Quotables
"Radio has no future."
Lord Kelvin, British mathematician and physicist ; 1897
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 5567926 | Minibar system A system for operating minibars in hotel rooms based on a plurality of individual minibars, one in each of the hotel rooms, each of which is equipped with means for reading an electronic card coded for each hotel guest or according to the credit card of a... | 10/22/1996 |
| 5563393 | Transaction terminal and portable operator interface device for monitoring the transaction terminal A business system including at least one transaction terminal such as an automated teller machine ATM (10) and an interface device (12) for use by an operator in carrying out maintenance of the ATM (10) or replenishing consumable items used during its ope... | 10/08/1996 |
| 5559885 | Two stage read-write method for transaction cards A method for providing convenient, secure access to numerous benefits with a single wallet sized card having a high capacity data storage area, preferably an optical stripe, and a lower capacity magnetic storage stripe. The high capacity area is indelibly... | 09/24/1996 |
| 5557518 | Trusted agents for open electronic commerce A system for open electronic commerce having a customer trusted agent securely communicating with a first money module, and a merchant trusted agent securely communicating with a second money module. Both trusted agents are capable of establishing a first... | 09/17/1996 |
| 5557516 | System and method for conducting cashless transactions In a commercial transaction system, a system user uses a card device to interact with sales or transaction terminals to conduct cashless transactions. Each terminal processes data including a balance stored on the card device and updates the stored data a... | 09/17/1996 |
| 5555497 | Charitable contribution centralization system and apparatus A multiplicity of charitable collection stations are provided with selectors for choosing the charity to which a contribution is destined, a change maker for issuing change if desired, a display for displaying information with respect to premiums availabl... | 09/10/1996 |
| 5546303 | Method of and system for correlating charitable contributions A central office correlates charitable contributions made at vending stations in food service establishments which issue information carriers in return for charitable contributions which are receipts for the contribution and entitle the donor to a beverag... | 08/13/1996 |
| 5542081 | IC card designed to receive multiple programs in a progammable memory An integrated circuit, for use in a microprocessor-based chip card that provides several different functions at different hierarchical levels. The circuit has a microprocessor, a read-only memory managing a protection system and an EEPROM capable of conta... | 07/30/1996 |
| 5534685 | Repeatedly usable recording medium card and recording medium card processor A recording medium card having a card substrate (20a) made of a flexible material, and a recording portion (21) for visually recording necessary items in a part of the card substrate are disclosed. The recording portion (21) has a reusable indication laye... | 07/09/1996 |
| 5523551 | Vending apparatus and system for automated dispensing of disks A vending apparatus and system for storing and automatically dispensing magnetic or optical disks. A user interface allows a user to enter a dispensing request corresponding to the selection of a desired disk and includes for receiving user identification... | 06/04/1996 |
| 5520275 | Method and device for servicing a terminal A device for servicing a vending machine including i) a chip card reader for receiving payments to the vending machine and transferring information elements from the vending machine to the device, ii) a servicing door, and iii) a lock for preventing openi... | 05/28/1996 |
| 5513117 | Apparatus and method for electronically dispensing personalized greeting cards and gifts A vending machine which allows a customer to design and personalize a greeting card also allows the customer to integrate an electronically vendable gift along with or directly onto the card. A stand-alone kiosk includes a credit card verifier, an alphanu... | 04/30/1996 |
| 5510992 | System and method for automatically printing postage on mail A system and method for printing a postage meter stamp, including a desired postage amount, onto a piece of mail. A user takes a touch memory utility ("TMU") button to the Post Office in order to obtain a replenishment of the amount of postage stored with... | 04/23/1996 |
| 5508500 | Method for storing and dispensing cash A time delayed cash dispenser is interconnected with a control terminal that is connectable to an electronic funds transfer system. The control terminal is selectively controlled to "override" the timer of the time delayed cash dispenser to enable a user ... | 04/16/1996 |
| 5499707 | Automated merchandising kiosk A multi-product, self-service merchandising kiosk having a walk-in enclosure, interactive selection panel, illuminated merchandise display, internal drink dispenser and modular, dry goods dispenser having multi-compartmented inventory shelving and bottoml... | 03/19/1996 |
| 5500514 | Method and apparatus for generating gift certificates An electronic gift certificate dispenser device for printing and dispensing a gift certificate purchased by a credit card. A consumer approaches the device and inserts a credit card into a magnetic card reader. The consumer chooses a retailer from a menu ... | 03/19/1996 |
| 5493315 | Video display control An apparatus for displaying video information includes a video display screen, a screen buffer, a frame buffer, and a video image data assembly module. The module assembles data from linked lists of screen objects, segment objects and field objects which ... | 02/20/1996 |
| 5491326 | Card metering system Meter cards, which are structurally identical with magnetic stripe vend cards, are used to collect and transfer transaction data from card actuated vending machines to a transaction terminal. The transaction terminal contains a card reader and a computer ... | 02/13/1996 |
| 5490077 | Method for data input into a postage meter machine, arrangement for franking postal matter and for producing an advert mark respectively allocated to a cost allocation account A method for data entry into a postage meter machine before the initiation of a selected printer function, an arrangement for franking postal matter and for producing a franking image respectively allocated to a cost allocation account include automatic m... | 02/06/1996 |
| 5489014 | Apparatus for checking coins and reading cards in an article vending machine A coin checker and card reader for use with a vending machine includes a housing having a coin slot and a separate card slot which merge into a chute that communicates with a first coin channel and a card channel. A coin inserted into the coin slot rolls ... | 02/06/1996 |
| 5485628 | Renewal management system A system for enabling a central location to control a service at a plurality of remote locations. The system includes a plurality of control modules for controlling the length of time for actuation of a switch at remote locations. A magnetic stripe card p... | 01/16/1996 |
| 5478992 | Management apparatus and automated teller machine When sheets are taken into a machine or discharged from the machine, characteristics of these sheets such as letters or symbols of these sheets are read by a sheet characteristics reading unit. A result of reading the characteristics is stored in a storag... | 12/26/1995 |
| 5465291 | Apparatus for ordering from remote locations The present invention relates to an improved interactive store or other central location-remote telephone home, office or other user telephone terminal system and technique for enabling users to order items from the central location with the aid of machin... | 11/07/1995 |
| 5463209 | Point-of-sale product information dissemination arrangement and method An arrangement for providing any customer present at a vending location at which a group of products is offered for sale with information about any member of such group includes an audiovisual device and a customer-initiated request entry device both situ... | 10/31/1995 |
| 5459306 | Method and system for delivering on demand, individually targeted promotions A method and system for delivering product picks to a prospective individual user. Personal user information is gathered. Information on a user's use of a product during product use is gathered, correlated and stored. A user code provided to the user is c... | 10/17/1995 |
| 5451757 | Apparatus and method for controlled access to a secured location A system for authorizing access to a secured device, such as an automated teller machine (ATM) or a pay telephone, without a key or combination for the secured device, and without a fixed communication link extending to the device. An encoded access messa... | 09/19/1995 |
| 5450938 | Card or cash actuated vending machine assembly A bank of vending machines has an associated debit card reader of vend card reader, with its associated card reader controller. The card reader controller interfaces between the money handling mechanism of one or more of the vending machines, and the vend... | 09/19/1995 |
| 5451755 | Self-contained device for self-service delivery of electrical energy A self-contained device for self-service delivery of electrical energy, comprising a plurality of terminals, each capable of being connected to an electrical appliance, and a central management unit, operable independently of the terminals. The central ma... | 09/19/1995 |
| 5451756 | Process and equipment for counterfeit-proof operation of gambling machines with chip cards A process and equipment for safeguarding the operation of gambling machines with electronic cards in a manner that protects against counterfeiting and fraud. The microchip cards are numbered and a central computer stores at least the amount paid in for pl... | 09/19/1995 |
| 5445295 | Automated vending machine system for recorded goods An unattended vending machine for the sale of articles such as compact audio cassette tapes, video cassette tapes, electromagnetic or electro-optical storage devices, or any other device capable of storing recorded information for subsequent reproduction ... | 08/29/1995 |
| 5442567 | Apparatus and method for electronically dispensing personalized greeting cards and gifts A vending machine which allows a customer to design and personalize a greeting card also allows the customer to integrate an electronically vendable gift along with or directly onto the card. A stand-alone kiosk includes a credit card verifier, an alphanu... | 08/15/1995 |
| 5442162 | Traveler's check and dispensing system therefor An improved traveler's check issuable by a number of different institutions and substantially uniform in appearance. The traveler's check identifies on its face the individual customer to whom the check is issued. The individual identifying information in... | 08/15/1995 |
| 5442163 | Exposure apparatus An exposure apparatus equipped with a substrate supervisory device is contained in an air-conditioned chamber with a front door. The device has a library for storing a plurality of reticle cases with respective reticles therein, a bar code reader for read... | 08/15/1995 |
| 5440108 | System and method for dispensing and revalung cash cards A cash card dispensing and revaluing system having payment apparatus for receiving and validating payment operating in conjunction with a cash card dispensing assembly for storing a number of cash cards and for dispensing a cash card upon consumer request... | 08/08/1995 |
| 5431288 | Mail sorting apparatus A mail sorting apparatus includes a video signal conversion section for photoelectrically converting and quantizing characters, codes, and the like on a mail item into a video signal, a blank area detection section for detecting a blank area where charact... | 07/11/1995 |
| 5431250 | System for the sale of products The invention relates to a sales system for the sale and delivery of products. In connection therewith, a sample shop is located at a first location. A product distribution station is located at a second location, at a distance from the first location, an... | 07/11/1995 |
| 5428353 | Road use charging apparatus Charging apparatus for use in a road vehicle enables an authority to charge for road usage. As the vehicle is used on controlled parts of road way, debiting means debits credit units at a predetermined rate. A store keeps a record of the credit units used... | 06/27/1995 |
| 5428677 | Telephone card having calendar function and system for using same A calendar is provided on a telephone card to enhance its usefulness. A telephone set displaying the calendar allows a user to refer to it during a telephone call. A telephone card reader, a telephone card insertion slot, and a number-of-calls counting ap... | 06/27/1995 |
| 5422468 | Deposit authorization system This invention relates to an enhanced transaction approval system for processing transactions in which a deposit is tendered for the purchase of goods and services. Specifically, the credit authorization system for a deposit transaction permits the exclus... | 06/06/1995 |
| 5415264 | Automatic vending machine for newspapers An automatic vending machine includes a housing having a hinged cover which is releasably locked in a closed position. Coins are inserted in a slot formed in a front wall of the housing and move through a coin checking channel where they are checked by an... | 05/16/1995 |
