JPH0729661U - Automatic ticket vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To provide an automatic ticket vending machine with a short time required for issuing an admission ticket and the like, and with good ticket responsiveness. [Structure] In a thermal-printing single-account vending machine that issues admission tickets in response to the insertion of coins, one admission ticket is printed in advance before the customer inserts coins (step Sa1), and the coins are inserted. As a result of inspecting the coin (step Sa3), when the inserted coin satisfies a predetermined purchase amount, the preprinted ticket is cut (step Sa4) and issued (step Sa5). As a result, the time required for printing is removed from the ticket issuing time, and the responsiveness of ticket issuing is improved.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to an automatic ticket vending machine that issues a printed ticket in response to, for example, the input of money by a customer.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 As is well known, various automatic ticket vending machines have been developed that thermally print and issue tickets such as entrance tickets in response to the input of money by customers. This type of automatic ticket vending machine has an advantage that the ticket is not left in vain because it does not have a stock of the ticket in advance and the ticket is printed and issued every time a coin is inserted.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a configuration example of a customer service side of such a conventional single-account automatic ticket vending machine. In this figure, 1 is a coin slot. A customer who purchases a ticket (in this example, an admission ticket) inserts various coins of 10 to 500 yen from the coin slot 1. Reference numeral 2 is a tray from which change money at the time of purchase and coins inserted at the time of cancellation operation are discharged. 3 is a ticket exit where the admission ticket is discharged from inside the ticket vending machine. The discharged admission ticket is clamped at one end at the ticket exit 3 and is taken out by the customer.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an internal configuration example of the conventional single-account automatic ticket vending machine. In the figure, 4 is a frame of the ticket vending machine body including the above-mentioned customer service surface (see FIG. 2). Reference numeral 5 is an installation stand for supporting the ticket vending machine body on the floor. 6 is a coin inspection / changer department, which inspects coins inserted and calculates change. The coin / change department 6 stocks various types of coins, such as ¥ 10, ¥ 50, and ¥ 100. Based on the results of the change and change calculation, coins equivalent to change and coins inserted at the time of cancellation operation. Is discharged to the saucer 2. Reference numeral 7 denotes a ticket issuing section, which performs a ticket issuing operation when the input amount of money satisfies the purchase price of the admission ticket. Details of the ticket issuing unit 7 will be described later. A staff operation unit 8 is used by the staff to perform various setting operations such as setting the purchase price of the entrance ticket. Reference numeral 9 is a monitoring / alarm unit, which issues an alarm when trouble occurs such as a failure of a ticket vending machine. Further, the ticket vending machine has a built-in control device (not shown) including a CPU (central processing unit), a memory and the like, and the control device controls each of the above parts.

Further, FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the structure of the ticket issuing unit 7. In the figure, reference numeral 11 is a roll paper obtained by winding a thermal paper before printing. The roll paper 11 is sent to the printer 13 via the guide mechanism 12. The printer 13 thermally prints on the roll paper 11 supplied from the guide mechanism 12, the information necessary for the admission ticket such as the date and reference number. Further, in one printing operation, one admission ticket is thermally printed. The cutter 14 cuts the printed portion of the roll paper 11 and supplies it to the ticket exit 3 as one entrance ticket. At the ticket exit 3, the entrance ticket is held at one end and waits for the customer to pick it up. Further, the exit sensor 15 detects when the customer takes the admission ticket sandwiched at the ticket exit 3, and notifies the control device of it.

Next, the operation of the above-described conventional automatic ticket vending machine will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, when the ticket vending machine is turned on, the CPU in the control device starts a predetermined control program. As a result, the processing of the CPU proceeds to step S1 (see FIG. 5).

In step S1, the process waits until a coin is inserted from the coin slot 1. Then, for example, when a coin of the same price as the preset purchase price is inserted, the process proceeds to step S2. In step S2, the change and change section 6 checks the inserted coins. In this case, since the input amount satisfies the purchase price (the same amount), the CPU instructs the ticket issuing unit 7 to issue an admission ticket. At this time, since the change is "0" yen, the change is not discharged.

Then, in step S 3, the printer 13 performs thermal printing on the roll paper 11 sent from the guide mechanism 12 for one admission ticket. Further, in step S4, the printed roll paper 11 is sent to the cutter 14 and cut into one admission ticket. Next, in step S5, one cut admission ticket is sent to the ticket exit 3, one end of which is held at the exit 3 and waits for the customer to pick it up. Then, when the admission ticket is taken by the customer, the process proceeds to step S6. In step S6, it is detected by the output of the exit sensor 15 that the entrance ticket has been taken, and the process returns to step S1. In this way, the above-described operation is repeated, and the ticket issuing operation is performed according to the coin insertion.

A multi-account automatic ticket vending machine that issues a ticket of a type corresponding to a pressed account (menu) button has been conventionally known, but it is configured to issue a plurality of types of tickets. Since it is the same as in the case of the above single-account automatic ticket vending machine, detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

[0010]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 By the way, in the conventional automatic ticket vending machine using thermal printing, as described above, printing is performed and coins are issued after coins (or coins) are inserted. Therefore, a customer who purchases a ticket waits for a total time (hereinafter referred to as a ticket issuing time) after the coin is inserted, such as the time required to print the ticket, the time required to cut the ticket, and the time required to transport the ticket. Will be done. The customer waiting time corresponding to this ticketing time does not cause much problems when the ticket purchase frequency is low, but when the customer purchase line is high in front of the ticket vending machine, the ticket response Poor sex was conspicuous, resulting in the problem of frustrating customers.

The present invention has been made under such a background, and an object thereof is to provide an automatic ticket vending machine which has a short time required for issuing an admission ticket and the like and has a good responsiveness in issuing the ticket.

[0012]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention aims at solving the above-mentioned problems, and a checkup section for checking the coins inserted from a coin slot, a sheet supply section for sequentially supplying unprinted sheet paper, and the sheet supply A printer that prints the print information of the ticket on the paper supplied from the unit, a cutter that cuts the paper printed with the print information into one ticket and discharges it to the ticket exit, and the above-mentioned units are controlled. In the automatic ticket vending machine, the printer is controlled by the control means, the control means for instructing ticketing when the money inserted from the money insertion slot satisfies a predetermined purchase amount. Based on this, the printing information of at least one ticket is printed in advance before the money is inserted.

[0013]

[Action]

 According to this invention, the printer prints the print information of at least one ticket in advance before the money is inserted. As a result, the ticket is pre-printed before the customer inserts the money, and the time required for printing the ticket is excluded from the ticket issuing time (that is, the customer waiting time).

[0014]

【Example】

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The hardware configuration of this embodiment is the same as that of the conventional example shown in FIGS. Further, the difference between this embodiment and the above-mentioned conventional example is that the control program executed by the CPU (central processing unit) inside the ticket vending machine is changed and its operation is improved. Therefore, description of each part of the hardware will be omitted by referring to FIGS. 2 to 4 as appropriate, and the operation of this embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to FIG.

First, when the ticket vending machine is turned on, the CPU in the control device activates a predetermined control program. As a result, the process proceeds to step Sa1 (see FIG. 1). In step Sa1, the printer 13 performs thermal printing on the roll paper 11 sent from the guide mechanism 12 for one entrance ticket. That is, the printing operation is performed before the coin is inserted by the customer. Next, when the process proceeds to step Sa2, the process waits until a coin is inserted from the coin slot 1. Then, for example, when a coin of the same price as the preset purchase price is inserted, the process proceeds to step Sa3. In step Sa3, the coin inspection / changer unit 6 inspects the inserted coin. In this case, since the input amount satisfies the purchase price (the same amount), the CPU instructs the ticket issuing unit 7 to issue an admission ticket. At this time, since the change is "0" yen, the change is not discharged.

Then, in step Sa4, the roll paper 11 printed in step Sa1 is sent to the cutter 14 and cut into one admission ticket. Next, when proceeding to Step Sa5, one cut admission ticket is sent to the ticket exit 3, and one end is sandwiched by the exit 3 and waits for being taken out by the customer. Then, when the customer takes the admission ticket, the process proceeds to step Sa6. In step Sa6, it is detected by the output of the exit sensor 15 that the entrance ticket has been taken, and the process returns to step S1. In this way, the above-described operation is repeated, and after the preprinting, the ticket issuing operation is performed according to the insertion of the coin.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the roll paper 11 is sent to the printer 13 and one admission ticket is preprinted before the coin is inserted by the customer. Then, when a coin satisfying the purchase price is inserted, the preprinted portion of the roll paper 11 is cut by the cutter 14 and discharged to the ticket exit 3. In other words, printing operations that require more time than other operations, such as cutting admission tickets, are performed during the free time between transactions with customers. Therefore, the time required for the printing operation is excluded from the ticket issuing time from when the customer inserts the coin to when the admission ticket is discharged to the ticket exit 3. As a result, the ticket issuing time is significantly shortened and the ticket issuing responsiveness is improved.

In the present embodiment, the operation performed before the customer inserts the coin is only the printing operation, but the operation is not limited to this, and the cutting by the cutter 14 may be performed in advance. In this case, before the coins are thrown in, it is necessary to temporarily stop the cut admission ticket before the ticket exit 3 or hold the ticket so that it cannot be extracted at the ticket exit 3.

Further, although the present embodiment shows an example in which the invention is applied to an automatic ticket vending machine using thermal printing, the present invention is not limited to this, and an automatic ticket vending machine that performs thermal transfer type or ink jet type printing without using thermal paper or stamp printing is used. It may be applied to the machine. In other words, as a general rule, it can be applied to any vending machine that does not have a stock of printed tickets. Further, the unprinted paper sheet stocked in advance is not limited to a blank paper sheet, and may have a ground pattern drawn.

In addition, in the present embodiment, as described above, since it is premised on an automatic ticket vending machine that does not have a stock of printed tickets in principle, the number of entrance tickets to be preprinted is set to only one. However, the number of tickets is not limited to this, and may be set to two or three, depending on the purchase frequency of the admission ticket. For example, a timer for measuring the purchase frequency may be provided in the ticket vending machine, and the number of sheets to be preprinted may be automatically determined according to the measurement result.

Further, instead of always performing pre-printing, for example, a dip switch for switching between a mode of issuing tickets by pre-printing and a mode of issuing tickets as in the past is provided inside the ticket vending machine, and as required. It may be configured so that both modes can be switched. In other words, if the frequency of ticket purchases is low, there is a greater demand than the demand for responsiveness in ticketing operations to reduce the time and effort to eject printed admission tickets remaining after business hours. Because it can be considered.

[0022]

[Effect of device]

 As described above, according to the present invention, the ticket is pre-printed before the customer puts in money, and the time required for printing the ticket is excluded from the ticket issuing time (that is, the waiting time of the customer). The effect is that the ticket is significantly shortened and the responsiveness of ticketing is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 C inside an automatic ticket vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention
It is a flowchart which shows the control program which PU runs.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a structure of a customer service surface of a conventional automatic ticket vending machine.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an internal configuration of a conventional automatic ticket vending machine.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a ticket issuing unit of a conventional automatic ticket vending machine.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control program executed by a CPU inside a conventional automatic ticket vending machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 coin slot 2 saucer 3 ticket exit 4 frame 5 installation table 6 money inspection / change section 7 ticketing section 8 clerk operation section 9 monitoring alarm section 11 roll paper 12 guide mechanism 13 printer 14 cutter 15 exit sensor

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A money inspection unit for inspecting money inserted from a money insertion port, a paper sheet supply unit for sequentially supplying unprinted paper sheets, and a paper sheet supplied from the paper sheet supply unit. A printer for printing printing information of a ticket, a cutter for cutting the printing paper on which the printing information is printed into one ticket and discharging it to a ticket exit, and a means for controlling the above-mentioned respective parts, the money slot In the automatic ticket vending machine, which comprises a control means for instructing ticketing when the inserted money satisfies a predetermined purchase amount, the printer is based on the control by the control means before the money is inserted. An automatic ticket vending machine, which prints printing information of at least one ticket in advance.