JP2964017B2 - Cooked food warming vending machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic vending machine for preserving cooked food such as a packed lunch by keeping the food in a warm state by keeping the food at a predetermined temperature inside a vending machine. It is about the machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The structure of a vending machine having the above structure is as follows.
There are the following.

[0003] Inside a main body of a vending machine, a plurality of columns for storing food are provided.

[0004] A steam generator is provided inside the main body for heating and keeping the food stored in the column. Further, the main body itself has a heat insulating structure, and has a structure for keeping the temperature inside the main body warm.

[0005] As a result, the food stored in each column is heated and kept at, for example, about 70 ° C (hereinafter referred to as a specified temperature) by high-temperature steam generated from the steam generator and sold. The food is always warm.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the vending machine having the above structure, when some of the foods stored in the column are sold and the stock becomes low, etc., the column is supplemented with additional foods on the way. There is.

[0007] At this time, while the food having reached the specified temperature (hereinafter referred to as a heated food) is in stock,
There is no problem because this heated food is sold.

[0008] However, there is a case where all the heated foods are sold and only the foods which have not reached the specified temperature added later (hereinafter referred to as unheated foods) remain in stock in the column. In this case, it was unclear whether the food was sold out or being heated simply by turning on the sold-out lamp.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a vending machine for preventing unheated food from being sold when unheated food is added to a column on the way.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A cooked food warming vending machine of the present invention heats and heats a cooked food such as a lunch box to a predetermined temperature inside the main body of the vending machine. In a pre-cooked food vending machine that sells in a warm condition, multiple columns for storing food, a selection button for each column provided on the front of the vending machine, and a column provided on the front of the vending machine Each sold-out lamp,
Digital money amount display provided on the front of the vending machine, input means for inputting the heating time of food for each column, and measuring means for measuring the heating time for each column input by the input means Flashing means for flashing a sold-out lamp corresponding to a column for which the heating time measured by the measuring means has not timed out, and heating of the column when the selection button corresponding to the column for which the sold-out lamp is flashing is pressed. and display means the time is to display the amount of time to wait before time-out in the amount of money display, food to sell
If the product is sold out, light the sold-out lamp and
If hot food is stored, flash the sold-out lamp,
The column where the sold-out lamp is lit and the sold-out lamp
Sell food in columns other than the one where the lamp is flashing.
Control means .

[0011]

[Operation] The case where food is newly replenished in the vending machine having the above configuration will be described.

After the column is refilled with food, the heating time of the food in the column is input by the input means. The measuring means measures the heating time of the column input by the input means. The blinking means blinks the sold-out lamp corresponding to the column until the heating time measured by the measuring means times out.

When the selection button corresponding to the column in which the sold-out lamp is blinking is pressed, the display means displays the waiting time until the heating time of the column times out on the money amount display.

Thus, it is possible to inform the customer that the food stored in the column is unheated food.

[0015] Then, the control means is a salable heated food.
Only sell to.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the block diagram of FIG.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a vending machine for selling bento boxes according to an embodiment of the present invention. This lunch is a so-called cooked food. The inside of the main body of the vending machine 10 has a heat insulating structure.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a column for storing lunches. A plurality of lunches can be stored inside the column 12. Five columns 12 are provided, and each column is provided with column numbers 1 to 5, respectively.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a selection button provided on the front face of the vending machine 10, and is provided one-to-one with the column 12. Then, the purchaser presses the selection button 14 to purchase the desired lunch.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a sold-out lamp, which is provided one-to-one with the column 12. Then, the light is turned on when the lunch box cannot be sold.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a salable lamp. The available lamp 18 is turned off during standby, the sold-out lamp 16 is turned on and not blinking, and is turned on when there is a deposit exceeding the selling price.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a coin mech.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a building barrier.

Reference numeral 24 denotes a steam generator, which is provided inside the main body of the vending machine 10. The steam generator 24 generates high-temperature steam in order to heat and maintain the lunch box accommodated in the column 12, and the high-temperature steam causes the lunch box inside the column 12 to always maintain a temperature of 70 ° C.
In addition to maintaining the temperature at a low level, it serves to heat a newly refilled cold lunch inside the column 12 to about 70 ° C.

Reference numeral 25 denotes a digital money display, which is provided on the front of the vending machine 10. The display 25 displays the inserted amount and the like.

Reference numeral 26 denotes a microcomputer which has a CP inside.
A U, an I / O port, a memory, and a timer unit are provided. The microcomputer 26 is connected to a selection button 14, a sold-out lamp 16, a sellable lamp 18, a coin mech 20, and a building bar 22. Since the column 12 is heated to a high temperature, it is difficult to provide an electric switch inside the column 12, and there is no electrical connection between the column 12 and the microcomputer 26.

Reference numeral 28 denotes an operation box of the microcomputer 26, and the microcomputer is operated by operating ten keys provided in the operation box 28.

In the vending machine 10 having the above-mentioned structure, when a cold lunch (hereinafter, referred to as an unheated lunch) which has not reached the specified temperature is newly refilled in the column 12, the steam generator The heating time T1 for about 30 minutes until the temperature reaches 70 ° C.
Is required.

Then, whether or not the newly refilled lunch is heated and kept at a predetermined temperature to determine whether the vending machine 10 has refilled the lunch box is determined by the administrator of the vending machine 10.
From 8, the number of newly refilled lunches, heating time T1
And column number.

Then, the microcomputer 26 operates the operation box 2
The heating time T1 is measured from the point in time when these data are input to 8, and when this time is counted up, it is determined that the heating and keeping of the newly refilled lunch is completed.

Hereinafter, an operation state of the microcomputer 26 in a standby state of the vending machine 10 will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG.

In step 1, if there is a column in which all the lunch boxes in the column have been sold (hereinafter referred to as a sold-out column), the process proceeds to step 2. If there is no sold-out column, the sold-out lamp 16 is turned off in step 7 and the process proceeds to step 3.

In step 2, the sold-out lamp 16 corresponding to the sold-out column is turned on to notify the customer that there is no lunch. Then, the process proceeds to step 3.

In step 3, if there is a lunch box in the column, but there is a column in which only unheated lunch boxes are stored (hereinafter referred to as a heating column), the process proceeds to step 4. If there is no heating column, the sold-out lamp 16 is turned off in step 8 and the process returns to step 1.

In step 4, the sold-out lamp 16 corresponding to the column being heated is blinked to notify that there is no lunch to sell in the column. Then, the process proceeds to step 5.

In step 5, sold-out lamp 16
Is flashing, the selection button 14 of the heating column 12 is
If pressed by the customer, proceed to step 6; otherwise, return to step 1.

At step 6, the selection button 14
The waiting time until the unheated lunch stored in the column 12 during heating when the button is pressed reaches the specified temperature is defined as the heating time T1.
After calculating backward, as shown in FIG. 3, after displaying digitally on the money amount display 25 in minutes for several seconds, the process returns to step 1. In the case of FIG. 3, it shows that it takes 30 minutes to be able to sell.

When the vending machine 10 is in the standby state,
The sold-out column has no lunch box, and the sold-out lamp is lit. In addition, the sold-out lamp blinks for a heating column which has an unheated lunch box which has a lunch box but is not warmed up until it can be sold. Therefore, the customer knows that the bento is being heated and does not accidentally purchase an unheated bento for this column.

Further, by pressing the selection button 14, it is possible to know when the unheated lunch in the column being heated becomes available for sale on the digital display of the money amount display 25. Therefore, if this waiting time is short, it is possible to wait a while and purchase a lunch.

In the vending machine 10 having the above-described structure, as a means for informing the column 12 being heated, there are used a method of blinking a sold-out lamp and a method of displaying a waiting time on an amount indicator. Also, the method of blinking the sold-out lamp 16 can notify the presence of the heating column.

[0041]

According to the vending machine of the above construction, when only unheated food is stored in the column, the sold-out lamp corresponding to the column flashes. Thus, the customer will know that the food is being heated and the customer will not accidentally purchase unheated food in this column.

By pressing the select button, it is possible to know when the unheated food in the column being heated becomes available for sale on the digital display of the price display. for that reason,
If the waiting time is short, you can wait a while and buy a lunch.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a vending machine showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a standby state of the microcomputer.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a money amount indicator in a state in which a time until a lunch box of a heating column can be sold is displayed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Vending machine 12 Column 14 Selection button 16 Sold-out lamp 18 Sellable lamp 20 Coin Mech 22 Bill Bali 24 Steam generator 25 Money display 26 Microcomputer 28 Operation box

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G07F 9/02 105 G07F 9/02 101 G07F 9/10 101 G07F 11/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cooked food storage vending machine which sells food in a warm state by heating and keeping a cooked food such as a lunch box at a predetermined temperature inside the main body of the vending machine. A plurality of columns to be stored, a selection button for each column provided on the front of the vending machine, a sold-out lamp for each column provided on the front of the vending machine, and a digital type provided on the front of the vending machine , An input means for inputting the heating time of the food for each column, a measuring means for measuring the heating time for each column input by the input means, and a heating time measured by the measuring means. A blinking means for blinking a sold-out lamp corresponding to a column that has not timed out, and a blinking indicator for the column when the select button corresponding to the column for which the sold-out lamp is blinking is pressed. Lighting and display means for displaying the waiting time until the heat time to time out on the amount of money display device, a lamp sold out if the food to be sold is sold out
If unheated food is stored,
Blink, the column where the sold-out lamp is lit and the front
Food in columns other than the column where the out-of-sale lamp is flashing
A cooked food warming vending machine comprising a control means for selling products .