Vending device with integrated inventory monitoring
Abstract:
A vending device has at least one display area and an evaluator. The display area is formed by a rigid body, and has at least two, spatially-separated product areas, the rigid body of the display area being held by force transmission areas of at least two weighing cells. The evaluator is configured to, at periodic intervals or when a total weight detected by the at least two weighing cells changes: determine new coordinates of a center of gravity from data of the weighing cells, and transmit the new coordinates to a controller. The controller is configured to: determine a product area within the display area based upon changes in the coordinates of the center of gravity, determine, from the change in a total weight, the weight of goods removed from or added to the determined product area, and update an inventory, stored in a memory, for the product.
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