The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 04, 1981
Filed:
Aug. 10, 1979
William R Hoskinson, Elburn, IL (US);
William V Machanian, DeKalb, IL (US);
The Wurlitzer Company, DeKalb, IL (US);
Abstract
A control system for a vending machine which accepts coins or bills of different denominations assigns a given amount of credit to each such monetary unit (i.e., a coin or a bill) accepted. The novel structure of the invention allows operation with monetary units in different monetary systems and alterations of the amount of credit assigned to each monetary unit accepted to be effected easily and simply. The control system responds in the same fashion to either a request for refund or change or a selection of an article to be vended: by comparing the accumulated credit from monetary units accepted with the price of each selected article and the request for a refund or change and allowing or inhibiting the dispensing of an article and/or dispensing of a refund or change accordingly. The pricing of articles may also be readily altered to accommodate different articles or changed prices. The control system is embodied in a special purpose computer or microprocessor, cooperating with an encoder circuit for monetary unit valuation and article pricing which comprises a programmable matrix array such as a ROM. Suitable interfacing circuits between the computer or microprocessor and other elements of the control system and of the vending machine itself are also provided.