# US 2014/0151391 A1 · Apparatus for managing shelf control information for multi-vending machine and method thereof

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- Number: US 2014/0151391 A1
- Document ID: US20140151391A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 14/089,666
- Filed: 2013-11-25
- Published: 2014-06-05
- Earliest claimed: 2012-12-04
- Assignees: Lotte Aluminium Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Lotte Aluminium Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Sung Chul JO
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140151391A1

## CPC

- G07F 9/026: {for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty}
- G07F 11/42: the articles being delivered by motor-driven means
- G07F: COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS (coin sorting G07D3/00; coin testing G07D5/00; {handling coins or paper currencies apart from payment activated apparatus G07D; payment architectures, schemes or protocols G06Q20/00})

## Abstract

Disclosed are an apparatus for managing shelf control information for a multi-vending machine and a method thereof. The apparatus includes a shelf recognizing unit for recognizing whether a shelf is mounted; a column detecting unit for detecting whether a column mounted on the shelf exists; a column kind detecting unit for detecting a kind of columns; and a control unit for generating product control information based on information about the shelf, the column and the kind of columns detected by the shelf recognizing unit, the column detecting unit and the column kind detecting unit and storing the product control information in a memory.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An apparatus for managing shelf control information for a multi-vending machine, the apparatus comprising:
a shelf recognizing unit for recognizing whether a shelf is mounted;
a column detecting unit for detecting whether a column mounted on the shelf exists;
a column kind detecting unit for detecting a kind of columns; and
a control unit for generating product control information based on information about the shelf, the column and the kind of columns detected by the shelf recognizing unit, the column detecting unit and the column kind detecting unit and storing the product control information in a memory.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
a power supply for supplying a power to the multi-vending machine or blocking the power supplied to the multi-vending machine according to power switch manipulation by a manager,
wherein the control unit generates the product control information when the power is supplied to the control unit by the power supply.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shelf recognizing unit transfers a shelf detecting signal to the control unit through a harness electrically connected to the control unit when the shelf is mounted, and
the control unit recognizes a location of the shelf based on shelf identifying information included in the shelf detecting signal.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the column detecting unit is mounted on a portion corresponding to a location of the column of the shelf to generate a column detecting signal when the column exists.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the column kind detecting unit generates a column kind detecting signal only when the kind of columns is a spiral, so that the kind of columns is detected.

### Claim 6

A method of managing shelf control information for a multi-vending machine, the method comprising:
a) detecting existence or nonexistence of a shelf and a column and a kind of columns through a shelf recognizing unit, a column detecting unit and a column kind detecting unit when a power is supplied;
b) generating the shelf control information based on information about the existence or nonexistence of the shelf and the column and the kind of column detected in step (a); and
c) registering the shelf control information generated in step (b) on a memory.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, further comprising: d) controlling a product sale by recognizing product information based on the shelf control information registered on the memory when the product sale is requested after step (c).