JPH01100693A - Cancellation of goods selection right for vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent an event of illegal purchase by a 3rd party even when a purchaser leaves the machine without purchasing an article by canceling a sale enable state when a prescribed time elapses after the card is returned. CONSTITUTION: When a card is inserted and the validity of the card is discriminated, a display lamp of an article selection button 3 is lighted, a sale enable state is set and the card is returned. When the button 3 is depressed, a time after the sale enable state is set till the button 3 is depressed is stored in a memory 5, a timer 4 is cleared and the article is delivered. On the other hand, when the button 3 is not depressed and the set time of the timer 4 elapses, the lamp of the button 3 goes off to cancel the sale enable state. Thus, it is prevented that a 3rd party purchases the article illicity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for canceling the product selection right in a vending machine that sells products based on a 10 card or a prepay card inserted into the machine.

Conventional technology ′ Conventionally, in vending machines that were able to sell products such as food tickets based on 10 cards or prepay cards, when the card was inserted into the machine, the information recorded on the card was read and the card was If the card is determined to be valid, the card is returned and the vending machine is set to a ready state. At this time, the vending machine sells multiple types of products □
If the product is selected, the product selection button is enabled and waits for the purchaser to press the button. At this time,
The button usually has a built-in lamp that lights up to notify the purchaser of the sale status. When the button is pressed, the product sales process is performed.

Problems that the invention aims to solve: However, in such conventional products, the purchaser who received the returned card left without purchasing the product and without pressing the purchase cancellation button. In some cases, there is a problem that the product may be purchased by another person.

Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to solve these problems, and even if the person who inserted the card into the aircraft does not purchase the product, it is possible to prevent someone else from purchasing the product instead. do.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a vending machine that sells a plurality of products based on a card inserted into the machine. is read and the card is returned to the return slot, and the vending machine is set to a sellable state, and if the product selection button is not pressed within a predetermined time thereafter, the sellable state is canceled.

By doing this, even if the purchaser who received the returned card leaves without purchasing the item or pressing the purchase cancellation button, the card will be returned after the predetermined period of time has passed. Since the sale status of the product is canceled, a situation in which someone else fraudulently purchases the product is prevented from occurring.

Embodiment FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vending machine for implementing the method of the present invention. Here, 1 is a control device such as a microcomputer, and a card information reading device 2 and a plurality of product selection buttons 3 are connected to this control device 1. When pressed, the product selection button 3 outputs a product selection signal to the control device 1 indicating that the product has been selected. Further, the product selection button 3 has a built-in display lamp for displaying that the vending machine is in a vending state. In addition, the control device M
1 includes a timer 4 that starts operating when a sellable state is set that accompanies the return of the card whose information has been read;
A memory 5 that stores a detected value of the time from when the sellable state is set to when the product selection button 3 is pressed is connected to a product delivery device iF6 that sends the purchased product out of the machine.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained based on FIG. 1.

When the operation is started in step 11, the card is inserted in step 12, and the data recorded on the card is read in step 13 by the card information reading device. Next, in step 14, the validity of the card is determined.

When it is determined that the card is valid, the display lamp of the product selection button 3 lights up as shown in step 15, and the vending machine is set to the vending state. Then, in step 16, the card is returned to the product purchaser. Further, when the vending machine is set to the vending state, at the same time, timer 4 is started in step 17.

Next, in step 18, it is determined whether or not the product selection button 3 has been pressed. If product selection button 3 is pressed,
In step 19, the time from when the vending machine is set to the vending state until the product selection button 3 is pressed is detected and stored in the memory 5, and the timer 4 is cleared. Then, in step 20, sales processing is performed, and the product delivery device W1
From step 6, the selected product is sent out. Thereafter, in step 21, the set value of the timer 4 is corrected as necessary (details will be described later), and the operation is ended in step 22.

If the product selection button 3 is not pressed in step 18, it is determined in step 23 whether or not the set time of the timer 4 has elapsed. Here, before the set time has elapsed, the process returns to step 18 and it is determined whether or not the product selection button 3 has been pressed. If it is determined in step 23 that the set time of the timer 4 has elapsed, this means that no purchase was made within this set time, so in step 24 the lamp of the product selection button 3 is turned off, After canceling the sellable status in step 25, step 22
leading to.

By doing this, if no purchase is made within a certain period of time specified by timer 4 after the vending machine is set to the vending machine after the validity of the card is determined in step 14, , the available-for-sale status will be canceled.

Therefore, unauthorized purchase of the product by another person afterwards is prevented.

In step 14, the card is determined to be invalid;
If the product cannot be sold depending on the card,
The card is returned in step 26 and step 22 is immediately reached.

Next, the operation of correcting the set value of the timer 4 in step 21 will be explained in detail. The operation time of the timer 4 is set to, for example, 30 seconds as an initial setting at the time of shipment from the factory. On the other hand, in step 19, the memory 5 stores, for example, 100 times of time from when the product is set to the sellable state until the product selection button 3 is pressed. In step 21, the control device 1 calculates the average value of the data stored in the memory 5. This average value is generally about 10 to 12 seconds.

The control device 1 sets a value obtained by doubling this average value as a time-up reference value, and compares this reference value with the set value of the tie 74. If the set value of the comparison timer 4 is larger than the reference value, the set value of the timer 4 is changed to a smaller value by a certain value (for example, 1 second).

In this way, the set value of the timer 4 is corrected based on the average value of [lt] until the product selection button 3 is actually pressed. In a vending machine installed in a place where the purchaser's activity level is quick, the set value of the timer 4 is significantly corrected accordingly. This reduces the holding time for subsequent product buyers,
It becomes possible to operate the vending machine efficiently.

In addition, since the setting value of timer 4 is not made to correspond to the above reference value all at once, but is corrected by a fixed value, P
It becomes possible to increase the number of samples that should serve as a criterion for judgment, and the accuracy of correction improves.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, if a purchase is not made within a predetermined time after the product is set to a sellable state, the sellable state is canceled. Even if the user leaves without making a purchase, it is possible to prevent others from fraudulently purchasing the product afterwards.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the schematic structure of a vending machine for implementing the present invention. 1...Control! l device, 3...product selection button, 4.
...Timer. Agent Yoshihiro Morimoto

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a vending machine that sells multiple products based on a card inserted into the machine, when the card is inserted into the machine, the information is read and the card is returned to the return slot, and A method for canceling a product selection right in a vending machine, characterized in that the vending machine is set in a sellable state, and then when a product selection button is not pressed within a predetermined time, the sellable state is canceled. 2. Initialize a predetermined time until the sale status is canceled, then store the time until the product selection button is pressed during multiple sales operations, and correct the initial setting based on this stored value. A method for canceling a product selection right in a vending machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: