초록 ▼

A remote data acquisition and transmission system and method are disclosed. A plurality of application controllers are interfaced with remote equipment from which operation data is acquired by the application controllers. The application controllers communicate with an application host via a local a

A remote data acquisition and transmission system and method are disclosed. A plurality of application controllers are interfaced with remote equipment from which operation data is acquired by the application controllers. The application controllers communicate with an application host via a local area network, and the application host can communicate with a network operations center using a wide area network interface. In one embodiment, each application controller interfaces with remote equipment that comprises a vending machine.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A remote data acquisition and transmission system, comprising:first and second application controllers, the first application controller interfacing with a first vending machine to acquire operation data from the first vending machine, and the second application controller interfacing with a seco

1. A remote data acquisition and transmission system, comprising:first and second application controllers, the first application controller interfacing with a first vending machine to acquire operation data from the first vending machine, and the second application controller interfacing with a second vending machine to acquire operation data from tie second vending machine; an application host communicating with at least one of the first and second application controllers via a local area network (LAN) to receive the operation data from the first and second vending machines; a wide area network (WAN) interface in the application host for communicating with a network operations center; the first and second application controllers and the application host operable to autoconfigure the local area network; a first transceiver in the first application controller that transmits the operation data from the first vending machine to the second application controller; a second transceiver in the second application controller that receives the operation data from the first vending machine and relays the operation data from the first vending machine to the application host on behalf of the first application controller, wherein the second transceiver also transmits the operation data from the second vending machine to the application host; the network operations center communicating with the application host via the WAN to receive the operation data acquired by the first and second application controllers; and the network operations center transmitting data for the first and second vending machines via the WAN to the application host the application host transmitting the data to at least one of the first and second application controllers via the LAN, and the first and second application controllers providing the data to the first and second vending machines, respectively.