VENDINGMACHINECONTROLLERANDSYSTEMFIELDOFTHEINVENTIONThepresentinventionisdirectedtowardacontrollerforavendingmachine,andavendingmachineincludingsuchacontroller
BACKGROUNDOFTHEINVENTIONProcessor-basedpriorartvendingmachinecontrollers(VMCs)typicallyhavebeenimplementedusingalowcost,embeddedcontroller,e
,theIntelbrandmodel8051
Suchacontrollerseparatelyperformsmanyvendingmachinecontroloperations,includingmonitoring,storing,andperiodicallyreportingdatapertinenttotheoperationofthevendingmachine,e
,salesandinventoryinformation
TheCedronepatent(US
4,776,548)disclosesasystemformonitoringavendingmachineandperiodicallytransmittinginformationrelatingtomachineconditions,salesandproductinventorytoacentralcomputer
TheGirouardpatent(US
4,982,346)disclosesanautomatedsystemforpoint-of-sale-