Patent ID: 8463431

Claim:
A vending system comprising: a communication network; a centralized database accessible through said network that stores inputted customer data; and, a plurality of remote vending machines, retail displays, and automated retail stores connected to the network that access said database, each of said vending machines, retail displays, and/or automated retail stores comprising: a display module containing items to be vended and a plurality of touchable product viewing areas; means for physically dispensing items; a computer for activating and controlling the vending machine, the computer comprising means for inputting customer data, the means for inputting data selected from the group consisting of magnetic card readers, RFID readers, Bluetooth receiving units, touch screens, keypads, motion sensors, and touch sensors mounted in the housing; software run by said computer that communicates with said database for establishing customer profiles in response to data input, the software comprising: a subroutine for recognizing registered users and for registering new users by generating a global unique identifier (GUID) for individual customers that uniquely identifies the user from personally identifiable information such as parts of a credit card number, a non-identifying calculated number based off that number, a user's name, a cell phone number, email addresses, MAC addresses from wireless enabled devices; and, subroutines for activating said means for physically dispensing items in response to preselected conditions associated with each GUID; wherein said subroutine for recognizing registered users and for registering new users comprises the steps of: executing a user lookup subroutine that determines whether a user is registered, the user lookup routine comprising the steps of: recognizing when a user attempts to access an area or feature restricted to registered users of the system or when a user actively touches the touch screen indicating they wish to identify themselves as a registered user; presenting a screen prompting users to register or identify themselves; collecting identifying information including user names, passwords, or credit card, membership card, and/or driver's license information; transmitting information from said latter step to said database; determining if a match exists in said database; if a match is found by said database, recognizing a registered user and updating their account; wherein if a match is not found by said database, steps attempt to identify an array of possible users, and if an array of possible users is found, steps prompt the user to input secondary information to further identify themselves, and steps check secondary information to determine a possible match, wherein if a match is found, steps direct the user to update his or her account information, and, if a match is not found steps direct the user to the user registration process.