Remote Dispensing With Linked Device and Age Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for selling age-restricted products face challenges in preventing underage purchases, especially in online sales, as they lack real-time verification and cannot ensure that the products are used only by authorized individuals, leading to potential legal and regulatory issues for sellers and manufacturers.
Innovation Solution
A controlled dispensing system that requires age verification during account setup and links the consumer's identity and personal electronic device to the product, enabling the product's use only when in range of the device, with additional biometric verification, allowing for remote and unstaffed sales while ensuring compliance with age restrictions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If automated remote dispensing is implemented, then productivity and accessibility are improved, but reliability of age verification is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs age verification in advance during account setup and product pickup, rather than at the moment of purchase. Users must verify their age and identity beforehand, and the system stores this verification data for future transactions, enabling automated dispensing without compromising verification reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a personal electronic device as an intermediary between the user and the dispensing system. This device stores verification data and communicates with the dispensing system to authenticate users, enabling reliable age verification in remote transactions without requiring direct human intervention at the point of sale.
2Reliability
If live person verification is required at pickup, then age verification reliability is improved, but device complexity and operational requirements are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables users to verify their own age and identity through the personal electronic device and dispensing system interface without requiring staff intervention. The automated verification process and dispensing mechanism allow unstaffed or minimally staffed locations to operate reliably.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical system of live human verification with an automated electronic verification system. The personal electronic device communicates with the dispensing system through digital authentication protocols, substituting human judgment with automated biometric and data-based verification.
3Ease of operation
If traditional online sales accounts are used, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability of authorized use is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs age verification and identity confirmation in advance during account setup, storing this verified information for future use. This preliminary action maintains ease of operation for subsequent purchases while ensuring reliability of age verification through pre-validated user data.
Solution Approach 2:
The personal electronic device provides continuous feedback to the dispensing system about user authentication status. The system monitors whether the user is the authorized individual through device recognition and verification data, enabling reliable tracking of authorized use while maintaining convenient operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A controlled dispensing system includes a dispensing fixture and a server system. The server system receives from a first computing device image data corresponding to an identification document and/or face of a consumer, and verifies an identity or age of the consumer based on the image data. The server system obtains a live video feed of the consumer from the first computing device, transmits (i) the live video feed of the consumer and (ii) the image data corresponding to the identification document and/or face of the consumer to a second computing device, receives from the second computing device a verification message indicating that the consumer in the live video feed corresponds to the identification document and/or face of the consumer, and based on the verification message, transmits to the first computing device consumer validation data including an indication that the identity or age of the consumer is verified.