Vend space allocation monitor means and method

A method for determining and for indicating to authorized personnel whether, for a vending system capable of vending from among a plurality of classes of selectable vendable products a product from a selected product class, which vending system has a plurality of product storage areas for vend product storage and an established vend space allocation configuration allocating the product storage areas to the classes of selectable vendable products, an established product storage allocation configuration is consistent with selection demand norms, comprising the steps of:

• (A) recording and updating for product vend operations as products are vended over a period of time the product demand by class of product,
• (B) comparing the recorded product demand for such period of time for the classes of products against the product storage allocated for the classes of products by the established product storage allocation configuration to determine the deviation in product demand from product storage allocated,
• (C) comparing such determined deviation against acceptability norms to obtain an acceptability indication,
• (D) effecting communication of such acceptability communication to authorized personnel.

A method for determining and for indicating to authorized personnel whether, for a vending system capable of vending from among a plurality of classes of selectable vendable products a product from a selected product class, which vending system has a plurality of product storage areas for vend product storage and an established vend space allocation configuration allocating the product storage areas to the classes of selectable vendable products, an established product storage allocation configuration is consistent with selection demand norms, comprising the steps of:

• (A) providing means for monitoring and recording product demand and for communicating information to authorized personnel,
• (B) monitoring the demand for the various classes of selectable vendable products over a period of time and recording such historical demand,
• (C) determining, based at least in part upon said historical demand, whether the established vend space allocation configuration is consistent with selection demand norms for the classes of selectable vendable products, and
• (D) communicating such determination to authorized personnel.

Vend space allocation monitor means for a vending system that has a plurality of distinguishable product storage areas for storage prior to vending of a plurality of distinguishable types of vendable products, wherein the number of distinguishable product storage areas exceeds the number of distinguishable types of vendable products intended to be vended by such vending system and wherein at least certain of the distinguishable product storage areas are configurable with one another to permit the vending of a common type of vendable product therefrom, such vending system including means operable by authorized personnel to establish and form from the plurality of distinguishable product storage areas a plurality of product storage allocation areas, each such product storage allocation area adapted to hold therein a plurality of products of a given type, the plurality of product storage allocation areas so established defining an established vend space allocation configuration, means for dispensing from each such product storage allocation area the products stored therein, means for controlling in response to an authorized request the dispensing of a requested distinguishable type of vendable product, and data storage means for storing historical demand data for each distinguishable type of vendable product, said vend space allocation monitor means comprising vend selection monitoring means for monitoring over a period of time the historical demand for the various types of vendable products, processing means operatively connected to said vend selection monitoring means and said data storage means and operable as product demand is monitored to updata said historical demand data stored in said data storage means to reflect the historical demand for the various types of vendable products, and communication means, said processing means operable in response to a terminating event for the time period to determine for each type of distinguishable product, based upon the historical demand data stored in said data storage means, whether the established vend space allocation configuration is consistent with selection demand norms for each type of distinguishable product, and to effect the communication to authorized personnel by said communication means of information indicative of such determination.