JPH10116383A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic vending machine for dissolving the inconvenience that an operator is required to carry a key at all times and reducing the danger that an outer door is unauthorizedly opened. SOLUTION: A locking mechanism for locking the outer door to a door closed state is locked and unlocked by an electric motor 5. The fingerprint of a specified person is stored in a storage device 21 beforehand. The fingerprint of the operator is detected in a detector 22 and it is collated with the fingerprint stored in the storage device 21 in a control part 25. In the case that both match, an electric motor driving circuit 24 drives the electric motor 5 so as to unlock the locking mechanism.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a vending machine,
In particular, the present invention relates to a lock mechanism for locking an outer door of a cabinet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A general vending machine is provided with an outer door in a cabinet so that an operator can open the outer door as necessary to perform various control operations and product filling operations. I have. Further, a lock mechanism for locking the outer door in a closed state is provided. Usually, the lock is performed with the outer door closed and locked with a lock. The locking and unlocking of the lock is performed using a key possessed by the operator. The structure using the lock also prevents mischief and theft of goods to some extent.

[0003]

However, when the operator forgets possession of the key, the outer door cannot be opened, so that it is inconvenient that various control operations and product filling work cannot be performed. is there. Further, locks commonly used in vending machines have a problem in security against unauthorized unlocking, and there is a possibility that the locks are unlocked illegally and the product is stolen.

[0004] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a vending machine which eliminates the inconvenience of requiring an operator to always carry a key.

[0005] Another object of the present invention is to provide a vending machine in which the possibility that the outer door can be opened illegally is reduced.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a vending machine having a lock mechanism for locking an outer door in a closed state, wherein the lock mechanism is disengaged by an electric motor. The vending machine is characterized in that the physical characteristics of the operator are compared with the physical characteristics of a person registered in advance, and only when the physical characteristics match, the motor is driven to release the lock mechanism. Can be

Further, according to the present invention, in a vending machine having a lock mechanism for locking an outer door in a closed state, an electric motor for unlocking the lock mechanism and physical characteristics of a specific person are stored. A storage device, a detection device for detecting a physical feature of the operator, a matching device for matching the physical feature detected by the detection device with a physical feature stored in the storage device, and a matching device for the matching device. And a control unit for controlling the driving of the electric motor so as to release the lock mechanism only when the vending machine is seen.

[0008] Preferably, the lock mechanism includes a lock arm that is interlocked with opening and closing of the outer door, and a lock slide plate that is moved by the electric motor and detached from the lock arm.

[0009] Preferably, said physical characteristic is a fingerprint.

[0010]

1 and 2 show a lock mechanism for locking an outer door (not shown) of a cabinet of a vending machine in a closed state according to a first embodiment of the present invention. I have. The lock mechanism includes a lock arm 1 provided at a position in the main body of the cabinet opposite to the rotating end of the outer door.
And a vertically long lock slide plate 1 provided at the pivotal end of the outer door so as to be slidable in the up-down direction A. The lock arm 1 has an upward finger 3 at the tip. On the other hand, the lock slide plate 2 moves substantially in the left-right direction B in the drawing as the outer door is opened and closed, and has an engagement hole 4 corresponding to the lock arm 1.

When the lock slide plate 2 is raised, the lock arm 1 can be inserted into and removed from the engagement hole 4.
When the lock slide plate 2 is lowered while the lock arm 1 is being inserted into the engagement hole 4, the finger portion 3 is engaged with the lock slide plate 2, whereby the outer door is locked in the closed state. Of course, when the lock slide plate 2 is raised, the engagement between the finger portion 3 and the lock slide plate 2 is released, so that the outer door is unlocked and can be opened.

The vending machine further includes an electric motor 5 and a switch 6 for controlling the vertical movement of the lock slide plate 2.
And the outside door. A rotating disk 8 is fixed to a rotating shaft 7 of the electric motor 5. Two engaging pins 9 are fixed to the rotating disk 8 with an angular shift of 180 degrees. On the other hand, the lock slide plate 2 is provided with an engagement plate 11 at a position where it can be engaged with the engagement pin 9.

After the rotating disk 8 is rotated by the electric motor 5 and one of the engaging pins 9 is engaged with the engaging plate 11, it is lifted together with the lock slide plate 2. When the rotating disk 8 rotates to a certain angle, the engagement pin 9 is disengaged from the engagement plate 11, but the lock slide plate 2 is prevented from dropping by being engaged with the upper slide plate engagement mechanism, and the raised position. Is kept. Therefore, in this state, the outer door can be freely opened and closed. The slide plate engagement mechanism automatically releases the lock slide plate 2 when the outer door is closed.

The switch 6 has an operating portion facing the peripheral surface of the rotating disk 8, and the operating portion is formed by a concave portion 1 on the peripheral surface of the rotating disk 8.
It is turned on only when it faces 2. That is, the switch 6 is turned on every half rotation of the rotating disk 8. As will be described later, the switch 6 is turned on to stop the electric motor 5 just before the engagement pin 9 comes into contact with the engagement plate 11, but it takes longer than the time for the rotating disk 8 to make a half rotation after the electric motor 5 is started. It is preferable to design the motor 5 to stop even when a long predetermined time has elapsed.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a lock control device for controlling the operation of the lock mechanism in the vending machine described above. The lock control device includes a storage device 21 storing a fingerprint which is one of the physical characteristics of a specific person, a detection device 22 for detecting a fingerprint of an operator, and a timer for setting the above-mentioned predetermined time. 23, an electric motor drive circuit 24 for driving the electric motor 5, and a control unit 25 connected thereto and also connected to the switch 6. Here, for example, the electric motor 5 rotates the rotating disk 8 7 times per minute, and the predetermined time is set to about 30 seconds.

As will be described next, the detecting device 22
The fingerprint of the operator detected in step (1) is compared with the fingerprint of a person registered in the storage device 21 in advance, and only when the fingerprints match, the electric motor 5 is driven to release the lock mechanism. The fingerprint stored in the storage device 21 may be the fingerprint detected by the detection device 22.

The operation of the control unit 25 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

After the start, in step S1, the detecting device 2
It is determined whether or not 2 has detected a fingerprint. If the fingerprint is not detected, the operation reaches the end and ends.

When the detecting device 22 detects a fingerprint, the process proceeds to step S2, where the detected fingerprint is collated with the fingerprint stored in the storage device 21 to determine whether or not the fingerprint matches. At this time, the control unit 25 functions as a collation device. Detection device 22
If a fingerprint that matches the fingerprint detected in step is not stored in the storage device 21, the operation reaches end and the operation is terminated. When a match is found in the fingerprint, the process proceeds to step S3, and the motor 5 is started by the motor drive circuit 24. When the motor 5 is started, the switch 6 is turned off.

When the electric motor 5 is driven, the engagement pins 9 of the rotating disk 8 engage with the engagement plate 11 and lift it together with the lock slide plate 2. As a result, the lock slide plate 2 is prevented from dropping by the slide plate engagement mechanism and is kept at the raised position, so that the lock slide plate 2 is not locked by the lock arm 1, so that the outer door can be freely opened and closed.

Then, the process proceeds to a step S4, wherein it is determined whether or not the switch 6 is on. When the switch 6 is switched from off to on, the process proceeds to step S5, where the motor drive circuit 2
By 4, the driving of the electric motor 5 is stopped, and the operation reaches the end and ends.

On the other hand, when the switch 6 is off, the process proceeds to step S6, where it is determined whether or not a predetermined time set by the timer 23 has elapsed. Until a predetermined time elapses after the motor 5 is started, the process returns to step S3.
Continue driving. When a predetermined time has elapsed since the start of the motor 5, the process proceeds to step S5, and the motor drive circuit 2
The drive of the electric motor is stopped by 4 and the operation reaches the end and ends.

When the operator closes the outer door after opening the outer door and performing various control operations and product filling operations, the engagement of the lock slide plate 2 by the slide plate engagement function is automatically released, Therefore, the outer door is locked in a closed state by the engagement between the lock arm 1 and the lock slide plate 2.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a lock control device for controlling the operation of a lock mechanism of a vending machine according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the control unit 25 determines whether or not the fingerprint detected by the detection device 22 is registered in the storage device 21. However, as shown in FIG. 6, the control unit 25, the detection device 22, and the storage device The fingerprint determination device 26 may be configured to perform the same determination using the fingerprint determination device 26 connected to the fingerprint determination device 21.

In the above description, the fingerprint is used as the physical feature of the customer, but it goes without saying that a voiceprint or an iris or a combination thereof can be used.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide a vending machine which eliminates the inconvenience of the operator having to carry the key all the time and has a lower possibility that the outer door is opened illegally.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a lock mechanism of a vending machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the lock mechanism of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a lock control device for controlling the operation of a lock mechanism in the vending machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the lock control device of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a lock control device for controlling the operation of a lock mechanism of a vending machine according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Lock arm 2 Lock slide plate 3 Finger part 4 Engagement hole 5 Electric motor 6 Switch 7 Rotary shaft 8 Rotating disk 9 Engagement pin 11 Engagement plate 12 Concave part 21 Storage device 22 Detector 23 Timer 24 Motor drive circuit 25 Control part 26 Fingerprint judgment device

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A vending machine having a lock mechanism for locking an outer door in a closed state, wherein the lock mechanism is unlocked and removed by an electric motor, and physical characteristics of an operator are registered in advance. A vending machine characterized in that the vending machine is configured to collate with a physical characteristic of a given person and drive the electric motor to release the lock mechanism only when the physical characteristics match. 2. A vending machine having a lock mechanism for locking an outer door in a closed state, a motor for hanging and unlocking the lock mechanism, a storage device storing physical characteristics of a specific person, A detection device that detects the physical characteristics of the operator, a matching device that matches the physical characteristics detected by the detection device with a physical feature stored in the storage device, and a match found by the matching device A control unit for controlling the driving of the electric motor so as to release only the lock mechanism. 3. The lock mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the lock mechanism includes a lock arm that is linked with opening and closing of the outer door, and a lock slide plate that is moved by the electric motor and is detached from the lock arm. vending machine. 4. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the physical feature is a fingerprint.