JPH08279071A - Controller of automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To detect disorder of data contents and put a terminal control part back in a stationary state when the main process at the terminal control part runs away and the data having disordered contents are sent to a main control part. CONSTITUTION: Terminal control parts 2-4 controls respective parts of the automatic vending machines individually and send state data, indicating the states of the respective parts in bit units, under the command of the main control part 1 while setting free bits to a specific value (e.g. 0) at all times. A control process means 11 of the main control part 1 receives the state data and supplies control commands to the respective terminal control parts according to the data. A data content abnormality decision means 13 decides that the data are abnormal unless a free bit of the received state data is the specific value or plural specific bits have mutually contradictory values. Then a reset command means 14 resets the terminal control part when the data content abnormality decision means 13 decides the abnormality.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for a vending machine, which controls each part while communicating between a main control part and a plurality of terminal control parts.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as a control device for a vending machine, a control target portion inside the vending machine is divided into blocks such as a coin processing mechanism, a bill identifying mechanism, a display mechanism, and a selling mechanism, and a microcomputer of a main control unit is used. Has developed a control device in which the microcomputer of the terminal control unit controls each block individually.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a conventional vending machine control system. In FIG. 7, 1 is a main control unit, 2 is a coin processing mechanism control unit that controls a mechanism for selecting coins and discharging change, and 3 is a bill identification mechanism control that controls a mechanism for identifying inserted bills. 4 is a display mechanism control unit for controlling a mechanism for displaying the input amount of money, display of change, display of sold-out / sale for each product, and 5 is a sales mechanism control unit for controlling a mechanism for discharging the product. , 6 are power supplies for supplying DC 24V and 8V to each part.

Reference numeral 11 in the main control section 1 indicates the state of each section from the terminal control section such as the coin processing mechanism control section 2, the bill discriminating mechanism control section 3, the display mechanism control section 4, and the selling mechanism control section 5. Control processing means for receiving data and giving a command for controlling each terminal to each terminal control portion, 12 is a parity check means for checking data error based on the parity attached to the data, and 14 is the main control portion 1. Is a reset command means for resetting the terminal control unit by lowering the voltage of the reset signal line RESET to 0V when detecting a malfunction of the terminal control unit.

The terminal control units such as the coin processing mechanism control unit 2, the bill discriminating mechanism control unit 3, the display mechanism control unit 4, and the sales mechanism control unit 5 are each constituted by a microcomputer arranged near each controlled mechanism. Then, each control target mechanism is directly controlled by a command from the microcomputer of the main control unit 1. Data required for control is transmitted and received between the main control unit 1 and each terminal control unit via communication lines (DATA _IN , DATA _OUT ). In this way, all the state data of each terminal control unit is sent to the main control unit 1, and each terminal control unit operates according to the instruction of the main control unit 1.

Data transmission between the main control unit and the terminal control unit is performed by asynchronous communication serial communication. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a data format of the asynchronous communication system. Communication is performed in units of n + 1 (n is a number determined according to the communication method such as 7, 4) bit data with start / stop bits for synchronization and a parity bit for data error detection added as a unit. Be seen. Normal communication is performed by continuously transmitting a plurality of such data units.

To correct the data error, the vertical / horizontal parity is added to the data and the data is transmitted.
According to the method, a data error is checked, and if there is a data error, a resend of the data is requested. If the data error cannot be completely corrected or the communication itself is not established even in such a case, the main control unit resets the system by the reset command means 14 to restore the communication.

Now, the vertical / horizontal parity will be described. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of vertical / horizontal parity in data communication. Here, an example of even parity is shown, and one column in the vertical direction is one data. On the transmitting side, each bit of data D _{0 to} D ₄ is used as vertical parity.
The sum of the parity bits D _p is sequentially transmits respective data with the parity bit D _p to be even. Then, as the horizontal parity, a parity byte is formed such that the sum of the corresponding bits of each data and the parity byte is an even number, and this is transmitted at the end of communication.

On the other hand, on the receiving side, if the respective bits of the received data are summed up to an even number, it is judged that the data has no error. After that, each time data is received sequentially, the total for each corresponding bit of each data is taken, and after receiving the parity byte at the end, if the total number of corresponding bits for each data is all even, Judge that the data is correct.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a data transmission / reception procedure between the main control unit and the terminal control unit. First, the main control unit 1 transmits a command (COM) and a command inversion signal (/ COM) in which the polarities of the respective bits are inverted. The command (COM) includes address information that specifies a specific terminal control unit and command information that gives an operation command. The command inversion signal (/ COM) is sent for the purpose of error control, and the terminal control unit designated by the address information distinguishes the command inversion signal (/ COM) from the polarity inversion and the command (COM). If they match, send an affirmative response signal (ACK). Following that, a byte counter (BC) that indicates how many data there are, a data command (DC) that indicates the type of data, and a data body (D
T ₁ , DT ₂ , ..., DT _n ) and a check code (LRC) corresponding to the parity byte are transmitted.

On the other hand, when the polarity of the command inversion signal (/ COM) is inverted and the command (COM) does not match, it is determined that the command (COM) is abnormal and no response is made.

[0012] As a conventional document relating to such a control device for a vending machine, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-35154
There is a Gazette (G07F 9/00).

[0013]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

(Problem) However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, as described above, although protection measures are taken against formal errors in data due to vertical / horizontal parity, etc. There was a problem that no protection measures against mistakes were considered.

(Explanation of Problems) In most cases, the terminal control unit carries out communication by interrupt processing, in contrast to the communication in which it is unknown when the main control unit sends it. Since the interrupt processing program is independent of the main control program, the main control unit 1
Even if the main control process is in a runaway state due to noise or the like when there is a data request from the communication, the communication is established and the completely incorrect data is transmitted to the main control unit 1. There was a case where it ended up. When the communication is established in such a state, the main control unit 1 recognizes that the incorrect data is also correct data and receives the incorrect data, and the control is performed based on the incorrect data, and the normal control is performed. Can not be. If that happens, normal sales will not be possible, so the vending machine must be restored to its normal state by pressing the reset button or turning off the power once.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem.

[0016]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in a control device for a vending machine according to the present invention, a coin processing mechanism such as a coin processing mechanism and a bill identifying mechanism, a display mechanism and a selling mechanism of the vending machine are provided. A plurality of terminal control units that individually control the status of each mechanism and send the status data indicating the status of each mechanism in bit units with the empty bit always fixed to a predetermined value, and receive the status data, and based on the data. Main control section having control processing means for giving a control command to each terminal control section, and data content abnormality determination means for determining that the received status data is abnormal when the empty bit is not the predetermined value. And decided to include.

Further, a plurality of terminal control units for individually controlling the money handling mechanism, the display mechanism, and the selling mechanism of the vending machine, and sending the status data indicating the status of each mechanism in bit units, and the status data. When the combination of the control processing means for receiving a control command to each terminal control unit based on the data and the value of the predetermined multiple bits of the received status data is not normal, the data is determined to be abnormal. And a main control unit having a data content abnormality determining means.

Further, the main control section has a reset command section for giving a reset signal to the terminal control section when the data content abnormality judging section judges that there is an abnormality.

[0019]

[Operation] The terminal control unit controls each unit of the vending machine individually, and sends the state data indicating the state of each unit in bit units with the empty bit always fixed to a predetermined value (for example, 0). . The main control unit has a control processing unit and a data content abnormality determination unit, and the control processing unit receives the state data and gives a control command to each terminal control unit based on the data. Further, the data content abnormality determination means determines that the data is abnormal when the empty bit of the received status data is not the predetermined value. The data content abnormality determination means determines that the data is abnormal when the combination of the values of the predetermined plurality of bits of the received state data is not normal. Further, when such a data content abnormality determination means determines that there is an abnormality, the reset command means gives a reset signal to the terminal control section.

As described above, according to the present invention, the data content abnormality determining means determines whether or not the vacant bits of the received status data have a predetermined value, and the predetermined plurality of bits do not have contradictory values. By checking whether or not the received status data is also checked in content. When the main processing of the terminal control unit goes into a runaway state due to the influence of noise or the like, the contents of the transmission data are disturbed and the empty bit of the data does not reach a predetermined value, Since the combination of values is not normal, the main control unit can detect the abnormality in the content of the data based on that. As a result, when the data having incorrect contents is received due to the runaway of the terminal control unit or the like, the main control unit does not control based on the incorrect data.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a control system for a vending machine according to the present invention. Reference numerals correspond to those in FIG. 7, and 13 is a data content abnormality determining means. The data content abnormality determination means 13 checks the empty bits or predetermined plural bits of the received state data, and when the empty bits are not a predetermined value (for example, 0) determined in advance, or the predetermined plural bits are inconsistent. When it is a value, it is determined that the data is abnormal.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of data sent from the terminal control unit to the main control unit. This data is shown in FIG.
Of the byte counter (BC), which is transmitted subsequent to the positive acknowledgment signal (ACK) in the above.
"2" indicates that two data including the data command (DC) follows next, and "0B" which is the data command (DC) indicates the type of data, for example, the state of the coin processing mechanism. It indicates that the data. The state data of the coin processing mechanism indicates, for example, "10100100".

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the state data of the coin processing mechanism. Bit 0 indicates whether or not the current coin processing mechanism can accept coins.
"1" indicates that the coin can be accepted,
"0" indicates that the coin cannot be accepted. Bit 1 indicates whether or not coins are being collected from the coin storage box, "1" indicates that the coins are currently being collected, and "0" indicates other states. Indicates. Similarly, bit 2 indicates whether or not change can be paid out, bit 3 indicates on / off state of the return switch, bit 4 indicates whether or not coin payout is completed, Bit 5 indicates whether or not the input amount data held in the memory has been cleared. Bits 6 and 7 are not used and are vacant bits, and the value is always set to "0" for transmission.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data content abnormality determination table held by the main control unit. This table holds, for each data command (DC), a check target bit and an abnormality detection condition for determining that the bit is abnormal if such a bit exists. For example,
In the case of the status data of the coin processing mechanism, since coins must be unacceptable during coin collection, it is usually impossible for bit 0 and bit 1 to be "1" at the same time. Therefore, if both bit 0 and bit 1 are "1" at the same time, it is determined that the data content is abnormal. Also, since bits 6 and 7 should always be "0", if either one is "1", it is determined that the data content is abnormal.

The data content abnormality determination means 13 determines the data content abnormality of the data which has passed the parity check by the parity check means 12 based on this table. For example, if the data command (DC) of the received status data is "0B", which means the status data of the coin processing mechanism, the corresponding check target bit and abnormality detection condition are read from the table, and first, the status data It is checked whether or not bits 0 and 1 are "11", that is, "1" at the same time. If both of these bits are "1", it is determined that the data is abnormal. If neither of those bits is "1", then it is checked whether bits 6 and 7 are "1". Then, if either one is "1", it is determined that the data is abnormal.

Next, the abnormality determination of the data sent from the sales mechanism control unit will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of data sent from the sales mechanism control unit.
FIG. 5A shows an example of data sent from the sales mechanism control unit to the main control unit, and FIG. 5B shows an example of the contents of data 2 of the sales mechanism state data. As in the case of FIG. 2, “03” in FIG. 5 (a) indicates that three data including the data command (DC) follows next, which is the data command (DC). "0D" indicates that the type of data is the status data of the sales organization. The state data of the sales organization is made up of data 1 and data 2. Among them, the data 1 includes 8 bits of data indicating the current state of the sales organization for each bit, but here, The description is omitted.

As for data 2, as shown in FIG. 5B, bit 0 indicates that the upper limit switch for detecting that the elevator for descending and transporting the goods from the predetermined position to the discharge port has reached the upper limit position is ON. "1", which indicates the off state
Indicates that it is on, and "0" indicates that it is in any other state. Bit 1 indicates the on / off state of the lower limit switch for detecting that the elevator has reached the lower limit position, "1" indicates that it is on, and "0" indicates Indicates that it is in any other state. Similarly, bit 2 indicates the on / off state of the loading switch for detecting the arrival state of the product, and bit 3 indicates the on / off state of the damper switch for detecting whether the product is taken out from the product outlet. It shows an off state. Bits 4 to 7 are not used and are vacant bits, and the value is always "0".

When such data is received, the data content abnormality determination means 13 of the main control section 1 determines the data, which has passed the parity check by the parity check means 12, based on the data content abnormality determination table of FIG. Determine the content abnormality. In the case of the status data of the sales organization, since the upper limit switch and the lower limit switch are not turned on at the same time, normally, bit 0 and bit 1 of data 2
And cannot be "1" at the same time. Therefore, if bit 0 and bit 1 of data 2 (in the table, the number of bits of data 1 is continued and displayed as bit 8 and bit 9) are "1" at the same time, the data content is abnormal. It is determined that Also, bits 4 to 4 of data 2
7 (indicated as bits 12 to 15 in the table similarly to bits 0 and 1 above) should always be "0", so if any one is "1" It is determined that the data content is abnormal.

The data command (D
Since C) is "0D" which means the status data of the sales organization, the corresponding check target bit and the abnormality detection condition are read from the table, and first, bits 0 and 1 of the data 2 of the status data are "11". , That is, "1" at the same time
Check whether or not. If both of these bits are "1", it is determined that the data is abnormal. If neither of those bits is "1", then bits 4 to 7 of data 2 are "1".
Check whether or not Then, if either one is "1", it is determined that the data is abnormal.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of data sent from the bill discriminating mechanism control unit, and FIG. 6A shows an example of data sent from the bill discriminating mechanism control unit to the main control unit. 6 (b) illustrates the content of the data 1 of the state data of the bill identifying mechanism. Similar to that of FIG. 2, FIG.
"04" in (a) indicates that four data including the data command (DC) follows next,
The data command (DC) “1B” indicates that the type of data is the state data of the bill validator. The status data of the sales organization are data 1 to data 3
Of these, the data 2 and 3 each include 8 bits of data indicating the current state of the sales mechanism for each bit, but the description thereof is omitted here.

As shown in FIG. 6 (b), the data 1 of the status data indicates that the bit 0 indicates whether or not the current bill validator can accept the bill, and "1" indicates the bill. It indicates that the device is ready for acceptance, and "0" indicates that it is in any other state. Bit 1 indicates whether or not a bill is being collected from the bill storage box and is "1".
Indicates that the bill is currently being collected, and "0" indicates that it is in any other state. Similarly, bit 2 indicates whether or not there is a subsequently inserted banknote, bit 3 indicates whether or not the banknote has been paid out, and bit 4 indicates the inserted amount data held in the memory. It indicates whether or not it has been cleared.

Bit 5 indicates whether or not the bill is currently being identified. "1" indicates that the bill is being identified, and "0" indicates that it is in any other state. .
Bit 6 indicates whether or not the bill collecting operation for taking in a bill identified as a genuine bill is being performed, and "1" indicates that the bill collecting operation is being performed, and "0" is other than that. Indicates that the state is. Bit 7 indicates whether or not a refund operation for returning the banknotes to the insertion slot is in progress, "1" indicates that the refund operation is in progress, and "0" indicates any other state. .

When such data is received, the data content abnormality determination means 13 of the main control section 1 determines the data, which has passed the parity check by the parity check means 12, based on the data content abnormality determination table of FIG. Determine the content abnormality. In the case of the status data of the bill validator, the bill cannot be accepted during the bill collection, so that it is usually impossible for bit 0 and bit 1 to be "1" at the same time. Therefore, if the bit 0 and the bit 1 of the data 1 are "1" at the same time, it is determined that the data content is abnormal. Further, since the bill identification, the collecting operation and the refunding operation are not performed at the same time, it is usually impossible that two or more of bit 5, bit 6 and bit 7 of data 1 become "1" at the same time. . So bit 5,
If two or more of bit 6 and bit 7 are "1" at the same time, it is determined that the data content is abnormal.

The data command (D
Since C) is "0D" which means the status data of the sales organization, the corresponding check target bit and the abnormality detection condition are read from the table, and first, bits 0 and 1 of the data 2 of the status data are "11". , That is, "1" at the same time
Check whether or not. If both of these bits are "1", it is determined that the data is abnormal. If neither of those bits is "1", then bits 4 to 7 of data 2 are "1".
Check whether or not Then, if either one is "1", it is determined that the data is abnormal.

In this way, the data content abnormality determination means 13 checks the content of the received data, and if the data is abnormal, it is determined that the other party is in a runaway state. Then, the reset command means 14 resets the terminal control unit. Among the reset terminal control units, in the coin processing mechanism control unit 2 and the bill discriminating mechanism control unit 3, if it is after the coins and bills are inserted, first, the refund process of the inserted coins is performed. After that, it returns to the initial state of waiting for the insertion of money. Also,
When the display mechanism control unit 4 and the sales mechanism control unit 5 are reset, the display mechanism control unit 4 and the sales mechanism control unit 5 once return to the initial state, receive the necessary command from the main control unit, and restart the processing.

The currency handling mechanism of the present invention includes:
Not only a coin processing mechanism and a bill recognition mechanism, but also a mechanism for reading and processing a prepaid card, an ID card, and an IC card are included. In addition, there is a possibility that the main control unit will also run out of control, but since the main control unit usually has a function to detect a runaway and reset it, the terminal control unit sends a signal from the main control unit. It is not necessary to detect even abnormal contents of the received data.

[0037]

As described above, according to the control device for a vending machine of the present invention, even if the terminal control unit sends data that is completely erroneous in content, the main control unit that receives the data is An abnormal content of the data is detected based on that the empty bit of the data is not a predetermined value or the combination of values of a plurality of predetermined bits is not normal. As a result, the main control unit can prevent the erroneous control by recognizing the completely incorrect data sent by the terminal control unit as the correct data.

Further, if the terminal control unit is reset when data having incorrect contents is detected,
Even if the main processing of the terminal control unit runs out of control due to noise or the like, the main control unit can immediately return the terminal control unit to the steady state. As a result, it is possible to immediately return to the normal state and continue the sale without performing the sale while performing the erroneous control, without pressing the reset button or turning off the power.

According to the fourth and fifth aspects of the present invention, it is possible to easily detect the abnormality of the status data from the coin processing mechanism control section and the bill discriminating mechanism control section, which has conventionally not been provided with the abnormality determination means of the data content. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a control system for a vending machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of state data sent from a terminal control unit to a main control unit.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of contents of state data of a coin processing mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data content abnormality determination table.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of data sent from a sales mechanism control unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of state data of a bill identifying mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a conventional vending machine control system.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a data format of an asynchronous communication system.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of vertical / horizontal parity in data communication.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a data transmission / reception procedure between a main control unit and a terminal control unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Main Control Unit 2 Coin Processing Mechanism Control Unit 3 Banknote Identification Mechanism Control Unit 4 Display Mechanism Control Unit 5 Sales Mechanism Control Unit 6 Power Supply

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A money handling mechanism, a display mechanism of a vending machine,
A plurality of terminal control units that individually control the sales mechanisms and send the status data indicating the status of each of the mechanisms in bit units with the empty bit always fixed to a predetermined value, and receive the status data. It has a control processing means for giving a control command to each terminal control unit based on the data, and a data content abnormality determination means for determining that the data is abnormal when the empty bit of the received state data is not the predetermined value. A control device for a vending machine, comprising a main control unit. 2. A money handling mechanism, a display mechanism of a vending machine,
A plurality of terminal control units that individually control the sales mechanisms and send status data indicating the state of each mechanism in bit units, and receive the status data, and issue a control command to each terminal control unit based on the data. And a main control unit having a data content abnormality determination means for determining that the data is abnormal when the combination of the values of the predetermined plurality of bits of the received state data is not normal. A control device for a vending machine, which is characterized in that 3. The automatic vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the main control unit has a reset command unit that gives a reset signal to the terminal control unit when the data content abnormality determination unit determines that the data is abnormal. Machine control device. 4. The data content abnormality determination means determines that the data is abnormal when the state data of the coin processing mechanism simultaneously indicates that the coin can be received and the coin is being collected. The control device for the vending machine according to claim 2 or 3. 5. The data content abnormality determining means, when the status data of the bill identifying mechanism indicates that the bill can be accepted and the bill is being collected at the same time, or the bill is identified, and the identified bill is collected. 4. The automatic system according to claim 2, wherein the data is determined to be abnormal when any two or more of the operation and the refund operation of the identified bills are being performed at the same time. Vending machine controller.