JPS6224388A - Vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a vending machine that sells products using cards.

(Prior art) Generally, vending machines sell in cash (coins or banknotes), but recently so-called card-based vending machines have been introduced that allow sales and payments to be made using cards such as magnetic cards. It has been put into practical use.

In addition, as a payment method for vending machines that use cards, a card is purchased in advance with cash, on which monetary information corresponding to the purchase price is written using magnetic information or other means, and the information is written on the card each time the vending machine is used. There is a so-called prepayment method in which the amount is reduced, and a so-called deferred payment method in which the card holder is required to pay the accumulated usage amount every predetermined period when using a vending machine with a card.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) The prepayment method is a method in which a card with amount information written on it is purchased in advance with cash payment, and the card is used in a vending machine. This is a method of thinking of the card as a kind of cash voucher by writing on it again. The prepayment method is safe in terms of cash collection because the cash can be obtained in advance. On the other hand, the deferred payment method is a method in which the card is blanked out with only card identification information written thereon, without amount information written thereon. The disadvantage of the deferred payment method is that it takes time and effort to collect cash. There is also the risk that cash cannot be recovered.

For the above reasons, the prepayment method is preferred and implemented because of the reliability of payment collection, but the card reader in the prepayment method must be able to write as well as read.

This writable card reader has the disadvantage that it is considerably more expensive than a read-only card reader.

As described above, conventional prepaid card vending machines have the disadvantage of being expensive because they require a writable card reader.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a means for realizing a prepayment type card vending machine with reliable cash collection using an inexpensive read-only card reader.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a read-only card reader, a money acceptance section, an arithmetic processing section, and a storage section, and in the prepayment operation, the The card information inputted from the reader is stored in the money storage section, and in the automatic vending operation, the card information inputted from the card reader is compared with the card information previously stored in the storage section to find a match. , the product is sold when the pre-stored balance is equal to or higher than the price of the product requested for sale, and after the sale, the amount obtained by subtracting the sales amount from the balance is stored in the storage unit as a balance, and these It is characterized in that control is performed by the arithmetic processing section.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on examples.

FIG. 1 is a combination diagram of block elements built into a vending machine according to the present invention, and the configuration of the vending machine according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG.

A microprocessor 1 as an arithmetic processing unit having functions to be described later includes a card reader 2 capable of reading information on a magnetic card, an operation display panel 3, a storage unit 4 for storing card information, etc., and a money identifier 7 as a money acceptance unit. The microprocessor 1 is further connected to a product storing/exporting section 6 via a product discharging drive section 5 .

First, in order to use a vending machine with a card, a user obtains a magnetic card on which card identification information is written in advance. Next, the user causes the card reader 2 to read the card identification information of the card. Furthermore, the money identifier 7 is made to read a 1000 yen bill. The microprocessor 1 combines the card identification information and the deposit information of 1,000 yen and stores it in the card information storage section 4. This means that the vending machine stores that a prepayment of 1000 yen has been made for that card.

Next, read the same card into the card reader, press the button for the product you want to purchase from the operation display panel, and the product will be purchased.
00 yen, microprocessor 1 has a balance of 100 yen.
Since the request is for 100 yen instead of 0 yen, the balance is set to 900 yen, and a control signal is given to the product carry-out drive unit 5 to carry out the designated product from the product storage and carry-out unit 6 and sell it.

A flowchart of the sales operation is shown in FIG.

Give other users magnetic cards with different card identification information written on them. In this case as well, advance payment is made in the same manner as above and the vending machine is used. After reading the card information, the balance for that card is displayed numerically on the operation display panel 3. If you continue to make purchases on your card, the balance will gradually decrease and become less than the amount needed to purchase the product.In that case, for example, you can prepay 1,000 yen for the 30 yen balance, leaving a balance of 1,030 yen. be able to. If you do this, the cash will be 10
It is only necessary to prepare a 00 yen bill, and there is no need for small change, and the advantage is that there is no need for small change when using a card.

In conventional prepayment type card vending machines, in order to write information on the prepaid amount and balance onto the card, it was necessary to have a card reader with both reading and writing functions. However, a card reader having both of these functions has the drawback of being expensive. On the other hand, in the prepayment type card vending machine in the above embodiment, the prepaid amount or balance information is stored in the vending machine, so the card reader is a read-only machine, resulting in a low price. You can get advantages.

In the above embodiment, the block elements shown in Fig. 1 are built into the vending machine body, but in recent vending machines, the controller part, money acceptance part, product storage and delivery part, etc. are separated. Sometimes there are. In this way, even if the block elements are physically separated, or even if the number and combination of block elements changes, the function as a prepaid card vending machine will not change, so the same effect can be expected. .

In the above description, a magnetic card was used as a specific example of the card, but similar effects can be obtained with cards of other principles and shapes.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the vending machine of the present invention, a vending machine that is cheaper than using an inexpensive read-only card reader and that can obtain the advantages of using a card can be realized. can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart of sales operations in the embodiment of the present invention. 1... Microprocessor as an arithmetic processing unit 2...
・Card reader 4...Storage unit 7 for card information, etc....Money identifier as a money acceptance unit FIG. 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] It includes a read-only card reader, a money acceptance unit, an arithmetic processing unit, and a storage unit, and in a prepayment operation, card information input from the card reader and information on the amount of money prepaid from the money acceptance unit are provided. Information on the balance obtained by adding the balance stored up to that point is stored in the storage unit, and in the automatic vending operation, the card information input from the card reader and the card information previously stored in the storage unit are stored in the storage unit. When the comparison is made and they match, the product is sold when the pre-stored balance is equal to or higher than the price of the product requested for sale, and after the sale, the storage unit sets the amount obtained by subtracting the sales amount from the balance as the balance. A vending machine characterized in that the above-mentioned arithmetic processing section stores the following information and controls these operations by the arithmetic processing section.