Automated drive-up vending facility

Claim 1

An automated drive-up vending system comprising: a storage facility for housing a plurality of saleable goods, wherein the sale of at least some of said plurality of saleable goods may be subject to particular restrictions; at least one customer input means positioned outside of said storage facility, said at least one customer input means being accessible to an occupant of a vehicle when the vehicle is positioned adjacent to said at least one input means; an automated goods retrieval means located within said storage facility which is responsive to said at least one customer input means for retrieving any goods which are selected by a customer; a goods dispensing means for delivering to the customer the goods retrieved by said retrieval means; and a purchase authorization means comprising: means for detecting customer selection of a good subject to a sales restriction; means responsive to said detection means for automatically providing direct communication between the customer and an authorization attendant; means for communicating customer identification information to the authorization attendant; and means remotely operated by the authorization attendant for enabling completion of the restricted goods sales transaction upon attendant verification of acceptable customer identification information.

Claim 20

A method for automated vending of consumer products, said consumer products being inventoried in a vending facility having a video means for displaying the inventoried products to a customer, input means for receiving customer information and product selections, and means for retrieving and dispensing to the customer the selected products from their inventoried location within the facility, said method comprising the steps of: using said video means to prompt a customer to input customer identification information with said input means; determining a customer profile based on said input identification information; determining whether said customer profile satisfies a first set of predetermined product promotional criteria; activating a first predetermined product promotional arrangement if said customer profile satisfies said first predetermined promotional criteria; providing at least one customer requested product selection menu on said video display means; receiving the customer's product selections from said input; retrieving the selected products from the vending facility; and dispensing said retrieved products to the customer.

Claim 21

A method for automated vending of consumer products, said consumer products being inventoried in a vending facility having a video means for displaying the inventoried products to a customer, input means for receiving customer information and product selections, and means for retrieving and dispensing to the customer the selected products from their inventoried location within the facility, said method comprising the steps of: using said video means to prompt a customer to input customer identification information with said input means; determining a customer profile based on said input identification information; determining whether said customer profile satisfies a first set of predetermined product promotional criteria; activating a first predetermined product promotional arrangement if said customer profile satisfies said first predetermined promotional criteria; providing at least one customer requested product selection menu on said video display means; receiving the customer's product selections from said input; retrieving the selected products from the vending facility; and dispensing said retrieved products to the customer.