JPH09198556A - Management data gathering method for automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the burdens on an operator for performing the replenishing operation of the products of an automatic vending machine by recognizing the inventory conditions of the respective automatic vending machines from a delivery vehicle in advance. SOLUTION: The delivery vehicle is provided with a GPS control part 15, a display part 18 and a radio transmission/reception part 19 and the automatic vending machine is provided with the radio transmission/reception part and a detection part for detecting the inventory conditions of the respective products or the like. Then, in the delivery vehicle, the position information of itself as the result of performing position computation based on signals from a GPS satellite by the GPS control part 15 and the position information of the vending machine registered in a memory 16 are compared, and when it is judged that the vending machine is close, radio signals by transceiver calling are transmitted to the vending machine to make the inventory conditions or the like be detected and the detected management data are received as the radio signals and displayed at the display part 18.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a management data collecting method for collecting management data such as inventory data of each product sold by an automatic vending machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Vending machines for automatically selling various products such as soft drinks have rapidly spread in recent years and are installed in various places because they can freely purchase desired products by inserting coins and bills. ing. In such a vending machine, when a user inserts a coin, for example, the inserted coin is selected and accumulated, and a lamp for each product corresponding to the amount of the inserted coin is turned on. Then, when the user presses a desired button corresponding to the lit lamp, the corresponding product is discharged and the accumulated coins are stored.

[0003]

In each of the vending machines thus installed in various places, for example, once a day, a delivery vehicle that delivers the products is sent to replenish the products. That is,
Workers who carry merchandise check the inventory status of each merchandise item in the vending machine one by one to replenish the insufficient merchandise, and also collect money and, if there is a change or the like, replenish the merchandise. Such a vending machine can sell many kinds of products, and since the number of the installed vending machines is large, there is a problem that the burden on the operator increases. Therefore, there has been a demand for a system capable of grasping management data such as inventory status of vending machines in advance. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to enable the delivery vehicle to accurately grasp the stock status of each vending machine in advance and to reduce the burden on the operator.

[0004]

In order to solve such a problem, the present invention provides a vending machine for selling various products, which includes a first wireless unit and a detection unit for detecting the stock status of various products. , A second wireless unit, a display unit, a GPS control unit that performs position calculation based on signals from GPS satellites, and a wireless device having a memory that registers placement position information of the vending machine. If the position information calculated by the control unit is compared with the placement position information of the vending machine registered in the memory and it is determined that the vending machine is approached, a call signal by radio signal is transmitted to the vending machine. This is a method in which management data such as inventory data of each product is detected, and the detected management data transmitted from the corresponding vending machine as a radio signal is received and displayed. Therefore, for a delivery vehicle equipped with this wireless device, for example, the inventory status of vending machines can be accurately grasped in advance. The work efficiency can be improved without the need to check the situation.

[0005]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a system to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 1 is a delivery vehicle that replenishes the vending machine with products, 2 is a vending machine (hereinafter, vending machine), and 3 is a GPS (Global Positioni).
ng System) satellite. A well-known transmitter (not shown) is provided in the GPS satellite to constantly transmit a radio transmission signal to the delivery vehicle 1 on the ground.

That is, in this system, a terminal circuit of a PHS (Personal Handyphone System), which has been rapidly popularized in recent years, is added to the vending machine 2 while the P of the delivery vehicle 1 is added.
A PHS terminal control circuit for controlling the HS terminal and a GPS control circuit for calculating its own position based on signals from GPS satellites 3 are provided. And delivery vehicle 1 is GP
It receives a signal from the S satellite 3 and calculates its own position, and the calculated position moves to approximately 200 m (that is, within the range of the electric wave of the vending machine 2) of the pre-registered installation location of the vending machine 2. When the determination is made, the PHS terminal control circuit calls the relevant vending machine, and management data such as inventory data returned from the vending machine can be received and displayed.

The position calculation in the delivery vehicle 1 is the same as that in a well-known car navigation system which has become widespread in recent years, and as shown in FIG.
The signals transmitted from 1 to 3 3 are respectively received, and the position is calculated based on the phase difference between these signals. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of such a delivery vehicle 1.
In the figure, 11 is a GPS receiving unit that receives a transmission signal from a GPS satellite 3 via an antenna AT 1, 12 is a compact disk (hereinafter, CD) which is a memory for storing map information, 13 is an operating unit, 14 Is a display unit for displaying map information, 15 is a GPS control unit for performing position calculation from the phase difference between the signals of the GPS satellites 31 to 33 received by the GPS receiving unit 11, and displaying the result on the display unit 14,
Reference numeral 6 is a memory in which position information of each vending machine 2 is stored. Further, 17 is a PHS control unit for controlling the vending machine 2, 1
Reference numeral 8 is a display unit that displays the stock status of the vending machine 2 and the like, and 19 is a wireless transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives a wireless signal to / from the vending machine 2 via the antenna AT2.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a structure of the vending machine 2 for transmitting inventory data and the like to the delivery vehicle 1 by radio signals as described above, and a control circuit of the vending machine 2 having an appearance as shown in FIG. 4 (b). Is configured as shown in FIG. That is, in FIG. 4A, 21 is a control unit including a CPU and 2
2 is a wireless transmission / reception unit for transmitting / receiving a wireless signal to / from the delivery vehicle 1 via the antenna AT 3, 23 is a memory, 24 is a product selection switch which is provided for each product and which selects a product to be purchased, and 25 is each product , A product lamp including an LED or the like for indicating whether each product is in stock, 26 is a detection unit including each sensor for detecting the stock status of each product and the presence of change, and 27 is a coin (coin, Sorting of bills) and storing of money equivalent to sold goods (sales processing)
Numeral 28 is a throwing coin processing unit, 28 is a sold product discharging drive unit for discharging the sold products, and 29 is a display unit for displaying the amount of put coins.

When the delivery vehicle 1 moves with respect to the vending machine 2 configured as described above, the GPS control section 15 of the delivery vehicle 1
Then, by comparing the own position information (latitude and longitude information) calculated based on the signal from the GPS satellite 3 with the position information (latitude and longitude information) of each vending machine registered in the memory 16 in advance. , Recognizes that the vending machine 2 is approaching. In this case, the GPS control unit 15 reads from the memory 16 the calling number and the ID code of the vending machine, which is stored as a pair with the position information of the vending machine, and reads the PH.
It is output to the S control unit 17. Then, the PHS control unit 17 causes the vending machine 2 side to transmit this calling number as a calling signal together with the ID code of the vending machine to the vending machine 2 side through the control channel of the wireless transmission / reception unit 19.

Upon receipt of such a calling signal, the vending machine 2 compares the calling number included in the calling signal with its own number stored in the memory 23. And
When both numbers match and the transmitted ID and the own ID of the memory 23 match, the detection unit 26 detects the stock status of each product and the presence or absence of change, and uses these data as management data. It transmits to the delivery vehicle 1 via a control channel. In addition, the sales information of the sales product processed by the input currency processing unit 27, that is, the collection information is also transmitted to the delivery vehicle 1. Upon receipt of these management data from the vending machine 2, the delivery vehicle 1 displays them on the display unit 18 as inventory data, change accumulation data, and collection data for each product of the vending machine 2. As a result, the delivery vehicle 1 side can confirm the stock status of the products in the vending machine 2 in advance.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of the main part of such a system. First, the operation of the delivery vehicle 1 shown in FIG. GPS control unit 15 of delivery vehicle 1
Then, while the delivery vehicle 1 is moving, its position is constantly calculated based on the transmission signals from the GPS satellites 31 to 33 (step S1). Then, by comparing the calculated position of itself with the position information of each vending machine registered in advance in the memory 16, it is determined in step S2 whether or not this delivery vehicle 1 has moved into the installation area of the vending machine 2. .

When it is determined that the area of the vending machine 2 is approached, the GPS control section 15 gives the PHS control section 17 the calling number of the vending machine 2 so that the PHS control section 17 receives the calling number of the vending machine 2 via the wireless transmission / reception section 19. A call is made (step S3). When calling the vending machine 2, the calling number of the vending machine 2, the ID code, and the ID code of the delivery vehicle 1 stored in the memory 16 in advance are also transmitted to the vending machine 2. Such a call to the vending machine 2 is usually called a transceiver call in the PHS system because it does not involve a base station. When the vending machine 2 receives this call, the control unit 21
Compares a match with its own number stored in the memory 23, and when a match is detected, the ID of the own and the ID of the delivery vehicle 1 transmitted and the I number of the own stored in the memory 23.
After confirming that the IDs of D and delivery vehicle 1 match, the response signal is transmitted to delivery vehicle 1 side.

As a result, the PHS controller 17 of the delivery vehicle 1 determines that the "vending machine response" in step S4 is "Y",
In this case, the vending machine 2 is caused to transmit instruction data including an instruction to detect the stock of each product and an instruction to detect the balance of change, as a wireless signal (step S5). Upon receipt of this instruction data, the vending machine 2 side detects the inventory of each product and returns the detection result to the delivery vehicle 1 side. Then, the PHS control unit 17 of the delivery vehicle 1 determines that “data reception from the vending machine” in step S6 is “Y”, processes the received data (step S7), and displays the processed data on the display unit 18. (Step S8).

As a result, the display unit 18 displays the stock status of each product in the vending machine 2 and the stock change status, so that the delivery vehicle 1 knows the stock status of each product in the vending machine 2 in advance. Therefore, if the vending machine does not need to be replenished with products, it can pass through the vending machine as it is and shift to the work of checking the inventory of the next vending machine. Can be greatly improved.

Next, FIG. 5B is a flow chart showing the operation of the vending machine 2 in response to the operation of the delivery vehicle 1. That is, receiving a transceiver call from the delivery vehicle 1,
When it is determined to be "Y" in step S11, the control unit 21 causes the wireless transmission / reception unit 22 to transmit the response signal as a wireless signal (step S12). Then, by transmitting this response signal to the delivery vehicle 1, the above-described instruction data is transmitted from the delivery vehicle 1. When the determination in step S13 becomes “Y” by receiving this instruction data from the delivery vehicle 1, the control unit 21 of the vending machine 2 inputs the stock status of each product or the change accumulation status via the detection unit 26 (step S13). S14). Further, the sales information of each product processed by the input currency processing unit 27 is also input. Then, the detected data and the input data are returned to the delivery vehicle 1 as a wireless signal via the wireless transmission / reception unit 22 (step S15). In this embodiment, the delivery vehicle 1 incorporates the PHS wireless function, but the same effect can be obtained by bringing the delivery vehicle 1 to collect the management data as a separate wireless mobile terminal having such a wireless function. Play.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, a vending machine that sells various products, which includes a first wireless unit and a detection unit that detects the stock status of various products, and a second wireless unit. , A display unit, a GPS control unit that performs position calculation based on signals from GPS satellites, and a wireless device having a memory that registers placement position information of the vending machine. The wireless device is calculated by the GPS control unit. If the location information and the location information of the vending machine registered in the memory are compared and it is determined that the vending machine is approached, a call signal by radio signal is transmitted to the vending machine and inventory data of each product is sent. The control data of this wireless device is detected and the management data transmitted from the corresponding vending machine as the detected wireless signal is received and displayed. From being able to accurately grasp the inventory situation, etc., for the replenishment is unnecessary vending machine products, there is no need for the work, such as examining the inventory situation in a point-by-point delivery vehicle is stopped, it is possible to improve the work efficiency. Also, GP
Since the position of the delivery vehicle is calculated by the signal from the S satellite, the position of the delivery vehicle can be accurately determined. As a result, the delivery vehicle side accurately detects the installation position of the vending machine and the radio wave The calling signal can be transmitted only when the user is in the area, and therefore unnecessary transmission of radio waves can be avoided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a delivery vehicle of a system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining position calculation of a delivery vehicle by GPS.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of the system.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of an automatic vending machine that constitutes the system.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing operations of main parts of the delivery vehicle and the vending machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Delivery vehicle, 2 ... Vending machine (vending machine), 31-33 ...
GPS satellite, 11 ... GPS receiver, 12 ... Compact disk (CD), 14, 18, 29 ... Display, 15 ... G
PS control unit, 16, 23 ... Memory, 17 ... PHS control unit, 19, 22 ... Wireless transmission / reception unit, 21 ... Control unit, 26 ...
Detection unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vending machine that sells various products, which includes a first wireless unit and a detection unit that detects the stock status of various products, and a second wireless unit, a display unit, based on signals from GPS satellites. A wireless device having a GPS control unit for performing position calculation and a memory for registering placement position information of the vending machine. The wireless device is a vending machine registered in the position information calculated by the GPS control unit and the memory. When it is determined that the vending machine is approached by comparing with the arrangement position information of the product, a calling signal by a wireless signal is transmitted to the vending machine to detect management data such as inventory data of each product, and the detected wireless A method for collecting management data of a vending machine, characterized by receiving and displaying management data transmitted from the corresponding vending machine as a signal.