JP2003346229A - Vending machine with individual identification function - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vending machine with individual identification function capable of setting selling conditions for each of customers. <P>SOLUTION: This vending machine whereby propriety of selling and selling conditions can be set for each of the individuals is provided with storage means 12 and 22 for storing individual identification data for performing individual identification of the customer and the commodity capable of being sold to each of the customers in advance, a means 13 for reading identification data from a customer individual identification means and collating the identification data and the individual identification data stored in advance, and a means 24 for permitting purchase operation at completion of individual identification in a range of the commodities capable of being sold to the customer which is stored in advance. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine with a personal identification function based on fingerprint collation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional vending machine with a personal identification function for identifying a personal customer by fingerprint collation. In this figure, 1 is a coin mechanism, 2 is a bill burr, which processes inserted coins or bills and checks the amount. Reference numeral 3 denotes a display for digitally displaying the amount of money, reference numeral 4 denotes a selection button for selecting a product, and reference numeral 5 denotes a lever for returning money when the product is not purchased. Reference numeral 6 denotes a fingerprint detection device for detecting a customer's fingerprint, 7 denotes a fingerprint storage device for storing the detected fingerprint, 8 denotes an amount storage device for storing the amount of money entered or registered, 9 Is a control device that is connected to each of the above devices and controls each operation.

[0003] The conventional vending machine with a fingerprint collation function configured as described above uses the fingerprint of the individual customer detected by the fingerprint detecting device 6 and the amount of money confirmed or registered by the coin mechanism 1 or the bill validator 2. Are stored in the fingerprint storage device 7 and the amount storage device 8 in correspondence with each other, and the fingerprint of the individual customer is detected at the time of purchase of the product, and this is compared with the fingerprint stored in the fingerprint storage device 7.
The control device 9 functions as a collation device, and displays the amount corresponding to the fingerprint stored in the amount storage device 8 on the display device 3 only when the fingerprints match, thereby allowing the individual customer to perform a product purchase operation. Operates the selection button 4 to select a desired product, adjusts the product price from the amount stored in the amount storage device 8, and ends the purchase operation. If the fingerprint of the individual customer does not match the stored fingerprint, the product cannot be purchased.

[0004]

The conventional vending machine with a fingerprint collation function is configured as described above, and only identifies the individual customer and associates it with the amount. However, if the price is within the range of the registered amount, it is possible to purchase the product regardless of the content and the selling time of the product, and there is a problem that the advantage of identifying the customer cannot be fully utilized. The present invention has been made to address such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vending machine with a personal identification function that can set purchase conditions for each individual customer.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A vending machine with a personal identification function according to the present invention is a vending machine in which the availability of sales and the sales conditions can be set for each individual. The personal identification data is read from storage means for pre-storing merchandise which can be sold for each customer, and identification data from the customer's personal identification means, and this identification data is compared with the previously stored personal identification data. And a means for permitting a purchase operation within a range of products which can be sold to the customer stored in advance when personal identification is completed.

[0006] A vending machine with a personal identification function according to the present invention is a vending machine capable of setting whether or not to sell and sales conditions for each individual. Means for storing in advance the time available for sale for each customer, means for reading identification data from the personal identification means of the customer, means for comparing the identification data with the previously stored personal identification data, and When the identification is completed, if the current time is within the time available for sale to the customer, a means for permitting a purchase operation of the product is provided.

[0007] A vending machine with a personal identification function according to the present invention is a vending machine capable of setting whether or not to sell and sales conditions for each individual. Means for storing in advance the date of sale for each customer, means for reading the identification data from the personal identification means of the customer, means for comparing the identification data with the previously stored personal identification data, and When the identification is completed, if the date is a date that can be sold to the customer, a means for permitting the purchase operation of the product is provided.

[0008] A vending machine with a personal identification function according to the present invention is a vending machine capable of setting whether or not to sell and sales conditions for each individual. Means for storing in advance the availability of sales for each customer, means for reading identification data from the personal identification means of the customer, means for comparing the identification data with the previously stored personal identification data, and means for personal identification. At the time of completion of the sale, whether or not the sale is possible is determined based on the information of the sale or not to the customer stored in advance, and when the sale is possible, the purchase operation of the product is permitted. When the sale is not possible, the purchase operation of the product is prohibited. It has a means to prohibit.

The vending machine with a personal identification function according to the present invention also provides a product which can be sold to a customer who does not previously store the personal identification data or a customer who has not been able to perform personal identification, a time at which sales can be performed, or A condition setting means for setting whether or not to sell is provided, and a purchase operation is permitted or prohibited for a customer for whom personal identification has failed, according to the conditions of the condition setting means.

In the vending machine with a personal identification function according to the present invention, the personal identification means is a customer's fingerprint.

In the vending machine with a personal identification function according to the present invention, the personal identification means is a magnetic card, an IC card, or a personal identification number using numerals.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the first embodiment, showing an example in which a customer's fingerprint is used as personal identification means. In this figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a fingerprint reader, which reads a fingerprint of an individual customer as personal identification data and registers the fingerprint by a fingerprint registration function 11. The registered fingerprint is stored in the fingerprint data storage device 12. Reference numeral 20 denotes a sales condition setting device, which is a sales condition setting function for determining whether or not the registered fingerprint is sold by the fingerprint reading device 10 to individual customers, whether or not the product can be sold, and the sales conditions such as available time zone. 21 is set. The set sale availability or sale conditions are stored in the sale condition data storage device 22.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure for registering a fingerprint and registering sales conditions and the like. When the individual customer performs these registrations, first, in step S1, it is selected whether to register both the fingerprint and various data such as sales conditions corresponding to the fingerprint, or to register only various data. If both are selected, fingerprint registration is started in step S2. The fingerprint is read by placing a finger on the fingerprint reader 10 shown in FIG. 1, and the fingerprint is registered by the fingerprint registration function 11 in step S2. Thereafter, in step S3, sales conditions and the like corresponding to each customer are set and registered by the sales condition setting device 20 and the sales condition setting function 21 in FIG. If registration of only various data is selected in step S1, the process directly proceeds to step S3 without registering a fingerprint. This is to allow the vending machine manager to freely set the contents of various data for each individual customer.

Next, a procedure for purchasing a product by an individual customer will be described with reference to FIG. First, in step S10, the individual customer places his / her finger on the fingerprint reader 10 of FIG. 1 to read the fingerprint. The read fingerprint is stored in step S1.
1 to activate the fingerprint collation function 13 to store the fingerprint data storage device 1
2 is collated with the fingerprint stored in 2 to identify and specify an individual. When the fingerprint matches the stored data and the individual customer is specified, the various data stored is retrieved from the sales condition data storage device 22 in step S12. If the fingerprint collation fails in step S11, it is determined that the customer is not a registered customer, and in step S13, sales condition data such as sale availability data for unregistered customers, sellable products, and time slots available for sale is extracted. Next, step S12 or S1
It is checked in step S14 whether the various data extracted in step 3 can be sold. If it can be sold, step S15
If not, the purchase operation process is terminated. That is, the customer who has been rejected cannot purchase the product.

Step S15 is performed for a customer who can sell.
To check the current time and the available time zone stored in the sales condition data storage device 22. If the result of the check indicates that the time is available for sale, step S16
And the purchase operation processing is terminated if it is not time to sell. That is, the customer determined to be out of sales hours cannot purchase the product, and the schedule of the product sales is monitored. The customer who is determined to be within the sales time is informed of the fact and the selection of a product by the display 25 and the speaker 26 in FIG. 1, and can select a product in step S16. In this case, in step S17, the product purchase control mechanism 24 of FIG. 1 operates to enable each of the product selection buttons 27 corresponding to the sellable product and the non-saleable product.
By controlling the invalidation, the selection range of products is regulated so that only products that can be sold are selected. Payment of money and payment based on the purchase of goods are performed in the same manner as a well-known vending machine.

Embodiment 2 In the above-described first embodiment, whether or not sale is possible, a product that can be sold, and a time slot that can be sold are set as sale conditions, and the result of personal identification can be used effectively by a vending machine. By adding a date that can be sold to a vending machine, it is possible to realize a more sophisticated vending machine.

Embodiment 3 In each of the embodiments described above, the fingerprint is used as the personal identification means. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the personal identification is performed using a magnetic card, an IC card, and a personal identification number using numbers. Can expect the same effect.

[0018]

The vending machine with a personal identification function according to the present invention performs personal identification using a fingerprint, a magnetic card, an IC card, a personal identification number, and the like, and determines whether or not it is possible to sell or sell products and sales for each individual. Since the sales conditions such as possible time zones and dates are set, it is possible to set different specifications for each individual customer who uses the same vending machine.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure for registering a fingerprint and registering sales conditions and the like in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure for purchasing a product according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional vending machine with a personal identification function using a fingerprint.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 fingerprint reader, 11 fingerprint registration function,
12 fingerprint data recording device, 13 fingerprint collation function, 20 sales condition setting device, 21 sales condition setting function, 22 sales condition data recording device, 2
3 Judgment function, 24 product purchase control mechanism, 25 display, 26 speaker, 27 product selection button.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A vending machine in which the availability and sales conditions can be set for each individual, personal identification data for personal identification of a customer and merchandise that can be sold for each customer are stored in advance. Storage means for reading the identification data from the personal identification means of the customer, means for comparing the identification data with the previously stored personal identification data, and when the personal identification is completed, the storage means for the customer stored in advance. A vending machine with a personal identification function equipped with a means for allowing purchase operations within the range of products that can be sold. 2. A vending machine which is capable of setting whether or not it is possible to sell and sales conditions for each individual, stores in advance personal identification data for personal identification of a customer, and a time zone in which sales can be performed for each customer. Storage means for storing the identification data from the personal identification means of the customer; means for comparing the identification data with the previously stored personal identification data; and when the personal identification is completed, the current time is sold to the customer. A vending machine with a personal identification function provided with a means for permitting a purchase operation of a product within a possible time. 3. A vending machine which is capable of setting whether or not it is possible to sell and sales conditions for each individual, stores in advance personal identification data for personal identification of a customer and a date at which sales can be performed for each customer. Means for reading the identification data from the personal identification means of the customer, means for comparing the identification data with the previously stored personal identification data, and when the personal identification is completed, the date can be sold to the customer. A vending machine with a personal identification function equipped with a means that allows the purchase operation of a product if the date is appropriate. 4. A vending machine in which the availability and sales conditions can be set for each individual by storing in advance personal identification data for personal identification of a customer and availability of sale for each customer. Storage means for reading the identification data from the personal identification means of the customer, means for comparing the identification data with the previously stored personal identification data, and when the personal identification is completed, the storage means for the customer stored in advance A vending machine with a personal identification function equipped with means for judging whether or not to sell based on information on whether or not to sell, permitting the purchase operation of the product when the sale is possible, and prohibiting the purchase operation of the product when the sale is not possible. . 5. Conditions for setting a product that can be sold, a time slot that can be sold, a date that can be sold, or availability of sale to a customer who does not previously store the personal identification data or a customer who has failed to perform personal identification. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein a setting means is provided, and a purchase operation is permitted or prohibited for a customer for whom personal identification has not been performed according to the condition of the condition setting means. A vending machine with a personal identification function according to claim 1. 6. A vending machine with a personal identification function according to claim 1, wherein said personal identification means is a fingerprint of a customer. 7. The personal identification means includes a magnetic card, an IC,
6. A vending machine with a personal identification function according to claim 1, wherein the vending machine is a personal identification number using a card or a number.