Patent ID: 8781622

Claim:
A vending system comprising at least one vending machine, retail display, or automated retail store, the vending system comprising: a display module containing items to be vended, the display module physically comprising a plurality of physical displays in which items to be vended are visibly housed; a computer for activating and controlling the vending system and said module, and receiving and processing customer messages from one or more mobile devices; software for controlling said computer; and a visual display controlled by said software for establishing a virtual screen for inputting customer data and selections, wherein the virtual screen comprising virtual representations of the physical displays of the physical display module arranged in at least one recognizable pattern, whereby images appearing on the virtual screen selected and viewed by the user correspond to actual items available in the plurality of physical displays of the display module of the at least one vending machine, wherein the computer is configured to transmit information to the one or more mobile devices to generate the virtual screen on the one or more mobile devices.