JPH07182559A - Automatic vending machine system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To release a customer from complexness at the time of purchase or the purchase of wrong merchandise by providing an area for storing a purchase menu at an electronic coin and providing a means for reading the purchase menu at an automatic vending machine. CONSTITUTION:When an electronic coin 5 to be used for the first time is mounted at an electronic coin mounting port 1 of an automatic vending machine 50, an operating instruction due to a control panel 70 is displayed on a display device 3. Corresponding to that operation, strong coffee with a little milk and a little sugar, for example, is outputted to a take-out port 32. The settlement of account is executed in a prepaid state, and the previously selected contents of the control panel are recorded in the coin 5. When next purchasing coffee with this coin 5, when the coin 5 is mounted at the mounting part 1 and the execution button of the control panel 70 is operated, the strong coffee with a little milk and a little sugar is immediately put out to the take-out port 32 according to the menu stored in the coin 5. Thus, the complicated operation of the control panel after the second time is avoided, and the desirably mixed merchandise can be easily purchased without troubling the customer.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is a vending machine that uses a data carrier such as an IC card, a non-contact memory card, or a magnetic card as an electronic coin, and a vending machine system capable of repeatedly reproducing the setting conditions of the vending machine. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Vending machines that can be purchased with an electronic coin using a magnetic stripe card or an IC card have become widespread and show a beneficial effect. However, if there is a purchase menu, it is necessary to set the menu each time. . When purchasing a complex selection operation that is repeated many times, it is not only complicated, but sometimes the wrong product is purchased.

[0003]

However, the number of vending machines that set conditions for purchased commodities according to their own preference is increasing. With such a vending machine, you can decide the condition of the product according to your own preference, but on the other hand, you can not avoid operations such as pressing multiple buttons to set the condition each time, but on the other hand, it is troublesome and you can improve the quality of the product. It also hindered the promotion of this type of vending machine, which was rooted in improving the social level of choice.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and stores one's own preference in an electronic coin,
From the next time, the purpose is to provide a vending machine system that can be purchased without setting the quality of one's favorite product again with the information of the electronic coin.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In a vending machine in which a purchase menu can be set and which can be purchased by using an electronic coin, an area for storing the purchase menu is provided in the electronic coin, and The vending machine is a vending machine system which decodes a menu specified by the purchase menu information and sells an article by providing a means for reading the purchase menu information stored in an electronic coin, and The vending machine is a vending machine system having a writing unit for writing operation menu-set purchase menu information in an electronic coin.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 are an external view and a block diagram of a vending machine 50 according to an embodiment of the present invention, respectively. In FIG. 1, 1 is an electronic coin mounting slot and 5 is an IC
Reference numeral 11 is an electronic coin formed of a card, a coin insertion slot is available, bills, coins and the like can be used, and 12 is a coin return slot for change. Reference numeral 70 denotes an operation panel on which a menu or the like can be selected when purchasing a product with money, electronic coins, or the like. Reference numeral 3 denotes a display device composed of an LCD or the like, which displays the contents of electronic coins, inserted coins, change, product information and the like. Reference numeral 32 is a product outlet for discharging the purchased product.

In FIG. 2, 20 is a main control means,
Reference numerals 21, 22, and 23 are CPs constituting main control means.
U (Central Processor Unit), ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory)
Is. The electronic coin processing device 4 is connected to the main control device 20 and reads data of the electronic coin 5 via the electronic coin mounting slot 1 or writes data to the electronic coin 5. Further, the main controller 20
A money handling device 10 is connected to the money insertion port 11
Also, settlement of accounts can be made via the money return port 12. With this vending machine, it is possible to purchase goods by either money or data stored in advance in an electronic coin. Further, the material 31 is processed, the product is discharged to the product outlet 32 via the dispenser 30, and the operation panel 7
The main control means 20 is adapted to comprehensively control the vending machine 50 by decoding the contents of 0 and displaying information on the display device 3.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the operation panel 70 shown in FIG. In this case, it has an option group 71 from A to E, an option group 72 from A to E, and an option group 73 from 1 to 5. Execute button 7 to execute the selected content
4. It has a cancel button 75 for canceling and a write button 76 for storing the contents in the data carrier. In the embodiment of the coffee vending machine configured as described above, a strong coffee is stored in A of the option group 71 of the operation panel 70,
B is a slightly strong coffee, C is a medium strength coffee, D
Is a light coffee, E is an extremely light coffee, and the selection group 72 is a with no sugar, B with a little sugar, C with a little sugar, D with a little sugar, and E with a little sugar.
In the option group 73, 1 is no milk, 2 is low milk, 3 is low milk, 4 is normal milk, 5 is high milk, and 6 is high milk.

4 and 5 are flow charts for explaining the basic operation of this embodiment. FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are a pair of flowcharts connected by a circle. The vending machine 50 waits for the insertion of money in step S11 and the mounting of electronic coins in step S21. When money is thrown in S12
Check whether the electronic coin has been inserted with. If the electronic coin is not installed, operate the button on the operation panel to process the product S1.
4, through step S15. When the electronic coin is attached, it is required to determine whether to use the electronic coin data, and when the electronic coin data is used, the product processing step using the electronic coin data in S23 is performed. When the mounting of the electronic coin is confirmed in S21, the balance of the electronic coin is determined in S22. If there is a balance, the process proceeds to step S13. S if there is no balance
It is arranged to move to step 11. Thus S
The product is discharged to the outlet in step S31 through steps S15 and S23. In S32, the settlement of accounts is performed, and in S33, the content of the button operation (condition setting information) on the operation panel is judged to be recorded in the electronic coin, and if not recorded, S3 is set.
In step 6, the electronic coin is discharged and the operation is completed. When recording on the electronic coin, the operation is completed through steps S34 and S35 and data writing to the electronic coin S36. If no electronic coin is inserted, S33
The subsequent operation is not performed.

When the electronic coin 5 to be used for the first time, which has a prepaid balance, is mounted in the electronic coin mounting slot 1 of the vending machine 50, the operation instruction by the operation panel 70 is displayed on the display device 3. For example, when A of the option group 71 of the operation panel 70, C of the option group 72, and 3 of the option group 73 are operated and the operation of 74 is operated, a strong coffee with a small amount of milk and a small amount of sugar comes out to the outlet 32. The settlement of accounts is prepaid, and the display device 3 displays whether or not the contents of the operation panel selected previously are recorded in the electronic coin 5. When recording, to operate the write button 76 on the operation panel 70, the electronic coin 5
The contents of the operation panel 70 selected earlier are recorded in the table. When the user intends to purchase the electronic coin 5 next time, the electronic coin 5 is mounted on the electronic coin mounting portion 1 of the vending machine 50, and the execution button 74 of the operation panel 70 is operated. The operation is started, and according to the menu stored in the electronic coin 5, a coffee with a small amount of milk, a small amount of sugar and a strong coffee comes out to the outlet 32.

In this way, from the second time, it is possible to avoid complicated operation of the operation panel and to purchase a desired blended product easily without bothering. Of course, when changing the preference, the same operation can be easily performed to re-record the changed preference data in the electronic coin, and from the next time, the product can be purchased with the changed preference. Here, an example of product formulation with a simple option group is shown for the sake of easy understanding, but the present invention is more and more effective in a complicated combination.

In the vending machine of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, not only the prepaid information is recorded in the electronic coin as an accessory function, but also an electronic service is provided according to the quantity and price of the purchased product. It can also be done by recording on coins.

[0013]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the vending machine of the present invention, when repeatedly purchasing a product having more options, it is not necessary to repeat a complicated selecting operation many times. Consumers are freed from the complexity of purchasing and purchasing the wrong product. On the other hand, since consumers can select their preferences without being bothered, it is possible to provide society with a vending machine that allows the preferences of the vending machine to be set more delicately when viewed from the side of providing the vending machine. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The vending machine of the present invention can provide further convenience to consumers and contribute to further improvement in social level.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a vending machine showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the vending machine shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a layout view of an operation panel attached to an embodiment of the vending machine of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the basic operation of the vending machine of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the basic operation of the vending machine of the present invention. 4 and 5 are one flowchart.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 electronic coin processing device 5 electronic coin 20 main controller 50 vending machine 70 operation panel 76 write button

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An automatic vending machine in which a purchase menu can be set and which can be purchased by using an electronic coin, wherein an area for storing the purchase menu is provided in the electronic coin, and the automatic vending machine is provided. An automatic vending machine system, wherein means for reading purchase menu information stored in an electronic coin is provided to decode the menu specified by the purchase menu information and sell the article. 2. The vending machine system according to claim 1, wherein the vending machine has a writing unit for writing operation menu information, which is set in the purchase menu, into an electronic coin.