Importance

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Abstract

An improved vending machine that permits vending plural or multiple items in the course of a single customer transaction without the need for currency or special cards. The vending machine is particularly useful in controlled facilities such as prisons and jails. The vending machine includes cabinet having an ingress door for loading merchandise into an interior compartment of the cabinet and a merchandise egress and retrieval assembly; an automated merchandise delivery assembly disposed in the interior compartment of the cabinet for storing merchandise and for delivering merchandise to the merchandise egress and retrieval assembly; a electronic user interface communicatively connected to the cabinet and providing merchandise information and selection capability for the user, and providing user information for the apparatus; and a vending controller electronically communicatively connected to the user interface and to the automated merchandise delivery assembly, whereby the apparatus dispenses at least one item of merchandise without presentation of currency nor an external card device by the user. The vending machine is capable of dispensing a plurality of items of merchandise in a single transaction.

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First Claim