JPH0334117B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an automatic vending method for automatically vending products using a card capable of recording information, such as a magnetic card.

[Description of Prior Art] As one of the prior art related to the present invention, there is a vending machine control device using a personal recognition medium described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 52-96599. This is because the product is dispensed after confirming that the sales information has been recorded correctly on the card, and even though the sales information has been correctly recorded on the card, the product is not dispensed due to an abnormality at the rear of the vending machine. In this case, a cancellation mark is written on the card to indicate cancellation of the recorded sales information.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] By the way, in automatic sales of products where the cumulative amount of purchased products is recorded on a magnetic card and the charges are settled later,
Each time a product is purchased, the purchased product price is added to the current cumulative amount on the card to obtain a new cumulative amount, and this is updated and recorded on the card in place of the previous cumulative amount. In such a vending method, if an error occurs in updating the cumulative amount and the correct amount is not recorded, with the above conventional technology, the product is not paid out and the cumulative amount on the card is incorrect. The amount remains updated and recorded, and the previously paid purchased items and the cumulative amount on the card do not match, resulting in financial trouble. Moreover, a cancellation mark is recorded when the product is not paid out even though the sales information is correctly recorded on the card, so if an error occurs in the update record, the cancellation mark will not be recorded. Therefore, there are problems in that the incorrect amount is used as is as the cumulative amount.

The present invention has been made based on the above viewpoints, and
The purpose of this is to make it possible to match the purchased items that have already been paid out with the cumulative amount on the card, even if the purchased item is not paid out due to an error in the update record of the cumulative amount, and to make it possible for the next item to be purchased. To provide an automatic sales method using a deferred payment card, which automatically resolves errors in update records at the time of the transaction.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In the present invention, it is possible to write a first amount _D1 , a second amount _D2 , and an error signal representing a writing error of each amount _D1 , _D2 , This is a method of selling products from a vending machine using a deferred payment card in which the initial amounts of the first and second amounts D ₁ and D ₂ are both 0, and when the card is inserted into the vending machine, Read the contents of the card, and if the read first and second amounts D ₁ and D ₂ are both 0, set one of the predetermined amounts as the adopted amount D _L ,
If the read first and second amounts D ₁ and D ₂ are different from each other, the first and second amounts D ₁ ,
The larger of D ₂ is the adopted amount D _L ,
Add the selling price D of the product selected by the purchaser to this adopted amount D _L to obtain the cumulative amount (D _L + D),
When the card is removed from the vending machine, the cumulative amount (D _L + D) is written on the card in place of the first or second amount D ₁ or D ₂ that was not used as the current adopted amount D _L. Therefore, the larger of the first and second amounts D ₁ and D ₂ of the card represents the total amount of purchased items up to this time, and the smaller amount represents the total amount of purchased items up to the previous time. At the same time, when the card is removed from the vending machine, the cumulative amount (D _L +D) is read from the card following the writing of the cumulative amount (D L +D) to the card, and the cumulative amount (D _L +D) is read out from the card. If there is no error in the read cumulative amount (D _L + D), the product selected by the purchaser will be paid out, and if there is an error in the read cumulative amount (D _L + D), the product will not be paid out. The cumulative amount (D _L
+D) is written in the first or second amount D ₁ ,
Write an error signal representing D ₂ on said card, and write a first or second amount D ₁ , D ₂ without a writing error on the next insertion of said card into said vending machine.
is _the adopted amount D _L , and the cumulative amount (D _{L +}
D) is written on the card, and at the time of payment, the contents of the card are read out, and if there is no error signal, the larger of the first or second amount D ₁ or D ₂ is set as the billed amount; By using a card-based automatic vending method in which, if there is an error signal, the amount charged is the first or second amount D ₁ or D ₂ whichever has no writing error.
Achieve the above objectives.

[Effect] If a product with selling price D = 100 yen is selected in the first product purchase, the first or second price
One of the predetermined amounts of D ₁ and D ₂ , for example 0 yen of the first amount D ₁ , is taken as the adopted amount D _L , the cumulative amount (D _L + D) = 100 yen is calculated, and this is calculated as the second amount. The amount _D2 is written in place of 0 yen, and the first amount _D1 is left as 0 yen. Assuming that a product with a selling price of D = 200 yen is selected for the second product purchase,
Assuming 100 yen of the second amount D ₂ , which is the larger amount, as the adopted amount D, calculate the cumulative amount (D _L + D) = 300 yen, write this in the first amount D ₁ , and calculate the second amount D. ₂ is left at 100 yen. Therefore, the larger of the first and second amounts D ₁ and D ₂ represents the total amount of purchased items up to this time, and the smaller amount represents the total amount of purchased items up to the previous time. Become. Here, if an error occurs when writing the cumulative amount of 300 yen and 400 yen is written to _{the first amount D 1, an error signal is attached to this first amount D 1 =} 400 yen, and the second amount 200 yen products will not be paid out. Then, for the next purchase, that is, the third time, the second amount without any writing errors will be used.
D ₂ = 100 yen is set as the adopted amount D _L , so that the products already paid out and the cumulative amount on the card match. If a product worth 200 yen is selected again for the third time, the cumulative amount of 300 yen is calculated using the second amount D ₂ = 100 yen, and the first amount D ₁ with the error signal is used as the correct amount. Since the price is updated to 300 yen, the error in the update record will be automatically resolved. At the payment machine, the first amount D ₁ and the second amount
If no error signal is attached to both amounts D ₂ , the larger amount will be the billed amount, and if an error signal is attached, the amount without an error signal will be the billed amount. By doing so, an amount corresponding to the total amount of the paid products is billed.

[Embodiment of the Invention] FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 show an embodiment of the present invention. The figure shows the control flowchart.

As shown in FIG. 2, the magnetic guard 1 has a magnetic stripe 2 having a recording track 3 in which first monetary data _D1 is written and a recording track 4 in which second monetary data _D2 is written. The recording track also has judgment data written therein for judging the suitability of the card. It is also possible to write error signals to the recording tracks 3 and 4. The error signal indicates a writing error in the amount data that was not written correctly when the amount data D ₁ and D ₂ were not written correctly, and the amount that was not written correctly when the card 1 was removed from the vending machine. It is written to the data recording track following the amount data, and when read, it is read out before the amount data, indicating an error in writing the amount data. The recorded amount of each track is 0 if it is not used. Write heads W ₁ , W ₂ and read heads R ₁ , R ₂ in the reading device on the vending machine side are prepared for each track, and the write heads and the read heads are provided in that order in the card removal direction. . These heads are connected to a write circuit 5 and a read circuit 6, respectively.
Write circuit 5 and read circuit 6 are shown in FIG.

Figure 1 shows the system on the vending machine side.
0 is a microcomputer with CPU101,
It includes a ROM 102 containing a control program, a RAM 103 for data storage, an input port 104 and an output port 105.

A readout circuit 6 and a product selection button 11 are connected to the input port 104 . The readout circuit 6 is
As will be described later, when the magnetic card 1 is inserted into the vending machine, first and second amount data D ₁ , D ₂ , judgment data for determining the authenticity of the guard, and an error signal in the case of a recording error are generated. and input port 1
04, and when the magnetic card 1 is removed from the vending machine, write data of the total amount spent up to the sale is given to the input port 104. The product selection button 11 supplies product selection data to the input port 104 in accordance with the purchaser's product selection.

The output port 105 has a write circuit 5 and a display device 1.
2 and a product dispensing device 13 are connected. When the magnetic card 1 is removed from the vending machine, the write circuit 5 is given a command to write the total amount spent up to the sale, and a command to write an error signal in case a recording error occurs. . Display commands such as card insertion, product selection, and card removal are given to the display device 12. A product delivery command is given to the product delivery device 13.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained using the flowchart shown in FIG.

In the card acceptance state, the display device 12
A card insertion instruction is issued (step 20), and the display device 12 displays a message to that effect. When the card is inserted according to this display, the first and second amount data of magnetic card 1 will be displayed.
If there is an error in the judgment data and recording for determining the authenticity of the cards _D1 and _D2 , an error signal is taken in through the readout circuit 6 (step 21), and the appropriateness of the card to be used is judged based on the judgment data (step 21).
22), the presence or absence of an error signal is determined (step 23). Judgment data for determining whether a card is genuine or fake is provided in order to exclude the use of a card that has been fraudulently forged or used for other sales.

If the card is valid and there is no error signal, proceed to step 24, and record the amount D ₁ of card 1,
The size of D ₂ is determined. First amount data
If D ₁ is larger than the second amount data D ₂ (D ₁ > D ₂ ), the amount D ₂ is written to D _S in the data area prepared in the RAM 103, and the amount D ₁ is written to D _L. (Step 25). If the amount D ₁ <the amount D ₂ , the amount D ₂ is written to D ₁ in D _S (step 26). Amount D ₁ =
In the case of the amount D ₂ , that is, when the card is first used, D ₁ = D ₂ = 0, and either can be entered as D _S or D _L. In this example, the amount D ₁ is in D _S , The amount _D2 is entered into D _L (step 27).

Next, an instruction to select the purchased product is given to the display device 12 (step 28), a message to that effect is displayed on the display device 12, and the process waits for the product price data D to be accepted. When the purchaser selects a purchased product using the product selection button 11, the price data D corresponding to that product and the larger amount D _L obtained in step 25, 26, or 27 are withdrawn, and these are added. (Step 29), and the resulting cumulative amount (D _L +D) is temporarily stored. Next, the process moves to step 30, where an instruction to remove the card is given to the display device 12, and a message to that effect is displayed on the display device 12.

If the purchaser removes card 1 according to the card removal display, step 25 or 26 or
A _write output is given to _the write _{circuit 5} (step 31 ). Therefore, for example, the amount D ₁ =
If D _S and the amount D ₂ = D _L , the cumulative amount (D ₂ + D)
is written in place of the amount D ₁ and becomes the new amount D ₁ ', leaving the amount D ₂ as is.
For the next sale that follows, the amount D ₂ = D _S , the amount
D ₁ ′ = D _L , and if the product price in this sale is D ′, the additional amount (D ₁ ′ + D ′) is written in place of the amount D ₂ , and the amount D ₁ ′ is left as is. .

When the card is removed, the reading circuit 6 reads the cumulative amount (D _L +D) written on the card in step 31, and the read content and the cumulative amount temporarily stored in step 29 are read out. (D _L +D) is determined (step
32, 33). As a result, both of them match and the cumulative amount (D _L
+D) is correctly written, a corresponding product dispensing command is given to the product dispensing device 13 (step 34), and the product is dispensed from the vending machine.

If it is determined in step 22 that the card used is inappropriate, a card invalidity processing routine 35 is called.
A message indicating that the card is inappropriate is displayed on the display device 12, and the selling operation is stopped.

If it is determined in step 33 that there is an error in writing the additional amount, an error signal is written via the writing circuit 5 when the card is removed as described above (step 36). Card reinsertion information is then provided to the display device 12 (step 37) to prompt reinsertion of the card. When the card is reinserted,
Proceed to step 23 via steps 21 and 22
Enter 38. In step 38, the amount for which there is no error signal is entered into _D1 , and the amount for which there is an error signal is entered into _D.sub.S. For example, if the amount D ₁ = D _S and the amount D ₂ = D _L , and the cumulative amount (D ₂ + D) is written in place of the amount D ₁ , and a writing error occurs at this time, then the writing error occurs when writing D _L. Let D ₂ without
Let the amount _D1 with a writing error be D _S. As a result, subsequent sales operations are performed based on the amount with no writing errors, and a new cumulative amount is written to the side where the writing error occurred in step 31, and the amount data with the writing error and the error are The signal is turned off.

As a result of such sales, the amount of card 1 D ₁ ,
The cumulative amount after purchasing the product is recorded in the larger one of D ₂ , and the cumulative amount before the final use of the card is recorded in the smaller one. Settlement is performed by reading out the cumulative amount recorded in the larger of the amounts D ₁ and D ₂ on the card. FIGS. 4 and 5 are a block diagram and a control flowchart showing an example of a card payment method.

FIG. 4 shows the system at the checkout office, and the microcomputer 40 has a CPU 401, a ROM 402 containing a control program, a RAM 403 for data storage, an input port 404, and an output port 405. A reading circuit 41 is connected to the input port 404, and the amount D ₁ , D ₂ of the card is read out.
If there is an error signal, this signal can also be read. Output port 4
05 is connected to a display device 42, and is configured to display the correct total amount of money on the card.

With the above configuration, when the card is inserted, the amount recorded on the card is read from the reading circuit 41 via the head (not shown).
After reading D ₁ , D ₂ and an error signal (step 51), and determining whether there is a recording error (step 52), either amount data D ₁ or D ₂ is determined as the amount in the data area D _L. A determination is made as to whether they correspond (step 53 or 54). If there is no error signal, the amounts D ₁ and D ₂ are set in step 53.
D _L is determined by comparing the size of . If there is an error signal, step 54 sets the amount D _L for which there is no error signal. Next, the amount determined as the amount in the data area _DL is given to the display device 42, whereby the cumulative amount of the purchased item is displayed on the display device 42.

FIG. 6 shows another specific example of a magnetic card applied to the implementation of the present invention, the feature of which is that first amount data D ₁ and second amount data D ₂ are recorded on a single track 60. It's about doing. The first amount data D ₁ is stored in the recording area A, and the second amount data D ₂ is stored in the recording area A.
are recorded in recording area B, respectively. Note that W is a write head and R is a read head.

In the embodiments described above, the case where a magnetic card is used has been explained, but other cards, e.g.
The present invention can also be applied to IC cards, leather cards, and the like.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the cumulative amount for the current product purchase and the cumulative amount for the previous product purchase are recorded on the card, and if an error occurs in writing the cumulative amount, the purchased product is not paid out. If not, the accumulated amount for the previous product purchase is used as the adopted amount, so the accumulated amount can be matched with the purchased product that has already been paid out, and the incorrect accumulated amount can be used for the next product purchase. Since the amount is updated to the correct amount, errors in the update record can be automatically resolved.Furthermore, at the time of checkout, the error signal recognizes the amount writing error and the amount corresponding to the total amount of the paid items is updated. Since the amount is automatically given as the billed amount, it is possible to provide an automatic vending method using a deferred payment card, which improves the accuracy of handling the amount and prevents financial troubles.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are configuration diagrams for implementing the present invention, FIG. 3 is a control flowchart for the configuration of FIGS. 1 and 2, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a control flowchart of the configuration shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is another specific example of a card used to implement the present invention. 1: Card, 5: Write circuit, 6: Read circuit, 1
0: Microcomputer, 11: Product selection button, 13: Product dispensing device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 The first amount D ₁ , the second amount D ₂ , and each amount D ₁ ,
and an error signal representing a writing error of D ₂ , and the first and second amounts D ₁ ,
D ₂ is a method of selling products from a vending machine using a deferred payment card whose initial amount is 0, in which the contents of the card are read out when the card is inserted into the vending machine, and the contents of the card are read out. If the first and second amounts D ₁ and D ₂ are both 0, one of the predetermined amounts is set as the adopted amount D _L , and the read first and second amounts D ₁ and D ₂ are different from each other. If they are different, the larger of the first and second amounts D ₁ and D ₂ is set as the adopted amount D _L , and the selling price D of the product selected by the purchaser is added to this adopted amount D _L. The cumulative amount (D _L + D) is calculated, and when the card is removed from the vending machine, the cumulative amount (D _L + D) is calculated as the first or second amount D ₁ that was not used as the current adopted amount D _L. , D ₂ in place of the first one of the card.
The larger of the second amounts D ₁ and D ₂ represents the total amount of purchased items up to this time, and the smaller one represents the total amount of purchased items up to the previous time, and the automatic sales When the card is removed from the machine, the cumulative amount (D _L +
Following the writing in step D), the cumulative amount (D _L +D) is read from the card, and if there is no error in the read cumulative amount (D _L +D), the product selected by the purchaser is paid out; If there is an error in the read cumulative amount (D _L + D), the cumulative amount (D _L + D) will be changed without paying out the product.
writes an error signal on said card representing a first or second amount D ₁ , D ₂ written in said card, and the first or second amount without writing error is written on said card the next time said card is inserted into said vending machine. D ₁ , D ₂ are adopted amounts _DL , and instead of the first or second amounts D ₁ , D ₂ with a writing error and the error signal, the cumulative amount (D _L +D) is written on the card; At the time of payment, read the contents of the card,
the first or second amount if there is no error signal;
The billing amount shall be the larger of D ₁ and D ₂ .
First or second amount if there is an error signal
A vending method using a card, characterized in that the amount charged is the amount of D ₁ or D ₂ that does not have a writing error.