JP2005149381A - Card vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a card vending machine that is improved in availability by continuing the operation of operable functions even if a function is disabled. <P>SOLUTION: For each of card vending means 27, debiting means 28 and adjusting means 29, a condition of operation of each of the means is set. If at least one of the conditions of operation is not satisfied, function degenerating means 30 degenerate the function of the corresponding means. Operable means are operated continuously to prevent a reduction in availability. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a card vending machine capable of releasing a prepaid card, depositing the card, and paying the card.

  In recent years, a prepaid card is used instead of cash for various transactions including shopping, and proposals relating to the operation of this prepaid card have also been made (for example, see Patent Document 1).

In general, a prepaid card is a card in which data can be held, and money data is held, and a user purchases the card with an amount corresponding to the held data, and uses this card for transactions instead of cash. The amount corresponding to the payment amount is subtracted from the amount held on the card for each transaction. Further, by inputting a desired amount with the depositing apparatus, the deposited amount is added to the amount data held on the card. Furthermore, when cash is required, by inserting the card into the checkout machine, it is possible to pay out the amount corresponding to the balance data held on the card.
JP-A-5-307559

  By the way, it is considered that the functions of card sales, deposit and settlement described above can be executed by one card vending machine under the control of a computer. In such a card vending machine, since the money is handled, the entire apparatus is stopped and an operation for recovering the disabled function is performed. For this reason, the apparatus stopped relatively frequently and the operation rate was poor.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a card vending machine that improves the operation rate by continuing the operation of an operable function even when a certain function becomes inoperable.

  The card vending machine of the present invention writes the amount specified by the purchaser to a card having a data holding function, and when the amount is deposited, the card release means for releasing it as a prepaid card, and the prepaid card that has already been released is currently held A depositing means for adding and writing the newly-paid amount data to the amount data that has been added, a settlement means for paying out the amount data currently stored in the prepaid card that has been released, and the card selling means The conditions for enabling each of these means are set for each of the depositing means and the payment means, and if at least one of these operable conditions is not satisfied, the function of the corresponding means And a function degeneration means for degrading.

  In the present invention, the operable condition of the card selling means is that the card to be sold can be paid out, and the function degeneration means performs function degeneration that stops the selling operation by the card selling means when the card to be released cannot be paid out. .

  In the present invention, the operable condition of the depositing means is that there is a fishing bill, and the functional degeneration means performs functional degeneration that permits only deposit without fishing when there is no fishing bill.

  Further, in the present invention, the operable condition of the settlement means is that there are banknotes or coins that can be paid out as settlement money, and the functional degeneration means performs the settlement operation by the settlement means when there are no bankable papers or coins that can be paid out. Degenerate the function to be canceled.

  In these inventions, conditions for enabling each of these means are set for each of the card selling means, the depositing means, and the payment means, and at least one of these operable conditions is not satisfied. In the case, the function of the corresponding means is degenerated. For this reason, since the operable means continues to operate, the operating rate does not decrease.

  According to the present invention, the function that can be operated by reducing the inoperable function among the plurality of functions is continuously operated, so the chance of stopping the entire apparatus is reduced and the high operation rate is maintained. be able to.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a card vending machine according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows the appearance of a card vending machine. Reference numeral 11 denotes a display using a touch panel and the like, which is attached to the front upper portion of the housing 12 so as to display various operation information and to display a user. Input various instructions by. Reference numeral 13 denotes a coin insertion part, reference numeral 14 denotes a banknote input / output part, and reference numeral 15 denotes a coin payout part, which are used for depositing banknotes and coins and paying out change and settlement money at the time of purchasing a prepaid card, depositing and settlement.

  Reference numeral 16 denotes a card loading / unloading unit, which is used for taking out a prepaid card to be sold and for inserting / withdrawing a card for deposit or settlement. In addition, a receipt printer 17, a card insertion / extraction unit 18 for a credit card used as an option, and a numeric keypad 19 are provided, and these are respectively attached to the front portion of the housing 12.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the functional configuration of such a card vending machine. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 denotes a personal computer (hereinafter abbreviated as “PC”), which is provided in the housing 12 and is connected to each mechanism provided in the housing 12 via the display 11 and the interface board 22. ing. Hereinafter, these mechanism parts will be described.

  Reference numeral 23 denotes a bill handling mechanism which is connected to the bill loading / unloading section 14 shown in FIG. 1, stores banknotes inserted from the banknote loading / unloading section 14, inputs the amount data to the PC 21, and receives instructions from the PC 21. The amount of banknotes is paid out to the banknote deposit / withdrawal unit 14. A coin handling mechanism 24 is connected to the coin insertion unit 13 and the coin payout unit 15, stores coins inserted from the coin insertion unit 13, inputs the amount data to the PC 21, and is instructed by the PC 21. The coin of the amount is paid out to the coin payout unit 15.

  Reference numeral 25 denotes a card reading / writing mechanism (hereinafter abbreviated as “card R / W”), which is connected to the card dispenser 16 and a card dispenser 26 described later provided in the housing 12.

The card R / W 25 reads the data held in the card inserted from the card loading / unloading unit 16 and outputs it to the PC 21 and writes the amount data instructed from the PC 21 to the card.

  The card dispenser 26 stores the initial card before the monetary data is written, and sends out the initial card one by one to the card R / W 25 according to an instruction from the PC 21. The initial card sent from the card dispenser 26 to the card R / W 25 is written with the amount data instructed from the PC 21 by the card R / W 25 and is taken out from the card loading / unloading unit 16 as a prepaid card.

  The printer 17 prints a receipt relating to payment and settlement based on an instruction from the PC 21. 1 is connected to the interface board 22 so as to operate in accordance with a command from the PC 21 (not shown).

  The PC 21 is provided with a card selling means 27, a depositing means 28, a settlement means 29, and a function degenerating means 30 as function realizing means by software.

  The card selling means 27 has a function of writing an amount designated by the purchaser on a card having a data holding function and selling it as a prepaid card when the amount is deposited.

  That is, according to a user instruction on the display 11, first, the card dispenser 26 sends the initial card before the monetary data is written to the card R / W 25. Then, the card R / W 25 causes the amount specified by the purchaser to be written on the new card. Further, when the written amount is deposited from the banknote depositing / dispensing unit 14, the card on which the amount has been written is sent out from the card depositing / dispensing unit 16 as a prepaid card for sale.

  The depositing means 28 has a function of adding the newly deposited amount data to the currently retained amount data and writing it in order to replenish the retained amount for the prepaid card that has been released.

  That is, when the user instructs to select the settlement work using the display 11 and inserts a prepaid card that has already been released from the card loading / unloading unit 16, the card R / W 25 reads the amount data currently held in the prepaid card. . The read amount data is displayed on the display 11.

  Next, when a user inserts a bill with a deposit amount or more from the bill deposit / withdrawal unit 14 and indicates the deposit amount on the display 11, the deposit means 28 receives the amount data of the bill inserted from the bill handling mechanism 23. Then, the deposit amount data from the display 11 is input to determine the difference between them, and it is confirmed whether the amount of the inserted banknote is equal to or greater than the deposit amount specified by the user. As a result, if the amount of the inserted banknote is equal to or greater than the deposit amount designated by the user, the deposit amount designated by the user is added to the amount data currently held. Then, the added value is written into the prepaid card by the card R / W 25 and sent out from the card insertion / extraction unit 16. At this time, when the amount of the inserted banknote is large and there is change, the banknote corresponding to the amount of change is paid out from the banknote handling mechanism 23 to the banknote insertion / removal unit 14.

  The settlement means 29 is a function for paying out (settlement) the currently held amount as cash, for example, because a prepaid card that has already been released is no longer used.

  That is, according to a user instruction on the display 11, first, when a prepaid card that has been released is inserted from the card loading / unloading unit 16, the amount data currently stored in the prepaid card is read by the card R / W 25. The read amount data is displayed on the display 11.

  Next, the read amount is paid out as a settlement amount. Usually, since the settlement amount includes a unit of less than 1,000 yen, banknotes and coins corresponding to the settlement amount are paid out from the banknote handling mechanism 23 and the coin handling mechanism 24 to the banknote depositing / dispensing unit 14 and the coin dispensing unit 15.

  The function degeneration means 30 degenerates the function of the corresponding means when the operable condition set for each of the card sale means 27, the deposit means 28 and the payment means 29 is not satisfied.

  The operable condition of the card selling means 27 is that the card to be sold can be paid out. The function degeneration means 30 degenerates the function so as to stop the sale operation by the card sale means 27 when the card to be sold cannot be paid out.

  The operable condition of the depositing means 28 is based on the condition that there is a fishing bill. The function degeneration means 30 degenerates the function so as to permit only deposits without fishing when there is no fishing bill.

  The operable condition of the settlement means 29 is based on the condition that there are bills or coins that can be paid out as settlement money. The function degeneration means 30 degenerates the function so that the settlement operation by the settlement means 29 is stopped when there is no banknote or coin that can be paid out.

  Next, the operation in the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  When the operation of the card vending machine is started, first, all functions of card sales, payment and payment are prepared (step 301). Next, it is determined whether or not the card to be sold can be paid out. For example, it is determined whether the card dispenser 26 which is the main body of card sales operates normally (step 302). If it is normal, it is determined whether there is a card to be sold in the card dispenser 26 (step 303).

  As a result, if the card dispenser 26 does not operate normally, the card cannot be paid out, so the function is degenerated so as to stop the card sale (step 304). Even if the card dispenser 26 is normal, the card cannot be paid out if there are no cards to be sold in the card dispenser 26. Also in this case, the function is degenerated so as to stop the card sale (step 304).

  If the card dispenser 26 is normal and there is a card to be sold in the card dispenser 26, it is determined whether there is a fishing bill in the bill handling mechanism 23 (step 305). If there are no fishing bills, it will often interfere with the deposit operation. Therefore, the function is degenerated so as to stop the deposit function that requires fishing bills (step 306). In this case, since it is possible to deposit without fishing, it is displayed that there is no fishing bill and only deposit without fishing is permitted.

  If there is a fishing bill in the bill handling mechanism 23, it is determined whether or not coins are present in the coin handling mechanism 24 (step 307). As described above, the settlement amount includes a unit of less than 1,000 yen in most cases, so that it is substantially difficult to settle without coins. Therefore, the function is degenerated so as to stop the settlement operation (step 308).

  After that, among the operations of card sale, payment and settlement, the selected operation is executed without being reduced until the stop (step 309).

  With this configuration, for example, if all the cards are paid out from the card dispenser 26 and there is no remaining card in the card dispenser, there is no card to be released thereafter, so the card is released. Is not satisfied, the function degeneration means 30 operates to stop the card sale by the card sale means 27.

  Since the cards have disappeared in this way, the cards cannot be released, but payment and settlement operations can be executed as long as those operating conditions are satisfied. Therefore, if there is a fishing bill, the function degeneration means 30 does not degenerate the function of the deposit means 28 and continues the deposit operation. If there is a coin for settlement, the function of the settlement means 29 is not degenerated and the settlement operation is continued.

  This is the same for other businesses, and even if one business becomes inoperable and its functionality is reduced, if the operating conditions for other businesses are met, the functional reduction of an operable business is not performed. Other operational tasks will continue.

  In this way, the function that became inoperable among multiple functions is degenerated and the function that can be operated is operated continuously, so the chance of stopping the entire device is reduced and the high operating rate is maintained. Can do.

It is an external appearance perspective view which shows one Embodiment of the card sales machine by this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the system configuration | structure of one Embodiment same as the above. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of one Embodiment same as the above.

Explanation of symbols

23 bill handling mechanism 24 coin handling mechanism 25 card reading / writing mechanism 26 card dispenser 27 card release means 28 deposit means 29 settlement means 30 function degeneration means

Claims (4)

A card release means for writing an amount designated by the purchaser to a card having a data holding function, and releasing the prepaid card when the amount is deposited,
A depositing means for adding the newly deposited amount data to the amount data currently stored in the prepaid card that has been released,
A payment method for cashing out the amount data currently stored in a prepaid card that has been released,
Conditions for enabling each of these means are set for each of the card selling means, deposit means and settlement means, and if at least one of these operable conditions is not satisfied, Functional degeneration means for degenerating the function of the means to
Card release machine characterized by having   The operational condition of the card release means is that the card to be released can be paid out, and the function degeneration means is characterized by performing a function reduction that stops the sale operation by the card release means when the card to be released cannot be paid out. The card sales machine according to claim 1.   The operable condition of the depositing means is that there is a fishing bill, and if there is no fishing bill, the functional degeneration means performs functional degeneration that allows only non-fishing deposit. Item 3. A card sales machine according to item 2.   The operable condition of the settlement means is that there is a bill or coin that can be paid out as a settlement money, and the functional degeneration means performs a functional degeneration that stops the settlement operation by the settlement means when there is no bankable or coin that can be paid out. The card vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the card vending machine is provided.

Images