WO1999035322A1

WO1999035322A1 - Automated valet service

Info

Publication number: WO1999035322A1
Application number: PCT/AU1999/000006
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jeffrey Field; Graeme John Hardwick
Original assignee: Jeffrey Field; Graeme John Hardwick
Priority date: 1998-01-07
Filing date: 1999-01-07
Publication date: 1999-07-15
Also published as: AUPP123598A0

Abstract

A vending style machine for receipt from a customer of goods intended for processing such as dry-cleaning or the like and subsequent return to the customer from the vending style machine of those same goods following such processing is disclosed. The vending style machine comprises means for receipt of goods for processing, means to identify the goods which are deposited, means to uniquely link the customer with the identified goods, means to receive payment for such processing by deposit of monies and/or transfer of electronic funds, means to identify the processed goods and store them so that they are available for subsequent collection once they are processed, means to correlate the customer with the processed goods upon his return to the machine to collect his processed goods, and means to dispense such processed goods upon achieving such correlation and upon confirmation of receipt of payment.

Description

AUTOMATED NALET SERVICE

This invention relates to vending type machines and in particular to an automatic vending machine for receiving garments and the like which are to be dry-cleaned or otherwise processed or repaired and for dispensing same to the customer on completion of dry-cleaning or other processing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Conventionally, vending machines are well known in servicing the needs of customers. They vary from machines able to dispense food, drinks and cigarettes to just about any sort of commodity including tickets (eg for parking) and even money (automatic teller machines or ATMs).

Generally, such machines are capable of being activated by the insertion of coins or notes, or by the reading of details from a credit or other card from which funds may be drawn in order to cover the cost of the particular goods provided.

The underlying concept of all vending machines however is that they provide a new good or commodity (even if it is only change in the case of a change machine) in exchange for depositing money or otherwise making available funds from a suitable source such as a debit or credit card. Although automatic teller machines are capable of receiving deposits as well as supplying funds, and are also capable of receiving a credit card or debit card which is returned immediately, there is no known situation in which goods are deposited for processing and returned at some later stage. In other words, in known vending machines, apart from the immediate return of a credit or debit card, that which is dispensedHs an item which the customer or consumer has hitherto not previously had in his possession.

There are many situations akin to dry-cleaning operations, such as shoe repair and other services, which would benefit from a fully automated deposit and retrieval system. Just as automatic teller machines and other vending machines allow people with busy lifestyles to find suitable times, for example out of regular business hours, to achieve their purposes, so too, it would be useful to extend the time available in which to deposit and retrieve dry-cleaning, ie outside the hours of normal dry-cleaning shops or other manned drop-off and pick-up points. Not only would an automated vending machine of this type provide additional benefit because of its greater availability but would itself provide labour savings in the collection and reissue of dry-cleaning.

It would therefore be extremely advantageous if a vending style machine were available which allows for goods to be deposited at any time of the day in exchange for say a collection receipt or other suitable identifying token and which would allow the return (ie vending) of the actual goods previously deposited once they had been processed for whatever purpose. Alternatively, such a vending machine could record details of the customer from his credit or debit card to be matched up against similarly identified and processed goods for later retrieval thereof. Dry-cleaning services or valet operations lend themselves especially well to this approach, but many other services would equally benefit from the invention as herein described. Included are such examples as alterations, mending and other tailoring services, boot repairs and even repairs to electrical goods.

Although the following description refers generally to dry-cleaning or valet services, any services or processes performed on goods which can be accommodated by means of suitable modification to the invention as described herein are also meant to be included. No limitation of the invention to dry-cleaning or valet services alone is intended or should be construed.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a fully automated vending style machine capable of receiving goods for processing (either on-site or elsewhere) in exchange for a suitable redemption ticket or by otherwise recording a suitable means of identification, and which is also capable of dispensing such goods at a later date by the customer surrendering the redemption ticket or entering relevant identifying data, once those goods are suitably processed. Consequently, by providing an automated deposit and return of goods for processing, the invention overcomes or at least ameliorates the foregoing shortcomings and disadvantages of presently known means of depositing and collecting goods such as clothing for dry-cleaning. At the very least, the invention provides an alternative to the manual receipt of goods for processing and the subsequent manual reissue of same.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, there is provided a vending style machine for receipt from a customer of goods intended for processing such as dry-cleaning or the like and subsequent return to the customer from the vending style machine of those same goods following such processing, comprising means for receipt of goods for processing, means to identify the goods which are deposited, means to uniquely link the customer with the identified goods, means to receive monies and/or other electronic funds, for example by means of debit or credit card, as payment of such processing, means to identify the processed goods and store them so that they are available for subsequent collection once they are processed, means to correlate the customer with the processed goods upon his return to the machine to collect his processed goods, and means to dispense such processed goods upon achieving such correlation and upon confirmation of receipt of payment.

It will be appreciated that the use of the automated vending machine as described above, at least from the customers point of view, involves essentially a two step process, ie depositing goods such as clothes for processing, eg dry-cleaning, and returning at a later time to collect the processed goods. Payment for the processing, may therefore be accomplished during either step (or in some cases during both steps, for example by making an initial deposit and paying the balance upon collection or adjusting any under or overpayment at the time of collection if necessary).

Thus, in one form of the invention, a customer can arrange to prepay for the processing by depositing sufficient monies or arranging sufficient funds from his credit or debit card at the outset. This can be achieved for example by providing a list of expected prices for the dry-cleaning of each class of article. By providing a suitable table into which the customer enters the number of goods of each class (for example in electronic form, ie by entering details to a screen via a keypad, touch screen or voice activated), a total to be paid can be calculated. Upon swiping or inserting a credit or debit card in a suitable receiving means therefor, or otherwise depositing monies directly by known means, the payment may be recorded and a suitable redemption ticket issued.

Alternatively, if a card is used, details of the customer such as his card number and date/time of deposit may be recorded to identify the particular goods. In the former case, where a ticket is issued, processed goods would be issued upon matching the details on the ticket which is inserted into the machine with the details encoded on the processed goods (as discussed below), whereas in the latter case it would be necessary to swipe or insert the card again to provide the details for the match. Alternatively, a code may be issued by way of a ticket or simply provided visually on a screen (eg a password), the code itself being entered into the machine manually by the customer wishing to retrieve his processed goods at a later date.

Alternatively, payment may be accomplished upon dispensing the processed goods. This latter method is perhaps more advantageous, since any extra processing required or mistake in calculating the correct monies initially by the customer (ie through miscalculating the number or type of goods or from other unexpected processing costs) can be overcome by the dry-cleaner correctly setting the required amount to be paid before the goods can be dispensed. Of course, a combination of the two may be utilised, wherein the customer makes either an initial deposit or full payment and any balance or shortfall, as the case may be, is collected from or reimbursed to the customer by way of his making an appropriate further deposit of monies or funds, or receiving credit or refund as the case may be, at the time of collecting the goods.

The identification of goods deposited into the machine for dry-cleaning may be accomplished in one of several ways. Firstly, in the case of a ticket issued for redemption, a corresponding ticket may also be printed which is placed with the goods deposited by the customer. For example, a plastic or other bag made for example from woven nylon fabric may be dispensed by known means, into which are placed the goods to be dry-cleaned. The identifying ticket would be placed in the bag, or depending on its inherent structure stuck to, tied to or otherwise affixed to the bag by the user. Alternatively, the identification could be achieved automatically by encoding the dispensed bag itself prior to issue or even encoding the bag after the bag of goods is deposited into the machine. Furthermore, the goods to be deposited, could be automatically bagged and encoded or tagged after being simply deposited in a suitable chute, eg by having the bag affixed about the chute for release therefrom after being filled. As a further alternative, goods may be deposited through for example a chute, into a waiting trolley suitably located and indexed on a conveyor. It is preferred that the actual receptacle, chute or other means for receiving the goods, whether bagged or not, have closure means associated therewith, to restrict access at other times, so that only the person depositing goods has sufficient time to make a deposit, thereby discouraging vandalism and unwanted deposits.

As far as the specific encoding of any ticket etc produced by the machine, including any automatic encoding of the goods themselves (or at least the bag in which they are contained) is concerned, this may be in any machine readable format, such as bar coding, to assist in both the later identification of the goods themselves as well as matching with the redeemed ticket if one is employed, upon retrieval of the processed goods by the client.

In this way, means to identify the goods which are deposited may be of any suitable type provided that they uniquely link the customer with those goods. Similarly, as far as marking the goods for later collection is concerned, any suitable means of doing so for subsequent identification and matching when the goods are to be collected may be utilised.

Once goods are deposited, they will in general be stored until they are collected for processing by the dry-cleaner or other processor. When suitably processed, the dry cleaner will return the goods to the vending machine and place them in suitable arrangement, eg on a conveyor style rack, for dispensing when the customer inserts his redemption ticket or provides other suitable identification as discussed above, together with final settlement of the payment or confirmation of previous payment as discussed above. The positions on such a rack may be identified with a copy of the bar code or other internal identifier which was earlier produced when the goods were initially deposited for processing. An electronic eye or other suitable reading or scanning device may be suitably positioned to read such encoding on the rack or the goods as required, so that upon recognition of the customer's particular code the goods are retrieved and made available for collection in any one of a number of suitable ways. Again, as with the receiving facility, such dispensing arrangement should preferably be made secure prior to and after delivery to restrict tampering, vandalism etc.

Information may be keyed into the machine by the dry-cleaner processor if desired at the time he loads the processed goods back into the machine. This may include information concerning damage, recommended repairs etc. This may be made available on screen or printed as required for example with a final transaction docket/receipt.

The forgoing description generally presupposes that processing of the goods such as dry-cleaning is carried out remotely from the vending machine. In other words the vending machine functions as a point of collection and reissue only. This approach is particularly suited to hotels and apartment blocks, shopping arcades and centres, and railway stations, bus terminals, parking stations and petrol stations and the like, where it is preferred that operations such as dry-cleaning are necessarily remote. On the other hand, there will be many instances where a machine of this nature may be integrated with an exiting dry-cleaning business as a twenty-four hour deposit and pick-up facility at premises where dry-cleaning is actually carried out. As a further development, the vending machine itself may function as a front-end to a fully automated laundering/dry-cleaning process wherein goods are deposited and processed and returned to the customer without any manual intervention at all.

Furthermore, other alternative embodiments are contemplated including the facility to issue monthly accounts for regular customers. Also contemplated would be the allocation of accounts to say a particular room number where the machine is installed in an hotel.

The machine may also be linked by suitable telecommunication media, eg modem or other device, to a central processing facility so that if it were filled earlier than expected, a courier could be dispatched to collect the goods as required.

It will also be understood that whilst many installations according to the invention are likely to require interconnection by modem or other electronic means, for either the above purpose, as part of a chain, or indeed even to link electronically to banks etc for retrieval of funds etc, stand alone units having no such connection are also envisaged, in which no outside connection is necessary (all processing including receipt of monies or other funds being handled on site).

It will also be appreciated that the vending style machine according to the invention may be configured in modular form to accommodate variations in capacity, location etc. The exact configuration will depend on several factors and the final appearance and structure will be a matter of appropriate design criteria. For example one entry door may suffice for both deposit of goods as well as return of goods. On the hand where appropriate, two separate doors for deposit and return may be employed. Similarly, there may be different sizes of access doors for small items and for larger bulky items.

BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The following is a brief description of a typical flow of use by a customer of an automated valet service according to one embodiment of the invention.

A. DELIVERY OF SOILED GOODS

1. Customer activates automated valet service by using his/her access card (eg any card for the used for the purpose of transferring funds to cover cost of processing). With the machine activated, a security cover screen is raised. The security screen protects the machine when not in use. With the cover raised, the customer has access to an interactive video screen, (keypad, touch screen or voice activated). The customer is led through a series of prompts, i.e. delivery or pick-up, alterations, repairs, goods to be processed, number of goods, etc.

2. If there are a lot of goods or the goods are bulky, the customer will be directed to make one deposit at a time. Also for expediency there may be express transactions, i.e. dry clean goods only.

3. The customer is then prompted to place soiled goods in the receptacle provided (which is pre-encoded by means of bar coding or electronic chip etc) and is further prompted to conclude transaction, i.e. any other soiled goods to be deposited etc. After each soiled goods receptacle is physically deposited into the appropriate access door of the soiled module component of the machine, the code for this receptacle is electronically read and its information is automatically linked to the customer's access card details.

4. When the last receipt is issued the customer is prompted for any further transactions, if not, the customer access card is returned and the automated valet service goes into wait mode for the next customer action.

B. PICK-UP OF PROCESSED GOODS

1. Same as 1 above for A. Customer Delivery of Soiled Goods.

2. When pick-up is chosen the customer is informed if the goods are ready. If ready, the processed goods are displayed on screen, the price accompanies each item and is totalled, as are any alterations and repairs etc. The customer is notified if there was a discrepancy with the original input of goods to those received. The customer is also notified if any processes or services could not be done and why.

3. Customer is prompted to accept transaction, if customer does not accept some or all of the transactions, he/she is prompted to pay for goods at price shown and is given a query contact number, which may be printed on the receipt at the end of the transaction. If payment for the goods is refused by the customer, a query number will also be given and no goods returned. Any such queries are automatically logged into the computer and the machine owners/operators are alerted at a preprogrammed interval or directly by modem as required.

4. When customer accepts the transaction or finalises any queries (ie accepts to pay), the automated valet service switches to delivery mode. Customer's goods, whose position on the delivery mechanism which had been electronically stored in memory in the processed goods section by the machine operator are thus located and delivered to the customer retrieval enclosure. The customer is visually or audibly told that goods are ready for removal from machine. The door to such goods, after safety and security interlocks are opened, is either (depending on model chosen) manually or automatically opened. Also during this time the rest of the machine is mechanically isolated from the customer retrieval enclosure. The customer removes goods and is prompted to end transaction.

5. Receipt and access card are returned to the customer and the machine automatically secures itself and returns to wait mode for next customer.

The foregoing describes only some embodiments of the present invention, and modifications obvious to those skilled in the art can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A vending style machine for receipt from a customer of goods intended for processing such as dry-cleaning or the like and subsequent return to the customer from the vending style machine of those same goods following such processing, the vending style machine comprising means for receipt of goods for processing, means to identify the goods which are deposited, means to uniquely link the customer with the identified goods, means to receive payment for such processing by deposit of monies and/or transfer of electronic funds, means to identify the processed goods and store them so that they are available for subsequent collection once they are processed, means to correlate the customer with the processed goods upon his return to the machine to collect his processed goods, and means to dispense such processed goods upon achieving such correlation and upon confirmation of receipt of payment.

2. A vending style machine according to claim 1, in which the means to receive payment is by debit or credit card.

3. A vending style machine according to either claim 1 or claim 2, in which payment for the processing, is accomplished by making an initial deposit when goods are deposited for processing and paying the balance upon collection of the processed goods.

4. A vending style machine according to claim 3, in which a customer enters the number of goods of each class by entering details to a screen via a keypad, touch screen or voice activated screen, a total to be paid is calculated and upon swiping or inserting a credit or debit card in a suitable receiving means therefor, or otherwise depositing monies directly by known means, the payment is recorded and a suitable redemption ticket issued for later collection of goods.

5. A vending style machine according to either claim 1 or claim 2, in which payment for the processing, is accomplished in total during collection of the processed goods.

6. A vending style machine according to claim 5, in which a customer uses a credit card or debit card at the time of depositing goods for processing, from which details of the customer such as his card number and date/time of deposit are recorded to identify the particular goods, the details being used for later match up at the time of collection of the processed goods, the card being swiped or inserted again to provide the details for the match.

5 7. A vending style machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3 or claim 5, in which a code is issued visually on a screen as a password, the code itself being entered into the machine manually by the customer wishing to retrieve his processed goods at a later date.

8. A vending style machine according to any one of the previous claims in which the identification of goods deposited into the machine for dry-cleaning is accomplished by

10 providing a ticket which is placed with the goods deposited by the customer.

9. A vending style machine according to any one of claims 1 to 7 in which the identification of goods deposited into the machine for dry-cleaning is accomplished by providing a pre-encoded receptacle such as a bag or trolley into which is placed the goods by the customer.

15 10. A vending style machine according to any one of claims 1 to 7, in which goods to be deposited are automatically bagged and encoded or tagged after being simply deposited in a suitable chute.

11. A vending style machine according to any one of the previous claims, in which the processed goods are returned to the machine by the processor and placed in suitable

20 arrangement on a conveyor style rack, for dispensing when the customer inserts his redemption ticket or provides other suitable identification to match with the processed goods, together with final settlement of the payment or confirmation of previous payment.

12. A vending style machine according to claim 11, in which the positions on the rack are identified with a copy of the bar code or other internal identifier which was earlier

25 produced when the goods were initially deposited for processing and in which an electronic eye or other suitable reading or scanning device is suitably positioned to read such encoding on the rack or the goods as required, so that upon recognition of the customer's particular code, the goods are retrieved and made available for collection by the customer.

13. A vending style machine according to any one of the previous claims, in which information is keyed into the machine by the dry-cleaner or other processor if desired at the time he loads the processed goods back into the machine, such information including information concerning damage, recommended repairs or the like, this information being made available on screen or printed as required with a final transaction docket/receipt.

14. A vending style machine according to any one of the previous claims in which processing by the dry-cleaner or service provider is carried out at a location remote from the vending machine.

15. A vending style machine according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the deposit and return of processed goods such as dry-cleaning is integrated with a dry-cleaning operation.

16. A vending style machine according to any one of the previous claims, in which the machine is linked by suitable telecommunication media, such as a modem or other device, to a central processing facility so that if it were filled earlier than expected, a courier could be dispatched to collect the goods as required.

17. A vending style machine according to any one of claims 1 to 15, in which the machine is a stand alone operation, in which no outside connection is necessary, all processing including receipt of monies or other funds being handled on site.

18. A vending style machine according to any one of claims 1 to 15, in which processing by the dry-cleaner or service provider is carried out at a location remote from the vending machine.

19. A vending style machine according to any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein the deposit and return of processed goods such as dry-cleaning is integrated with a dry-cleaning operation.

20. A vending style machine according to any one of the previous claims, in which the machine is configured in modular form to accommodate variations in capacity, location and the like.

21. An automated deposit and retrieval process for depositing goods for processing such as dry-cleaning and later collection thereof utilising a vending style machine according to any one of the previous claims, in which the process involves the following steps:

a. Customer activates automated valet service by using his/her access card (eg any card for the used for the purpose of transferring funds to cover cost of processing). With the machine activated, a security cover screen is raised. The security screen protects the machine when not in use. With the cover raised, the customer has access to an interactive video screen, (keypad, touch screen or voice activated). The customer is led through a series of prompts, i.e. delivery or pick-up, alterations, repairs, goods to be processed, number of goods, etc.

b. If there are a lot of goods or the goods are bulky, the customer will be directed to make one deposit at a time. Also for expediency there may be express transactions, i.e. dry clean goods only.

c. The customer is then prompted to place soiled goods in the receptacle provided (which is pre-coded by means of bar coding or electronic chip etc) and is further prompted to conclude transaction, i.e. any other soiled goods to be deposited etc. After each soiled goods receptacle is physically deposited into the appropriate access door of the soiled module component of the machine, the code for this receptacle is electronically read and its information is automatically linked to the customer's access card details.

d. When the last receipt is issued the customer is prompted for any further transactions, if not, the customer access card is returned and the automated valet service goes into wait mode for the next customer action. e. The customer returns for collection of the processed goods and repeats the same step as a above for delivery of soiled goods.

f. When pick-up is chosen the customer is informed if the goods are ready. If ready, the processed goods are displayed on screen, the price accompanies each item and is totalled, as are any alterations and repairs etc. The customer is notified if there was a discrepancy with the original input of goods to those received. The customer is also notified if any processes or services could not be done and why.

g. Customer is prompted to accept transaction, if customer does not accept some or all of the transactions, he/she is prompted to pay for goods at price shown and is given a query contact number, which may be printed on the receipt at the end of the transaction. If payment for the goods is refused by the customer, a query number will also be given and no goods returned. Any such queries are automatically logged into the computer and the machine owners/operators are alerted at a preprogrammed interval or directly by modem as required.

h. When customer accepts the transaction or finalises any queries (ie accepts to pay), the automated valet service switches to delivery mode. Customer's goods, whose position on the delivery mechanism which had been electronically stored in memory in the processed goods section by the machine operator are thus located and delivered to the customer retrieval enclosure. The customer is visually or audibly told that goods are ready for removal from machine. The door to such goods, after safety and security interlocks are opened, is either (depending on model chosen) manually or automatically opened. Also during this time the rest of the machine is mechanically isolated from the customer retrieval enclosure. The customer removes goods and is prompted to end transaction.

i. Receipt and access card are returned to the customer and the machine automatically secures itself and returns to wait mode for next customer.