USA Technologies Issued Important Intelligent Vending Amended Patent
MALVERN, Pa., Sep 03, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- USA Technologies (NASDAQ:USAT) announced today the receipt from the US Patent Office of an amendment to an important patent relating to its ePort Intelligent Vending(R) product line.
The ex parte reexamination certificate for patent number 6,505,095 relates to USAT's invention for a system to provide remote audit, cashless payment and interactive transaction capabilities in a vending machine. The patent which had been issued in 2003, was submitted by USAT to the US Patent Office in 2007 for reexamination, and now encompasses the prior claims as well as twelve new claims for a total of 43 claims.
"The patent relates to the intellectual property that underlies USAT's industry leading ePort(R) cashless transaction product line," said George R. Jensen, Jr., Chairman and CEO, USA Technologies. "The claims set forth in the patent relate to our ePort's wireless capabilities, connecting the vending machine to a computer, remote vending audit and card reader capabilities, and to authorizing payment for the goods and services vended," he said.
USA Technologies has an estimated 50,000 devices connected to its network deployed nationally and in Canada, including vending machines and point-of-sale terminals owned and operated by major global bottling and vending management companies. USAT's network processes approximately two million cashless transactions every month representing in excess of $4 million in revenue for our customers.
The issuance of the amended patent brings USAT's patent arsenal to 70, with hundreds of patent claims related to networked cashless vending and audit.
"USAT has an aggressive patent strategy which we believe adds value for our customers, as we target the $47 billion US vending industry, and as more card companies target vending as the next big cashless opportunity," Mr. Jensen said.
The amended patent number 6,505,095 granted to USAT relates to a "system that is scalable and configurable to include vending equipment audit capabilities, a card reader assembly having a card reader processor interface board for accepting card identification data as payment for items vended, an interactive interface and protocol for interconnecting the system to a computing platform, and support for a plurality of communication options that include wired, point-to-point wireless, and wireless WAN solutions." In addition, the invention "relates to a system and method of effectuating a payment device for accepting card ID data, authorizing the validity of the card ID data, facilitating a vending transaction, settling the transaction to effect payment for the vended goods and services, gathering DEX and MDB audit data from the vending equipment, and data communicating with a plurality of remote locations."
"Demand for our ePort technology is growing as more consumers seek the ease and convenience of making cashless payments at vending machines, and vending machine operators pursue lower operational costs," said Mr. Jensen. "Today, we are working with many of the biggest, most influential companies in the vending and financial card industries."
About USA Technologies:
USA Technologies is a leader in the networking of wireless non-cash transactions, associated financial/network services and energy management. USA Technologies provides networked credit card and other non-cash systems in the vending, commercial laundry, hospitality and digital imaging industries. The Company has agreements with AT&T, Visa, MasterCard, First Data, Compass and others. For further information on USA Technologies, please visit www.usatech.com. To view a Company overview presentation, visit http://www.usatech.com/company_info/dl/USAT_company_overview.pdf
Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act:
With the exception of the historical information contained in this release, the matters described herein contain forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties that may individually or mutually impact the matters herein described, including but not limited to, product acceptance, the ability to continually obtained increased orders of its products, the ability to meet installation goals, economic, competitive, governmental impacts, whether pending patents will be granted or defendable, validity of intellectual property and patents, the ability to license patents, the ability to commercialize developmental products, as well as technological and/or other factors.
SOURCE: USA Technologies, Inc.
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