JPH0534716B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an improvement in a vending machine that sells beverages such as coffee in cups.

(Prior art) In this type of vending machine, for example, when selling coffee in cups, auxiliary raw materials such as sugar and cream are added to the coffee liquid obtained by injecting hot water into the coffee raw material, which is the main raw material. It is commonly seasoned.

By the way, among conventional vending machines, the following vending formats have been developed in order to satisfy the preferences of users.

One is that when coffee without auxiliary materials and coffee with at least one auxiliary material are selected by a selection switch, when an increase switch for specifying auxiliary materials that is associated with the selection switch in advance is operated, normal addition is made. When the amount of the desired auxiliary material can be added greater than the amount of the desired auxiliary material added, or when an increase switch for specifying auxiliary materials that is not directly related to the selection switch, that is, cannot be specified, is operated. There is a method that allows addition of a small amount of auxiliary raw materials (Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-29155).

The other is a vending machine that mixes and dispenses syrup, carbonated water, and diluted water. Specifically, it has a program that presets the timer operation time, and the microprocessor controls the beverage brand selection switch. In addition to detecting the brand and whether or not ice is required based on whether or not the ice switch is operated, the amount of carbon dioxide required for the brand is detected from the setting device that sets the amount of carbon dioxide, and based on these sales conditions, syrup and carbonated There is a system in which the amounts of water and diluted water to be extracted are determined, and each valve is opened for the timer operation time to extract syrup, carbonated water, and diluted water (Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-9995).

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, the former vending machine
(No. Publication), it is a uniform product that only increases or decreases the amount of auxiliary ingredients such as sugar and cream, and cannot be adjusted to bring out subtle differences in taste depending on the customer's preference.

On the other hand, the latter vending machine (Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-9995) is a technology for blending multiple raw materials.
For example, no consideration is given to the type of coffee raw material or the taste of completely different types of beverage liquids such as coffee and tea. In particular, the tastes of coffee, tea, and other liquid beverages vary considerably depending on the customer, and although many customers prefer subtle differences in taste, it is difficult to bring out such subtle differences in taste.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and allows subtle differences in taste to be brought out through adjustment.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vending machine that can sell drinking water to customers under optimal conditions.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a plurality of selection switches for inputting money into a coin mechanism and selecting the type of drinking water to be sold. In response to the selection operation of a plurality of function switches that select an increase or decrease of hot water to be poured into the raw material liquid and auxiliary raw materials to be mixed with the main raw material liquid according to preference, a selected one of the plurality of main raw material canisters is selected. Hot water is poured from a hot water tank onto the main raw material discharged from the hot water tank to create a main raw material liquid, and the main raw material liquid is further mixed with auxiliary raw materials selected from a plurality of auxiliary raw material canisters and discharged from one of the auxiliary raw material canisters to create a beverage liquid. In a vending machine that sells hot water and raw materials in bulk, the hot water and raw material discharging means provided in the hot water tank, each main raw material canister, and each auxiliary raw material canister, and the operation time of the hot water and each raw material discharging means are set in accordance with the main raw material. and a plurality of operating time setting memories each having an address set in a memory area determined according to the type of the hot water and each of the function switches, and a plurality of operating time setting memories that set the operating time according to the operation of the function switch that sets the increase/decrease of the hot water. A first for increasing or decreasing the plurality of operation times respectively set in the setting memory area of the operation time of the auxiliary raw material discharge means in the setting memory.
a first proportional constant setting memory in which a proportional constant is set corresponding to each operation time in each memory area of the inter-operation setting memory, and an operation of the selection switch that selects the type of the main raw material. Accordingly, a second proportionality constant for increasing or decreasing the plurality of operation times respectively set in the operation time setting memory area of the auxiliary raw material discharge means in the operation time setting memory is set in each of the operation time setting memories. a second proportionality constant setting memory set corresponding to each operation time in each memory area, and each memory area of the operation time setting memory and the first,
A plurality of address designation switches that are provided corresponding to each memory area of the second proportionality constant setting memory and that designate the address of the corresponding memory area, and a selection switch and a function switch that select the type of main material. The selection operation causes the corresponding address designation switch to select the first and second
calculation means for reading out the first and second proportionality constant data and the operation time data of the auxiliary raw material by specifying an address of a memory area corresponding to the proportionality constant setting memory and the operation time setting memory of the auxiliary raw material, and performing a multiplication operation; , and control means for controlling the operation of the corresponding auxiliary raw material discharge means based on the calculated value obtained by the calculation means.

(Function) Therefore, by taking the above measures, the present invention determines the first and second proportionality constants according to the type of main raw material and the range of increase in the amount of hot water, and sets these first and second proportionality constants. By multiplying the proportionality constant of 2 by the discharge operation time of the auxiliary raw material to be mixed with the main raw material, the amount of auxiliary raw material discharged is determined according to the type of the main raw material and the increase/decrease in the amount of hot water, and is sufficient to meet the customer's preference. It brings out the subtle differences in taste that will satisfy you.

(Example) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

Figure 1 is an external view, 1 is an advertising signboard, 2, 2
... is a selection switch, 3, 3... is a function switch, 4 is a sales lamp, 5 is a preparation, process display lamp, 6 is a change lamp, 7 is a digital display, 8 is a money return lever , 9 is the coin slot, 10 is the coin return slot, 1
1 is a sales port for drinking liquid. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing internally stored articles, and 12, 13, and 14 indicate main raw material canisters, 12 is A coffee raw material canister, 13 is B coffee raw material canister, and 14 is C coffee raw material canister. Also 15,
16 is an auxiliary raw material canister, 15 is a sugar canister, and 16 is a cream canister.
Each of the raw material canisters 12, 13, and 14 is provided with a raw material discharge motor, and the operation of the raw material discharge motor causes the coffee raw material to be delivered to the shooter 1.
7 to the brewer 18. Also, the sugar and cream canister 1
5 and 16 are also provided with raw material discharge motors, and sugar and cream are supplied to the mixer 20 via the shooter 19 by the operation of the raw material discharge motors. Reference numeral 21 denotes a hot water tank with a built-in heater, and by the operation of a pump 22, hot water is poured into the raw material supply section of the brewer 18 via a pipe 23. The brewer 18 is provided with a roll-shaped paper filter, and the coffee raw material liquid is extracted by this paper filter. This coffee raw material liquid is temporarily stored in the stock chamber 24. The coffee raw material liquid stored in the stock chamber 24 is supplied to the mixer 20 all at once at the timing when sugar and cream are supplied to the mixer 20. The mixer 2
A cup station 25 is provided below the outlet 11 and above the outlet 11, and sets cups discharged from a cup holder (not shown). Reference numeral 26 denotes a drainage bucket, and the coffee liquid leaking into the outlet 11 is collected in this bucket 26. Inside this bucket 26 is a drainage float 2.
7 is provided, and when this float 27 rises to a position where a certain amount of liquid has accumulated, a drain switch 28 is operated to detect a full state. A paper filter winding roller 29 winds up the paper filter used by the brewer 18. Also, when this paper filter is wound up by the winding roller 29, coffee grounds are passed through the chute 30 into the grounds bucket 3.
collected in 1.

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration, and 41 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration.
The CPU 41, which is a CPU (central processing unit),
It controls the ROM (read only memory) 42 and uses the RAM (random access memory) 43 based on the program data in the ROM 42.
and controls the I/O port 44. 45 is the above
This is a clock oscillator that generates a clock signal that determines the speed at which CPU 41 operates. The I/O port 44 includes a coin mechanism 46, the selection switch 2 and the function switch 3, and a digital switch including a numeric keypad that functions as an address designation switch for designating addresses of an operation time setting memory and a proportional constant setting memory, which will be described later. 47. A valve drive circuit 49 that drives the hot water solenoid valve 48 provided in the hot water tank 21, a motor drive circuit 5 that drives the raw material discharge motors 50 to 52, the cream discharge motor 53, and the sugar discharge motor 54.
5, 56, 57, 58, 59, the display 6 consisting of the on sale lamp 4, in preparation, process display lamp 5, change out lamp 6, and digital display 7
A display section drive circuit 61 for driving the cup holder, a cup release solenoid 62 for releasing the hold section of the cup holder, and the like are connected to the display section. In addition,
A digit switch specifies an address by turning on and off, and a numeric keypad specifies an address by temporarily pressing the numerical keys 0 to 9, which are commonly used when using a microcomputer. Needless to say, from the standpoint of achieving the function of specifying an address, a digital switch or numeric keypad may be used. In the following description, the digit switch, including the numeric keypad, will be collectively referred to as the digit switch. As shown in FIG. 4, the RAM 43 is provided with a hot water timer area 63, a coffee timer area 64, a cream timer area 65, a sugar timer area 66, and the like. As shown in FIG. 5, the daisy switches 47 include daisy switches 401, 402, 403 for hot water standard setting, hot water quantity increase setting, and hot water quantity reduction setting, daisy switches 404 for A coffee raw material setting, B coffee raw material setting, and C coffee raw material setting, as shown in FIG. 405, 406, sugar standard setting, sugar increase setting, sugar increase determination settings 407, 408, 409, hot water increase ratio setting, hot water decrease ratio setting for sugar, A coffee raw material proportional setting, B coffee raw material proportional setting, C coffee Each stage switch 410, 41 for raw material proportion setting
1,412,413,414, Cream standard setting, Cream increase setting, Cream reduction setting 415, 416, 417, Hot water increase proportion setting, Hot water decrease proportion setting for cream, A Coffee raw material proportional setting, B Coffee raw material proportional setting Setting, C coffee raw material proportion setting each daisy switch 418,
It is composed of 419, 420, 421, and 422.

Next, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the memory contents of the ROM 42, in which 22 digital switches 401 to 42 are stored.
It has an operation time setting memory 71 and a proportional constant setting memory 72 that can be selectively specified and read by 22 Y addresses corresponding to 2 and 10 X addresses obtained by switching each digital switch. are doing. In other words, X in the memories 71 and 72
The address is each digit switch 401 to 422.
is specified by a setting number of 0 to 9, and in the case of Y address,
03 is Y address 14-16, digital switch 4
04 to 422 correspond to Y addresses 00 to 13, respectively, and form a memory area.

Next, program control in the vending machine configured as described above will be explained according to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, the power is turned on,
When in the sales standby state, the sales lamp 4 is lit to display the sales status, and the coin mechanism 46
Wait for coin signal input from . When the coin signal is input, the control waits for the input of the function signal from the function switch 3 and the input of the selection signal from the selection switch 2.
If a function signal is input, it is stored in the RAM 43. Furthermore, if a selection signal is input, the coin mechanism 46
control, output process display signals, and
Sequential control is performed by ROM42.
That is, the coin mechanism 46 is caused to perform the process of returning change, etc., the process of sales processing is displayed on the process display lamp 5 during preparation, and control is performed based on the program in the ROM 42. In sequential control, first, it is determined whether the sugar content is standard, increased, or decreased. If the sugar is standard, that is, if only "selection switch 2" is operated, the operation time setting memory 7 is set by the sugar standard setting digital switch 407.
Data specifying the X address and Y address of 1
Store in RAM43. For example, Digi Switch 4
If 07 is set to "4", this switch is 40.
7 corresponds to the Y address "03", so
Stores the specified data of address "04" and Y address "03". In addition, in the case of increasing the amount of sugar, the function switch 3 determines that increasing the amount of sugar has been selected, and the sugar increase setting switch 408 sets the operation time setting memory 71 to X address "04" and Y
Data specifying address "04" is stored in RAM 43. Similarly, when reducing the amount of sugar, data specifying the X address "04" and Y address "05" of the operation time setting memory 71 is stored in the RAM 43 by the sugar reduction setting digit switch 409.

Next, determine whether the amount of hot water is standard, the amount of hot water is increased, or the amount of hot water is decreased. Then, when the amount of hot water is standard, that is, only the selection switch is operated, the process directly proceeds to the next process. Increased amount of hot water,
When the amount of hot water decreases, it is determined that a designation has been made by the adjustment switch 3, and processing is performed based on that specification.In other words, when the amount of hot water increases, the X of the proportional constant setting memory 72 is set by the sugar hot water increase proportion setting switch 410. Address “04”, Y address “06”
The specified data is stored in the RAM 43, and when the amount of hot water decreases, the X address "04" of the proportional constant setting memory 72 is set by the sugar water reduction proportion setting switch 411.
Data specifying Y address "07" is stored in RAM43.
Store in. Next, it is determined whether the coffee raw material is A, B, or C. If it is A coffee, specify data of X address "04" and Y address "08" of proportional constant setting memory 72 by A coffee raw material proportional setting switch 412 for sugar.
Store in RAM 43, and if it is B coffee, switch 4 to set the proportion of B coffee ingredients in sugar.
13, the data specifying the X address "04" and Y address "OA" of the proportional constant setting memory 72 are stored in the RAM 43, and if it is C coffee, the C coffee raw material proportional setting switch 414 for sugar is used to set the proportional constant. The designation data of the X address "04" and the Y address "OB" of the constant setting memory 72 is stored in the RAM 43. At the end of this sugar state determination, the corresponding operating time data and proportionality constant data are stored in the RAM 43 at the designated addresses of the X and Y addresses.
42's operating time setting memory 71 and proportional constant setting memory 72, performs a multiplication operation, obtains the final operating time of the sugar discharge motor 68, and stores the result in the RAM 43. When this sugar state determination process is completed, it is then determined whether the cream is standard, increased amount, or raw material.
If the cream is standard, that is, if only the selection switch is operated, the cream standard setting digital switch 415 stores data specifying the X address and Y address of the operation time setting memory 71 in the RAM 43. For example, if the digital switch 415 is set to "4", this switch 415 corresponds to the Y address "OC", so the X address "04" and the Y address "OC"
Stores the specified data. If the amount is increased, the function switch 3 determines that cream amount increase has been selected, and the cream amount increase setting switch 416 uses data to specify the X address "04" and Y address "OD" of the operation time setting memory 71. is stored in RAM43. Similarly, when it is a raw material, X address "04" of operation time setting memory 71, Y
Data specifying address “OE” is stored in RAM43.
Store in.

Next, determine whether the amount is reduced to the standard, increased amount of hot water, or decreased amount of hot water. If the amount of hot water is standard, that is, only the selection switch 2 is operated, the process directly proceeds to the next process. When the amount of hot water increases or decreases, it is determined that a designation has been made by the function switch 3, and processing is performed based on the designation.
That is, when the amount of hot water increases, the designated data of the X address "04" and Y address "OF" of the proportional setting constant memory 72 is stored in the RAM 43 by the cream hot water increase proportional setting switch 418, and when the amount of hot water decreases, the cream hot water decreases. The X address “04” of the proportional constant setting memory 72 is set by the proportional setting digit switch 419.
Data specifying Y address "10" is stored in RAM43.
Store in. Next, it is determined whether the coffee raw material is A, B, or C. If it is A coffee, the proportional constant setting memory 72 is set by the A coffee raw material proportional setting switch 420 in the cream.
The specified data of X address "04" and Y address "11" of B coffee is stored in the RAM 43, and if it is B coffee, the X address "04" of the proportional constant setting memory 72 is set by the B coffee raw material proportional measurement digital switch 421 in cream. , stores the data specifying the Y address "12" in RAM43, and further stores the data specifying the Y address "12".
If it is coffee, the designated data of the X address "04" and the Y address "13" of the proportional constant setting memory 72 is stored in the RAM 43 by the C coffee raw material proportional setting switch 422 for cream.
Then, at the end of this cream state determination, the above
The corresponding operating time data and proportional constant data are read from the operating time setting memory 71 and proportional constant setting memory 72 of the ROM 42 according to the designated addresses of each X address and Y address stored in the RAM 43, and multiplication is performed to obtain the final cream. Determine the operating time of the discharge motor 67 and store the result in the RAM 43.
Store in.

According to the operating times of the sugar discharge motor 68 and cream discharge motor 67 determined in this manner, desired amounts of sugar and cream are mixed from the sugar canister 15 and cream canister 16 via the shooter 19 through subsequent sequential processing. It will be supplied to the container 20. In this sequential process, the coffee raw material is discharged from the coffee raw material canister and the hot water is discharged from the hot water tank 21. Finally, during preparation, a process display for sales processing is displayed using a process display lamp 5. In this way, the amount of sugar and the amount of cream to be mixed into the coffee raw material liquid extracted from the brewer 18 are determined depending on the type of coffee raw material and the amount of hot water.

Note that, although the above embodiments have been described with respect to coffee beverage liquids, the present invention can be similarly applied to beverage liquids other than coffee.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, an operating time setting memory and a proportional constant setting memory are provided in the ROM, and the Y addresses of these memories are made to correspond one-to-one with each digit switch. Since the X address is specified with a value from 0 to 9, the standard operating time can be determined by specifying the address with the digital switch and reading out the proportionality constant according to the increase or decrease in the amount of hot water and the type of main raw material. The amount of various auxiliary raw materials to be mixed can be adjusted by multiplying by . Therefore, it is possible to provide a vending machine that allows a customer to bring out subtle flavors by changing the amount of auxiliary ingredients to be mixed with the main ingredient according to his or her preference.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 to 7 are shown to explain one embodiment of the vending machine according to the present invention.
Figure 2 is an external view of the vending machine, Figure 2 is a diagram showing the items stored inside the vending machine, Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the vending machine, and Figure 4 is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 5 is a configuration diagram of the RAM, Figure 5 is an example of the arrangement of a digital switch, Figure 6 is a diagram showing a memory map of the time setting memory and proportional constant memory in the ROM, and Figure 7 is a flowchart showing the main program control by the CPU. . 2... Selection switch, 3... Function switch, 12-14... Main raw material canister, 15, 16... Auxiliary raw material canister, 1
8...Brewer, 20...Mixer, 21...Hot water tank, 22...Pump, 23...Pipe, 24
... stock chamber, 25 ... cup station, 26 ... drain bucket, 27 ... drain float, 28 ... drain switch, 29 ... take-up roller, 30 ... chute, 31 ... waste bucket,
41...CPU (central processing unit), 42...
ROM, 43...RAM, 44...I/O port,
45...Clock oscillator, 46...Coin mechanism,
47...Digi switch, 48...Hot water solenoid valve,
49... Valve drive circuit, 50-52... Raw material discharge motor, 53... Cream discharge motor, 54... Sugar discharge motor, 55-59... Motor drive circuit,
63...Hot water timer area, 64...Coffee timer area, 65...Cream timer area, 6
6...Sugar timer area, 71...Operating time setting memory, 72...Proportional constant setting memory, 401~
422...Digi switch.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Insertion of money into a coin mechanism, multiple selection switches for selecting the type of beverage liquid to be sold, increase/decrease in hot water to be poured into the main raw material liquid and auxiliary raw materials to be mixed with the main raw material liquid. In response to the selection operation of multiple function switches selected according to preference, hot water is poured from the hot water tank onto the main material discharged from the selected one of the multiple main material canisters to prepare the main material liquid. In a vending machine that sells beverage liquid by the cup by mixing the main raw material liquid with an auxiliary raw material released from a selected one of a plurality of auxiliary raw material canisters, the hot water tank, each of the main raw material canisters and The hot water and raw material discharging means provided in each auxiliary raw material canister and the operation time of the hot water and raw material discharging means are respectively stored in a memory area determined according to the type of the main raw material and each of the function switches. An operation time setting memory in which a plurality of addresses are set and the operation time of the auxiliary raw material discharge means is set in the operation time setting memory according to the operation of the function switch that sets the increase/decrease of the hot water. The first step is to increase or decrease the respective set operation times.
a first proportional constant setting memory which sets a proportional constant corresponding to each operating time in each memory area of the operating time setting memory, and an operation of the selection switch that selects the type of the main raw material. Accordingly, a second proportionality constant for increasing or decreasing the plurality of operation times respectively set in the operation time setting memory area of the auxiliary raw material discharge means in the operation time setting memory is set in each of the operation time setting memories. a second proportional constant setting memory set corresponding to each operation time of each memory area, and corresponding to each memory area of the operation time setting memory and each memory area of the first and second proportional constant setting memories. a plurality of address designation switches that designate the address of the corresponding memory area, and a selection switch and a function switch that select the type of main material to select the corresponding address designation switch. , specifying the addresses of the corresponding memory areas of the second proportionality constant setting memory and the operation time setting memory, reading out the first and second proportionality constant data and the operation time data of the auxiliary raw material, and performing a multiplication operation. 1. A vending machine comprising a calculation means and a control means for controlling the operation of a corresponding auxiliary raw material discharge means based on a calculation value obtained by the calculation means.