AU714577B2

AU714577B2 - Vending machine

Info

Publication number: AU714577B2
Application number: AU16443/97A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Katsuhiko Betsushima
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1996-03-29
Filing date: 1997-03-21
Publication date: 2000-01-06
Anticipated expiration: 2017-03-21
Also published as: CA2201094A1; AU1644397A; JPH09270054A

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Applicant(s): KATSUHIKO BETSUSHIMA Actual Inventor(s): KATSUHIKO BETSUSHIMA

V

V.

9S V Address for Service: PATENT ATTORNEY SERVICES 26 Ellingworth Parade Box Hill Victoria 3128 Australia Title: VENDING MACHINE The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:la- VENDING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine, and more particularly to a vending machine for use in conjunction with a pre-paid card to vend commodities, which has the capability of performing a lottery as oeoo required or has the capability of recording a cumulative bonus point on a pre-paid card in accordance with the ooooo number of times that the pre-paid card has been used or in accordance with the prices of the commodities.

2. Description of the Related Art Various types of vending machines are in use today.

Many of these vending machines are designed to provide 15 commodities when a coin or paper money (bill) is input o o into a machine. Although in some vending machines it is required to directly input a coin or bill into a vending machine, there are also vending machines which accept a pre-paid card.

Examples of vending machines which accept coins or bills are those installed on streets for selling drinks, cigarettes, or telephone cards. Ticket vending machines installed at stations are another example of this type.

An example of a vending machine which accepts a 2 pre-paid card is that installed at a station to sell a train ticket.

In many cases, ticket vending machines installed at stations accept not only money such as coins or bills but also pre-paid cards.

In particular, among various types of vending machines for use in conjunction with pre-paid cards, the vending machines designed to sell tickets at stations are very popular. In this case, the pre-paid cards are issued 10 by transportation companies.

Pre-paid cards used in conjunction with these conventional vending machines have a remaining value storage area. Customers can buy desired commodities using a pre-paid card within the limit indicated by the data 15 recorded in the remaining value storage area.

However, the conventional pre-paid cards described above have no means for identifying themselves and therefore the vending machine simply provides commodities to customers without knowing who buys commodities using pre-paid cards.

As a result, the providers of commodities cannot obtain statistical information on what kinds of persons of what age buy what kinds of goods.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 3 In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved vending machine for use in conjunction with a pre-paid card. The pre-paid card of the invention has at least a non-rewritable card number storage area whereby it is possible to identify the owner of the pre-paid card. This makes it possible to know the age of the customer (card owner) and the sort of the commodities bought by the customer when a pre-paid card is used.

10 It is another object of the present invention to provide a vending machine for use in conjunction with a pre-paid card in which when the pre-paid card is used at a vending machine, a lottery is performed and the result is indicated on a display of the vending machine thereby 15 making it possible to provide an additional service to the customer in response to the result of the lottery or to increase the remaining value of the pre-paid card.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a pre-paid card having a rewritable cumulative bonus point storage area whereby each time the pre-paid card is used a point defined depending on the kind of the commodity or on the price thereof is added to the cumulative bonus point stored in the cumulative bonus point storage area thereby making it possible to provide an additional commodity or a service to a customer.

4 In view of the above, the present invention provides a vending machine including: a slot adapted to receive a pre-paid card having at least a non-rewritable card number storage area and a rewritable remaining value storage area; a card reader for reading the data from the storage areas of a pre-paid card inserted in the slot; a card data rewriting part for rewriting the data stored in the S. remaining value storage area; a commodity storage unit; and a commodity providing unit for providing a commodity 10 from the commodity storage unit to a customer in response to a commodity output control signal.

In the pre-paid card of the invention, a number or a code uniquely assigned to the pre-paid card is stored in the non-rewritable card number storage area. Therefore, 15 it is possible to identity each pre-paid card on the basis of the number or the code assigned to the pre-paid card.

o* The remaining value storage area stores the remaining value of the pre-paid card in a rewritable fashion. In one mode of the invention, a customer buys a pre-paid card on which an initial value has already been recorded in the remaining value storage area. In another mode, a customer may write an initial value by inserting a pre-paid card together with money into a special slot of the vending machine thereby writing the value corresponding to the inserted money. Furthermore, when the remaining value has 5 become too low after some usage of the pre-paid card, it is possible to increase the remaining value by inputting some money into the vending machine.

The pre-paid card insertion slot is preferably disposed on the front panel of the vending machine. It is desirable that there be provided a cover or a projecting roof for protecting the pre-paid card insertion slot from rain or the like.

The card reader is disposed at the back of the 10 insertion slot so that the card reader may read the data S"stored in the storage areas such as the card number storage area and the remaining value storage area of the too.

pre-paid card inserted into the slot thereby identifying the card from the data obtained from the card number 15 storage area and also obtaining the information about the maximum limit in providing a commodity on the basis of the remaining value stored in the remaining value storage .o area.

The card data rewriting unit rewrites the data stored in the remaining value storage area. In most cases, the rewriting operation by the card data rewriting unit occurs in such a manner as to simply decrease the remaining value by the amount corresponding to the service provided to a customer. However, in the case where the vending machine has an additional slot provided for receiving money, and 6 if money is input via that slot, the card data rewriting unit rewrites the data in the remaining value storage area. In such a manner as to increase the remaining value by the amount equal to that input via the slot.

The vending machine of the invention may be used to sell various kinds of commodities. For example it may be installed on a street to sell soft drinks, cigarettes, be SC telephone cards, or the like. It may also be installed at a station to sell tickets.

10 It is desirable that the commodity storage unit include a heating/cooling means.

In the present invention, since the vending machine has a lottery unit for performing a lottery each time the commodity providing unit provides some commodity and also 15 has an indicating unit for indicating the result of the lottery performed by the lottery unit, the vending machine not only acts as a simple vending machine for providing g.

some service to a customer but also can provide additional service to the customer in accordance with the result of the lottery which is performed each time the customer buys something at the vending machine wherein the result of the lottery is displayed on the indicating unit.

If desired, the vending machine may also include a winning card providing unit so that when a customer wins some prize in lottery a winning card is provided to the 7 customer via the winning card providing unit. The customer may receive an additional service for example reception of an additional commodity by sending the winning card to a particular agency.

Instead, when a customer wins the lottery performed by the lottery unit, the remaining value stored in the remaining value storage area may be increased. For example, when a customer wins the first prize, a value corresponding to 1,000 yen may be added to the data in the oo remaining value storage area, and when a customer wins the second prize, a value corresponding to 500 yen may be added to the data in the remaining value storage area, and SO on.

In the above lottery performed by the lottery unit, 15 the lottery may be performed only when a customer selected a particular commodity (commodities) of those available at the vending machine. For example in the case of the vending machine for vending soft drinks, the lottery may be performed only when a particular soft drink (drinks) is selected. This makes it possible to preferentially promote the sales of that soft drink.

Or otherwise, a greater probability of winning the lottery may be given to a particular soft drink which is desired to be promoted in the sales than other soft drinks.

8 Furthermore, in the present invention, the pre-paid card has a rewritable cumulative bonus point storage area for recording the cumulative bonus point which is rewritten each time the commodity providing unit provides some commodity to a customer.

If a customer buys something at the vending machine using a pre-paid card, the cumulative bonus point is updated so that the cumulative bonus point corresponds to the number of times that the pre-paid card has been used.

gee• 10 When the cumulative bonus point described above has reached a predetermined value, an additional service may be provided to a customer. For example, when the cumulative bonus point has reached the predetermined value, an additional commodity may be provided to a 15 customer or the remaining value stored in the remaining value storage area may be increased.

The bonus point may also be determined on the basis of the prices of commodities instead of the number of times that the pre-paid card has been used. Furthermore, a preferentially high bonus point may be assigned to a particular commodity (commodities). For example in the case of the vending machine for selling soft drinks, a particular soft drink (drinks) may have a higher bonus point than other drinks so as to preferentially promote the sales of that soft drink.

9 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a vending machine according to the present invention wherein the manner in which the vending machine is used in a practical sales activity is also illustrated; and Fig. 2 is a schematic view of the vending machine according to the present invention wherein the vending machine is used in a different manner.

The invention will now be described in further detail with reference to embodiments and the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 illustrates a vending machine 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Before describing the details of the vending machine 10, a pre-paid card for use in conjunction with the vending machine 10 will first be described.

The pre-paid card 20 for use in conjunction with the vending machine 10 has a non-rewritable card number storage area, a rewritable remaining value storage area, and a rewritable cumulative bonus point storage area.

The non-rewritable card number storage area stores a number or a code which is uniquely assigned to each particular card so that different cards have a different 10 card number.

The rewritable remaining value storage area stores the remaining value which indicates how much a customer can further buy by the pre-paid card Each time the pre-paid card 20 is used, the bonus point stored in the cumulative bonus point storage area is updated so that the bonus point corresponds to the number of times that the customer has received services.

The data may be stored in the respective storage areas by means of the magnetic storage technique. Another technique of storing data is to construct the pre-paid card 20 in the form of an IC card so that the data may be "stored in a memory in the IC.

In the specific example shown in Fig. 1, the vending 15 machine 10 is assumed to be of the type which is generally installed on a street to vend various drinks in cans. In this case, the vending machine 10 includes a commodity storage unit (not shown) and a commodity providing unit for providing a commodity from the commodity storage unit to a customer in response to a commodity output control signal. The commodity storage unit also includes a cooling/heating device (not shown).

On the front panel of the vending machine 10, there are a bill slot 11, a coin slot 12, a card slot 13, a cumulative bonus point display window 14, a remaining 11 value display window 15, and a winning coupon outlet 16.

Furthermore, the vending machine has the capability of transmitting the sales information via a radio wave.

The vending machine 10 will now be described in further detail below. The vending machine 10 for use in conjunction with the pre-paid card(s) 20 includes: a card reader for reading the information from the respective storage areas of a pre-paid card 20 inserted into the slot 13; a card data rewriting unit for rewriting the data on oeoo 10 the remaining value storage area; and a bonus point data updating unit for updating the cumulative bonus point data. Furthermore, the vending machine 10 also includes a lottery unit for performing a lottery each time the commodity providing unit provides a commodity.

In this specific embodiment, when a customer wins lottery performed by the lottery unit, a winning coupon is output via the winning coupon outlet 16.

r Instead of directly indicating the winning in the lottery by outputting a winning coupon via the winning coupon outlet 16, it is also possible to indicate the result of the lottery in a lottery result indicating window (not shown) or the like.

The lottery may be performed for example in such a manner that when a pre-paid card is used at the vending machine, a random number is generated and the winning is 12 determined on the basis of the generated random number.

For example, a prize is given when the generated random number is coincide with some of a predefined set of winning numbers. Or otherwise, a prize is given when the generated random number has a special relationship with the card number which is uniquely assigned to each pre-paid card 20 and is stored in the card number storage area.

In the above lottery, the lottery may be performed only when a particular commodity (commodities) of those available at the vending machine 10 is selected or the winning probability may be increased preferentially when a ""particular commodity (or commodities) is selected. This makes it possible to promote the sales of a particular 15 commodity (or commodities).

o In the embodiment described above, although the cumulative bonus point storage area stores the cumulative bonus point corresponding to the number of times that the pre-paid card 20 has been used at the vending machine the bonus point may also be determined in accordance with the prices of commodities instead of the number of times that the pre-paid card 20 has been used. Furthermore, in the case where the vending machine 10 is designed to vend soft drinks, the bonus point may be increased preferentially when a particular soft drink (or drinks) is 13 selected thereby promoting the sales of the particular soft drink (or drinks).

When a customer wins the lottery performed by the lottery unit, or when the cumulative bonus point has reached the predetermined particular value, the remaining value stored in the remaining value storage area of the pre-paid card 20 may be increased. For example, when a customer wins the first prize, a value corresponding to 1,000 yen may be added to the data in the remaining value 0 storage area and when a customer wins the second prize a value corresponding to 500 yen may be added to the data in .:oo.i the remaining value storage area, and so on. Furthermore, when the cumulative bonus point has reached for example the value indicated in the remaining value display 15 area may be increased for example by 100 yen.

The manner in which the vending machine 10 provides commodities to customers will now be described below.

eoooo First, a customer purchases a pre-paid card 20. If the customer has purchased for example a 1,000-yen card, then the value stored in the remaining value storage area of that card corresponds to 1,000 yen.

The customer may insert the pre-paid card 20 into the card slot 13 of the vending machine 10, which is designed to vend soft drinks in this specific example.

The card reader reads the data recorded in the card 14 number storage area, the remaining value storage area, and the cumulative bonus point storage area of the pre-paid card 20 inserted in the card slot 13. From the obtained data, the vending machine 10 identifies the card number of the pre-paid card 20 and displays the remaining value and the cumulative bonus point of the pre-paid card 20 in the remaining value display window 15 and the cumulative bonus point display window 14, respectively.

The customer can buy a soft drink or drinks within the limit corresponding to the remaining value displayed in the remaining value display window 15 by pressing the button corresponding to a desired drink. In response to the operation performed by the customer, the commodity providing unit provides the drink selected by the customer. Thus, the vending machine 10 can know which drink is bought by a particular customer having a particular card number.

After providing the commodity (the drink in this case), the bonus point displayed in the cumulative bonus point display window 14 is incremented by one and the value displayed in the remaining value display window is decreased by the amount corresponding to the price paid.

Furthermore, in the vending machine 10 of the invention, when a customer has pressed a button to buy 15 some drink, the lottery unit provided in the vending machine 10 performs lottery.

If it turns out that the customer has won the lottery, a winning coupon having a description or a mark indicating the winning is output via the winning coupon outlet 16.

After the sequence of operations described above, the pre-paid card 20 is returned outward via the card slot 13 0 of the vending machine 10 If the vending machine according to the embodiment described above with reference to Fig. 1 is employed, it 0000* S* is possible to collect sales information as will be described below.

S. In this specific example, a bottler (a provider of 15 commodities) issues pre-paid cards 20 to customers, a dealer installs a vending machine 20, and an information manager manages various information.

The bottler supplies pre-paid cards 20 and ff registration sheets to the dealer. The dealer returns the registration sheets to the bottler after customers have written the required items.

In relation between the dealer and the customer, the customer writes the required items on the registration sheet and submits it together with money to the dealer.

The dealer provides a pre-paid card 20 to the customer 16 wherein the value corresponding to the amount of money paid is recorded on the pre-paid card In relation between the customer and the information manager, the customer sends to the information manager a winning coupon obtained when the customer wins the lottery or a pre-paid card 20 having the cumulative bonus point which has reached the predetermined value. The 00information manager sends to the customer a gift corresponding to the winning coupon or to the cumulative 10 bonus point of the pre-paid card 20. The information manager collects and manages the information on the winning coupons or the pre-paid cards 20 having the *predetermined point.

In relation between the information manager and the 15 bottler, the bottler provides the customer information "0*600 written on the registration sheet to the information 606. manager, and the information manager gives to the bottler a the information about the customers having a winning coupon or a pre-paid card 20 with the predetermined point and also the information about the gifts given to the customers.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, the marketing activities are performed as follows.

First, the bottler supplies to the dealer registration sheets and pre-paid cards 20 each assigned 17 particular card numbers or codes. On each pre-paid card a remaining value and a particular card number are recorded. At this stage, the cumulative bonus point of each pre-paid card 20 is set to "O0".

A customer can buy a card from the dealer by paying money corresponding to the remaining value recorded in the remaining value storage area. When the customer buys a card, he/she writes the required items on a registration sheet. The items to be written on the registration sheet 10 may include the sex, age, address, taste, hobby, etc.

:000 From the data written on the registration sheet, the 0* bottler can obtain the statistical information about the taste of customers.

Thus, the customer obtains a pre-paid card 20 after S submitting the registration sheet together with money to .000 the dealer.

The registration sheet is sent from the dealer to the 00• bottler and the information is further sent to the 0 00 information manager.

The customer can buy a desired drink by inserting the pre-paid card 20 into the vending machine 10 via the slot 13.

When the pre-paid card 20 is inserted into the card slot 13 of the vending machine 10, the card reader reads oc the data recorded in the card number storage area, the 18 remaining value storage area, and the cumulative bonus point storage area of the pre-paid card 20 inserted in the card slot 13. From the obtained data, the vending machine identifies the card number of the pre-paid card 20 and displays the remaining value and the cumulative bonus point of the pre-paid card 20 in the remaining value display window 15 and the cumulative bonus point display windowl4, respectively.

The customer can buy a soft drink or drinks within •go• 10 the limit corresponding to the remaining value displayed in the remaining value display window 15 by pressing the oeo o button corresponding to a desired drink. In response to the operation performed by the customer, the commodity providing unit provides the drink selected by the 15 customer. Thus, the vending machine 10 can know which drink is bought by a particular customer having a particular card number.

Furthermore, in the vending machine 10 of the invention, when a customer has pressed a button to buy 19 some drink, the lottery unit of the vending machine performs a lottery.

After the sequence of operations described above, the pre-paid card 20 is returned outward via the card slot 13 of the vending machine 0 The customer who obtained the winning coupon sends it to the information manager. In response, the information manager sends a corresponding gift to the customer.

Furthermore, when the cumulative bonus point oO°SS indicated in the cumulative bonus point display window 14 15 has reached the predetermined value, the customer can send or the pre-paid card 20 to the information manager to obtain a gift corresponding to the cumulative bonus point.

From the winning coupons or the pre-paid cards having the predetermined point which are sent from customers, the information manager can obtained the personal and statistical information about how often pre-paid cards are used by particular customers.

When the cumulative bonus point indicated in the cumulative bonus point display window 14 has reached the predetermined value, a bonus coupon may be output and the 20 cumulative bonus point indicated in the cumulative bonus point display window 14 may be reset to In this case, the customer can obtain a gift by sending the bonus coupon instead of sending the pre-paid card 20 itself.

Furthermore, in the specific example shown in Fig. i, when a customer inserts a pre-paid card 20 into the card slot 13 if the remaining value display window 15 indicates that the remaining value is not enough, the customer may increase the remaining value to a desired value by 10 inserting a coin or a bill into the coin slot 12 or the S S

*SSS

bill slot 11.

The sales information in relation to the particular card number is sent from the information manager to the

S.

S. 5° bottler. The information manager sends to customers gifts *S corresponding to the winning coupons or the bonus coupons.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 1, the vending machine 10 is connected to the bottler via a

S.

5radio wave communication channel so that the sales .information about the kinds of drinks, the number of drinks, the time zone, or the like is sent to the bottler for each kind of drink. From the sales information for each kind of drink obtained in the above-described manner, the bottler can know what kinds of drinks are more popular in which area, in what time zone, in what season, etc.

For example, in the summer season, it is possible to make 21 a proper plan by expecting what kinds of drinks will be more sold when the temperature is at a particular value.

To realize the radio wave connection between the vending machine 10 and the bottler, the vending machine may include a radio antenna.

Fig. 2 illustrates another embodiment of the invention in which cards are issued not by the bottler but by the information manager.

In this case, since the registration sheets are eeoc e 10 directly sent to the information manager, the information manager can more easily collect and manage the information about how often and what kinds of customers buy what kinds of commodities. The collected information is further subjected to statistical or other required processes by the information manager, and then sent to the bottler.

Thus, the bottler can employ a better sales strategy on the basis of the obtained information.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to specific embodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to those embodiments. It will be evident to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

In the present invention, as described above, since the pre-paid card has a non-rewritable card number storage 22 area, it is possible to identify the owner of a particular pre-paid card.

This means that it is possible to know what kind of customer buys what kind of commodity using the pre-paid card.

Furthermore, in the present invention, a lottery is performed each time a customer buys something using a pre-paid card, and the result of the lottery is indicated in the display area of the vending machine thereby 10 providing an additional commodity or increasing the remaining value in accordance with the result of the lottery.

Furthermore, in the present invention, the pre-paid card has a rewritable cumulative bonus point storage area 15 for storing the cumulative bonus point which is updated rc each time the pre-paid card is used by an amount defined in accordance with the price of the commodity. Additional -commodities or services are provided to customers in accordance with the cumulative bonus point.

Claims

1. A vending machine comprising: an insertion slot adapted to receive a pre-paid card having at least a non-rewritable card number storage area and a rewritable remaining value storage area; a card reader for reading the data stored in the storage areas of a pre-paid card inserted in the slot; a card data rewriting part for rewriting the data stored in the remaining value storage area; a commodity storage unit; and a commodity providing 10 unit for providing a commodity from the commodity storage unit to a customer in response to a commodity output S* control signal.

2. A vending machine according to Claim 1, further *S*9 comprising: a lottery unit for performing a lottery each 15 time said commodity providing unit provides some 9 commodity; and an indicating unit for indicating the result of the lottery performed by said lottery unit.

3. A vending machine according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein said pre-paid card further includes a cumulative bonus point storage area for storing a cumulative bonus point in a rewritable fashion, and said vending machine further comprises a bonus point data updating unit for 24 updating the cumulative bonus point stored in the cumulative bonus point storage area of said pre-paid card each time said commodity providing unit provides some commodity.

4. A vending machine substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings. Dated this 21st day of March 1997 1 PATENT ATTORNEY SERVICES Attorneys for KATSUHIKO BETSUSHIMA S S