IP Library Granted Patent US 8,820,575
Granted Patent B2
US 8,820,575 · App. 13/404,283 · Granted Sep 2, 2014

Digital signage retrofit for vending machine

Inventor: Robert Nicholson (Alpharetta, GA)
Assignee: Convergent Media Systems Corporation
G07F9/023G07F9/026G07F11/002
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,820,575
App. No.
13/404,283
Granted
Sep 2, 2014
Kind
B2
Abstract

Embodiments of the disclosure include a vending machine retrofitted with digital signage. According to an embodiment, a display panel is affixed to the window; a media player is coupled to the display panel; a cellular wide area network (WAN) radio is coupled to the media player; and a cellular antenna is coupled to the cellular WAN radio and affixed to the top surface of the vending machine.

Claims (49)

1. A digital signage vending machine retrofit kit, comprising:

a touchscreen display panel and an AC power cable;

a media player and power supply therefor;

a cellular wide area network (WAN) radio and power supply therefor;

a cellular antenna;

an antenna cable;

one or more strips of double-stick foam tape;

an installation kit with an adhesive primer, a cleaning cloth, an alcohol cleaning wipe, assorted adhesive tie-wrap blocks, assorted tie wraps, and hook and loop fastener strips; and

printed installation instructions.

2. The digital signage vending machine retrofit kit according to claim 1 , further comprising T-Taps and AC power cord for tapping into existing AC power.

3. The digital signage vending machine retrofit kit according to claim 1 , further comprising a video cable.

4. The digital signage vending machine retrofit kit according to claim 1 , further comprising an Ethernet cable.

5. The digital signage vending machine retrofit kit according to claim 1 , further comprising a universal serial bus (USB) cable.

6. The digital signage vending machine retrofit kit according to claim 1 , where the display panel comprises a touchscreen display panel.

7. The digital signage vending machine retrofit kit according to claim 6 , where the touchscreen display panel comprises a touchscreen LCD display using projected capacitive touch sensing.

8. The digital signage vending machine retrofit kit according to claim 6 , where the touchscreen display panel comprises a touchscreen LCD display.

9. A digital signage vending machine retrofit kit, comprising:

a touchscreen display panel and an AC power cable;

a media player and power supply therefor;

a cellular wide area network (WAN) radio and power supply therefor;

a cellular antenna;

an antenna cable;

a video cable;

a universal serial bus (USB) cable;

an Ethernet cable;

T-Taps and an AC power cord for tapping into existing AC power;

one or more strips of double-stick foam tape;

an installation kit with an adhesive primer, a cleaning cloth, an alcohol cleaning wipe, assorted adhesive tie-wrap blocks, assorted tie wraps, and hook and loop fastener strips; and

printed installation instructions.

10. A vending machine with digital signage, comprising:

a vending machine having a door with a window in the door, where the door closes to form an interior compartment and where the vending machine has a top surface;

a display panel affixed to the window from the interior compartment so that images displayed on the display panel are visible through the window;

a media player coupled to the display panel to play video content on the display panel;

a cellular wide area network (WAN) radio coupled to the media player to receive video content via the cellular WAN; and

a cellular antenna coupled to the cellular WAN radio and affixed to the top surface of the vending machine.

11. The vending machine according to claim 10 , where the display panel comprises a touchscreen display panel and where the display panel detects touches through the window.

12. The vending machine according to claim 11 , where the touchscreen display panel comprises a touchscreen LCD display panel using projected capacitive touch sensing.

13. The vending machine according to claim 11 , where the touchscreen display panel comprises a touchscreen LCD display.

14. The vending machine according to claim 10 , where the display panel is affixed to the window using double-stick tape.

15. The vending machine according to claim 14 , where the display panel is affixed to the window using three strips of double-stick tape, one adjacent to a top edge, and two adjacent to the left and right sides of the display panel respectively.

16. The vending machine according to claim 14 , where the double-stick tape comprises double stick foam tape.

17. A vending machine with digital signage, comprising:

a vending machine having a door with a window in the door, where the door closes to form an interior compartment and where the vending machine has a top surface;

a touchscreen display panel affixed to the window by double-stick foam tape from the interior compartment so that images displayed on the display panel are visible through the window and where the display panel detects touches through the window; and

where the touchscreen display panel comprises a touchscreen LCD display using projected capacitive touch sensing;

a media player coupled to the display panel to play video content on the display panel;

a cellular wide area network (WAN) radio coupled to the media player to receive video content via the cellular WAN; and

a cellular antenna coupled to the cellular WAN radio and affixed to the top surface of the vending machine.

18. The vending machine according to claim 17 , where the display panel is affixed to the window using three strips of double-stick tape, one adjacent to a top edge, and two adjacent to the left and right sides of the display panel respectively.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 9, 2014
From: SONY CORPORATION; SONY CORPORATION OF AMERICA
To: CONVERGENT MEDIA SYSTEMS CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 031927/0229 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 24, 2012
From: NICHOLSON, ROBERT
To: SONY CORPORATION; SONY CORPORATION OF AMERICA
Reel/Frame 027758/0123 →
Continuity (3)
Provisional Application 61496267 · Jun 13, 2011
Provisional Application 61590931 · Jan 26, 2012
Related Publication 20120316672A1 · Dec 13, 2012