JPH05147691A - Automatic parcel delivering and receiving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the waste of the electric power required to operate a device for delivering a parcel, etc., from a forwarder to the receiver and prolong the life time of sensors provided therein by a method wherein a sensor is provided in each box of this device to make a check if any object exists therein and each sensor is so controlled as to operate for only a predetermined time elapsed from the delivery to the receipt. CONSTITUTION:An automatic parcel delivering and receiving device installed in a condominium is provided with parcel boxes 11-22 of different sizes and a control box 4 and each of the parcel boxes 11-22 is provided with a locking mechanism on its door. The control box 4 has a control part provided with a magnetic card reader for reading information from a magnetic card, ten keys, function keys, a character display, a parcel condition display and a printer for printing out a claim check. Each parcel box is provided with a sensor unit consisting of photo-electric elements which, when a deliveryman puts a parcel in the box and closes its door, starts the operation by locking the box door when any object is judged to exist in the box from its output and stops the operation after the lapse of a predetermined time thereafter.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic baggage delivery device for delivering a home delivery or the like to a recipient by a trader.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, many apartments such as condominiums that can be unlocked have been installed, and sellers such as courier companies and supermarkets select the luggage boxes to store the packages to be delivered. After that, a device has been developed which locks the baggage and unlocks the corresponding baggage box to receive the package.

Specifically, the package delivery person and the package recipient, who are the business operators, each have a magnetic card on which an identification code is magnetically recorded, and when the package delivery person stores the package to be delivered in the package box, the package reader first uses a card reader. Read the magnetic card. Then operate the delivery key. As a result, an empty luggage box is searched and displayed. Therefore, the luggage delivery person selects one from the vacant luggage boxes and inputs the number designating the selected luggage box by key operation. As a result, the corresponding luggage box is unlocked. Then, the luggage deliverer puts the luggage in the luggage box and inputs the identification code of the luggage recipient, for example, the room number or the like. When the sensor confirms the luggage in the luggage box, the luggage box is locked.

When the package receiver receives the package from the package box, the card reader first reads the magnetic card. Then, for example, the confirmation key is operated. Thereby, the luggage box set with the same identification code as the one read from the card is searched and displayed. When the receiving key is further operated in this state, the corresponding luggage box is unlocked. In this way, the luggage receiver can receive the luggage from the luggage box. In such a baggage automatic delivery device, conventionally, a sensor for confirming the presence or absence of a baggage in a baggage box is always energized and in an operating state.

[0005]

However, since the sensor for checking the presence / absence of luggage in the luggage box is always energized, the sensor is still energized even when the luggage box is not in use, and many of the plurality of luggage boxes as a whole. There was a problem of wasting the power of. There is also a problem that the sensor life is shortened.

Therefore, according to the present invention, by energizing the sensor for checking the presence / absence of luggage in the luggage box only when necessary for a certain period of time, it is possible to prevent wasteful consumption of power and to extend the life of the sensor. It intends to provide an automatic package delivery device.

[0007]

According to the present invention, a plurality of luggage boxes that can be unlocked are provided, and an empty luggage box is selected and unlocked in accordance with the information of a luggage delivery company information input from the input means. In the automatic luggage delivery device that unlocks the luggage box containing the luggage to be received by inputting the luggage recipient information of, the luggage presence detection sensor provided in each luggage box and this sensor for a certain time when delivering the luggage It is provided with a sensor control means for operating only.

[0008]

In the present invention having such a structure, for example, a sensor is used when the empty luggage box is selected and unlocked in accordance with the information of the luggage delivery company, and the luggage is housed in the unlocked luggage box and locked. Operates only for a certain period of time and checks the presence of luggage.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, for example, ten small-sized luggage boxes 11 to 20, one medium-sized luggage box 21, one large-sized luggage box 22 and one control are provided in an outer casing 1. Box 4 is installed. Each of the luggage boxes 11 to 22 is provided with a lock mechanism for locking the door, and box numbers "1" to "12" are written on the door surface.

In the control box 4, as shown in FIG. 2, a magnetic card reader 41 for reading information from a magnetic card which is an information card, a numeric keypad 42, "delivery", "receipt", "designation of luggage box" and "designation of recipient". , "Confirmation" function key 43, a character display 44 for displaying numerical values input with the ten keys 42, guidance guidance, etc., and the luggage boxes 11 to 11
22 is provided with a luggage box status indicator 45 provided with an LED (light emitting diode) corresponding to each 22 and an operation unit provided with a printer 46 used for issuing a receipt.

A circuit unit shown in FIG. 3 is housed in the control box 4. This circuit unit is provided with a control unit 51 including a CPU (central processing unit), a memory, an I / O port, etc., and the magnetic card reader 4 is provided in the control unit 51.
1, a numeric keypad 42, a function key 43, a character display device 44, a luggage box status display device 45, a printer 46, and a clock circuit 47 for clocking the date and time are respectively connected. A lock driving means 52 for driving and controlling a lock mechanism 61 provided in each of the luggage boxes 11 to 22 and a sensor unit 63 provided in each of the luggage boxes 11 to 22 are directly connected to the control unit 51. ing.

The sensor unit 63 provided in each of the luggage boxes 11 to 22 comprises a light emitting diode 631 and a phototransistor 632 for receiving light from the light emitting diode 631, as shown in FIG. The anode is connected to the VS terminal through the resistor 633 and the cathode is an NPN transistor 6
It is grounded through 34. The collector of the phototransistor 632 is connected to the VS terminal through the resistor 635 and the emitter is grounded. The drive signal from the control unit 51 is input to the base of the transistor 634, and the sensor output is taken out from the collector of the phototransistor 632 and supplied to the control unit 51. The light emitting diode 631 and the phototransistor 632 are arranged to face the upper and lower wall surfaces of the luggage boxes 11 to 22, respectively. FIG. 5 shows a delivery process by a package delivery person, and this process is performed by the control unit 51 based on program data.

That is, when the magnetic card carried by the parcel delivery person is inserted into the magnetic card reader 41, the parcel delivery person identification code (ID code) is read from the magnetic card and stored in the memory in the control unit 51.

In this state, the system waits for the input of the "delivery" key or the like of the function key 43. When the "delivery" key is pressed, the currently empty luggage box is searched from the memory. Then, the LED of the luggage box status indicator 45 corresponding to the retrieved empty luggage box is flashed to notify. In this state, when an empty luggage box is designated by the ten keys 42, a "recipient designation" key is inputted, and a luggage recipient room number is inputted by the ten keys 42, the lock mechanism 61 of the corresponding empty luggage box is locked. 52 to unlock.

In this state, it is checked whether the door of the relevant luggage box has been opened / closed. If the door is opened / closed, it is checked whether the sensor output from the phototransistor 632 is at a high level.

When the sensor output is at a high level, it is determined that the luggage is surely put in the luggage box, and the lock mechanism 61 of the luggage box is locked by the lock driving means 52. Then, the recipient room number and the luggage box designation number are registered in the memory. When the sensor output is at a low level, it is determined that no luggage is put in the luggage box, and a message to that effect is displayed on the character display 44.

In the process of checking the sensor output, as shown in FIG. 6, the address of the opened / closed luggage box is first stored in the memory. Then, a high-level drive signal is supplied to the opened and closed baggage box to turn on the transistor 634 of the sensor unit 63 and start a timer provided in the memory.

In this state, if the sensor output, that is, the collector output of the phototransistor 632 becomes high level before the timer times out, it is judged that the luggage is put in the luggage box. If the sensor output does not become high level before the timer times out, it is determined that no luggage is put in the luggage box. When the timer times out, the supply of the drive signal is stopped and the operation of the sensor unit 63 is stopped.

In the embodiment having such a structure, when the parcel delivery person delivers the parcel, the magnetic card reader 41 first reads the magnetic card possessed by the parcel delivery person and the "delivery" key. To operate. As a result, the empty luggage box is searched and the empty state is indicated by the corresponding LED on the luggage box indicator 45.
It is notified by blinking. Then, the parcel delivery person designates an empty parcel box and a parcel recipient's room number. This unlocks the luggage box into which the luggage should be placed.

In this state, when the luggage delivery person opens the door of the unlocked luggage box, puts the luggage in and closes the door, the sensor unit 63 in the luggage box operates. If there is a package, the light from the light emitting diode 631 is blocked by the package and does not reach the phototransistor 632, so that the sensor output becomes a high level. Then, it is judged that there is luggage, and the luggage box is locked. Then, the recipient room number and the luggage box designation number are registered in the memory. And the sensor unit 6
3 is stopped by a timer operation after a predetermined time has elapsed.

If the luggage delivery person forgets to put in the luggage and opens / closes the door, it is determined that there is no luggage at this time when the timer expires and the fact is displayed on the character display 44 to inform the operator. It

As described above, since the sensor unit 63 operates only for a fixed time after the door of the relevant luggage box is opened / closed by the timer, the operating time of the sensor unit 63 is very short and the waste of power is prevented. To be done.
In addition, the total operating time of the sensor unit 63 is shortened, and the life of the sensor unit 63 can be extended.

Moreover, the operating sensor unit 63 is only the sensor unit of the corresponding one luggage box, so that the wasteful consumption of electric power can be prevented more reliably, and the sensor unit 6
It is possible to more reliably extend the life of No. 3 as well.

When the recipient receives the parcel, he or she inserts his or her own magnetic card into the magnetic card reader 41 to read it, and operates the "receive" key. As a result, the LED of the luggage box status indicator 45 for designating the luggage box containing the luggage to be received by the recipient blinks and the lock mechanism 61 of the relevant luggage box is unlocked. In this way, the recipient can receive the package from the corresponding package box.

In the above embodiment, only the sensor unit of the designated one of the empty luggage boxes is operated for a certain period of time at the time of delivery. However, the invention is not necessarily limited to this, and all empty luggage boxes can be operated. The sensor units may be operated for a certain period of time by unlocking.

[0027]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent wasteful consumption of electric power and to prevent unnecessary consumption of electricity by energizing the sensor for checking the presence / absence of luggage in the luggage box for a certain time only when necessary. It is possible to provide an automatic baggage delivery device capable of extending the life of the package.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an operation unit of a control box in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a circuit configuration diagram of a sensor unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a package delivery process in the same embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing details of the sensor check process in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 to 22 ... luggage box, 4 ... control box, 41 ... magnetic card reader, 43 ... function key, 51 ... control unit, 52 ...
Lock driving means, 61 ... Lock mechanism, 63 ... Sensor unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of parcel boxes that can be unlocked are provided, and an empty parcel box is selected and unlocked in accordance with input of parcel carrier information from the input means, and parcel recipient information is input from the input means. In the automatic baggage delivery device for unlocking the baggage box accommodating the baggage to be received by the above, a baggage presence / absence detection sensor provided in each of the baggage boxes, and a sensor control means for operating each sensor for a certain period of time when the baggage is delivered / received An automatic baggage delivery device characterized by being provided with.