Planet Antares Vending And Evolution Of Generic Technology

By Author: Anderson Derek
Total Articles: 21
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In simple terms, a multi-drop bus is an internal communication protocol designed to ensure that coin mechanism, bill validators and cashless payment devices can be properly interfaced to a Planet Antares vending machine controller without regard to proprietary manufacturing. The key benefit of this technology is the fact that it is a generic technology.
Often, MDB has been compared to the plug and play standards common to generic computer component interfacing, one consistent standard covers bills, coins and credit/debit cards. This represents a movement towards open system architecture enabling a variety of peripheral devices to automatically become functional.
MDB is also called the multi drop bus/ internal communication protocol (MDB/ICP). The MDB standard defines the serial interface equipment communicate identically. The design of this system is such that it can capture transactional data, including the method of payment, purchase price and change paid. When combined with time of transactions and possibly column data, it can form an effective transaction record.
Planet Antares vending machines are enabled ...
... to determine which coins the mechanism accepts, which bills were stored by the bill validator and how much credit is available through a cashless payment device with the help of MDB. This can be a way for the vending machine controller to direct the coin mechanism to pay out correct change. The MDB standard allows a Planet Antares vending operator to select peripheral devices based on reliability, performance, features and price, in contrast to proprietary connectivity.
Instant updating of your Planet Antares vending machine status is also allowed by MDB. The system protocol allows for the attachment of an audit device that, acting as a passive slave, receives information of all events happening in the Planet Antares vending machine through MDB.
In short, the vending machine controller and peripheral units need to support the highest common level while maintaining backward integration of lower level device compatibility. The purpose of MDB is to make sure that the essential operations of any device on the bus is consistent with the capabilities of the vending machine controller.

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