JP2002092705A - Vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vending machine capable of simply judging that a user (commodity buyer) of the vending machine reaches the sale subject age of a commodity, easy to handle, and having excellent flexibility. SOLUTION: This vending machine sells a commodity such as cigarets or wines on which the safe subject age is limited. An authentication medal M for confirming a user age capable of being carried by the user reaching the sale subject age and inserted from the coin insertion port of the vending machine is used as an accessory of the vending machine. The vending machine is provided with a sale permission control means permitting the save of the commodity by detecting the insertion of the authentication medal M from the coin insertion port.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic vending machine having a simple structure suitable for selling only limited-age products, such as tobacco and alcoholic beverages, to users who meet the sales target age. About the machine.

[0002]

[Related Background Art] In vending machines that sell products of limited age for sale, such as tobacco and alcoholic beverages,
A major issue is how to prohibit the sale of those who have not reached the age of sale, for example, minors. Therefore, conventionally, the age of a user (a product purchaser) is confirmed using a driver's license or an IC card in which the age information of the user (a product purchaser) is described (recorded), and then the sale of the product is permitted. Ingenuity has been attempted.

[0003]

However, in order to read information (recording) such as age and date of birth from a driver's license or an IC card carried by a user, a large-scale device such as a scanner or a card reader is required. This is necessary, and the configuration of the vending machine is unavoidably complicated. Moreover, not all vending machine users own (have) a driver's license, an IC card, and the like. For this reason, there is a problem that versatility is poor.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as its object to easily determine that a user of a vending machine (a product purchaser) has reached a target age for selling a product. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vending machine excellent in versatility using age checking means which can be easily handled.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a vending machine according to the present invention is suitable for selling products such as tobacco and liquor whose sale target age is restricted, Using as an accessory of the vending machine an authentication medal for confirming the age of the user that can be carried by a user of the vending machine that satisfies the age for sale and that can be inserted through a coin slot of the vending machine, The vending machine is provided with sales permission control means for permitting the sale of the product by detecting insertion of the authentication medal from the coin insertion slot.

Incidentally, the authentication medal has a shape which can be clearly and easily distinguished from a plurality of types of coins inserted from the coin insertion slot as described in claim 2, and is forged to prevent counterfeiting. Given as coins. Further, in the vending machine, the authentication medal is paid out to a change return slot of the vending machine and returned to the user after the sales processing of the product or when the sales processing is stopped, as described in claim 3. Is done.

Preferably, the sales permission control means is incorporated in a vending machine and identifies coins or authentication medals inserted from the coin insertion slot, and classifies them according to their types. It is realized as detecting the insertion of the authentication medal from the classification result by the coin discriminating device.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, taking a vending machine for selling tobacco as an example. This vending machine for selling tobacco includes, for example, a vending machine main body 1 in which a plurality of types of products (tobacco) are sorted by brand and stored inside, as shown in FIG. A vending machine main body 1 is provided with a front door 2 provided so as to be openable. A product display section 3 for displaying a product sample S of a product to be sold is provided above the front door 2, and the product display section 3 has a product corresponding to each of the product samples S. A selection button 4 is provided. The product selection button 4 usually incorporates a display for displaying a sellable display or a sold-out display. At the center side of the front door 2, there is provided a money processing unit including a coin insertion slot 5, a bill insertion slot 6, a return lever 7, and the like. A payout port (outlet) 9 is provided.

The feature of this vending machine is that an authentication medal M which can be inserted from the coin insertion slot 5 is prepared as an accessory of the vending machine.
This authentication medal M is distributed in advance to the vending machine user (adult) who satisfies the tobacco sale age.
It has a shape that can be inserted through the coin slot 5 and has a shape that can be clearly and easily distinguished from a plurality of types of coins C that are circulated as normal currency, and is a coin-shaped one that has been subjected to counterfeiting prevention measures. .

More specifically, the authentication medal M is, for example,
500 yen coin C as shown in 2 (a) ₅₀₀Size equivalent to
With a 1-yen coin C in the center₁Smaller hole than
It consists of a perforated disk-shaped article provided. And FIG.
500g coin C shown in (g) respectively₅₀₀, 100 yen coin
C₁₀₀, 50 yen coin C₅₀, 10 yen coin C_Ten, 5 yen coin
C_Five, And one yen coin C₁And visual and tactile respectively
It is realized as something that can be clearly identified. In addition, this
Authentication medal M is the same as multiple types of coins (coins) C
False in the material and surface pattern (uneven pattern)
Fabrication prevention processing is performed.

The cash processing unit of the vending machine determines the type of the coin C and the authentication medal M inserted from the coin slot 5 by the coin discriminating unit 11, for example, as shown in FIG. 500 to be handled
Yen coins C ₅₀₀ , 100 yen coins C ₁₀₀ , 50 yen coins C ₅₀ , and 10 yen coins C ₁₀ are separated from certified medals M by type, and other input materials (unrecognizable coins C and false Coins, etc.).

By the way, other input materials rejected by the coin discriminating unit 11 (unrecognizable coins C, fake coins, etc.)
Is paid out to the change return port 8 as it is. The deposit amount calculation unit 13 obtains the inserted amount by counting the number of coins C identified and determined by the coin discriminating unit 11 for each type, and the inserted amount is displayed on a cash indicator (not shown). Is displayed. Although not shown here, the type and authenticity of the bill inserted from the bill insertion slot 6 are also determined, and the deposit information is given to the deposit calculator 13. In addition, coin C
The determination of the type of the authentication medal M is performed by measuring the diameter, thickness, and weight of the coin-shaped object inserted from the coin insertion slot 5, and further determining the presence or absence of holes, their materials, and surface patterns (irregular patterns). This is done by checking the features.

The controller 14 provided in the cash processing unit basically operates according to the amount of money deposited by the coin C and the bill inserted from the coin insertion slot 5 and / or the bill insertion slot 6 as described later. The merchandise (cigarette) is paid out by the selective operation of the merchandise selection button 4 and the depositing process is executed, and the change issuing process is executed as necessary. Specifically, the controller 14 performs the payment processing with the sales amount as sales as the goods are paid out, deducts the sales amount from the payment amount (payment processing), and when there is a change to be returned to the user, Is the change issuing unit 16
To pay out a required amount of change from the stocker 15 (change issuance processing). This change issuing process,
It is executed while monitoring the amount of change issued as change under the management of the deposit amount calculator 13.

Here, the characteristic functions of the controller 14 will be described. The controller 14 determines whether or not the above-mentioned coin discriminating section 11 has detected the authentication medal M, that is, the authentication medal M is inserted from the coin insertion slot 5. It monitors whether or not the authentication medal M has been inserted, and permits the sale of the product (cigarette) only when the insertion of the authentication medal M is detected. Specifically, the controller 14 selects and displays the above-described salable product only when a coin C and / or bill of an amount enabling sale of the product is inserted and the authentication medal M is inserted. The sale of goods from the vending machine is permitted. By the way, certification medal M
Will be returned promptly after confirmation of its input,
For example, it is of course possible to return the product after the delivery of the product is completed, or to perform the change simultaneously with the process of issuing change.

In the case where there is no insertion of the authentication medal M in spite of the input (payment) of the merchandise sales amount, the controller 14 issues a reset command without selecting and displaying a sellable product. By issuing all of the issued coins C (the amount of money received into the stocker 15) up to that time to the change return slot 8, the sales process is stopped. In other words, only when the authentication medal M is inserted. The controller 14 starts a product (cigarette) selling operation under a predetermined deposit amount.

The control for prohibiting the sale of the product and the process for selling the product in the controller 14 are executed in accordance with, for example, the processing procedure shown in FIG. To briefly explain this processing procedure, first, on condition that the return lever 7 is not operated [Step S1], it is determined whether or not a coin C or a bill is inserted [Step S2]. It is determined whether a medal M has been inserted [Step S
3]. When the coin C or the bill is inserted, the deposit amount is obtained under the type determination described above, and the deposited amount is sequentially accumulated to calculate the deposited amount [Step S4]. It is determined whether or not the sellable amount has been reached (step S5). And if the deposit amount does not reach the minimum product available amount,
It returns to the procedure from step S1, and waits for additional insertion of coin C or a bill.

On the other hand, when the deposit amount has reached a predetermined commodity sale amount, a flag F described later is set to [1].
It is determined whether or not the authentication medal M is inserted by determining whether or not the authentication medal M is set [Step S6]. If the flag F is [0], a message prompting the user to insert the authentication medal M is output [Step S7], and the process returns to the procedure from Step S1 to wait for the insertion of the authentication medal M.

The message for prompting the user to insert the authentication medal M is output, for example, by using a display (not shown) incorporated in the vending machine 1 (front door 2). Please. And the like, and a voice message to that effect is output.
On the other hand, when the article inserted from the coin insertion slot 5 is the authentication medal M [Step S3], the flag F for identifying that the authentication medal M has been inserted is set to [1] [Step S8]. . After that, the authentication medal M is returned to the change return port 8
And returns the same [Step S9], and returns to the procedure from Step S1 described above to wait for additional insertion of coin C or bill.

Incidentally, if the article inserted from the coin insertion slot 5 is not the coin C [Step S2], and if it is not the authentication medal M [Step S3], it is determined that the foreign object has been inserted, and After removing the foreign matter [Step S10,
S11], and returns to the procedure from step S1 to wait for the additional insertion of the coin C or the bill or the insertion of the authentication medal M. If the return lever 7 is operated in the course of such a depositing process and a process of confirming the insertion of the authentication medal M [Step S1], it is determined that an instruction to stop (cancel) the purchase of the product is given at that time. Then, in this case, as will be described later, the coin C and the authentication medal M that have been inserted so far are returned [Step S12], and the flag F is reset to [0] [Step S1].
3], the merchandise sales processing ends.

In the payment processing described above, a predetermined payment amount is confirmed [step S5]. If the setting of the flag F is confirmed [step S6], it is determined that the sale of the product is permitted. Then, the merchandise which can be sold under the above-mentioned deposit amount is selectively displayed [Step S14], and a predetermined merchandise sales process is executed. The output of the message prompting the user to insert the authentication medal M is repeatedly performed for a predetermined time while waiting for the insertion of the authentication medal M from the coin insertion slot 5 (step S16). Then, if the authentication medal M is inserted in this state, when the insertion of the authentication medal M is confirmed and the flag F is set to [1] [Step S7], the deposit amount has already reached the salable amount. Since the aforementioned flag G is set to [1] [Step S8], the merchandise that can be sold under the deposit amount is selected and displayed [Step S14], and a predetermined merchandise sales process is executed.

In this state, the above-mentioned selective operation of the product selection button 4 is detected, and the payout of the product (cigarette) associated with the product selection button 4 is executed [step S15]. This merchandise payout process is repeatedly executed until the deposit balance required for the merchandise payout falls below the merchandise available amount. However, if the above-described operation of the return lever 7 is performed during this time, the commodities payout processing is forcibly terminated, although not particularly shown. If a new deposit is made before the deposit balance falls below the amount that can be sold, the deposit balance is updated in accordance with the deposit amount, and the sale of commodities is repeatedly executed within the range of the deposit balance.

After the commodity is paid out, it is determined whether a predetermined time has elapsed (step S16). If the coin C is not reinserted or the product selection button is not operated during this fixed time, this state is determined to be the end of the product purchase. In this case, it is determined whether or not the deposit balance at that time is zero [0] [Step S1].
7] If there is a balance, the change issuing process described above is executed [Step S18]. After executing the change issuing process as necessary, the above-described flag F is reset to [0] [Step S13], and the above-described series of product (cigarette) selling processes is terminated. As a result, the sale of the product is prohibited until the authentication medal M is inserted again.

As described above, according to the vending machine 1 configured to detect the insertion of the authentication medal M and permit the sale of the product (cigarette) only when the authentication medal M is inserted, as described above. The sales control can be executed very simply and effectively. In particular, it is only necessary to issue an authentication medal M in advance to an adult user who wants to purchase a product (cigarette), and the authentication medal M is used to enable the coin C identification determination function (coin determination unit 11). Since the determination can be made by utilizing the vending machine 1, the configuration of the vending machine 1 does not become complicated.

In addition, the authentication medal M can be easily visually and tactilely distinguished from a normally distributed currency as described above, and can be mixed with the coin C in a purse (coin purse). Even if it is done, it can be easily identified, and there is an advantage that there is no risk of confusion in handling. Further, since the authentication medal M can be inserted from the coin insertion slot 5 provided in the vending machine 1, it is not necessary to structurally modify the money processing unit including the coin insertion slot 5. Since the type determination function can be dealt with simply by modifying the software, it is easy to incorporate the above-described sales prohibition control function into an existing vending machine.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the present invention can be similarly applied to a vending machine that sells products such as alcoholic beverages whose sale target age is restricted. The processing form of the sales control is also described in FIG.
The processing procedure is not limited to the above. If, for example, the insertion of the authentication medal M is obligatory first, the processing procedure can be greatly simplified.

In this case, the controller 14 may execute the sales control according to the processing procedure shown in FIG. 5, for example. Specifically, first, an instruction to insert the authentication medal M is issued [Step S21], and after the insertion of the authentication medal M is detected, the authentication medal M is returned [Steps S22, S23]. The selling process of the product is executed in the same manner as the illustrated processing procedure. At this time, if something other than the authentication medal M is inserted, the coin C
May be discharged (returned), including all [Steps S24 and S25].

As described above, if it is necessary to execute the merchandise sales processing after detecting the insertion of the authentication medal M, it is not necessary to manage whether or not the authentication medal M is inserted using the flag F described above. , The sales procedure can be easily executed. Further, there is an advantage that the sales process can be executed by using the existing sales control procedure in the controller 14 as it is.

Although an example in which goods are sold using Japanese currency has been described here, it is sufficient to set the authentication medal M according to the type of currency in each country where the vending machine is installed. . In addition, the present invention can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the gist thereof.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, a user of a vending machine which satisfies the age to be sold is carried by a user of the vending machine and can be inserted through a coin slot of the vending machine. Since the authentication medal is used as an accessory of the vending machine and the sale of the product is permitted only when the insertion of the authentication medal from the coin slot is detected, the sale of the product is simplified and effectively restricted. be able to.

In addition, since the authentication medal has a high degree of discrimination with coins and is easy to handle, there is an effect that a great burden is not imposed on the use of the vending machine.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic external configuration diagram of a vending machine to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an authentication medal M as an accessory of the vending machine according to one embodiment of the present invention, in comparison with features of a normal currency (coin).

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a money processing unit of the vending machine according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view showing an example of a processing procedure in a controller in the money processing section shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a view showing an example of a processing procedure in a controller in the money processing unit shown in FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vending machine 2 Front door 5 Coin slot 8 Change return part 11 Coin discrimination part 13 Deposit amount calculation part 12 Buffer 13 Stocker (safe) 14 Controller 16 Change issue part M Authentication medal C coin

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A vending machine for selling goods whose sale target age is restricted, wherein a user of the vending machine satisfying the sale target age carries the coin insertion slot of the vending machine. An authentication medal for confirming the age of the user, which can be inserted from the coin vending machine, as an accessory of the vending machine, and a sales permission control for detecting the insertion of the authentication medal from the coin insertion slot and permitting the sale of the product. A vending machine characterized by comprising means. 2. The coin according to claim 1, wherein the authentication medal has a shape that can be clearly distinguished from a plurality of types of coins inserted from the coin insertion slot, and is a coin-shaped one for which countermeasures are taken. The vending machine described. 3. The authentication medal is, after a product sale process,
2. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the vending machine is paid out to a change return port of the vending machine and returned to a user when the vending machine is stopped. 4. The sales permission control means detects insertion of the authentication medal from a classification result by a coin discriminating device for identifying coins or authentication medals inserted from the coin insertion slot and classifying the coins according to their types. Claim 1
Vending machine described in.