JPH03268094A - Automatic vending machine control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve commodity supplying job efficiency and to reduce commodity supply load with a vending machine by obtaining instantaneously the demand information on the commodities for each vending machine. CONSTITUTION:A terminal (b) mounted on an automobile which holds various types of commodities transmits signals to a receiver 10 of a terminal (a) of a vending machine via a transmitter 9. In this case, the terminal (b) is connected to the terminal (a) via a MODEM 11 and a control room of the automobile contains the commodities. Then a routeman of the automobile supplies the commodities of each type to each vendor in real time based on the demand information displayed visually. Then the routeman displays visually an updating state in the automobile after supply of commodities. Thus the commodity supply information is obtained after updating the commodities. That is, these visible information are instantaneously displayed and the the due commodities are instantaneously supplied based on the displayed information. Both the demand information and the supply information are checked after supply of the commodities. Thus the commodities can be effectively supplied to the vending machines and the commodity supply load is reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention mainly relates to a method of managing a vending machine that reduces the work of replenishing the vending machine with products.

(Conventional Technique! #) The vending machine management method proposed as prior art is to obtain management information from the vending machine at a location away from the site where the vending machine is installed, and based on this information. This is to deal with product defects, lack of change, or breakdowns, etc.
In particular, when it comes to product replenishment, there is no real-time information1, so when we visit the site, there is a discrepancy between the information obtained and the response process, and there are inherent defects that prevent us from achieving efficient replenishment. (Problem to be solved by the invention) In view of the above-mentioned prior art, the present invention provides automatic vending that replenishes products immediately based on information from the vending machine and checks the demand content at the time of replenishment and the supply content after updating. It provides a method for managing machines.

(Means for Solving Problem 11) The vending machine management method of the present invention detects the state of the products in the vending machine with the state detection section, and manages the detected information from the transmission section via the transmission line! In the management system for vending machines, the information is captured in a receiving section installed in the machine, processed by an information processing section, and visually displayed on an information display section. Based on the required information, the route man inside the car replenishes each product in the vending machine in real time? The update status after replenishment is visually displayed inside the vehicle and supply information after product update is obtained.

(Operation) According to the above method, the visually displayed information 1N is temporary, and based on this information, the product is immediately replenished, and after replenishment, the demand information and supply information are checked.

(Example λ) To explain this invention with an example, a denomination is deposited into a terminal & (hereinafter simply referred to as vending machine terminal 1) stored inside a vending machine as shown in FIG. Signal 1.1
-----, Denomination payout signal 2.2 '' ---1 Product-specific delivery signal 6.3 ' --- Product sold-out signal 4.4 2--
Each signal such as -1 is connected to the n serial interface 5.
5' Import into apy 6 via 5'e n, so n
The memory 8 stores denomination deposit information, denomination withdrawal information, product-specific delivery information, product-specific sold-out information, product delivery information for each time zone incorporating the time determined by the calendar clock 7, sold-out duration information, etc. On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
1], a signal is sent from the transmitter 9 to the receiver 10 of the vending machine terminal a? The communication is transmitted and connected to vending machine terminal a via MODEM 11, and an outline of the communication will be explained below. In other words, based on the patrol list, vending machines (hereinafter referred to as
It is simply called a vending machine. ) From the inside of a car parked in front of or near the car, use the in-vehicle terminal to check the vending machine for product replenishment using the PIN code, and after confirmation, send information to the vending machine terminal a about the amount of product replenishment as demand information for each product. Request transmission. The requested vending machine terminal a selects the requested information from the memory 8 of the CPU 75 and transmits it from the transmitter 9.
The in-vehicle terminal sends the signal received by the receiver 10 to MODEM1
2 and CPT via serial interface 5.
713, store it in the memory 14, and send it to the printer 1.
5 (It is also possible to output to the display device 16 at the same time as output to the printer 15 to further streamline the assortment of replenishment products. In 2, output a product replenishment list by product (by column). Based on this product replenishment list The route man in the car collects the products, goes to the vending machine to be refilled, and replenishes the products.After replenishment, the input device 17 of the in-vehicle terminal sends a request to the vending machine terminal a to update the updated state, that is, the number of replenishments, the amount, etc. The supply information is printed out to the in-vehicle terminal b and the replenishment work is completed.This work is repeated for each vending machine, and the product replenishment is completed for all the vending machines in the area in charge.

As mentioned above, product replenishment information, which is part of the demand information, is not obtained at the location where the vending machine is installed, but compared to when it is obtained at a remote location, there is no major change in the replenishment content, making product replenishment more efficient. Not only that, but the replenishment work can be objectively confirmed based on the supply information showing the updated status after replenishment, which eliminates problems such as lost products. In addition, in addition to this, vending S terminal a
The product removal information for each time period will be used as a resource for determining the product replenishment time period for route personnel, and will also be used to determine the product replenishment time period for route personnel.
Duration information can be used as information for determining product preference and number of vending machines installed at the location where the vending machine is installed, while temperature and humidity information is useful for business strategy as it is information related to weather and sales. Information such as the time and opening/closing times of the safe is useful for preventing fraud by the route manager.

(Effect of the invention λ According to this invention, demand information regarding product replenishment for each vending machine is instantaneous, so replenishment work becomes more efficient.
This has the effect of not only reducing costs, but also ensuring thorough management of vending machines using demand and supply management information.

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[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a vending machine terminal used in the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the same vehicle-mounted terminal. In the figure, 1 is a denomination deposit signal, 2 is a denomination payout signal, 6 is a product-specific delivery signal, 4 is a product-specific sell-out signal, 5 is a serial interface, and 6.16 is a CPU. 7 is a calendar clock, 8.14 is a memory, 9 is a transmitter, 10 is a receiver, 11.12 G2 MOD1! iM. 15 is a printer, 16 is a display device, and 17 is an input device. & is a vending machine terminal, and b is a car-mounted trend.

Claims (1)

[Claims] The state of the products in the vending machine is detected by the condition detection section, the detected information is sent from the transmission section to the reception section installed in the control room via the transmission path, and the obtained information is processed by the information processing section. In the management system for vending machines that is visually displayed on the information display section, the control room consists of a car loaded with products, and based on the visually displayed demand information, the route man inside the car can display the products for each product in real time for each vending machine. A vending machine management method characterized by streamlining product replenishment work to the vending machine by replenishing the product, visually displaying the update status after replenishment inside the vehicle, and acquiring supply information after product update.