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US 5,077,462 AGranted
Vending apparatus incorporating an improved closed loop positioning system
OwnerWilliam C. Newell, Jesse A. Ojalainventors
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Abstract
This invention relates to the field of vending machines and more specifically to an improved method and means for detecting and correcting positioning errors in a vending machine. A carousel type dispensing apparatus is incorporated.
Claims4
An improved closed loop positioning system, comprising:
- a carousel rotatably disposed on a support shaft, said carousel having a plurality of apertures disposed about the perimeter of said carousel;
- a motor coupled to said carousel, for adjusting the rotational position of said carousel;
- a bar code ring disposed coaxially with the perimeter of said carousel, said bar code ring for coding the absolute position of said carousel;
- sensor means for detecting whenever said apertures of said carousel are aligned with said sensor means;
- a scanner for reading the values of the bar codes;
- and
- controller means coupled to said sensor means, said scanner and said motor, said controller for advancing or retarding the rotational position of said carousel a predetermined amount based on the output of said scanner means and verifying the predetermined amount of movement based on the output of said scanner means.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.