Patent ID: 7853354

Claim:
A method for communicating vending information for a plurality of vendible media products having entertainment content therein to a control center, comprising the steps of: loading the plurality of vendible media products into an article transport storage unit; assigning the article transport storage unit to a vending apparatus, where the vending apparatus comprises an article transport storage unit receiving station and at least one article storage rack; receiving vending transaction data at the vending apparatus, the vending transaction data being representative of a plurality of vending transactions; storing the vending transaction data in a memory; loading the article transport storage unit into the article transport storage unit receiving station of the vending apparatus; automatically transferring the plurality of vendible media products from the article transport storage unit to the at least one article storage rack for later rental or purchase; and, transmitting the vending transaction data from the memory to the control center after the article transport storage unit has been loaded.