Patent ID: 8144356

Claim:
A method of printing a promotional coupon by a system including a promotional controller coupled to a financial transaction promotional printer of a financial transaction machine that is a vending machine, the method comprising: transmitting, by the promotional controller, coupon data to the financial transaction promotional printer; receiving, by the financial transaction promotional printer, the coupon data from the promotional controller via an auxiliary communication port coupling the financial transaction promotional printer to the promotional controller separately from a financial transaction machine controller, the auxiliary communication port constructed to receive the coupon data separately from a main communication port, the main communication port coupling the financial transaction promotional printer to the financial transaction machine controller for receiving financial transaction data; receiving, by the financial transaction promotional printer, the financial transaction data from the financial transaction machine controller via the main communication port; generating, by the financial transaction promotional printer, a receipt using the financial transaction data; generating, by the promotional controller, a trigger using trigger data, the trigger data including a location row and location column within the vending machine of a vended product; transmitting, by the promotional controller to the financial transaction promotional printer via the auxiliary communication port, the trigger; and generating, by the financial transaction promotional printer, in response to the trigger, the coupon using the coupon data.