Method and apparatus for dynamically managing vending machine inventory prices
View Patent ↗The present invention is a method and apparatus for automatically managing a price of a product in a vending machine. The method and apparatus is disclosed for implementing dynamic price adjustments at various times including after stocking, after a sale of a product and at periodic intervals. The method generally includes the steps of updating inventory data, including a quantity of a product, accessing price management data associated with the product, and determining the price of the product. According to the method and apparatus of the present invention, the determined price of the product is based on the price management data and the inventory data. The determined price is then stored in a memory of the apparatus and displayed for customers. The apparatus may be a vending machine, a processing module within the vending machine, or an external module remotely transmitting the dynamically adjusted price to a vending machine.
1. A vending machine, comprising:
an inventory of products offered for sale via said vending machine, said inventory of products at least comprising a positive number of units of a first product of said inventory of products;
a memory configured to store, in association with said first product:
price management data comprising at least a minimum price, a maximum price, and a price adjustment increment;
inventory data indicative of said number of units of said first product; and
current price data for each unit of said number of units of said first product; and
a processor operatively coupled to said memory, said processor configured to:
determine, based on a time-related evaluation criteria, that a current price of each unit of said number of units of said first product should be evaluated;
access, based on a determination that said current price of each unit of said number of units of said first product should be evaluated, said price management data, said inventory data, and said current price data; and
determine said price of each unit of said number of units of said first product, said price being based on said price management data, said inventory data, a change in demand for said first product, and said current price data, and wherein said price is between said minimum price and said maximum price and is an even multiple of said price adjustment increment.
2. A vending machine, comprising:
an inventory of products offered for sale via said vending machine, said inventory of products at least comprising a positive number of units of a first product of said inventory of products;
a memory configured to store, in association with said first product:
price management data comprising at least a minimum price, a maximum price and a price adjustment increment;
inventory data indicative of said number of units of said first product; and
current price data for each unit of said number of units of said first product; and
a processor operatively coupled to said memory, said processor configured to:
determine, based on a time-related evaluation criteria, that a current price of each unit of said number of units of said first product should be evaluated, wherein said time-related evaluation criteria is based on a number hours that have elapsed since a purchase has been made via said vending machine;
access, based on a determination that said current price of each unit of said number of units of said first product should be evaluated, said price management data, said inventory data, and said current price data; and
determine said price of each unit of said number of units of said first product, said price being based on said price management data, said inventory data, and said current price data, and wherein said price is between said minimum price and said maximum price and is an even multiple of said price adjustment increment.
3. A vending machine, comprising:
an inventory of products offered for sale via said vending machine, said inventory of products at least comprising a positive number of units of a first product of said inventory of products;
a memory configured to store, in association with said first product:
time-related price evaluation data;
price management data comprising at least data identifying a minimum price and data identifying a price adjustment increment;
inventory data indicative of said number of units of said first product; and
current price data for each unit of said number of units of said first product; and
a processor operatively coupled to said memory, said processor configured to:
access said time-related price evaluation data;
compare said time-related price evaluation data to a predetermined threshold to determine whether to update a current price of each unit of said number of units of said first product;
access, based on a determination that said current price of each unit of said number of units of said first product should be updated, said price management data, said inventory data, and said current price data; and
determine said price of each unit of said number of units of said first product, said price being based on said price management data, said inventory data, a change in demand for said first product and said current price data, and wherein said price is greater than said minimum price and is an even multiple of said price adjustment increment.
4. A vending machine, comprising:
an inventory of products offered for sale via said vending machine, said inventory of products at least comprising a positive number of units of a first product of said inventory of products;
a memory configured to store, in association with said first product:
time-related price evaluation data;
price management data comprising at least data identifying a minimum price and data identifying a price adjustment increment;
inventory data indicative of said number of units of said first product; and
current price data for each unit of said number of units of said first product; and
a processor operatively coupled to said memory, said processor configured to:
access said time-related price evaluation data;
compare said time-related price evaluation data to a predetermined threshold to determine whether to update a current price of each unit of said number of units of said first product, wherein said time-related price evaluation data comprises data related to a number hours that have elapsed since a purchase has been made via said vending machine and wherein said predetermined threshold defines a threshold number of hours that have elapsed since said purchase has been made via said vending machine;
access, based on a determination that said current price of each unit of said number of units of said first product should be updated, said price management data, said inventory data, and said current price data; and
determine said price of each unit of said number of units of said first product, said price being based on said price management data, said inventory data, and said current price data, and wherein said price is greater than said minimum price and is an even multiple of said price adjustment increment.
5. A method, comprising:
determining, by a processor, that a product price evaluation frequency for a product offered for sale via a vending machine is associated with a time parameter;
determining, by the processor, an elapsed time since a previous product price evaluation;
determining, by the processor, that the elapsed time since the previous product price evaluation is greater than or equal to the time parameter;
calculating, by the processor, and after the determination that the elapsed time since the previous product price evaluation is greater than or equal to the time parameter, an updated price for the product;
rounding, by the processor, the calculated price to a price evenly divisible by a pre-determined price increment;
verifying, by the processor, that the price is less than a pre-determined maximum price and greater than a pre-determined minimum price; and
displaying the price via a display device of the vending machine.