| 摘要 |
<p>A solution comprising cost-effective methods and techniques for adding a standard vending API to a traditional vending machine, to control and monitor the vending machine during normal operation, without changing the original Vending Machine Controller (VMC) board. A key aspect of this invention is the implementation of a standard vending API by means of a proprietary data communication protocol over a network connection between a consume media playback device and an extra microcontroller in the vending machine. The present invention provides interfacing methods and a communication protocol between a consumer media playback device, a microcontroller and a Vending Machine Controller. The microcontroller implements a hardware abstraction layer to hide the underlying vending hardware towards the consumer media playback device. The consumer media playback device can run an application that uses the standard vending API to control and monitor the vending machine during normal operation, and can convert a traditional vending machine into a vending machine with a graphical user interface, multimedia advertising and info kiosk capabilities. The methods and techniques of the invention can be integrated in an MDB Slave peripheral device of a vending machine.</p> |
