JP2009245211A - Utilization ticket management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a utilization ticket management system capable of detecting a printing defect to appropriately perform printing by a printing unit, surely reading information by the printing unit, and surely preventing an occurrence of a problem, such as, nonconformities in adjustment processing. <P>SOLUTION: The utilization ticket management system includes: a parking ticket issuing machine 1 for issuing a parking ticket 3, on which a parking ticket code 6 is printed to a user; a reading unit for reading the parking ticket code 6 of the parking ticket 3; a printing defect position detecting unit 26 for detecting a printing defect position from the read information; and a fee adjustment machine 9, provided with a communication unit 10 for notifying printing defect information detected by the printing defect position detecting unit 26 to the parking ticket issuing machine 1. The parking ticket issuing machine 1 has a printing position setting unit 8 for setting a position, where the entry information is printed at a position which avoids the position of the printing defect, based on the printing defect information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a use ticket management system, and more particularly, to a use ticket management system capable of appropriately managing a use ticket by detecting a defect in printing predetermined information.

In general, in a time-rented parking lot, a parking ticket is issued to a parking lot user. Conventionally, this parking ticket has a magnetic recording surface on one side, and this magnetic recording surface has a predetermined surface. There is a magnetic parking ticket that records the information.
This magnetic parking ticket has been used for a long time because it is difficult to duplicate, has a certain level of resistance to deformation, etc., and it is possible to add discounts to parking fees at parking partner stores. It has been.

  However, in recent years, there has been a demand for parking tickets that are less expensive than magnetic parking tickets and are environmentally friendly.

Therefore, for example, write a predetermined information such as admission time on a parking ticket made of paper media such as thermal paper with a barcode, and also write discount information at a tenant checker at a partner store with a barcode. A technique is disclosed in which predetermined information such as a warehousing time and discount information are read, and discount processing and parking fee settlement are performed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-128336

  However, in the invention described in Patent Document 1, dirt is attached to the printing unit built in the parking ticket issuing machine or the tenant checker, for example, the heating element of the thermal head in the thermal printer is missing. If this is the case, printing defects such as fading or missing dots will occur in the printing of the parking ticket. And in the case of a significant printing failure, the printed barcode will not be readable by the fee adjustment machine, so there will be a payment processing failure such as the parking fee discount service not being applied or payment impossible. There is a problem that there is a risk of.

  In addition, since such thermal head contamination and heating element chipping are initially in the range of a part of the head, the two-dimensional code can be read by correcting the error, but if maintenance is not performed, it will become dirty. Since it is considered that the number of chipped portions increases and becomes unreadable, maintenance is demanded while dirt and chips are small.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and by detecting a printing defect caused by the printing unit, it is possible to perform proper printing by the printing unit and to reliably read information from the printing unit, and to perform a checkout process. It is an object of the present invention to provide a use ticket management system that can surely prevent the occurrence of such problems.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a ticket issuing machine that issues a use ticket on which predetermined entry information is printed to a user,
A reading unit that reads entrance information printed on a voucher used by a user, a printing defect position detection unit that detects a printing defect position from the read information, and printing defect information detected by the printing position defect detection unit A fee settlement machine with a communication unit communicating with the ticket issuing machine,
The ticket issuing machine includes a print position setting unit that sets a position for printing the entrance information to a position that avoids the print defect position based on the print defect information.

  The invention according to claim 2 includes a tenant checker installed in a predetermined store and printing predetermined service information on the use ticket according to claim 1, wherein the print defect position detection unit is configured to display service information by the tenant checker. The present invention is also characterized in that it detects a print defect position.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 2, wherein the ticket issuing machine prints the print defect information of the tenant checker together with the entrance information, and the tenant checker is configured to print the defect information based on the print defect information. A print position setting unit is provided that sets a position for printing service information to a position that avoids a defective print position.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to third aspects, the notification unit of the fee settlement machine notifies the maintenance station of the print defect information detected by the print position defect detection unit. It is characterized by being.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fourth aspects, the use ticket is a parking ticket used in a parking lot, and the service information provides a parking lot discount service. It is the information of this.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the printing failure position detection unit of the fee settlement machine detects the printing failure of the entrance information printed on the use ticket, and sends this printing failure information to the parking ticket issuing machine. Therefore, the ticket issuing machine can print the appropriate entrance information while avoiding the printing defect position, and can surely prevent the trouble of the settlement process due to the inability to read by the fee settlement machine.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 2, the printing defect position detection part of a fee payment machine detects the printing defect of the service information printed on the use ticket in the tenant checker, and sends this printing defect information to the ticket issuing machine. Can do.

  According to the invention of claim 3, since the ticket issuer prints the print defect information together with the entrance information based on the print defect information sent from the fee settlement machine, the tenant checker also sets the print defect position. By avoiding this, it is possible to print appropriate service information, and it is possible to surely prevent a problem in discount processing due to the inability to read by the fee settlement machine.

  According to the invention according to claim 4, since the notification unit of the fee settlement machine notifies the maintenance station of the printing defect information when the printing defect is detected, early maintenance becomes possible, and the printing defect Can be resolved early.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 5, since a use ticket is a parking ticket used in a parking lot and service information is information for performing a discount service of a parking lot, It is possible to receive discount services at affiliated stores.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment when the use ticket management system according to the present invention is applied to a discount management system for parking tickets. As shown in FIG. 1, the discount management system of the present embodiment includes a parking ticket issuing machine 1 installed in the vicinity of an entrance gate machine in a parking lot. The parking ticket issuing machine 1 uses a vehicle detector 2 to When it is detected that the vehicle has approached the entrance of the parking lot, an issuer control unit 4 that issues a parking ticket 3 (see FIG. 2) as a use ticket is provided.

The parking ticket issuing machine 1 generates admission information including a code for identifying the parking lot, a ticket issuing number different for each parking ticket 3, an entry date and time, an identification number of the parking ticket issuing machine 1, and the like. An entrance information generation unit 5 is provided. The ticket issuing number by the entrance information generating unit 5 is a unique number for each parking ticket 3 that issues a ticket with respect to a vehicle to be stored, and is not assigned the same number.
Further, the parking ticket issuing machine 1 is for a two-dimensional parking ticket corresponding to the entrance information generated by the entrance information generating unit 5, the identification number of the parking ticket issuing machine 1 and the defective device number in which the printing defect occurs. A parking ticket printing unit 7 serving as a printing unit for printing the code 6 on the parking ticket 3 is provided. The parking ticket issuing machine 1 performs printing by setting the printing position by the parking ticket printing unit 7 to an arbitrary position on the parking ticket 3. A position setting unit 8 is provided.

  As a two-dimensional code for recording information for machine reading, for example, there is a “QR code” (JISX0510). If a sufficient capacity can be secured for recording the entrance information, pre-payment information, and discount information, another standard two-dimensional code or one-dimensional so-called bar code may be used. Furthermore, by using a character recognition technique, the characters themselves that are visible in an encrypted state may be used for machine reading.

  The parking ticket printing unit 7 can be printed by any method as long as the printing results of the thermal transfer printing, dot printer, ink jet printer, etc. are machine-readable and visible in addition to thermal printing by a thermal head. May be used. Further, in the present embodiment, the two-dimensional parking ticket code 6 is written by the parking ticket printing unit 7, but if the data is writable and visualized by the parking ticket printing unit 7, for example, A one-dimensional barcode or a numeric array may be written.

  Further, the parking ticket issuing machine 1 is provided with a communication unit 11 for communicating with the communication unit 10 of the fee settlement machine 9.

  In addition, a tenant checker 12 is installed offline with respect to the parking ticket issuing machine 1 at a store affiliated with the parking lot. The tenant checker 12 includes a parking ticket reading unit 13 that reads the parking ticket code 6 of the parking ticket 3, and the tenant checker 12 includes a parking code for identifying individual parking lots, a discount type (for example, A discount information generation unit 15 that generates a two-dimensional discount code 14 including a discount type code representing a 30-minute discount, a 60-minute discount, and the like and a device number for identifying a device of the tenant checker 12. Further, the tenant checker 12 is provided with a discount information printing unit 16 as a print for writing the discount code 14 generated by the discount information generating unit 15. The tenant checker 12 has a printing by the discount information printing unit 16. A print position setting unit 17 for setting the position is provided.

  Further, when the parking ticket code 6 is read by the parking ticket reading unit 13, the tenant checker 12 determines whether or not the defective device number included in the parking ticket code 6 matches the own machine. A checker that controls the print position setting unit 17 to print the discount code 14 while avoiding the position where the printing failure occurs when the discount code 14 is printed when the device number matches the own device. A control unit 18 is provided.

  In addition, a fee settlement machine 9 is installed in the vicinity of the entrance gate machine of the parking lot, and the fee settlement machine 9 parks when the vehicle detector 19 detects that the vehicle has approached the parking lot exit. A checkout machine control unit 20 is provided which allows the ticket 3 to be inserted.

  Further, the fee settlement machine 9 includes a parking ticket reading unit 21 that reads the parking ticket code 6 written on the parking ticket 3 and combines it. In the fee settlement machine 9, the parking ticket 3 is valid or invalid using a code for identifying the parking lot included in the entrance information of the parking ticket 3 from the parking ticket code 6 read by the parking ticket reading unit 21. The parking ticket determination part 22 which determines is provided.

  Further, the fee settlement machine 9 determines whether the discount information is valid by using the parking lot code and the discount type code included in the discount information from the discount code 14 read by the parking ticket reading unit 21. The discount information determination unit 23 is provided.

  Further, the fee settlement machine 9 calculates a predetermined parking fee based on the information of the parking ticket code 6, for example, the vehicle entry time and the current time, and the discount information judging unit 23 A settlement unit 24 for performing a discount settlement process based on the discount information of the determined discount code 14 is provided. Further, the fee settlement machine 9 is provided with a display unit 25 for displaying a predetermined settlement instruction to the vehicle driver.

In addition, the fee settlement machine 9 includes a print defect position detection unit 26 in the present embodiment.
In general, a two-dimensional code is a symbol having a shape in which a large number of square modules, each representing 1 · 0 in dark and light, are arranged vertically and horizontally. In addition, in order to ensure reading, processing is performed in which dark and bright modules are arranged in a balanced manner over the entire symbols of the two-dimensional code. From this, it can be considered that when the dark / light ratio of the vertical line in one symbol is obtained, the dark ratio is approximately 50%.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 3, when there is a printing defect in the parking ticket code 6, as shown in FIG. In (Ref.), Since no printing is performed, the dark ratio of the line becomes 0%. Therefore, the print defect position detection unit 26 cuts out only the symbol of the two-dimensional code from the print image of the parking ticket 3 and detects a line having a remarkably low dark ratio in the vertical direction line. Or a printing defect due to a missing heating element.

  In addition, for example, even if an error in reading a two-dimensional code occurs, it has an error correction function that corrects the error. It may be determined that a printing defect has occurred when the ratio is equal to or greater than a certain value. This printing defect determination method based on the correction ratio may be performed in combination with the above-described printing defect determination method based on the dark / light ratio, or may be performed separately.

  Further, when it is detected by the printing defect position detection unit 26 that there is a printing defect position, the defective printing apparatus includes the defective device number and the printing defect position where the parking ticket code 6 or the discount code 14 is printed. The printing defect information is notified to the parking ticket issuing machine 1 via the communication units 10 and 11. At this time, in the present embodiment, since the tenant checker 12 is not connected online, the tenant checker 12 is not notified.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, a maintenance station 27 is connected to the communication unit 10 of the fee settlement machine 9, and printing defect information is notified to the input maintenance station 27 by the printing defect position detection unit 26 of the fee settlement machine 9. However, it is configured to prompt the user to perform maintenance on the corresponding device. In place of the notification to the maintenance station 27, the printing defect information may be displayed on the display unit 25 or the like to perform maintenance during periodic inspections by maintenance personnel.

  In the embodiment, the parking ticket reading unit 21, the parking ticket determination unit 22, the discount information determination unit 23, the settlement unit 24, and the like are provided in the fee settlement machine 9 installed on the entrance side of the parking lot. However, a similar configuration may be provided in a pre-accounting machine that performs settlement before boarding the vehicle.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

  First, the settlement process by the fee settlement machine 9 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  When the vehicle detector 19 detects that the vehicle has approached the exit of the parking lot (ST1), the parking ticket 3 can be inserted into the fee settlement machine 9. When the parking ticket 3 is inserted (ST2), the parking ticket code 6 and the discount code 14 printed on the parking ticket 3 are read by the parking ticket reading unit 21, and an image of each two-dimensional code is acquired. At the same time (ST3), the contents of the parking ticket code 6 and the discount code 14 are read and decoded to obtain the recorded entrance information and discount information (ST4).

  Next, the parking ticket determination unit 22 determines whether the parking ticket 3 is valid or invalid by using a code for identifying the parking lot included in the entrance information of the parking ticket code 6, and a discount information determination unit. 23, using the parking lot code and the discount type code included in the discount information of the discount code 14, it is determined whether or not the discount information is valid. When it is determined that the parking ticket 3 and the discount information are valid, a predetermined parking fee is calculated (ST5).

  When the user pays the fee (ST6) and the settlement process is completed, the car gate is opened and the vehicle is allowed to enter.

  Thereafter, a print defect is determined (ST7). This print defect determination process will be described in more detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  A symbol is cut out from the image of the two-dimensional code obtained by reading the parking ticket code 6 and the discount code 14 printed on the parking ticket 3 by the parking ticket reading unit 21 (ST10), and for each vertical line of the symbol. The dark ratio is obtained (ST11).

  Then, it is determined whether or not there is a line with a very low dark ratio (ST12). If there is a line with a low dark ratio, a message for prompting equipment maintenance is output to the maintenance station 27 (ST13). . If there is no line with a low dark ratio, it is determined that there is no printing defect (ST14).

  On the other hand, it is determined whether the printing failure occurrence device among the plurality of tenant checkers 12 or the parking ticket issuing machine 1 is online connected to the fee settlement machine 9 (ST15). (In this embodiment, the parking ticket issuing machine 1) is notified of printing defect information (ST16). If it is not connected online, the parking ticket issuing machine 1 is notified of printing defect information including the device number of the printing defect occurrence device and the line position of the printing defect (ST17). In this embodiment, since the parking ticket issuing machine 1 is connected online to the fee settlement machine 9, the print defect information is notified only to the parking ticket issuing machine 1, and each tenant checker 12 is connected online to the fee settlement machine 9. Therefore, the tenant checker 12 is not notified of print defect information.

  Next, the processing when receiving the printing defect information by the parking ticket issuing machine 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  The parking ticket issuing machine 1 determines whether or not the printing trouble information of the parking ticket issuing machine 1 is received from the fee settlement machine 9 (ST20), and when receiving the printing trouble information, the printing position setting unit 8 causes the printing trouble. The print position is set at a position avoiding the position (ST21). If no print defect information has been received, the print position setting unit 8 sets the normal print position (ST22).

  In addition, it is determined whether or not a notification of a printing failure position of a printing failure occurrence device among a plurality of tenant checkers 12 has been received from the fee settlement machine 9 (ST23), and printing failure information of the printing failure occurrence device has been received. Is set so that the device number where the printing failure occurs and the information of the printing failure position are added to the entrance information and printed (ST24). If printing defect information has not been received, information is not added to the entrance information (ST25).

  Then, the issuing process of the parking ticket 3 by the parking ticket issuing machine 1 is demonstrated with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  When the vehicle detector 2 detects that the vehicle has approached the entrance of the parking lot (ST30), the entrance information generating unit 5 uses the code for identifying the parking lot, a different ticket issuing number and entrance for each parking ticket 3. Entrance information including date and time is generated (ST31). If the printing defect occurrence device is not the parking ticket issuer 1, the defect information of the printing defect occurrence device is added to the entrance information (ST32). If the printing defect occurrence device is the parking ticket issuer 1, the printing is performed. The position setting unit 8 sets the print position at a position avoiding the print defect position (ST33).

  Then, the parking ticket printing unit 7 prints the admission information with the defect information at the printing position set by the printing position setting unit 8 and issues the parking ticket 3 (ST34). For example, when there is a defective print line at the position shown in FIG. 3, the parking ticket code 6 is printed avoiding the defective print line as shown in FIG. Thereafter, when the parking ticket 3 is removed, the car gate opens and the vehicle can enter (ST35).

  Next, discount processing by the tenant checker 12 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  When the parking ticket 3 is inserted into the tenant checker 12 at the store (ST40), the parking ticket code 6 printed on the parking ticket 3 is read and decoded by the parking ticket reading unit 13 (ST41). Then, it is determined whether or not the parking ticket code 6 includes defect information of the own machine (ST42). If the printing defect information is included, the printing position is set at a position avoiding the printing defect position. (ST43). If the notification of the print defect line position has not been received, the normal print position is set (ST44).

  Discount information is generated by the discount information generation unit 15 (ST45), the discount code 14 is printed at the print position set by the print position setting unit 17 by the parking ticket printing unit 7, and the parking ticket 3 is displayed. Return (ST46). For example, if there is a defective print line at the position shown in FIG. 6, the discount code 14 is printed avoiding the defective print line as shown in FIG.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the printing failure position detection unit 26 of the fee settlement machine 9 detects the printing failure of the parking ticket code 6 and the discount code 14, and sends this printing failure information to the parking ticket issuing machine 1. As a result, the parking ticket issuing machine 1 can print the appropriate parking ticket code 6 while avoiding the defective printing position, and reliably prevent the settlement process from being unreadable by the fee settlement machine 9. be able to.

  Further, since the parking ticket issuing machine 1 prints the printing defect information together with the entrance information based on the printing defect information sent from the fee settlement machine 9, the tenant checker 12 is also suitable to avoid the printing defect position. The discount code 14 can be printed, and the malfunction of the discount process due to the inability to read by the fee settlement machine 9 can be reliably prevented.

  Further, when a printing defect is detected, the fact is notified to the maintenance station 27, so that early maintenance can be performed and the printing defect can be eliminated early.

  In the embodiment, the detection of the printing defect is performed by reading the parking ticket code 6 and the discount code 14, but for example, in the printing direction of the parking ticket 3 as shown in FIG. On the other hand, a single line-shaped detection mark 28 may be printed in a direction orthogonal to the print mark, and a print defect may be detected by detecting this detection mark. Further, as shown in FIG. 14, a printing defect may be detected by printing a short line-shaped detection mark 28 instead of a single line in a staircase pattern.

  In the above-described embodiment, the tenant checker 12 is installed offline with respect to the fee settlement machine 9. However, the tenant checker 12 may be installed by connecting to the fee settlement machine 9 online. In this case, when a printing failure is detected, the tenant checker 12 in which the failure has occurred may be notified directly from the communication unit 10 of the fee settlement machine 9.

  Furthermore, in the said embodiment, although the case where each was applied to the parking ticket 3 as a use ticket and the discount information of a parking lot as service information was demonstrated, for example, various amusement facilities, a shopping mall, an outlet center, etc. are used as a use ticket. As admission tickets and service information, in addition to discount information, various applications such as coupon information and lottery information are possible.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made based on the gist of the present invention.

It is a schematic structure figure showing a 1st embodiment of a use ticket management system concerning the present invention. It is a top view which shows the parking ticket in this embodiment. It is a top view which shows the parking ticket in which the printing defect has arisen in the code for parking tickets in this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the two-dimensional code in this embodiment. It is a top view which shows the parking ticket which changed the printing position in this embodiment, and printed the code for parking tickets. It is a top view which shows the parking ticket in which the printing defect has arisen in the code for discount in this embodiment. It is a top view which shows the parking ticket which changed the printing position in this embodiment, and printed the code for discounts. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement of the payment process by the fee payment machine in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement of the printing defect determination process by the fee settlement machine in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement of the printing position setting process by the parking ticket issuing machine in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement of the entrance process by the parking ticket issuing machine in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the discount process by the tenant checker in this embodiment. It is a top view which shows the parking ticket which printed the mark for a detection in this embodiment. It is a top view which shows the other example of the parking ticket which printed the mark for a detection in this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Parking ticket issuing machine 2,19 Vehicle detector 3 Parking ticket 4 Issuer control part 5 Entrance information generation part 6 Parking ticket code 7 Parking ticket printing part 8,17 Print position setting part 9 Charge adjustment machine 10,11 Communication part DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 Tenant checker 13,21 Parking ticket reading part 14 Discount code 15 Discount information generation part 16 Discount information printing part 18 Checker control part 20 Checking machine control part 22 Parking ticket determination part 23 Discount information determination part 24 Checkout part 25 Display part 26 Print defect position detection unit 27 Maintenance station 28 Detection mark

Claims (5)

A ticket issuing machine that issues a voucher printed with predetermined entry information to the user;
A reading unit that reads entrance information printed on a voucher used by a user, a printing defect position detection unit that detects a printing defect position from the read information, and printing defect information detected by the printing position defect detection unit A fee settlement machine with a communication unit communicating with the ticket issuing machine,
The ticket issuing system includes a printing position setting unit that sets a position for printing the entrance information to a position that avoids a printing defect position based on the printing defect information. A tenant checker installed in a predetermined store and printing predetermined service information on the use ticket,
2. The use ticket management system according to claim 1, wherein the printing defect position detection unit also detects a printing defect position of service information by the tenant checker.   The ticket issuing machine prints the print defect information of the tenant checker together with the entrance information, and the tenant checker avoids the print defect position where the service information is printed based on the print defect information. The use ticket management system according to claim 2, further comprising a print position setting unit for setting the position.   The said notification part of the said fee adjustment machine notifies the printing defect information detected by the said printing position defect detection part to a maintenance station, The Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. Ticket management system.   The said use ticket is a parking ticket used in a parking lot, The said service information is the information for performing a discount service of a parking lot, The claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. Use ticket management system of mention.

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