FR2801712A1 - Keyboard actuated automatic, large capacity, cassette or pre-recorded video disk distributor, with central push arm for expelling objects from radial slots - Google Patents

Abstract

The distributor (1) has a magazine (10) with a range of slots (11) for the objects. An arm (50) with grip (60) pushes the objects from the slots. The magazine has an annular shape and the arm (50) rotates around an central axis (40).The magazine has a removable sector (10b) which allows access into it, and has several object rows and the arm (50) can be vertically displaced to each row.

Description

DEVICE FOR DISTRIBUTING OBJECTS The present invention relates to a device for distributing objects, in particular cassettes and / or video discs.

In recent years, the very wide distribution of video cassette players, and more recently DVD video disc players, has led to a significant development of rental services for pre-recorded cassettes and discs.

We have thus seen the appearance of automatic cassettes or disc distributors accessible to the public by their fronts, provided with a screen and a keyboard making it possible to directly select a film from films available in the distributor and, after payment by bank card or credit card. subscriber, to get the chosen movie.

video cassette vending machines generally include a cassette storage store in the form of a library comprising rows of cassette housings on several levels, each housing being referenced by coordinates in x and y, "designating the level of a row and "x" the position of the housing in a row. The cassettes are gripped by a gripping arm sliding in "x" along a horizontal rod fixed at its ends to mobile carriages in "y" on vertical axes. having grabbed a cassette, the arm comes to place it in an airlock in front of the distributor. A distributor management body controls the clamp and the displacement motors in x and y, and manages the stock of cassettes available by recording the inputs and the outlets, the cassettes being provided for this purpose with a means of identification such as a bar code. '' be complex, expensive and cumbersome, and does not lend itself well to integration in a small volume enclosure.

An objective of the present invention is to provide a distributor of objects, in particular cassettes and video discs, which is simple and compact while offering a large capacity for storing objects.

This objective is achieved by an object distribution device comprising a magazine comprising at least one row of housings receiving or intended to receive objects, and an arm comprising means for gripping objects located in housings, in which the magazine is of annular shape and the arm rotatably mounted around an axis arranged in the center of symmetry of the store.

According to one embodiment, the store includes a removable sector allowing access to the heart of the device without dismantling or removing the entire store.

According to one embodiment, a row of housings is delimited by a lower shelf and an upper shelf separated by spacers, at least some spacers taking the form of tubes threaded on vertical rods.

According to one embodiment, the housings of the same row are delimited at least laterally from the spacers.

According to one embodiment, the magazine occupies an angular sector of less than 360, and an object distribution unit is arranged in the free angular sector located between the two lateral ends of the magazine.

According to embodiment, the airlock comprises a barrel provided with a housing intended to receive a 'and, the housing being accessible from inside the store or from the external face of the device according to the position of the barrel. According to one embodiment, the airlock comprises a corridor provided for receiving an object, the airlock comprising sliding doors at each of its ends.

According to one embodiment, the external sliding door of the airlock protects a housing in which there is a keyboard.

According to one embodiment, the arm comprises a clamp capable of reaching objects located in housings a simple translation movement along the arm.

According to one embodiment, the store comprises several rows of housings superimposed on each other, and means are provided for vertically moving the arm along its axis of rotation in order to grasp objects arranged on rows of different levels.

According to one embodiment, the arm is fixed to a carriage sliding vertically along a guide, the base of which is secured to a part mounted to rotate.

According to one embodiment, the device comprises objects of different shapes and / or natures stored in cases of the same length and of the same thickness, the cases being stored on edge in the stores of the store.

According to one embodiment, the objects include video cassettes and video discs, the video discs being arranged in the cases by means of a support provided for this purpose.

According to one embodiment, the device comprises means for downloading data relating to the objects present in the store, intended to be presented to users on a display screen.

These characteristics and advantages as well as others of the present invention will be explained in more detail in the following description of a dispenser of objects according to the invention, in relation to the attached figures among which - FIG. 1 is a view of above simplified an object distributor according to the invention, essentially representing an object storage store according to the invention and a distribution airlock, FIG. 2 represents an alternative embodiment of the distribution airlock of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 represents an object gripping arm present in the dispenser of FIG. 1 and a vertical movement system of the arm, FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the arm of FIG. 3, FIG. 5 represents a case of video discs which can be arranged in the object dispenser according to the invention.

FIG. 1 represents an automatic object dispenser 1 according to the invention, intended here for the distribution of cassettes or video discs. The cassettes or discs being preferably arranged in protective cases of rectangular shape, the term "cassettes" will be used subsequently to designate cases provided with cassettes or video discs, but also designate single cassettes or mounted video discs a specific support and even more generally all types of objects capable of being stored in the dispenser.

Seen from the outside, the dispenser 1 according to the invention takes the form of a device of reduced size delimited by a box 2 comprising two side walls 3, 4, a rear wall 5 and a front wall 6 for receiving and distribution of cassettes.

According to the invention, the dispenser 1 comprises a storage magazine 10 of annular shape, in the center of which is an arm 50 fitted with a sliding clamp. The arm 50 is mounted at the end of a vertical shaft 40 driven in rotation by a motor, by means of a belt. The magazine 10 here extends over an angular sector of the order of 300 and the angular sector left free, of the order 60, receives an airlock 30 for distributing or returning cassettes. To this end, the front wall 6 of the box is open along the above-mentioned angular sector, at least over part of its height, and comprises two panels oriented towards the center of the store 10, coinciding with walls of the airlock 30.

The magazine 10 comprises at least one row of housings 11 for cassettes, delimited by a lower shelf 12 and an upper shelf (not shown), the shelves being of annular shape. The upper shelf is placed on the lower shelf 12 by means of spacers 14, 15, 16. Some spacers are hollow tubes threaded on vertical rods which carry the entire magazine 10 (not shown). other spacers are solid cylindrical parts whose thinned ends are fitted into holes made in the lower shelves 12 and upper. The spacers 14, 15 are arranged in concentric circles and delimit, in the radial direction, the housings 11 for cassettes. The spacers are arranged in a larger diameter circle and form stops at the bottom of the housings 11. The spacers 15 have an external diameter smaller than that of the spacers 14, so that the housings 11 have parallel edges, as shown in dotted lines in the figure In addition, the round section of the spacers 15 facilitates introduction of the cassettes into the housings.

Preferably, the magazine 10 includes a removable part allowing access to the interior of the dispenser for maintenance operations, without the need to remove the entire magazine. Thus, here, the lower shelf 12 comprises three independent sectors 12a, 12b, 12c, arranged side by side. The upper shelf has the same structure and also includes three contiguous sectors. store 10, as a whole, thus has two lateral sectors 10a, 10c and a central sector 10b. The rods carrying the spacer tubes and the central sectors of the shelves have their bases fixed on a removable support (not shown), mounted for example on rails, so that the central sector 10b of the magazine can be completely removed after removing the rear panel 5 of the dispenser.

In the embodiment shown, the lateral sectors 10a, 10c of the magazine 10 can receive ten cassettes each, and the central sector lob can receive five cassettes. The three sectors being arranged end to end horizontally, the row of housings can accommodate here 29 cassettes because 2 additional locations are created at the junctions between sectors 10a, 10b and 10b, 10c and two additional locations are created between the walls of the airlock 30 and the spacers 14, 15 located at the ends of sectors 10a and 10c.

The airlock 30 comprises a barrel 31 driven in rotation by a motor, by means of a belt. The barrel 31 has a blind housing 32 which can accommodate a cassette, arranged at the same height as the shelf 12. The barrel 31 is arranged to make movements of 180 around its axis so that the housing 32 can be accessed from the inside the store, to place a cassette for the attention of a user or to recover a cassette returned by a user. After rotation of the barrel 31, the housing 32 is accessible from the front face 6 of the dispenser, for removing or returning cassettes.

In addition to its reduced size, the dispenser 1 offers the advantage of simple and rapid operation. The cassettes are arranged longitudinally in the housings 11, on edge, and substantially protrude from the shelves in the direction of the center of the magazine 10. When a cassette is to be delivered to a user, the arm 50 pivots on its axis until its end is opposite the housing containing the desired cassette. The clamp 60 is then brought to the end of the arm and is closed to grip the upper and lower edges of the cassette. Then the clamp is moved back along the arm 50 in order to remove the cassette from its housing. The extracted cassette remains placed on edge along the arm 50 and is held by the clamp 60. The arm 50 pivots to bring the cassette opposite the entry of the housing 32, and the clamp 60 is again advanced for the introduction of the cassette in the housing 32. Once this operation is completed, the pliers move back to the rest position and the barrel 31 pivots by half a turn. The entrance to the housing 32 is found on the front face 6 of the dispenser, so that the user can grasp the cassette.

Of course, the operations which have just been described are entirely reversible, and may consist in recovering a cassette returned by a user and introduced into the airlock 30. In this case, the arm 50 extracts the airlock cassette and replaces it in their initial accommodation or in dynamically allocated accommodation.

FIG. 2 represents an alternative embodiment of the airlock 30. The airlock 35 shown in this figure comprises a passage 36 sized to accommodate a cassette, the ends of which are provided with sliding doors 37, 38. The internal door 37 is open when the clamp 60 pushes the cassette into the corridor 36, and the outer door 38 remains closed. When the cassette is inserted, the outer door 38 is opened and the inner door 37 is closed, so that the cassette can be grasped by the user. This operation, like the previous one, is of course reversible.

According to an embodiment shown in Figure 2, the outer door 38 of the airlock 35 is also used to hide a housing in which a keyboard 39 is protected from vandalism. When, for example, a user inserts his bank card or his subscriber card into a slot located on the external wall of the airlock, the door 38 half opens, firstly, so that the user has access to the keypad 39 and can enter their secret code. When the secret code is verified, the door 38 is fully open to free access to the corridor 36, for the delivery or the return of a cassette.

Furthermore, as follows from the above, it is desirable that a cassette inserted in the housing 32 of the airlock 30 or in the corridor 36 of the airlock 35, is the same distance from the center of the store 10 'a cassette placed in a housing 11 of the magazine 10.

In practice, the magazine 10 according to the invention preferably comprises a stack of several rows of housings of the type which has just been described. For example, a store comprising a stack of 15 shelves has a capacity of more than 400 cassettes, and can be arranged in a box 80 cm wide, with a height of around 200 cm. In this case, the arm 50 is provided with a lifting system allowing, in addition to the rotation of the arm, a vertical movement of the arm.

FIG. 3 represents an exemplary embodiment of such a lifting system. The lifting system 70 comprises a lower plate 71 secured to the shaft 40 previously described and an upper plate 72 connected to the lower plate by four vertical rods 73, 74, 75, 76. The rods 73, 74, 75 serve as a guide for a carriage 77 vertically movable, on which the arm 50 is fixed. The precise arrangement of the arm 50 on the carriage 71 is determined so that the longitudinal axis of the arm passes vertically from the axis of rotation of the shaft 40 The carriage 77 is driven vertically by a belt 78 driven by a motor fixed on the lower plate 71. The belt 7 is attached at one point to a counterweight 79 sliding vertically along the rod 76. The counterweight 79 compensates for the total mass of the carriage 77 and of the arm 50, so that the restoring torque exerted on the motor ensuring the vertical movements of the carriage 77 is practically zero when the carriage 77 is stopped.

FIG. 3 also represents an embodiment of the arm 50 and of the clamp 60, these elements also being shown in section in FIG. 4. The arm 50 comprises a gutter 51 of square section secured to the carriage 77. The gutter 51 serves as guide to a sliding part 52 driven in translation by an endless screw 53 driven by a motor placed at the rear end of the arm 50. The sliding part 52 carries the clamp 60, which is here constituted by a lower plate 61 and a plate upper 62. The lower plate 61 is fixed and secured in translation of the part 52. The upper plate 62 is also secured in translation of the piece 52 but can also be placed in a high or low position by means of an electro- magnet 63.

Thus, when a cassette is to be gripped, the front end of the arm 50 is brought opposite the housing where the cassette is located, by a rotational movement of the shaft 40 and a vertical movement of the carriage 77. The sliding part 52 is brought into abutment at 1 front end of the gutter 51. The plates 61, 62 forming the clamp 60 extend beyond the end of the gutter 51 and are respectively below and above the edges of the cassette, protruding from the shelf. The plate 62 is lowered by means of the electromagnet 63 so that the clamp 60 comes to clamp the cassette. The sliding part 52 is then moved back towards the rear end of the gutter 51. The cassette is extracted from its housing and is guided by the side walls of the gutter 51.

To maintain the other end of the cassette, when the latter is completely removed from its housing, the end of the gutter 51 comprises a substantially horizontal metal tongue 54, the end of which is folded down so as not to catch on the lower edge of the cassette when it is removed. The end of the gutter 51 also includes two lateral tabs 55, 56 curved outwards, forming guides for centering the cassette when the latter is not exactly in the longitudinal axis of the gutter 51. In addition , the upper plate 62 of the clamp 60 is advantageously provided with a tip 64 on its face in contact with the cassette, in order to facilitate rotation of the cassette during its recentering, if any, by the lateral tabs 55, 56.

As already indicated, these operations are reversible and allow the distribution of a cassette in the airlock as well as the storage of a cassette placed in the airlock by a user.

The distributor of ets according to the invention is of course capable of various variant embodiments, improvements and applications.

According to one aspect of the invention illustrated by FIG. 5, independent of the other aspects of the invention, there is provided a universal case 80 which can receive both video cassettes and video discs, the case 80 being intended to be arranged on edge in the distributor's store 10, as explained above. The video cassettes are slid into the case in a conventional manner while the DVD type video discs are previously fixed on a support 81 which is slid into the case 80. The support 81 comprises for example a conical piece 82 to maintain the center video discs, part 82 to be pushed in to eject the discs. Once inserted in the case 80, the support 81 has a central part 83 which protrudes substantially from the case, because the diameter of a DVD disc (139 mm) is greater than the width (115 mm) of a cassette. video. However, the support 81 has at its ends the same width as a cassette, and can be gripped on edges by the clamp 60 in the same manner as a cassette.

Thus, in practice, the magazine 10 of the distributor according to the invention can comprise, on different levels, rows of housings provided for video cassettes and rows of housings provided for video discs. Thanks to the universal case 80, which is arranged on edge in the housings, the rows for discs are distinguished only from the rows for cassettes by a slightly larger spacing between the lower shelf and the upper shelf.

In practice, it is therefore possible to modify at will and in a few minutes the structure of the magazine according to the invention, according to the number of rows desired for each type of video medium, by simply changing the spacers 14, 15, 16 separating the shelves. lower and upper rows to modify.

For the sake of simplicity, we have not described in the foregoing electrical and electronic means ensuring the interface of the device with the users, the means for controlling and controlling the motors, the means for managing the cassettes, the means cassette identification, these various means being known per se to those skilled in the art and already present in distributors of the prior art.

Unlike a cassette distributor of the type mentioned in the preamble, the distributor according to the invention comprises an algorithm for calculating the position of each housing by an angular coordinate 8 and a vertical coordinate z, the vertical coordinate corresponding to the row in which the accommodation is located. By way of example, the electronic core of the device may include a PC card of the Pentium CPU type, ISA and PCI buses, a RAM memory, a cache memory, a card for managing commands and motor currents, as well as an automatic control system. The screen on the front of the dispenser can be an SVGA screen fitted with a 17 inch touch screen.

According to an advantageous aspect of the invention, the identification of cassettes is ensured by electronic labels of the contactless type, stuck on the cassettes. These are preferably passive type labels operating by electromagnetic induction, read by a read head. This read head advantageously comprises an external antenna arranged on the front face of the airlock and an internal antenna arranged in the corridor or in the rotary housing of the. According to an advantageous aspect of the invention, a user wishing to restore a cassette approaches the cassette from the 'external antenna, the device recognizes the rented cassette and opens the airlock to allow its return. Thus, it is not necessary for the user to re-insert his bank card or his subscriber card into the device. The return operation is considerably simplified and can be entrusted to a child.

Finally, the distributor can be provided with a modem card in order to centralize the management of different video cassette distribution points, to be able to possibly indicate to a user the availability of cassettes at other points, to be able to detect any operational incident or any break-in from the distributor. According to an advantageous aspect of the invention, the modem is also used to ensure the remote management of the data contained in the dispenser, relating to the cassettes present in the store. When the operator orders new cassettes for the distributor, the company responsible for the remote management of the distributor downloads the new data relating to the new films ordered, so that the operator does not need to take care of the data entry. This data is then presented to the user, and includes for example various information concerning the films available, which are displayed by means of the screen mentioned above.

Claims (1)

<U> CLAIMS </U>. Device (1) for dispensing objects comprising a magazine (10) comprising at least one row of housings (11) receiving or intended to receive objects, and an arm (50) comprising means (60) for gripping objects located in housings, characterized in that the magazine (10) is of annular shape and in that arm (50) rotatably mounted around an axis (40) arranged in the center of symmetry of the magazine (10). 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the magazine (10) comprises a removable sector (10b) allowing access to the heart of the device without disassembly or removal of the entire magazine. 3. Device according to one of claims and 2, characterized in that a row of housings (11) is delimited by a lower shelf (12) and an upper shelf separated by spacers (14, 15, 16), at minus certain spacers taking the form of tubes threaded on vertical rods. 4. Device according to claim 3, wherein the housings (11) of the same row are delimited at least laterally by spacers (14, 15, 16). 5. Device according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the magazine (10) occupies an angular sector of less than 360, and in that an airlock (30, 35) for distributing objects is arranged in the free angular sector located between the two lateral ends of the magazine. 6. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that the airlock (30) comprises a barrel (31) provided with a housing provided for receiving an object, the housing (32) being accessible from inside the store or from the external face of the device according to the position of the barrel 7. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that airlock (35) comprises a passage (36) intended to receive an object, the airlock comprising sliding doors (37, 38) at each of its ends. 8. Device according to claim 7, in which the external sliding door (38) of the airlock (35) protects a housing in which there is a keyboard (39). 9. Device according to one of claims to 8, characterized in that the arm (50) comprises a clamp (60) capable of reaching objects located in housings (11) by a simple translational movement along the arm. 10. Device according to one of claims to 9, characterized in that the magazine (10) comprises several rows of housings superimposed on each other, and in that it comprises means (70) for vertically moving the arm ( 50) along its axis of rotation in order to grasp objects arranged in rows of different levels. 11. Device according to claim 10, wherein the arm is fixed on a carriage (77) sliding vertically along a guide (73, 74, 75) whose base is integral with a part (71) rotatably mounted. 12. Device according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that it comprises objects of different shapes and / or natures stored in cases (80) of the same length and the same thickness, cases being stored on edge in the store accommodation. 13. Device according to claim 12, characterized in that said objects include video cassettes and video discs, the video discs being arranged in the cases (80) by means of a support provided for this purpose. 14. Device according to one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that it comprises means for downloading data relating to the objects present in the store, intended to be presented to users on a display screen.