Vending-kiosk based systems and methods to vend and/or prepare items, for instance prepared foods

Abstract

Kiosks, components, and methods are disclosed for preparing food to be vended to customers. The kiosk may be part of a multi-modal food distribution system in which the kiosk may operate in one or more various modes, including a kiosk vending mode, a constellation mode, and a cook en route mode to vend hot, prepared food to customers. The kiosks in the system may be configurable to change between each of the different modes depending upon information received by the system. The kiosk may be part of a kiosk-based food preparation system in which the kiosk vends prepared food items to customers. The kiosk may transmit information that may be used to provide replenishment to the kiosk. Such information may include the number of items vended, the number of items and/or supplies remaining, and/or a replenishment signal.

1 . A method of operation of a multi-modal food preparation system, the method comprising:
 in a kiosk vending mode:
 transmitting instructions to at least one kiosk that includes a number of food preparation units, the instructions which cause the at least one kiosk to accept orders for instances of food items and to vend the instances of food items directly to a customer to act as a combined cooking and vending kiosk; and 
   in a constellation mode:
 transmitting information to the at least one kiosk to act as a hub, including information that specifies a plurality of orders for instances of food items to be prepared; and 
 transmitting information to a number of vehicles to act as delivery vehicles, including routing information that routes the additional vehicles between the at least one kiosk that acts as the hub and a plurality of delivery destinations associated with respective ones of the orders. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of operation of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 transmitting information that causes the at least one kiosk to switch between the kiosk vending mode and the constellation mode.   
     
     
         3 . The method of operation of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 in a cook en route mode:
 transmitting information to the at least one kiosk which transports a number of food preparation units to act as a combined cooking and delivery kiosk, the information including information that specifies a plurality of orders for instances of food items to be prepared including commands to control respective ones of the food preparation units for each of the instances of food items to be prepared, and the information further including destination information that specifies a destination to deliver the orders. 
   
     
     
         4 . A method of operation in a kiosk-based food vending system, the method comprising:
 for each of a number of vending kiosks in respective locations, each of the vending kiosks having one or more heating elements selectively operable to at least one of warm or cook one or more instances of one or more types of food items:
 at least one of raising or maintaining a temperature of one or more instances of one or more types of food items; 
 repeatedly vending one or more instances of one or more types of food items; 
 transmitting information representative of at least one of: i) one or more instances of one or more types of food items that have been vended food items or ii) supplies of instances of one or more types of food items available at the respective kiosk, or iii) a need for replenishment; and 
   receiving replenishment from a vehicle based at least on part on the transmitted information.   
     
     
         5 . The method of operation of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 dispatching the vehicle to replenish the at least one vending kiosk based at least on part on the transmitted information.   
     
     
         6 . The method of operation of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 dispatching the vehicle to replenish the at least one vending kiosk based at least on part on pending orders of food items at the at least one vending kiosk.   
     
     
         7 . The method of operation of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 predicting an expected demand for instances of one or more types of food items; and   dispatching the vehicle to replenish the at least one vending kiosk based at least on part on the predicted expected demand for instances of one or more types of food items.   
     
     
         8 . The method of operation of  claim 4  wherein predicting an expected demand for instances of one or more types of food items includes training at least one neural network with at least one set of training data that represents an actual demand for instances of one or more types of food items previously experienced at one or more locations. 
     
     
         9 . The method of operation of  claim 8  wherein the at least one set of training data includes training data related to at least one of respective days of the week, special events, time of day, weather, and holidays. 
     
     
         10 . The method of operation of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 determining an estimate time required to replenish at least one of the kiosks;   determining an estimate time before the kiosk exhausts a supply of one or more instances of one or more types of food items;   determining a time at which to dispatch the vehicle based on the estimate times such that there is sufficient time to replenish the at least one vending kiosk before the supply of one or more instances of one or more types of food items is exhausted; and   dispatching the vehicle to replenish the at least one vending kiosk based on the determined time at which to dispatch the vehicle.   
     
     
         11 . The method of operation of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 the one or more vending kiosks receiving from a remote order processing system one or more orders for one or more instances of one or more types of food items.   
     
     
         12 . The method of operation of  claim 4  wherein the one or more vending kiosks each have a respective point-of-sale system, and further comprising:
 receiving one or more orders for one or more instances of one or more types of food items via the respective point-of-sale system of the kiosk. 
 
     
     
         13 . The method of operation of  claim 4  wherein the one or more vending kiosks each have a respective wireless communications system, further comprising:
 receiving directly from a customer processor-based communications device one or more orders for one or more instances of one or more types of food items via the respective wireless communication system of the one or more vending kiosks. 
 
     
     
         14 . The method of operation of  claim 11  wherein at least one of raising or maintaining a temperature of one or more instances of one or more types of food items is based at least on part on one or more of the received orders. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 determining a replenishment route to each of the number of vending kiosks to replenish food items; and   dispatching the vehicle to replenish the at least one vending kiosk based on the determined replenishment route.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the number of vending kiosks includes one or more self-propelled vending kiosks, the method further comprising:
 determining a respective route for each of the one or more self-propelled vending kiosks to travel to the respective destinations; and 
 transmitting instructions to each of the one or more self-propelled vending kiosks to travel to the respective destinations. 
 
     
     
         17 . A method of operation in a kiosk-based food vending system, the method comprising:
 for at least one vending kiosk in a respective location, the at least one vending kiosk having one or more heating elements selectively operable to at least one of warm or cook one or more instances of one or more types of food items:
 at least one of raising or maintaining a temperature of one or more instances of one or more types of food items; 
 repeatedly dispensing one or more instances of one or more types of food items to one of one or more delivery vehicles; 
 transmitting information representative of at least one of: i) one or more instances of one or more types of food items that have been vended food items or ii) supplies of instances of one or more types of food items available at the respective kiosk, or iii) a need for replenishment; and 
   receiving replenishment from a replenishment vehicle based at least in part on the transmitted information.   
     
     
         18 . The method of operation of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 dispatching the replenishment vehicle to replenish the at least one vending kiosk based at least on part on the transmitted information.   
     
     
         19 . The method of operation of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 predicting an expected demand for instances of one or more types of food items; and   dispatching the replenishment vehicle to replenish the at least one vending kiosk based at least on part on the predicted expected demand for instances of one or more types of food items.   
     
     
         20 . The method of operation of  claim 17  wherein predicting an expected demand for instances of one or more types of food items includes training at least one neural network with at least one set of training data that represents an actual demand for instances of one or more types of food items previously experienced at one or more locations. 
     
     
         21 . The method of operation of  claim 20  wherein the at least one set of training data includes training data related to at least one of special events, respective days of the week, time of day, weather, and holidays. 
     
     
         22 . The method of operation of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 determining an estimate time required to replenish at least one of the kiosks;   determining an estimate time before the kiosk exhausts a supply of one or more instances of one or more types of food items;   determining a time at which to dispatch the replenishment vehicle based on the estimate times such that there is sufficient time to replenish the at least one vending kiosk before the supply of one or more instances of one or more types of food items is exhausted; and   dispatching the replenishment vehicle to replenish the at least one vending kiosk based on the determined time at which to dispatch the vehicle.   
     
     
         23 . The method of operation of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 the one or more vending kiosks receiving from a remote order processing system one or more orders for one or more instances of one or more types of food items.   
     
     
         24 . The method of operation of  claim 17  wherein the one or more vending kiosks each have a respective point-of-sale system, and further comprising:
 receiving one or more orders for one or more instances of one or more types of food items via the respective point-of-sale system of the kiosk; and 
 dispensing one or more one or more instances of one or more types of food items directly to one or more customers. 
 
     
     
         25 . The method of operation of  claim 17  wherein the one or more vending kiosks each have a respective wireless communications system, further comprising:
 receiving directly from a customer processor-based communications device one or more orders for one or more instances of one or more types of food items via the respective wireless communication system of the one or more vending kiosks; and 
 dispensing one or more one or more instances of one or more types of food items directly to one or more customers. 
 
     
     
         26 . The method of operation of  23  wherein at least one of raising or maintaining a temperature of one or more instances of one or more types of food items is based at least on part on one or more of the received orders. 
     
     
         27 . The method of operation of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 dispatching the one of one or more delivery vehicles to the at least one vending kiosk based at least in part on one or more of readiness of an order to be delivered by the delivery vehicle, of an estimated travel time from the at least one vending kiosk to a destination on a single destination delivery route, the destination associated with the order to be delivered, of an estimated travel time from the at least one vending kiosk to a destination on a multiple destination delivery route, the destination associated with the order to be delivered, and of a delivery time period, the delivery time period which provides a threshold time by which delivery of the order is to be completed.   
     
     
         28 . A method of operation of a multi-modal food preparation system in a kiosk mode, the method comprising:
 distributing food items at a vending kiosk based upon orders received at the vending kiosk and upon orders received at a remote order processing system removed from the vending kiosk, in which the vending kiosk is positioned at a destination and remains stationary at the destination while distributing the food items;   transmitting information to a remote replenishment processing system, the transmitted information including vending information related to the food items distributed by the vending kiosk over a defined period of time, the vending kiosk responsive to distribute the food items based upon orders received at the vending kiosk and upon orders received at a facility removed from the vending kiosk; and   receiving additional food items at the vending kiosk, the additional food items to be distributed by the vending kiosk.   
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28  wherein the kiosk is a self-propelled vending kiosk, the method further comprising:
 receiving instructions regarding a route for the self-propelled vending kiosk to travel to the vending destination; and 
 traversing the route to the vending destination. 
 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29  wherein receiving the additional food items comprises receiving instructions to travel to a replenishment location, the replenishment location different from the vending location. 
     
     
         31 - 96 . (canceled)