Dispensing machine with data card scanner apparatus and enhanced features (US5641050)


	Parent Case:			This is a continuation of Ser. No. 08/037,736 filed Mar. 26, 1993, now abandoned; which is a continuation of Ser. No. 07/775,266 filed Oct. 11, 1991, now abandoned. CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS Following applications assigned to the same assignee are incorporated herein by reference: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 775,738, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,434,404, Entitled "Linear Scanner Apparatus for Communicating with a Data Card"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,108 issued Aug. 8, 1995, Entitled "System and Method for Dispensing and Revaluing Cash Cards"; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 777,764, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,003, Entitled "Modular Cash Card System Design", all filed Oct. 11, 1991.
	Designated Country:			EP JP US
	Family:			Show 2 known family members
	First Claim: Show all 5 claims			What is claimed is: 1. A payment acceptance apparatus retrofittably adaptable to substitute for a standard bill validator apparatus in a dispensing machine for dispensing products upon user request and payment, said dispensing machine being of a type having a dispensing controller for controlling dispensing of product in response to first electrical signals indicative of an amount of payment accepted by a separate cash acceptance apparatus, a defined control signal characteristic, a dispensing machine interior volume defined by a dispensing machine housing having a surface, said payment acceptance apparatus comprising: a data card scanning apparatus for scanning a magnetic stripe data card and acquiring cash payment information in the form of second electrical signals and information regarding the identification of said data card as a promotional use card; said promotional card containing information encoded on said magnetic stripe of said card including information identifying it as a promotional use card and defining advanced features provided to the holder of said card upon acceptance of said card by said scanner apparatus; means for providing advanced dispensing features including recognition and acceptance of said promotional use cards and provision of special dispensing and payment features in response to said recognition and acceptance, said advanced features including restricting use of said promotional data card to the purchase of a particular product or combination of products, restricting each use by limiting the purchase amount to a particular monetary value independent of the value remaining encoded on said promotional data card, restricting acceptance of said promotional data card to particular vending locations or to particular dispensing machines, and providing a price discount on predetermined products when said promotional card is used for the purchase of the predetermined products and thereby promoting a purchase of said predetermined products by a market segment of the general population for whom the price of said particular items have been attractively reduced without reducing the price of said particular items to the general population by virtue of distribution of said promotional use cards only to said market segment; said scanner apparatus having height and width dimensions, in a plane of a surface of said dispensing machine housing when said scanner apparatus is inserted in said surface of said dispensing machine housing, and volume dimensions, smaller than or substantially equal to corresponding height and width and volume dimensions of a standard bill validator apparatus so that said scanner apparatus can be positioned within an opening in said dispensing machine designed for said standard bill validator apparatus to substitute for or replace said standard bill validator apparatus; said scanner apparatus being disposed substantially within said interior perimeter of said dispensing machine housing but extending into said dispensing machine housing to a depth no greater than a depth said standard bill validator apparatus would extend; means for interfacing said second electrical signals with said dispensing controller of said dispensing machine to indicate proper payment, said means for interfacing being reconfigurable to receive said second electrical signals and to generate and transmit third electrical signals to said dispensing machine which are specially adapted to said defined control signal characteristics of said dispensing machine; said data card scanner apparatus and interface generating and coupling said second and third signals to said dispensing machine in substitution of said first electrical signals without either a bill validator apparatus or a coin acceptor apparatus connected to said dispensing controller or to said scanner apparatus; means for swallowing said data card when said data card has predetermined characteristics including identification of said card as being defective and identification of said card as a promotional use card when the advanced dispensing feature(s) provided by that promotional card has been used up and independent of any remaining cash value present on the card or of the physical condition of the card; and means for tracking the purchase patterns of consumers by collecting said swallowed promotional use cards having the nature of said card encoded upon the magnetic stripe of the card and tabulating the geographical distribution of said promotional card use; whereby said payment acceptance apparatus is retrofittable to and electrical signal compatible with said plurality of different dispensing machine types.
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	Forward References:			Show 51 U.S. patent(s) that reference this one

U.S. References:

Go to Result Set: All U.S. references | Forward references (51) | Backward references (31) | Citation Link

Patent	Pub.Date	Inventor	Assignee	Title
US3362515	1968-01	Yamamoto et al.		CARD CONTROLLED APPARATUS
US3560715	1971-02	Akamatsu	Omron Tateisi Electronics Co.	APPARATUS FOR CHANGING THE INFORMATION RECORDED ON CARDS
US3602695	1971-08	Boss	Docutel, Inc.	DOCUMENT-CODING METHOD AND APPARATUS
US3774743	1973-11	Hendrickson	UMC Industries, Inc.	CHANGEABLE VERIFICATION CHECK CONTROLLED VENDING
US3786421	1974-01	Wostl et al.	Atlantic Richfield Company	AUTOMATED DISPENSING SYSTEM
US3826344	1974-07	Wahlberg		APPARATUS FOR TRANSACTING BUSINESS
US3828903	1974-08	Levasseur	H.R. Electronics Company	VEND CONTROL WITH ESCROW UNTIL AVAILABLE PRODUCT SELECTION
US3836753	1974-09	Pass	AMP Incorporated	MAGNETIC CARD READER
US3872438	1975-03	Cuttill et al.		Credit card and credit card identification system for automatic vending equipment
US3935933	1976-02	Tanaka et al.	Omron Tateisi Electronics Co., Ltd.	Automatic article vending machine
US4020325	1977-04	Pfost et al.	Service Distributors, Inc.	Magnetic card substitute for coins for starting appliances and the like
US4048475	1977-09	Yoshida	Omron Tateisi Electronics Company	Apparatus for checking the user of a card in card-actuated machines
US4151564	1979-04	Schreiber et al.	Burroughs Corporation	Modular, semiautomatic credit card reader/writer apparatus
US4254857	1981-03	Levasseur et al.	H. R. Electronics Company	Detection device
US4271351	1981-06	Bloodworth		Cash replacement system and components
US4300042	1981-11	Oldenkamp et al.	Vendacopy, Inc.	Magnetic stripe card author
US4361754	1982-11	Hoskinson et al.	The Wurlitzer Company	Record operated control system for a vending machine
US4449186	1984-05	Kelly et al.	Cubic Western Data	Touch panel passenger self-ticketing system
US4458187	1984-07	Heiman	Mars, Inc.	Vending machine control and diagnostic apparatus
US4513199	1985-04	Sidline	Elkus; Eugene S.	Magnetic card read-out and timing circuitry
US4518852	1985-05	Stockburger et al.		Method for operating automatic devices such as cash registers or the like and a device for carrying out the method
US4527052	1985-07	Kilborn	Burroughs Corporation	Autoteller card handling mechanism
US4669596	1987-06	Capers et al.	Debitek, Inc.	Vending machine accessory permitting dual mode machine operation with either money or coded cards
US4752676	1988-06	Leonard et al.	Common Bond Associates	Reliable secure, updatable "cash" card system
US4767917	1988-08	Ushikubo	Sanden Corporation	Automatic vending machine
US4778983	1988-10	Ushikubo	Sanden Corporation	Automatic vending machine
US4812629	1989-03	O'Neil et al.	Term-Tronics, Incorporated	Method and apparatus for vending
US4817010	1989-03	Dobbins	Mars Incorporated	Vending machine control with improved vendor selector switch detection and decoding apparatus
US4879744	1989-11	Tasaki et al.	Omron Tateisi Electronics Co.	Card-operated telephone
US4884212	1989-11	Stutsman	Vertx Corporation	Apparatus and method for using unique charge cards dispensed from a vending machine
US4954697	1990-09	Kokubun et al.	Sanden Corporation	Vending apparatus for self-service store

Foreign References:

Buy PDF	Publication	Date	IPC Code	Assignee	Title
	CA1173540	1984-08	G05B 19/12	WURLITZER COMPANY (THE)	RECORD OPERATED CONTROL SYSTEM FOR A VENDING MACHINE
	DE3142310	1982-06	G07F 7/00	The Wurlitzer Co. n.d.Ges.des Staates Delaware, DeKalb, Ill., US	Einrichtung zum Steuern eines Verkaufsautomaten mittels eines Aufzeichnungstraegers