JPH07282338A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to confirm which automatic vending machine (AVM) is in a soldout state or generates various forecasts such as card-out even from a separated position by providing an AVM with an alarm lamp a part of which is projected from the AVM body. CONSTITUTION:The alarm lamp 3 is fixed so as to be projected from a rear door 2 of the AVM 1. The lamp 3 consists of a large red light emitting diode e.g. and the size of the lamp 3 is set up so as to be observed from a position separated a prescribed distance (about 10m). When the residual of coins for change is reduced or when the number of prepaid cards stored in a card stocker becomes less than a prescribed number, a CPU in a control part stored in the AVM 1 flashes the lamp 3 at a low speed. When a cashbox for a paper money block is filled with paper money or when a card or paper money is jummed in each carrier, the CPU flashes the lamp 3 at a high speed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine for prepaid cards, tickets, etc. (hereinafter simply referred to as cards, etc.).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional vending machine, if the sale of a card or the like is stopped for some reason, an alarm lamp protruding from the housing of the vending machine is turned on to notify that effect. I am informing you. This allows the clerk to know from any direction that the vending machine has been discontinued. The alarm lamp is usually an incandescent light bulb whose surface is coated with red paint or an incandescent light bulb covered with a red light bulb cover. In addition, in recent vending machines, when it is determined that the card or roll paper for issuing ticket printing that is stored beforehand in the main body will soon disappear,
Alternatively, there is one that displays a paper-out forecast on the staff operation unit or emits an alarm sound.

[0003]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional vending machine, since the incandescent lamp is used as the alarm lamp for notifying the sale stop, when the incandescent lamp is disconnected due to its life or some reason. , You have to replace it, but we have a replacement incandescent lamp,
The incandescent lamp has to be regularly inspected for burnout, which makes maintenance troublesome. In particular, in a large-scale station where dozens of vending machines are installed, it is necessary to allocate personnel for maintenance and secure a place to store incandescent lamps for maintenance, which is expensive. Will end up.

Further, in a vending machine which displays a card-out forecast or a paper-out forecast on a clerk operation section, the clerk operation section is usually provided inside the door on the back side of the vending machine. Even if it was displayed, I could not confirm it without opening the door. On the other hand, in vending machines that notify the warning of running out of cards and out of paper with an alarm sound, you can check the forecast without opening the back door, but the volume for adjusting the volume of the alarm sound is narrowed, There was a drawback that the alarm could not be heard when the vehicle was a little away from the vending machine. Usually, several to more than a dozen vending machines are installed side by side, so even if an alarm sound is emitted from one of them, if you do not come close to it, which vending machine will I didn't know if the alarm was sounding.

The present invention has been made against such a background, requires no maintenance, and can be sold at any place from a distant place, and various forecasts such as card exhaustion are issued. The purpose is to provide a vending machine that can confirm whether or not

[0006]

The invention according to claim 1 is
In a vending machine that sells tickets, prepaid cards, etc. where tickets and other products can be purchased, the size is such that it can be seen from a position separated by a predetermined distance, and part of it protrudes from the vending machine body. Alarm lamp and the alarm lamp is turned on for each of a plurality of alarm occurrence causes,
Alternatively, it is characterized in that it is provided with a control means for blinking each at a different blinking rate.

In the invention according to claim 2, in the invention according to claim 1, the cause of the alarm is that the vending machine is forcibly discontinued when the alarm lamp is turned on. When the lamp flashes at high speed, the vending machine is in an abnormal state for some reason, and when the alarm lamp flashes at low speed, the change is running low, or the ticket is issued. Is to predict the discontinuation of sale of the vending machine when the remaining amount of paper or the number of stored prepaid cards is below a predetermined value. The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the alarm lamp is a light emitting diode.

[0008]

According to the invention of claim 1, the alarm lamp is
Depending on the cause of the alarm, it lights up or flashes at different flashing rates, so the staff member should check what kind of alarm the vending machine issues even if it is a predetermined distance from the vending machine. You can According to the invention of claim 2, in the invention of claim 1,
If the vending machine is forcibly discontinued, the alarm lamp will light up, and if the vending machine is in an abnormal state for some reason, the alarm lamp will flash rapidly and the change will be low. Alternatively, when it is predicted that the vending machine will stop selling because the remaining amount of paper for issuing tickets or the number of stored prepaid cards becomes less than a predetermined value, the alarm lamp blinks at a low speed. As a result, the clerk
Whether the vending machine is forcibly discontinued,
It is possible to check whether the status is abnormal due to some reason, the change is running low, the paper is out, or the card is running out. further,
According to the invention of claim 3, in the invention of claim 1 or 2, since the alarm lamp is not broken,
No maintenance required.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic right side view showing an external configuration of a vending machine 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic rear view showing an external configuration of the vending machine 1, and FIG. 3 shows a rear door 2 in FIG. It is the schematic showing the state removed. The vending machine 1 according to this embodiment sells only prepaid cards, and stores a plurality of preselected preselected cards inside the main body. It is possible to select and purchase one desired type of prepaid card.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, an alarm lamp 3 is attached so as to project from a rear door 2 of a vending machine 1. The alarm lamp 3 is composed of, for example, a large red light emitting diode, and the size thereof is such that it can be visually recognized from a position separated by a predetermined distance (for example, about 10 m). In addition, a window 2a is formed in the rear door 2 so that the staff operation unit 4 provided at the rear of the vending machine 1 can be observed from the outside without opening the rear door 2, and the window 2a is formed in the window 2a. Is attached with a transparent plate 5 made of transparent plastic, for example.

The clerk operation section 4 is depressed when an error display section for notifying the type of error that has occurred in the vending machine 1 by a code number and for releasing one thousand yen bills as change or refund money one by one. A 1000 yen single button, a chime stop button that is pressed to stop the sound alarm by a chime (not shown), a confirmation button that is pressed to turn off the error display after confirming the cause of the error, and a prepaid It is composed of a release stop button and the like that are pressed when the sale of the card is stopped.

Further, in FIG. 3, the card stocker 6,
Prepaid cards, which are products of the vending machine 1, are stored in each of 6, 6 ... The card transport unit 7 is configured integrally with the card stockers 6, 6, ..., And the prepaid card delivered from any of the card stockers 6, 6 ,. The card is conveyed to the provided card exit section 14 (described later).

After the denominations of the inserted banknotes have been sorted out, the banknote block 8 needs to hold the banknotes temporarily or store them in the safe, as well as the banknotes temporarily held or stored in the safe. Depending on the change, or as a refund, the banknote payout opening 1 provided in front of the main body of the vending machine 1
6 (described later).

FIG. 4 shows a schematic front view of the vending machine 1. In FIG. 4, the customer service display section 9 indicates “on sale”.
And characters such as “released” are displayed to inform the purchaser of the operating state of the vending machine 1. The customer service unit 10 displays sample card display units 11, 11, ... Displaying prepaid cards that can be sold by the vending machine 1 as samples,
Card selection buttons 12 and 1 for selecting the prepaid card displayed on the corresponding sample card display unit 11.
2, ..., an amount display unit 13 for displaying the total amount and change amount of the inserted banknotes, a card exit unit 14 for discharging the purchased prepaid card, and a banknote insertion port 15 for inserting the banknotes. , A banknote payout opening 16 for discharging change and refund money.

A control unit (not shown) is provided inside the vending machine 1. The control unit is a CPU.
(Central processing unit), RAM, ROM, CPU and various interfaces for exchanging data with each unit of the apparatus. The CPU controls each part of the apparatus by using the working area of the RAM in accordance with the control program stored in the ROM, and executes the prepaid card carrying and discharging process, the inserted bill counting process, and the change calculating and releasing process. For example, a dozen vending machines 1 having the above-described configuration are usually installed side by side in a station.

In such a configuration, the CPU of the control unit
When the number of fishing tags is low, the card stocker 6,
If the number of prepaid cards stored in any of the card stockers 6 out of 6, becomes about 5, for example, an error will occur in order to predict the release of the prepaid card. The code number corresponding to the display is displayed, a chime (not shown) is sounded, and the alarm lamp 3 is blinked at a low speed.

Accordingly, even if the chime cannot be heard at a place slightly distant from the vending machine 1, the clerk can confirm that the vending machine 1 has issued the forecast of the sale suspension, and can immediately take action. That is, the clerk
In order to stop the sale of the prepaid card, go to the vending machine 1 where the sale stop forecast is issued, and open the rear door 2 and operate the sale stop button of the staff operation unit 4. Therefore, the CPU of the control unit prevents the bill from being inserted from the bill insertion slot 15 and causes the customer service display unit 9 to indicate “Cancel sale”.
Is displayed and the alarm lamp 3 is turned on. After that, the clerk looks at the code number displayed on the error display section, replenishes the fishing tag or the prepaid card, and operates the sale stop button for returning the vending machine 1 during the sale. As described above, according to this embodiment, the clerk regularly codes from the window 2a at the rear of the vending machine 1 to the error display section for a prediction that the fishing tag is running out, or a card that is out of sale, such as a forecast that the sales will be canceled. No need to check if the number is displayed.

Further, the CPU of the control unit is a banknote block 8
If the safe is full, or if there is an abnormal state for some reason, such as when cards or bills are jammed in their respective transport paths, the corresponding code number is displayed on the error display and the A chime (not shown) is sounded with a tone color different from that in the case of the sale stop forecast, and the alarm lamp 3 is blinked at a high speed (for example, twice as fast as the case of the sale stop forecast).

Accordingly, even if the chime cannot be heard at a place slightly distant from the vending machine 1, the clerk can confirm that the abnormal alarm is issued from the vending machine 1 and can immediately deal with it. That is, the attendant goes to the vending machine 1 where the abnormality alarm is issued, opens the rear door 2 and operates the sale stop button of the attendant operation unit 4 in order to stop the sale of the prepaid card. Therefore, the CPU of the control unit blocks the insertion of bills from the bill insertion slot 15, causes the customer service display unit 9 to display “Cancel Sale”, and turns on the alarm lamp 3. After this, the clerk looks at the code number displayed on the error display section, takes out the jammed card or banknote, hands over the card, fishing tag, or return card to the customer, and restores the vending machine 1 during sale. To operate the release stop button for

The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the drawings. However, the specific structure is not limited to this embodiment, and the design change and the like without departing from the gist of the present invention. Even so, it is included in the present invention. For example, although the alarm lamp 3 is provided so as to project from the rear door 2 as shown in FIG. 1 in the above-described embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this. In short, the alarm lamp 3 may be provided in any part of the vending machine 1 as long as it can be confirmed from a distant place that it is lit or blinking. Further, in the above-described one embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to an automatic vending machine dedicated to a prepaid card is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to an automatic vending machine for selling tickets, commuter passes, etc. Of course you can apply.

[0021]

As described above, according to the invention described in claim 1, since the alarm lamp is turned on or the blinking speed is changed for each cause of the alarm occurrence, the alarm lamp can be operated at any distance. You can check whether the forecast or alarm is issued according to the lighting state of the alarm lamp on the stand. In addition, claim 2
According to the invention described above, it is possible to confirm from any remote place at which stand the sale has been canceled, various release forecasts such as card exhaustion, paper exhaustion, or an abnormal alarm has been issued. Further, according to the invention of claim 3, since a light emitting diode is used in place of the conventional incandescent light bulb,
No need to worry about disconnection and no maintenance required.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic right side view showing an external configuration of a vending machine 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic rear view showing the external configuration of the vending machine 1 according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an external configuration in which a rear door 2 is removed in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic front view showing an external configuration of the vending machine 1 according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Vending machine 2 Rear door 3 Alarm lamp

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A vending machine for selling a ticket or a prepaid card or the like from which a ticket or other products can be purchased, which is of a size that can be visually recognized from a predetermined distance away from the vending machine body. An automatic vending machine, comprising: an alarm lamp that is provided so as to protrude; and a control unit that lights the alarm lamp or causes the alarm lamp to flash at different flashing rates for each of a plurality of alarm occurrence causes. 2. The alarm is caused by forcibly canceling the sale of the vending machine when the warning lamp is turned on, and when the warning lamp blinks at a high speed, the vending machine does not do anything. It is an abnormal state due to the reason, and when the alarm lamp blinks at a low speed, there is little change left, or the remaining amount of paper for issuing the ticket, or the number of stored prepaid cards. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the vending machine predicts that the vending machine will not be on sale due to being below a predetermined level. 3. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the alarm lamp is a light emitting diode.