JPH09282561A - Radio type merchandise sales registering device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a slave radio station from being operated by keeping a radio parameter unsuitable by forgetting the resetting of the radio parameter at the time of moving, by providing the slave radio station with a function for erasing various parameters inside a storage part when the time of power supply stop exceeds a threshold time in the case of starting the supply of power. SOLUTION: A slave radio station 5 is provided with a means for detecting the OFF of power supply to itself, power supply stop time measuring means for measuring the lapse of time from the detection of power supply OFF to the next power supply ON, means for comparing this power supply stop time with the threshold time set in advance, and means for erasing the various parameters inside the storage part when the power supply stop time exceeds the threshold time. In this case, a power source monitor circuit 39 at each slave radio station 5 consists of a power supply OFF detecting means. Besides, a parameter storage part PM for storing the radio parameter, power supply OFF time storage part TM and threshold time storage part VL are especially formed in a RAM 34.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wireless product sales registration device used as a terminal for registering product sales data in a wireless POS (point of sale information management) system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a wireless POS system, a plurality of wireless base stations are wire-connected to a host device called a store processor, and wireless terminals are connected to a plurality of wireless product sales registration devices called POS terminals. By connecting the stations by wire and wirelessly connecting each wireless slave station and each wireless base station, it is possible to perform data communication between each wireless product sales registration device and the higher-level device via wireless communication. The wireless product sales registration device can be moved to any place where power can be supplied from the power outlet, if it is within the range of the radio wave propagation distance that allows stable communication with any wireless base station. It has merits.

Here, each wireless slave station is provided with a parameter storage unit for storing wireless parameters such as a wireless channel used by a wireless base station of a communication partner and an ID code for identifying the wireless base station, By setting the radio parameter for one radio base station within the range of the radio wave propagation distance in this parameter storage unit, stable radio communication without crosstalk is realized.

By the way, generally, in the parameter storage section of each wireless slave station, necessary wireless parameters can be set by using the keyboard of the connected wireless commodity sales registration device. In addition, the power of the parameter storage is backed up so that the communication parameters will not be lost for a few days to a few weeks even if the power is not supplied to the wireless slave station, and it is necessary to reset the parameters even if an instantaneous power failure occurs. It is devised so that there is no.

However, the wireless merchandise sales registration device is easily relocated as described above, and when relocated, it is necessary to reset the wireless parameters suitable for the environment of the relocation destination. This work is usually done by the user of the wireless merchandise sales registration device, and if the user forgets to set it, the wireless slave station will operate with the wireless parameter backed up in the storage unit. become. If the wireless parameter is not backed up in the storage unit, the wireless slave station will not operate and the guidance requesting the setting of the parameter will be displayed on the display unit of the wireless merchandise sales registration device. There is no such thing.

[0006]

As described above, in the conventional wireless merchandise sales registration apparatus, after the operation is temporarily stopped and the power is turned off, the apparatus is moved to a wireless communication environment different from the last time and re-operated. If the power-off period is shorter than the power backup time in the parameter storage when operating,
The wireless parameters in the previous wireless communication environment remained in the parameter storage unit. For this reason, it is necessary to reset the wireless parameters in the wireless communication environment this time, but if you forget to do this setting, the wireless slave station will operate with incorrect wireless parameters, and it will be stable. Not only can wireless communication not be performed, but wireless communication of other devices is adversely affected.

The present invention has been made under such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to allow a wireless slave station to operate with an inappropriate wireless parameter due to forgetting to set the wireless parameter at the time of relocation. Can be prevented
An object of the present invention is to provide a wireless merchandise sales registration device that does not adversely affect the wireless communication of other devices.

[0008]

According to the present invention, various parameters necessary for wireless communication are stored in a storage unit so that wireless communication with any one of a plurality of wireless base stations connected to a host device can be performed. In a wireless product sales registration device that connects to a wireless slave station stored in, and performs data communication with a host device via this wireless slave station, the wireless slave station checks the disconnection time of power supply to itself and At the start of supply, when the above disconnection time has exceeded a preset threshold time, various parameters in the storage unit are erased to prevent the wireless slave station from operating with inappropriate wireless parameters. It is provided.

[0009] As concrete means thereof, the wireless slave station is provided with a power-off detecting means for detecting power-off to itself, and from the power-off detecting means detecting power-off to the next power-on. The power interruption time measuring means for measuring the elapsed time of, the time comparing means for comparing the power interruption time measured by this measuring means with the preset threshold time, the result of this comparing means, the power interruption time is And parameter erasing means for erasing various parameters in the storage unit when the threshold time has elapsed. The threshold time is set to a time longer than the momentary power failure and shorter than the power backup time of the storage unit.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless POS system according to this embodiment, in which a store processor 1 as a higher-level device has two wireless base stations 2
a and 2b are connected via signal cables 3a and 3b. In addition, 6 POs as wireless merchandise sales registration devices
In S terminal 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e, 4f,
Wireless slave stations 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5e, 5f, respectively
Are connected by signal cables 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, 6e, 6f. When all of the POS terminals 4a to 4f are operated, the power plugs 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d, 8e and 8f are inserted into the power outlets 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d, 7e and 7f of the commercial AC power line 7. So, it is supposed to receive power supply.

As shown in FIG. 2, one radio base station 2a
Is installed in a place including the area A on the left half of the store floor F in the radio wave propagation area, and the other radio base station 2b is installed in a location including the area B in the right half of the store floor F in the radio wave propagation area. There is. Then, the wireless slave station 5 is provided in each sales floor in the area A.
3 POS terminals 4a, 4b, 4c each having a, 5b, 5c are installed, and three POS terminals 4d, 4e, 4f each having a wireless slave station 5d, 5e, 5f at each sales floor in area B Has been installed. As a result, wireless parameters such as a wireless channel used by one wireless base station 2a and an ID code for identifying the wireless base station are set in the parameter storage units of the wireless slave stations 5a, 5b, 5c. In the parameter storage units 5d, 5e, and 5f, wireless parameters such as a wireless channel used by the other wireless base station 2b and an ID code for identifying the wireless base station are set.

FIG. 3 shows a POS terminal 4 (4a-4f).
3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main part of FIG. As shown
The POS terminal 4 is equipped with a CPU (central processing unit) 11 as a control unit main body, and a ROM (read only memory) 1 is mounted on the CPU 11 via a bus line 12.
3 and a storage unit of a RAM (Random Access Memory) 14 and a radio interface 15 for transmitting and receiving data between the radio slave stations 5 (5a to 5f) connected by the signal cables 6 (6a to 6f), Keyboard interface 17 for receiving key signals from the keyboard 16, display unit 1
Display interface 19 for transmitting display data of 8;
An input / output device interface unit such as a printer interface 21 for sending print data to the printer 20 is connected to form a control circuit.

The POS terminal 4 also takes in commercial AC power supplied through a power plug 8 (8a to 8f), converts it into an internal power used by various input / output devices, control circuits, etc. A power supply circuit 22 for supplying power is mounted. Further, the internal power supply of the power supply circuit 22 is supplied as drive power for the wireless slave station 5 connected by the signal cable 6.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the wireless slave station 5 (5a to 5f). As shown in the figure, the wireless slave station 5 is equipped with a CPU 31 as a control unit main body,
ROM 33 and R to U31 via bus line 32
A storage unit of the AM 34 and a clock circuit 35 for timing the date and time,
A terminal interface 36 for transmitting and receiving data to and from the POS terminal 4 (4a to 4f) connected by the signal cable 6 (6a to 6f) is connected to the I / O port 37 and the I / O port 38 for control. Forming a circuit.

A power supply monitoring circuit 39 is connected to one I / O port 37. The power supply monitor circuit 39 monitors the state of the power supply supplied from the POS terminal 4 to the power supply stabilization circuit 40, and when a voltage drop is detected, the power supply off signal is set to I / O.
A circuit for sending to the O port 37 constitutes a power-off detection means. The other I / O port 38 has a wireless circuit 41.
Are connected. The wireless circuit 41 has a function of demodulating a data signal received by the antenna 42 and sending it to the I / O port 38, and a function of modulating the data signal input from the I / O port 38 and sending it from the antenna 42. is there.

A battery 43 for power backup is connected to the RAM 34 and the clock circuit 35, so that even if the power supply from the POS terminal 4 is interrupted, the RAM 34 holds the data stably for a certain time, and the clock circuit 35. Is designed to continue clocking.

In the RAM 34, in particular, a parameter storage unit PM for storing wireless parameters, a power-off time storage unit TM, and a threshold time storage unit VL are formed. Here, the threshold time storage unit VL is longer than the time of momentary power failure and a short time of several minutes required to recover from a general power failure that may occur on a daily basis, and is stored in the RAM 34 by the battery 43. A time shorter than the power backup time is preset as the threshold time.
Incidentally, in this embodiment, the threshold time is 1 hour.

Thus, the wireless slave station 5 has a program of the ROM 33 configured so that the CPU 31 executes the power supply monitoring process shown in FIG. That is, as ST (step) 1, the I / O port 37 is repeatedly searched. Then, the power supply monitoring circuit 39
When the power-off signal from is detected, the current date and time measured by the clock circuit 35 is read in as ST2, and this data is written in the power-off time storage section TM as ST3.

Further, the radio slave station 5 has a program of the ROM 33 configured so that the CPU 31 particularly executes the power-on process shown in FIG. 5B when the power is turned on. That is, when this process is started, first, at ST4, the current date and time measured by the clock circuit 35 is read.
Next, at ST5, this read date and time (power-on date and time)
And the time difference between the date and time written in the power-off time storage unit TM (previous power-off date and time), that is, the power-off time is calculated (power-off time measuring means).

Thereafter, in ST6, the calculated power supply cutoff time is compared with the threshold time preset in the threshold time storage unit VL (time comparison means). As a result, if the power supply interruption time is within the threshold time, this process ends. On the other hand, if the power interruption time exceeds the threshold time, the parameter storage unit P is determined as ST7.
The wireless parameter in M is erased (parameter erasing means), and this process is terminated.

As described above, in the wireless POS system of this embodiment, the threshold time storage unit VL is provided in the RAM 34 which is backed up by the power supply of the wireless slave stations 5a to 5f connected to the POS terminals 4a to 4f, respectively. In the threshold time storage unit VL, a time longer than the time of the momentary power failure and shorter than the power backup time of the RAM 34 (for example, 1 hour) is preset as the threshold time. In addition, the power off time storage unit TM is stored in the RAM 34.
Is provided, and the power-off time is stored every time the power supply to the wireless slave stations 5a to 5f is turned off. When the wireless slave stations 5a to 5f are powered on, the elapsed time from the previous power-off time, that is, the power cutoff time is measured,
If this power interruption time exceeds the threshold time, R
The wireless parameters held in the parameter storage unit PM on the AM 34 are deleted.

For example, in the arrangement state shown in FIG.
It is assumed that the OS terminals 4a to 4f are operating.
If a momentary power failure occurs within 1 hour of power interruption in the commercial AC power supply line 7, each POS terminal 4a
The power supply voltage of the wireless slave stations 5a to 5f connected to the wireless slave stations 5a to 4f decreases, and the power failure occurrence time is written in the power off time storage unit TM formed in the RAM 34 of each wireless slave station 5a to 5f.

After that, when the power failure is restored within one hour and the power supply voltage of each of the wireless slave stations 5a to 5f is restored to a predetermined value,
Power-on processing of the wireless slave station is executed. At this time, since the power cutoff time is shorter than the threshold time, the wireless parameter in the parameter storage unit PM is held as it is. Therefore, the setting operation of the wireless parameter is not required.

Next, in the arrangement state shown in FIG. 2, for example, the use of the POS terminal 4f located in the radio wave propagation area B of the radio base station 2b is interrupted. In the sales floor, when the special sale day changes to the normal sale day, PO
It is a common practice to reduce the number of operating S terminals. At this time, if the power plug 8f of the POS terminal 4f is pulled out from the power outlet 7f, the PO
In the power off time storage unit TM of the wireless slave station 5f connected to the S terminal 4f, the time when the power plug 8f is pulled out from the power outlet 7f is stored as the power off time.

After that, for example, after a few days, the special sale date is set again, and the POS terminal 4f is moved to the radio wave propagation area A of another radio base station 2b. At this time, the power-on process is executed in the wireless slave station 5f according to the power supply. As a result, when the RAM 34 of the wireless slave station 5f is backed up by the battery 43, the power cutoff time exceeds the threshold time, so the wireless parameters backed up and stored in the parameter storage unit PM are erased. It On the other hand, if the RAM 34 of the wireless slave station 5f is not backed up by the battery 43, the wireless parameters in the parameter storage unit PM have already been erased.

Therefore, in any case, since the wireless parameters in the parameter storage unit PM are erased and the wireless slave station 5f becomes inoperable, for example, the guidance for requesting the wireless parameter setting is displayed on the display 18 of the POS terminal 4f. Is displayed. Therefore, POS terminal 4f
User operates the keyboard 16 to operate the wireless base station 2
Radio parameters such as a radio channel used by a and an ID code for identifying the radio base station are set.

As described above, the wireless POS of this embodiment
According to the system, when the operation of a certain POS terminal is temporarily stopped, the power is turned off, and then the operation is restarted after a lapse of a threshold time or longer, the parameter storage unit of the wireless slave station connected to the POS terminal. Since the wireless parameters set in the PM are forcibly deleted, it is possible to reliably prevent the wireless slave station from operating with inappropriate wireless parameters due to forgetting to set the wireless parameters when relocating. . As a result, it is possible to construct a stable wireless communication system without the possibility of adversely affecting the wireless communication of other POS terminals.

In the above embodiment, the case where the wireless commodity sales registration device of the present invention is applied to the wireless communication system composed of two wireless base stations and six wireless slave stations has been described. It goes without saying that the wireless communication system to which the wireless merchandise sales registration device is applicable is not limited to the above system. Further, although the threshold time is set to 1 hour in the above-described embodiment, the threshold time is not limited to this, and may be any time longer than the momentary power failure time and shorter than the power backup time of the RAM 34.

Further, in the above embodiment, the time difference between the power-off time and the power-on time was calculated as the power-off time measuring means. However, in response to the power-off, the backup power source of the battery 43 causes the timer to count the time. The time measured by the timer until it is turned on may be measured as the power interruption time. By doing so, it is not necessary to provide the clock circuit 35 in the wireless slave station. In addition, it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0030]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
A wireless product sales registration device that prevents the wireless slave station from operating with inappropriate wireless parameters due to forgetting to set wireless parameters when relocated and does not adversely affect wireless communication of other devices Can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless POS system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a positional relationship between a wireless base station and a wireless slave station according to the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary block diagram of a POS terminal according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a main part of a wireless slave station according to the same embodiment.

5 is a flowchart showing a power supply monitoring process and a power-on process executed by a CPU of the wireless slave station shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Store processor (upper device) 2a, 2b ... Wireless base station 4a-4f ... POS terminal (wireless product sales registration device) 5a-5f ... Wireless slave station 39 ... Power supply monitoring circuit 43 ... Battery PM ... Parameter storage unit TM … Power off time storage VL Threshold time storage

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A wireless slave station in which various parameters necessary for wireless communication are stored in a storage unit so that wireless communication with any one of a plurality of wireless base stations connected to a host device can be performed. In the wireless product sales registration device for connecting to, and performing data communication with the host device via this wireless slave station, to the wireless slave station, check the disconnection time of power supply to itself, the disconnection time at the start of power supply. Is provided with a function of deleting various parameters in the storage unit when a preset threshold time has passed, a wireless product sales registration device. 2. A wireless slave station in which various parameters necessary for wireless communication are stored in a storage unit so that wireless communication with any one of a plurality of wireless base stations connected to a host device is possible. In the wireless product sales registration device for connecting to the wireless slave station and performing data communication with the higher-order device via the wireless slave station, the wireless slave station detects a power supply off to itself, and a power-off detection means for detecting power-off A power interruption time measuring means for measuring an elapsed time from detection of power supply off by the detecting means to the next power on, and a power interruption time measured by this measuring means and a preset threshold time. A time comparing means for comparing and a parameter erasing means for erasing various parameters in the storage unit when the power interruption time exceeds the threshold time as a result of the comparing means are provided. Wireless product sales registration apparatus, characterized in that was. 3. The wireless merchandise sales registration according to claim 1, wherein the threshold time is longer than a momentary power failure time and shorter than a power source backup time of the storage section. apparatus.