Patent ID: 8706294

Claim:
A dispensing system, comprising: a cartridge comprising: a body having an exterior and a plurality of bins; a plurality of lids movably attached to the body, the lids having closed positions wherein the lids cover the respective bins; a connector having contacts exposed on the exterior of the body; a release mechanism movably attached to the body; and a plurality of latches movably attached to the body, each of the plurality of latches configured to engage a respective one of the plurality of lids when in a first position and to release the respective lid when in a second position; wherein the latches and release mechanism are configured such that the release mechanism will not cause a latch to move to the second position when the release mechanism is moving in a first direction and the release mechanism will cause a selectable one of the plurality of latches to move to the second position while leaving the remaining latches in the first position when the release mechanism is moving in a second direction that is opposite to the first direction, and wherein the cartridge is configured such that the lids cannot be opened except by receipt of a command signal by the cartridge through the connector; and a cabinet comprising: a housing having a docking location configured to accept the cartridge; a docking connector attached to the housing, wherein the housing is configured such that the docking connector connects to the contacts of the cartridge when the cartridge is placed on the docking location; and a controller coupled to the docking connector, the controller configured to send the command signal to the cartridge via the docking connector to open one or more of the lids.