MXPA97006147A - Installation of sale to the menudeo, for the purchase to lower of the automotive, automat - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system of retail sale, for the purchase without lowering of the automobile, automatic, characterized in that: it comprises a storage facility for housing a plurality of articles that can be sold, wherein the sale of at least some of the plurality of salable items may be subject to particular restrictions, at least one means of entry for the customer, placed outside the storage facility, of at least one means of entry for the customer is accessible to a person of a vehicle when the The vehicle is placed adjacent to at least one input means, an automatic article retrieval means, located within the storage facility which operates in response to at least one means of customer input to retrieve any items which are selected by a customer, a means distributor of articles to supply the customer with the recovered items by the means of recovery, and a means of authorization of the purchase comprising: means to detect the selection of the customer of an article subject to sales restrictions, means operating in response to the means of detection, to automatically provide direct communication between the client and a wizard that provides the authorization, means to communicate the customer identification information to the wizard that provides the authorization, and remote operated means by the wizard that provides the authorization, to enable the transaction to be completed. sale of restricted items during verification by the customer identification information wizard, accept

Description

INSTALLATION OF SALE TO THE MENUDEO, FOR THE PURCHASE WITHOUT DOWNLOADING THE AUTOMOBILE, AUTOMATIC Field of the Invention The present invention relates in general to retail facilities, for the purchase without downloading of the automobile, for the sale and / or distribution of a multitude of products for the consumer, and more specifically, to a retail installation, for the purchase without getting off the car, which has improved automatic capabilities.

Background of the Invention Generally speaking, the sales / distribution facilities currently known operate primarily through interaction with the human being. Such facilities for distribution / sale suffer from the disadvantage that the need for interaction with the human being creates a significant inconvenience for potential customers. More specifically, prospective customers / buyers must physically browse through a particular retail facility where articles Ref.25289 can then be purchased through an assistant / cashier. Consequently, customers are overwhelmed by the amount of time and cost involved in the retail installation and waiting for the service to be provided. Several attempts have been made to overcome these disadvantages. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,155 of Domain et al describes a complex of automatic sellers formed of a central warehouse facility, several stations for customer orders, interconnected with the warehouse facility, several stations for the reception of customers, interconnected with the warehouse facility , and a network of lanes to direct vehicles that extends through the deposit facility and passes through the stations for customer orders and reception stations. Customers using the Complex are directed along the management lanes to an order station where they place orders for the items and / or services provided by the automatic sellers housed in the Automatic Vending Complex. The clients are then directed to drive to a particular reception station where they receive their ordered items. The central warehouse facility provides a means to store items for the consumer, prepare the items, and perform the services for the customers of the Complex of Automatic Sellers. The U.S. Patent No. 4,805,738 to Vayda discloses a one-stop commercial installation, formed of a plurality of stations for the customer, each including a space for parking the car, which are distributed around the outside of a circular building containing items for sale. The stations for the client and the building rotate with each other. The building or construction includes a loading station to supply the selected items ordered at the customer's stations. The walls of the building or construction support display sections of the goods which are visible by the people located in the customer's stations, the sideboards are cyclically exposed to the parked vehicles or a result of the relative rotation, allowing the selection and the payment of the goods when the relative rotation continues. After a predetermined time interval elapses, the rotation of the station for the customer places the charging station adjacent to the vehicle from which the merchandise was ordered. The U.S. Patent No. 4,073,368 to Mustapicu describes an automatic merchandise sales system where customers can drive their cars to a parking area and order the desired items, pay for and receive the items while they remain in their cars. A storage building for items is located away from, and electrically interconnected with the parking area. In the parking area a plurality of sites for the reception of the automobiles are each provided with a communicator equipped with video means to observe the items available in the remote building and with board means and vocal signals to transmit to the remote building a order of articles. Items so ordered are assembled, tabulated and supplied by ordering employees or automatic selection equipment. The U.S. Patent No. 3,647,026 to Alexander et al discloses an automated motor vehicle storage storage structure which has in its upper portion a storeroom for storing a multiplicity of different items for retail sale within individual distribution units, and in its lower portion a plurality of places for parking of the vehicles, each parking place provided with a console control apparatus which is equipped with a plurality of item selecting panels for use by a motorist. The retail items can be sorted and then distributed from the respective dispensing unit operating in response to an electronic control means and supplied through a system of conveyors to the automobiles. The console control apparatus is provided with a closed circuit television which is a circuit with a video camera to transmit an image of a selected item on a television screen, and a money changing unit which returns the correct change after registering the quantity offered and subtracting the total price of the selected items. Although each of the patents mentioned above describes retail facilities which provide a certain degree of automatic marketing for a customer, there is still a need for a retail facility which provides a more efficient and automated system at the same time. time that easily accommodates and integrates additional services for the client, such as the propagation of sales and product information prior to purchase.

Brief Description of the Invention Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an automated, improved retail facility that can allow all sales transactions to be made completely without a customer having to leave their vehicle. It is another object of the present invention to provide an automatic vending facility having automatic customer identification capabilities when a customer selects items which are subject to sales restrictions. It is another object of the present invention to provide an automatic vending facility having an improved item order entry / retrieval system and integrated inventory management capabilities. It is still another object of the present invention to provide an automatic vending system that has improved promotional marketing capabilities of the products. It is still another object of the present invention to provide an automatic vending facility which can be integrated with an automated banking system, and an automatic vehicle refueling system. According to the present invention, an automatic vending facility and system comprises a storage facility for accommodating a plurality of salable items, wherein the sale of at least some of the plurality of salable items may be subject to particular sales restrictions, at least one means of entry for the customer placed outside the storage facility which is accessible to a vehicle occupant when the vehicle is placed adjacent to at least one means of entry, and an automatic article retrieval means located within the storage facility which works in response to at least one means of entry for the customer, to retrieve any items which are selected for purchase by a customer. A means dispenser of the vehicles supplies the items recovered by the means of recovery, to the customer. In addition, purchase authorization means are provided which have means to detect the selection of the customer from one of the items subject to the sales restrictions, means operating in response to the detection means to automatically provide direct communication between the customer and a sales / authorization assistant, means to communicate the customer identification information to the authorization assistant, and remote controlled means by the authorization assistant, to enable the transaction complement of the restricted items sales during the verification of the assistant, of the customer's identification information. According to another aspect of the present invention, a retail system, for the purchase without leaving the automobile, automatic, comprises a storage facility for housing a plurality of salable items that may be subject to particular sales restrictions, less means of entry for the customer placed externally to the storage facility which is accessible to an occupant of a vehicle when the vehicle is placed adjacent to at least one means entry, and a means of retrieval of the articles, automatic, located within the storage facility which works in response to at least one means of entry for the customer, to retrieve any items which are selected for purchase by a customer. A means distributor of articles supplies the items recovered by the means of recovery to the customer. In addition, a means for storing the customer's purchase information is provided to accumulate a purchase history, and a means to analyze the history of the purchase is provided to determine a customer's purchase profile for use in particular merchandise items. further, according to the present invention, a method for the automatic sale of products for the consumer which are inventoried in a sales facility that has video means to display the inventoried products to a customer, means of entry to receive the information of the customer and product selections, and means to recover and disperse or distribute to the customer the selected products from their inventoried location within the facility, wherein the method comprises the steps of using the video display means to suggest a customer to enter the customer identification information with the means of entry, determine the customer profile based on the entry identification information, and determine if the customer's profile satisfies a first set of promotional criteria for the product, predetermined. If the customer profile satisfies the first set of promotional criteria, a first promotional arrangement of predetermined products is activated. In any case, at least one product selection menu requested by the customer is provided on the video screen media. Then the customer's product selections are received from the input means, the recovered products are received from the input means, the selected products are retrieved from the sales facility, and the recovered products are distributed to the customer. The method may further comprise the steps of determining whether at least one product selection menu required by the customer satisfies a second set of predetermined product promotional criteria, and activating a second predetermined promotional arrangement if the second set of predetermined criteria is satisfied. The first and / or second sets of promotional arrangements of predetermined products are designed to promote designated products prior to the finalization by the customer of the sale transaction. Such arrangements may include providing discount savings coupons and / or samples of free products to the customer prior to the selection of the products, and activating a predetermined audio and / or video warning to the customer while the customer is buying. The customer profile may be based on promotional criteria such as a past product purchase history, brand consistency or fidelity, and / or other pre-stored demographic data.

The present invention will be more fully understood upon reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment in conjunction with the appended drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a perspective view of a retail structure, for the purchase without lowering of the automobile, automatic, according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram for the sales control system of the present invention; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic illustration taken along line 3-3 of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of the interactive ordering method of the client; Figure 5 is an illustration of an image of the selection menu of the "aisle or side aisle"; and Figure 6 is an illustration of a verification menu image of the transaction summary.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITY As shown in Figure 1, the present invention comprises a retail installation 10, for the purchase without leaving the automobile, automatic, having a plurality of automatic transaction machines (ATM) 12 located around the periphery of a storage building 14. ATMs are arranged or distributed to facilitate customers driving their vehicles along one side of building 14, inserting a credit / debit card into a card reader 16, and making the product selections through a touch screen display terminal 18. Consumer items are collected as stock within building 14, and an automatic sorting / selection subsystem 20, controllably retrieves the selected products for deposit on a supply channel 22. As described more fully hereinafter, the information Selection / product is provided in the display terminals through a program driven by an interactive menu. The purchase price of each selected product is automatically totaled and registered against the customer's account or credit.

The automatic installation 10 of the present invention incorporates a sales system 100 as shown in the block diagram in Figure 2. More specifically, each ATM unit 12 includes the card reading device 16 and the display device 18 input video of the touch screen described above, a device 24 for distributing discount coupons of the products, and a video conference equipment 26. Each ATM unit 12 is bidirectionally coupled to a control processor means 102, the which is bidirectionally coupled to the automatic sorting / sorting subsystem 20, to the discount coupon dispenser 24, and to a customer identification / sale authorization sub-system 104. In addition to controlling the sales system 100, the control processor 102 can provide a bidirectional transaction connection between a subsystem 106 and a separate banking network and / or a subsystem 108 Je replenishment robotic fuel foundation, automated, optional. An exemplary form for the automated, robotic, optional vehicle fuel refueling subsystem may include a special pump fuel tank cap / nozzle adapter having a response beacon means incorporated therein. The cap for special gasoline is used in place of the cap for the vehicle's original gas tank. The fuel supplying robot may include a fuel supply arm with integrated pump nozzle, which interacts with the fuel cap response radio beacon means to provide automatic alignment and insertion of the pump nozzle into the portion Adapter of the nozzle of the gas cap. In addition, the control processor 102 performs all the operations of carrying out the transaction accounts, check the inventory status, and keep a record. More specifically, all transactions are classified by articles and recorded with the account of the particular customer on a memory medium 110. Accordingly, the present invention avoids the need for cash payment at the end of a sale transaction, and provides a record of a history of total purchase of the particular client, which can be traced to its use in customers who are targeted or targeted for product marketing promotions. As described more fully hereinafter, this ability to record a history of a customer purchase allows the present invention to provide product marketing opportunities dramatically improved over conventional sales facilities. With respect to the location of the account registration memory or credit, a person with ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that the memory means 110 of the account registration can be located at each particular sales facility, or alternatively they could be located in a remote central location, with access to each control of the sales facility provided by a conventional telephone line / modem connection. The control processor 102 stores the inventory status data and maintains an appropriate record, on a memory medium 112. When a particular item is supplied, all the relevant information about the item is recorded in the memory 112, and when each item is purchased, the inventory record is updated. Accordingly, at each particular point of time, the control processor 102 has a complete inventory record in the inventories within the sales facility 10. The bibliographic data of the product and / or the specific information that is related to each product is further stored in a memory means 114. Further in accordance with the present invention, the control processor 102 is able to utilize the inventory registration memory 112 as a means to automatically track and remove outdated and / or perishable items from the inventory Knowing precisely when the particular expiration dates will occur. In addition, the control processor can control the selection / distribution of the oldest items in existence in response to a customer purchase order for the particular item. As shown in Figure 3, the automatic sorting / sorting subsystem 20 generally comprises a plurality of specialized product storage units 202, placed within the building 14 around a longitudinally extending bidirectional conveyor 204. Each of the storage units of the product 202 is designed to store and unload the product when a command of the particular type of the product is tightened, such as bottles, cans, pharmaceutical articles, etc. Each storage unit 202 is provided with an associated product discharge mechanism 206, which effectively transports a selected product -from the storage unit 202 to the bidirectional conveyor mechanism 204. A pair of bidirectional distribution conveyors 208 and 210 are each located at a respective end of the bi-directional conveyor 204. The distribution conveyor mechanisms 208 and 210 are arranged and positioned with respect to the conveyor mechanism 204 in such a way that the distribution conveyor mechanisms redirect the path of the conveyor. any items reaching the ends of the conveyor mechanism 204 to the appropriate distribution channel 22. The total operation of the sorting / selection subsystem 20 is controlled by the processor 102. Referring now to Figure 4, the operation of the client input program directed by the interactive menu initially provides a "welcome" screen combination and the suggestion that you insert your card over the video display device 18 in step 300. During the appropriate insertion of the credit / debit card in the card reader 16, a "aisle or aisle" selection screen is displayed on the touch screen in step 302. The "aisle or aisle" selection screen provides a classification of Consumer's items according to type. An example of such an image of the screen is illustrated in Figure 5. The selection of a "hallway" allows a customer to simulate conventional purchases by allowing him to pry into a "hallway" of consumer items.

Accordingly, in response to a tactile selection of the customer, a particular "hallway" entry screen is displayed in step 304, which visually simulates the actual products which could appear in a conventional shelving arrangement. A client can explore through video images as if he were snooping up and down a hallway, or to move to a new hallway. If the customer touches the image of a particular item displayed on the "aisle" screen in step 306, detailed bibliographic information regarding the chosen product is displayed in step 308. If the customer chooses to purchase the product, an icon of appropriate video is touched or pressed on the screen 18. If the purchase of a product is detected in step 310, the processor 102 determines whether a restricted item, such as alcohol or tobacco, has been selected in step 312. If an item restricted has not been selected, the number of items purchased is counted or marked and the amount is totalized in step 318. If the product is not selected for purchase, the customer is returned to the previous "aisle" screen in step 320. If the purchase of a registered item is detected in step 312, the processor 102 automatically activates the identification / authorization subsystem 104, which subsequently activates the conferring equipment. video feature 26 in step 314. The activation of the video conferencing equipment 26 places the customer in direct communication with a sales assistant (which may be located on the site or at a remote location), where the customer is invites you to provide the authorization information of the purchase such as by flashing a valid ID of the assistant, or by entering a valid password or password. If the authorization is conformed in step 316, the wizard directs the system by means of a remotely activated switch to go to step 318. If the authorization is confirmed, the wizard returns the system to step 302. It is worth noting that in addition to the automatic activation in step 314, the video conference equipment 26 may be activated by the client in the ATM 12 at any time during the transaction if the client desires help or information from an assistant. After the customer has finished the purchase and all of the desired items have been selected, the customer touches a verification video icon which causes a summary screen of the transaction to be displayed in step 322. The summary screen of the transaction provides a list by points of all the selected items and the total transaction price. An example of a summary image of the transaction is illustrated in Figure 6, where the product type is listed in 322 (a), the number of units selected in 322 (b), the unit price in 322 (c) , and the total price in 322 (d). The client is provided with an option to "stop" the items before verifying it has been finalized. During the completion of the transaction, the selected articles are retrieved in step 324 as described here above. The system then returns to the "welcome" screen in step 326. Accordingly, the present invention provides an automatic method and system for the sale without leaving the automobile of consumer products, which advantageously improves ease and flexibility of the customer selection program, interactive, while integrating the customer's purchase history and inventory, tracking it in the total sales control system. Tracking a customer's past purchase history (such as the frequency of product purchase or brand loyalty) allows the present invention to accurately select the intended customers for strategic product promotional plans., improved, such as the distribution of discount savings coupons through the coupons distribution device 24 and / or the display of the warning on the screen 18, prior to the actual purchase by the target customer of any items . The improved feature of targeting the customers of the present invention provides a capacity for influence on the customers just prior to their purchase. In addition to tracking a customer's purchase history, the automatic sale arrangement of the present invention provides other improved marketing capabilities which can influence the customer's buying decisions just prior to selection or verification. For example, since the processor 102 knows which video corridor a customer may be snooping on, commercial advertisements may be placed sung of the products and / or the company, preprogrammed in the particular aisles and subsequently reproduced on an audio system when a customer noses in the hall. In addition, the customer's personal data can be stored with the account number to provide a demographic profile which allows particular segments of the population that purchase, to be targeted selectively for the distribution of promotional samples and / or coupons. Also, since only the video facsimiles of the products are displayed in a "corridor" form, the present invention easily shows the discounted or main attraction products that are to be displayed in specially designed promotional aisles without physically moving any of the the products as it might be required in a conventional sales facility. Finally, it is also worth noting that in addition to the improved marketing capabilities and other benefits of the automatic sales operation of the present invention, the physical distribution of the sales facility 10 provides advantages over conventional sales facilities. For example, the total compaction capability of the self-contained sales facility 10 allows the present system to be movable. This also allows the system to be built completely out of place, and then when a location is selected for business, the building can simply be transported to the site and placed on the proper foundations. It will be understood that the foregoing description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is for illustrative purposes only, and that various structural and operational features described herein are susceptible to a number of modifications, none of which departs from the spirit and scope of this invention as defined in the appended claims.

It is noted that in relation to this date the best method known by the applicant to carry out the aforementioned invention, is that which is clear from the present description of the invention.

Having described the invention as above, property is claimed as contained in the following

Claims (20)

1. A system of retail sale, for the purchase without lowering of the automobile, automatic, characterized in that: it comprises a storage facility for housing a plurality of articles that can be sold, wherein the sale of at least some of the plurality of salable items it may be subject to particular restrictions; at least one means of entry for the customer, placed outside the storage facility, the at least one means of entry for the customer is accessible to an occupant of a vehicle when the vehicle is placed adjacent to at least one means of entry; an automatic article retrieval means, located within the storage facility which operates in response to at least one means of customer input to retrieve any items which are selected by a customer; a means distributor of articles to supply the client with the items recovered by the means of recovery; and a means of authorization of the purchase comprising: means for detecting the selection of the customer of an article subject to sales restrictions; means that function in response to the detection means, to automatically provide direct communication between the client and an assistant providing the authorization; means for communicating customer identification information to the assistant providing the authorization; and remotely operated media by the wizard that provides the authorization, to enable the sale transaction of the restricted items to be completed during the verification by the wizard of the acceptable customer identification information.

2. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that it also comprises means for storing the inventory information and a means for updating the inventory information in response to the items selected and distributed to the customer.

3. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that it also comprises means for tracking inventory information to detect and automatically remove any perishable items which have already exceeded their expiration dates.

4. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that it also comprises means for storing the customer's purchase information to accumulate a shopping history.

5. The system according to claim 4, characterized in that it also comprises means for analyzing the purchase history to determine a customer's purchase profile for use in the marketing of particular items.

6. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the storage facility comprises a mobile structure suitable for off-site construction.

7. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one input means of the client comprises a touch screen video input screen.

8. The system according to claim 7, characterized in that it also comprises means for generating at least one image of the selection menu on the video input touch screen, to facilitate the selection of items by the customer.

9. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that it also comprises means for reading an identification card of the customer's account or credit, and means for automatically debit the transaction of sale to the customer at the end of a transaction.

10. A system of retail sale, for the purchase without lowering of the automobile, automatic, characterized in that it comprises: a storage facility for housing a plurality of salable items, wherein the sale of at least some of the plurality of salable items may be subject to to particular restrictions; at least one means of entry for the customer placed outside the storage facility, the at least one means of entry for the customer is accessible to an occupant of a vehicle when the vehicle is placed adjacent to at least one means of entry; an automatic article retrieval means located within the storage facility, which operates in response to at least one means of entry for the customer, to retrieve any items which are selected by a customer; a means of distributing articles to distribute to the client the items recovered by the means of recovery; means for storing customer purchase information to accumulate a purchase history; and means to analyze the purchase history to determine a customer's purchase profile for use in the marketing of particular items.

11. The system according to claim 10, characterized in that it also comprises a means of purchase authorization comprising: means for detecting the selection of the customer of an article subject to sales restriction; means that function in response to the detection means, to automatically provide direct communication between the client and an assistant providing the authorization; means for communicating customer identification information to the assistant providing the authorization; and remotely operated media by the wizard that provides the authorization, to enable the sale transaction of the restricted items to be completed during the verification by the wizard of the acceptable customer identification information.

12. The system according to claim 10, characterized in that it further comprises means for storing the inventory information and a means for updating the inventory information in response to the items selected and distributed to the consumer.

13. The system according to claim 12, characterized in that it also comprises means to track inventory information to automatically detect and remove any perishable items which have passed their expiration dates.

14. The system according to claim 10, characterized in that the storage facility comprises a mobile structure suitable for off-site construction.

15. The system according to claim 10, characterized in that at least one input means of the client comprises a video input touch screen.

16. The system according to claim 15, characterized in that it also comprises means for generating at least one image of the selection menu on the video input touch screen to facilitate the selection of the items by the customer.

17. The system according to claim 10, characterized in that it further comprises means for reading an identification card of the customer's account, and means for automatically charging a debit from the customer's sale transaction at the end of a transaction.

18. A method for the automatic sale of products for the consumer, the products for the consumer are inventoried in a sales facility that has a video medium to display the inventoried products to a customer, means of entry to receive the customer's information and the selections of the product, and means for recovering and distributing the selected products to the client from their inventoried location within the facility, the method is characterized in that it comprises the steps of: using the video means to suggest to a customer that the information is entered identification of the client with the means of entry; determine a customer profile based on the entry identification information; determine if the customer's profile satisfies a first set of promotional criteria of predetermined products; activate a first promotional arrangement of predetermined products if the customer's profile satisfies the first predetermined promotional criterion; provide at least one menu of product selection requested by the client on the means of video display; receive the "selections of the customer's product from the entrance, recover the selected products from the sales facility, and distribute the recovered products to the customer.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that it further comprises the steps of determining whether at least one product selection menu requested by the customer satisfies a second set of promotional criteria of the predetermined products; and activating a second predetermined promotional arrangement if the second set of predetermined criteria is satisfied.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that the first and second promotional arrangements of the predetermined products comprise promoting the designated products prior to the finalization of the sales transaction to the customer. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a retail installation (10) for the purchase without leaving the automobile, automatic, and a method using a plurality of automatic transaction machines (12) located around the periphery of a storage building (14), by means of which customers can drive their vehicles throughout the building, insert a credit / debit card in a card reader (16), and make product selections by means of an exhibition terminal. touch screen (18). The products are supplied or are in existence within the building (14), and an automatic selection / classification subsystem (20), retrieves the selected products for deposit in a distribution channel (22). The selection and the information of the product is provided in the display terminals (18) by means of a program directed by an interactive menu. The selection of products subject to sales restrictions automatically activates the video conferencing equipment (26) so that a sales assistant can confirm a customer authorization for the purchase of the selected product. The customer's purchase history is stored and analyzed to improve the likelihood of the product so that there is a promotional influence on the marketing during the product selection by the customer, prior to the completion of the sale transaction.