EP0069796A1 - Verkaufsautomat - Google Patents

Verkaufsautomat Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0069796A1
EP0069796A1 EP81105514A EP81105514A EP0069796A1 EP 0069796 A1 EP0069796 A1 EP 0069796A1 EP 81105514 A EP81105514 A EP 81105514A EP 81105514 A EP81105514 A EP 81105514A EP 0069796 A1 EP0069796 A1 EP 0069796A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
microcomputer
materials
commodity
control
durations
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP81105514A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
Kikuo Kawasaki
Tomomi Sano
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Fuji Electric Co Ltd
Original Assignee
Fuji Electric Co Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Fuji Electric Co Ltd filed Critical Fuji Electric Co Ltd
Priority to EP81105514A priority Critical patent/EP0069796A1/de
Publication of EP0069796A1 publication Critical patent/EP0069796A1/de
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
    • G07F13/00—Coin-freed apparatus for controlling dispensing or fluids, semiliquids or granular material from reservoirs
    • G07F13/06—Coin-freed apparatus for controlling dispensing or fluids, semiliquids or granular material from reservoirs with selective dispensing of different fluids or materials or mixtures thereof
    • G07F13/065—Coin-freed apparatus for controlling dispensing or fluids, semiliquids or granular material from reservoirs with selective dispensing of different fluids or materials or mixtures thereof for drink preparation

Definitions

  • This invention relates to an automatic vending machine with a microcomputer used as a control for serving plural kinds of commodities prepared from plural kinds of materials, and specifically relates to the provision of an economical system wherein a smaller amount of control input information to the microcomputer can suffice for preparation of materials for a variety of commodities.
  • the materials are carbonated water, plain cold water and sirup. They are mixed under certain conditions and served.
  • the conditions are, customarily, predetermined values of the carbonation rate and the Brix index.
  • the carbonation rate is the ratio in quantity between carbonated water and plain cold water to be mixed.
  • the Brix index is another ratio between the quantity of carbonated water plus plain cold water and the quantity of sirup to be mixed.
  • a microcomputer of the vending machine should serve for all such various functions.
  • a sequencer with a disc assembly is used for those control functions, wherein adjusting positions of discs in the sequencer serves to adjust the durations of feeding the materials.
  • a disc type sequencer cannot satisfy a requirement for the great variety of control and adjusting performances, while being of economical manufacture. So, an electronic control with a microcomputer is used generally for such a purpose, instead.
  • the control performance takes place mainly by adjusting the durations of operations such as operations of feeding materials. That is because directly detecting and controlling feed quantities of materials is expensive due to its requiring costly sensors and, in the case of the microcomputer, also a complicated control program, while duration control is rather easy and simple. Therefore, devices to supply the materials such as sirup, carbonated water and cold water should be provided with mechanisms to keep respective material feed quantities constant per unit period, and to have the ratios between those feed quantities per unit period adjustable by some mechanical means, in general. Such adjustment of feed quantities for a unit of vend, in the case of a microcomputer , may be done in a manner whereby on-off operations of external contacts supply control information, in response to which the microcomputer directly regulates the material feed durations.
  • That control even for serving a single kind of a commodity, when it is a beverage, often requires the material-feed durations to be variable, in order to change a serving quantity i.e. change the size of the cup of beverage, and to change an ice supply. So, to serve various kinds of beverages in various component ratios, the microcomputer must be supplied with a great many varieties of input signals, and it is necessary to change the settings of operating durations of various parts of control or computing equipment whenever the serving quantity for a cup or the component ratios are to be varied. Such requirements for the equipment and its operation result in increasing costs of manufacture and maintenance. That is the drawback of the usual technique.
  • the present invention is intended to eliminate the above drawback, and to provide an automatic vending ; machine with a microcomputer to control it, for serving plural kinds of commodities inclusive of beverages or the like prepared from plural kinds of materials, by: dispensing with operations of separately setting the respective material feed durations in order to set component ratios; but supplying the microcomputer with other kinds of control inputs such as the values of Brix index and carbonation rate that indicate the component ratios for the materials; thus minimizing the variety of microcomputer control inputs, to simplify the configuration of the input circuit supplying the control inputs, with a minimized manufacturing cost of the control system of the vending machine, with its adequate applicability to operations to change a serving quantity of a cup of beverage, and with minimized costs for maintenance of parts for setting of the control system or the like.
  • Such objects of the invention related to an automatic vending machine with a microcomputer to control it for serving plural kinds of commodities prepared from plural kinds of materials, are attained in that a value proportional to the quantity of the commodity to be served, component ratios between the plural materials to be fed, commands (if any) to change the quantity of the commodity to be served, and a signal representing the size of a cup or container to serve the commodity, are supplied as control inputs to the microcomputer, a list of numerical data is stored in the microcomputer, the microcomputer works out a set of values of necessary material-feed durations for a unit of vend according to the above supplied control inputs and the stored numerical data list, and a control of the vending machine performs to feed the plural materials for those worked-out respective durations and then a commodity is prepared from the fed materials and served.
  • the commands to change the quantity of the commodity to be served are, for example, those specifying whether the commodity should be served with or without ice.
  • a first duration T A is the duration of an operation to feed, for a unit of vend, a first material, which is carbonated water here.
  • a second duration T B is the duration for feeding a second material, which is plain cold water.
  • a third duration T C is the duration for feeding a third material, which is sirup.
  • the third duration T C has a length close to the sum of the lengths of the first and second durations T A and T B , but they are so arranged that the third duration T C begins later, by a certain interval T fl than the beginning of the first duration T A (more exactly, than the earlier of the respective beginnings of the two durations T A and T B ), and is ended earlier, by another certain interval T , than the end of the second duration T B (more exactly, than the later of the respective ends of the two durations T A and T B ).
  • Such arrangement in respect of duration is intended for good mixing of sirup with carbonated and cold water, in view of the physical property of sirup.
  • the lengths of the durations T A , T B and T C are worked out in the microcomputer, according to a certain process. (In the invention, the lengths of the durations T A , T B and T C themselves are not control inputs, but they are calculated in the microcomputer, which is supplied with smaller numbers of control inputs of other kinds.)
  • F ig. 2 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of such a duration calculating process of the invention.
  • the Brix index which gives the ratio between T C and T A plus T B here, may not be optional for customers buying the commodities, but the carbonation rate, which gives the ratio between T A and T B here, should be optional; other optional factors are several kinds of commodities, two kinds of cup sizes, and supply with or without ice.
  • the microcomputer is provided with a memory, in which a list of numerical data is stored beforehand.
  • the list indicates a variety of lengths of time LT corresponding to combinations of designative digital indexes DDI and cup sizes.
  • the designative digital indexes serve to communicate information indicating the kinds of commodities. If they are to be carried by signals of four bits in binary code, the number of such digital indexes should not be more than 16, and then they may be a set of indexes from No. 0 through No. 15, for example. Values of those lengths of time LT are used to give a duration consisting of the first and second material feed durations T and T B , as mentioned later. Such lenghts of time are naturally within a certain appropriate range. In most cases, accuracy to two decimal digits (e.g. : x.x sec.) is required for representation of such duration.
  • the stored data in the memory are of course changeable when required. Such data to be stored as to those lengths of time may be as follows, for example: Here, the number of varieties of cup sizes is two, which can be represented by signals of one bit in binary code.
  • signals to communicate such selection to the microcomputer can be of 3 bits in binary code, produced for example by three digital switches.
  • a memory region for storing data in respect of this rate is fairly small.
  • a customer when a customer has selected a commodity, by manipulating a certain mechanism of the vending machine, it produces a signal carrying one designative digital index DDI, which is supplied to the microcomputer. Also, the customer selects one of the two cup sizes, by manipulating another certain mechanism, which produces another signal to be supplied to the microcomputer. Then, the microcomputer reads out, from the memory, one of the time lenghts LT determined by the digital index DDI and the cup size. (Top to 3rd block in Fig. 2). The read-out value of the length of time LT represents a length comprising the sum of the first and second durations T and T necessary for serving the selected commodity. The customer further selects whether the commodity is to be served with or without ice (4th block in Fig.
  • the summed quantity of water i.e. the sum of carbonated water and plain cold water quantities to be supplied
  • the above read-out length of time LT is reduced by the proportion corresponding to that amount (5th block in Fig. 2).
  • this reduction is set as a predetermined length of time, i.e. it is provided that the quantity of ice supplied for a cup is a certain constant one. If no ice supply is required, the above read-out value of the length of time LT is passed to the successive steps, as it is.
  • the next step (6th block in Fig. 2) is reading out the selection of values of the carbonation rate (i.e.
  • T A and T B the ratio between T A and T B ).
  • T f and T are predetermined time intervals to be put before and after the duration T C in order to have good mixing of sirup, as mentioned.
  • Such calculations of the material-feed durations T A , T B and T C are such easy ones as can be surely performed by an ordinary microcomputer.
  • control inputs to the microcomputer consist of signals of 8 bits in total in binary code, except the signal to indicate the requirement for supply with or without ice (4 bits for communicating the designative digital index to represent the kinds of commodities; 1 bit for indicating cup sizes; and 3 bits for selection of carbonation ratio.)
  • the manufacturing cost of control equipment using a microcomputer is substantially dependent on the extent of complexity of the control input circuit to the microcomputer (rather than on the cost of the microcomputer itself). Therefore, it can be clearly found that the invention greatly contributes producing. economical equipment of the kind.
  • changing the value of the Brix index is to be done by varying the opening of a valve, so it is not part of the automatic functions of control by the microcomputer.
  • the value of the Brix index may vary a little with changes in the values of the sum of the durations T and T B , since the intervals T f and T g remain unvaried.
  • changing the condition of supply with or without ice can cause an appreciable change in the summed duration T A +T B , and therefore the Brix index.
  • the summed duration T A +T B is incomparably longer than the sum of those time intervals T f and Tg, so that the above variation in Brix index does not substantially affect the quality of the beverage to be served.
  • the variation therein is in practice allowable.
  • the carbonation rate than its 8 kinds (mentioned above) is required, it can be covered, in most cases, by using signals of 4 bits in binary code to communicate the selection, so that it does not mean so significant an increase in the microcomputer memory inputs nor its capacity.
  • values of those material-feed durations T A , T B and T c have to be set by some means outside of a microcomputer and then supplied to it as control inputs, and that accuracy to two decimal digits is also required for representing them.
  • Information of two decimal digits (such as x.x sec) requires 8 bits in binary code.
  • the number of bits required is trebled.
  • the options of cup sizes and supply with or without ice are to be communicated as control inputs to the microcomputer.
  • Such a large number of signals in the microcomputer input circuit results in a very large number of input signal setting elements, causing the equipment to be very expensive.
  • the invention requires only 9 bits of input signals (inclusive of the signal for communicating whether to serve with or without ice) as above mentioned. That is a remarkable improvement.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Beverage Vending Machines With Cups, And Gas Or Electricity Vending Machines (AREA)
EP81105514A 1981-07-14 1981-07-14 Verkaufsautomat Withdrawn EP0069796A1 (de)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP81105514A EP0069796A1 (de) 1981-07-14 1981-07-14 Verkaufsautomat

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP81105514A EP0069796A1 (de) 1981-07-14 1981-07-14 Verkaufsautomat

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0069796A1 true EP0069796A1 (de) 1983-01-19

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ID=8187821

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP81105514A Withdrawn EP0069796A1 (de) 1981-07-14 1981-07-14 Verkaufsautomat

Country Status (1)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0069796A1 (de)

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4011967A (en) * 1975-07-21 1977-03-15 The Vendo Company Electronic system device for control of ingredient dispensing in a cup beverage vendor
GB2028539A (en) * 1978-07-28 1980-03-05 Amf Inc Sequence controller with microprocessor
US4265371A (en) * 1978-10-06 1981-05-05 Trafalgar Industries Inc. Foodstuff vending apparatus employing improved solid-state type control apparatus
GB2063515A (en) * 1979-10-16 1981-06-03 Nippon Coinco Co Ltd A control device for a vending machine

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4011967A (en) * 1975-07-21 1977-03-15 The Vendo Company Electronic system device for control of ingredient dispensing in a cup beverage vendor
GB2028539A (en) * 1978-07-28 1980-03-05 Amf Inc Sequence controller with microprocessor
US4265371A (en) * 1978-10-06 1981-05-05 Trafalgar Industries Inc. Foodstuff vending apparatus employing improved solid-state type control apparatus
GB2063515A (en) * 1979-10-16 1981-06-03 Nippon Coinco Co Ltd A control device for a vending machine

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PUAI Public reference made under article 153(3) epc to a published international application that has entered the european phase

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Effective date: 19810829

AK Designated contracting states

Designated state(s): DE FR GB IT

STAA Information on the status of an ep patent application or granted ep patent

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18D Application deemed to be withdrawn

Effective date: 19850806

RIN1 Information on inventor provided before grant (corrected)

Inventor name: KAWASAKI, KIKUO

Inventor name: SANO, TOMOMI