Technical Field:

The present invention relates to a vending machine drone delivery system that enables the process of automatically transferring products via drone to vending machines located in public areas.

State of the Art:

Nowadays, vending machines are used to prevent time losses, the difficulty in accessing the desired products, and to access more than one product at the same time. These vending machines eliminate the need for people to queue to pick up a product. In terms of reducing manual purchases with the advancement of technology, vending machines offer the option of automatic shopping, so it is quite advantageous.

One of the main problems of vending machines at the moment is the need to complete the lack of inventory. In order to complete the lack of stock, the staff reaches the appropriate place for a weekly or monthly routine check, the safety cover of the machine is opened, and the relevant products are placed on the product shelves. But here both the cost of labor and the loss of time take place. In fact, in a vending machine with many product shelves, even if only a specific product shelf is empty, the staff does not reach the location where the corresponding vending machine is located, and the staff fulfills their responsibility within the reduction of all product shelves in the vending machine. This situation causes the user to be unable to reach the product on the empty shelf.

The utility model application TR2021015808 describes a suspended bread vending machine. As a result of the economic crisis that began due to closures in our country and other countries after the Covid- 19 pandemic, many people were unemployed and entered an economic bottleneck. In addition, refugees who have left their countries due to the civil war and changes in power are also experiencing a very difficult period economically. During this difficult period, there are many families who are not in a position to buy bread with the most basic needs and cannot ask for this need from others. Invention: this is aimed at ensuring that families can get the bread they need most basic without offending them or making demands from anyone.

A vending machine is described in patent application TR2021009929. In the document, the invention relates to a vending machine designed with an innovative architecture that allows a user to receive products for free or as a paid product.

The story vending machine is described in the utility model application TR2021003890. Utility model, subways, train stations, bus stations, airports, shopping malls, museums, cafes, theatres and libraries, banks, hospitals, schools, etc able to place (many public places) relates to dispensers for the story. These story vending machines offer poems, short stories, informative short texts, random texts to read them all at once on papyrusformat papers.

Each of the above-mentioned vending machines are automatic shopping devices that are placed in accessible areas of the public and allow the delivery of many various products to the user by cash, card or contactless methods. However, none of these devices has an automatic stock feeding system.

Description of the Invention:

The main purpose of our invention is to ensure that the product reaches the vending machine quickly and practically by drone without the need to transport the product related to the staff as a result of the lack of products that will be experienced in vending machines and to perform this process autonomously. Our system will be able to transport every product that can be transferred to the channel structures in the delivery box; such as food, pharmaceutical products or tickets.

As a result of the lack of any product included in the vending machine, a signal is sent to the smart station. This signal is provided by the fact that the vending machine is registered to the smart station via the server. The smart station is not limited to just one vending machine, it is also connected to vending machines in the surrounding neighborhoods or districts via a server and data can be streamed. The smart station that receives the deficiency notification contains automation devices (robot arms, cartesian systems, etc.) by means of which the missing product is automatically placed in the corresponding fields in the delivery box located at the bottom of the window. For example, these fields; while the number one field is associated with the wafer of the related brand, the second field may be water, the third field may be gum, etc. The product that each field contains here is different from the products in other fields. Because, when the drone arrives at the appropriate automation, whichever product is missing in the vending machine when it will leave the product, that channel in the delivery box will be opened and left to the vending machine. In order for the vending machine to receive the relevant product, it is necessary that the vending machine also has its own channel structure at the top. The product dropped from the channel at the top of the vending machine will sit directly on the corresponding shelf on the vending device.

Our invention has brought a new dimension to the courier transportation system together with this system, and the needs arising from the lack can be met in a completely automatic way. Since the system is operated completely autonomously, the error margins are also reduced to the minimum. This system can be designed especially in accordance with the future digital money technology, and if the money counting operations at the vending machine or the money loading operations come to an end, the transfer operations will take place without human hands at all. In fact, the operation of an intelligent station can also be carried out with artificial intelligence management, and our system, which is the subject of invention, will be able to keep up with this situation easily.

Description of the Figures:

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying figures, so that the features of the invention will be more clearly understood and appreciated, but the purpose of this is not to limit the invention to these certain regulations. On the contrary, it is intended to cover all alternatives, changes and equivalences that can be included in the area of the invention defined by the accompanying claims. The details shown should be understood that they are shown only for the purpose of describing the preferred embodiments of the present invention and are presented in order to provide the most convenient and easily understandable description of both the shaping of methods and the rules and conceptual features of the invention. In these drawings;

Figure 1 A general schematic view of the relationship between the vending machine, the drone, and the intelligent station.

Figure 2 A bottom view of the delivery box.

Figure 3 A schematic view of the drone that shows the mode of operation of electronic equipment that provides airborne navigation.

The figures to help understand the present invention are numbered as indicated in the attached image and are given below along with their names.

Description of References:

1. Smart station

2. Drone

3. Vending machine

4. Delivery box

20. Drone airway system

40. Channels

200. Flight navigation module

201. Camera

202. Transmitter

203. GPS

210. Flight management module

211. Sensor

220. Flight route determination module

221. Remote data transfer module Description Of the Invention:

The main parts of the system subject to this invention are; intelligent station (1), drone (2), vending machine (3) and delivery box (4). The drone (2) includes an in-house drone airway system (20). The drone consists of a drone airway system (20), a flight navigation module (200), a flight management module (210) and a flight route determination module (220).

The smart station (1) in the system can be designed to be operated by automated or manual manpower. In the case of adopting a form of work in the form of automation; to the station (1), the incoming drone (2), the delivery box (4) located at the bottom, the channels (40), the weight of each of its sections is measured by means of weight sensors. The product is transferred to the channel (40) with a small weight by means of robot arms or cartesian systems. If the weight is too much, no operation is performed, so an automatic installation process can be performed in this way. The smart station (1) will also have a charge filling module. Since the drone (2) is powered by a battery, it will be able to be charged here after arriving at the smart station (1) after the trip. This station (1) will also have a server network. The location information of the surrounding vending machines (3) will be recorded on this server network, and this information will be sent from the server to the drone (2) will be transmitted by remote communication module (Wi-fi, cellular network, Bluetooth, etc.).

The drone (2) will be able to safely transport the reduced stock of products to the vending machine (3) without deviating from the route through the drone airway system (20) that it will host. The smart station (1) will be able to display vending machines (3) whose product stock is starting to decrease over the server network, and drones (2) will start the flight process. The initiator movement of the drones (2) for the first flight will be provided from a manpower or smart station (1). The drone (2) will take action with the initial command that it will receive from the smart station (1) along with the software that it will host in it, and then the drone airway system (20) will be activated. The drone airway system (20) is a system that acts as a navigator dedicated to the drone (2), which verifies, compares, detects obstacles and ensures that the drone (2) does not deviate from the route of the airborne route information. It works with software based entirely on algorithm logic. The flight navigation module (200), the flight management module (210) and the flight route determination module (220), which are hosted by the drone airway system (20), work by providing data flow between each other and work by means of a software based on the comparison method. The flight navigation module (200) compares the realtime location information it receives from the GPS and the environmental factors that the drone (2) displays with the camera (201) at the time of flight. The data displayed by the camera (201) is transmitted via the transmitter (202). The flight management module (210) is a module that detects the distance (altitude) of the drone (2) from the ground during the flight and living, inanimate objects that may appear in the sky and adjusts their speed according to the road condition by sending a signal to the propeller engines of the drone (2). The flight route determination module (220) is a module that contains special route location information between the station (1) and the vending machine (3) located on the server network of the intelligent station (1). This information is received by the remote data transfer module (221) from the server network to the drone (2). By comparing the software by the drone (2) with the information from all modules, it is ensured that the drone (2) reaches the corresponding vending machine (3).

The drone (2) has a delivery box (4) with channels (40) of 3x3 at the bottom. Different products are placed in each of these channels (40). When the drone (2) reaches the corresponding vending machine (3), the missing channel (40) is opened and the product is transferred to the vending machine (3). It is obvious that there will also need to be a configuration on vending machines (3). Because, in the vending machines (3) already known to exist, it is not possible to make such a transfer. On the upper surface of the vending machines (3), there should also be separate channels similar to the structure of the drone (4) channels (40).