Patent ID: 6980887

Claim:
A vending machine system, comprising: a vending machine, comprising: a compartment comprising a plurality of supply columns that stores a plurality of different types of goods to be dispensed; a dispenser that dispenses selected goods from said different types of goods; a CPU that counts said selected goods dispensed by said dispenser to generate a total number of said selected goods dispensed for each of said plurality of supply columns; a machine identifier that identifies said vending machine; and a transmitter that communicates a signal comprising said machine identifier and said total number of said selected goods dispensed for each of said plurality of supply columns to a remote processing center; and said remote processing center receives said signal and calculates the capacity and velocity of each of said different types of goods based on said total number of said selected goods dispensed to determine an optimal configuration of said different types of goods in said plurality of supply columns that would maximize time efficiency between service periods for restocking of said different types of goods.