JP2003058939A - Controller for automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a controller for an automatic vending machine capable of performing network communication by using the same basic control function and a communication control means irrespective of presence/absence of expanded functions. SOLUTION: The controller for the automatic vending machine is provided with a basic module that performs basic control of the automatic vending machine 100. The basic module 120 is provided with a basic control part 123 that performs the network communication with a management center 200 and a communication requesting part 124 that outputs a prescribed connection request to a connection interface 121. The basic control part 123 judges a type of external equipment as for the basic module 120 based on the contents of connection response to the connection interface 121 of the connection request.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for controlling various vending machines, and particularly to a configuration for performing network communication with a predetermined communication destination such as a management center. And a control device for a vending machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in exchange for the input of money,
A vending machine that delivers various products such as beverages and cigarettes has been proposed. This vending machine is widely used in various places because of its high sales efficiency with respect to its installation area, labor saving, and high profitability. At present, a wide variety of vending machines have been developed, and various measures have been taken to add value to sales services and further increase profitability.

Here, in order to increase the reliability and profitability of the vending machine, it is preferable to be able to quickly monitor the sales situation of the vending machine. For such a purpose, an automatic vending machine capable of performing network communication with a management center has recently been proposed. In such a vending machine, various data of the vending machine are transmitted to the management center via the network and are centrally managed in this management center.

FIG. 6 shows a main structure of a system including such a conventional vending machine. As shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of automatic vending machines 500 are provided.
00 is communicably connected to a management center 600 that manages 00 via a public line network 700.

Here, each vending machine 500 comprises a basic module 510 for controlling the vending machine 500, and a modem 520 for controlling communication between the basic module 510 and the public line network 700. Was configured.
Of these, the basic module 510 is a connection interface 511 with the modem 520, and P for performing PPP communication control.
Basic control unit 51 configured by an application that executes various controls of PP 512 and vending machine 500
3 and the connection control unit 514 that controls the connection between the vending machine 500 and the management center 600. Further, the management center 600 includes a line 610 as a communication line, a PPP 620 that performs PPP communication control,
In addition, the management center 600 is provided with a management control unit 630 that performs various controls of the management center 600.

In such a configuration, when the basic control unit 513 of the basic module 510 communicates with the management control unit 630 of the management center 600, the following communication processing is performed. That is, roughly, as shown in FIG. 7, when the basic control unit 513 makes a connection request to the connection control unit 514, the connection control unit 514 causes the PPP 512 to be connected.
And the modem 52 via the connection interface 511.
0 control is started. Then, the modem 520 establishes a connection with the line 610 and the PPP 620 via the public line network 700. After the connection is established in this way, as shown in FIG.
12, PPP communication is performed with the management control unit 630 via the line 610 of the management center 600, the PPP 620, and the connection interface 511, the modem 520, the public line network 700.

The process for establishing such a conventional connection will be described in more detail. As shown in the sequence diagram of FIG.
First, the basic control unit 513 makes a connection request to the connection control unit 514 (step SC-1). Upon receiving this connection request, the connection control unit 514 makes a connection request to the PPP 512 (step SC-2), and the PPP 512 transmits an AT command to the modem 520 via the connection interface 511 (step SC-3). Upon receiving this, the modem 520 changes the public line network 700 and the management center 6
After establishing connection with the PPP 620 via the line 610 of 00 (steps SC-4 to SC-5), CONNECT to the PPP 512 via the connection interface 511.
A response is given (step SC-6).

After the connection is established in this way, the PPP
Reference numeral 512 denotes a connection interface 511 and a modem 52.
0, the public line network 700, and the P via the line 610.
Send Configure Request to PP620 (Step SC
-7) By receiving ConfigureAck from this PPP 620 (step SC-8), a data link in PPP communication is established. After that, the PPP 512 transmits a connection response to the connection control unit 514 (step SC-
9), the connection control unit 514 which receives this, the basic control unit 5
A connection response is transmitted to 13 (step SC-10). After that, the basic control unit 513 causes the management control unit 63 to
PPP communication with 0 is performed.

In recent years, there has been a demand for expanding the function of the vending machine in order to further enhance the reliability and profitability of the vending machine. For example, there is a demand to switch the product price according to the sales situation of the product, the time zone, or the like, or to switch the cold storage temperature of the product according to the season, the outside air temperature, or the like. Therefore, as one means for responding to this demand, it is considered to provide an expansion module inside the vending machine, separately from the basic module, for controlling the expansion part.
Then, this expansion module communicates with the management center as needed to perform the expansion control of the vending machine.

[0010]

However, in the case where the expansion module is provided in addition to the basic module as described above, when the basic module and the expansion module need to communicate with the management center, respectively. Had various problems.

(1) First, in the case where the basic module and the management center are simply allowed to communicate with each other, and further the extension module and the management center are allowed to communicate with each other, communication control means such as a modem is provided for each of these communication systems. Are required, which is not preferable in terms of cost and the like.

(2) Here, in order to solve such a problem, conceptually, an expansion module is arranged between the basic module and the modem, communication between the expansion module and the management center, and the basic module. It is conceivable that the communication with the management center is performed via a common modem. However, when such a configuration is adopted, unlike the conventional case, it is the extension module that directly communicates with the basic module, not the modem, so the description content of the application that controls the communication of the basic module is changed. There is a problem in that it takes time to configure the system because of the necessity.

(3) When it is necessary to manufacture both a normal vending machine without an expansion module and an automatic vending machine with an expansion module as described above, the basic module of the former vending machine is used. Installs an application written to communicate with a modem, and installs an application written to communicate directly with an expansion module in the latter basic module of a vending machine. It is necessary to prepare different basic modules depending on the presence or absence of extension modules,
There was a problem such as an increase in manufacturing costs and management costs of vending machines.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is a control device for a vending machine which can perform network communication using the same basic control function and communication control means regardless of the presence or absence of the extended function. Is intended to provide.

[0015]

In order to achieve such an object, the control device for a vending machine according to claim 1 is a control device for controlling the vending machine. The basic module includes a basic module that performs basic control, and the basic module performs basic network communication with a predetermined communication destination, and when the basic control means performs the network communication, a request of the basic control means is made. Communication request means for outputting a predetermined connection request to a predetermined connection interface, and the basic control means is based on the content of the connection response input from the external device to the connection interface in response to the connection request. Then, the type of the external device for the basic module is determined.

According to this device, the type of the external device for the basic module is determined based on the content of the connection response to the connection request. Therefore, in the basic module, the external device for the basic module can be determined, and the communication processing according to the external device can be automatically performed. Therefore, it is not necessary to prepare a different basic module for each external device, and the basic module can be shared.

The control device for a vending machine according to claim 2 is the control device for a vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the basic control means does not input a connection response to the connection interface. It is determined that the external device is not connected to the basic module.

According to this device, when no connection response is input to the connection interface, it is determined that the external device is not connected to the basic module. Therefore, even when neither the expansion module nor the communication control means such as the modem is connected to the basic module, it is possible to determine the external device for the basic module in this state. It is possible to automatically perform communication processing according to the external device.

The control device for a vending machine according to a third aspect is the control device for a vending machine according to the first or second aspect, further comprising communication control means for performing communication control when performing the network communication. , For performing expansion control of the vending machine, comprising an extension module that relays communication between the basic module and the predetermined communication destination, and the extension module is output from the communication requesting means. And a second communication requesting means for outputting a predetermined connection response to the communication requesting means based on the connection request, and the communication control means based on the request from the second communication requesting means. Connection control means for establishing a connection to the predetermined communication destination, and after the connection is established by the connection control means,
A relay means for relaying communication data between the basic module and the predetermined communication destination via the communication control means is provided.

According to this device, the connection is established with respect to the predetermined communication destination based on the connection request from the communication requesting means of the basic module, and the communication data between the basic module and the predetermined communication destination is controlled. Relayed through the means. Therefore, even when the expansion module is provided, the communication data is relayed through the common communication control means such as the modem, so that the communication control means such as the modem can be shared.

Further, the vending machine controller according to claim 4 is the vending machine controller according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the relay means of the expansion module is the basic device. A relay communication means for terminating and receiving communication data transmitted from any one of the module or the predetermined communication destination and transmitting the communication data to the other; and relay control means for controlling the relay communication means. Characterize.

According to this apparatus, the communication data transmitted from one of the basic module and the predetermined communication destination is terminally received and transmitted to the other. Therefore, for example, even when the extension module is arranged between the basic module and the communication control means such as the modem, the basic module transmits the communication data addressed to a predetermined communication destination to Is temporarily terminated by the expansion module and then sent to a predetermined communication destination, the communication configuration of the basic module can be made common regardless of the presence or absence of the expansion module, and the manufacturing cost and management cost of the vending machine can be reduced. Can be reduced.

[0023]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a control device for an automatic vending machine according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

First, an overall outline of the vending machine and its control device according to the present embodiment will be described, and then,
The details of the configuration and processing will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a main configuration of an automatic vending machine system using the automatic vending machine according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, a plurality of vending machines 100 are communicably connected to a management center 200 via a radio base station and a public line network 300 (not shown), and are sold by each vending machine 100. The management of the merchandise and the maintenance of each vending machine 100 can be performed integrally and remotely at the management center 200.

That is, in this system, various requests issued from the management center 200, such as a request to change the setting of the product price and a request to change the setting of the cold storage temperature of the product,
It is transmitted to the vending machine 100 via the public line network 300 and executed by the vending machine 100. Information issued from the vending machine 100, for example, the remaining amount of the product, the amount of money paid, the change balance, failure detection information of the vending machine 100, and the like are managed by the management center 2 via the public network 300.
00, and is recorded and the like in this management center 200. By performing such transmission and reception, it is possible to grasp the operation state of the vending machine 100 at the management center 200 and change the operation content of the vending machine 100 from the management center 200. The vending machine 100 can be managed in an integrated and remote manner.

One of the basic features of the present invention in such a system will be outlined. First, each vending machine 100 includes a basic module 120 that controls basic functions of the vending machine 100, and a vending machine 1 as described later.
There are two control means of the extension module 110 for controlling the extension functions of 00.

Here, the specific range of each of the basic function and the extended function is arbitrary, but conceptually, it is common to each vending machine 100 and can be changed by the user of each vending machine 100. A function that does not need to be added can be used as a basic function, and a function that needs or needs to be changed or added by the user, such as the above-described change in product price or temperature change, can be an extended function. Thus, the vending machine 1 according to the present embodiment
00 achieves the control function by the two-CPU configuration of the basic module 120 and the extension module 110, and assigns the control function to each CPU so that the user can change the extension function without affecting the basic function. It is possible to satisfy the individual request of the user while maintaining the reliability of the vending machine 100.

In particular, in this embodiment, the Java execution environment is built inside the extension module 110. That is, inside the extension module 110, in addition to the basic OS (Operating System), JavaVM (Java Vi
rtual Machine) is being executed, and various kinds of application software developed by a maker or a user of the vending machine 100 in an arbitrary development environment such as a PC (Personal Computer) and described in the Java language are added to the extension module 110.
It can be installed on the Java VM and executed on the Java VM.
This makes it possible to easily execute the application software without considering the differences in the hardware configurations of the vending machines 100, the peculiarities of the development environment, etc., and facilitate the development and deployment of this software. I am trying to

In this embodiment, when the basic module 120 communicates with the management center 200, the basic module 120 communicates with the expansion module 110 and a modem to be described later. Here, the basic module 120 can perform communication with substantially the same configuration when the extension module 110 is provided as shown in the present embodiment and when the extension module 110 is not provided as in the conventional case. Is configured. In addition to the above, the present invention has a plurality of features, the contents of which will be sequentially described below.

(Contents of configuration-vending machine 100) Next,
The contents of the configuration of the vending machine 100 will be described. Figure 1
As shown in FIG. 3, the vending machine 100 is configured to include the above-described basic module 120, expansion module 110, and modem 130. The basic module 120 and the expansion module 110 form the “control device for the vending machine” in each claim of the claims.

Of these, the basic module 120 is a basic function control means for controlling the basic functions of the vending machine 100, and comprises a connection interface 121, a PPP 122, a basic control section 123, and a communication request section 124. ing.

Of these, the connection interface 121
Is an interface for connecting to the expansion module 110 (the modem 130 when the expansion module 110 is not present), and can be configured by, for example, RS232c. In addition, the PPP 122 uses the expansion module 110.
(Modem 130 when there is no expansion module 110)
And PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol)
Is a communication control means for performing data communication according to the above. In addition,
In the present embodiment, the protocol of the network layer is IP (Internet Protocol), and the protocol of the transport layer is TCP (Transmission Control Protocol).
l) is used.

The basic control section 123 is a basic control means for controlling each section of the basic module 120 in order to realize the basic control function, and for performing network communication with the management center 200 as necessary. is there.
The basic control unit 123 is configured, for example, by interpreting and executing a basic application stored in a storage unit (not shown) by a CPU (not shown). The communication requesting unit 124 is a communication requesting unit that outputs a connection request to the connection interface 121 based on a request from the basic control unit 123 when the basic control unit 123 performs network communication.

The expansion module 110 is an expansion control means for controlling the expansion functions of the vending machine 100 excluding the above-mentioned basic functions and relaying the communication between the basic module 120 and the management center 200. is there. This expansion module 110 is functionally conceptually composed of a connection interface 111, a PPP 112, a communication request unit 113,
Relay control unit 114, expansion control unit 115, connection control unit 11
6, PPP 117, and connection interface 11
It is configured with 8.

Of these, the connection interface 111
Is an interface for connecting to the basic module 120, and can be configured by, for example, RS232c. Further, the PPP 112 is a basic module 120.
It is a communication control means for performing PPP transfer with the PPP 122. The communication requesting unit 113 is a second communication requesting unit that outputs a predetermined connection response to the communication main part 124 based on the connection request output from the communication main part 124 of the basic module 120.

Further, the relay control section 114 uses the PPP 11
It is a relay control means for performing the control of 2, 117. Further, the expansion control unit 115 is an expansion control means for performing the above-described various expansion controls. The extension control unit is configured, for example, by interpreting and executing an extension application stored in a storage unit (not shown) by a CPU (not shown).

Further, the connection control unit 116 has the communication request unit 1
It is a connection control means for establishing a connection to the management center 200 via the modem 130 based on a request from 13. Further, the PPP 117 is a communication control means for performing PPP communication with a PPP 220 of the management center 200, which will be described later. And the connection interface 1
Reference numeral 18 denotes an interface for connecting to the public line network 300, which can be configured by RS232c, for example.

In the above structure, the PPP 112,
Reference numeral 117 constitutes a relay communication means for terminating and receiving communication data transmitted from one of the basic module or the management center 200 and transmitting the communication data to the other. Further, the PPP 112 and 117 and the relay control unit 11
4 functions as a relay unit that relays communication data between the basic module and the management center 200 via the modem 130 after the connection is established by the connection control unit 116. In the storage area (not shown), the above-mentioned OS and JavaV are stored.
M and application software that substantially constitutes the extended control unit are stored.

Further, the modem 130 in FIG. 1 is a communication control means for performing communication control when performing network communication with the management center 200 via the public line network 300.

(Content of Configuration-Management Center 200) Next, the content of the configuration of the management center 200 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the management center 200 is connected to the line 2
10, the PPP 220, and the management control unit 230. Of these, the line 210 is an interface for connecting to the public line network 300. The PPP 220 is the PPP1 of the expansion module 110.
It is a communication control means for performing PPP communication with the communication device 17. Then, the management control unit 230 uses the management center 20.
It is a control means for controlling each unit of 0. The management control unit 230 is configured, for example, by interpreting and executing a management application stored in a storage unit (not shown) by a CPU (not shown). Public line network 3
Since the configuration of 00 is arbitrary, the description thereof will be omitted.

(Processing Content) Next, the content of the communication processing in the present embodiment will be described. 2 is a diagram conceptually showing a process for establishing a connection, FIG. 3 is a diagram conceptually showing a process at the time of communication after the connection is established, FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram until the connection is established, and FIG. 5 is a basic control. 9 is a flowchart of a connection establishment process performed by the unit 123.

(Contents of Process-Outline) First, this communication process will be schematically described. First, when the basic control unit 123 of the basic module 120 communicates with the management center 200, the basic control unit 123 makes a connection request to the communication requesting unit 124, as shown in FIG. Then, this communication request unit 1
When 24 makes a connection request to the communication request unit 113 of the expansion module 110, the connection between the expansion module 110 and the management center 200 is established under the control of the connection control unit 116. After that, as shown in FIG. 3, the basic control unit 123 of the basic module 120 and the management center 200
Management control unit 230 of the
P communication is performed.

(Details of Process-Details of Communication Start) Next, the communication process will be described in detail. First, when the basic control unit 123 of the basic module 120 communicates with the management center 200, the basic control unit 123 makes a connection request to the communication requesting unit 124 (step SA-1). Then, the communication requesting unit 124 makes a connection request to the communication requesting unit 113 of the expansion module 110 (step SA-2).

When the communication request unit 113 makes a connection request to the connection control unit 116 (step SA-3), the connection control unit 116 performs modem control for establishing a connection with the management center 200. To start. That is, the connection control unit 116 transmits the AT command to the modem 130 via the PPP 117 and the connection interface 118 (steps SA-4 and SA-5).

The modem 130 which has received this AT command
Through the public line network 300 and line 210
After establishing connection with 220 (step S
A-6, SA-7), and a CONNECT response to the PPP 117 via the connection interface 118 (step SA-8). The PPP 117 transmits a Configure Request to the PPP 220 via the connection interface 118, the modem 130, the public line network 300, and the line 210 (step SA-9), and the PPP 220 sends a Co request.
By receiving nfigureAck (step SA-1
0), establish data link.

After that, the PPP 117 is connected to the connection control unit 116.
To the communication request unit 113 (step SA-12). This communication request unit 1
13 transmits a connection response to the communication requesting unit 124 of the basic module 120 (step SA-13), and the communication requesting unit 124 further includes a predetermined character string (for example, “client”) with respect to the basic control unit 123. Then, the connection response is transmitted (step SA-14).

(Details of Process-External Device Discrimination Process by Basic Control Unit 123) Here, the vending machine 100 is configured to be expanded when the expansion module 110 is provided as an external device as in the present embodiment. Module 110
When the basic module 120 and the modem 130 as an external device are directly connected without providing the base module 120, and when the expansion module 110 and the modem 130 are not connected to the basic module 120, the basic module 120 is independent. When operating with, three types of can be assumed. Therefore, the basic control unit 123 of the basic module 120 of the present embodiment determines whether the external device for the basic module 120 is based on the presence or absence of the connection response transmitted from the communication requesting unit 124 in step SA-14 and the content thereof. Determine the presence or absence and its type.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the external device discrimination processing by the basic control unit 123. Basic control unit 12
In step SA-1 of FIG. 4, after making a connection request to the communication requesting unit 124, 3 monitors the occurrence of an event (presence or absence of a connection response from the communication requesting unit 124), and the presence or absence of this connection response or its Different operations are performed according to the contents (step SB-1).

That is, when the connection response from the communication request unit 124 is a predetermined character string, the basic control unit 123
It is determined that the expansion module 110 is connected to the basic module 120. This determination is based on the fact that if the device receiving the AT command is the expansion module 110, the connection response including the predetermined character string is returned in step SA-14 of FIG. 4 as described above. When making this determination, the basic control unit 123 starts a predetermined communication process when the expansion module 110 is connected (step SB-2). This process will be described later.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step SB-1 that the connection response is "OK", the basic control section 123 determines that the modem 130 is directly connected to the basic module 120. This determination is based on the fact that if the device receiving the AT command (step SA-5 in FIG. 4) is the modem 130, an OK response is made. If this determination is made, the basic control unit 123
Starts a predetermined communication process when the modem 130 is connected, as in the conventional case (step SB-3). That is, as in the conventional case, a predetermined program module for controlling the modem is activated. Since this process can be performed in the same manner as the conventional vending machine 100, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Further, the basic control section 123 has the communication request section 1
After making a connection request to 24, if no event occurs within a predetermined time in the monitoring state of step SB-1, the connection request to the communication requesting unit 124 is made again. Or later,
If there is no event occurrence, monitoring of this event occurrence,
When the connection request is repeated again and the connection request exceeds the predetermined number of retries (step SB-4),
The basic control unit 123 determines that neither the modem 130 nor the expansion module 110 is connected to the basic module 120. If this judgment is made, the basic control unit 1
23 performs a predetermined independent process (step SB-5).
Since this processing can be performed in the same manner as in the conventional vending machine, detailed description thereof will be omitted. This completes the external device determination processing by the basic control unit 123.

By performing such processing, the basic module 120 can determine the external device for the basic module 120, and the communication process according to the external device can be automatically performed. Therefore, it is not necessary to prepare a different basic module 120 for each external device, and the basic module 120 can be shared.

(Processing Content-Communication Processing Between Basic Control Unit 123 and Management Control Unit 230) Next, step S in FIG.
The contents of communication processing at the time of connecting the expansion module 110 performed in B-2 will be described. This communication process can be performed almost in the same manner as general PPP communication. Specifically, when the basic control unit 123 designates a predetermined IP address and port number and outputs communication data to the PPP 122, a PPP packet including this communication data will be PPP.
Generated at 122, this PPP packet is
Sent to 112. Then, under the control of the relay control unit 114, the PPP 112 terminates the transmitted PPP packet and sets the IP packet contained therein to the PPP 11
Transfer to 7. Then, the PPP 117 sends the transferred I
A PPP packet including the P packet is generated and transmitted to the PPP 220 of the management center 200. This P
The PP 220 acquires communication data from the transmitted PPP packet and transfers the communication data to the management control unit 230. The management control unit 230 to the basic control unit 123
The communication to is also performed in the reverse flow.

During such communication, the relay control section 114 of the expansion module 110 is operated by the basic module 120.
Alternatively, the communication disconnection of any one of the management centers 200 is monitored. Then, when the communication disconnection is detected, the communication on the opposite side to the communication disconnecting side is disconnected and the communication with the modem 130 is disconnected. This completes all communication processing.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the connection to the predetermined communication destination is established based on the connection request from the basic module 120.
Communication data between 20 and the management center 200 is relayed. Therefore, even when the extension module 110 is provided, the communication data is relayed through the modem 130, so that the modem 130 can be shared.

(Other Embodiments) The embodiments of the present invention have been described so far. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and has the technical idea described in the claims. It may be implemented in various different embodiments within the scope.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the vending machine 100 capable of communicating with the management center 200 has been described as an example, but a stand-alone vending machine without such a communication function can also be used. The present invention can be similarly applied. Further, in the above embodiment, the control unit has a two-CPU configuration of the basic module 120 and the expansion module 110, but it is possible to achieve all the control functions with one CPU.

In the above embodiment, the PPP
Although the packet and the like are once terminated and relayed by the extension module 110, the extension module 110 may be caused to function like a router and the PPP packet and the like may be simply passed to perform the relay.

Further, of the processes described in the embodiments, all or part of the processes described as being automatically performed can be manually performed, or
All or part of the processing described as being manually performed can be automatically performed by a known method. In addition, the processing procedure, control procedure, and
Information including parameters such as specific names, various types of registration data, and search conditions can be arbitrarily changed unless otherwise specified.

The components shown in the figures are functionally conceptual and do not necessarily have to be physically configured as shown. For example, all or some of the processing functions performed by the respective control units are controlled by the CPU (Centr).
al Processing Unit) and a program that is analyzed and executed by the CPU, or may be realized as hardware by a wired logic.

Further, in this case, the program is a data processing method described in an arbitrary language or a description method, and may take any form such as source code or binary code. Note that the program is not necessarily limited to a single configuration, but is configured to be distributed as a plurality of modules or libraries, or to achieve its function in cooperation with a separate program represented by an OS. Also includes.
Note that a specific configuration for reading the recording medium in each device shown in the embodiments, a reading procedure, or
Well-known configurations and procedures can be used for the installation procedure after reading. Alternatively, this program may be recorded in an application program server connected to the vending machine 100 via an arbitrary network, and all or part of the program may be downloaded to the vending machine 100 as needed. It is possible.

The computer-readable recording medium is a floppy (registered trademark) disk, magneto-optical disk, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, CD-RO.
Any "portable physical medium" such as M, MO, DVD,
ROM and RA built into various computer systems
Any "fixed physical medium" such as M or HD, or
A "communication medium" that holds the program in a short period of time is included, such as a communication line or a carrier wave when transmitting the program through a network typified by LAN, WAN, and the Internet.

Further, the vending machine 100 and the management center 2
The network connecting 00 with 00 is not limited to the public line network 300 described above, and any network can be used. For example, LA in a limited area
This system can be constructed using N, WAN or a personal computer communication network. In addition, various data can be transmitted / received using terrestrial waves, CATV, CS, BS, or a broadband network. That is, the network can include not only a wired network but also these wireless / communication networks.

[0064]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In the basic module, the external device for the basic module can be determined, and the communication processing according to the external device can be automatically performed. Therefore,
It is not necessary to prepare a different basic module for each external device, and the basic module can be shared.

Further, according to the present invention, even when neither the expansion module nor the communication control means such as the modem is connected to the basic module, this state is set in the basic module and an external device for the basic module is set. Can be determined, and communication processing according to the external device can be automatically performed.

Further, according to the present invention, even when the expansion module is provided, since the communication data is relayed through the common communication control means such as the modem, the communication control means such as the modem can be shared. Can be achieved.

Further, according to the present invention, even when the expansion module is arranged between the basic module and the communication control means such as the modem, the basic module transmits the communication data addressed to the predetermined communication destination. By doing so, this communication data is once terminated in the expansion module and is further transmitted to a predetermined communication destination, so that the communication configuration of the basic module can be made almost common regardless of the presence or absence of the expansion module, and the vending machine can be used. It is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost and management cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a main configuration of an automatic vending machine system using an automatic vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram conceptually showing a process of establishing a connection.

FIG. 3 is a diagram conceptually showing a process at the time of communication after establishing a connection.

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram until a connection is established.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a connection establishment process performed by a basic control unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a main configuration of a system including a conventional vending machine.

FIG. 7 is a diagram conceptually showing a conventional process of establishing a connection.

FIG. 8 is a diagram conceptually showing a conventional process at the time of communication after establishing a connection.

FIG. 9 is a conventional sequence diagram up to the establishment of a connection.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 vending machines 120 basic modules 121 connection interface 122 PPP 123 Basic control unit 124 Communication request unit 110 expansion module 111, 118 connection interface 112, 117 PPP 113 Communication request unit 114 Relay control unit 115 Extended control unit 116 Connection control unit 130 modem 200 Management Center 210 lines 220 PPP 230 Management control unit 300 public network

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A control device for controlling a vending machine, comprising a basic module for performing basic control of the vending machine, wherein the basic module performs basic network communication with a predetermined communication destination. The basic control means includes a control means and a communication request means that outputs a predetermined connection request to a predetermined connection interface based on a request of the basic control means when the basic control means performs the network communication. A controller for the vending machine, wherein the type of the external device for the basic module is determined based on the content of the connection response input from the external device to the connection interface in response to the connection request. 2. The basic control means determines that the external device is not connected to the basic module when no connection response is input to the connection interface. Vending machine control device described in. 3. Communication control means for performing communication control when performing the network communication, and extended control of the vending machine, the communication between the basic module and the predetermined communication destination. An extension module for relaying, wherein the extension module outputs a predetermined connection response to the communication requesting means on the basis of the connection request output from the communication requesting means, Connection control means for establishing a connection to the predetermined communication destination via the communication control means based on a request from the second communication request means, and after the connection is established by the connection control means, the basic module and the above 3. A vending machine according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: a relay unit that relays communication data with a predetermined communication destination via the communication control unit. Control device. 4. The relay means of the expansion module includes a relay communication means for terminating and receiving communication data transmitted from one of the basic module or the predetermined communication destination and transmitting the communication data to the other. The control device for a vending machine according to claim 1, further comprising: a relay control unit that controls the relay communication unit.