JP2006244337A - Vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that many business procedures such as especially, selection of an installation place, approval of an owner for installation are required to extend a hotspot service area for a PC, PDA or the like, consequently a long time is required for opening a station. <P>SOLUTION: The vending machine main body 6 configured of a sales control apparatus 7 for selling articles and a power supply apparatus 8 for supplying power to the sales control apparatus 7 is provided with a data modulation/demodulation apparatus 2 for ADSL and optical communication. The vending machine main body 6 is mounted with a base station apparatus for a wireless LAN apparatus 3 required for extending the hotspot service area, thereby achieving the extension of the service area in a short time to provide, in a wide area, respective services such as browsing on the Internet, e-mail, IP telephone or the like. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a hot spot service in which a wireless LAN device used in a store or the like is installed in a vending machine and used.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an invention has been proposed that has a function of determining whether or not a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) or a portable terminal (hereinafter referred to as a PDA) launches predetermined software and is within a hot spot service area (for example, a patent). (Ref. Literature 1).

  FIG. 8 shows that a current wireless LAN device is mounted on a PC or PDA proposed in the past by means of a PC card, USB, etc., and the current location is set to a hot spot service area by launching dedicated software for hot spot service. If you are within the service area, you can receive Internet services such as browsers and emails, but you cannot receive Internet services outside the service area. For this reason, the service areas of each company are being expanded mainly in fast food stores.

According to the present invention, by installing a base station device of a wireless LAN device necessary for expanding the service area of the hot spot service in the vending machine, the service area can be expanded in a short period of time, and on the Internet Services such as browsing, e-mail and IP phone can be provided to all citizens.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-315058

  However, in order to expand the service area of the hotspot service, there are many office procedures such as selection of the installation location and consent to the installation owner, and it took a lot of time to open the station. Therefore, whether the current position is within the hot spot service area by installing a predetermined wireless LAN device on a conventional PC or PDA by means of a PC card, USB, etc. and starting up dedicated software for hot spot service If you are within the service area, you can receive Internet services such as browsers and emails, but you cannot receive Internet services outside the service area.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an Internet service easily by realizing expansion of a service area in a short period of time.

  The present invention realizes expansion of a service area in a short period of time by installing a base station apparatus of a wireless LAN device necessary for expanding a service area of a hot spot service in a vending machine. Services such as browsing, e-mail and IP phone can be provided to all citizens.

  Furthermore, the installation interval of the vending machine and the wireless reachable distance of the wireless LAN device are almost the same, and if installed in the currently installed vending machine, the service area can be covered.

  Furthermore, since the vending machine is owned by the beverage maker, it is not necessary to negotiate with the individual installation owners simply by obtaining the consent of the beverage maker, and the station can be opened in a very short period of time.

  Furthermore, regardless of the installation location of the vending machine, the antenna mounted on the vending machine is variable so that the antenna directivity of the wireless LAN device is always optimal for users receiving hotspot services. I make a mechanism that can.

  Further, since the power source of the data modulation / demodulation device and the wireless LAN device shares the power source of the vending machine, it is not necessary to prepare a dedicated power source.

  The vending machine according to the present invention can expand the service area of the Internet hotspot in a short period of time, and can provide each citizen with services such as browsing on the Internet, mail, and IP phone.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, data modulation for performing communication such as ADSL and optical to a vending machine main body constituted by a sales control device that sells products and a power supply device that supplies power to the sales control device. The vending machine can be connected to the Internet by having the demodulator.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the data modulation / demodulation device according to the first aspect is connected to a LAN device that performs radio communication such as radio waves and light without using a wired cable, and is connected to the LAN device. And an antenna that radiates radio waves and captures radio waves transmitted through space, the data modulation / demodulation device, the LAN device, and a communication power supply device that supplies power to the antenna. By installing the wireless LAN device base station equipment necessary for expanding the hot spot service service area in the vending machine, the service area can be expanded in a short period of time, and browsing and mailing on the Internet , IP phone and other services can be provided to all citizens.

  Furthermore, the installation interval of the vending machine and the wireless reachable distance of the wireless LAN device are almost the same, and if installed in the currently installed vending machine, the service area can be covered.

  Furthermore, since the vending machine is owned by the beverage maker, it is not necessary to negotiate with the individual installation owners simply by obtaining the consent of the beverage maker, and the station can be opened in a very short period of time.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the antenna according to the second aspect includes a movable device that can move up and down, front and rear, and left and right, a wireless LAN device is always provided regardless of the installation position of the vending machine. The mechanism that can change the antenna mounted on the vending machine so that the antenna directivity is optimal for the user receiving hot spot service.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a shared power source device in which the power source device according to the first aspect and the communication power source device according to the second aspect are configured by one power source, whereby data modulation / demodulation is performed. As the power supply of the device and the wireless LAN device is shared with the power supply of the vending machine, it is not necessary to prepare a dedicated power supply. Therefore, the cost of the power supply device can be reduced and an external communication device can be easily installed. .

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, embodiments of a radio wave intensity measuring device of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, about the same structure as the past, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and detailed description is abbreviate | omitted. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a vending machine equipped with an external communication device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, an external communication device 1 includes a data modulation / demodulation device 2, a LAN device 3, an antenna 4, and a communication power supply device 5.

  The vending machine main body 6 is composed of a sales control device 7 that manages the monetary management of goods and the sale of goods, and a power supply device 8 that supplies power to the sales control device 7.

  The operation will be described below with reference to FIG.

  Information transmitted from the Internet via a public line, a dedicated line, or the like is input to the data modulation / demodulation apparatus 2, and the demodulated information is output to the LAN apparatus 3. In the LAN apparatus 3, the information is transmitted to IEEE802. Information is transmitted via the antenna 4 after a standard such as 11 * is added and a security function such as WEP is added.

  The data modulation / demodulation device 2 and the LAN device 3 are supplied with power from the communication power supply device 5.

  In addition, the vending machine main body 6 supplies DC power from the AC power input to the power supply device 8 to the sales control device 7 in order to perform normal merchandise sales operations, and performs money management and carry-out operations.

  Hereinafter, the description of the same operation in the same apparatus is omitted.

  In FIG. 3, a movable device 9 is a device for moving the antenna 4 up and down, left and right, and front and rear.

  In FIG. 4, the movable device 9 receives DC power from the communication power supply device 5, and moves the antenna 4 up and down, left and right, front and rear, based on the command information of the data modulation / demodulation device 2, LAN device 5, and antenna 4. The position of the antenna 4 is changed.

  The detailed operation will be described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 5, reference numeral 9 denotes a movable device, which includes a rotating disk 12, a lifting device 10 that raises and lowers the rotating disk 12, and a rotating device 11 that rotates the rotating disk 12.

  The antenna 4 attached to the turntable 12 can be moved up and down by the lifting device 10, and the direction of the antenna 4 can be changed back and forth or left and right depending on the rotation direction of the rotating device 11.

  It is also possible to provide an antenna inside the sample product display room. In this case, the antenna can be protected against mischief.

  The case where the power source of the external communication device 1 and the vending machine main body 6 is shared in FIGS. 6 and 7 will be described.

  In FIG. 6, an external communication device 1 and a common power supply device 13 that supplies power to the vending machine body 6 are mounted.

  The operation will be described with reference to FIG. Instead of the communication power supply device 5 and the power supply device 8, a shared power supply device 13 is mounted in the vending machine main body 6.

  The AC power supply is supplied, and the shared power supply device 13 can input DC power to the data modulation / demodulation device 2 and the sales control device 7 respectively.

  According to the above embodiment, the present invention realizes the expansion of the service area in a short period of time by installing the base station apparatus of the wireless LAN device necessary for expanding the service area of the hot spot service in the vending machine. In addition, services such as Internet browsing, e-mail, and IP phone can be provided to all citizens.

  Furthermore, the installation interval of the vending machine and the wireless reachable distance of the wireless LAN device are almost the same, and if installed in the currently installed vending machine, the service area can be covered.

  Furthermore, since the vending machine is owned by the beverage maker, it is not necessary to negotiate with the individual installation owners simply by obtaining the consent of the beverage maker, and the station can be opened in a very short period of time.

  Furthermore, regardless of the installation location of the vending machine, the antenna mounted on the vending machine is variable so that the antenna directivity of the wireless LAN device is always optimal for users receiving hotspot services. I make a mechanism that can.

  Further, since the power source of the data modulation / demodulation device and the wireless LAN device shares the power source of the vending machine, it is not necessary to prepare a dedicated power source.

  As described above, since the vending machine according to the present invention can realize the expansion of the service area of the Internet hot spot in a short period of time, it can be used for developing the infrastructure of the Internet service.

Configuration diagram of a vending machine equipped with an external communication device in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Block diagram of a vending machine equipped with an external communication device in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Configuration diagram of a vending machine equipped with a movable device in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Block diagram of a vending machine equipped with a movable device in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Configuration diagram of mounting of movable device in embodiment 1 of the present invention Configuration diagram of a vending machine equipped with a shared power supply device in Embodiment 1 of the present invention Block diagram of a vending machine equipped with a shared power supply device in Embodiment 1 of the present invention The figure which shows the structure of the hot spot of a prior art example

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 External communication apparatus 2 Data modulation / demodulation apparatus 3 LAN apparatus 4 Antenna 5 Communication power supply apparatus 6 Vending machine main body 7 Sales control apparatus 8 Power supply apparatus 9 Movable apparatus 10 Lifting apparatus 11 Rotating apparatus 12 Turntable 13 Common power supply apparatus

Claims (4)

An automatic vending machine comprising a sales control device that sells products and a power supply device that supplies power to the sales control device has a data modulation / demodulation device for performing Internet communication. Vending machine. The data modulation / demodulation device includes a LAN device for wireless communication, an antenna connected to the LAN device for transmitting / receiving radio waves, the data modulation / demodulation device, the LAN device, and a power source for the antenna. The vending machine according to claim 1, further comprising a communication power supply unit to supply. The vending machine according to claim 2, wherein the antenna has a movable device that can move up and down, front and rear, and left and right. The vending machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a shared power supply device in which the power supply device and the communication power supply device are configured by a single power supply.

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