Patent ID: 8186584
Filing Date: 2012-05-29
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A vending control system comprising: a first device to receive an input in the form of a prepaid card account identification data; a second device to receive the input from the first device and in response request authorization from a remote server over the Internet, for use of the prepaid card account; and a vending control device connected to the second device, the vending control device is to enable and disable the functioning of an output device, to meter an amount of output processed by the output device, and to communicate the amount of output that has been processed to the second device, wherein the second device is to signal the vending control device to enable the output device upon receiving authorization from the remote server, the second device is to calculate a cost of the processed output and send the cost via a transport layer protocol over the Internet to the remote server, the remote server is to then process a transaction to apply the cost to the prepaid card account.