Patent ID: 8214247

Claim:
A system for managing of a plurality of vending machines comprising: a plurality of monitors, each coupled to a respective vending machine in the plurality of vending machines; a plurality of transceivers, each coupled to a respective one of the monitors; a communication gateway coupled to the plurality of transceivers via a cellular telephone system; and an electrical data link between the communication gateway and a data processing system that comprises: a database that stores data from the plurality of monitors; a computer coupled to the database; and software, stored in a memory storage device and executable by said computer, comprising: a gateway communications program that manages data transfer between the communication gateway and the data processing system; and an analytics module that processes the stored data and outputs an operational recommendation for at least one vending machine in the plurality of vending machines based on comparing data from at least one monitor in the plurality of monitors to data from at least one other monitor in the plurality of monitors, wherein the analytics module identifies vending machines in the plurality of vending machines that outperform other vending machines in the plurality of vending machines.