JPH09153172A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely detect abnormality when an ariticle selected by a purchase requester can not correctly carried out to a take-out port and to attain processing required after the generation of the abnormality. SOLUTION: When coins are charged into a coin charging port 1, the coins are detected by a coin detector 2 and outputted to a coin controller 3. The controller 3 judged the charged amount based upon a detection signal outputted from the detector 2. A controller 4 compares the charged total amount with the price of an article stored in a memory 5, and at the time of judging that the total amount is more than the price of the article, a purchasable display lamp 8 on an article purchase pushbutton 7 is lighted up. When the pushbutton 7 is depressed, the controller 4 drives an article carrying mechanism 9 to carry out the specified article up to a take-out port, when a detection signal is not outputted from an article passage detection sensor 10 within fixed time after the depression of the pushbutton 7, outputs an abnormal signal, returns the whole amount of the charged coins from the controller 3 to the purchase requester and then turns on an abnormality display lamp 15 to inform of the abnormality of the device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic vending machine having a function of detecting whether or not an article to be sold has been normally carried out to an outlet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, vending machines for cigarettes, canned juice, canned coffee, etc. have become widespread. These vending machines detect the money inserted when purchasing goods,
The total input amount recognized by the currency detector that outputs a currency signal is compared with the set value of the price setter that sets the selling price of the item for sale, and the total input amount is the same as the item selling price setting value or When the sales amount is equal to or more than the same price, the condition that the product can be sold is satisfied, and then the purchaser pushes the purchase button corresponding to the item, and the selected item is sent out from the item discharge route to the outlet. . However, the conventional vending machine does not have a function of detecting that the selected item has been sent to the outlet through the item delivery route.

[0003]

As described above, the conventional vending machine does not have a function of detecting that the item selected by the purchaser has been sent to the outlet through the item delivery route. For this reason, if an item gets stuck somewhere in the carry-out route, the abnormality cannot be recognized, and the person who wants to purchase the item takes a substitute item to the outlet or returns the input amount. There is a problem that the vending machine administrator cannot wait for the vending machine administrator to replenish the goods, etc.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and when an item selected by a purchaser is not correctly delivered to an outlet, an abnormality can be surely detected, thereby purchasing the item. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic vending device capable of performing a process such as refunding the amount of money to be paid by an applicant or prompting an administrator of a store or the like to perform early maintenance and inspection.

[0005]

According to the present invention, the inserted money is detected by a money detector, and the total amount of the inserted money is compared with the item selling price set in the price setter.
An automatic vending machine that takes out the item selected by the operation of the item purchase push button from the item delivery route to the outlet when the saleable condition is satisfied when the total amount of input money becomes equal to or more than the selling price of the item. In, in the vicinity of the take-out port, an article passage detection sensor for detecting an article carried out to the take-out port, and a detection signal from the article passage detection sensor within a certain time after the article purchase push button is operated. It is characterized in that it is provided with a judging means for judging an abnormality when it is not outputted, and a means for executing an abnormality process based on the abnormality judging signal outputted from the judging means.

(Operation) When the product purchase operation is performed by operating the product purchase push button after the coin is inserted, the product carry-out operation is detected by the product passage detection sensor. When the product purchase push button is operated, time processing is performed, and if the passage detection signal of the product is not output from the above detection sensor within a certain period of time, the product is jammed on the carry-out route for some reason and carried out to the outlet. It is judged that it was not performed and an abnormal signal is output. Then, in response to the abnormality signal, for example, a person who wants to purchase an item automatically returns money corresponding to the amount of money to be inserted, and the abnormality indicator lamp is turned on to notify the occurrence of the abnormality.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an automatic vending apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a coin insertion slot, and when coins are inserted through the coin insertion slot 1, the inserted coin is detected by a coin detector 2 and a detection signal thereof is sent to the coin controller 3. The money control device 3 determines the amount to be inserted based on the detection signal sent from the money detector 2, and inputs the amount signal to the control device 4. The control device 4 has a built-in memory 5 for storing prices of a plurality of items to be sold and a CPU 6 for executing control processing. Further, the control device 4 has a function of storing the kind, the number, the sales amount, etc. of the sold goods in an internal memory and managing them. When the input amount signal is sent from the money control device 3, the CPU 6 compares the total input amount with the item price stored in the memory 5, and the total input amount is equal to or more than the item price. If it is determined that the product can be sold (purchased), the plurality of product purchase pushbuttons 7 corresponding to the product to be sold are turned on and the purchase enable indicator lamp 8 is turned on.

[0008] When the purchaser pushes the article purchase push button 7 with the purchase possible indicator lamp 8 lit, the CPU 6 determines that the purchase signal is received, operates the article unloading mechanism 9, and carries out the article selected by the purchaser to the outlet. Let The article unloading mechanism 9 is provided with, for example, an article passage detection sensor 10 that detects whether or not an article has passed near the outlet of the unloading path. As the article passage detection sensor 10, for example, an optical sensor is used, and the detection signal is sent to the CPU 6 of the control device 4. The CPU 6 determines from the detection signal of the article passage detection sensor 10 whether or not the article is normally conveyed to the take-out port, and executes the subsequent processing according to the determination result.

Further, the control device 4 has an external input / output serial communication interface (for example, RS-232C) 1
1 has the function of transmitting the information to a personal computer (personal computer) 13 installed in the management office 12. A printer 14 is connected to the personal computer 13 so that a sales chart or the like can be printed if necessary.

Further, an abnormality indicator lamp 15 provided on the operation surface of the vending machine is connected to the control device 4. The CPU 6 of the control device 4 determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred based on the detection signal from the article passage detection sensor 10, lights the abnormality indicator lamp 15 when an abnormality has occurred, and refunds the amount to be paid, to the management office 12. Information transmission processing and the like.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In FIG. 1, first, when a user who wants to purchase an item inputs money into the money insertion slot 1 (step A1), the money detector 2 detects the money and sends the detection signal to the money controller 3. Output. The money control device 3 determines the amount to be inserted based on the detection signal sent from the money detector 2, and inputs the amount signal to the control device 4. The CPU 6 built in the control device 4 is
When the input signal is sent from the money control device 3, the total input amount is compared with the item price stored in the memory 5, and the total input amount is the same as the item price stored in the memory 5, or When it is determined that the price is equal to or more than the same price, a sale (purchase) enable signal is transmitted, and the purchase enable indicator lamps 8 of the plurality of item purchase pushbuttons 7 corresponding to the item are turned on.

In this state, when the purchaser presses the article purchase push button 7 with the purchaseable indicator lamp 8 lit, that is, when the purchase operation is performed (step A2), the CPU 6 determines that it is a purchase signal, and the article unloading mechanism 9 To move the selected item to the outlet.

At this time, the CPU 6 starts the time counting operation and determines whether or not a fixed time has elapsed (step A3). The fixed time is set in consideration of the time required to carry out the goods. Then, after a lapse of a certain time, the CPU 6 determines whether or not an article is detected, that is, whether or not a detection signal is sent from the article passage detection sensor 10 (step A4). When the detection signal is sent from the article passage detection sensor 10,
It is determined that the selling operation is performed normally (step A
5) Based on the signal, the CPU 6 totalizes the sales, and transmits the information to the personal computer 13 installed in the management office 12 through the external input / output serial communication interface 11, and daily, weekly or as required. The monthly sales etc. are tabulated and output to the printer 14 (step A6).

If no detection signal is sent from the article passage detection sensor 10 in step A4, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred (step A7), and the CPU
6 executes an abnormal process. For example, the money control device 3 immediately returns the total amount of the input money to the purchaser, and the abnormality indicator lamp 15 provided on the operation surface of the vending machine is turned on to notify the abnormality of the apparatus, so that a store or the like Prompt the manager for early maintenance and inspection (step A8). The operation of the vending machine is suspended, and the suspended state is continuously treated until the restoration is completed. Further, the CPU 6 transmits information on the occurrence of abnormality to the personal computer 13 of the management office 12 through the external input / output serial communication interface 11 and displays it on the screen. This can prompt the administrator to perform early maintenance and inspection, and the administrator immediately executes maintenance work (step A).
9).

If the product is not sold correctly as described above, the occurrence of an abnormality can be immediately detected, so that the person who wants to purchase the product can refund the amount paid. In addition, since it becomes possible to count the number of normal sales, the control device 4 can calculate the sales total and can grasp the important timing of the counted products.

Although the detection signal of the article passage detection sensor 10 is directly input to the CPU 6 in the above-described embodiment, in addition to this, for example, it is normal based on the detection signal of the article passage detection sensor 10 on the article unloading mechanism 9 side. A signal or an abnormal signal may be transmitted to the CPU 6. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where one article passing detection sensor 10 is provided in the vicinity of the take-out port has been described, but the detection sensor 10 is further provided in the middle of the carry-out route so that the carrying state of the article is sequentially detected. You can

[0017]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, if the product is not delivered to the outlet for some reason after the purchase of the product, it is possible to reliably detect the occurrence of an abnormality. Subsequent error handling, for example, refunding the money spent to those who wish to purchase goods to avoid actual damage, and
It is possible to urge managers such as dealers to perform early maintenance and inspection.
It is possible to maintain the trust of the vending machine and the store.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an automatic vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing operation in the same embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 currency slot 2 currency detector 3 currency control device 4 control device 5 memory 6 CPU 7 goods purchase push button 8 purchase available indicator light 9 goods unloading mechanism 10 goods passage detection sensor 11 serial communication interface 12 management office 13 personal computer 14 printer 15 Device error indicator light

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. The input money is detected by a money detector, and the total amount of input money and the selling price of the product set in the price setter are compared and calculated, and the total amount of input money is the selling price of the product. In the automatic vending machine that sells the item selected by the operation of the item purchase push button to the outlet when the sales amount is equal to or more than An article passage detection sensor for detecting an article carried out to the outlet, and a determination means for determining an abnormality when a detection signal is not output from the article passage detection sensor within a fixed time after the article purchase push button is operated. And a means for executing abnormality processing based on an abnormality determination signal output from the determination means.