Automated merchandise dispensing and retrieval system

An improved system for dispensing and receiving articles, said system comprising:

• a plurality of vending machines adapted for dispensing and receiving articles, each of said vending machines including:
• a carousel having a plurality of bins for storing articles wherein articles may be dispensed from or received into said bins through an access door;
• a positioning system that aligns said bins with said access door and controls the rotation of said carousel;
• a control computer for controlling said positioning system, said control computer further including:
• machine inventory tracking means,
• data communications means,
• a host computer means, said host computer means including:
• system communication means for communicating with each of said data communications means;
• and
• inter-vending means including:
• means for permitting vending of an article from one of said vending machines and return of the article to another of said vending machines from which location the article may be re-vended;
• and
• means for transferring article vending, return and re-vending data to each of said machine inventory tracking means for updating said machine inventory tracking means.

A video media inter-vending network which permits the renting of video media from on location in said inter-vending network and the return of the rented video media to another location in the network from which it can be re-rented, said inter-vending network comprising:

• a plurality of video media vending machines for dispensing and receiving video media at different locations, each of said video media vending machines including:
• a control computer, said control computer including:
• means for tracking machine inventory, data communications means;
• a host computer means, said host computer means including:
• means for tracking network inventory,
• means for controlling communications with each of said data communications means;
• and
• inter-vending means, said inter-vending means includes:
• means for permitting vending of an article from one of said vending machines and return of the article to another of said vending machines from which location the article may be revended;
• and
• means for transferring article vending, return and re-vending data to each of said means for tracking machine inventory and means for tracking network inventory.