Patent ID: 7353079

Claim:
A vending system for personalized pet collars comprising: a vending machine housing, said housing containing a plurality of pet collars and a plurality of charms to be coupled to said pet collars; at least one pet collar storage area within said housing, said at least one pet collar storage area being dimensioned to store said plurality of pet collars; at least one charm storage area within said housing, said at least one charm storage area being dimensioned to store said plurality of charms; a payment acceptor mechanism capable of at least one of receiving payment from a user and providing change to said user; a user interface mechanism for prompting said user to enter information, said information corresponding to at least one of a pet collar selected by said user from said plurality of pet collars and at least one charm selected by said user from said plurality of charms; a control mechanism for receiving said information and for locating said pet collar selected by said user and for locating said at least one charm selected by said user and for generating drive signals; a retrieval mechanism for responding to at least one of said drive signals and for retrieving said pet collar selected by said user from said at least one pet collar storage area and for retrieving said at least one charm selected by said user from said at least one charm storage area and for placing said pet collar selected by said user and said at least one charm selected by said user in position for assembly; an assembly mechanism for responding to at least one of said drive signals and for coupling said at least one charm selected by said user to said pet collar selected by said user; and a dispensing mechanism for responding to at least one of said drive signals and for dispensing a completed personalized pet collar.