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US 5,748,485 AGranted
Software vending machine having CD-ROM storage
AssigneeLaserVend, Inc.
InventorsLars K. Christiansen, Mark H. Roberts, David J. Griffiths, Brent R. Adamson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vending machine for vending computer software comprises, a bill acceptor for receiving money, an optical disk for storing a selection of programs to be vended, a hard disk drive for storing operating software, accounting information, and updates to the software vended, a diskette dispenser, and a disk drive all under control of a processor. The invention further comprises a device for indicating a program selection to the processor such that the processor may direct the writing of a customer-selected program to a diskette after money has been received.
Claims23
A self-contained software program vending machine comprising:
- a cabinet;
- a processor within the cabinet;
- a bill acceptor in the cabinet and accessible to a user for receiving paper money and for notifying said processor when paper money has been received;
- an optically read disk within the cabinet for storing a plurality of programs;
- means in the cabinet under control of said processor for dispensing a blank diskette to the user after said processor has received notification of receipt of paper money;
- means for writing comprising a diskette drive in the cabinet and accessible to a user under control of said processor for writing said blank diskette with a program;
- a monitor in the cabinet for displaying a menu of program choices corresponding to programs stored on the optically read disk, said monitor equipped with a touch screen accessible to a user to identify to said processor a specific program to be written to said blank diskette from said optically read disk after said processor has received notification that paper money has been received.
4 more elements
A software program vending machine comprising:
- a processor;
- a bill acceptor for receiving paper money and for notifying said processor when paper money has been received;
- an optically readable disk for storing a plurality of programs;
- means under control of said processor for dispensing a blank diskette after said processor has received notification that money has been received;
- a diskette drive under control of said processor for writing said blank diskette with a program;
- a monitor under control of said processor for displaying a menu of program choices;
- a trackball for manipulating a cursor displayed on said monitor such that said cursor indicates a particular program choice;
- a button for identifying a specific program to be vended to said processor;
- a sound card and loudspeaker device for instructing users in machine operation;
- a sensor to sense the presence of a potential user near the machine;
- and
- means operable by said sensor to begin an audio enticement sequence when a potential user is sensed near the machine.
9 more elements
A self-contained software program vending machine comprising:
- a cabinet;
- a processor within the cabinet;
- an optically read disk within the cabinet for storing a plurality of software programs;
- means in the cabinet under control of the processor and visible to a user for indicating software programs available for vending;
- means in the cabinet and accessible and operable by a user through which a user identifies a desired software program to be vended;
- means in the cabinet and accessible to a user for receiving money from a user and for notifying said processor when money has been received;
- a hard disk drive in the cabinet for storing operating software, accounting information, and updates to the software programs to be vended;
- means in the cabinet under control of said processor for dispensing a blank diskette to the user after said processor has received notification of the receipt of money;
- and
- means under control of said processor and accessible to the user for writing the identified software program including any updates thereto, on said blank diskette.
7 more elements
A software program vending machine comprising:
- a processor;
- means for receiving money and for notifying said processor when money has been received;
- an optically read disk for storing a plurality of programs;
- a hard disk drive for storing operating software, accounting information, and decryption keys to the software to be vended;
- means under control of said processor for dispensing a blank diskette;
- means under control of said processor for dispensing a CD-ROM containing thereon a plurality of software in encrypted form, different software having different encryption keys;
- means for identifying to said processor a specific program to be vended;
- and
- means under control of said processor for writing to said blank diskette a decryption key to the identified program after said processor has received notification of the receipt of money.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.