen provides a view of merchandise (goods or services) or list of merchandise to the user.
Significantly, the device 10 has a User Interface 30 disposed on the front door 18. The User Interface permits control of vending by the user. Such control includes selection of merchandise types (including plural types), control of merchandise numbers, facial recognition, and payment. The user interface 30 is a touch screen type of device, although it may alternatively be button type. In a further embodiment, the User Interface is a hand-held device, preferably a HUB™ Device provided by T.W. Vending of River Falls, WI (USA). It is the same or similar hand-held HUB Device that heretofore allows the users such as inmates to make calls, order commissary items, and the like. This is a benefit because, among other things, it is familiar to the users. It also allows them to perform those functions from the front of the vending machine. So, for instance, when an inmate wants to use a portable hand-held Hub Device to call a family member or friend but all of the portable hand-held Hub Devices in the jail or other institution has available are in use, the inmate can walk up to the vending machine and immediately make a phone call from the User Interface Device mounted to the vending machine and being used as the vending machine controller, because it is a familiar format.
In the embodiment shown, the Vending machine device 10 is a CLASSIC SNACK™ from AMS. It has a width of 35 to 39 inches, a height of 72 inches, and a depth of 35 inches. It has five (5) wide columns of product and has a helix delivery arrangement. It has a capacity of approximately 600 units of merchandise such as snacks, candy and the like. The general mechanical and electrical systems, components, and parts of device 10 are described in detail in Classic Models 35″ & 39″ Snack-Glass Front Merchandiser Illustrated Parts Manual L0206 Rev C, ECN 4478, published by AMS on Nov. 28, 2018. Still more features of the device 10 are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,145,699; 6,384,402; 6,520,373; 6,708,079; 6,794,634; 7,191,915; 7,343,220; 7,742,834; 7,446,302 and 8,003,931. All of these documents are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.
The My Connection Hub or “The HUB” is a hand-held kiosk that allows users, particularly inmates in correctional facilities, to text, make phone calls, video visit, and access other services. The device is customizable for a particular facility. The device is battery powered, and the batteries are rechargeable. In one embodiment, the HUB utilizes an Android Operating System. The OS permits blacklist and whitelist customization of access to websites and information. The device has a camera that permits facial recognition for payment and other security measures. The device is approximately 4 inches wide by 6.5 inches high.
The device 10 permits real time inventory management via TEAM™ Software (preferably TEAM 3™) provided by T.W. Vending, Inc. of River Falls, WI (USA). In one embodiment, the vending machine will not issue multiple items in one single transaction if it is not in communication with Team software and does not have smart technology available to it. Processing payment by way of TEAM permits inmate users to simply enter their account ID, number, or PIN to have funds drawn from their Inmate account. The tie between the vending machine and the user account on TEAM determines how much funds the inmate user can spend at the vending machine, as well as various restrictions that the user may have based for example on inmate health, dietary, age, or behavior data.
All of the embodiments of the device 10 utilize plural vend with one transaction functionality. In certain embodiments, the device 10 includes the following features:
In embodiments of the device 10 that include a video screen, the clear front plate that permits viewing of merchandise by the customer may be omitted and replaced by a plate, panel or wall (or a cage added) that is less clear or opaque, but stronger, thereby rendering the device more resistant to vandalism. Vended items are still viewable on the HUB or other ordering device. Further, the camera for facial recognition authorization provides extra security in high risk environments.
In one embodiment, the Vending Controller 50 manages communications between a Server and vendor-supplied Tower™ software (of Canberra, Australia) on a Linux Computer which manages the dispensing of vending machine items. The Vending Controller uses two methods to communicate: (1) HTTP calls and (2) Websockets.
Logic within the Vending Controller attempts to ensure the Vending machine is online and communicating with the TKC Servers before attempting to dispense an item. The key goals of this system are:
Installing the Vending-controller software involves:
This outlines the complete process from start to finish when a user requests an item from the vending machine. The goal is to provide an understanding of the whole process to assist in troubleshooting future issues. This is documentation of the process to provide better context to the code for future developers.
Although the apparatus/method has been described in connection with the field of vending, it can readily be appreciated that it is not limited solely to such field, and can be used in other fields.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figures illustrate the general manner of construction, and descriptions and details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present disclosure. Additionally, elements in the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. The same reference numerals in different figures denote the same elements.
The terms “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms “include,” and “have,” and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus.
The terms “left,” “right,” “front,” “back,” “top,” “bottom,” “over,” “under,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the apparatus, methods, and/or articles of manufacture described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.
Although the invention or elements thereof may by described in terms of vertical, horizontal, transverse (lateral), longitudinal, and the like, it should be understood that variations from the absolute vertical, horizontal, transverse, and longitudinal are also deemed to be within the scope of the invention.
The terms “couple,” “coupled,” “couples,” “coupling,” and the like should be broadly understood and refer to connecting two or more elements mechanically and/or otherwise. Two or more electrical elements may be electrically coupled together, but not be mechanically or otherwise coupled together. Coupling may be for any length of time, e.g., permanent or semi-permanent or only for an instant. “Electrical coupling” and the like should be broadly understood and include electrical coupling of all types. The absence of the word “removably,” “removable,” and the like near the word “coupled,” and the like does not mean that the coupling, etc. in question is or is not removable.
As defined herein, “approximately” can, in some embodiments, mean within plus or minus ten percent of the stated value. In other embodiments, “approximately” can mean within plus or minus five percent of the stated value. In further embodiments, “approximately” can mean within plus or minus three percent of the stated value. In yet other embodiments, “approximately” can mean within plus or minus one percent of the stated value.
The embodiments above are chosen, described and illustrated so that persons skilled in the art will be able to understand the invention and the manner and process of making and using it. The descriptions and the accompanying drawings should be interpreted in the illustrative and not the exhaustive or limited sense. The invention is not intended to be limited to the exact forms disclosed. While the application attempts to disclose all of the embodiments of the invention that are reasonably foreseeable, there may be unforeseeable insubstantial modifications that remain as equivalents. It should be understood by persons skilled in the art that there may be other embodiments than those disclosed which fall within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims. Where a claim, if any, is expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function it is intended that such claim be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof, including both structural equivalents and equivalent structures, material-based equivalents and equivalent materials, and act-based equivalents and equivalent acts.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63464355 | May 2023 | US |
