JP2680640B2 - Card type vending machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a card-type vending machine that controls the sale of goods based on the monetary value recorded on a card.

(B) Prior art As shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-248095, such a card-type vending machine holds the amount of money in a storage unit when the amount of money is read and stores the amount of money in the memory. Control sales. Therefore, if the remaining amount after the product is sold is equal to or higher than the selling price of the product and the products are continuously sold, the storage unit sequentially holds the updated remaining amount, and when the sale ends, the final remaining amount is set. It is designed to be read from the storage unit, recorded on a card, and returned.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, if a reset occurs due to a power outage or a runaway CPU that constitutes the control circuit of a vending machine during the sale, the remaining amount held in the storage unit will be lost, and the card There is a problem that the balance cannot be recorded in. Moreover, in the case of such an accident, when the CPU returns to the normal state, the card remaining before the accident is returned, so there is no record of the accident and there is a financial problem between the customer and the vending machine administrator. Occurs.

Therefore, according to the present invention, when the sales are continuously performed, the remaining amount of the sales is updated and recorded in the card, and when the card is inserted, the identification information is recorded in the card, and the sales operation is normally performed. It provides a card-type vending machine that erases the identification information from the card and returns it only when finished.

(V) Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a circuit configuration of an embodiment for controlling a card type vending machine.
Is a ROM, 23 is a RAM, 24 is an I / O interface, which are connected by an address bus 25 and a data bus 26. The card processing device 29, the selling device 27, the selection device 28, the card return switch 30, and the display device 31 are connected to the CPU 21 via the I / O interface 24, and the CPU 21 uses these based on the program stored in the ROM 22. Control the behavior of.
The card processing device 29 reads card information, writes information to the card, or returns the inserted card in response to a control signal given from the CPU 21. The selection device 28 includes a plurality of selection switches according to the type of product to be sold, and outputs a predetermined selection signal to the CPU 21 in response to a selection operation by a customer. The sales price for each product type is stored in the RAM23, and when the selection signal is input, the CPU21 reads the sales price of the product indicated by this selection signal from the RAM23 and the selected product can be sold with the card amount. Determine if there is. When it is determined that the product can be sold, a control signal is given to the selling device 27 to control the selling operation of the product. Therefore, the CPU 21 includes the function of the sales control means of the present invention. Then, the CPU 21 includes the function of the second processing means of the present invention for calculating the balance after sale and controlling the card processing device 29 so as to write this balance on the card. The card return switch 30 is operated by a customer who requests the return of the inserted card, and when operated, outputs a card return signal to the CPU 21. The display device 32 displays the card balance information given from the CPU 21.

FIG. 2 shows a card processing device 29, in which an insertion opening 1 for receiving the card therein is provided in the horizontal direction, and the insertion opening 1 serves to convert the horizontally inserted card into the vertical direction. It is connected to the conveyance path 3 through the bent portion 2. The transport path 3 is formed so as to guide the card downward by a set of substrates. The transport path 3 is provided with a transport device 6 for transporting the card in a vertical direction.
The transport device 6 is formed by a pair of pulleys 7A and 7B, pulleys 8A and 8B, pulleys 9A and 9B, pulleys 10A and 10B, and a belt 11 that are opposed to each other. Each pulley is rotatably supported by a fixed plate 4 or a movable plate 5, and a belt 11 is stretched around pulleys 7A, 8A, 9A, 10A. The transport device 6 is driven by transmitting the rotational force of the motor 12 capable of rotating in the forward and reverse directions to the pulley 8A.
A magnetic head for reading the information of the card and recording the information on the card is provided in the middle of the transport path 3. The pressing roller 17 presses the card passing through the transport path 3 against the magnetic head 16. Further, sensors Sa, Sb, Sc consisting of a pair of light emitting element and light receiving element are sequentially arranged in the transport path 3 according to the moving direction of the card, and the sensors Sa, Sb, Sc detect the card and detect the card. Are output to the CPU 21 through the I / O interface 24, respectively.
The interval between the sensors is set smaller than the dimension of the card in the longitudinal direction, and the cards in the transport path 3 are detected by any of the sensors due to the arrangement of the sensors Sa, Sb, Sc.

As shown in FIG. 4, the card 12 to be inserted into the card processing device 29 has a magnetic stripe portion 20 with specific data 40 for distinguishing it from other card systems, an operator code 42, and a card. An area is set in which the amount data 43 indicating the monetary value that exists is recorded. The specific data in this example is composed of three characters "TSE", and when this data changes to "TSe", it becomes identification information indicating that the card is in the process of being processed. Then, when the card is returned due to the end of the selling operation, the identification information "TSe" is rewritten to the specific data "TSE". Card processor 29
The identification information is recorded or erased under the control of the CPU 21, and thus the CPU 21 has the functions of the first processing means and the third processing means of the present invention. Then, when the card once inserted is returned without the sales operation being completed due to a power failure, a runaway of the CPU 21, or an abnormal communication of the card processing device, the identification information is recorded as it is.

The operation of this card type vending machine will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step S1, the CPU 21 determines whether or not there is a card in the card processing device 29 by detecting whether or not the sensors Sa, Sb, Sc generate a card detection signal. With the card inserted in the card processor 29, a power failure or CPU2
When a reset due to a runaway of 1 is applied, a card remains in the card processing device 29, and when the CPU 21 detects the presence of such a card, the card processing device 29 is instructed to return the card in the next S2 step. Give a control signal.
Then, the CPU 21 again executes the sensors Sa, Sb, S in the next S3 step.
The card processing device 29
If the card is no longer present in the return operation of, the process proceeds to the next S5 step. However, if the card is not returned, the process proceeds to step S4, and the card processing device 29 is put into a dormant state.

In step S5, the CPU 21 waits for the card to be inserted, and when the sensor Sa detects the insertion of the card and outputs a card detection signal, the CPU 21 gives a control signal to the card processing device 29 to take in the card and read the card information. Give instructions. Then, the CPU 21 reads the card information of the inserted card in the next step S6, and then in step S7, the card processing device 29
The card information read by is stored in the RAM 23.

In step S8, the CPU 21 determines from the read card information whether the inserted card is a valid card. This determination is made by determining whether the card information includes correct specific data 40 and operator code 42. If the specific data 40 or the operator code 42 is incorrect, the CPU 21 gives a control signal to the card processing device 29 to return the inserted card.

In step S9, the specific data "TSE" of the card information stored in the RAM 23 is converted into "TSe". And S10
In step CPU21, the card processing device 2 receives this card information.
Output to 9 and record the card information on the card. At this time, only the specific data in the card information is changed to the identification information, and the other data is recorded with the same contents as at the time of reading.

In the next step S11, the amount data of the read card information is output to the display device 32, the balance of the inserted card is displayed on the display device 32, and the process proceeds to the next step S12. This S
In the twelfth step, when the selection signal is input from the selection device 28, the CPU 21 gives a control signal to the sales device 27 to start the sales operation when the product indicated by the selection signal is available for sale, and when the sale ends. Proceed to the next S13 step. However, if the selection signal is not generated from the selection device 28, or if this product cannot be sold for the card amount even if the selection signal is generated, the process proceeds to step S17.

The remaining amount is calculated in step S13, which is the process when the sale is performed, and the amount data of the card information stored in the RAM 23 is rewritten to the remaining amount after sale in step S14. Subsequently, in step S15, the card information in which the amount data is rewritten is recorded on the card, and in the next step S16, the CPU 21 outputs the balance data to the display device 32 and S12.
Return to step. Then, if the selected product can be sold with the remaining amount, the selling operation starts again, and the remaining amount after the sale is updated and recorded on the card, and the display device is displayed.
32 also displays the new balance. In this way, each time the sale is repeated within the amount held by the card, the card is rewritten with the remaining amount after sale.

However, when the sale is not performed and the process proceeds from step S12 to step S17, the CPU 21 determines in this step whether the card return switch 30 has been operated, and if so, S18.
Proceed to step. Even if the card return switch 30 is not operated, the CPU 21 cannot perform continuous sales if the remaining amount after sale is less than all the selling prices stored in the RAM 23, and therefore the process proceeds to the next step S18.

In step S18, the identification information "TSe" of the card information is changed to the specific data "TSE" to reset the identification information. In the next step S19, the CPU 21 gives the card information to the card processing device 29 and records it on the card, and then the next step S20.
The card will be returned at the step.

In the card in which the identification information is recorded by being inserted into the card processing device 29 in this way, the identification information is cleared when the card is normally returned in the process of step S20. However, there is a power failure during the sales operation after the card is inserted.
If the CPU21 goes out of control and is reset,
Since the processing of the CPU 21 that has returned to the normal state is performed from step S1, the card that was in the middle of the processing is returned with the identification information recorded. Therefore, the remaining amount of money is recorded on the card each time the selling operation is performed, but if the above-mentioned accident occurs immediately before recording the remaining amount of money, the memory of the remaining amount of money is lost. Is recorded, so that appropriate processing can be performed in the case of a customer complaint. By the way, even if the balance is not recorded, it is the balance of the final sale in continuous sales, and the balance for the previous sale is recorded on the card, so almost the latest balance information remains on the card, It can respond to customer complaints almost accurately.

(G) Effect of the Invention According to the present invention described in detail above, since the remaining amount is updated and recorded on the card for each sale even in continuous sale, even if a power failure or CPU runaway occurs during continuous sale In contrast, the latest balance information can be used. Moreover, since the identification information is recorded on the card returned by such an accident, the customer can make an accurate judgment on the complaint.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a control circuit diagram of a card type vending machine according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a card processing device, FIG. 3 is a flow chart for explaining the operation, and FIG. 4 shows a storage format of a card. It is a figure. 21 ... CPU (first processing means, second processing means, third processing means, sales control means), 22 ... ROM, 23 ... RAM, 29 ... card processing device.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A card processing device capable of reading information recorded on a card and writing information to the card, and controlling the card processing device to write identification information to the card when the card is inserted. The first processing means and the card processing device allow the sale when the card amount read by the card processing device is equal to or higher than the selling price of the product, and the remaining amount after the selling is continuously permitted as long as it is equal to or higher than the selling price of the product. Sales control means, second processing means for controlling the card processing device to write the remaining amount to a card each time a product is sold by allowing the sales control means to sell continuously, and the remaining amount after sale When the price becomes less than the selling price of the product or the card return switch is operated, the card processing device is controlled to clear the identification information recorded on the card.
A card-type vending machine equipped with a processing means. .