Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 8
Claim 1
Independent Claim
162 words
A data collection system for use with one or more vending machines of the type which dispense either products or services for money received and which have an access door and a money box, the data collection system comprising separate data acquisition means resident in a plurality of vending machines for sensing and counting money received and the products or services dispensed for each vending machine and for summarizing said data, the data acquisition means including memory means for storing the summarized data; and data transfer means for selectively interrogating a plurality of said data acquisition means to receive the summarized data from each of said data acquisition means, said data transfer means having means for supplying an identification code number signal, by which said data transfer means identifies itself, to each data acquisition means interrogated by said data transfer means, and wherein the data acquisition means stores the identification code number as part of the summarized data in the memory means.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
162 words
A data collection system for use with one or more vending machines of the type which dispense either products or services for money received and which have an access door and a money box, the data collection system comprising separate data acquisition means resident in a plurality of vending machines for sensing and counting money received and the products or services dispensed for each vending machine and for summarizing said data, the data acquisition means including memory means for storing the summarized data; and data transfer means for selectively interrogating a plurality of said data acquisition means to receive the summarized data from each of said data acquisition means, said data transfer means having means for supplying an identification code number signal, by which said data transfer means identifies itself, to each data acquisition means interrogated by said data transfer means, and wherein the data acquisition means stores the identification code number as part of the summarized data in the memory means.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
64 words
The vending machine data collection system as recited in claim 1 wherein the data acquisition means include access door sensor means for sensing whether the vending machine access door is closed; and alarm means coupled to the door sensor means for generating an alarm if the access door is opened prior to the receipt of the identification code number from the data transfer means.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
48 words
The vending machine data collection system as recited in claim 2 wherein the alarm means include means for generating an alarmed-opening indication whenever the alarm is generated, and further wherein the data acquisition means stores the alarmed-opening indication as part of the summarized data in the memory means.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
66 words
The vending machine data collection system as recited in claim 3 wherein the data acquisition means further include clocking means for maintaining a continuously updated, relative time signal, and further wherein the data acquisition means stores the relative time signal from the clocking means, as part of the summarized data in the memory means, whenever the data acquisition means is interrogated by the data transfer means.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
88 words
The vending machine data collection system as recited in claim 3 further including data converting means for receiving the summarized data from the data transfer means and for analyzing the summarized data from each data acquisition means interrogated by the data transfer means to output an access report for each interrogated data acquisition means, the report listing the identification code number of each data transfer unit which attempted an interrogation of the particular data acquisition means, the time signal at interrogation and the alarmed-opening status of the interrogation.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
25 words
The vending machine data collection system as recited in claim 1 wherein the means for supplying an identification code number signal is a diode array.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
57 words
The vending machine data collection system as recited in claim 4 wherein the data acquisition means further include means for counting the money received less the money returned as change and means for counting the products dispensed, and further wherein the data acquisition means record the money count and the product count whenever the door is accessed.