CN109215228B

CN109215228B - Storage device, food vending machine with storage device and meal serving method

Info

Publication number: CN109215228B
Application number: CN201710538775.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 游本俊
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2017-07-04
Filing date: 2017-07-04
Publication date: 2021-03-23
Anticipated expiration: 2037-07-04
Also published as: CN109215228A

Abstract

The invention provides a food vending machine and a meal serving method. The food vending machine is provided with a food making device and a storage device. The storage device is connected with the food preparation device and is provided with a food outlet and a conveying mechanism. The conveying mechanism is provided with a plurality of containing units. The containing unit moves along the conveying path. The meal delivery method comprises ordering, making and delivering. The order may be selected for later access and may not specify access time or specify access time. When the meal is taken, if the meal is selected to be taken later and the taking time is not specified, the meal is served by the storage device. If a later take is selected and a take time is specified, the meal preparing device is served, but if a predetermined time is exceeded, the meal is delivered to the storage device for serving. Therefore, the time for the consumer to wait for the meal can be reduced, and the fact that the previously supplied meal is not taken does not influence the taking of the meal by the subsequent consumer.

Description

Storage device, food vending machine with storage device and meal serving method

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a food vending machine and an operating method thereof, and more particularly, to a storage device for storing food sold by the food vending machine, a food vending machine having the storage device, and a dining method using the food vending machine.

Background

In the prior art, there is a food vending machine having a function of conditioning food materials. In other words, the food vending machine processes the food materials inside the vending machine, and then makes the food materials into lunch boxes for sale, thereby allowing consumers to enjoy fresh and ready-made meals. Because the food material is prepared in a time-consuming manner, a consumer has to stay at the food vending machine to wait for the meal after the meal is ordered, so that the food can be taken away when the meal is ordered, other consumers are prevented from getting the meal, and other people can be prevented from taking the ordered food. However, the more complicated the meal, the longer the conditioning time is, and thus the more inconvenient it is, the more inconvenient it is that people are often impatient, and if they leave the vending machine and deal with other matters while waiting, the above problem occurs if they cannot get the meal before returning to the vending machine immediately.

In addition, some food vending machines have the function of ordering food online and remotely, and can reserve the taking time in advance, so that the consumers can get the food at the vending machine at the appointed time. However, when the designated time is reached, the consumer may not get the meal on time due to delay, so that the meal is always placed at the meal outlet of the food vending machine, and the taking of the meal by other people is also influenced.

In view of the above, a better solution is proposed, and a problem to be solved is needed in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

The main objective of the present invention is to provide a storage device, a food vending machine having the storage device, and a meal delivery method, which can store meals produced by the food vending machine and can be used by consumers at any time.

To achieve the above object, the storage device of a food vending machine according to the present invention is connected to a food preparation device of the food vending machine, and includes:

a housing having:

an inlet which is communicated with the food preparation device;

at least one meal outlet arranged on the front surface of the shell; and

at least one box door which selectively closes the at least one meal outlet; the at least one door has:

a door plate which selectively opens or closes the meal outlet; and

at least one penetrating part which is fixedly arranged on the door panel;

a conveying mechanism disposed in the housing and having:

at least one belt body, which defines a conveying path, wherein the conveying path extends along the belt body and is adjacent to the inner side of the at least one meal outlet; and

a plurality of containing units which are connected with the at least one belt body and move along the conveying path; each containing unit is provided with at least one fixing notch; and

a power mechanism which is connected with the at least one belt body and drives the belt body to wind;

when the at least one box door is opened, the at least one penetrating part of the at least one box door moves along with the door plate of the at least one box door and penetrates through the at least one fixing notch of one of the containing units, so that the one of the containing units is fixed.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a food vending machine comprising:

the food preparation device is provided with a plurality of food outlets which are respectively positioned on different side surfaces of the food preparation device; and

the entrance of the storage device is communicated with one of the meal outlets of the meal making device.

To achieve the above object, the meal delivery method of the present invention comprises the following steps:

a meal ordering program comprises the following steps:

selecting meals, paying for, and the consumer being able to select for later retrieval and designate the time of retrieval;

a manufacturing process, comprising the steps of:

when the consumer selects to take and appoint the taking time later, and the taking time is close, a meal is made by the meal making device of the food vending machine; and

a meal delivery program, comprising the steps of:

when the consumer selects to take the food at a later time and appoints a taking time, the food is delivered to one of the meal outlets of the food vending machine immediately after the meal is finished; if the time that the meal is positioned at the meal outlet is within a waiting time, the meal outlet is opened after the identity of the consumer is verified; if the time that the food is positioned at the food outlet exceeds the waiting time, the food is conveyed to the storage device of the food vending machine, and after the identity is verified, the food is conveyed to the food outlet of the storage device, and meanwhile, the food outlet is opened.

The advantage of the invention is therefore that, by means of the storage mechanism, the meals produced by the food vending machine can be stored, ready for the consumer to take at any time, and the consumer can choose to take them immediately or later when ordering, and if chosen later, can specify the time of taking. When the consumer takes the meal for a long time, the supplied and ready-to-take meals can be recovered again and stored in the storage mechanism. Therefore, the waiting time of the consumer can be effectively reduced, the remote ordering or the consumer can handle other affairs after ordering and then return to take the meal, and the meal which is not taken does not influence the taking of the follow-up consumer.

Further, in the storage device as described above:

the number of the at least one belt body is two, and the two belt bodies are arranged in parallel and at intervals; and is

The plurality of containing units are connected with the two belt bodies and positioned between the two belt bodies.

Further, in the above-described storage device, each of the holding units has:

a connecting rod, both ends of which are respectively and fixedly arranged on the two belt bodies;

two suspension frames, the upper ends of which are respectively rotatably sleeved outside the connecting rod; and

and the two ends of the containing seat are fixedly arranged at the lower ends of the two suspension frames respectively.

Further, in the storage device as described above:

the shell is further provided with two rails which are arranged at two sides of the at least one meal outlet in parallel at intervals; and is

The at least one pocket door of the housing has:

a door plate, two ends of which are movably connected with the two tracks respectively;

a rotating unit;

one end of the connecting unit is fixedly arranged on the door panel, and one side of the connecting unit is connected with the rotating unit;

when the rotating unit rotates, the connecting unit is driven to move, and then the door panel is driven by the connecting unit to move along the two rails.

Further, in the above-described storage device, the transport path includes:

a plurality of parallel paths; and

and the plurality of rotary paths are respectively connected between two of the parallel paths, and the inner side of each meal outlet is adjacent to one of the rotary paths.

Further, in the storage device as described above:

the number of the at least one meal outlet is multiple, and the positions of the meal outlets respectively correspond to one of the rotary paths; and is

The number of the at least one box door is multiple, and each box door corresponds to one of the meal outlet.

Further, in the storage device as described above, the at least one meal outlet has a sensor for monitoring the condition of the containing unit.

Further, in the meal delivery method as described above:

in executing the ordering program, the consumer cannot specify a time to take;

in the execution of the making program, when the consumer selects to take the food for later use and does not appoint the taking time, a meal is immediately made by the meal making device of the food vending machine; and is

In the meal delivery program, when the consumer selects to take the meal later and does not specify the taking time, the meal is stored in the storage device of the food vending machine after being finished, and after the identity is verified, the meal is conveyed to one of the meal delivery ports of the storage device, and meanwhile, the meal delivery port is opened.

In the meal delivery method, when a plurality of meals are stored in the storage device during meal delivery by the storage device in the meal delivery program, the storage device delivers the meal with the earliest completed meal.

Further, according to the meal delivery method, in the meal delivery process, when the time for storing the meal in the storage device exceeds a discard time, the meal is set to be discarded and not used for meal delivery.

Further, according to the meal delivery method, in the meal ordering program, the consumer can select to order the meal with a webpage, a mobile phone application program or an operation interface of the food vending machine.

Further, in the meal delivery method as described above:

in the ordering program, the consumer can select to take the food immediately;

in the manufacturing procedure, when the consumer selects to take the food immediately, the food manufacturing device of the food vending machine immediately manufactures a meal; and is

In the meal outlet procedure, when the consumer selects to take the food immediately, the food is delivered to one of the meal outlet ports of the food vending machine immediately after the meal is finished; if the time of the meal at the meal outlet is within the waiting time, the meal outlet is opened after the identity of the consumer is verified; if the time that the food is positioned at the food outlet exceeds the waiting time, the food is conveyed to the storage device of the food vending machine, and after the identity is verified, the food is conveyed to the food outlet of the storage device, and meanwhile, the food outlet is opened.

Further, in the meal delivery method as described above:

the storage device is provided with a plurality of meal outlets and a conveying path, and the conveying path is adjacent to the inner sides of the meal outlets; and is

During the meal delivery program, the meals are conveyed to the nearest meal delivery port on the conveying path for meal delivery.

The invention is described in detail below with reference to the drawings and specific examples, but the invention is not limited thereto.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a food vending machine according to the present invention;

fig. 2 is an exploded view of the food vending machine according to the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a storage unit of the food vending machine according to the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic side view of the inside of a storage unit of the food vending machine according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the container door of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the door and the conveying mechanism of the present invention;

fig. 7 is an enlarged schematic view of the containing unit of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the operation of the gate and the conveying mechanism of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is another schematic diagram of the door and the conveying mechanism of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a flowchart of a meal delivery method of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The invention will be described in detail with reference to the following drawings, which are provided for illustration purposes and the like:

please refer to fig. 1 and fig. 2 first. The invention provides a food vending machine, which is provided with a food making device 1 and a storage device 2. The food preparation device 1 can prepare food materials, prepare meals, and store the meals in containers such as meal boxes after a consumer orders the meals. The food preparation device 1 has an operation interface 11 and at least one food outlet. The operation interface 11 is located on the front surface of the food preparation device 1, and may have a view window and/or may have a screen 110; the viewing window can be used for allowing a consumer to observe the cooking of the food materials in the food preparation device 1; and screen 110 may be used to display a summary of the meal or to play an advertisement. The number of the at least one meal outlet is two, and the meal outlet is respectively a first meal outlet 12 and a second meal outlet 13; the first meal outlet 12 is connected to the storage device 2 and is located on one side of the meal making device 1. The second meal outlet 13 is located at one of the sides of the food preparation device 1, for example at the front of the food preparation device 1, so that the finished meal can be directly served to the consumer.

Please refer to fig. 3 to fig. 6. The storage device 2 has a housing 20, a conveying mechanism 30, an entrance stabilizing mechanism 40, and a power mechanism 50.

The housing 20 has an entrance 21, at least one meal outlet 22 (shown in fig. 2), two rails 23, and at least one box door 24. In the present embodiment, the storage device 2 has a plurality of meal outlets 22 and a plurality of box doors 24, and the number of meal outlets 22 and the number of box doors 24 are equal.

The inlet 21 of the housing 20 is communicated with the first meal outlet 12 of the meal making device 1 (as shown in fig. 2), so that after the meal A is finished by the meal making device 1, the meal A is sent into the storage device 2 together with the container through the first meal outlet 12 and the inlet 21. Meal outlet 22 is disposed on the front surface of housing 20, and each meal outlet 22 has a sensor 25. The two rails 23 are arranged in parallel and at intervals at two sides of the meal outlet 22. In other words, in this embodiment, the rails 23 extend past both sides of the plurality of meal outlets 22.

The box doors 24 respectively correspond to one of the meal outlets 22 and selectively close the meal outlets 22. In the present embodiment, each of the box doors 24 has a door panel 241, at least one through-hole 242, a connecting unit 243, a rotating unit 244, and a blocking plate 245.

The door panel 241 is movably connected to the two rails 23, and more specifically, is sleeved on the two rails 23, and the door panel 241 can move along the two rails 23. In this embodiment, the number of the through holes 242 is two. The two penetrating portions 242 are respectively fixed at two ends of the door panel 241, and each penetrating portion 242 has a positioning rod 2421 and a taper block 2422. The positioning rod 2421 is L-shaped, and the vertical end is fixed on the door panel 241, and the horizontal end is fixed with the cone-shaped block 2422, so the position of the cone-shaped block 2422 is lower than the door panel 241. In other embodiments, the positioning rod 2421 may have a U-shape, and the other end of the connecting taper block 2422 is shorter than the one end of the connecting door panel 241. The tapered block 2422 is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom.

One end of the connection unit 243 is fixedly disposed on the door panel 241, and one side thereof is connected to the rotation unit 244. In this embodiment, the rotating unit 244 may have a motor 2441 and a gear 2442, and the connecting unit 243 may be a rack engaged with the gear 2442; in other embodiments, the rotating unit may have a motor and a wheel, and the connecting unit is a connecting belt, and the connecting belt is sleeved on the wheel. Therefore, when the rotating unit 244 rotates, the connecting unit 243 is driven to move, and the connecting unit 243 drives the door panel 241 to move up and down along the two rails 23, so that the box door 24 opens or closes the meal outlet 22.

The baffle 245 is fixed above the rotating unit 244 to limit the moving range of the meal box and prevent the meal box from being overturned due to too large inclination angle when the meal is taken.

In other embodiments, there may be only one track adjacent to the meal outlets, and the door panels are still connected to and move along the track. In other embodiments, the door panel may have a plurality of pairs of rails, each pair of rails is disposed at two sides of one of the meal outlets in parallel and at an interval, and the door panels respectively correspond to one of the pairs of rails.

The conveying mechanism 30 is disposed in the housing 20 and has at least one belt 31 and a plurality of containing units 32. In the embodiment, the belt 31 is made of steel strips, and the number of the belt is two, but not limited thereto; the two belts 31 are disposed in parallel and spaced apart. Belt 31 defines a conveying path that extends along belt 31 and adjacent the inside of all of meal outlets 22.

Specifically, the conveyance path includes a plurality of parallel paths 311 and a plurality of turning paths 312. The parallel paths 311 extend horizontally and are parallel to each other and are spaced apart, but may extend obliquely or vertically in other embodiments. Two ends of the turning path 312 are respectively connected between two of the parallel paths 311. The inner adjacent positions of the meal outlets 22 respectively correspond to one of the rotary paths 312. Therefore, the belt 31 and the conveying path extend in an S-shape behind the meal outlets 22, so as to improve the utilization efficiency of the space inside the housing 20 and to accommodate more containing units 32. In other embodiments, each meal outlet 22 may correspond to one of the parallel paths.

Please refer to fig. 7. Each of the containing units 32 is connected to the belt body 31 and moves along the conveying path. Specifically, each of the containing units 32 is located between two belts 31, and has a connecting rod 321, two hanging brackets 322, and a containing seat 323. The two ends of the connecting rod 321 are respectively fixed on the two belt bodies 31, for example, when the belt body 31 is a steel strip, the connecting rod 321 can be arranged on the pivoted node of the steel strip. The upper ends of the two suspension brackets 322 are rotatably sleeved outside the connecting rod 321, and the two ends of the accommodating seat 323 are fixedly disposed at the lower ends of the two suspension brackets 322. Therefore, regardless of the containing units 32 moving to any position of the conveying path along with the belts 31, the containing seats 323 are always kept under the connecting rods 321 by the rotatable suspension brackets 322.

The holder 323 can be a plate body and is formed with at least one fixing notch 3230, and in this embodiment, two fixing notches 3230, and the fixing notches 3230 are located at two side edges of the holder 323. The tapered blocks 2422 of the two through portions 242 of the door panel 241 selectively penetrate the two fixing notches 3230 (as shown in fig. 8), so that when the door panel 241 moves upward to open the cassette door 24, the tapered blocks 2422 move upward to fix the containing seats 323, so that the containing unit 32 does not shake.

The sensor 25 of each meal outlet 22 is disposed on the inner side of the door panel 24, and may be a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) for monitoring the condition of the containing unit 32. Specifically, the device is used for monitoring whether the food A is placed on the containing unit 32 which moves to the rear of the meal outlet 22, so as to ensure that the meal outlet condition is correct; or for sending a signal to control the box door 24 to be kept open when detecting that the consumer puts his hand into the meal port 22, so as to avoid pinching the hand of the consumer.

Please refer to fig. 2 to fig. 4. The inlet stabilizing mechanism 40 is adjacent to the conveying path and the inlet 21 is opposite the inlet stabilizing mechanism 40. The entrance stabilizing mechanism 40 has a clamping member, when the food preparing device 1 finishes a food A, the food A and the container are conveyed into the storage device 2 through the first food outlet 12 of the food preparing device 1 and the entrance 21 of the storage device 2, and are clamped and positioned by the clamping member of the entrance stabilizing mechanism 40, and then the food A and the container are placed in the center of the containing seat 323 of the containing unit 32 by the entrance stabilizing mechanism 40, and the food A is prevented from overturning.

The power mechanism 50 is connected to the belt 31 and drives the belt 31 to move around, and in this embodiment, the power mechanism 50 can drive the belt 31 to move around in a forward direction or a reverse direction, and specifically, a motor can drive the two toothed discs 51 to rotate, and drive the two belt 31 through the two toothed discs 51 respectively.

The storage device 2 may also have a temperature control unit (not shown) for adjusting the temperature inside the housing 20 so that the temperature inside the housing 20 is suitable for storing the meals a. For example, if the meal A is a hot meal, such as a lunch or noodles served with soup, the temperature control unit can be an electric heater; conversely, if the meal A is a cold plate or snack, the temperature control unit may also be an air conditioner.

Please refer to fig. 1 and fig. 10. Through the food vending machine, the consumer can purchase favorite food through the following procedures:

and (4) ordering program: first, the consumer can obtain information of each meal, such as material and nutrient content of each meal, through the web page, the mobile phone application program, or the screen 110 of the food vending machine, and can select and pay for the meal through the web page, the mobile phone application program, or the operation interface 11 of the food vending machine. The consumer may also choose to take the meal immediately or later at the same time as the consumer chooses the meal.

If the user selects to take the meals immediately, the food preparation device 1 can directly take the meals after the meals are finished; the consumer may further optionally specify a time to take if they choose to take the meal at a later time. If the taking time is not appointed, the food vending machine starts the subsequent making process and the meal taking process after the consumer pays, and the meals are stored in the storage device 2 firstly after the meals are finished until the consumer takes the meals; if the taking time is appointed, the food vending machine starts the subsequent manufacturing process when the taking time is close, and the food is directly eaten by the food manufacturing device 1 after the food is finished.

The flow of the consumer selecting a later take and not specifying a time for the take is described below.

The preparation procedure comprises the following steps: when the consumer orders and completes payment, the food making device 1 of the food vending machine will immediately start making food.

And (4) meal delivery program: the food is stored in the storage unit 2 of the food vending machine after the completion of the meals. When the consumer wants to take a meal and verify the identity of the consumer, the ordered meal is transported to one of the meal outlets 22 of the storage device 2, and the meal outlet 22 is opened.

When the meal is stored in the storage device 2 for more than a discard time, the meal will be set to discard and not be used for serving, so as to ensure that each served meal is fresh and suitable for eating. And the scrapping time is the first scrapping time. In addition, since the food vending machine can produce a plurality of kinds of meals and a plurality of kinds of meals can be stored in the storage device 2, in the present embodiment, when a plurality of meals are stored, the storage device 2 can serve a meal of the same kind having the earliest completion time, instead of serving the meal that has been produced at the time when the meal is completed.

Therefore, even if the former consumer does not take the meal for a long time after ordering, if the latter consumer orders the same kind of meals, the prepared meals can be taken by the former consumer, and the meals cannot be set to be discarded due to long-term storage. In contrast, when the former consumer takes the meal, the latter consumer can still take the meal which is currently made when the latter consumer orders the meal, so as to reduce the condition that the meal cannot be taken because the meal is scrapped. In other words, the meal delivery method of the present invention is a "first-in first-out" method for supplying the first-made meal first.

Please refer to fig. 4. On the other hand, the plurality of meal outlets 22 of the storage device 2 and the power mechanism 50 can drive the belt 31 to bypass in the forward direction or in the reverse direction, and during the meal-out process, the meal a is conveyed to the nearest meal outlet 22 on the conveying path to be served, so that the situation that the meal a is conveyed to the meal outlet 22 only by bypassing the conveying path for about one circle is avoided, and the time for the consumer to wait for meal taking is reduced.

Please refer to fig. 6, fig. 8 and fig. 9. When the meal a is delivered to the meal outlet 22, the rotating unit 244 rotates to lift the door panel 241 and open the meal outlet 22. When the door 241 is lifted, the through portion 242 is inserted into the fixing notch 3230 of the receiving seat 323. Thereby fixing the accommodating unit 32 so that the accommodating base 323 does not shake. At this time, the consumer can take the dinner point A on the containing seat 323 through the meal outlet 22, and the dinner point A cannot be overturned due to shaking of the containing seat 323 caused by accidents during taking. When the sensor 25 confirms that there is no meal a in the holding unit 32 after the consumer takes the meal a, the sensor 25 sends a signal, and then the box door 24 closes the meal outlet 22 to start the next meal outlet procedure.

The flow of the consumer selecting a later take and specifying a time for the take is then described.

The preparation procedure comprises the following steps: when the taking time is close, the food making device 1 makes a meal.

And (4) meal delivery program: the food is delivered to the food outlet 13 of the food making device 1 of the food vending machine immediately after the food is finished, and the food outlet 13 is opened after the identity is verified, so that the food can be taken by the consumer. If the meal is located at the meal outlet 13 for more than a waiting time and the consumer is not available in the future, the meal is delivered to the storage device 2. The following meal delivery procedure is similar to the meal delivery procedure of "selecting a later serving and designating a serving time" as described above, and thus will not be described herein again. In this case, since the meal has been stored for a certain period of time, the meal will be stored in the storage device 2 for a shorter time than the first discard time and will be set to discard. At this time, the maximum time stored in the storage device 2 is the second scrapping time, which may be the first scrapping time minus the waiting time.

Finally, the flow of the consumer selecting immediate access is described.

And (4) meal delivery program: the meal delivery procedure for the consumer to select immediate access is similar to the meal delivery procedure for selecting "access later and designate access time" as described above, and therefore will not be described herein.

In other embodiments, the meal delivery method may not utilize the food vending machine as described above, as long as the food vending machine has a storage device for temporarily storing the meals to be delivered.

In summary, by the storage mechanism, the food produced by the food vending machine can be stored for the consumer to access at any time, and the consumer can choose to access immediately or later when ordering the food, and can specify the access time if choosing to access later. In addition, when the consumer takes the meal for a long time, the served and ready-to-take meals can be recovered again and stored in the storage mechanism. Therefore, the waiting time of the consumer can be effectively reduced, the remote ordering or the consumer can handle other affairs after ordering and then return to take the meal, and the meal which is not taken does not influence the taking of the follow-up consumer.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and it should be understood that various changes and modifications can be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A storage device of a food vending machine, which is connected with a food preparing device of the food vending machine, is characterized in that the storage device comprises:

a housing having:

an inlet which is communicated with the food preparation device;

at least one meal outlet arranged on the front surface of the shell; and

a door plate which selectively opens or closes the meal outlet; and

at least one penetrating part which is fixedly arranged on the door panel;

a conveying mechanism disposed in the housing and having:

a power mechanism which is connected with the at least one belt body and drives the at least one belt body to move around;

2. The storage device of claim 1, wherein:

The plurality of containing units are connected to the two belts and located between the two belts.

3. The storage device as claimed in claim 2, wherein each of the containing units has:

two ends of a connecting rod are respectively and fixedly arranged on the two belt bodies;

two suspension brackets, the upper ends of which are respectively sleeved on the connecting rod in a rotating way; and

4. A storage device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein:

the shell is further provided with at least one rail which is arranged beside the at least one meal outlet; and is

The two ends of the door plate of the at least one box door of the shell are respectively connected with the at least one track in a movable way, and the at least one box door is provided with:

a rotating unit;

when the rotating unit rotates, the connecting unit is driven to move, and then the door panel is driven by the connecting unit to move along the at least one track.

5. A storage device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the transport path has:

a plurality of parallel paths; and

6. The storage device of claim 5, wherein:

7. The storage device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the at least one meal outlet has a sensor for monitoring the condition of the containing unit.

8. A food product vending machine, comprising:

a storage device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the inlet of the storage device is in communication with one of the meal outlets of the meal preparation device.

9. A meal delivery method, comprising the following steps in sequence:

a meal ordering program comprises the following steps:

a manufacturing process, comprising the steps of:

when the consumer selects to take and appoint a taking time later, and when the taking time is close, a meal is made by the meal making device of the food vending machine as claimed in claim 8; and

a meal delivery program, comprising the steps of:

10. The meal delivery method of claim 9, wherein:

in executing the ordering program, the consumer cannot specify a time to take;

11. The meal delivery method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein in the meal delivery program, when a plurality of meals are stored in the storage device during meal delivery by the storage device, the storage device delivers the meal with the earliest completion time.

12. The meal delivery method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein in the meal delivery procedure, the meal is set to be rejected and not used for meal delivery when the meal is stored in the storage device for more than a rejection time.

13. The meal offering method of claim 9 or 10, wherein the customer selects to order the meal with a web page, a mobile phone application program, or an operation interface of the food vending machine during the meal ordering process.

14. The meal delivery method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that:

in the ordering program, the consumer can select to take the food immediately;

15. The meal delivery method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that:

In the meal delivery program, the meals are delivered to the nearest meal delivery port on the delivery path for meal delivery.