Patent ID: 7593897

Claim:
A wireless system for communicating cashless vending machine transaction data and vending machine audit data to remote locations, comprising: a vending machine controller interconnected with a vending machine, said vending machine controller comprising a plurality of peripheral device interfaces; a vending interface unit (VIU) interconnected with at least one of said plurality of peripheral device interfaces, said VIU effectuates cashless vending transactions and obtains vending machine audit data from said vending machine controller, said VIU comprising a first transceiver; and a base unit remote to the vending machine, said base unit comprising a second transceiver configured for wireless communication with said first transceiver, said base unit further comprising a communication interface for communicating with a remote location remote to the vending machine and the base unit, said base unit communicating data received from the vending machine to the remote location and communicating data received from the remote location to the vending machine, wherein the base unit is configured to communicate a plurality of operating states to the VIU and the VIU is configured to initiate communication with the remote location responsive to receipt of a first one of the plurality of operating states from the base unit.