Patent ID: 8121725

Claim:
A dispensing apparatus, comprising: a housing; a two-dimensional array of bins in the housing; a dispensing station on the housing; a plurality of sensor means near the two-dimensional array of bins for sensing transaction information on products in the bins, the transaction information identifying a recipient of the product; a controller means connected to the plurality of sensor means for maintaining a bin data structure relating transaction information sensed on products in the bins to locations of the bins in the two-dimensional array of bins; an entry device for generating a dispense request; the controller means further for producing control information indicative of a bin in the two-dimensional array in response to the dispense request and transaction information in the bin data structure; a mechanism in the housing coupled to the two-dimensional array of bins for moving the bins to place the bin at the dispensing station in response to the control information; and, a door mechanism at the dispensing station for providing access to the bin in response to the control information.