JP5428698B2 - vending machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vending machine that carries out products in order from the products that have been input first each time a product is selected.

  For example, the actual number of sales up to the date when the number of elapsed days becomes the same as the sales deadline is stored as an appropriate storage number at the time of the next product replenishment so that it can be displayed and refilled based on this proper storage number A vending machine is known that replenishes merchandise and eliminates as much as possible the generation of expired merchandise (Patent Document 1).

JP-A-9-69184

  By the way, in the conventional method, if the product is replenished without being sold out, the vending machine is a first-in first-out method, so basically, the product stored near the carry-out mechanism is sold first. Thus, this product is a product with a short shelf life.

Here, if the state of sales of the product continues to be poor, the old product may expire, which is a problem.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a vending machine capable of maintaining an appropriate number of stored items and capable of carrying out old products in advance before sale.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the vending machine according to the present invention is a vending machine in which the full storage number of the product storage column is set, and the full replenishment is performed when the product is replenished. The setting means for setting the storage number and the product storage column for which the appropriate storage number is set are characterized in that after the product is fully replenished at the time of product replenishment, the product is carried out until the set proper storage number is reached. .

In addition, the appropriate number of replenishments is set based on past sales results.
Furthermore, the number of proper storage is confirmed before replenishment, and if the current number of storage is equal to or greater than the number of proper storage based on past sales results, the product is carried out until the current number of stored items is reached.

  The present invention is capable of setting an appropriate number of stored products with less than full storage capacity, and for a column for which the appropriate storage number is set, after the full replenishment, the product is carried out until the set appropriate storage number is reached. Thus, it is possible to reduce the old stock by carrying out the old products in advance, and it is possible to obtain an effect that the products provided to the user are always as new as possible.

  In addition, even before replenishment, if the current number of stored items is more than the appropriate number of items based on past sales results, it is possible to eliminate unnecessary replenishment work by carrying out the products until the current number of stored items is reached. It becomes possible.

1 is a configuration block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention. It is a front view which shows the vending machine which is embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the setting process of one embodiment of this invention.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.
FIG. 2 shows an example of a schematic front view of a vending machine which is an object of the present invention, and the vending machine 20 includes a main body cabinet formed as a rectangular heat-insulated housing having an open front surface. It becomes. Although not shown, the inside of the main body cabinet of the vending machine 20 is configured as follows.

Inside, a plurality of columns are juxtaposed side by side, front and back, and each column stores the same type of product along the vertical direction.
In the lower part of this column, there is provided a product carry-out device, and when a carry-out command is given, the product carry-out device selects one of the product groups stored in the corresponding column one by one. The unloaded and unloaded products roll out the product shooter, and then are unloaded to a product outlet 29 described later.

The vending machine 20 is provided with a single-open outer door 21 on one side edge of the main body cabinet, and the outer door 21 opens and closes the front opening of the main body cabinet.
The outer door 21 has a product sample display room 22, a product selection button 23, a coin insertion slot 24, a bill insertion slot 25, a money amount indicator 26, a return lever 27, a coin return slot 28, and a merchandise outlet 29 on the front side. It is provided.

The product sample display room 22 is composed of a transparent panel, and a product sample 22a is provided therein.
The product selection button 23 is a push button switch for the user to select a purchased product, and corresponds to the product sample 22a on a one-to-one basis.

  The coin slot 24 is an opening through which a user inserts coins. The coins inserted through the coin slot 24 are stored in a denomination type change tube after the denomination is identified by a coin discriminator 14 described later, and when the change tube is full, a coin collection box (not shown) is shown. Will be housed.

  The bill insertion slot 25 is an opening for a user to insert a bill. The denomination of the banknote inserted through the banknote insertion slot 5 is identified by the banknote discriminator 15 described later. The bill insertion slot 25 also has a function for returning bills that could not be identified by the bill validator 15.

The amount display 26 is for displaying the selling price of goods, the amount of money input, and the like.
The return lever 27 is a return lever for forcibly returning the coin or banknote after deposit or the remaining money after selling the product to the coin return slot 28 or the banknote insertion slot 25.

The coin return port 28 is an opening for returning to the user a coin that could not be identified by the coin discriminator or a coin to be changed.
The product outlet 29 is an opening through which a user takes out the product in the column carried out by the carry-out device 11a.

  Next, FIG. 1 shows a configuration block diagram according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. A main controller 10 that controls the entire vending machine has a main body that controls the carry-out device 11a and the cooling / heating device 11b. A slave 11, a remote controller 12 for performing various settings, a price indicator 26, a product selection button 23 having a sale lamp 23a and a sold-out lamp 23b, a coin discriminator 14, a bill discriminator 15 and the like are connected.

  The main control unit 10 includes an electrically rewritable flash memory 10a for storing a control program and a RAM 10b for storing various data. The basic operation of the vending machine, for example, product selection, money processing, product removal and setting. It performs overall control of each operation such as a totaling function.

The main body slave 11 controls the carry-out device 11a and the cooling / heating device 11b according to a command from the main control unit 10.
The remote controller 12 has operation keys, and performs various settings such as price setting and confirmation of stored data. In this embodiment, the number of full storages in each column and the appropriate number are stored in the setting mode. The storage number is set and stored in the RAM 10b, and the product can be paid out by a payout operation.

  In this configuration, the remote controller 12 is operated to preset the full storage number as “20” and the appropriate storage number as “10”, store in the RAM 10b, and select the full storage number according to the sales. The proper number of storage is selected or set in advance.

  The operation at the time of product replenishment will be described using the flowchart of FIG. 3. The outer door 21 is opened (step S01), and the remote controller 12 is operated to check the number of stocks or sales (step S02).

Next, the product is fully replenished and replenishment work is performed.
Next, when the replenishment operation is completed and the remote controller 12 is operated to complete the replenishment (step S03), it is determined whether the full storage number is set or the proper storage number is set for the setting state of each column (step S03). S04) For a column for which the appropriate number of storages is set, the calculation of “full storage number−appropriate storage number” is performed to determine the number of carry-outs (step S05), and the product selection button 23 corresponding to the column can be sold. The lamp 23a is blinked (step S06).

  Next, when the merchandise selection button 23 in which the sellable lamp 23a is blinking is operated (step S07), the main control unit outputs a carry-out command to the main body slave, and the main body slave 11 drives the corresponding carry-out device 11a. Ten products are carried out (step S08), and the sellable lamp 23a is extinguished when the proper storage number is reached (step S09). Finally, the outer door is closed to complete the operation (step S10).

  In this way, at the time of product replenishment, it is replenished to full without worrying about the number of replenishment, and then the product of `` full storage number-appropriate storage number '' is calculated to carry out the product with a long residence time in the warehouse, It is possible to store new products as much as possible in the cabinet.

It should be noted that regarding whether to carry out the goods, it may be set as appropriate whether to carry out the goods continuously by one operation of the goods selection button 23 or to carry out the goods one by one for each operation.
Also, in this case, the amount display unit 26 may be displayed by using the money amount display 26, and the subtraction display may be performed every time one unit is carried out.

  As a modification of the above-described embodiment, the appropriate storage number can be automatically changed by predicting the sales number based on the past sales performance. As a result, when the worker confirms the proper number of storage before replenishment work and the proper number of storage is less than the previous time, the carry-out operation compares the current number of stored products with the new number of proper storage. When the relationship “current number of items stored> new number of appropriate items stored” is satisfied, it is sufficient to carry out the items until the new appropriate number of items is stored, and there is no need to replenish the column with items.

  In addition, when the relationship of “the current number of stored products <the new proper number of stores” is satisfied, the full replenishment is performed in the same manner as the above embodiment, and the products are carried out until the new proper number of stores is reached. good.

  In addition, in a vending machine equipped with a digital price indicator such as an LCD corresponding to each product selection button 23, various indications such as the number of items to be carried out or the proper number of storage are performed on the digital price indicator. It becomes possible. For example, in the case of the number of carry-outs, a countdown display may be performed every time a product is carried out.

10 Main Control Unit 10a Flash Memory 10b RAM
11 Main unit slave 11a Unloading device 12 Remote control 20 Main unit cabinet 21 Outer door 23 Product selection button

Claims (3)

  In the vending machine in which the full storage capacity of the product storage column is set and the full storage capacity is replenished when the product is replenished, the setting means for setting the proper storage capacity of the stored product is less than the full storage capacity, and the proper storage capacity is set. As for the product storage column, the vending machine is characterized in that after the product is replenished at the time of product replenishment, the product is carried out until the set proper storage capacity is reached.   2. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the proper number of storages is changed based on past sales results. 3. The vending machine according to claim 2, wherein a new appropriate storage number is confirmed based on past sales results before replenishment, and if the new appropriate storage number is smaller than the previous proper storage number, the current product storage The vending machine is characterized by comparing the number and the new proper storage number, and when the current product storage number is large, the product is carried out until the new proper storage number is reached .