CN112767600A

CN112767600A - Vending cabinet and control method thereof

Info

Publication number: CN112767600A
Application number: CN202110069493.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 戴毓华
Original assignee: Alipay Hangzhou Information Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Alipay Hangzhou Information Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-01-19
Filing date: 2021-01-19
Publication date: 2021-05-07

Abstract

This specification discloses a vending cabinet and a control method thereof. The vending container includes a container control device and a plurality of peripheral devices with electric control functions. The container control device includes a control module, a network switch communicated with the control module, and a plurality of power supply interfaces connected with the control module, and the control module is used for controlling the plurality of power supply interfaces. Each peripheral device is respectively connected to a network switch and a corresponding power supply interface through a network cable. The control method includes: supplying power to a vending cabinet; after the vending cabinet is powered on, controlling to supply power to a plurality of peripheral devices; and after the plurality of peripheral devices are powered on, controlling a plurality of peripheral devices to perform self-inspection, and, every predetermined time The duration is to report the heartbeat through the network switch. The vending cabinet and the control method thereof according to the embodiments of the present specification can enhance the expansion capability of the vending cabinet and reduce the cost.

Description

Vending cabinet and control method thereof

Technical Field

The disclosure relates to the field of self-service selling, in particular to a selling cabinet and a control method thereof.

Background

With the progress of times and technologies, the needs of convenience, 24-hour persistence, novelty, fashion, intellectualization and the like have become the consumption trend of young consumers, and the popularization of a new retail concept makes unmanned retail stores/vending machines more and more concerned by people. The vending machine is conceptually favored by merchants because of convenient point selection and low operation threshold. However, the difference of demand sides such as the type of goods in operation, the payment mode, the self-service goods taking mode, the requirement of refrigeration and heating in the market causes the external devices to be numerous and complicated, the communication modes are various, the control link is long and complex, the control logic of the whole container is multiple and disordered, various schemes are layered, and the reliability, the operation convenience and the like of the self-service container are far away from the assumption.

On the supply side, because of the use scene and the complicated peripheral installation and connection and the wire rod connection between each communication module, the comprehensive layout of strong and weak electricity etc. brings many difficult problems for the production end, when guaranteeing the packing cupboard operation area, still need guarantee the installation of each module and guarantee its reliability in the operation transportation, lead to the installation inefficiency, the installation cost is high, is not convenient for large-scale batch production.

At the operation end, the complexity of the scheme and the high cost of assembly caused by peripheral communication control and the like lead to high cost of the whole cabinet body, great discount on reliability and continuous improvement of the operation requirement. In the face of a complex self-service operation market, newly added requirements such as increase of advertisement cash register, monitoring of various resources and losses and the like are difficult to expand on a scheme.

Conventional smart vending cabinets generally control various functional modules through an industrial personal computer, wherein different hardware interface protocols are relied on, such as UART, USB, RS485 and the like. The protocol is messy, the number of peripherals is large, the difficulty of assembly and production and the high cost are brought, and the requirements of different scenes and various service sides on increasing more functional modules in the current market cannot be met; the complex container system brings higher development difficulty and also brings the problem of stable reliability, and the operation cost and the operation threshold of an operator are further improved.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the specification provides a vending cabinet and a control method thereof, which can enhance the expansion capability of the vending cabinet and reduce the cost.

One aspect of an embodiment of the present specification provides a merchandiser. The vending cabinet comprises a container control device and a plurality of peripheral devices with an electric control function. The container control device comprises a control module, a network switch in communication connection with the control module and a plurality of power supply interfaces connected with the control module, wherein the control module is used for controlling the plurality of power supply interfaces. Each peripheral device is connected to the network switch and the corresponding power supply interface through a network cable.

The selling cabinet of one or more embodiments of the present specification completes communication between the selling cabinet and all peripheral devices by using a network switch, and maps each peripheral device of the selling cabinet in a network distribution manner, so that each peripheral device can be finely controlled, each peripheral device can complete cooperative work, and in addition, power supply and power supply scheduling of each extended peripheral device can be completed through a power supply interface.

The vending cabinet of one or more embodiments of this specification simplifies the communication link to reach the various side's demands that can volume production, easy operation, low cost etc. through modular design.

The selling cabinet of one or more embodiments of the specification can reduce cost, improve production efficiency, strengthen the expansion capacity of the container and solve the problems of all parties.

Another aspect of the embodiments of the present specification provides a control method of a vending cabinet. The vending cabinet comprises a container control device with a network switch and a plurality of power supply interfaces, and a plurality of peripheral devices with an electric control function, wherein the peripheral devices are respectively connected to the network switch and the power supply interfaces through network cables. The control method comprises the following steps: providing power to the merchandiser; controlling power to the plurality of peripheral devices after the vending cabinet is powered; and after the plurality of peripheral devices are powered on, controlling the plurality of peripheral devices to perform self-checking, and reporting the heartbeat through the network switch every preset time.

According to the control method of the vending cabinet in one or more embodiments of the specification, self-checking and heartbeat reporting are performed by controlling the peripheral device, so that fault location can be performed quickly.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a merchandiser according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the schematic structure of a merchandiser according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of an integrated laminate according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a method of controlling a merchandiser according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method of controlling a merchandiser according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a vending cabinet according to still another embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Some exemplary embodiments will now be described. When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, like numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The embodiments described in the illustrated embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with this description. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus consistent with certain aspects of the present description, as defined in the appended claims.

The terminology used in the description of the embodiments is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the description. Unless otherwise defined, technical or scientific terms used in the embodiments of the present specification should have the ordinary meaning as understood by those having ordinary skill in the art to which the present specification pertains. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the terms "first," "second," and the like do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another. Also, the use of the terms "a" or "an" and the like do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one. "plurality" or "a number" means two or more. Unless otherwise indicated, the terms "front," "rear," "lower," and/or "upper," and the like are used for convenience in describing relative positional relationships and are not limited to an absolute position or an absolute spatial orientation. The word "comprising" or "comprises", and the like, means that the element or item listed as preceding "comprising" or "includes" covers the element or item listed as following "comprising" or "includes" and its equivalents, and does not exclude other elements or items. The terms "connected" or "coupled" and the like are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections, but may include electrical connections, whether direct or indirect. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Fig. 1 discloses a schematic diagram of a vending cabinet 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and fig. 2 discloses a schematic block diagram of the vending cabinet 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to fig. 1 and 2 in combination, a vending cabinet 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes a cabinet 10, a container control device 20, and a plurality of peripheral devices 30 having an electric control function. The container control device 20 is disposed in the cabinet 10. In one embodiment, the container control 20 can be a cabinet top control disposed at the top of the cabinet 10. The container control apparatus 20 is a control center and a communication hub of the vending cabinet 1, and is responsible for power supply scheduling, and the container control apparatus 20 includes a control module 21, a network switch 22, and a plurality of power supply interfaces 23. The control module 21 may be, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The network switch 22 is communicatively connected to the control module 21 to implement communication between the control module 21 and the network switch 22, and the network switch 22 may provide more network connection ports to connect more peripheral devices 30. The plurality of power supply interfaces 23 are connected to the control module 21, and the control module 21 can be used to control the plurality of power supply interfaces 23.

In one embodiment of the present description, it is possible to consider other electrically controlled functional components than the container control apparatus 20 as the peripheral apparatus 30. A plurality of peripheral devices 30 can set up on the cabinet body 10 or in the cabinet body 10, and each peripheral device 30 is connected to network switch 22 and corresponding Power supply interface 23 with the form of similar POE (Power Over Ethernet for the Ethernet Power supply) through the net twine respectively, can accomplish the function of Power supply and network communication simultaneously with a net twine to can save the interior wiring of cabinet, produce the line and equip simply, reduction in production cost.

The vending cabinet 1 adopts the network switch 22 to complete communication between the vending cabinet 1 and all the peripheral devices 30, and maps each peripheral device 30 of the vending cabinet 1 in a network IP distribution mode, so that each peripheral device 30 can be controlled finely, each peripheral device 30 can complete cooperative work, and in addition, power supply and power supply scheduling of each extended peripheral device 30 can be completed through the power supply interface 23.

When additional functional peripheral devices 30 need to be added to the vending cabinet 1, the additional functional peripheral devices 30 only need to be connected to the network switch 22 and the corresponding power supply interface 23 through one network cable, so that expansion of the additional functional peripheral devices 30 is facilitated. The vending cabinet 1 according to one embodiment of the present specification simplifies a communication link by a modular design, and meets the requirements of mass production, easy operation, low cost, and the like.

Each of the peripheral devices 30 is considered as an embedded device having a certain processing capability, and therefore, each of the peripheral devices 30 includes a microcontroller. The microcontroller of each peripheral device 30 has a fault reporting mechanism. When the peripheral device 30 fails, the microcontroller of the peripheral device 30 may perform self-checking first, and then may report the failure state through the network switch 22.

In an embodiment, when receiving a predetermined failure state reported by the peripheral device 30, for example, a program runs away, the control module 21 may timely perform power-off and power-on restarting on the peripheral device 30 through power scheduling control of the power supply interface 23, so as to recover the peripheral device and enhance self-healing capability of the system.

The microcontroller of each peripheral device 30 also has a heartbeat broadcast mechanism. The microcontroller of each peripheral device 30 reports a heartbeat to the control module 21 via the network switch 22 every predetermined time period, for example, every 30 seconds (seconds), indicating that it is operating normally. In one embodiment, when the heartbeat mechanism of the peripheral device 30 is abnormal, that is, the control module 21 does not receive the heartbeat reported by the peripheral device 30 within the predetermined time period, the control module 21 may control the peripheral device 30 to complete the restart through the power supply interface 23, so as to achieve the self-diagnosis and self-recovery capabilities.

The plurality of peripheral devices 30 of one embodiment of the present specification may include a human interaction device 31. The human-computer interaction device 31 may be arranged, for example, near a cabinet door. The human-computer interaction device 31 is mainly used for interacting with a user and a cloud end, issuing or uploading related instructions or information, and is a link between the selling cabinet 1 and the cloud end and between the selling cabinet 1 and the client, for example, collecting cloud instructions, distributing control instructions, receiving state information in the cabinet, reporting the interaction between the selling cabinet 1 and the cloud end, acquiring user information, realizing information interaction in self-service selling transactions, displaying the interaction between the state of the transactions and information of money deduction, and the like.

When the peripheral device 30 fails or the heartbeat mechanism is abnormal, the microcontroller of the peripheral device 30 can upload the fault state to the cloud end through the human-computer interaction device 31, so that operation and maintenance personnel can conveniently track and solve the fault in time.

The plurality of peripheral devices 30 of one embodiment of the present description may include one or more integrated laminae 32. The one or more integrated decks 32 are disposed within the cabinet 10 and may be used to support cargo items within the cabinet 10. FIG. 3 discloses a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the integrated laminate 32 of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 3, each integrated laminate 32 includes a microcontroller 321 and at least one of a camera 322, an illumination module 323, and a temperature sensor 324 connected to the microcontroller 321. In one embodiment of the present description, each integrated laminate 32 is described as an example in which a camera 322, an illumination module 323, and a temperature sensor 324 are integrated at the same time. However, in other embodiments of the present description, each integrated laminate 32 may also include any one or more of a camera 322, an illumination module 323, and a temperature sensor 324. Of course, each integrated laminate 32 may also integrate other functional modules.

The Temperature sensor 324 may be, for example, an NTC (Negative Temperature Coefficient) thermistor, and may be configured to detect the Temperature of the integrated laminate 32 and transmit the detected Temperature data to the control module 21 in the container control apparatus 20. For example, the temperature data detected by the temperature sensor 324 may be updated to the control module 21 every 30 s.

The lighting module 323 may be used to illuminate the merchandise items within the cabinet 10. In one embodiment, the lighting module 323 may include two light strips 3231. The two lighting strips 3231 may be disposed on opposite sides of the integrated laminate 32, for example, the two lighting strips 3231 may be disposed on front and rear sides of the integrated laminate 32, or may be disposed on left and right sides of the integrated laminate 32. Each of the illuminating lamp strips 3231 may include a plurality of white lamps and a plurality of yellow lamps uniformly arranged in a predetermined ratio, the white lamps and the yellow lamps are respectively connected to the microcontroller 321, and the microcontroller 321 may respectively control the white lamps and the yellow lamps. In one embodiment, the microcontroller 321 may respectively emit a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) signal to the white lamps and the yellow lamps, and the microcontroller 321 may control the on, off, or brightness of the white lamps and the yellow lamps based on the PWM signal, so as to control the brightness and the color temperature of the lighting module 323.

The merchandiser 1 further includes a compressor 40 disposed in the cabinet 10, the compressor 40 being connected to the control module 21 in the container control apparatus 20. The control module 21 in the container control apparatus 20 can control the compressor 40 and the lighting modules 323 for temperature control based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 324 of the integrated laminate 32. Specifically, when it is determined that refrigeration is required in the cabinet 10 according to the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 324, the control module 21 may control the compressor 40 to be turned on for refrigeration, and meanwhile, the control module 21 may further control the integrated laminate 32 to reduce the brightness of the lighting module 323 and reduce the power consumption of the internal electronic control. When it is determined that heating is required in the cabinet 10 according to the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 324, the control module 21 may control the integrated laminate 32 to increase the brightness of the lighting module 323 for heating. For example, the brightness of the lighting modules 323 can be controlled to be brightest, so that the heating can be performed by using the heat emitted by the lighting modules 323 of the integrated laminate 32 and the electronic control module inside the integrated laminate 32.

In one embodiment, the microcontroller 321 of the integrated shelf 32 may control the camera 322 and the lighting module 323 based on the current status of the merchandiser 1. Specifically, when the current status of the vending cabinet 1 is a transaction status, the microcontroller 321 of the integrated shelf 32 may adjust the on/off or brightness of the white light/yellow light in real time through the PWM signal to control and adjust the brightness of the lighting module 323, for example, control and adjust the white light and the yellow light to 80% of the brightest status, and start the camera 322 to shoot. When the vending cabinet 1 is in a non-transaction state, the microcontroller 321 of the integrated shelf 32 passes the control of the lighting module 323 to the temperature control logic and the energy saving logic, and at this time, the control module 21 in the container control device 20 performs the above-mentioned temperature control or energy saving control according to the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 324 of the integrated shelf 32.

In another embodiment, the microcontroller 321 of the integrated layer 32 may also perform AI (Artificial Intelligence) image recognition on the picture taken by the camera 322, and when the recognized picture does not meet the picture quality requirement, the on/off or brightness of the white light/yellow light may be adjusted by the PWM signal to control and adjust the brightness and color temperature of the lighting module 323 to meet the picture quality requirement.

The vending cabinet 1 of one or more embodiments of this description can carry out corresponding light filling to the scene of picking up the picture of camera 322 according to the different changes of environment to can satisfy the high requirement of camera 322 to the feature extraction of article and color reduction, ensure the reducing nature of camera 322 picking up the picture, satisfy the requirement to light filling intensity and colour temperature etc. under various scenes, can furthest improve imaging quality.

The selling cabinet 1 of an embodiment of this description is a cabinet is sold to intelligence of the extensible of multi-module collaborative work, through the form of POE of class and utilize the technique of IoT (Internet of Things), all electronic control modules that will sell cabinet 1 are networked, can intercommunicate, mutual coordination work, wherein, packing cupboard controlling means 20, integration plywood 32 and supply man-machine interaction device 31 for selling the three leading modules of cabinet 1, sell cabinet 1 and can also expand more peripheral hardware functional modules according to the demand, each module can accomplish own work and accomplish the cooperation through network communication respectively according to the definition, thereby reach the intellectuality and the IoT ization of packing cupboard.

The selling cabinet 1 of one or more embodiments of the specification can work cooperatively through the modularized design, so that the cost can be reduced, the production efficiency can be improved, the expansion capacity of the container can be enhanced, and the problems of all parties can be solved.

As shown in fig. 2, the vending cabinet 1 further includes a door lock 11 disposed on the cabinet door, the door lock 11 is connected to a control module 21 in the cabinet control device 20, and the control module 21 can control the door lock 11 based on a door opening and closing instruction issued by the human-computer interaction device 31.

The merchandiser 1 also includes a door sensor 12 disposed on the door of the cabinet and/or the equipment compartment door. The equipment door is used to close the container control device 20 in the cabinet 10, mainly to facilitate the regular maintenance or repair of the container control device 20 by the operation and maintenance personnel. The door sensor 12 is connected to a control module 21 in the container control apparatus 20, and the control module 21 can detect the door state by the door sensor 12.

In one embodiment, the plurality of peripheral devices 30 may also include a network monitoring camera 33. The network monitoring camera 33 is mainly used for monitoring the operation site location state, and the network monitoring camera 33 can transmit the acquired information to the man-machine interaction module 31 through the network switch 22 to report the operation status.

In another embodiment, the plurality of peripheral devices 30 may also include an advertising screen 34 for advertising. The advertisement publicity screen 34 can play the advertisement based on the advertisement received by the human-computer interaction module 31 from the cloud and the advertisement playing instruction issued.

With continued reference to fig. 2, in another embodiment of the present description, the merchandiser 1 may include a plurality. The container control device 20 may be provided in one of the vending cabinets 1, and the container control device 20 may perform joint control of a plurality of vending cabinets 1 including the vending cabinet 1 in which it is located and other vending cabinets 1.

The vending cabinet 1 according to one embodiment of the present specification can combine a plurality of vending cabinets 1 in a place with dense staff and a place with a large demand for the types and the number of commodities, and can realize multi-cabinet control and management by using one set of cabinet control device 20, thereby greatly reducing the cost of multi-cabinet operation.

In an embodiment, when the vending cabinet 1 is jointly controlled by multiple cabinets, the human-computer interaction device 31 as one of the peripheral devices 30 may also be disposed on only one of the vending cabinets 1, and the vending cabinet 1 where the human-computer interaction device 31 is located and multiple vending cabinets 1 such as other vending cabinets 1 share the same human-computer interaction device 31, so that interaction between a user and multiple vending cabinets 1 and between multiple vending cabinets 1 and the cloud is realized through one human-computer interaction device 31, and the cost of the product can be further reduced.

The vending cabinet 1 according to one or more embodiments of the present specification, through modular processing, enables all the peripheral devices 30 to achieve preposition of processing capability, simplifies communication, removes a messy communication mechanism, and uses network communication for cooperation, so that a protocol is mature, and meanwhile, a fault reporting and heartbeat mechanism is used, which can ensure reliability and effectively monitor machine faults and improve operation efficiency.

The peripheral device 30 of the vending cabinet 1 in one or more embodiments of the present specification adopts a preposed processing capability, and has a self-diagnosis and recovery mechanism in addition to information processing and information acquisition, and a status reporting and heartbeat broadcasting mechanism through network communication, and once an abnormality occurs, such as a program running away, a microcontroller can complete a hard reset, thereby recovering operation and greatly improving reliability of machines and tools.

The vending cabinet 1 of one or more embodiments of the present specification uses network communication, is more suitable for long-distance communication than other interface communication, and can effectively resist interference, thereby ensuring reliability of communication; meanwhile, the module cooperative working mechanism is more controllable and ordered, and the cooperative work among the modules is guaranteed.

One embodiment of the specification also provides a control method of the vending cabinet. The vending cabinet comprises a container control device with a network switch and a plurality of power supply interfaces, and a plurality of peripheral devices with an electric control function, wherein the peripheral devices are respectively connected to the network switch and the power supply interfaces through network cables. Fig. 4 discloses a flow chart of a control method of a vending cabinet according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 4, the control method may include steps S11 through S14.

In step S11, power is supplied to the merchandiser.

In step S12, after power is supplied to the merchandiser, power to the plurality of peripheral devices is controlled.

In one embodiment, sequential and time-sequenced powering of peripheral devices may be controlled.

In step S13, after the plurality of peripheral devices are powered on, the plurality of peripheral devices are controlled to perform self-test, and then the hardware status may be reported through the embedded point. When the peripheral device finds a fault through self-detection, the peripheral device can report the fault state through the network switch, and when the preset fault state of the peripheral device is received, the peripheral device is controlled to restart through the power supply interface so as to be recovered.

In step S14, the heartbeat is reported through the network switch every predetermined time period. When the heartbeat mechanism of the peripheral device is abnormal, the peripheral device is controlled to restart through the power supply interface so as to be recovered.

The control method according to one or more embodiments of the present specification performs self-checking and reports heartbeat by controlling the peripheral device, so that fault location can be performed quickly.

In one embodiment, the plurality of peripheral devices may include a human interaction device for interacting with a user and a cloud. The control method according to an embodiment of the present specification may further include: and transmitting the relevant state information of the plurality of peripheral devices to the human-computer interaction device through the network switch. When the external device breaks down, the fault state is uploaded to the cloud end through the man-machine interaction device.

In one embodiment, the plurality of peripheral devices may include one or more integrated shelves disposed within the cabinet body for holding items within the cabinet body, each integrated shelf including a microcontroller and at least one of a camera, a lighting module, and a temperature sensor connected to the microcontroller. The lighting module may include two strips of light disposed on opposite sides of the integrated laminate. Each light strip includes a plurality of white lamps and a plurality of yellow lamps. The vending cabinet also includes a compressor disposed in the cabinet body. The control method according to an embodiment of the present specification may further include: based on the temperature data that the temperature sensor of the integration plywood received through the network switch sent, carry out corresponding control in order to carry out temperature control to the cabinet body to compressor and lighting module. Fig. 5 discloses a flow chart of a control method (i.e., a temperature control method) of a vending cabinet according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 5, the temperature control method of one embodiment of the present specification may include steps S21 to S23.

In step S21, it is determined whether cooling or heating is necessary in the cabinet based on the temperature data transmitted from the temperature sensor of the integrated floor received by the network switch. When it is determined that cooling is necessary in the cabinet, the process proceeds to step S22. When it is determined that heating is necessary in the cabinet, the process proceeds to step S23.

In step S22, when it is determined that cooling is required in the cabinet, the control unit turns on the compressor to perform cooling.

Optionally, when it is determined that cooling is required in the cabinet according to step S21, the temperature control method according to an embodiment of the present specification may further include step S24. In step S24, the integrated laminate can be further controlled to reduce the brightness of the lighting module and to reduce the power consumption of the internal electronic control.

In step S23, when it is determined that heating is required in the cabinet, the compressor is controlled to be turned off, and the integrated laminate is controlled to increase the brightness of the lighting module to perform heating.

The control method of the vending cabinet in one or more embodiments of the specification can realize accurate control of the temperature in the cabinet body.

The control method according to an embodiment of the present specification may further include: based on the current state of selling the cabinet, control camera and lighting module through microcontroller. Fig. 6 discloses a flow chart of a control method of a vending cabinet according to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 6, a method for controlling a vending cabinet according to still another embodiment of the present disclosure may include steps S31 to S33.

In step S31, it is determined whether the current status of the vending cabinet is a transaction status. When it is determined that the current state of the vending cabinet is the non-transaction state, the process proceeds to step S32. When it is determined that the current state of the vending cabinet is the transaction state, the process proceeds to step S33.

In step S32, if the current status of the vending cabinet is determined to be non-transaction status, the control right of the lighting module is handed to the temperature control logic and the energy saving logic.

In step S33, when the current status of the vending cabinet is determined to be the transaction status, the brightness of the lighting module is controlled and adjusted, and the camera is started to shoot. In one embodiment, the on, off, or brightness of the plurality of white lamps and the plurality of yellow lamps may be controlled based on the PWM signal to control the brightness and color temperature of the lighting module.

After step S33, the control method of one embodiment of the present specification may further include steps S34 to S36.

In step S34, AI image recognition is performed on the photograph taken by the camera by the microcontroller.

In step S35, it is determined whether the recognized photograph satisfies the picture quality requirement. The identified photo can be compared with an internally stored standard photo from dimensions such as brightness, color temperature and the like to judge whether the identified photo meets the quality requirement of the photo. When the recognized photograph does not satisfy the picture quality requirement, the process may proceed to step S36.

In step S36, when the recognized photo does not satisfy the picture quality requirement, the on, off or brightness of the white lamps and the yellow lamps can be controlled based on the PWM signal to control and adjust the brightness and color temperature of the lighting module, so as to achieve the picture quality requirement.

The control method of the vending cabinet in one or more embodiments of the specification can perform corresponding light supplement on the image-picking scene of the camera according to different changes of the environment, so that high requirements of the camera on feature extraction and color reduction of articles can be met, the reducibility of image picking of the camera is guaranteed, and the requirements on light supplement intensity, color temperature and the like in various scenes are met.

The control method according to an embodiment of the present specification may further include: and when receiving an operation instruction for the vending cabinet issued by the human-computer interaction module, controlling the vending cabinet to finish corresponding operation. For example, sell the cabinet including setting up the lock on the cabinet door, when receiving the instruction of opening the door or closing the door that human-computer interaction module issued, then can control the lock and unblank or block.

In an embodiment, the plurality of peripheral devices may further include a network monitoring camera for performing operation site location state monitoring, and the control method according to an embodiment of this specification may further include: and transmitting the information acquired by the network monitoring camera to the man-machine interaction module through the network switch so as to report the operation condition.

In one embodiment, the plurality of peripheral devices may further include an advertisement screen, and the control method of one embodiment of the present specification may further include: and when receiving an advertisement playing instruction sent by the man-machine interaction module, controlling the advertisement propaganda screen to play the advertisement.

In one embodiment, the vending cabinet includes a door sensor disposed on a cabinet door and/or an equipment compartment door, and the control method of one embodiment of the present specification may further include: the door state is detected by a door sensor.

In another embodiment, the merchandiser may include a plurality of merchandisers. The control method according to another embodiment of the present specification may further include: through setting up the packing cupboard controlling means who sells in the cabinet in a joint control many cabinets of coming, realize many cabinets control and management to can reduce the cost of many cabinets operation widely.

The foregoing description has been directed to specific embodiments of this disclosure. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions or steps recited in the claims may be performed in a different order than in the implementations and still achieve desirable results. In addition, the processes depicted in the accompanying figures do not necessarily require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. In some embodiments, multitasking and parallel processing may also be possible or may be advantageous.

The above description of the embodiments is only intended to help understand the core ideas of the present specification. It should be noted that, for those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and principle of the present specification, several improvements and modifications can be made to the present specification, and these improvements and modifications should fall within the protection scope of the claims set forth in the specification.

Claims

1. A merchandiser, comprising:

a container control apparatus, comprising:

a control module;

the network switch is in communication connection with the control module; and

the control module is used for controlling the plurality of power supply interfaces; and

and each peripheral device is connected to the network switch and the corresponding power supply interface through a network cable.

2. The merchandiser of claim 1, each of the peripheral devices including a microcontroller.

3. The merchandiser of claim 2, in which the microcontroller has a fault reporting mechanism, and in the event of a fault in the peripheral device, the microcontroller of the peripheral device performs a self-test and reports the fault status via the network switch.

4. The merchandiser of claim 3, the control module controlling the peripheral device to restart via the power interface upon receipt of a predetermined fault condition of the peripheral device.

5. The merchandiser of claim 2, in which the microcontroller has a heartbeat broadcast mechanism, the microcontroller reporting heartbeats to the control module via the network switch every predetermined time period.

6. The vending cabinet of claim 5, wherein the control module controls the peripheral device to restart via the power interface when an anomaly occurs in a heartbeat mechanism of the peripheral device.

7. The merchandiser of claim 3, said plurality of peripheral devices comprising:

a human-computer interaction device used for interacting with a user and a cloud,

when the peripheral device breaks down, the microcontroller of the peripheral device uploads the fault state to the cloud end through the human-computer interaction device.

8. The merchandiser of claim 1, the plurality of peripheral devices comprising:

one or more integration plywood sets up and is used for the bearing in the cabinet body the internal goods of cabinet, every the integration plywood include microcontroller and with at least one in camera, lighting module and the temperature sensor that microcontroller connects.

9. The merchandiser of claim 8, the microcontroller controlling the camera and the lighting module based on a current status of the merchandiser.

10. The merchandiser of claim 9, wherein the microcontroller is further configured to perform image recognition on the picture taken by the camera, and to control the adjustment of the brightness and color temperature of the lighting module to meet the picture quality requirement when the recognized picture does not meet the picture quality requirement.

11. The merchandiser of claim 8, further comprising:

a compressor disposed in the cabinet body,

the control module is connected with the compressor and used for controlling the compressor and the lighting module on the basis of the temperature detected by the temperature sensor.

12. The vending cabinet of claim 1, further comprising a door lock disposed on the cabinet door, wherein the plurality of peripheral devices include a human-computer interaction device for interacting with a user and a cloud, and the control module is connected to the door lock and configured to control the door lock based on a door opening and closing command issued by the human-computer interaction device.

13. The merchandiser of claim 1, further comprising a door sensor disposed on a door of the cabinet and/or on the equipment compartment door, the control module being coupled to the door sensor for detecting a door condition by the door sensor.

14. The vending cabinet of claim 1, wherein the plurality of peripheral devices further comprise a network monitoring camera for monitoring the status of the operation site and a human-computer interaction device for interacting with a user and a cloud, wherein the network monitoring camera is configured to transmit the acquired information to the human-computer interaction module through the network switch for reporting the operation status.

15. The vending cabinet of claim 1, wherein the plurality of peripheral devices further comprise an advertising screen for advertising and a human-computer interaction device for interacting with a user and a cloud, wherein the advertising screen plays advertisements based on advertisements received by the human-computer interaction module from the cloud and advertisement playing instructions issued by the human-computer interaction module.

16. The merchandiser of claim 1, comprising a plurality of merchandisers, wherein the container control apparatus is disposed in one of the merchandisers for joint control of the plurality of merchandisers.

17. The vending cabinet of claim 16, wherein the peripheral device comprises a human-computer interaction device for interacting with a user and a cloud, the human-computer interaction device being disposed on one of the vending cabinets, and the plurality of vending cabinets share the same human-computer interaction device.

18. A control method of a vending cabinet including a cabinet control device having a network switch and a plurality of power supply interfaces, and a plurality of peripheral devices having an electric control function connected to the network switch and the plurality of power supply interfaces through network cables, respectively, the control method comprising:

providing power to the merchandiser;

controlling power to the plurality of peripheral devices after the vending cabinet is powered; and

and after the plurality of peripheral devices are powered on, controlling the plurality of peripheral devices to perform self-checking, and reporting the heartbeat through the network switch every preset time.

19. The control method according to claim 18, further comprising:

when the peripheral device fails, the peripheral device reports a failure state through the network switch, and when a preset failure state of the peripheral device is received, the peripheral device is controlled to restart through the power supply interface; or,

and when the heartbeat mechanism of the peripheral device is abnormal, controlling the peripheral device to restart through the power supply interface.

20. The control method of claim 18, the plurality of peripheral devices comprising human interaction devices for interacting with a user and a cloud, the control method further comprising:

and transmitting the relevant state information of the plurality of peripheral devices to the human-computer interaction device through the network switch.

21. The control method according to claim 20, further comprising:

and when the peripheral device fails, uploading the fault state to a cloud end through the human-computer interaction device.

22. The control method of claim 20, the plurality of peripheral devices comprising one or more integrated shelves disposed within the cabinet body for holding items within the cabinet body, each integrated shelf comprising a microcontroller and at least one of a camera, a lighting module, and a temperature sensor coupled to the microcontroller, the control method further comprising:

controlling, by the microcontroller, the camera and the lighting module based on a current state of the merchandiser.

23. The control method according to claim 22, further comprising:

carrying out image recognition on the pictures shot by the camera through the microcontroller; and

and when the identified photo does not meet the picture quality requirement, controlling and adjusting the brightness and the color temperature of the illumination module through the microcontroller.

24. The control method of claim 22, the merchandiser further comprising a compressor disposed in the cabinet, the control method further comprising:

and correspondingly controlling the compressor and the lighting module based on the temperature data sent by the temperature sensor of the integrated laminate received by the network switch.

25. The control method according to claim 20, further comprising:

and when receiving an operation instruction of the vending cabinet issued by the human-computer interaction module, controlling the vending cabinet to finish corresponding operation.

26. The control method of claim 25, the merchandiser including a door lock disposed on a door of the merchandiser, the control method further comprising:

and when receiving a door opening or closing instruction sent by the human-computer interaction module, controlling the door lock to unlock or lock.

27. The control method of claim 25, the plurality of peripheral devices further comprising a network monitoring camera for site location status monitoring, the control method further comprising:

and transmitting the information acquired by the network monitoring camera to the man-machine interaction module through the network switch so as to report the operation condition.

28. The control method of claim 25, the plurality of peripheral devices further comprising an advertising screen, the control method further comprising:

and when receiving an advertisement playing instruction sent by the human-computer interaction module, controlling the advertisement propaganda screen to play the advertisement.

29. The control method of claim 18, the merchandiser including a door sensor disposed on a door of the cabinet and/or an equipment door, the control method further comprising:

a door state is detected by the door sensor.

30. The control method of claim 18, the merchandiser comprising a plurality of vending machines, the control method further comprising:

jointly controlling the plurality of vending cabinets by a cabinet control device arranged in one vending cabinet.