Patent ID: 7519451

Claim:
A beverage vending machine comprising: a product delivery system; a storage system for beverage containers; a delivery path in which said beverage containers travel from said storage system to a receiving position to which beverage is dispensed and at which a customer is able to remove beverage containers; a first sensor sensing presence of a beverage container at said receiving position by interruption of a light beam from an emitter across said receiving position to a detector by said beverage container while said beverage container is at said receiving position and independent of whether said beverage container was dispensed from said storage system; reporting circuitry signaling when said beverage container is sensed by said sensor; a beverage dispensing system that fills beverage containers at said receiving position and operatively controlled in response to sensing of said presence of said beverage container at said receiving position by said sensor; and a monitoring control unit, wherein said monitoring control unit determines if said beverage container reached said receiving position and allows a payment from a customer to said beverage vending machine to be refunded if said container does not reach said receiving position, wherein said monitoring control unit monitors variables to determine if a fault has occurred, wherein said variables comprise max ring attempts, cup drop timer, cup fell controller, cup waiting timeout, process flags, and vending flags.