A smart card (SC), chip card, or integrated circuit card, used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) chip. Many smart cards include a pattern of metal contacts to electrically connect to the internal chip. Others are contactless, and some are both. Smart cards can provide personal identification, authentication, data storage, and application processing. Applications include identification, financial, public transit, computer security, schools, and healthcare. Smart cards may provide strong security authentication for single sign-on (SSO) within organizations. Numerous nations have deployed smart cards throughout their populations.
A vending machine is an automated machine that dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The first modern vending machines were developed in England in the early 1880s and dispensed postcards. Vending machines exist in many countries and, in more recent times, specialized vending machines that provide less common products compared to traditional vending machine items have been created.
Packard Bell Electronics, Inc., was an American computer company independently active from 1986 to 1996, now a Dutch-registered computer manufacturing brand and subsidiary of Acer Inc. The company was originally founded in 1986, after Israeli-American investors bought the trademark rights to the Packard Bell Corporation from Teledyne. The investors wanted to name their newly formed personal computer manufacturing company producing discount computers in the North American markets. In the late 1990s, Packard Bell became a subsidiary of Japanese electronics conglomerate NEC, Packard Bell NEC. In 1999, NEC stopped its North American operations and focused squarely the division on the European market, where it continued to sell PC and laptop under the Packard Bell name. In 2006, NEC divested Packard Bell, and in 2008, the brand was acquired by the Taiwanese consumer electronic firm Acer, in the aftermath of their takeover of Gateway, Inc.
A ticket machine, also known as a ticket vending machine (TVM), is a vending machine that produces paper or electronic tickets, or recharges a stored-value card or smart card or the user's mobile wallet, typically on a smartphone. For instance, ticket machines dispense train tickets at railway stations, transit tickets at metro stations and tram tickets at some tram stops and in some trams. Token machines may dispense the ticket in the form of a token which has the same function as a paper or electronic ticket. The typical transaction consists of a user using the display interface to select the type and quantity of tickets and then choosing a payment method of either cash, credit/debit card or smartcard. The ticket(s) are then printed on paper and dispensed to the user, or loaded onto the user's smartcard or smartphone.
A gumball machine is a type of bulk vending machine that dispenses individual gumballs in exchange for money. The were developed around the early twentieth century.
Digital currency is any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet. Types of digital currencies include cryptocurrency, virtual currency and central bank digital currency. Digital currency may be recorded on a distributed database on the internet, a centralized electronic computer database owned by a company or bank, within digital files or even on a stored-value card.
EB Games is an American computer and video games retailer. First established as an American company in 1977 by James Kim with a single electronics-focused location in the King of Prussia mall near Philadelphia, the company has grown into an international corporation. EB Games's parent company, GameStop, has its headquarters in Grapevine, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. When Electronics Boutique was an independent company, its headquarters was in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania, near West Chester.
A currency detector or currency validator is a device that determines whether notes or coins are genuine or counterfeit. These devices are used in a wide range of automated machines, such as retail kiosks, supermarket self checkout machines, arcade gaming machines, payphones, launderette washing machines, car park ticket machines, automatic fare collection machines, public transport ticket machines, and vending machines.
Grundig is a consumer electronics manufacturer owned by Arçelik A.Ş., the white goods manufacturer of Turkish conglomerate Koç Holding. The company makes domestic appliances and personal-care products.
The Vendo Company is a large manufacturer of cold beverage vending machines. Since its founding in 1937, Vendo has come out with many innovations that now exist in nearly every beverage and snack vending machine in use today. In 2005, Vendo moved its headquarters to Dallas, Texas, and was renamed SandenVendo America, Inc.
The Brink's Company is an American cash handling company, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Its operations include cash-in-transit, ATM replenishment & maintenance, and cash management & payment services, such as vault outsourcing, money processing, intelligent safe services, and international transportation of valuables.
Crane Co. is an American industrial products company based in Stamford, Connecticut. Founded by Richard Teller Crane in 1855, it became one of the leading manufacturers of bathroom fixtures in the United States, until 1990, when that division was sold off. In 1960 it began the process of becoming a holding company with a diverse portfolio. Its business segments are Aerospace & Electronics, Engineered Materials, Payment and Merchandising Technology, Fluid Handling, and Controls. Industries served by these segments include chemical industries, commercial construction, food and beverage, general and commercial aviation, and power generation.
Hisense Group is a Chinese multinational major appliance and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China. Televisions are the main products of Hisense, and it is the largest TV manufacturer in China by market share since 2004. Hisense is also an OEM, so some of its products are sold to other companies and carry brand names not related to Hisense.
Maplin Electronics is the trading name of an online retailer of electronic goods in the United Kingdom and Ireland launched in 2019, using the brand of the former company Maplin Electronics Ltd., which operated from 1972 to 2018.
Incredible Technologies (IT) is an American designer and manufacturer of coin-operated video games and Class III casino games, based in Vernon Hills, Illinois. The company's most widely used product is the Golden Tee Golf series. The company employs around 200 people at its offices in suburban Chicago.
ccTalk is a serial protocol in widespread use throughout the money transaction and point-of-sale industry. Peripherals such as the currency detectors for coins and banknotes found in a diverse range of automatic payment equipment such as transportation, ticketing, payphones, amusement machines, and retail cash management use ccTalk to talk to the host controller. The ccTalk protocol is an open standard.
Crane Payment Innovations is a designer and manufacturer of vending machines. They are a business unit of publicly traded Crane NXT and their manufacturing facility is located in Williston, South Carolina, United States.
Cash-in-transit (CIT) or cash/valuables-in-transit (CVIT) is the physical transfer of banknotes, coins, credit cards and items of value from one location to another. The locations include cash centers and bank branches, ATM points, large retailers and other premises holding large amounts of cash, such as ticket vending machines and parking meters.
Cummins Allison Corp. is a company which creates currency handling and coin handling systems, including currency and coin counting machines. Its products are primarily used by banks and casinos for counting and sorting money. Cummins Allison was created in 1887 in Mount Prospect, Illinois. It is the only U.S. owned and operated manufacturer of coin and currency handling, but also has offices in North America and the UK. In June 2012, Cummins Allison was rated the third most innovative company in Chicago based on number and quality of patents.
At December 31, 2019 the company had been acquired by Crane Payment Innovations (CPI).
Greyhound Electronics, Inc., was an American manufacturer of traditional and electronic amusement games based in Toms River, New Jersey. The company flourished in the 1980s and 1990s as a manufacturer and seller of arcade games, skill cranes and background music players, as well as various other amusement devices. The company's grey-market selling of its amusement-only video poker machines—illegally modified to pay out vouchers to customers—in the northeast and in California became known after its co-owners were arrested in 1990 on charges of racketeering, conspiracy and promotion of gambling.
