US 2022/0067644 A1Published application

Vending device with integrated inventory monitoring

AssigneeBizerba GmbH & Co. KG

InventorJoerg Drissner

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Abstract

A vending device has at least one display area and an evaluator. The display area is formed by a rigid body, and has at least two, spatially-separated product areas, the rigid body of the display area being held by force transmission areas of at least two weighing cells. The evaluator is configured to, at periodic intervals or when a total weight detected by the at least two weighing cells changes: determine new coordinates of a center of gravity from data of the weighing cells, and transmit the new coordinates to a controller. The controller is configured to: determine a product area within the display area based upon changes in the coordinates of the center of gravity, determine, from the change in a total weight, the weight of goods removed from or added to the determined product area, and update an inventory, stored in a memory, for the product.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A vending device, the vending device comprising:

at least one display area, wherein the display area is formed by a rigid body, wherein the display area comprises at least two, spatially-separated product areas, wherein the rigid body of the display area is held by force transmission areas of three or four weighing cells, and
an evaluator, the evaluator being configured to, at periodic intervals or when a total weight detected by the weighing cells changes:
determine new coordinates of a center of gravity from data from each of the three or four weighing cells, the new coordinates being two-dimensional coordinates, and
transmit the new coordinates to a controller,
wherein the controller is configured to:
determine a product area, from among the product areas, within the display area based upon changes between the new coordinates of the center of gravity and previous coordinates of the center of gravity,
determine, from the change in a total weight, the weight of goods removed from or added to the determined product area, and
update an inventory, stored in a memory, for a product associated with the determined product area based upon the weight of goods removed.

5 more elements

A method for operating a vending device, the vending device comprising a display area, the display area being formed by a rigid body, the display area comprising at least two, spatially-separated product areas, and the rigid body of the display area being held by force transmission areas of three or four weighing cells, the method comprising:

receiving a signal from each of the three or four weighing cells, wherein the signal of each of the weighing cells corresponds to respective weight forces in a respective region of the rigid body,
determining coordinates of the center of gravity and a total weight force from the received signal from each of the three or four weighing cells, the coordinates being two-dimensional coordinates,
receiving a new signal from each of the three or four weighing cells, the new signal of each of the weighing cells corresponding to a respective new weight force from each of the respective weighing cells, and determining new coordinates of the center of gravity from the new signal received from each of the weighing cells,
determining a product area, from the product areas, and a weight of goods removed from or added to the determined product area based on a comparison between the new coordinates of the new center of gravity and the coordinates of the center of gravity previously determined, the new coordinates being two-dimensional coordinates, and
updating an inventory assigned to the product area based on the determined product area and the weight of goods removed.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 17/521,885Filed 9 Nov 2021
Priority: EP 18 000 719.76 Sep 2018
Published: 3 Mar 2022
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification16 codes

G01G 19/42
With provisions for indicating, recording, or computing price or other quantities dependent on the weight: for counting by weighing
G06Q 10/087
Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management: inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling,…
G01G 19/4144
Using electronic computing means only: for controlling weight of goods in commercial establishments, e.g. supermarket, P.O.S. systems
G01M 1/122
Static balancing; Determining position of centre of gravity: determining position of centre of gravity

Family

Application16/558,191Continuation · filed 2 Sep 2019
Application17/521,885Continuation
US 11,328,251 B2Related patent
US 12,141,746 B2Related patent
US 2020/0082328 A1Published application
US 2022/0067644 A1This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.