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:
Apr. 03, 2018
Filed:
Apr. 27, 2016
Pantry Retail, Inc., San Francisco, CA (US);
Artem Tkachenko, San Francisco, CA (US);
Alexander Yancher, San Francisco, CA (US);
Zhongning Chen, San Francisco, CA (US);
Christopher Alika Ah New, San Francisco, CA (US);
Byte Foods, Inc., San Rafael, CA (US);
Abstract
One variation of a method for controlling access to products from a vending machine includes: locking a door of the vending machine; recording an initial inventory of products arranged within the vending machine based on signals received by a radio antenna arranged within the vending machine and read by a radio frequency identification reader; initiating a transaction in response to receiving a cashless payment mechanism from a patron; unlocking the door in response to authentication of the cashless payment mechanism; in response to closure of the door, recording a final inventory of products within the vending machine based on signals received by the radio antenna and read by the radio frequency identification reader; and initiating a payment with the cashless payment mechanism for a difference between the initial inventory and the final inventory to complete the transaction.