Patent ID: 7620475

Claim:
A dispensing device of portable terminals having means for acquiring data relating to products to be purchased by customers in a shopping centre, comprising: a plurality of cradles for a corresponding plurality of portable terminals to be withdrawn and used by the customers of the shopping centre for product data acquisition; means for identifying each customer enabled to use the portable terminals; means for communicating to each identified customer, a corresponding terminal to be withdrawn among said plurality of terminals for the product data acquisition; a data control and processing unit connected to the identifying means and the communicating means, said control unit carrying out the identification of the customer by means of said identification means, associating the corresponding terminal to the identified customer and communicating to the identified customer the corresponding terminal to be withdrawn by means of said communicating means; wherein said plurality of cradles, said identifying means, said communicating means, and said control unit are housed in a single housing, and wherein all the cradles are housed in a substantially flat portion of said housing, said portion being provided in close proximity of the customer identifying means so as to allow access to said plurality of terminals; wherein said portion for housing said terminals comprises a body including a plurality of compartments constituting said plurality of terminal cradles; wherein each compartment of said plurality of compartments comprises: a terminal support element comprising opposed guiding walls inclined by a predetermined angle with respect to a vertical axis, the opposed guiding walls defining opposed end walls of the terminal support element in a direction perpendicular to a terminal insertion direction; wherein a support step for a lower end of the terminal extends from a first guiding wall of said opposed guiding walls, said support step being defined on a first surface, no surface oriented differently to the first surface being provided to connect the support step to the other guiding wall of said opposed guiding walls.