Patent ID: 8768789

Claim:
A method of utilization of inventory space for a plurality of articles in an article dispensing machine, the article dispensing machine comprising a user interface, a processor in communication with the user interface, and a non-removable storage unit for holding the plurality of articles in a plurality of slots, the method comprising: receiving, at the processor, a list identifying a subset of the plurality of articles, the subset targeted for removal from the article dispensing machine, wherein the plurality of articles comprise consumer goods articles and wherein the subset of the plurality of articles targeted for removal comprises one or more of a thinned article, a damaged article, a fraudulent article, a wrong title article, or a do not rent (DNR) article; using the processor, causing the article dispensing machine to automatically move the subset of the plurality of articles to a non-consumer inventory management section of the article dispensing machine from a consumer inventory management section of the non-removable storage unit, wherein the non-consumer inventory management section is reserved for non-consumer inventory management and is configured to hold the subset of the plurality of articles; receiving a command signal at the processor through the user interface adapted to be initiated by a field service representative, the command signal for initiating the non-consumer inventory management of the article dispensing machine to manually remove the subset of the plurality of articles from the non-consumer inventory management section of the article dispensing machine to outside of the article dispensing machine and to manually load at least one article from outside of the article dispensing machine into the non-consumer inventory management section; receiving a load confirmation signal at the processor through the user interface adapted to be initiated by the field service representative, the load confirmation signal indicating that the at least one article has been loaded into the non-consumer inventory management section; and subsequent to receiving the load confirmation signal, using the processor, causing the article dispensing machine to automatically move the at least one article from the non-consumer inventory management section to the consumer inventory management section of the non-removable storage unit, wherein the non-consumer inventory management section is configured to hold the at least one article.