JPH0411918B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a vending machine that accepts money and sells products, and in particular, a vending machine that accepts gift certificates and can exchange them for designated products. It is.

[Conventional technology]

As product prices have become more expensive and products sold have become more diverse, conventional vending machines that only accept coins have had to prepare a large number of coins, which is inconvenient. More and more devices are being incorporated into vending machines (for example, Japanese Utility Model Application No. 51-65895).

This banknote validator uses optical or magnetic sensors to detect the dimensions, thickness, material, and optical or magnetic print patterns of circulating banknotes, and distinguish between genuine banknotes and counterfeit banknotes. , is configured so that it does not accept anything other than banknotes.

On the other hand, coin identification machines are used to identify circulating coins, and in rare cases, certain people who are prohibited from holding coins (e.g., bus crew) operate vending machines in specific areas (e.g., crew rest areas). Vending machines that accept substitute coins (tokens) and dispense products have also been put into practical use, but in vending machines that can be used by the general public,
No one configured to accept anything other than circulating currency has been put into practical use.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

By the way, for some products, such as gift certificates for cigarettes or beer, certificates are issued that cannot be exchanged for cash but are allowed to be exchanged for other products, and are given as gifts at the end of the Obon holidays. This is well known. These product gift certificates generally guarantee redemption by indicating the number of items rather than the amount for a fixed or standard price item, so it is important to accept these gift certificates to ensure that the number of items stated on the certificate is not exceeded. If there were vending machines that could be exchanged for products, it would be extremely convenient for consumers, and if they could be exchanged only for specified products and not exchanged for circulating currency, the distribution of cash vouchers would be greatly improved. This problem will no longer occur.

In view of the above-mentioned points, the present invention provides a vending machine that allows the removal of products with a selling price on the condition that the total amount of money inserted is equal to or higher than the selling price of one product. An automatic system that allows for proper product exchange by accepting product gift certificates issued before the price increase and allowing the specified product to be removed only when the price increase for the specified number of items is deposited in currency. The purpose is to provide vending machines.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention includes a discrimination section that receives a product gift certificate in which face value information including product information indicating a designated product and individuality information is recorded and reads the recorded information; a product information setting unit that sets product information of products that are permitted to be exported; and a suitability determining unit that determines whether the product information read by the discrimination unit matches the product information set in the product information setting unit. and additional money detection means for detecting the necessity and amount of additional money for the sales price of the plurality of products when the number information indicates a plurality of products, based on the face value information, and the suitability determination. On the condition that the additional money detection means has determined that no additional money is required for the product that has been determined to be compatible by the means, or that the necessary additional money has been inserted in the form of money,
The present invention is characterized by comprising a carry-out permission means for permitting carry-out of a plurality of products corresponding to the number information.

[Effect]

In the present invention, the suitability determination means determines whether or not the product specified by the product information of the product gift certificate is appropriate, and the current selling price of the plurality of products specified by the quantity information. The additional money detection means detects whether additional money is required and the amount, so if you accept a product gift certificate that specifies exchange for multiple products before the price increase, additional money will be required and the amount will be detected. Only if the additional money is deposited in the form of currency, and if the latest product gift certificate is accepted, no additional money is required, and by accepting the product gift certificate, only the specified number of specified products will be allowed to be removed. Permitted by means.

Therefore, even if you accept a product gift certificate that specifies exchange for multiple products before the price increase, there is no inconvenience of having to exchange fewer products than the specified number and then redeeming the remainder for cash. You can exchange products properly without any problems.

〔Example〕

In the present invention, recording of product information includes not only the characters of the product name but also optically or magnetically encoded or patterned information. In addition, face value information refers to the number information displayed on the face of the ticket or optically or magnetically encoded or patterned, and the date of issue of the ticket (product gift certificate) or the equivalent so-called It also includes validity information called version. A feature of the present invention is that this face value information is used to pay out products under payout conditions commensurate with the face value information.

That is, for example, a beer gift certificate currently costs 1
The majority of beer tickets are exchanged for two large bottles, but apart from cooling fees, the exchange of one ticket for two is only valid from the date of issue (day) of the beer ticket in question. limited to the time of the price increase.
After the next price increase, the above exchange will not work unless the amount corresponding to the price increase is added. For this reason, in order to enable the vending machine to accept valuable coupons such as beer gift coupons, it is necessary to refer to the above-mentioned validity information.

The idea behind determining the payout conditions by referring to this validity information is: (a) Tickets other than the current version (tickets issued after the latest price increase) will be returned.

(b) Up to a specified version will be accepted retroactively, and an additional fee will be collected for each version.

(c) For items other than the current version, only the number equivalent to the equivalent amount (in the case of two, one) will be paid out, and the remaining equivalent amount will be paid out as change.

etc. are possible. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, but method (b) is the one that is kinder to customers.
Method (b) is easy to design, but if the reason for return is not displayed, problems with customers are likely to occur. Method (c) has some characteristics as a cash voucher,
There is a problem of a decrease in the amount of change held. In addition to these methods, there is a method of dispensing with a cheaper product other than the specified product (1 large bottle plus 1 medium bottle, etc.)
Other options are possible, but in any case, the common point is that the product is paid out under payout conditions according to face value information including validity information.

Now, as mentioned above, a negotiable note recorded with at least predetermined product information and face value information has the great advantage that, unlike banknotes, the area of interest for identification can be set to match the machine. Therefore, the authenticity and acceptability of this bill can be determined using an existing bill validator. From this point of view, in the present invention, it is preferable that the bills are inserted through the same insertion slot as the bill insertion slot and are discriminated by the same discrimination section as the bill validation machine. Here, the same insertion slot refers to an insertion slot that can be considered to be substantially the same, and the same identification section refers to a part that is the main body for determining the authenticity of banknotes and securities. In this way, structurally, it is possible to dispense products using valuable tickets without making any changes to conventional vending machines, just by adding a discrimination algorithm.

Note that when using coins, some ingenuity is required to detect the remaining amount of product in a vending machine that requires the vending machine to sell every last bottle. In other words, if we take a beer ticket in exchange for two large bottles as an example, if there is only one beer left, the ticket must be returned as unpayable.
It must be possible to purchase only one bottle by inserting currency.

Additionally, since many of these types of vouchers can be exchanged for multiple products, in order to take out multiple products using a single voucher, it is necessary to remove the products each time. It is also necessary to take measures to dispense the next product after detection. This is to prevent multiple products from getting jammed at the outlet, and to prevent damage and other accidents caused by dropping the next bottle on top of the previous one, such as beer bottles. It is necessary.

Preferred embodiments that achieve the objects of the present invention and satisfy the various demands described above will be described below with reference to the drawings. Although a beer gift certificate is used as an example, it goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to other products.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a beer vending machine to which the present invention can be applied. Reference numeral 1 denotes the main body of a vending machine, and a display section 2 is provided on the door, on which samples of canned beer 21 to 24, large bottled beer 25, 26, etc. are displayed, and below each sample there is a corresponding product selection button 3. ,...,3 are provided. This product selection button 3 has a built-in display lamp that informs the customer that the product can be sold if the input amount matches or exceeds the set price of the product and a predetermined change is paid out. There is.
If the product is out of stock, this indicator lamp will not light up or will display "Out of stock". 4 is an out-of-change display lamp, 5 is a coin slot, and 6 is a return lever for returning the inserted coins. Reference numeral 7 denotes a display unit that displays the input amount, the amount of change paid out, and other information. 8 is a banknote insertion slot. When the return lever 6 is operated after inserting coins, coins are returned from the return slot 9 and bills are returned from the bill insertion slot. Return port 9
The change will also be returned. Reference numerals 10 and 11 denote product take-out ports, which are structured so that products can be easily taken out depending on the product storage and delivery format of the vending machine main body 1. In this example, the product outlet 10 is dedicated to products corresponding to product samples 21 to 24 on the display section 2,
The product outlet 11 is also dedicated to products corresponding to product samples 25 to 26.

Coins inserted through the coin input slot 5 are authenticated by a known coin sorting mechanism, and counterfeit coins are returned to the return slot 9.
The specie coins are guided into change tubes according to denomination. The banknotes inserted through the banknote insertion slot 8 are also verified for authenticity by a known banknote validator, counterfeit bills are returned to the slot, and genuine bills are temporarily held in preparation for cancellation or other purposes. Although there are various types of these coin sorting or bill validating mechanisms in addition to those described above, the type is not particularly limited when implementing the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a beer ticket as an example of a valuable ticket (product gift ticket) in the present invention. Current beer tickets include: (a) Product name (e.g. large beer bottle) (b) Number of tickets exchanged (e.g. 2 bottles) (c) Manufacturer name (some are common) (d) Date of issue (day) (e) Issuance tax stamp (f) Information such as the vendor of the ticket is printed on the front and back sides.
The printing position of this information varies depending on the manufacturer, so in Fig. 2, a magnetic information recording band 12 is printed on a part of the ticket 12 so that it can be easily accepted by vending machines.
A beer ticket with a is shown. Unlike banknotes, the printing format of beer tickets can be easily changed, so by standardizing only the recording format and position of magnetic information, it is possible to create unique gift card surfaces for each manufacturer.

Therefore, at least product information corresponding to the product name and face value information related to the number of exchanged products and the date of issue are recorded on the magnetic information recording band. If necessary, add the manufacturer's name, common ticket information, code information for forgery identification, etc.

FIG. 3 is a block circuit diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.
Reference numeral 31 is a banknote/value note discrimination section. This discrimination section distinguishes the authenticity and denomination of ordinary circulating banknotes.
It may be a known sensor including an optical sensor and a magnetic sensor. If the identification unit 31 identifies the inserted piece as a banknote, its denomination (for example, 1,000 yen)
A signal corresponding to the above is sent to the first arithmetic control section 32. When the discrimination section 31 discriminates the inserted piece as a beer ticket, it sends a signal related to the product name, the number of exchanged tickets, and the date of issue to the second arithmetic control section 33 . The first calculation control unit 32 may be a known one,
By referring to the set price set by the product price setting section 34, the product remaining amount detection signal or the product remaining amount signal from the storage section 35, the change presence signal from the change dispensing mechanism 36, etc. If the price exceeds the set price and change is required, the sales control unit 3 confirms that change can be paid out.
A sales permission signal is issued to 7. The sales control section 37 lights up the product selection button (3 in FIG. 1) corresponding to this sales permission signal and waits for the customer's selection. When the customer presses the desired product selection button, the sales control section 37 sends a signal indicating which price has been selected to the calculation control section 32. The arithmetic control section calculates the necessary amount of change from the input amount and the selected price, and when the change needs to be paid out, the change is paid out via the change dispensing mechanism 36. At the same time, the merchandise is dispensed under the control of the sales control section 37. In addition to the above, the first arithmetic control section 32 is also given a coin sorting signal from a coin sorting section 38, so that it can also purchase products with coins.

The above is an explanation of the operation mode of a known vending machine using money, mainly using the first arithmetic and control unit.However, for valuable coupons (product gift certificates), the second arithmetic and control unit 33 mainly functions. do.

In addition to the signals from the banknote/value note discrimination section 31, the second arithmetic control section 33 receives signals from a product remaining amount detection or storage section 35, a product removal confirmation switch 39, a product information setting section 40, and an additional money setting section 41. receives the input signal.

The product remaining amount detection/storage section 35 operates based on the detection signal of the quantitative detection switch 42, and an embodiment of this and the product removal confirmation switch 39 is shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a mechanism for discharging products (bottles) stored in the vending machine. Bottles 53 of products for sale are placed on a plurality of product shelves 52 provided at equal intervals on the outer ring of an endless chain 51. A microswitch 54 corresponds to the quantitative detection switch 42 in FIG. 55 is an actuator that operates the micro switch 54 by coming into contact with the second bin from the bottom. In addition, 56 removes the dropped bottle from the product outlet 11.
A roller shutter 57 is a micro switch operated by the roller shutter 56 and corresponds to the product removal confirmation switch 39 in FIG. When a sales signal is transmitted to the carrying-out mechanism section configured in this way, a drive section (not shown) of the endless chain 51 is activated, and the product shelf 52 moves along the endless chain 51. Then, as the product shelf 52 moves, the bin 53' located at the lowest position becomes unlatched, falls onto the roller shooter 56, is guided to the product outlet 11, and comes into contact with the outlet frame 11a. and stand still. This bottle 53'' is shown by a broken line in the figure. At this time, the roller shutter 56 descends due to the weight of the bottle 53'' and operates the micro switch 57. This micro switch 57 is a switch to prevent continuous sales, and as shown in the figure, when the bottle 53'' has not yet been taken out from the product outlet 11 and the micro switch 57 is operating, new sales cannot be made. When the customer takes out the bottle,
When the roller shooter 56 returns to its normal position and the microswitch 57 returns, the next vending operation becomes possible.

Further, after several sales have been made, when one of the products is left in the lowest bin 53', the micro switch 54 becomes inoperative, thereby making it possible to detect that two products are missing.

By the way, when a beer ticket with exchange value for two large bottles is inserted, the micro switch 5
4. Therefore, when the quantity detection switch 42 in FIG. If a product sold out signal is issued to the section 33, the second arithmetic control section 33 will issue a command to the discrimination section 31 to return the inserted beer ticket. However, if a banknote or coin is inserted, even if the micro switch 54, and therefore the quantity detection switch 42 in FIG. It is desirable to be able to sell it. For this purpose, a micro switch 54 may be additionally provided for the bottom bottle, but if cost is an issue, a soft counter may be used. That is, in the product remaining amount detection or storage unit 35 shown in FIG.
The system detects and stores this, and also eliminates the signal 35b to prohibit future product payouts using new beer tickets. Next, when the last bottle is sold for money, the memory is reset based on the signal from the sales control section 37, and the signal 35a is also erased. In this way, the vending machine can sell the product to the last one.

In particular, for products that are bulky and need to be kept cool, such as beer bottles, it is desirable to sell every last bottle, so if it is not desirable to increase the number of quantitative detection switches (replace 3) (3 switches are required when allowing ticket acceptance), the soft counter method described above is preferred.

Now, returning to FIG. 3 again, the product information setting section 4
0 and the contents of the additional money setting section 41 will be explained. The product information setting unit 40 sets product code signals such as large beer bottles and medium bottles as product information when only common beer tickets (tickets that can be exchanged for beer from multiple manufacturers) are used as beer tickets. , and if you want to target common beer tickets and manufacturer-specific beer tickets (tickets that can only be exchanged for beer from a specific manufacturer), it will additionally support "common" and "manufacturer name". Set the code signal to be used as product information. The additional money setting section sets the additional money for each version in the form of a table. Version 1 is 80 yen, version 2 is 60 yen, version 3 is 30 yen, and version 4 is 80 yen.
is set as 0 yen.

As mentioned above, when the banknote/valuable note discrimination unit 31 detects insertion of a beer ticket, the second calculation control unit 33
Product information and face value information are sent to. The second arithmetic control unit 33 compares the received product information with the product information set in the product information setting unit 40 and determines whether the ticket can be handled by the vending machine (i.e., a beer ticket). Determine whether or not it is appropriate to remove the product by inserting the product. If the inserted beer ticket is from another manufacturer that cannot be accepted by the vending machine, the arithmetic control section 33 sends a return signal to the discrimination section 31 to return the inserted ticket to the customer. If the inserted ticket is a common ticket or is for a product from a manufacturer handled by the vending machine, then it is checked whether there are as many bottles of the product (in this case, large beer bottles) as the face value. This can be executed based on the above-mentioned product remaining amount detection or the signal 35b from the storage section 35. If there is a required number of products, the table in the additional money setting section 41 is checked based on the face value information to determine whether additional money is required and the amount. When the current version is 4 and a version 2 beer ticket is inserted, the additional money in the previous example is 60 yen, so this is sent to the display control section 42 and displayed on the display section 7 in FIG. ``Please insert 60 yen'' is displayed. When the customer inserts an additional 60 yen into the coin slot, the second arithmetic controller 33 confirms that the predetermined additional amount has been paid based on the signal from the first arithmetic controller 32, and then sells the item. A sales permission signal is sent to the control section 37. This lights up the product purchase button, and when the customer presses this button, a large beer bottle is delivered to the product outlet. When the customer takes out this beer bottle, the product removal confirmation switch is activated, and the second calculation control section 33 again activates the sales control section 37.
sends a sales permission signal to The customer can then request a second beer.

If the beer ticket allows exchange for three or more bottles of beer, a corresponding counter or counter area is provided in the second arithmetic control section, and the counter or counter area is provided in the second arithmetic control section so that the ticket cannot be sold or taken out from the sales control section 37. This may be counted down using the accompanying signal.

The above-described control of the second arithmetic control section can be performed using a microcomputer. This is an example of the general flowchart of FIG. 5 in that case.

In carrying out the present invention, the first and second arithmetic control sections 32 and 33 and the sales control section 37
Others can be replaced with one microcomputer. Various modifications can be made to the embodiments of the invention. These are listed below.

(b) When using a banknote and securities discrimination section that uses pattern recognition technology for multiple denominations, it is possible to differentiate even securities that do not have a specific recording band as shown in Figure 2. It is possible.

(b) Since this type of securities is subject to issuance tax, used securities are required to be invalidated. If you want the vending machine itself to do this, you can cut off part of the ticket or punch the recorded part after it has been determined to be a valid ticket and has been temporarily held. good. In this case, it is necessary to take measures to prevent banknotes from being erroneously invalidated, such as changing the temporary holding position or creating separate storage areas.

(c) In addition to flickering a request for additional money, the display section can also display services such as the expiration of a period and other reasons for return, or the number of remaining books.

(d) When a bill with the current version setting that does not require additional coins is inserted, or when additional coins are inserted, the electromagnet for rejecting coin acceptance is de-energized to prevent the insertion of extra coins. Measures such as these can be taken.

(e) In the explanation of the embodiment, only the case of price increase was shown, but in case of price decrease, the difference can be refunded in the form of change.

(F) If a ticket with a version set before the latest price increase is inserted, if the additional money is not deposited within the specified time, or if the prescribed amount is not reached, the ticket and the amount previously inserted will be You can have the additional money that is missing automatically returned to you.
This is also put into practical use in current vending machines as an automatic refund mode.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to determine whether the product specified by the product information of the product gift certificate is appropriate or not, and to check the current sales of a plurality of products specified by the quantity information. Detecting whether additional money is required for the price and its amount, and if additional money is required, permitting the removal of a specified number of specified products only if the additional money is deposited in money. This eliminates the inconvenience of having to exchange less than the specified number of products and then exchanging the remainder for cash when accepting a product gift certificate that specifies exchange for multiple products before the price increase. Since the vending machine allows for proper product exchange, it is possible to further expand the functions of the vending machine and make it more convenient for customers. In particular, gift certificates for beer are often left unused, so the advent of such vending machines will benefit not only consumers but also liquor stores, making a great contribution to the industry.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an example of a vending machine to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a plan view of a beer ticket as an example of a valuable ticket, and FIG. 3 is a block circuit diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 shows a part of the vending machine.
FIG. 5 is an example of a general flowchart when the present invention is implemented using a microcomputer. 8...Banknote insertion slot, 31...Banknote/value note discrimination section, 32, 33...Calculation control section, 35...Product remaining amount detection or storage section, 40...Product information setting section,
41...Additional money setting section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a vending machine that allows the removal of products with the selling price on the condition that the total amount of money inserted is equal to or higher than the selling price of one product, the product information and quantity information indicating the specified product are included. a discrimination unit that accepts a product gift certificate with face value information recorded thereon and reads the recorded information; a product information setting unit that sets product information of a product permitted to be carried out using the product gift certificate; a suitability determination means for determining whether the product information set in the product information setting section conforms to the product information set in the product information setting section; Additional money detection means detects whether additional money is necessary and its amount based on the face value information, and the additional money detection means determines that additional money is not required for the product determined to be suitable by the suitability determination means. A vending machine characterized by comprising: a carry-out permission means for permitting the carry-out of a plurality of products corresponding to the quantity information on the condition that the required additional money has been inserted in the form of money.