JPH01191289A - Money returning method for automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To unconditionally prevent a system from being stopped at the time of an abnormality of a clogging a note by returning money by coins when a note identifying machine is clogged by the notes at the time of returning the note and selling goods only by the use of a coin mechanism, thereafter. CONSTITUTION:The payment of a remainder is started from the coin mechanism 3 by receiving a note clogging and abnormal code from the note identifying machine 4. At that time, after the coins reach the number effective for the payment temporarily set in a change storing cylinder in the respective coin mechanisms 3, the presence and the absence of the change is are further recognized, when the change is present, the number effective for payment capable of being estimated to a minimum is reset, the same type of the coins are repeatedly paid to the effective number as a method to use the coins in the coin mechanism 3 to a maximum and make the possibility of stopping the system minimum.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention includes a coin mechanism as a coin identification means having a function of distributing reserved coins as change, etc., and discriminating and accepting banknotes, and
In automatic vending machines (also referred to as vending machines) equipped with a banknote validator that dispenses held banknotes as change, etc., when the banknote validator is unable to refund due to jammed bills, etc., the money will be refunded to the coin knock. Relating to a method of controlling refunds on behalf of the customer.

[Conventional technology]

A conventional method for dispensing change in a vending machine is to first return a banknote return bone from a bill validator, and then return coin return bones from a coin mechanism in descending order of denominations. If a bill jam occurs in the bill validating machine and the bill cannot be returned, it is common practice to stop the entire vending machine at that point.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in this case, if a bill jam occurs in the -degree bill validator, there is a problem that subsequent sales cannot be continued even if the coin mechanism is normal. Therefore, the purpose of this invention is to provide a refund control method that returns the remaining amount including the unreturned amount due to bills using coins in the coin mechanism when a bill is jammed in a bill validator, thereby preventing the entire vending machine from stopping. The goal is to continue sales.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the method of the present invention includes a coin mechanism (such as 3) having a function of discriminating and accepting r coins and returning reserved coins as change, etc., and a coin mechanism (such as 3) having a function of discriminating and accepting banknotes and , a vending machine (such as 1) equipped with a bill validating machine (such as 4) that has a function of refunding retained bills as change, etc., after inserting a bill into the bill validating machine, inserting the bill into the bill validating machine. When a jam occurs, (when bills are jammed/sales control means 2A)
etc.) The bill validator is separated from the control system of the vending machine to sell products, and necessary refunds are made via the coin mechanism.

[For use]

The present invention provides, in controlling the return section of the coin mechanism,
By receiving the jammed bill error code from the bill validator, the coin mechanism starts dispensing the remaining amount. At that time, once the set effective number of payout coins has been reached in the change holding cylinder in each coin mechanism, check whether there is change or not, and if there is still change, set the minimum expected effective number of payout coins again and make the same amount of money. This method uses a method of repeatedly dispensing seed coins up to the effective number, maximizing the use of coins in the coin mechanism and minimizing the possibility of system outage.

【Example】

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of main parts as an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are the refund side of the banknote validator and coin mechanism shown in FIG. 1, respectively. f
It is a flowchart which shows f1l operation. In FIG. 1, 1 is a vending machine, and 2 is a control unit for controlling the entire vending machine, which includes a microcomputer and the like. Further, 3 is a coin mechanism, 4 is a bill validator, and 2A is a bill jam/sale control means as a partial functional unit which is considered to share the functions of the control unit 2, and is the main body of the present invention. Next, using FIGS. 2 and 3, the controller 2. Especially when you are stuck with bills.
The operation of the sales control means 2A will be explained. To make it easier to understand, let's take an example of how to dispense 500 yen coins, insert 3 1,000 yen bills and 5 100 yen coins, totaling 3,500 yen, with change in memory of 01,100 yen coins. Suppose you had money. There was a sale of 200 yen and the remaining amount was 330 yen.
Let us consider a case where the return switch (not shown) is operated when the amount reaches 0 yen and the refund is started. Therefore, the amount of money to be returned in this case is r 3300 J. First, during normal operation, the control unit 2 determines whether or not bills have been inserted in step 11 via the banknote validator 4 (branch Y), and since there are three banknotes that can be returned, the control unit 2 sets the banknote holding counter in step 12 to " 3”. Next, if the first refund is successfully completed in steps 13 to 15, step 16
The banknote holding counter is decremented to "2" at step 16^, and 1000 yen is subtracted from the amount to be returned in step 16^, the new amount to be returned is set as r2300 J, and the process returns to step 13. Suppose that an abnormality occurs in the banknote validating machine due to a jam in the banknotes during the next second refund. As for the operation at this time, first, in step 14, the control unit 2 sends a command to the bill validator 4 to refund the bills. The banknote validator 4 receives this command and starts the refund operation, but it takes a certain amount of time to complete the refund operation. Meanwhile, the control unit 2 is in a standby state repeating the loop procedure of (step 158 branch N) and (step 171 branch N), and waits for a signal from the banknote validator 4 indicating "refund operation complete" or "abnormality". . now,
Since an "abnormal" signal was sent from the banknote validator 4 (
The type of abnormality is detected by repeating the loop procedure of step 1 f 9 branch Y) # (step 185 branch N). Eventually, the type of abnormality is detected in step 189 (branch Y), and in step 19 it is determined that there is a "bill jam" (branch Y), after which the coin mechanism 3 refund control operation is performed by the jammed bill/sales control means 2A. . This means that a refund of 2,300 yen should be made from the coin mechanism 3, including the 2,000 yen that should have been returned in paper money. Next, the coin mechanism 3 is tried to perform a refund operation starting with high-value coins of 500 yen, but in this case, the number of pending coins that are valid for returning 500 yen coins before the current coin insertion is 0 (the number of stored coins is 0). Since there was no new input, the next step is to control the refund of 100 yen coins as shown in FIG. Note that the number of pieces stored here refers to the number of pieces stored that are valid for payout, and when the power is turned on and the bait is turned on. Alternatively, the number of coins of each denomination that are considered to have been retained through the process of input and withdrawal from the time when they changed from the time of fishing to bait (that is, when the number of stored coins = 0) to the present. This is the number of tickets on hold. Now, if the 100 yen coin had change before this coin was inserted (step 215 branch Y), it would be assumed that there were at least 10 valid coins to pay out at the beginning, and the subsequent 100 yen coins would be Since there are 5 coins, in the end, in step 22, the 100 yen holding counter, which is a counter for storing the effective number of 100 yen coins to be paid out, is set to "15". Then, in step 24, the amount to be returned is 1
00 yen or less, or 10 in step 25.
Until it is determined that the 0 yen hold counter has reached 0 (branch Y
), (Stella 1241 branch Y) to (step 27^) 100 yen refund operation is repeated. That is, in step 26, 10
Perform a refund operation of 0 yen and 1 coin, and in step 27, 100 yen is refunded.
The yen holding counter is decremented, and in step 27A, 100 yen is subtracted from the amount to be returned to obtain a new amount to be returned. Therefore, in this case, when the 100 yen hold counter is decremented to "0", the remaining amount (amount to be returned) is 2300-150.
0 = 800 yen, and the operation is from steps 25 to 28.
Then, it is determined whether there was a "bill jam abnormality". Since the bill validator 4 is currently jammed with bills, it is determined again in step 29 whether there is 100 yen change. Here, if we assume that the 100 yen coin has change, it is assumed that there are at least 10 coins still valid for payout of 100 yen.
At step 30, set "10" to the 100 yen holding counter, return to step 24 again, and step 24 to 27A.
Repeat the 100 yen refund operation. This time, the balance is 800 yen, and if you pay out 8 100 yen coins, the "amount to be returned" becomes 0 in step 24 (branch N), and subsequent refund operations of 50 yen coins and 10 yen coins are unnecessary. The refund operation is completed and the vending machine system returns to standby mode. However, banknote validator 4
Just disconnect it from the system while it is still stuck. In the above procedure, when it is determined in step 29 whether or not there is change while the balance remains at 800 yen, if there is no change (branch N), the refund operation is 50 yen coins, 10 yen coins, etc.
When the payout is sequentially transferred to coins and the effective number of 10 yen coins to be paid out is used up, the entire system will stop only if there is still a balance (amount to be returned). Furthermore, in the above explanation, 500 yen, 50 yen and 1
Although we have omitted the explanation of the detailed procedure for returning each 0 yen coin, this procedure is basically the same as in Figure 3, and the difference is that the 100 yen or 100 in Figure 3 is Replaced with the amount value of the denomination, and the effective number of coins to be paid out at the time of changing change before the current coin insertion (that is, step 22
and the value corresponding to 10 in 30) may be replaced with a predetermined value corresponding to the denomination of the coin.

【Effect of the invention】

According to this invention, in a vending machine equipped with a banknote validator and a coin mechanism, if the banknote validator becomes jammed when returning banknotes, a refund is made in coins, and from then on, the product is sold using only the coin mech. This prevents the system from unconditionally stopping when a banknote jam occurs, and there is no need to stop sales until the banknote validating machine malfunctions. Furthermore, in the event of a paper jam, it is possible to greatly increase the possibility that the amount equivalent to the amount returned in bills can be exchanged for coins and returned. After the number of coins returned reaches the set valid payout number when returning coins, if there is change, the minimum expected payout valid number is set on the hold counter again. This is because the method of dispensing coins was adopted.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the main structure of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are flowcharts for explaining the operation of FIG. 1. 1: Vending machine, 2: Control unit, 2A: Light control means when bills are jammed, 3: Coin mechanism, 4: Gyenbetsu machine.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A coin mechanism that has a function of identifying and accepting coins and refunding reserved coins as change, etc.; and a coin mechanism having a function of identifying and accepting banknotes and refunding retained bills as change, etc. In a vending machine equipped with a banknote validating machine, if a bill jam occurs in the banknote validating machine after inserting a banknote into the banknote validating machine, the banknote validating machine is switched to a control system of the vending machine. A refund control method for a vending machine, characterized in that product sales are performed separately from a vending machine, and necessary refunds are made via the coin mechanism.