KR100454247B1 - Automatic vending machine management system and method therefore - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a vending machine management system and method for enabling the sales management of a number of unmanned vending machines to be carried out remotely through an information communication network.

To this end, the present invention is distributed so that it is possible to sell a variety of products at the same time distributed geographically, a number of unmanned vending machines for remotely transmitting the overall management information for the sales management of goods online through the information communication network, A management device that receives management information from the plurality of unmanned vending machines through a communication network and performs remote management of each unmanned vending machine, and a database server that stores management information received from the plurality of unmanned vending machines through an information communication network. Characterized in that configured.

Description

Automatic vending machine management system and method therefore}

The present invention relates to a vending machine management system and method, and more particularly, to manage a vending machine for remotely performing online management of a large number of vending machines that sell a variety of products online through an information network. A system and method thereof are provided.

In general, as an unmanned vending machine has been developed and used to sell various drinks, foodstuffs, daily necessities, etc., such an unmanned vending machine is a product that a buyer wants to purchase without a separate seller. If you input a currency corresponding to the price of the product and select the desired product, the product can be automatically extracted without artificial manipulation.

These unmanned vending machines are typically classified by a single kind of goods so that they can be manufactured as independent vending machines, and each of the buyers can extract the selected goods individually.

However, these conventional unmanned vending machines are manufactured and installed independently of each other, a variety of vending machines classified by a single type of product, if the buyer wants to purchase a variety of products desired by the buyer is responsible for the sale of multiple products There is a problem in that the trouble of having to repeatedly perform a product extraction operation for a long time as a buyer visits the vending machine one by one.

In addition, a conventional unmanned vending machine can sell goods unattended to a buyer who wishes to purchase a product. Since the service personnel must manage regularly, the management cost is expected to increase due to the labor cost, and there is a possibility that it will cause a huge obstacle to the normal sale of the product if the careless inspection accompanying the artificial management is performed. There is this.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, the object of which is to carry out the sales management, such as the inventory amount for a number of unmanned vending machines, failure check, sales status check and the like through the information network To provide a management system and a method of a vending machine to be able to.

Another object of the present invention is to be able to sell a large number of products collectively through a store-type autonomous vending machine, and a vending machine for remotely performing overall management of a plurality of store-type autonomous vending machines online through an information and communication network. To provide a management system and method thereof.

1 is a view showing a network configuration for the management system of the vending machine according to the present invention,

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the overall appearance of the unmanned vending machine to which the management system of the present invention is applied,

3 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration for management and sales driving of an unmanned vending machine to which the management system of the present invention is applied;

4 is an exemplary view showing a mechanical operation mechanism for extracting goods of the autonomous vending machine shown in FIG.

5 is a data flow diagram for explaining the operation of the vending machine management method according to the present invention.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

10: web server, 12: host server,

14: database server, 16: information database,

20: charge input / output unit, 22: display panel,

24: touch panel, 28: information storage,

30: network interface, 32: drive processing control unit,

34: drive motor part, 36: detection sensor part,

A1-An: unmanned vending machine, B1-Bn: computer device,

C1-Cn: shear processing device, D1-Dn: management terminal device.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a geographically distributed arrangement is made to sell a variety of products at the same time, a plurality of remotely transmitting the overall management information for the sales management of goods online through the information communication network An unmanned vending machine, a management device that receives management information from the plurality of unmanned vending machines through an information communication network, and performs remote management of each unmanned vending machine, and management received from the plurality of unmanned vending machines through an information communication network. Provided is a vending machine management system configured as a database server for storing information.

In addition, according to the method of the present invention to achieve the above object, in the vending machine management method for remotely managing a plurality of geographically distributed unmanned vending machine, the transmission of management information online via an information communication network Requesting, and when the plurality of unmanned vending machines receive a request for the transmission of management information through an information and communication network, the management information is prepared online based on the sales information collected for the unmanned vending machine and the fault check status. There is provided a management method for a vending machine comprising a step of transmitting and storing management information received from each unmanned vending machine, and performing inquiry and editing of the information.

Hereinafter, the present invention configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

That is, Figure 1 is a diagram showing a network configuration for the management system of the vending machine according to the present invention.

As shown in Fig. 1, the management system of the vending machine according to the present invention includes a plurality of unmanned vending machines A1 to An and computer devices B1 to Bn disposed in each of the unmanned vending machines A1 to An. ), Web server 10, a plurality of front end processors (FEP), host server 12, database server 14, information database 16, a plurality of management terminal devices (D1-Dn) (Man Machine Interface; MMI).

In the figure, the plurality of unmanned vending machines (A1 to An) are each distributed in a shopping mall or a residential area in which a large number of buyers are concentrated, and simultaneously display and display various kinds of products suitable for the customer base of the installation place. It is to auto sell unattended.

The plurality of unmanned vending machines (A1 to An) have various beverages, fast foods, convenience foods, and various daily necessities according to the characteristics of the main customer base in the installation area, when the installation place is, for example, a 24-hour convenience store or an officetel. It is possible to display and sell vending machines at the same time.

The plurality of computer apparatuses B1 to Bn are arranged inside each unmanned vending machine A1 to An, and control the overall function operation and the product dispensing drive for selling various kinds of goods loaded in each unmanned vending machine. In addition, it is connected to the host server 12 online through an internet communication network to remotely provide management information such as inventory status of the unmanned vending machine, system status, fault check, daily sales status, and customer information. .

Here, the plurality of computer devices B1 to Bn check the failure state of each of the unmanned vending machines A1 to An, and if a failure occurs at a predetermined site, the failure check information from the host server 12 is checked. Even if the request for information transmission is not made, the failure information can be voluntarily transmitted.

On the other hand, the plurality of unmanned vending machines (A1 to An), as shown in Figure 2, the coin inlet (20A) for inserting a coin according to the amount of purchase of the product you want to buy in one side of the predetermined portion, bills The bank input slot 20B for inputting the card, the card reader unit 20C for reading the card information of the payment card to pay the purchase goods using various payment cards, and the remaining change and receipt after paying the purchase price of the goods A discharge outlet 20D is provided.

In FIG. 2, a display panel 22 for displaying and selecting a product to be purchased is installed at one side of each of the unmanned vending machines A1 to An, and the display panel 22 is a touch of a buyer. The touch panel 24 (refer to FIG. 3) for sensing a selection state of a product according to an operation is integrally configured.

In addition, in Fig. 2, the other side of each of the unmanned vending machines A1 to An is provided with a multi-layer rack base 38 capable of loading various kinds of goods, and each rack base 38 has a plurality of racks for each floor. It is divided into 40 so that the goods for each type can be aligned along the lengthwise direction of the rack 40, the goods arranged between each rack 40 is discharged according to the buyer's choice and transported up and down by elevator method Loaded in the basket 42 is to be delivered to the buyer through the product outlet 44 provided at the bottom of the vending machine.

As shown in FIG. 3, the circuit configuration of each of the unmanned vending machines A1 to An includes the charge input / output unit 20, the display panel 22, the touch panel 24, and the computer devices B1 to Bn. It is composed of a network interface 30, a drive processing control unit 32, a drive motor unit 340, and a detection sensor unit 36 embedded therein.

As shown in FIG. 2, the charge input / output unit 20 includes a coin inlet 20A, a bill inlet 20B, a card reader unit 20C, and a coin outlet 20D. In accordance with the control communication with), the acquisition information of the purchase price of the goods is transmitted, and driving to pay the remaining change after completing the purchase of the goods.

The display panel 22 and the touch panel 24 display the sales information of the goods loaded in the unmanned vending machine according to the control information communication with the computer devices B1 to Bn, and the buyer's touch operation. The purchase selection information of the corresponding product is output to the computer devices B1 to Bn.

The computer devices B1 to Bn provide graphic information for displaying sales information of goods sold on the display panel 22, and provide purchase selection information of goods according to a touch operation to the touch panel 24. Upon receiving input and receiving information on the amount of the product to be sold from the charge input / output unit 20, the controller controls the driving process control unit 32 to purchase from among a variety of products loaded on the multi-layer rack base 38. The drive control for discharging the selected product is performed.

The computer apparatuses B1 to Bn store sales information on various kinds of products in the information storage unit 28, and store the sales information on various kinds of products loaded on the multilayer rack base 38 based on the sales information. It checks the inventory status and sales status of the inventory and transmits the inventory status information and the daily sales status information about it to the host server 12 on the Internet communication network remotely through the network interface 30, and to each part of the corresponding unmanned vending machine. The status information is transmitted to the host server 12 online, and the part where a failure occurs during the status monitoring is checked, and the failure check information is transmitted to the host server 12 online.

The computer apparatuses B1 to Bn check the shortage status of the change from the rate input / output unit 20 at any time and remotely notify the host server 12 of the shortage information.

In FIG. 3, the drive processing control unit 32 is configured to discharge a product selected by the purchaser from among a plurality of goods loaded on the multilayer rack base 38 in accordance with a drive control command from the computer devices B1 to Bn. In addition to controlling the driving motor unit 34, the sensor detects the signal from the sensor unit 36 and detects whether the product is normally discharged.

Here, the drive processing control unit 32 is composed of a plurality of rack control boards (Rack Control Board) independently produced for each rack base 38 of each floor, each rack control board arranged in a rack base of each floor Drive control of the number of driving motors corresponding to the plurality of product arrays, respectively, and to control the motor drive for the vertical transfer of the basket (42).

The drive motor unit 34 performs a drive for selectively discharging a product selected for purchase from among the goods loaded on the multilayer rack base 38 according to the drive control from the drive processing control unit 32. 4 is moved forward and backward by one drive motor 34A constituting the drive motor part 34 at the end of a row of goods arranged along the rack 40 on each rack base 38, as shown in FIG. A conveying plate 46 is installed, and the basket 42 is conveyed in the up and down direction by one drive motor 34B constituting the drive motor 34.

In FIG. 3, the detection sensor unit 36 is installed at the rack base and the basket of each unmanned vending machine to generate a detection signal that detects whether or not the product sold is normally made.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 1, the web server 10 connects the plurality of computer devices B1 to Bn and the host server 12 through an internet communication network and an Ethernet network. Web information data exchanged between (B1 to Bn) and the host server 12 is managed.

The plurality of front end processing apparatuses C1 to Cn are connected to each of the computer apparatuses B1 to Bn arranged in a plurality of local unmanned vending machines A1 to An through an internet communication network, and thus each computer. In addition to acquiring general management information for each of the unmanned vending machines A1 to An transmitted from the devices B1 to Bn, receiving control command information from the host server 12 and receiving each of the computer devices B1 to Bn. It delivers to and performs schedule processing function to acquire management information.

Here, the plurality of front end processing apparatuses C1 to Cn manage the plurality of computer apparatuses B1 to Bn distributed in a distributed manner in a distributed processing manner, and the number of installations of each unmanned vending machine A1 to An is increased. By allowing the shearing device to be expanded in accordance with the increased state, it is possible to configure a system that is adaptive to the number of installations of the autonomous vending machine.

In the figure, the host server 12 exchanges web information data with each of the computer devices B1 to Bn through the web server 10, and through each of the front end processing devices C1 to Cn. In addition to transmitting control commands to the computer devices B1 to Bn, management information for the unmanned vending machine is received and managed, which performs database management and database server in real time for the database server 14. It is equipped with the function which can process the update of a, and collect report and trend data with respect to each said computer apparatus B1-Bn, and the function which can detect and manage an alarm and an event.

The database server 14 manages various management information (ie, inventory status information and system state) from the computer devices B1 to Bn received from the front end processing devices C1 to Cn under the management of the host server 12. Information, failure check information, daily sales status and customer information, shortage change information, etc.) are stored in the information database 16.

Further, the plurality of management terminal devices D1 to Dn are management information from the computer devices B1 to Bn of each unmanned vending machine A1 to An received from the respective front end processing devices C1 to Cn. Status information on the monitor is displayed in real time on the monitor for display, along with inquiry of various alarms and events, editing and inquiry of trend data, report editing and data inquiry, management information data stored in the information database 16 Editing and graphic data displayed on the screen display monitor can be edited.

Next, the operation of the present invention made as described above will be described in detail with reference to the data flowchart of FIG. 5.

First, in the computer apparatuses B1 to Bn of the plurality of unmanned vending machines A1 to An that are geographically distributed and arranged, the host server connected to the front end processing apparatuses C1 to Cn through an Internet communication network and connected via an Ethernet network ( Initializing and logging in the network system is performed by data communication with 12) (D10).

In this state, the host server 12 requests the plurality of computer devices B1 to Bn to request the stock status information for the unmanned vending machines A1 to An through each of the front end processing devices C1 to Cn. The control command is transmitted (D11), and each computer device (B1 to Bn) is a product of each type based on the sales information on the various goods loaded on the rack base (38) of the unmanned vending machines (A1 to An). The information on the stock status of the data is generated in the form of a report file and transmitted to the host server 12 through the front end processing devices C1 to Cn (D12).

At this time, the stock status information from each of the computer devices A1 to An received through the front end processing devices C1 to Cn is stored in the information database 16 through the database server 14, and for each management. It is visually displayed in the form of graphic information through the terminal devices D1 to Dn.

In addition, the host server 12 requests the respective computer devices B1 to Bn to check the failure of the unmanned vending machines A1 to An through the front end processing devices C1 to Cn. D13) In the state where the plurality of computer apparatuses B1 to Bn check the failure of each part of the unmanned vending machines A1 to An, when a failure check is requested from the host server 12, The fault check information is transmitted to the front end processing devices C1 to Cn, and the fault check information received from the front end processing devices C1 to Cn is stored in the information database 16 by the database server 14. In addition, it is visually displayed in each management terminal device D1-Dn (D14).

In the meantime, the host server 12 requests the computer apparatuses B1 to Bn to transmit information on the sales status of the unmanned vending machines A1 to An through the respective front end processing devices C1 to Cn. (D15), in the plurality of computer devices B1 to Bn, the information on the daily sales status is reported in the form of a report file based on the sales information on the various products stored in the respective information storage units 28. The daily sales status information from the plurality of unmanned vending machines A1 to An is stored in the information database 16 through the database server 14 and managed. It is displayed visually through the terminal devices D1 to Dn (D16).

Then, the host server 12 transmits information on the overall system state of the unmanned vending machines A1 to An to the respective computer devices B1 to Bn through the respective front end processing devices C1 to Cn. (D17), the plurality of computer devices (B1 to Bn) in the report file format based on the system status information based on the results of the frequent grasp of the mechanical and electronic system state of the unmanned vending machines (A1 to An). The system state information from the plurality of unmanned vending machines A1 to An is stored in the information database 16 through the database server 14, and is transmitted to each of the front end processing apparatuses C1 to Cn. It is visually displayed via the terminal devices D1 to Dn (D18).

In addition, the host server 12 requests each computer device B1 to Bn to transmit customer information for a customer using the unmanned vending machines A1 to An (D19). In B1 to Bn, the customer information stored in each of the information storage units 28 is transmitted to the front end processing apparatuses C1 to Cn, so that the customer received from the plurality of unmanned vending machines A1 to An. The information is stored in the information database 16 through the database server 14 and is visually displayed through the management terminal devices D1 to Dn (D20).

Here, in the plurality of management terminal devices D1 to Dn, inventory status information, system status information, fault check information, and sales received from the plurality of unmanned vending machines A1 to An according to an arbitrary operation of an administrator. Not only can the current status and customer information be edited and converted to other types of information, but also the information related to the management of the unmanned vending machine stored in the information database 16 can be retrieved and edited.

It is a matter of course that the present invention having the above-described embodiments can be variously modified without departing from the gist of the present invention without departing from the gist thereof.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to sell various kinds of goods to one vending machine, and the Internet communication network in which a plurality of unmanned vending machines capable of selling such various kinds of goods are locally distributed. Through the remote management, the purchaser can not only quickly and easily purchase a variety of items, but also can remotely manage the vending machine online. Will have

Claims (7)

It is possible to sell various kinds of goods to users at the same time, distributed locally and arranged in a multi-layer rack base, and to remotely transmit overall management information for sales management of the goods online through an information and communication network. Unmanned vending machine; A management device for receiving the management information from the plurality of unmanned vending machines through the information communication network and remotely managing the plurality of unmanned vending machines online based on the management information; And And a database server that receives and stores the management information from the plurality of unmanned vending machines through the information communication network, and provides the management information by request. The plurality of unmanned vending machines check the failure state and unilaterally transmit the generated failure information to the management device even when there is no request for transmission of the management information from the management device. Vending management system. According to claim 1, The plurality of unmanned vending machine, A charge input / output unit that receives the purchase amount of the purchased product and discharges the remaining change; A display panel and a touch panel for displaying a sales state of various kinds of products and selecting a product to be purchased; A computer device generating a control command for the sale of goods and generating management information of the unmanned vending machine among the plurality of unmanned vending machines and providing the control information to the management device; A network interface for performing a network connection for exchanging information between the computer device and the management device through an internet communication network; A drive processing control unit which performs drive control to release a product selected for purchase among various kinds of goods according to a control command of the computer device; A drive motor unit for driving a product to be purchased according to the drive control of the drive processing controller; And The vending machine management system comprising a detection sensor unit for detecting whether the product is normally discharged. The method of claim 2, The plurality of unmanned vending machines allow a plurality of product lines divided by racks to be displayed on a multi-layer rack base, and a plate installed at the end of each product line is individually driven by each drive motor constituting the drive motor unit. And the goods to be transported in the front-rear direction to be sold, and the basket containing the goods to be discharged from the rack base is transported up and down in an elevator system by a drive motor constituting the drive motor unit, characterized in that the vending machine management system . The method of claim 1, Management information of the plurality of unmanned vending machine management system of the vending machine, characterized in that consisting of the inventory status information, system status information, failure check information, sales status information, customer information, shortage information of the corresponding unmanned vending machine. The method of claim 1, wherein the management device, A plurality of front end processing devices that receive management information from computer devices of the plurality of unmanned vending machines and remotely transmit control commands to the computer device for requesting management information of the unmanned vending machines; A host server generating the control command to receive management information of the plurality of unmanned vending machines through the plurality of front end processing devices and managing the database server; And And a management terminal device configured to display and edit management information of the plurality of unmanned vending machines inputted through the plurality of front end processing apparatuses. (a) generating a control command and transmitting the generated control command to a corresponding unmanned vending machine among a plurality of unmanned vending machines distributed locally through an information communication network to request management information of the unmanned vending machine; (b) in response to the management information request in step (a), transmit management information of the corresponding unmanned vending machine to the management device through the information communication network, and if a failure occurs in the unmanned vending machine, even if there is no request for the management information. Unilaterally transmitting the generated failure information to the management device; And (c) storing the management information received from the unmanned vending machine through the information communication network, and inquiring and editing the management information. delete