System and kiosk for commerce of optical media through multiple locations

Abstract

A kiosk () dispenses and receives recorded optical disk media () using an interconnected () system central server computer () through an Internet Service Provider (). The system central server () contains databases and processing, and is connected to a credit verification system (). The central databases collect inventory administration information and customer data from the kiosks () including credit card and email addresses (). The central server () initiates credit verification and sends receipts to customers via email (). The central server () maintains databases that are used for remote inventory control and administration of the kiosk network. A kiosk () has the capability to identify a recorded disk () for automated restocking and may also perform quality assessment () of a recorded disk (). A kiosk () may also provide publishing-on-demand or act as a portal for remotely served advertisement. Kiosk () preferably includes a rotating carouselextruded to hold about one hundred DVDs. A digital camera () with kiosk () captures a digital image of the disk barcode and internal software rotates the image to 'read' the barcode, to control inventory and access issues.