JPH09282535A - Vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vending machine which sells the commodities having their sell-by dates, discounts the prices of commodities coming near their sell-by dates to surely give the low price feeling to users and therefore decreases the number of overdue commodities. SOLUTION: When the sell-by dates, a prescribed number of sales promotion days and the discount amounts of commodities are inputted via a keyboard 9, a CPU 1 stores these data in a RAN 3. The CPU 1 also executes subtraction from the sell-by dates every time the dates are updated by a clock IC 4. When a commodity is sold, the CPU 1 calculates the number of remaining days of the commodity against its self-by date, based on the preceding subtraction from the date. If the calculated number of remaining days is smaller than a prescribed number of sales promotion days stored in the RAM 3, an amount equivalent to the discount amount is returned to a user. Thus, the user can surely know the discount prices of commodities coming near their sell-by dates. Then the sales promotion effect is improved, and the number of overdue commodities to be disused can be decreased.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine (hereinafter referred to as a vending machine) that sells products with expiration dates.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a vending machine that sells a product with an expiration date, the product whose expiration date has expired is displayed as being sold out and the product is stopped and discarded. On the other hand, in order to reduce such expired products, the following vending machines are known. That is, the product price is changed at a predetermined date and time (for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 2-38664), and the product price is discounted during a predetermined period immediately before the expiration date (for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-100571). ), Or discounting the product price when a predetermined number of products or more remain in the predetermined period before the expiration of the expiration date (for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-9880). All of these vending machines aim to promote sales by discounting product prices when the expiration date is approaching.

[0003] Although the expiration date is written on the products sold by the vending machine, the expiration date is when the product is stored at room temperature or cold temperature, and when the product containing dairy products is heated as a hot product. In this case, since the milk component is likely to deteriorate, there is a case where a shelf life different from the above shelf life is voluntarily set.

[0004]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The conventional vending machine for handling products with expiration date has the following problems. That is, in the above-mentioned vending machine, the user often does not immediately know whether the product price displayed on the vending machine is a discount price,
It does not give a cheap feeling. Therefore, the effect of promoting sales and reducing unsold products was not sufficient as compared with the case of the normal selling price. In addition, products that had expired even after sales promotion had to be discarded.

An object of the present invention is to surely give a user a sense of bargain when discounting a commodity price that is nearing the expiration date,
To reduce the number of expired products.

[0006]

The vending machine according to the invention 1 is
In a vending machine that sells products with an expiration date, input means for inputting the expiration date, a predetermined number of days for sales promotion, and a discount amount, a storage means for storing the input data by the input means, and the number of remaining days until the expiration date are counted. Counting means for
Equipped with a refund means for refunding the discounted amount, at the time of product sales,
If the number of remaining days until the expiration date of the sold product is less than or equal to a predetermined number of days for promotion, the discount amount will be refunded.

As a result, the discount amount is refunded when a product that is near the expiration date is sold, so that the user can be surely given a discounted feeling. A vending machine according to the second aspect of the present invention is a vending machine that stores a product with a expiration date in a plurality of product columns for sale, and includes an input means for inputting the expiration date and a predetermined number of days for sales promotion for each product column, and an input means. Equipped with a storage means for storing input data, a counting means for counting the number of days remaining until expiration of the expiration date, and a hit means for providing a winning prize by probability at the time of selling the product. When there is a product column in which the number of remaining days is less than or equal to a predetermined number of days for sales promotion, the product stored in the product column is provided as a prize.

[0008] As a result, since the products which are close to the expiration date are provided as the winning prizes, the number of the expired products is reduced. A vending machine according to the invention 3 is the vending machine according to the invention 1 or the invention 2, wherein the counting means subtracts the expiration date every time the date is updated.

As a result, the number of remaining days until the expiration of the expiration date can be reliably calculated.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a CPU that controls the entire vending machine, a ROM 2 that stores a control program,
A RAM 3 for storing various data and a clock IC 4 for timing are connected. Further, the following devices are connected to the CPU 1.

That is, a push button unit 5 provided with a sellable lamp, on which a commodity selection button is arranged, a price indicator 6 arranged near the push button unit 5 for indicating a commodity price, and an inserted amount indicator for indicating a money input amount. 7, a keyboard 9 for setting and displaying data such as the expiration date and discount amount, which are connected via the interface 8, and a sold-out switch for detecting the sold-out of the product installed in the product column 12 storing the beverage can 11. It is 10. Sold-out switch 10
Is installed in each column, but only one is shown in this figure.

Although this figure shows an example of a vending machine which stores and sells different types of canned beverages for each column, a vending machine handling expiration date products may have the same configuration. (1) Regarding Invention 1 FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the main part of Invention 1. The operation will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the operator of the vending machine operates the keyboard 9
Thus, when the expiration date (A), the sales promotion period (B), and the discount amount (C) for each column are input, the CPU 1 stores the input data in the RAM 3 (step S1).
0). For example, if the number of days remaining until the expiration date is 3 days, the sales promotion period (B) is input as "3" for the product that the user wants to actively sell.

Next, the CPU 1 determines whether the date has been updated by the clock IC 4 (step S11).
When the date is updated (branch Y), the expiration date (A) stored in the RAM 3 is decremented by one day (step S15) and the process returns to step S11. When the date is not updated (branch N), it is determined whether or not the product with the expiration date is sold in RAM3.
(Step S12), and if not sold (branch N), the process returns to step S11. When the product with the expiration date is sold (branch Y), it is further determined whether the product column approaches the expiration date, that is, whether the expiration date (A) is equal to or shorter than the sales promotion period (B) (step S13). ).

If it is less than the sales promotion period (branch Y), the discount amount is refunded (step S14), and the process returns to step S11. When the expiration date (A) is longer than the sales promotion period (B), that is, when the sales promotion period is not reached (branch N), the process returns to step S11. By the above operation, since the product price is discounted and refunded for the product within the sales promotion period, it is possible to give the user a cheap feeling, and it is possible to promote the sales of the product close to the expiration date. (2) Regarding Invention 2 FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the main part of Invention 2. The operation will be described with reference to FIG. The present invention 2 is applied to a vending machine provided with a hitting device (not shown) such as a roulette wheel.

First, as in the case of the first aspect of the invention, the expiration date (A) and the sales promotion period (B) for each column are input using the keyboard 9 and stored in the RAM 3 (step S20). Next, the CPU 1 determines whether the date has been updated (step S21). When the date has been updated (branch Y), the expiration date (A) stored in the RAM 3 is subtracted by one day (step S29). Return to step S21. When the date is not updated (branch N), it is determined whether or not the product is sold (step S22). When the product is not sold (branch N), the process returns to step S11, and when the product is sold (branch Y), the roulette wheel is sold. The operation of starts.

Next, the CPU 1 determines whether or not the roulette hits (step S23), and if not (branch N), the process returns to step S21. If it is a hit (branch Y), it is further determined whether or not the product column with the expiration date is sold out by a signal from the sold-out switch 10 (step S24). When not sold out (branch Y), it is further determined whether or not the column is near the expiration date, that is, whether or not the expiration date (A) is equal to or shorter than the sales promotion period (B) as in the invention 1 (step S25). . If it is less than the sales promotion period (branch Y), the product in the column is carried out as a roulette winning product (step S26), and the process returns to step S21.

When the product with the expiration date is sold out in step S24 (branch N) or when the sales promotion period is not in step S25 (branch N), a push button corresponding to a column that is not sold out. The salable lamp of the unit 5 is turned on to enter the product selection standby state (step S27). Then, the product selected by the user from the push button unit 5 is carried out as a winning prize for the roulette (step S28), and the process returns to step S21.

By the above operation, products within the sales promotion period can be provided as winning prizes for the roulette wheel, and the remaining number of products close to the expiration date can be reduced and the discarded products can be reduced.

[0020]

According to the present invention, the discount amount is refunded when the remaining number of days until the expiration date of the product is less than the predetermined number of days, so that the user can be surely given a cheap feeling and the sales promotion of the product which is about to expire. The effect can be improved. Further, if a vending machine with a hit device such as a roulette is provided with a product close to the expiration date as a prize, the expired product is reduced and the product to be discarded can be reduced.

Further, by subtracting the expiration date from the expiration date every time the date is updated, the expiration date can be surely calculated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation based on invention 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation based on the invention 2.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... CPU, 2 ... ROM, 3 ... RAM, 4 ... Clock IC,
5 ... Pushbutton unit, 6 ... Price indicator, 7 ... Deposit amount indicator, 8 ... Interface, 9 ... Keyboard, 10 ...
Sold-out switch, 11 ... Beverage can, 12 ... Product column.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In an automatic vending machine for selling products with a expiration date, an input means for inputting the expiration date, a predetermined number of days for sales promotion, and a discount amount, and a storage means for storing the input data by the input means. Equipped with a counting means for counting the number of remaining days until expiration and a refunding means for refunding the discounted amount, when the number of remaining days until the expiration date of the product being sold is less than the predetermined number of days to promote the sales, the discount will be given. A vending machine characterized by refunding the amount. 2. An automatic vending machine that stores a product with a expiration date in a plurality of product columns for sale, and input means for inputting the expiration date and a predetermined number of days for sales promotion to each product column, and an input means. It has a storage means to store the input data by, a counting means to count the number of days remaining until the expiration date, and a hit means to provide a winning prize by probability when the product is sold. When there is a product column for which the number of remaining days until is less than or equal to the predetermined number of days for sales promotion, a vending machine characterized by offering the product stored in the product column as a prize. 3. The vending machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the counting means subtracts the number of days before the expiration date each time the date is updated.