JP5517472B2 - Vending machine control device and vending machine management system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vending machine management apparatus that is connected to a vending machine and monitors the state of the vending machine (monitoring the sales state of the vending machine). The present invention also relates to a vending machine management system including a vending machine and a vending machine control device connected to the vending machine.

There are various types of vending machines in the world. For example, vending machines for selling vouchers (hereinafter referred to as “ticket vending machines”) installed in cafeterias, drive-ins, highway service areas, etc. are as follows. There are operational issues such as
The ticket vending machine is not a machine that directly sells products (in this example, cooked food or food, hereinafter referred to as “menu”), but instead sells “food tickets” that are exchanged for menus. . The meal ticket has a configuration in which a menu name is printed on, for example, roll paper accommodated in a ticket vending machine, and the roll paper on which the menu name is printed is cut and output, and is irrelevant to the menu stock. For this reason, in a kitchen such as a cafeteria, when the menu stock is exhausted, the attendant must immediately rush to the ticket vending machine and operate to stop selling the ticket for the menu that is out of stock.

In large-scale dining rooms, drive-ins, and the like, since a plurality of ticket vending machines are installed, the process of canceling sales of a specific menu of a ticket vending machine due to the absence of the menu inventory is extremely complicated and troublesome.
Therefore, in recent years, a sell-out device installed in the kitchen has been proposed. This sold-out device is connected to one or more ticket vending machines via a communication medium. Then, by operating a sold-out device installed in the kitchen, the desired menu of the ticket vending machine at the entrance of the cafeteria can be canceled. In this way, by remotely operating the ticket vending machine with the sold-out device, there is an advantage that when the menu stock is exhausted in the kitchen, it is possible to immediately stop selling the menu in the ticket vending machine (stop selling the food ticket).

  Further, Patent Document 1 proposes a restaurant management system that prevents the occurrence of an order mistake or an arrangement error. In the system proposed in Patent Document 1, it is easy to order a set dish that combines individual dishes, and when receiving an order for a set dish, there is no doubt that the individual dishes necessary for the set dish can be quickly prepared. It is stated.

JP 2005-242565 A

Taking a ticket vending machine installed in a cafeteria or the like as an example, there are many types of meal tickets because there are many dishes menus. Therefore, in the case where a certain material is sold out, there is a problem that it takes time and effort to cancel the sales of all menu meal tickets that use the material even if a sold-out device is installed.
Also, for example, when the material “egg” is out of stock, if you try to cancel ticket sales for all menus that use that material “egg”, the menu using that material “egg” "Omlet rice", "Tianjin rice", "egg soup", etc. must be accurately grasped, and familiarity and skill are required for the staff operating the sold-out device.

In addition, when a plurality of menus to be sold are sold as a set menu, for example, there is a possibility that it takes time to search for the menu, or the menu to be canceled cannot be canceled due to omission of search.
In the above description, the solution problem of the invention has been described by taking a ticket vending machine for selling food tickets as an example. However, in the case of a vending machine that sells a voucher that is exchanged for a product instead of an actual product, There are similar issues to the machine.

The present invention has been made based on such a background, and provides a vending machine control device capable of monitoring the sales state of a vending machine and switching the sales state in the vending machine accurately and quickly. The main purpose is to do.
The present invention also provides a vending machine control device capable of canceling the sale of a gift certificate that can be exchanged for a product made using the material based on the material consumption of the product when the material of the product is exhausted. To do other purposes.

  The present invention further provides a vending machine management system having a vending machine and a vending machine control device connected to the vending machine by communication means and capable of appropriately switching the sales state of the vending machine. For other purposes.

The invention according to claim 1 is a vending machine control device for monitoring the state of a plurality of vending machines, and a plurality of types of products sold by the vending machine are assigned to a plurality of groups according to a predetermined standard. In response to the fact that the belonging group is identified, the belonging group registering means for classifying and registering, the means for identifying an arbitrary group registered in the belonging group registering means, for each vending machine , can be transmitted and means for transmitting a signal indicating that discontinued treatment all items of the classified to the specified group membership of the items on sale, only including, the signal on the vending machine The vending machine control device can display whether the product is in a state and can display whether the product or the group to which the sales belongs has been subjected to a sales stop process .

The invention according to claim 2 is the vending machine control device according to claim 1, wherein the belonging group specifying means can register products in a hierarchical structure.
The invention according to claim 3 is the vending machine control device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the predetermined reference includes a material constituting the product.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the vending machine control device has product information acquisition means for acquiring information on sales products set in the vending machine, and the belonging group registration means is the product information acquisition means. The vending machine control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the sales merchandise information acquired by the method is classified into a plurality of groups and registered.

The invention according to claim 5 is a vending machine control device for monitoring the state of a plurality of vending machines, wherein the materials of the products sold by the vending machine are classified according to the materials (materials). Stock registration means to be registered as a product information receiving means for receiving the sold product information each time the vending machine sells the product, and the material of the product based on the product information received by the product information receiving means Means for extracting (material), means for reducing the stock quantity registered in the stock registration means for the extracted raw material (material), and no stock quantity registered in the stock registration means when in, for each said vending machine, of the products sold, seen including means for transmitting a signal indicating a stop sell all products containing the missing material (material), and the said vending machine Signal It can display whether the signal ready, a vending machine controller, characterized in that can display whether the state discontinued treatment has been the product or the material.

The invention according to claim 6 is a vending machine management system including a plurality of vending machines and a vending machine control device connected to each of the vending machines by communication means. The vending machine control device classifies and registers a plurality of types of products sold by the vending machine into a plurality of product groups in accordance with a predetermined standard. It has a registration means, and by specifying any product group registered in the registration means of the vending machine control means, the vending machine control device to each vending machine via the communication means, see containing and a discontinued signal output means for transmitting a signal indicating a stop selling all products belonging to the specified product group, in the vending machine controller transmits the signal to the vending machine It can display whether the ability state, which is the product or the vending machine management system, characterized in that can display whether the state discontinued treatment has been on the product groups.

  According to the present invention, in the vending machine control apparatus, a plurality of types of products sold by the vending machine are classified and registered so as to belong to a plurality of belonging groups according to a predetermined standard. ). The group-by-group product group registered in the affiliation group registration means can be grouped by the material (material) constituting the product, for example, as described in claim 3.

  For example, in the case where the vending machine is a ticket vending machine for vouchers and the menu is a dish menu that is exchanged for a sold voucher, for example, an “Udon” group can be provided. As a menu belonging to the “Udon” group, “Wakame Udon”, “Konbu Udon”, “Tsukimi Udon”, “Curry Udon”, and “Bukkake Udon” can be registered.

Alternatively, a “rice” group can be provided, and a menu such as “set meals”, “boiled rice”, “curry rice”, “rice”, “baked rice”, and “Tianjin rice” can be registered in the “rice” group.
Here, “set meals” and “boiled potatoes” are not single item menus but groups including a plurality of menus. In other words, when a menu (product) is classified into a plurality of groups and registered, the affiliation group setting may be performed in a hierarchical structure so that another group is included in one group. ).

If hierarchical group membership is registered, a plurality of types of products (menus) can be accurately classified according to a common standard (for example, materials and materials).
Then, by specifying an arbitrary group registered in the affiliated group registration means, all products belonging to the affiliated group can be subjected to sales cancellation processing by a single operation.

For example, if there is no stock of “Udondama” for ingredients (materials), the “Udon” group is identified as an affiliated group, and the “Wakame Udon”, “Konbu Udon”, “ Sales of all necessary udon balls such as “Tsukimi Udon”, “Curry Udon” and “Bukkake Udon” can be canceled (sold out).
Registration of the affiliated group should be done in the vending machine control device before operating the vending machine, and it is not performed by the operator while the vending machine is in operation. be able to. In addition, it is possible to eliminate the leakage of the products belonging to the group and to perform the sales cancellation process satisfactorily.

If the vending machine control device acquires the information on the sales product of the vending machine as in the invention described in claim 4, there is an advantage that the sales product is not leaked in the group registration of the vending machine control device. .
Further, it is not necessary to manually input the sales product to the vending machine control device. That is, it is possible to save the trouble of inputting and setting the sales product in the vending machine and inputting the sales product in the vending machine control device.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the vending machine control device automatically outputs a sale stoppage at a vending machine for a product made of the material (material) when the material (material) of the product is exhausted. can do.
In particular, when there is no stock of common materials (materials) for a plurality of products sold in a vending machine, for example, in the case where food tickets with menus such as “egg bowl”, “omelet rice”, and “fried egg” are sold, Every time a meal ticket for each menu is sold, the stock quantity of “eggs” registered in the vending machine control device is subtracted, so there is no stock of “eggs” that are ingredients (materials) for making menus. At that time, sales of “egg bowl”, “omelet rice” and “fried egg”, which are menus using “eggs”, are automatically stopped.

Therefore, there is no time lag between the vending machine and the kitchen inventory, and the sales state of the vending machine can be switched appropriately.
According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a vending machine management system capable of monitoring the sales state of a vending machine and switching the sales state appropriately.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of a vending machine management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example of the main menu displayed on the display 6 of the vending machine control device 2. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of the display 6 when the operation monitoring button 21 is pressed in the main menu display of FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display / operation procedure for starting / stopping the operation of the ticket vending machine 3 by operating the display 6 (operation unit 9) of the vending machine control device 2. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the display / operation of the display 6 (operation unit 9) of the vending machine control device 2 when the menu sold by the ticket vending machine 3 is switched to sales / sold out. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state in which group names have already been set in the sold-out groups G01 to G05. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing display contents on which all menus classified into the sold-out group “G01 udon” are displayed. FIG. 8 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of the vending machine control device 2. FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the menu information acquisition process. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the contents of the sold-out group setting process. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a setting example in which sold-out groups are set hierarchically. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the control contents of the sold-out process. FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing another control content of the sold-out process.

In the following, as an embodiment of the present invention, a ticket vending machine for a meal ticket in a cafeteria and a vending machine control device for monitoring the sales state of the ticket vending machine (this vending machine control device is installed in, for example, a kitchen) are exemplified. Therefore, a specific explanation will be given.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of a vending machine management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The vending machine management system 1 includes one vending machine control device 2 and a plurality of (for example, 8) vending machines (ticket vending machines for food tickets, hereinafter referred to as “ticket vending machines”) 3. . The vending machine control device 2 and each ticket vending machine 3 are connected by a LAN (Local Area Network) 4 so that data can be transmitted and received.
The vending machine control device 2 is installed in a kitchen, for example, for monitoring the sales status of a plurality of ticket vending machines 3 from the kitchen and switching the sales status. The vending machine control device 2 has a housing 5, and a display 6 and an operation unit 9 are provided on the surface of the housing 5. The display device 6 is a so-called touch panel display device, and has an operation unit 9 on the surface thereof to perform various displays and to input an operation signal by pressing the display. The casing 5 of the vending machine control device 2 is also provided with a power switch 7 and a LAN terminal 8. A control unit including a microcomputer and a memory are built in the housing 5.

One end of the LAN 4 is connected to the LAN terminal 8.
The plurality of ticket vending machines 3 connected via the LAN 4 may be ticket vending machines having different configurations or may be ticket vending machines having the same configuration. Now, taking the rightmost ticket vending machine 3-8 as an example, the ticket vending machine 3-8 includes a coin insertion port 11, a food ticket output port 12, and a plurality of account buttons as a configuration common to the ticket vending machines 3. 13 is provided. Each account button 13 is assigned a dish to be sold (hereinafter referred to as “menu”). The user can obtain a food ticket of a desired menu from the food ticket output port 12 by inserting money from the money insertion port 11 and pressing one of the account buttons 13 corresponding to the menu being sold.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example of the main menu displayed on the display 6 of the vending machine control device 2. When the power switch 7 of the vending machine control device 2 is turned on, the main menu shown in FIG.
In the main menu, an operation monitoring button 21, a menu information acquisition button 22, a sold-out group setting button 23 are displayed, and a network setting button, an operation screen setting button, an option setting button, a date setting button, a maintenance button, and the like are displayed. The When any of these buttons displayed on the display device 6 is pressed, the display screen corresponding to the pressed button is displayed.

  FIG. 3 shows a display example of the display 6 when the operation monitoring button 21 is pressed in the main menu display of FIG. When the operation monitoring button 21 is pressed, the screen switches to a ticket vending machine status (list) screen, and the status of the ticket vending machine 3 can be confirmed. In the display of FIG. 3, the first ticket vending machine, the second ticket vending machine, the third ticket vending machine, and the fifth ticket vending machine are selling food tickets, and the fourth ticket vending machine stops selling food tickets. The sixth ticket vending machine and the eighth ticket vending machine are in a communication error state with the vending machine control device 2, and the seventh ticket vending machine indicates that an attendant is operating.

  The state of each ticket vending machine is configured such that the state of the ticket vending machine 3 can be confirmed by the color by switching the color of the display button (display tag) in addition to the status display by characters. For example, when the button representing each ticket vending machine turns pink, it indicates that the attendant calling button of the vending machine has been pressed. When it turns green, it indicates that the ticket vending machine is operating normally. When it turns yellow, it can be operated but a warning has occurred. When it turns red, it means that the operation is stopped, the staff is operating, or the operation is in a contracted state (operation where an unusable unit is disconnected due to an error). Gray indicates a communication error or a power-off state. And so on.

The ticket vending machine status (list) screen also includes a release button 24 for switching the operation of each ticket vending machine, a cancel button 25, a main menu button 26 for returning to the main menu display, and a sales status monitoring button 27. It is.
Although not shown in FIG. 3, when one of the eight buttons indicating the state of the ticket vending machine is pressed, the state of the ticket vending machine is displayed in detail.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display / operation procedure for starting / stopping the operation of the ticket vending machine 3 by operating the display 6 (operation unit 9) of the vending machine control device 2.
By displaying the main menu on the display 6 and pressing the operation monitoring button 21, the display on the display 6 is switched from the display of FIG. 2 to the display of FIG. When the sale button 24 is pressed in the ticket vending machine status (list) display shown in FIG. 3, the display on the display 6 becomes the display shown in FIG. 4C. In other words, the ticket vending machine status (operation switching) is displayed, and the ticket vending machine No. 8 is selected from the ticket vending machine No. 1 with the display “Select the vending machine you want to start selling and press the [Execute] button.” It becomes a screen that can. On this screen, it is possible to select a ticket vending machine to be sold. When the execution button 28 is pressed, the display 6 displays that the state of the ticket vending machine is being updated (FIG. 4E), and whether or not the ticket vending machine has been completed normally (FIG. 4F). An indication of failure is displayed (FIG. 4G).

  When the display unit 6 presses the stop button 25 in the display of FIG. 4B (display shown in FIG. 3), the display becomes the display of FIG. 4D. That is, on the ticket vending machine status (operation switching) screen, select the ticket vending machine No. 8 from the ticket vending machine No. 1 with the message “Please select the ticket vending machine you want to stop selling and press the [Execute] button.” It becomes a screen to do. On this screen, the ticket vending machine can be switched to a canceled state.

In the display of FIG. 4D, when the execution button 28 is pressed, a display indicating that the state of the ticket vending machine is being updated is displayed (FIG. 4E). Is displayed (FIG. 4G).
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the display / operation of the display 6 (operation unit 9) of the vending machine control device 2 when the menu sold by the ticket vending machine 3 is switched to sales / sold out.

  First, the main menu screen (see FIG. 2, FIG. 5A) is displayed on the display 6, and the operation monitoring button 21 is pressed. Since the screen of the display device 6 is a ticket vending machine state (list) screen (see FIG. 3, FIG. 5B), the sales state monitoring button 27 displayed on the screen is pressed. Thereby, the screen of the sales state (by menu) shown in FIG. 5C is displayed. In this screen, by pressing the display selection buttons 31 provided at the upper left and right of the screen, the display screen is changed to the sales state (by sold-out group) (FIG. 5D), the sales state (by account) (FIG. 5E), and the sales state. (By menu) (FIG. 5C) can be displayed sequentially. That is, it is possible to cyclically switch the display of sales status by menu, by sold-out group, and by account. And any screen can be returned to the ticket vending machine status (list) screen (FIG. 5B) by pressing the vending machine status monitoring button 29.

  The sales state (by menu) screen shown in FIG. 5C is a screen for operating switching between sales / sold out for each menu. On this screen, by pressing the display selection button 32, it is possible to select a menu number and a menu (for example, “special seafood bowl” of the menu number “001”) to be sold / sold out. Selection of menu number and menu As a rule, the menu number and the menu are selected one by one, and then the setting transmission button 33 is pressed to select the selected “001” and “special seafood” at a plurality of ticket machines 3 connected via the LAN 4. “丼” is switched from selling to selling out.

One feature of this embodiment is that, as shown in FIG. 5D, the display screen of the display device 6 can be in a sales state (by sold-out group), not in each individual menu but in a predetermined group unit. It is to be able to switch between sale / sold-out.
More specifically, an arbitrary group can be selected by pressing the display selection button 32 on the display screen of the sales state (by sold-out group) shown in FIG. 5D. For example, “Udon noodles” with the group number “G01” is selected. Then, after selecting “G01” and “Udon noodles”, by pressing the setting transmission button 33, all the menus classified as “Udon noodles” are sold out at the plurality of ticket vending machines 3 connected via the LAN 4. Can be switched to.

  In the screen of FIG. 5C or FIG. 5D, the menu number 41 or the group number indicates whether it is in a sales state or sold out state (sales discontinued state) for each menu, or in a sales state or sold out state for each group. For example, when the display of 42 is red, the sold-out state is set, and when it is blue, the sold state is set. Then, by selecting either the menu number 41 or the group number 42 represented in blue or red by the display selection button 32, the selected menu number 41 or the group number 42 is switched to, for example, white display. Thereby, the operator can recognize which menu or which group is sold out or sold, and the setting switching target.

In the sales state (by account) screen shown in FIG. 5E, a menu is displayed for each account. In the display for each account, there is a menu for each account number (the account number is the number of a plurality (a large number) of account buttons 13 provided in the ticket vending machine 3 as described with reference to FIG. 1). Is displayed.
Next, an operation for setting a sold-out group as a belonging group or a product group in the vending machine control apparatus 2 will be described.

After the main menu (see FIG. 2) is displayed on the display device 6 and the sold-out group setting button 23 is pressed, the display on the display device 6 becomes the name setting screen for sold-out group setting shown in FIG.
In the name setting screen, only the group numbers “G01”, “G02”, “G03”... Are displayed initially, and the area on the right side of each group number is blank. Therefore, a group name is set in this blank area. The setting is performed by operating the selection display 32, selecting a group number, and inputting a name in the blank area of the selected group number. To enter a name, press the blank area to display the character input screen. Enter characters on that screen.

FIG. 6 shows a state in which group names have already been set for the sold-out groups G01 to G05.
When the display selection buttons 31 on the upper left and right sides are pressed on the screen of FIG. On the affiliation menu setting screen, “Udon” of the sold-out group “G01” is displayed above, and a list of all menus is displayed below. The display of all menus can be selected and scrolled by the display selection button 32. When the menu to be assigned to “G01” and “Udon” is selected, “Le” is registered by pressing the area at the left end of the menu number, and the menu is assigned to the sold-out group “G01 Udon”.

Thereafter, by pressing the enter button 34, all menus classified into the sold-out group “G01 udon” are displayed in a list. This is the display of FIG.
In the display of FIG. 7, by pressing “Le” at the left end of each menu, “Le” can be erased and the menu can be removed from the sold-out group “Udon”.
In the state of FIG. 7, when the determination button 34 is pressed, the belonging menu of the sold-out group “G01 udon” is determined. Once the menu to which the user belongs is set, the operation is performed with the setting until the setting is changed.

As described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, by setting the name of the sold-out group and the menu belonging to the sold-out group in advance, as described with reference to FIG. 5D, the sales state (for each sold-out group) is set. On the screen, it is possible to switch the sales / sold-out of the menu of the ticket vending machine together with a plurality of menus belonging to the sold-out group without omission.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of the vending machine control device 2. The vending machine control device 2 includes a control unit 51 configured by a microcomputer or the like, a menu registration memory 52, a sold-out group setting memory 53, an account setting memory 54, and an inventory registration memory 55. In this embodiment, a configuration is shown in which a plurality of memories are provided for each application, but instead of such a configuration, a single memory (a common memory) is used and a memory storage area is divided. The configuration may be such that a sold-out group, an account, an inventory, and the like can be stored.

The display unit 6 and the operation unit 9 are also connected to the control unit 51. As described above, the display screen of the display device 6 is a so-called touch panel method, and a transparent touch panel as the operation unit 9 is arranged on the surface of the display device 6.
The control unit 51 is further provided with a terminal 8 via an input / output interface 56. The control unit 51 can send and receive data to and from the plurality of ticket vending machines 3 via the LAN 4 connected to the terminal 8.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the menu information acquisition process. The vending machine control device 2 can acquire menu information registered in a plurality of connected ticket vending machines 3 from each ticket vending machine 3. This acquisition is performed according to the procedure shown in FIG.
The power supply of the vending machine control device 2 is turned on, and the main menu (see FIG. 2) is displayed on the display 6 (step S1). Then, it waits for the menu information acquisition button 22 in the main menu to be pressed (step S2), and when the menu information acquisition button 22 is pressed, the control unit 51 communicates with each ticket vending machine 3 from each ticket vending machine 3. Menu information is acquired (step S3). The menu information is information including a menu name (for example, “special seafood bowl”), a menu number (for example, “001”), and an assigned account number (for example, “mouth 01”).

The menu information is usually assigned to the same menu number in the plurality of ticket machines 3, and the same menu is assigned to the same account (number). It is desirable to operate without different menu numbers or account numbers.
However, when switching between sales / sold out of a menu, a configuration in which a switching signal is transmitted to a plurality of ticket vending machines 3 at the same time, a sales / sold out switching signal is transmitted to each ticket vending machine 3. If so, there is no problem even if the menu number to which the menu is assigned and the account number are different for each ticket machine.

The menu information acquired from each ticket machine 3 is stored in the menu registration memory 52 (step S4).
In this embodiment, the menu information is acquired via the LAN. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the menu information provided in each ticket vending machine 3 may be taken out to a storage medium (for example, a USB memory) and the menu information may be acquired by attaching the storage medium to the vending machine control device 2.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the contents of the sold-out group setting process. The sold-out group setting process can be performed on the sold-out group setting screen as described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the contents of this process from the control unit 51 side.
In the sold-out group setting process, a sold-out group setting name setting screen (see FIG. 6) is first displayed on the display 6 (step S11). This screen is displayed when the sold-out group setting button 23 is pressed on the main menu display screen (see FIG. 2).

On the group name setting screen for the sold-out group setting, the operator inputs a name for each group of G01, G02, G03... (Step S12). When determining that the enter key 34 has been pressed (step S13), the control unit 51 sets the name in the sold-out group setting memory 53 (step S14).
Next, it is determined whether or not the display selection key 31 has been pressed (step S15). When the display selection key 31 is pressed, the display screen is switched to the affiliation menu setting screen (see FIG. 7) for the sold-out group setting (step S16).

  Since all menus are displayed on the affiliation menu setting screen as described above, the operator selects an affiliation menu for each sold-out group from the entire display menu (step S17). When determining that the enter key 34 has been pressed (step S18), the control unit 51 stores the selected menu in the sold-out group setting memory 53 as an affiliated menu of the sold-out group (step S19).

In the sold-out group name setting, not only a group name but also a group can be set and registered in the group.
For example, as shown in FIG. 11, when the name “rice (meal, set meal)” is set as the sold-out group G02, the sold-out groups G03 and G04 may be set as subgroups of the sold-out group G02. it can.

That is, for example, the name “set meal” can be registered in the group G03. Similarly, the name “丼” can be registered in the group G04.
The set meals of group G03 are assigned with menus such as daily set meal, tonkatsu set meal, grilled fish set meal and fried set meal as individual menus. Further, for example, a parent and child bowl, an egg bowl, a bowl, and a cow bowl belong to the group G04.

Furthermore, in addition to the above-mentioned G03 set meals and G04 bowls, the individual group is added to the sold-out group G02 “Rice (rice bowl, set meal)” as curry rice, curry rice, croquette curry rice, hamburger curry. Menus such as rice, rice, grilled rice, and Tianjin rice are assigned.
In addition, “curry rice”, “cutlet curry rice”, “croquette curry rice” and “hamburg curry rice” were assigned to the sold-out group “G05: Curry”, and “Oyakodon”, “Ogyu” and “Tianjin Rice” You may also belong to the sold-out group “G06: Egg Cooking”.

In this way, if the sold-out group can be set in a hierarchical structure, processing efficiency can be improved when switching between selling / sold-out menus in units of sold-out groups.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the control contents for the sold-out process. When performing the sold-out process, the display screen of the sales state (by sold-out group) shown in FIG. 5D is displayed (step S31). On this screen, the operator selects a sold-out group that has no stock of ingredients (materials). For example, when the noodle balls are out of stock, the sold-out group G01 is selected (step S32), and the setting transmission button 33 is pressed. Based on this, the control unit determines that the setting transmission button 33 is turned on (step S33), and transmits a signal indicating that all menus belonging to the noodles should be sold out to each ticket vending machine 3. (Step S34).

Then, the vending machine control device 2 finishes the process when the above signals are normally received by each ticket vending machine 3 (step S35), and notifies the error notification when the sellout signal is not normally received by the ticket vending machine 3. This is performed (step S36).
The ticket vending machine 3 that has normally received the sold-out processing signal switches all menus belonging to the sold-out group to “sold out”.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing other control contents of the sold-out process, and shows the process contents corresponding to claim 6.
In this process, first, stock setting for each ingredient is performed (step S41). For example, 50 balls (50 meals) are set as stock of udon in the inventory registration memory 55 of the vending machine control device 2.
Each time the ticket vending machine 3 sells a menu, the ticket vending machine 3 gives the vending machine management device 2 a sales menu. When the vending machine management apparatus 2 receives the sales menu from the ticket vending machine 3 (step S42), it determines whether the food set in stock is used in the menu (step S43). In this example, the stock of “Udon” is set to 50 balls (50 meals). Therefore, for example, every time a menu such as kitsune udon, tempura udon, kobu udon is sold, the inventory data of “Udon” is subtracted (step S44). For example, suppose that the initial stock of “Udon” is “50” balls, 30 meals of Kitsune udon are sold, 25 meals of tempura udon are sold, and 4 meals of kobu udon are sold. Further, when one meal of fox udon is sold, the inventory data becomes 0 at this time (step S45). In response to this, the vending machine control device 2 transmits a sell-out processing signal to each ticket vending machine so as to sell out the udon group (step S46). If the signal is normally received by the ticket vending machine 3 (step S47), the process is terminated. If the signal is not normally received, an error notification is performed (step S48).

Instead of the above-described control, the vending machine control device 2 can perform the following operations.
The display 6 of the vending machine control device 2 can display the menu sold by the ticket vending machine 3. When a menu is sold at the ticket vending machine 3, the sold menu is immediately displayed on the vending machine control device 2.

The person in charge of the kitchen erases the menu displayed on the vending machine control device 2 when starting the cooking of the menu or when the cooking is completed and the food is handed over to the customer in exchange for the meal ticket (menu ticket). Do. For example, the menu is erased by touching the menu display displayed on the display 6.
In accordance with the disappearance of the menu, the inventory information of the ingredients constituting the menu is decremented by -1.

For example, before opening a store, for example, “Udon: 50 meals”, “Ramen: 70 meals”, “Curry: 80 meals”, and “Rice: 200 meals” are set in the inventory registration memory 55 of the vending machine control device 2. Then, in response to the deletion of the sold menu, for example, “Kitsune Udon”, the inventory information is reduced to “Udon: 50 → 49 meals”.
In other words, by associating the menu with the ingredients constituting the menu in advance, the inventory information input and set in the inventory registration memory 55 is reduced as the menu is sold. Sometimes, it is possible to stop selling the menus that use the lost ingredients in a lump.

In particular, in this embodiment, by associating a sold-out group with a group of ingredients (materials, ingredients) to be stocked, when there is no longer an ingredient group to be inventoried, the sales status of the sold-out group to be sold is not delayed. Can be switched.
In addition, the present invention can be variously modified within the scope of the claims.

1 Vending machine management system 2 Vending machine control device 3 Ticket vending machine (Vending machine for voucher sales)
LAN
6 Display 9 Operation Unit 21 Operation Monitoring Button 22 Menu Information Acquisition Button 23 Sold Out Group Setting Button 51 Control Unit 52 Menu Registration Memory 53 Sold Out Group Setting Memory 55 Inventory Registration Memory

Claims (6)

A vending machine control device for monitoring the status of a plurality of vending machines,
A group registration means for classifying and registering multiple types of products sold by vending machines into a plurality of groups according to a predetermined standard;
Means for identifying an arbitrary group registered in the belonging group registration means;
In response to the identification of the belonging group, a signal is sent to each vending machine indicating that the sale of all products classified into the identified belonging group among the products being sold is to be discontinued. Means for transmitting;
Only contains, can display whether the signal to the vending machine ready to transmit, characterized in that can display whether the state discontinued treatment has been the product or the group membership, Vending Machine Control device.   The vending machine control device according to claim 1, wherein the belonging group specifying unit can register products in a hierarchical structure.   3. The vending machine control device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined standard includes a material (material) that constitutes a product. The vending machine control device has product information acquisition means for acquiring information on sales products set in the vending machine,
The vending machine control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the belonging group registration unit classifies and registers the sales product information acquired by the product information acquisition unit into a plurality of groups. A vending machine control device for monitoring the status of a plurality of vending machines,
Inventory registration means for registering the materials (materials) of products sold by vending machines as stock quantities by material (material),
Product information receiving means for receiving sold product information each time the vending machine sells products;
Based on the product information received by the product information receiving means, means for extracting the material (material) of the product;
For the extracted material (material), means for reducing the number of units registered in the inventory registration means;
When the inventory quantity registered in the inventory registration means is exhausted, a signal is sent to each vending machine indicating that the sale of all products including the lost material (material) among the products to be sold is stopped. Means,
Only contains, can display whether the ready transmit the signal to the vending machine, the vending machine controller, characterized in that can display whether the state discontinued treatment has been the product or the material . A vending machine management system including a plurality of vending machines and a vending machine control device connected to each of the vending machines by communication means,
The vending machine sells a plurality of types of goods according to the input of money,
The vending machine control device has a registration unit that classifies and registers a plurality of types of products sold by the vending machine into a plurality of product groups according to a predetermined standard,
By specifying any product group registered in the registration unit of the vending machine control unit, the vending machine control device sends each vending machine to the specified product group via the communication unit. Sales stop signal output means for sending a signal to stop selling all products belonging to,
Only including the vending machine controller can be displayed whether the said signals can be displayed whether the transmission capable state vending machine, is in a state of discontinued treatment has been the product or the product groups Vending machine management system.

Images