JPH06282751A - Coffee server provided with mass vending function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify operational labor in the case of mass buying and to shorten vending time by repeating a vending operation for each cup of coffee just for the number of cups to be simultaneously bought stored in a storage means. CONSTITUTION:A number A=1 of cups to be simultaneously bought is initially set. Next, the value A is incremented/decremented corresponding to whether a pressed button is a cup number plus button 14 or a cup number minus button 15, and the number A of cups to be simultaneously brought is displayed on a mass buying cup number display 17. When a vending button 16 is turned on, the present number A of cups to be simultaneously brought is set to a counter 11a. Next, the extracting operation of coffee is performed with the amount of raw materials and the quantity of hot water just for one cup, and coffee beverage is poured to a decanter. Afterwards, the counter value A is decremented just for '1' and the remaining number of times of vending operation is displayed. Then, lees from the production of coffee is discarded, and the vending operation is repeated until the A is turned to '0'. In any case excepting for batch buying, the vending button 16 is immediately turned on corresponding to the initial value A=1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coffee server for providing regular coffee beverages by fully automatically performing operations such as raw material supply, filter supply and coffee extraction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 1 shows the internal mechanism of a coffee server. 1 is a raw material box for storing regular coffee raw materials, 2 is a raw material motor for supplying raw materials from the raw material box 1, 3
Is a tank for storing hot water, and the hot water valve 3 is provided in its discharge path.
a. Reference numeral 4 denotes a coffee brewing mechanism, which has a brewing cylinder 4a inside. Further, a paper filter 5a supplied from a paper roll 5 is applied to the bottom opening of the coffee extracting mechanism 4, and the paper filter 5a is provided.
Is fed from the paper roll 5 by a paper feed roller 6a driven by a paper feed motor and a roller 6b which is in pressure contact with the paper feed roller 6a with the paper filter 5a interposed therebetween. Reference numeral 8 is a saucer for receiving the coffee beverage extracted through the paper filter 5a.

After the raw material from the raw material box 1 and the hot water from the tank 3 are supplied to the coffee extracting mechanism 4, the raw material and the hot water are agitated by the air from the air pump 7,
Then, the cylinder 4a is pressed from above to brew the coffee through the paper filter 5a. The coffee beverage extracted into the saucer 8 is stored in the cylinder 4a.
By the pressure generated by the above, it is transmitted upward in the pipe 9 and discharged to the paper cup 10.

When the extraction is completed, as shown in FIG. 2, the tray 8 is lowered by a driving device using a cam mechanism (not shown). To enable the tray 8 to move up and down in this manner, a pipe 9 communicating with the tray 8 is provided.
A retractable joint 9a is inserted in the. By feeding a predetermined amount of the paper filter 5a in the state of FIG. 2, the coffee grounds Q are discarded in the bucket Y, and at the same time, a new paper filter 5a is set in the coffee extraction mechanism 4 in preparation for the next extraction.

[0005]

In the conventional coffee server having the above-mentioned structure, one cup of coffee beverage is provided by one selling operation. Therefore, when making a bulk purchase, money is thrown in. Can be done once, but it is time-consuming because it is necessary to remove the cup each time the beverage is discharged into the cup, place an empty cup at the discharge position, and press the sales button. In addition, there is a problem that the total sales time becomes long. The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and simplifies the operation labor in the case of bulk buying,
Moreover, it aims at providing the coffee server which can shorten a selling time.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, one cup of raw material discharged from a raw material box by a raw material discharging means, and
In a coffee server that automatically extracts a cup of hot water discharged from the hot water tank by the hot water discharge means using a coffee extraction mechanism and automatically discards the ground coffee grounds after the extraction The collective buying cup number setting means for setting and inputting, the storing means for storing the collective buying cup number set by the collective buying cup number setting means, the sale button for starting the sale, and the sale button being pressed to make one cup It is characterized in that it is provided with a bulk buying and selling control means for repeating each sale operation by the bulk buying cup number stored in the storage means.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the coffee extraction mechanism extracts one cup of raw material discharged from the raw material box by the raw material discharging means and one cup of hot water discharged from the hot water tank by the hot water discharging means. In the coffee server that automatically performs a series of selling operations to discard the extracted coffee grounds, the collective buying cup number setting means for setting and inputting the collective buying cup number, and the collective buying cup number set by the collective buying cup number setting means And a table ROM in which the amount of raw material and the amount of hot water for one extraction operation in the coffee extraction mechanism and the required number of times of the extraction operation are stored in advance as data in accordance with the storage means for storing And a sales button for starting the sale, and by pressing the sales button, 1 read from the table ROM
The present invention is characterized by comprising a bulk buying and selling control means for controlling the extraction operation performed with the amount of raw material and the amount of hot water for each extraction operation for a required number of times.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the coffee extracting mechanism extracts one cup of raw material discharged from the raw material box by the raw material discharging means and one cup of hot water discharged from the hot water tank by the hot water discharging means. In a coffee server that automatically performs a series of selling operations to discard the coffee grounds after extraction, the collective buying cup number setting means for setting and inputting the collective buying cup number and the collective buying cup number set by the collective buying cup number setting means When the number of bulk buying cups set by the storing means for storing the number and the bulk buying cup number setting means exceeds the processing capacity of the coffee extraction mechanism, the paper filter is fed after the first extraction operation is performed according to the processing capacity. Without adding the above-mentioned amount of raw materials and boiling water, 2
It is characterized in that it is provided with a bulk buying and selling control means for performing the extraction operation for the second time.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, for example, in the case of bulk buying of three cups, the extraction operation is performed with the raw material and hot water for one cup, and one cup of coffee beverage is discharged to a large capacity decanter or the like. , Such sales operation is automatically repeated three times.

In the second aspect of the present invention, assuming that the processing capacity of the coffee extraction mechanism is two cups, two cups of raw material and boiling water are used to extract two cups of coffee at a time when two cups are purchased in bulk. The action is taken. In the case of buying 3 cups in bulk, the extraction operation is performed according to the raw material and hot water stored for 1.5 cups, and 1.5 cups of coffee beverage are discharged to the decanter, etc. Is automatically repeated twice to provide three cups of coffee beverage. In the second aspect of the present invention, the table ROM stores the amount of raw material, the amount of hot water, and the number of sales operations for each bulk buying number.

In the third invention, the number of bulk buying cups is
For example, in the case of 3 cups, which exceeds the processing capacity of 2 cups of coffee extraction mechanism, the extraction is performed first for 2 cups of raw material and hot water, and then for 1 cup without feeding the paper filter. Extraction is performed by adding raw materials and boiling water. When the number of bulk buying cups is 6, after the above-mentioned selling operation for three cups is performed, a new paper filter is set, and the selling operation for three cups is performed again.

[0012]

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of a control block diagram for the coffee server of the first invention. Since the mechanical structure of the coffee server is the same as that of the conventional example, FIGS. 1 and 2 will be referred to again in this embodiment. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 11 denotes a CPU that controls the coffee server as a whole.
12 is a ROM that stores a control program for bulk buying and selling as described below.
A RAM 3 temporarily stores setting data and the like.

As for 14, the number of bulk purchases is 1 each time it is turned on.
This is a "bulk buying cup number (+) button" that is incremented only, and 15 is a "bulk buying cup number (-) button" that decrements the bulk buying cup number by 1 each time it is turned on. 1
Reference numeral 6 is a sales button that is pushed at the time of sale. Reference numeral 17 is a cup number display for displaying the number of bulk buying cups set by the buttons 14 and 15. Reference numeral 18 is an input / output unit of each of the devices 14 to 17. Reference numerals 2, 3a and 4 are the raw material motor, hot water valve and extracting mechanism described above, and 19 and 20 are a paper feed motor and a lifting motor for the tray 8. Reference numeral 21 denotes these input / output units.

Further, in the CPU 11, a counter 1 is set in which the batch buying cup number set by the cup number (+) button 14 and the cup number (-) button 15 is set when the sales button 16 is pressed.
1a is provided.

The control operation of the apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Initially, as the initial setting, 1 is set as the bulk buying number A in step S1. In step S2, the bulk buying cup number button 14 or 1
It is determined whether or not 5 is turned on, and if it is turned on, the process proceeds to step S3, and the pressed button is the number of full cups (+) button 14 or the number of full cups.
The A value is incremented / decremented by pressing the (-) button 15. Then, in step S4, the collective purchase cup number A is displayed on the collective purchase cup number indicator 17. still,
In the case of bulk buying, a large capacity decanter or the like is placed instead of the paper cup 10.

In step S5, it is determined whether or not the sale button 16 is turned on. When the bulk buying number button 14 or 15 is turned on again here, the process returns to step S2, but when the sale button 16 is turned on. Proceeds from step S5 to step S6, and the current bulk buying number A is the counter 11a.
Is set to. When the sale button 16 is immediately turned on without operating the bulk buying cup number buttons 14 and 15, the bulk buying cup number A is 1.

In step S7, the coffee extraction operation is performed with the amount of raw material and the amount of hot water for one cup, and the paper cup 1
0 or the coffee drink is discharged to the decanter. When the selling operation for one cup is performed in this manner, step S
At 8, the counter value A is decremented by 1, and the A value is displayed as the number of remaining sales operations. In step S9, the tray 8 is lowered by the drive of the lifting motor 20 as shown in FIG.
Is driven for a predetermined time and the paper filter 5a is fed by both rollers 6a and 6b, so that the coffee grounds Q are discarded in the bucket Y and, at the same time, a new paper filter 5a is set in the coffee extractor 4. . In step S10, the number of remaining sales operations A is determined. If A = 0 is not satisfied, the process returns to step S7, and the beverage sales operation is repeated.
If A = 0, this flow is terminated assuming that all beverage sales have been completed.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the second invention, and differs from FIG. 3 in that a table ROM 11b is newly provided. In this embodiment, the amount of coffee raw material and the amount of hot water for each cup are 2 g and 150 cc, respectively,
Further, when the processing capacity of the extraction mechanism 4 is set to 2 cups, the table ROM 11b shows, as shown in Table 1, the raw material amount, the hot water amount, and the raw material amount and the hot water amount for each bulk buying number. The number of sales operations is stored as a table.

[0019]

[Table 1] Number of cups Raw material amount Hot water volume Number of sales operations 1 2g 150cc 1 2 4g 300cc 1 3 3g 225cc 2 4 4g 300cc 2 5 3.3g 250cc 3: 9 3g 225cc 6

When creating this table, the amount of raw material and the amount of hot water which are optimum within the processing capacity of the coffee extraction mechanism are set so that the number of sales operations can be reduced as much as possible.

The control operation of this apparatus will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Since steps S11 to S15 are the same operations as steps S1 to S5 of FIG. 4, the description thereof will be omitted and the next step S15 will be described.
At 16, the amount of raw material, the amount of hot water, and the number of sales operations B are read from the table ROM 11b for the set bulk buying number A, and the number of sales operations B is set in the counter 11a in step S17. In step S18, the raw material is extracted with the read raw material amount and hot water amount, and the coffee beverage is discharged to the decanter. When one selling operation is performed in this way, step S1
At 9, the counter value B is decremented by 1, and the B value is displayed as the number of remaining sales operations. In step S20, the tray 8 is driven by driving the lifting motor 20.
Is lowered, and thereafter, the paper filters 5a are fed by the rollers 6a and 6b, so that the coffee grounds Q are discarded in the bucket Y and, at the same time, a new paper filter 5a is set in the coffee extractor 4. It In step S21, the number of remaining sales operations B is determined, and if B = 0 is not satisfied, the process returns to step S18, and the beverage sales operation is repeated.
If = 0, it means that all the beverages have been sold, and this flow ends.

In the second aspect of the invention, since the processing capacity of the extraction mechanism 4 is 2 cups, the sale (extraction) operation for 1.5 cups and 2 cups is repeated in the batch purchase of 3 cups and 4 cups. The paper filter 5a must be fed and the coffee grounds Q must be discarded each time. Therefore, the amount of the paper filter 5a used increases, and the overall required time becomes long. Therefore, the third invention that solves this problem will be described below.

In the coffee extraction mechanism 4, if two cups of coffee raw material and hot water are added, the coffee raw material may swell due to the water content, and no further addition is possible. However, once the coffee grounds Q have been extracted by the cylinder 4a, the volume occupied by the coffee grounds Q itself is so small that it is possible to add the coffee raw material and the hot water again.

Therefore, as shown in Table 2, when the number of bulk shopping cups is 1 or 2, extraction is performed with one cup of coffee, two cups of coffee raw material and boiling water according to the same data as in Table 1, If is 3, it is 2 in the first extraction operation.
A cup of coffee raw material (2g x 2 = 4g) and boiling water (15g)
After extraction with 0 cc × 2 = 300 cc), one cup of raw material (2 g) and hot water (150 cc) are added without feeding the several paper filter 5a, and the second extraction operation is performed. If the number of bulk purchases is 4, 2 in the first extraction operation
A bowl of raw material and boiling water are added, and two cups of raw material and boiling water are added again in the second extraction operation. The number of sales operations shown in Table 2 is the number of sales operations after replacing the paper filter 5a, and when the number of collective cups is 6, the number of collective purchase cups is 3
In this case, the selling operation is repeated twice.

[0025]

[Table 2]

By the way, for example, when the number of bulk buying cups was 4, the extraction operation was actually performed according to the above table. As a result, a coffee beverage having a much stronger strength than the flavor when the number of bulk buying cups was 1 or 2 was obtained. The reason is that the coffee raw material that was initially charged in the second extraction operation was extracted again. Therefore, if the standard flavor is to be obtained, the amount of the coffee raw material added for the second time can be made smaller than the specified amount. Actually, first, 2 cups of coffee raw material (4 g) and boiling water (300 cc) were added to perform extraction, and in that state 1.
When 5 cups of coffee raw material (2 g × 1.5 = 3 g) and 2 cups of boiling water (300 cc) were added and extracted for the second time, almost standard flavor was obtained.

In order to further take advantage of the advantage that the coffee raw material initially charged is extracted again in the second extraction operation, the coffee raw material amount to be initially charged should be maximum allowed by the coffee extraction mechanism 4. Good. Therefore, first, the maximum allowable amount of 2.3 coffee ingredients (2 x 2.3 =
4.6 g) and 2 cups of boiling water were added, and the second time, 1 cup of coffee raw material (2 g) and 2 cups of hot water were added for extraction. A coffee beverage having almost the same flavor as when the extraction was performed twice was obtained. The total amount of coffee ingredients used in this case is 3.3 cups
(6.6 g), and the coffee raw material amount could be further saved. Table 3 shows the data obtained from the extraction operation thus actually performed.

[0028]

[Table 3]

[0029] One of the third invention of the present invention to which such a method is applied
The control operation of the embodiment is shown in the flowchart of FIG. Since this configuration is the same as that in FIG. 5, it will be referred to again. However, the table ROM 11b stores the data shown in Table 3 as a table.

Steps S31 to S35 are the same as steps S11 to S15 in FIG. 6, and in the next step S36, the amount of raw materials, the amount of hot water, and the extraction shown in Table 2 from the table ROM 11b for the bulk buying number A are shown. The data of the number of times (for example, once when the number of cups is 1 only the first extraction operation, and when the number of cups 4 is two times in the first extraction operation and the second extraction operation) and the number of sales operations B are respectively read out, and step S37 is performed. Then, the sales operation number B is set in the counter 11a.

In step S38, the first extraction operation is performed according to the read data, and in step S39,
It is determined whether the number of times of extraction is two. If the number of times of extraction is one, step S40 is skipped, but the number of times of extraction is two.
In the case of the second time, the second extraction operation is performed in step S40 without feeding the paper filter 5a. In the next step S41, the counter value B is decremented by 1, and the B value is displayed as the number of remaining sales operations. In step S42, the lifting motor 20 is driven,
The tray 8 is lowered, and thereafter, the paper filter 5a is fed by the rollers 6a and 6b, whereby the coffee grounds Q are discarded in the bucket Y and, at the same time, the coffee extractor 4
Is set with a new paper filter 5a.

In step S43, the number of remaining sales operations B is determined. For example, the number of bulk buying is 8 and step S37.
If the number of sales operations B set in step 2 is set to B = 1 at this point, the operation returns to step S38 and the operations of steps S38 to S42 are repeated. In this case, since B = 0 at this point in time, this flow is terminated assuming that all the beverage sales have been completed.

[0033]

According to the first aspect of the invention, when a plurality of cups are purchased in bulk, the extraction operation is performed with the raw material and hot water for one cup, and one cup of coffee beverage is discharged to the decanter or the like. Since the selling operation is automatically repeated a plurality of times, it is possible to not only save time but also shorten the total selling time. In the second invention, in order to reduce the number of sales operations, the optimum amount of raw materials and the amount of hot water within the processing capacity of the coffee extraction mechanism are stored in advance in a table for each number of bulk purchases, and the sales operations are performed according to the table data. Since it is repeated as many times as necessary, the total sales time can be further shortened. Furthermore, in the third invention, after extraction, the raw material is further added and extracted without replacing the paper filter, so replacement of the paper filter and disposal of coffee grounds are performed only once, and the total sales time is reduced. Not only can it be shortened, but the amount of paper filters used can also be saved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an internal mechanism of a coffee server to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an internal configuration when the tray is lowered in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram showing an embodiment of the first invention.

4 is a flowchart showing a control operation of the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a control block diagram showing an embodiment of the second invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the control operation of the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the control operation of the device of the third invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Raw material box 2 Raw material motor 3 Hot water tank 3a Hot water valve 4 Coffee extraction mechanism 5 Roll 6a Paper feed roller 6b Roller 7 Air pump 8 Receiving tray 9 Pipe 10 Paper cup 11 CPU 11a Counter 11b Table ROM 12 ROM 13 RAM 14 Bulk purchase quantity (+) Button 15 Bulk purchase number (-) button 16 Sale button 17 Bulk purchase number indicator 19 Paper feed motor 20 Lifting motor

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. The coffee extraction mechanism extracts one cup of raw material discharged from the raw material box by the raw material discharging means and one cup of hot water discharged from the hot water tank by the hot water discharging means by the coffee extraction mechanism, and after extraction In a coffee server that automatically carries out a series of selling operations for discarding the coffee grounds, a collective buying cup number setting means for setting and inputting the collective buying cup number, and a memory for storing the collective buying cup number set by the collective buying cup number setting means Means, a sale button for starting the sale, and a bulk purchase sale control means for repeating the sale operation one cup at a time by the number of bulk purchase cups stored in the storage means by pressing the sale button. A coffee server with a featured bulk selling function. 2. The coffee extraction mechanism extracts one cup of raw material discharged from the raw material box by the raw material discharging means and one cup of hot water discharged from the hot water tank by the hot water discharging means by the coffee extraction mechanism, and after extraction In a coffee server that automatically carries out a series of selling operations for discarding the coffee grounds, a collective buying cup number setting means for setting and inputting the collective buying cup number, and a memory for storing the collective buying cup number set by the collective buying cup number setting means Means, a table ROM in which the amount of raw material and the amount of hot water for one extraction operation in the coffee extraction mechanism and the required number of times of the extraction operation are stored in advance as data in accordance with the set number of bulk purchases Sales button to start and the amount of raw material for one extraction operation read from the table ROM by pressing the sales button And performs control to repeat only necessary number of times the extraction operation performed with a hot water amount, collectively sold function coffee server, characterized in that a buying sales controlling means. 3. The coffee extraction mechanism extracts one cup of raw material discharged from the raw material box by the raw material discharging means and one cup of hot water discharged from the hot water tank by the hot water discharging means by the coffee extraction mechanism, and after extraction. In a coffee server that automatically carries out a series of selling operations for discarding the coffee grounds, a collective buying cup number setting means for setting and inputting the collective buying cup number, and a memory for storing the collective buying cup number set by the collective buying cup number setting means Means and the number of bulk buying cups set by the bulk buying cup number setting means,
When the processing capacity of the coffee extraction mechanism is exceeded, after performing the first extraction operation according to the processing capacity, the above-mentioned amount of raw material and hot water are further added without performing the paper filter feeding, and the second extraction is performed. A coffee server with a bulk selling function, comprising: a bulk buying and selling control means for performing an operation.