Automated merchandise dispensing and retrieval system

摘要

A system from which a customer may rent and return videocassettes. The system has a plurality of vending machines for dispensing and receiving videocassettes including a carousel rotated about a horizontal axis and having bins for storage of videocassettes and access doors for dispensing and receiving videocassettes. A computer controlled positioning system scans a barcode ring affixed to the carousel and an aperture detector counts the passage of apertures in a ring about the carousel for determining the position of the carousel. The control computer also maintains an inventory database which tracks inventory in the bins by scanning barcodes affixed to the each videocassette and viewable via an opening at each bin location. A host computer communicates with machine control computers for maintaining a system wide inventory database, communicating with financial institutions for customer billing purposes, logging machine faults and controlling inter-vending of videocassettes, wherein inter-vending permits videocassettes rented from one machine within the system to be returned to another machine in the system and be re-rented from that machine with automatic adjustment of the inventory databases.