초록 ▼

The present invention discloses and claims a method and system for vending products which prompt a customer to enter selection criteria relating to the type of product the customer would like to purchase, use the customer's selection criteria to determine which products are potentially suitable for

The present invention discloses and claims a method and system for vending products which prompt a customer to enter selection criteria relating to the type of product the customer would like to purchase, use the customer's selection criteria to determine which products are potentially suitable for the customer's purposes, needs, interests, and tastes, and rank the products based on their suitability to facilitate the customer's final selection of a product. The system includes a computer having a storage device which is used to store products to be vended or data relating to products to be vended, an input/output ("I/O") device, a payment device, and a manufacturing device. Initially, through the I/O device, a customer is prompted to enter selection criteria relating to the type of product the customer would like to purchase. After receiving the customer's selection criteria, the computer determines which products are potentially suitable for the customer's purposes, needs, interests, and tastes, and ranks the products based on their suitability. Then, the I/O device displays a list of the ranked products to the customer, prompts the customer to make a final selection of a product, and inputs the customer's final selection.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A method for vending products, the method comprising the steps of:storing in a product data file a plurality of products to be vended or product designs;providing a product suitability data file, said product suitability data file including a plurality of product suitabil

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A method for vending products, the method comprising the steps of:storing in a product data file a plurality of products to be vended or product designs;providing a product suitability data file, said product suitability data file including a plurality of product suitability matrices, each said product suitability matrix corresponding to one of said products or product designs stored in said product data file;storing in each product suitability matrix at least one application descriptor, said application descriptors defining properties of each said product or product design for at least one application category, each said application category defining groups into which said products or product designs can be classified;presenting, to a customer, selection criteria options for a plurality of application categories;receiving at least one selection criteria from a customer for each application category presented;ranking the products or product designs based on matches or non matches between said received selection criteria and the application descriptors for each product; anddisplaying a list of the ranked products or product designs or representations of the ranked product for selection of a product or product design by the customer.