JPH0213785B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic vending type copying machine device in which coins are inserted.

Recently, in order to save on labor costs, it has become almost unmanned.
2. Description of the Related Art Many so-called automatic vending copying machines have come to be seen, which are installed and targeted at an unspecified number of users and can be used freely by anyone as long as they insert cash.

In this automatic vending type copying machine, it is first and foremost necessary to configure the system so that financial troubles do not occur.

To do this, multiply the obtained number of copies by the copy unit price, subtract that amount from the input amount to obtain the balance, determine whether the balance is greater than or equal to the copy unit price, and based on the result of that determination, proceed as follows. It is sufficient to decide whether or not to permit the copy operation, and to return the balance amount if requested by the user.

However, as mentioned above, if you wait for the copy to be output,
If the above determination calculation were performed, the next copy operation would not be possible until the copy is ejected.
Copying time becomes long and efficiency is extremely reduced.

Therefore, conventionally, the above judgment calculation is performed at the same time as paper feeding to determine whether or not the next copying operation can be performed.
If requested by the user, the balance amount would be returned.

In this way, the next copying operation, that is, the next paper feeding, is possible before the copy is ejected.
As long as the copying machine is operating normally, there will be no financial trouble, and the time required for copying will be shortened, making it more convenient. However, if an abnormality occurs in the copying machine during use and the copies that have been fed are no longer ejected, it would be unreasonable to deduct that amount from the input amount, causing financial trouble. .

The present invention enables the next copying operation to be performed before the copy sheet is ejected, thereby increasing the usage efficiency of the copying machine, and also enables legitimate use and fee payment according to the input amount, thereby avoiding financial troubles. In order to achieve this object, the present invention determines whether or not the next copying operation can be performed according to the number of sheets fed, and at the same time determines whether or not the next copying operation can be performed according to the number of sheets fed. , calculate the balance,
The feature is that the input amount is settled.

The present invention will be explained below based on the drawings.

The figure is a diagram showing the main parts of an automatic vending copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is an input amount calculation means;
3 is a first calculation means, 3 is a second calculation means, 4 is a copying machine control means, 5 is an up-down counter, and 6 is a
AND circuit 7 is a change payment means.

The inserted amount calculation means 1 is a means for discriminating the type of inserted money, calculating the amount thereof, and outputting the inserted amount value a ₁ together with the addition timing signal a ₂ .
At the user's request, the change payment means 7
The amount corresponding to the value b output from the calculation means 2 is paid sequentially for each type of money, and each time the payment is made, the value _c1 of the payment amount is outputted to the first calculation means ₂ together with the subtraction timing signal c2, and the 1 This means completes the payment by setting the value held in the calculation means 2 to 0. For example, when a request is made by the user, if 180 yen is held in the first calculation means 2, the change payment means 7 will, based on the amount b,
First, take out a 100 yen coin, output the amount c ₁ to the first calculation means 2 together with the subtraction timing signal c _2, make the amount b output from the first calculation means 2 80 yen, and based on this result, next Take out a 50 yen coin, then repeat the same action to take out 8 10 yen coins, and then
The payment is completed by setting the output b of the calculation means 2 to 0. These input amount calculation means 1
And the change payment means 7 is a conventionally known means, as seen in ticket vending machines, etc.
Further detailed explanation will be omitted.

The first calculation means 2 consists of a register 21, a copy unit price setter 22, etc., and inputs the input amount value ₁ by inputting the above-mentioned addition timing signal _a2 in the register 21.
, subtract the payment amount value _c1 by inputting the subtraction timing signal _c2 , and use the copy ejection signal d described later as the subtraction timing signal to calculate the copy unit price e.
, and outputs the value b to the change payment means 7 and the second calculation means 3.

The second calculation means 3 includes a register 31, a copy unit price setter 32, a comparator 33, etc.
Then, the value b output from the register 21 of the first calculation means is set by the signal f output when the content of the up-down counter 5 is 0, while the copy paper feed signal g, which will be described later, is used as a subtraction timing signal for copying. The unit price e is subtracted, and the comparator 33 compares the output value h of the register 31 with the copy unit price e, and if the result is that the output value h is greater than the copy unit price e, it outputs a signal i.

The copying machine control means 4 enables the copying machine main body (not shown) in response to the signal i, and also sends a copy paper feed signal g every time paper is fed in conjunction with a copying operation. This means outputs a copy discharge signal d each time a copy is taken out, and outputs an abnormality signal j when an abnormality occurs in the copying machine.

The up-down counter 5 receives the copy paper feed signal g
The value is increased by 1 each time the copy ejection signal d is input, and is decreased by 1 each time the copy ejection signal d is input.Also, when it is reset by the abnormality signal j and its value is 0,
This is means for outputting a signal f.

The automatic vending copying machine of this embodiment is constructed as described above, and the total amount of money inserted is set in the register 21 of the first calculation means 2. At the same time, the value b is equal to the signal f since the content of the up-down counter 5 is 0 in the initial state.
Therefore, it is also set in the register 31 of the second arithmetic means 3. The value h set in the register 31 is compared with the copy unit price e by a comparator 33. As a result, if the input amount is more than the copy unit price, comparator 3
3 outputs the signal i to the copy control means 4.

This makes the copying machine ready for use, and if the user operates the copy button at this time, the copying machine starts a copying operation.

That is, as paper is fed, a series of copying operations is performed in which a latent image corresponding to the document is developed on the rotating photosensitive drum, transferred to the fed paper, fixed, and ejected.

At this time, the copying machine control means 4 detects paper feeding and outputs a copy paper feeding signal g.

This signal g is input to the up-down counter 5 to increment its value by one, and is also input to the register 31, where the copy unit price e is subtracted from the value h.

The comparator 33 calculates the subtracted new value h and
A comparison is made with the copy unit price e, and if the value h is still larger than the copy unit price, a signal i is output.

As a result, the next copying operation can be performed before the previous copy is ejected, and when the same document is continuously copied, the copying time can be greatly reduced.

On the other hand, the comparator 33 does not output the signal i if the value h of the register 31 is smaller than the copy unit price.
This prevents unauthorized use of the copying machine.

Further, the copying machine control means 4 detects paper ejection and outputs a paper ejection signal d. This signal d is input to the up-down counter 5 and its value is decremented by one, and is also input to the register 21, where the copy unit price e is subtracted from the value b.

Therefore, if the copying machine is operating normally, the number of fed sheets and the number of discharged sheets will match when the copying machine is finished being used, so the value of the up-down counter 5 will be 0 and the signal f will be output. On the other hand, the register 21 outputs a balance value b obtained by subtracting the product of the number of copies obtained and the unit price of copies from the input amount.

At this time, when the user operates the change request button, the change request signal k is input to the AND circuit 6,
The change payment means 7 is activated by AND with the signal f, and returns an amount corresponding to the balance value b.

By the way, if an abnormality such as a jam occurs while the copying machine is being used in this manner, the copying machine is stopped and an abnormality signal j is output from the copying machine control means 4 to reset the up-down counter 5.

As a result, the up-down counter 5 receives the signal f.
At this time, if the user requests change, the change payment means 7 operates and subtracts the amount corresponding to the value b of the register 21, that is, the amount corresponding to the number of copies ejected from the input amount. Return the remaining amount.

In this way, even if a malfunction occurs in the machine and the fed copies are no longer ejected, the amount will be refunded based on the number of copies made, so the user will not have to deal with the unreasonable costs of the conventional method. You will no longer have to pay fees.

On the other hand, at this time, if the abnormality is removed without the user requesting change and the machine returns to its normal state, the value b of the register 21 will remain in the register due to the signal f output from the up-down counter 5. It is set to 31. That is, the register 31 excludes the amount of paper that was not ejected when the copying machine malfunctions, and calculates from the input amount,
A value h is set by subtracting the amount of money for the discharged paper.

As a result, if the value h in the register 31 is greater than the copy unit price, the copying machine can be used, and when the user operates the copy button, the same copying operation as described above is performed again, depending on the input amount. A legitimate number of copies can be obtained, and if requested by the user, a fair amount of money corresponding to the number of copies can be returned.

Incidentally, since the copy unit price in the above embodiment generally differs depending on the paper size, the unit copy price setting devices 22 and 32 are configured so that the copy unit price corresponding to the selection of the paper size is outputted. Needless to say.

It is also clear that one copy unit price setting device 22, 23 can be used for the same purpose without providing a plurality of copy unit price setting devices 22, 23.

Further, the copy paper feed signal g in the above embodiment does not need to be based on the paper feed detection signal, but may be a signal that allows the second calculation means to perform a predetermined calculation before the next paper feed, for example. , a copy button signal, or any other arbitrary signal can be used.

Furthermore, the first and second calculation means can also be configured using a microcomputer.

As described above, according to the present invention, since it is determined whether or not there is a balance exceeding the copy unit price before copying paper is fed, the next copying operation can be performed before paper is ejected, thereby improving copy usage efficiency. In addition, the payment decision is made after the copy is ejected, so even if a problem occurs with the copying machine, the user will not suffer any disadvantages, and as a result, financial troubles will be prevented. Therefore, an automatic vending type copying machine with high usability can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figure is a block diagram of the main parts of an automatic vending type copying machine showing one embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Input amount calculation means, 2...First calculation means, 3...Second calculation means, 4...Copy machine control means, 5...Up-down counter, 6...AND
Circuit, 7... Change payment means, 21, 31... Register, 22, 32... Copy unit price setting device, 33
...Comparator.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an automatic vending copy machine device that is used by inserting money, the first step is to subtract the product of the copy unit price and the number of copies output from the input amount and calculate the balance.
When using the calculation means initially and after interruption due to an abnormality, input the output of the first calculation means, subtract the product of the copy unit price and the number of copies fed from that value, and calculate the balance and the copy unit price. a second calculation means for comparing the magnitude of the second calculation means, a copying machine control means for enabling or disabling the copying machine according to the output of the second calculation means, and the first calculation means according to the user's request. and a change payment means for returning change corresponding to the output of the automatic copying machine device.