US 12,444,264 B2
Automated store
Gower Smith, San Francisco, CA (US); and Lincoln Smith, San Francisco, CA (US)
Assigned to Swyft Inc., San Francisco, CA (US)
Appl. No. 16/756,714
Filed by Swyft, Inc., San Francisco, CA (US)
PCT Filed Sep. 11, 2018, PCT No. PCT/US2018/050524
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Apr. 16, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/051505, PCT Pub. Date Mar. 14, 2019.
Claims priority of application No. 2017903687 (AU), filed on Sep. 11, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2021/0374815 A1, Dec. 2, 2021
Int. Cl. G07F 11/16 (2006.01); G05B 19/4155 (2006.01); G06Q 30/0601 (2023.01); G07F 9/00 (2006.01)
CPC G07F 11/165 (2013.01) [G05B 19/4155 (2013.01); G06Q 30/0601 (2013.01); G07F 9/001 (2020.05); G07F 9/002 (2020.05); G05B 2219/40269 (2013.01)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An automated retail vending store for serving customers, the automated retail vending store comprising:
an enclosure having at least one transparent panel and a receptacle, wherein the enclosure configured to restrict access to an interior of the enclosure by the customers, wherein the receptacle configured to permit removal of items by the customers from the interior of the enclosure, and wherein each different type of item within the interior of the enclosure is visible to the customers from the exterior of the enclosure through the at least one transparent panel;
a shelving structure within the enclosure, wherein the shelving structure having a shelf configured to store and display, through the at least one transparent panel, items available for sale to the customers;
a robotic apparatus moveable within the enclosure and free to move in relation to the shelving structure, wherein the robotic apparatus configured to:
retrieve an item from the shelf, the item being retrieved in response to a received input from a customer that specifies a selected item,
verify the retrieved item corresponds to the selected item, and
deliver the selected item to the receptacle for subsequent removal by the customer; and
an inventory management system configured to:
monitor a current inventory of the items,
update a current inventory of the selected item in response to the robotic apparatus delivering the selected item to the receptacle, and
query a remote inventory management system to determine an amount of the selected item located at a remote location that is different from a location of the automated retail vending store.