The present invention relates to a system for the vending of a cooked/heated product by a vending machine and to an associated method. More particularly, the invention relates to a system for the vending of a cooked/heated product by a vending machine upon remote user activation.

As is known, vending machines are currently increasingly widespread since they allow to vend products to users without the physical presence of an operator.

The solution proposed by a vending machine is indeed to allow food products and the like to be usable by a plurality of users, without them being necessarily served by an operator, and thus being able to make use of the product at any time of the day, without time limits and most of all without physical contact between the user and an operator.

The need is also known to provide warm meals, heated on the spot, to users. This need is normally assigned to catering venues which are able to heat a product when it is to be consumed by the user, but necessarily require the presence of an operator who has the task of receiving the order from the customer, heating the product and serving it to him, with the customer in front of the operator at the time of this operation.

As is evident, although this solution is widespread and efficient in most cases, it does not solve the problem of queues that may form when multiple customers enter a same catering venue at the same time, and the fact that waiting times are often long and do not agree well with the short time that a customer may have available during a lunch break on an ordinary workday.

Moreover, these short times do not agree well with the times available to an operator for the optimum cooking desired by the user/customer in case of high order flows.

However, vending machines that currently are able to offer products in an automated manner to customers are unable to offer products that are cooked/heated on the spot to the customer when said customer places himself in front of the vending machine. These vending machines are also unable to reserve a product that the user may wish to purchase, except when the customer is in front of the vending machine itself.

Moreover, vending machines of the known type are unable to provide the customer with a sort of customized diet, i.e., a product that can be suitable for the physical characteristics of the customer, thus taking into account any allergies that the customer might have, since the customers are not registered with the vending machine and therefore are not recognizable.

The aim of the present invention is to provide a system and a method for the vending of cooked/heated products by a vending machine that can allow to cook/heat a food product substantially just before it is consumed on site or for quick takeaway.

Within this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a system and a method for the vending of cooked/heated products by a vending machine that optimize the normal gatherings of customers with the associated wait times at a cooked/heated food preparation venue.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and a method for the vending of cooked/heated products by a vending machine that allow to propose to the customer a sort of customized diet, i.e., a product that can be suitable for the physical characteristics of the customer.

Not least object of the present invention is to provide a system and a method for the vending of cooked/heated products by a vending machine that are highly reliable, relatively simple to provide and at competitive costs.

This aim and these and other objects that will become better apparent hereinafter are achieved by a method for the vending of cooked/heated products by a vending machine, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: sending, on the part of a user, a request to a vending machine, via web or app, said request allowing to reserve a product contained in said vending machine; sending, on the part of said vending machine, a product reservation code to said user; activating, on the part of said user, the cooking or heating of said product by said vending machine; and dispensing, on the part of said vending machine, said cooked/heated product.

This aim, the objects mentioned and others which will become better apparent hereinafter are also achieved by a system for preparing cooked/heated products by means of a vending machine, characterized in that it comprises a vending machine adapted to contain a plurality of products to be dispensed to a customer, a unit for the management of said vending machine, said vending machine being connected via web or app.

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the system and of the method according to the invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a schematic view of the system according to the present invention; and

Figure 2 is a flowchart of the method performed by the system according to the present invention.

With reference to the figures, the system according to the present invention, generally designated by the reference numeral 1, comprises a vending machine 2 adapted to contain a plurality of products 4 in an adapted enclosure 3.

The enclosure 3 is conveniently refrigerated so as to allow the preservation of the products. A PLC 5 or similar unit controls the vending machine. The vending machine furthermore has, optionally, a barcode reader 6.

The vending machine 2 can be controlled via web 7 or by means of an app 8.

The system according to the invention allows a customer to order remotely a food product 4 by means of the vending machine 2, by using either the web 7 or an adapted app 8.

Each product 4 accommodated in the vending machine 2 has an appropriate barcode 9 applied thereto which allows the vending machine 2 to recognize the product 4.

Cooking criteria, defined remotely on the PLC 5 of the vending machine, and all the functions associated with the product, including the traditional ones for use, are associated with said recognition barcode.

Therefore, each individual food product manufacturer must print and apply, directly to the packaging of the product, the code 9 that defines the product for recognition within the vending machine 2 and the specific cooking criteria for said product, established beforehand in a laboratory with specific tests.

Such code 9 may also provide the user/customer with information related to the ingredients used, and therefore also traceability in order to know their origin, in addition to health information.

Each product 4 is appropriately sealed and packaged with compostable material for bakery products (sandwiches and the like) or recyclable material for ready meals.

In the system according to the invention, the user sends a request to the vending machine 2, step 10, via web/app 7, 8.

The vending machine 2 has been preloaded with products already indicated by habitual users (i.e., products that have already been requested in the past).

At this point, the sending of a request triggers a product reservation, step 11, as a consequence of which a product 4 is reserved by the vending machine 2 for the customer who made the reservation.

At the same time, the vending machine 2 sends, step 12, a code to the user or customer as confirmation of the reservation of the product.

The code can conveniently have a time limit, for example two or three hours, after which it will become unusable.

Then, step 13, the process for cooking/heating the product 4 is activated by the user either by passing the code received in step 12 under the reader 6 of the vending machine 2, i.e., by going directly in front of the vending machine, or directly via web or app 7, 8.

In both cases, the customer activates procedures for cooking/heating the product 4 and said product is thus dispensed to the customer once the procedure has been completed.

This is followed by a step 14 for dispensing the cooked/heated product.

The reservation code read by the reader 6 allows the system to highlight the queue of operations so as to optimize attendance and gatherings.

Cooking is performed after a cooking analysis of the product requested by the customer/user and the cooking parameters are preset remotely.

More particularly, cooking parameters are set in a laboratory on the individual recipe or food product, loaded on a software platform which will manage the cooking system remotely where the vending machine will be located and the individual recipe/product in question.

Payment is performed by the customer/user via the same app or via web already used for the reservation.

Conveniently, the customer/user can register on a web platform, which acts as a data bank and artificial intelligence system to understand the eating tastes and habits of the end customer, entering his own data and any food allergies and the like, and the platform can, by means of an appropriate software program, manage customized diets, profiling the end customer (consumer) and taking into account his formalized or latent requirements in order to propose customized diets in the future and thus manage a store that is more suitable to already -registered customers.

Furthermore, if required, the customer/user can remotely reserve predefined time slots within which to reserve a product, so as to always have the assurance that the product may actually be available at reservation time and can therefore be dispensed by the vending machine 2.

The term "cooking" refers both to a step of actual cooking and a step of cooking precooked food, in which cooking is merely completed starting from a precooked product.

In the case of sandwiches, they are for example cooked on the spot.

In practice it has been found that the system according to the invention allows to dispense a cooked/heated food product, via remote reservation, with activation of the cooking/heating when the user arrives in front of the vending machine, thus having a dispensed product that has been cooked/heated in real time.

The cooking system is managed remotely in an optimum manner which is consistent and specific for the individual recipe, also with the aid of algorithms that take into account exogenous conditions (summer/winter atmospheric or temperature conditions, etcetera).

As an alternative or an addition, the system according to the invention can be activated even before the actual physical presence of the customer/user.

At any moment, the end customer can view the "dispensing queue" of the ordered product and thus adapt accordingly, deciding whether to approach the vending machine or wait, thus avoiding any waste of time and gatherings.

The system thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the accompanying claims.

Conveniently, the foods can be arranged in trays provided with a unique identification code applied in a given position on the tray and printed simultaneously with the step for the production of each one of the trays.

The food manufacturer shall simply report which packaging (and specific code) has used and associated with which recipes. In this manner, all possible errors in printing the codes by the food manufacturer are eliminated and the system according to the invention can be rendered a closed system, since it will accept only trays that are compatible with the codes that have been reported to the tray manufacturer and which therefore will have to be present on the trays loaded into the vending machine.

Furthermore, since the products are packaged, they can comply with some diets or allergies, which is not possible with products kept exposed or without appropriate precautions and separations with respect to other products (gluten free products).

All the details may furthermore be replaced with other technically equivalent elements.

In practice, the materials used, as well as the contingent shapes and dimensions, may be any according to the requirements and the state of the art.

The disclosures in Italian Patent Application no. 102021000001526, from which this application claims priority, are incorporated herein by reference.

Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.