JP2005321905A - Vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To specify the date of maintenance and the route service man in charge thereof by storing the door open and close history of a vending machine in a location thereof. <P>SOLUTION: The vending machine comprises a body cabinet including a commodity storage rack, a coin processor and a control system, and a handle operation type main door lock and an auxiliary door lock installed to a front door of the body cabinet. This vending machine further comprises a history storage means storing the lock execution history of the auxiliary door lock with date data. In a concrete embodiment thereof, a keyless remote control operation system is adapted in the auxiliary door lock 12, an ID (identification code) is assigned to a remote controller 15, and the lock execution history and ID data of the auxiliary lock are transmitted to a main control part within the machine to store them in its storage part with the date data. According to this, the date of a maintenance work and the route serviceman who took charge of the work can be specified from the record and from the ID, respectively. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a vending machine having a function of managing a history of maintenance related to product replenishment, sales collection, and the like performed by a vending machine at a location.

  First, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 show the configuration of a vending machine that sells cans and bottles as an example. In the figure, 1 is a main body cabinet of a vending machine, 2 is an outer door on its front, 3 is an inner door, 4 is a product storage rack placed in the cabinet, 5 is a product carry-out shooter, and 6 is an outer door 2. 8 is a refrigerator for keeping the inside of the cabinet, 8 is a product sample displayed in the display chamber 9, 10 is a coin processing device (coin mechanism), 10a is a coin slot, 11 is a bill recognition device ( (Bill validator), 11a is a bill insertion slot, 12 is a handle-operated main door lock, and 13 is an auxiliary door lock provided on the outer door 2 along with the main door lock 11 as a measure to strengthen the anti-theft of a vending machine. . The auxiliary door lock 13 is smaller and simpler than the main door lock 12, and the lock system is a general mechanical lock in which the key 14 is directly inserted and unlocked, as well as a remote controller 15. Many keyless (no keyhole) type electric locks are also used. Reference numeral 16 denotes a master box equipped with a vending machine control system.

  In order to perform maintenance work such as product replenishment and sales collection on the vending machine, the root service person unlocks the main door lock 12 and the auxiliary door lock 13 using a portable key and opens the outer door. 2 is opened, the product storage rack 4 in the machine is accessed and the money handling device is accessed to perform the maintenance work. After the work is finished, the outer door 2 is closed again to lock the main door lock and the auxiliary door lock.

  By the way, maintenance such as replenishment of goods and collection of sales proceeds for vending machines installed at locations is generally performed by a route service person.

  In this case, the root service person knows who the root service person is in charge and the date and time of maintenance, in order to prevent fraudulent activities such as embezzling the sales collected from the vending machine at the location. In addition, it is important in the business management system of a vending machine that it is important to be able to identify the route service person in charge in the event that a trouble occurs in the collection of sales, but it is generally done now In management, the maintenance work history currently relies on the work records created by the route serviceman himself.

On the other hand, as a way of managing the vending machine, a security box with a door lock that is unlocked and locked with a dedicated key is installed in the vending machine, and a coin, banknote processing machine safe, etc. are stored here. Therefore, a management method has been proposed that includes means for storing an unlocking / locking history of the security box together with ID (identification code) data attached to each key (for example, see Patent Document 1). ).
JP 2000-90338 A

  By the way, in order to apply the management method disclosed in Patent Document 1 to a vending machine, a new security box is added to the vending machine, which greatly increases the existing vending machine described in FIGS. There is a problem that it is necessary to add in-flight modification and the product cost increases.

  Therefore, the present invention stores and accumulates the history of maintenance performed at the location ahead in association with the unlocking and locking operations of the door lock without significant modifications and costs to the vending machine itself. It is an object of the present invention to provide a function management system that can read data and specify the execution date and time of maintenance and the root service person in charge of the work.

To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a product storage rack, a money handling device, and a control system are mounted in the machine, and a handle-operated main door lock and an auxiliary door lock are mounted on the front door of the main body cabinet. In vending machines equipped with
It is assumed that a history storage means for storing the lock / unlock execution history of the auxiliary door lock together with the date / time data is provided, and can be implemented specifically in the following manner.
(1) Using the above-mentioned auxiliary door lock as a remote control operation method, an ID is assigned to the remote controller, and the ID data of the remote controller is stored in the history storage means together with the execution history when the auxiliary door lock is unlocked and locked. (Claim 2).
(2) The unlocking history and ID data acquired by the operation of unlocking and locking the auxiliary door lock are transmitted to the control system side of the vending machine and stored together with the date / time data in the memory of the main control unit. (Claim 3).

In the above management system, maintenance such as replenishment of goods and sales collection for vending machines at the location is related to unlocking and locking operations of the auxiliary door lock that opens and closes the door of the vending machine body. It is attached to memorize and accumulate.
That is, in order to open the vending machine's outer door and collect sales, the auxiliary door lock must be unlocked, so this auxiliary door lock unlocking, locking execution history, and door lock (remote operation) By storing the remote controller ID data used for locking and unlocking of the system), the date and time of the maintenance actually performed on the vending machine at the location from the record, and the route serviceman in charge is carrying The ID of the remote controller can be specified. This facilitates the management of the vending machine, and can also be expected to prevent fraudulent acts related to the collection of sales revenues by route servicemen.

  In addition, as described in Fig. 2, the auxiliary door lock that backs up the main door lock uses a small latch lock, so it can be applied to the auxiliary door lock without any significant modification to the vending machine itself. It can be implemented by adopting a door lock with lock detection, ID reading, and data transmission functions and combining it with a memory for storing data.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the management system shown in FIG. In the illustrated embodiment, a remote control operation type electric lock is adopted for the auxiliary door lock 12 of the vending machine shown in FIG. 2, and an ID (identification code) is assigned to the remote control device 15 to unlock the door lock. ID data acquired at the time of locking and locking is transmitted to the control system side in the machine and stored in the storage unit (memory) of the main control unit. That is, the auxiliary door lock 12 has functions of unlocking, locking detection, and reading the ID data of the remote controller 15, and the acquired data is used as a main control unit of the vending machine control system (master box in FIG. 2). The ID and locking / unlocking history are stored in the storage unit together with the date / time data, and the history data is printed out from the history output unit when necessary. Then, the date and time of maintenance actually performed on the vending machine and the ID of the remote controller carried by the route serviceman in charge can be specified from the record.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiment, and as an applied embodiment, for example, an auxiliary door lock may be attached with a dedicated history storage unit. Even when the auxiliary door lock is a mechanical door lock, it is possible to obtain the execution history by changing the unlocking / locking operation to an electric signal.

The block diagram showing the management system by the Example of this invention Front view of vending machine External view showing the door open state of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body cabinet 2 Outer door 4 Commodity storage rack 10 Coin processing apparatus 11 Banknote identification apparatus 12 Main door lock 13 Auxiliary door lock 14 Door lock key 15 Door lock remote controller

Claims (3)

In a vending machine equipped with a product storage rack, money handling device, and its control system in the machine, and equipped with a main door lock with handle operation and an auxiliary door lock on the front door of its main cabinet,
A vending machine comprising a history storage means for storing the execution history of locking and unlocking of the auxiliary door lock together with date and time data. 2. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein an ID is attached to the remote controller using the auxiliary door lock as a remote control operation method, and the ID data of the remote controller is recorded together with the execution history when the auxiliary door lock is unlocked and locked. A vending machine characterized in that it is stored in a storage means. The vending machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the lock / unlock history and ID data of the auxiliary door lock are transmitted to the control system of the vending machine and stored in the memory of the main control unit together with the date / time data. Vending machine featuring.

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