Patent ID: 7546277

Claim:
A vending machine, comprising: an inventory of products offered for sale via said vending machine, said inventory of products at least comprising a positive number of units of a first product of said inventory of products; a memory configured to store, in association with said first product: price management data comprising at least a minimum price, a maximum price, and a price adjustment increment; inventory data indicative of said number of units of said first product; and current price data for each unit of said number of units of said first product; and a processor operatively coupled to said memory, said processor configured to: determine, based on a time-related evaluation criteria, that a current price of each unit of said number of units of said first product should be evaluated; access, based on a determination that said current price of each unit of said number of units of said first product should be evaluated, said price management data, said inventory data, and said current price data; and determine said price of each unit of said number of units of said first product, said price being based on said price management data, said inventory data, a change in demand for said first product, and said current price data, and wherein said price is between said minimum price and said maximum price and is an even multiple of said price adjustment increment.