JPH04109792A - Automatic sales data collection system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce an acquisition time of a communication line and to improve the line utilizing efficiency by providing a storage means having 1st and 2nd storage areas to a data line terminal equipment and sending a sales data stored in the 2nd storage area to a communication line in response to a prescribed signal from a center. CONSTITUTION:A line terminal equipment 100 stores a sales data from a controller 3 of an automatic vending machine 2 to a storage area M of a memory 107 once via an I/F section 106. In this case, when a microcomputer 101 confirms it that the sales data stored tentatively in the storage area M1 is received normally without an error in transmission, the microcomputer applies copy processing to the received sales data from the storage area M1 to a storage area M2. Then a call request from a center side 7 is detected and when the sales data transmission request is received, the sales data stored in the area M2 is copied to an area M3. Then the data is sent sequentially to a telephone line 1 and the data is sent to the center 7.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a vending data collection system, and in particular, a center, a data line terminal device connected to the center via a communication line, and a data line terminal connected to the center via a communication line. A terminal device and a vending device connected via a data transmission path are included, and data related to vending in the vending device is sequentially transmitted to the center side via the data line terminal device via the communication line. Relating to a vending data collection system such as:

[Prior Art] Conventionally, there is a telemeter system as one of the remote measurement systems.

In the telemeter system, the gas company or water company acts as a center and periodically reads the meters in the subscriber's home and collects the data via the existing general subscriber telephone line. By processing this data, we have been working to resolve the manpower shortage in meter reading and automate meter reading.

In the case of the above-mentioned telemeter system, the data line terminal equipment in the subscriber's premises responds to a call request from the center given from the telephone line to which it is connected, thereby establishing a link to the telephone line. As a result, a state is set in which the meter reading data of the subscriber's home can be transmitted to the center side. Thereafter, data communication is performed between the center and the meter via the data line terminal device. During this data communication, when the line terminal device receives a meter reading data transmission request from the center, it gives the meter reading data transmission request to the connected meter in response. In response, the meter transmits its meter reading data to the line terminal device. Thereafter, the line terminal device transmits the received meter reading data to the center side, which is the data request source, via the communication-connected telephone line.

In this way, the center can periodically and centrally collect and process desired meter reading data all at once.

The data collection method as described above is also applied to a data collection system for vending machine sales management information. In this case, the line terminal device with the above-mentioned functions is built into the vending machine. A line terminal device built into the vending machine is connected to the center side via a communication line such as a public telephone line. Further, the line terminal device is connected via a data transmission line or the like to a vending control device that is built into the vending machine and manages and controls vending.

The data collection method for vending machine sales management information is as follows:
A sales data collection request is sent from the center to the line terminal device. The line terminal device sends a sales data transmission request to the automatic vending control device in response to the sales data collection request signal. Accordingly, the sales data is transmitted from the control device to the line terminal device. When the line terminal device receives the sales data f5, it processes the received sales data so as to transmit it to the data requesting center side via the public telephone line.

In the data collection system for sales management information on vending machines as described above, the center side can arbitrarily obtain vending information for each vending machine, so even if there is no human intervention, there will be no problems such as running out of change, running out of products, etc. It also had the advantage of being able to accurately detect errors such as breakdowns from a distance and immediately taking action to deal with them.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above-mentioned vending data collection system, first, a line link is established between the data line terminal device built into the vending machine and the data collection center. Once the data communication line is captured, this line capture state is maintained until the data communication, ie, the communication for collecting sales data, is terminated. Therefore, the longer the data transmission process for transmitting vending data from the control device that manages vending in the vending machine to the line terminal device takes, the longer the communication line capture state becomes.

In other words, if there is an error in sales data transmission between the control device and the data line terminal device, the sales data transmission process will be repeated until the error disappears, so the communication line capture state will be proportional to this. It was a long period of time.

As a result, the time occupied by the communication line is spent on data processing other than the original purpose of data communication with the center, resulting in the communication line being wasted and the operational efficiency of the line decreasing. There was a problem. This problem occurs when an error occurs during data transmission between the vending machine control device and the line terminal device, and when a response is not received after a predetermined period of time, the center side automatically It was thought that the problem could be resolved by cutting off the communication line that was being captured. However, this could not be a solution to the problem. This is because the data transfer speed, amount of data transmitted, and response time in data transmission between the control device built into the vending machine and the line terminal device vary depending on the vending machine model, so the time setting as described above is If there is no response after this set time has passed, it is difficult for the center to automatically disconnect the captured communication line.

Another reason is that this time setting needs to be adapted depending on the model of the vending machine and is not universal.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a vending data collection system that can shorten the time required to acquire a communication line between a center and a vending machine, and use the communication line efficiently.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A vending data collection system according to the present invention includes a center, a data line terminal device connected to the center via a communication line, and a data transmission line connected to the data line terminal device. A vending data collection system that includes a vending machine connected via a vending machine. Specifically, the data line terminal device includes a storage means having a first and a second storage area, a first means for storing sales data from the vending machine in the first storage area, and a storage means for storing sales data from the vending machine in the first storage area; detection means for detecting that there is no transmission error in the sales data stored in a storage area; and in response to the detection by the detection means, the sales data stored in the first storage area is transferred to the second storage area. and data sending means for sending the sales data stored in the second storage area to the communication line in response to a predetermined signal from the center. Ru.

[Function] Since the vending data collection system according to the present invention is configured as described above, the data line terminal device stores the sales data from the vending machine in the first storage area of the storage means. Further, the second storage area can be used as an area for storing sales data to be transmitted to the communication line in response to a predetermined signal from the center. Therefore, sales data transmission between the data line terminal device and the vending machine can be performed completely independently of sales data transmission between the data line terminal device and the center.

Therefore, in response to a sales data transmission request arbitrarily given from the center, the data line terminal device can transmit sales data to the center using the data sending means without having to perform sales data transmission processing with the vending machine each time. Since a response can be made immediately, the acquisition time of the communication line can be shortened.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the functional configuration of a line terminal device built into a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, a line terminal device 100 is provided to transmit data regarding sales from a vending machine 2 to a center side 7 via a telephone line 1 connected to the other side. Specifically, the line terminal device 100 includes a microcomputer 101 that controls the device 100 itself, and an interface (
(hereinafter abbreviated as 1/F) unit 105, an I/F unit 106 that connects the device 100 and the vending machine 2, and a memory 10.
Contains 7. Each section within the device 1'00 is interconnected via a data bus to ensure high-speed data transmission.

The memory 107 has storage areas M1 to M
Contains 3.

The storage area M1 is a storage area in which data related to sales from the vending machine 2 provided via the I/F section 106 is written and stored. The storage area M1
The sales data stored in the vending machine 2 is updated every time it is transmitted from the vending machine 2 so that the latest data is always stored. The storage area M2 is
In response to determining that the sales data stored in the storage area M1 is data that has been normally received without any transmission errors, the sales data is copied from the storage area M1. This is the area where the data is stored. The storage area M3 stores sales data to be sent to the telephone line 1 via the 1/F unit 105.
This is an area for copying and storing data.

Each of the storage areas M1 to M in the memory 107 described above
Data copying and data processing between the three are performed under the control of the microcomputer 101.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a vending data collection system to which the line terminal device shown in FIG. 1 is applied.

The illustrated vending data collection system is configured such that a center-side device 5 collects and processes data regarding vending in vending machines 2 via a telephone line 1. In detail, the system includes a center side 7 and a vending machine 2 communicatively connected to the center side 7 via a telephone line 1 and an exchange 6.

Note that, in reality, a 1-to-N method of communication is used in which a plurality of vending machines 2 are connected to the center side 7, but in this embodiment, to simplify the explanation, the center side 7 is connected to the center side 7. It is assumed that a one-to-one communication format is adopted in which one vending machine 2 is connected for communication.

The illustrated vending machine 2 includes a control device 3 for controlling and managing the vending operation of the vending machine 2 and a line terminal device 100 shown in FIG. has been done.

The center side 7 is connected to a telephone line 1, and has a transmitter/receiver 4 for transmitting and receiving data to and from the telephone line 1 and modulating and demodulating the transmitted and received data, and a transmitter/receiver 4 for displaying data outputted via the transmitter/receiver 4, or and a center-side device 5 for processing data according to a predetermined built-in program.

Communication operations in this system will be briefly described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

A call signal for collecting sales data is sent from the center side 7 to the line terminal device 100 via the general subscriber telephone line 1. In response, the line terminal device 100 goes off-hook, thereby establishing a line link and starting communication with the center side 7, which is the calling side. At this time, vending machine 2
Information regarding sales of is copied from storage area M2 of memory 107 to storage area M3. Therefore, the sales data stored in the storage area M3 is controlled by the microcomputer 101 and sent to the telephone line 1 via the I/F section 105.
sent to.

The control device 3 of the vending machine 2 transmits information regarding the sale to the line terminal device]00 every time a coin is inserted by a customer and sold once. The line terminal device 100 transfers sales data from the control device 3 of the vending machine 2 to the I/F section 106.
A portion of the data is stored in the storage area M1 of the memory 107 via the memory 107. At this time, when the microcomputer 101 confirms that the sales data temporarily stored in the storage area M1 has been received normally without any transmission errors, the microcomputer 101 copies the received sales data from the storage area M1 to the storage area M2. Process. However, if there is some error in the transmission and normal sales data cannot be received from the control device 3, the sales data transmission process from the control device 3 is repeated repeatedly until normal reception is confirmed. From area M1 to storage area M2
Copying of sales data to is not performed. Therefore, the sales data stored in the memory 107 of the line terminal device 100 is always updated by the sales data transmission process from the control device 3. Therefore, even if the control device 3 detects that some abnormality has occurred in the vending machine 2, the control device 3
Since information regarding the abnormality is sent to the center side 7 in real time, the line terminal device 100 can always transmit the latest information regarding vending to the center side 7 regardless of whether the vending machine 2 is operating normally or abnormally.

Furthermore, even if there is a difference between the sales data transmission speed from the control device 3 and the data transmission speed on the other telephone line 1, the memory 107 acts to buffer the data transmission speed difference. Correction processing for data transmission due to the difference in data transmission speed and data transmission amount can be suppressed to a minimum.

Here, the data processing of vending information in the vending machine 2 and the communication process of the vending information to the center side 7 will be explained.

The vending machine 2 sells goods in response to coins inserted by the customer, and this vending operation is managed and controlled by the control device 3. The control device 3 includes 1
In accordance with the end of each automatic vending operation, sales management information updated due to the end of the current vending operation is transmitted to the line terminal device 100 in real time. This sales management information transmission process is performed at the end of each sale by inserting a coin. This sales management information transmission process calculates the time it takes for the customer to take out the goods from the goods outlet before the start of the next sale at the end of the sale, and the time from the end of each vending operation of the vending machine 2 to the customer This is done by taking advantage of the time until the start of taking out the goods. Therefore, immediately after the sale ends, the control device 3 sends the sales information to the line terminal device 100.
There is no need to prepare for automatic sales operation, as it prioritizes data transmission only. Therefore, during the sales management information transmission process, the control device 3 of the vending machine 2:
Since it is freed from normal vending processing, its load is reduced.

Now, the four-wire terminal device 100 includes the control device 3 and the ■/F section 1.
06, and stores the received data in the storage area M].

During the data reception period, the transmission data from the control device 3 is sequentially stored using the 2-way storage area M].

The received data stored in the storage area M is copied from the storage area M1 to the storage area M2 and temporarily stored when the microcomputer 01 determines that there is no transmission error. Therefore, storage area M
The sales management information stored in the vending machine 2 becomes the latest data in the vending machine 2.

The microcomputer 101 analyzes and processes the sales data stored in the storage area M2 according to a predetermined program, and detects whether or not the contents include abnormal data that prevents normal vending operations, such as out-of-sale and out-of-change data. . If the abnormal data is detected at this time, the abnormal data is immediately copied to the next storage area M3, and the abnormal data in the storage area M3 is transferred to the telephone line 1 via the I/F section 105 by the terminal call operation. Data is sent to the sending center side 7. Therefore, if there is an abnormality in the vending machine 2, the line terminal device 1 is called without waiting for a call from the center.
00 automatically makes a terminal call and transmits data regarding the abnormal state to the center side 7, so that the vending machine 2 can immediately recover from the abnormal state.

On the other hand, if no abnormal data is detected as a result of data analysis by the microcomputer 101, the sales data is stored in the storage area M2 until a call request transmitted from the center side 7 via the telephone line 1 is detected. . However, when a call request from the center side 7 is detected and a sales data transmission request is received, the sales data stored in the storage area M2 is copied to the storage area M3. Thereafter, the sales data copied to the storage area M3 is sequentially sent out to the telephone line 1 via the I/F section 105, and is transmitted to the center side 7.

Therefore, by receiving the transmitted sales data, the center side 7 can collect the data and check the automatic sales status using a predetermined data processing program.

As described above, the memory 10 in the line terminal device 100
7, a storage area M1 for receiving transmission data from the vending machine 2, and a microcomputer 101.
By providing a storage area M2, which is a work area for analyzing sales data by Reception and transmission of sales data to the center side 7 can be performed completely independently.

FIG. 3 is a schematic processing flow diagram showing the operation of the line terminal device shown in FIG. 1 above during data communication.

The illustrated processing flow is stored in advance as a program in the internal memory (not shown) of the microcomputer 101 of the device 100.
The process is executed under the control of a CPU (not shown: central processing unit).

Next, the operation of the line terminal device 1°O shown in FIG. 1 during data communication will be explained in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

Note that the center side 7 periodically issues a call request to the vending machine 2 to collect sales data. In response to this, it is assumed that the line terminal device 100 transmits data regarding sales management information of the vending machine 2 to the center side 7.

First, the microcomputer 10 of the line terminal device 100
1 confirms whether data related to sales information is received from the control device 3 of the vending machine 2 via the I/F unit 1.06.

This transmission of sales information from the control device 3 to the line terminal device 100 is performed every time an automatic sale ends, as described above, so the microcomputer 101 determines whether or not this sales data is being transmitted, as shown in FIG. Step 510 (
In the figure, this is always confirmed during processing (abbreviated as SIO). This confirmation result becomes a criterion for determining whether data related to sales management information has been received from the control device 3 in the process of step 515 shown next. That is, since the data regarding the sales management information is received in text format, the microcomputer 101 performs step S1.
In the determination process No. 5, it is determined whether or not a text start code preceding this text is detected. At this time, if the text start code is detected, the process branches to step S20 and subsequent steps, which will be described later. However, if the start code is not detected, the process returns to step 510 again;
The process moves on to confirming the presence or absence of transmission data from the control device 3. That is, the loop processing of steps SIO and S15 is repeatedly executed until it is determined in the determination processing of step S15 that the text start code has been received.

In the process of the next step 520, in response to the judgment that the text start number has been received in the process of step S15 described above, the data related to the sales management information to be transmitted thereafter is received. This text-format sales data includes encoded sales data to be transmitted between the text start code and the text end code. 0 then stored in
In the next step 323, the microcomputer 101 performs an error check on the received sales data stored in the storage area M1.

This error occurs, for example, between the control device 3 and the line terminal device 10.
This error is caused by the mixing of noise components in the transmission path between 0 and 0, and the result of this error determination is determined in the next step 525. If it is determined that there is no error in step S25, step S30 will be described later.
If it is determined that there is an error, the process moves to the next step S27.

In the process of step S27, the above-mentioned step S2
In response to the determination that the currently received data has an error in the determination process 5, the control device 3 requests data transmission again to the control device 3. Thereafter, the process returns to step S20, and the processes of steps S20 to S25 are repeatedly performed on the transmission data to be retransmitted in the same manner as described above. That is, the loop processing from step S20 to step S27 is repeatedly executed until it is determined in the judgment processing at step S25 that normal data without any transmission errors has been received regarding the sales data transmitted from the control device 3. .

In the process of step S3('), the microcomputer 1. The received sales data stored in M1 is copied from storage area M1 to storage area M2. As a result, the storage area M1 becomes able to write new sales data transmitted from the control device 3 again, so that the processing efficiency of the microcomputer 101 is improved.

In the process of step S35, the microcomputer 101 accesses the storage area M2, reads out the sales data copied from the storage area M1 this time, and analyzes the data based on a predetermined program. This analysis result is determined in the next step 40, which is a determination process. That is, in the determination process of step S40, it is determined based on the data analysis result whether abnormal data (out of change, out of stock, etc.) is detected in the received sales data. Based on the determination result, the process branches to either step S45 or step 550.

If it is determined in the determination process of step S40 that the abnormal data has been detected, communication is immediately made to the center side 7 to the effect that the vending machine 2 is in an abnormal state in the process of the next step S45. The communication in step S45 is performed after the line terminal device 100 calls the center side device 5 of the center side 7 by a terminal call and establishes a line link. Therefore, if any abnormal condition is detected in the vending machine 2, the terminal can immediately make a call and communicate to the center side 7 that an abnormality has occurred, without waiting for a communication request from the center side 7. The vending machine 2 is processed by the center 7 and can quickly recover from the abnormal state.

After the data communication indicating the abnormal state in the process of step 45, the process returns to step SIO, and the process is repeated in the same manner.

On the other hand, if it is determined in the determination process of step S40 that no abnormal data as described above is detected in the currently received sales data, the process branches to step S550 and subsequent steps.

First, in the process of step S50, the microcomputer 101 determines whether a "call" is received from the telephone line 1 via the I/F unit 105. That is, the line terminal device 100 It is determined whether or not a data communication request has been made and a call has been made from another data terminal device (including the center side 7) connected to the terminal.At this time,
When the microcomputer 101 determines that it has not received a "call," it returns to step SIO and repeats the same process. On the other hand, if the microcomputer 101 determines that a "call" has been received, the process immediately branches to step S55 and subsequent steps.

In the process of step S55, the microcomputer 101 goes off-hook in response to receiving the "call",
Subsequently, a response signal is transmitted to the exchange 6 to establish a line link using the telephone line 1. Then step S
The process moves to step 60.

In the process of step S60, the microcomputer 101 determines whether the "call" received in the process of step S50 described above is originated from the center side 7. This is determined based on data received after the off-hook.

In the determination process of step S60, if it is determined that the "call" received this time is not originated from the center side 7, the process immediately returns to step SIO, and the process is repeated in the same manner.

On the other hand, if it is determined in the determination process of step S60 that the "call" received this time is originated from the center side 7, then in the process of the next step S65, a sales data transmission request signal is sent from the center side 7. is transmitted.

The microcomputer 101 receives the request signal,
Accordingly, in the next step S67, the sales data already analyzed in step S35 is copied from the storage area M2 to the storage area M3. Thereafter, in the next step S70, the sales data stored in the storage area M3 is transmitted to the center side 7. Through the above data communication, the latest sales data is transmitted to the center side 7. Accordingly, the center-side device 5 can process the received sales data. Thereafter, the line terminal device 100 goes on-hook in response to completion of data transmission to the center side 7 in the process of step S75, and sends a call termination signal to the exchange 6. This results in
The data communication between the center side 7 and the vending machine 2 that was started in response to the current "call" from the center side 7 ends.

Thereafter, the process returns to step S10 again, and the process moves on to prepare for the next "call" from the center side 7.

The above-mentioned embodiment is based on the assumption that the line connection with the center side 7 is successful, but if the line connection fails due to the center side 7 being on the phone or due to an error occurring on the line, For example, the transmission may be attempted again after two minutes, or the transmission may be attempted several times.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the data line terminal device has first and second
, wherein the first storage area is an area for storing sales pigs from the vending machine, and the second storage area is an area for storing the sales pigs from the vending machine, and the second storage area is an area for storing the sales pigs from the vending machine. This is an area for storing sales data in order to send it to the center. Therefore, the data line terminal device can operate to send out the sales data stored in the second storage area to the communication line in response to a predetermined signal given from the center by the data sending means. This eliminates the need to request the vending machine to send sales data each time a sales data transmission request is received from the center, so the center can respond immediately, and when the communication line is acquired, Jul can be shortened. Further, since the vending machine itself can arbitrarily determine the timing of transmitting sales data to the line terminal device, the vending machine can operate completely independently of data communication with the center side. Therefore, the vending machine is freed from communication processing with the center side and can concentrate solely on vending processing, which has the effect of reducing its load.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the functional configuration of a line terminal device built into a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. Second
The figure is a schematic configuration diagram of a vending data collection system to which the line terminal device shown in FIG. 1 is applied. FIG. 3 is a schematic processing flow diagram showing the operation of the line terminal device shown in FIG. 1 during data communication. In the figure, 1 is a telephone line, 2 is a vending machine, 7 is a center side, 100 is a line terminal device, 101 is a microcomputer, 105 and 106 are ■/F (interface) sections, 107 is a memory, Ml, M2, and M3 is the storage area. In each figure, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts. Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] Vending data including a center, a data line terminal device connected to the center via a communication line, and a vending machine connected to the data line terminal device via a data transmission line. In the collection system, the data line terminal device includes: storage means having first and second storage areas; first means for storing sales data from the vending machine in the first storage area; a detection means for detecting that there is no transmission error in the sales data stored in the first storage area; and in response to the detection by the detection means, the sales data stored in the first storage area is transferred to the second storage area; an automatic vending machine comprising: second means for storing the sales data in the second storage area; and data sending means for sending the sales data stored in the second storage area to the communication line in response to a predetermined signal from the center. Data collection system.