JPH10154266A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make commodities possible to be sold when they remain, by detecting whether all the commodities that are contained in a column before replacement have been entirely sold or not. SOLUTION: Whether commodities remain or not in a column which has been replenished with commodities before supply of commodities (Sa1), and when they are out of stock, the column is made in a sale stop state (Sa7). On the other hand, if they are in stock sale of products is continued until the remaining products before supply are sold out (Sa2 to a6). When these products are entirely sold out, the sale stop state is ended (Sa7). A temperature sensor measures temperature (Sa3) and when products reach sale temperature, the processing is stopped and sale is resumed. Also, in the process of the sale of stock products, the temperature sensor measures and decides whether thrown in products reach sale temperature or not (Sa3), and when the sale temperature is reaches, the processing is finished and sale is continued.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine for heating or cooling a product for sale.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In vending machines, when selling products such as juice cans and coffee cans, they are usually sold after heating or cooling. However, immediately after refilling the column, these products are sold at the temperature at which they can be sold (hereinafter referred to as
Sales temperature).

[0003] Therefore, after refilling the column with commodities,
It is necessary to suspend sales of the column until the goods reach the sales temperature. Then, when the product inside the column in the paused state reaches the sales temperature, the sales paused state is released and the sales are resumed.

[0004]

However, when a column is refilled with commodities, there are cases where commodities not yet sold remain in the column. In other words, a serviceman who supplies products to the columns needs to fill all columns when visiting the vending machine, so even if there are still unsold products, Need to be replenished.

[0005] Therefore, the product remaining in the column before replenishment has reached the sales temperature,
There was a problem that the column was suspended and could not be sold.

[0006] On the other hand, a customer who purchases a product may want to purchase the product even if the product has not yet reached the selling temperature. However, the pausing state of the column is not released until the selling temperature is reached as described above, so that the customer cannot purchase such a product.

[0007] In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a vending machine capable of selling a product before replenishment remains in a column and a vending machine capable of selling the product even when the sales temperature has not been reached. It is intended to provide a vending machine which can be sold.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vending machine which stores a plurality of products in a column, and cools or heats these products to a predetermined sales temperature for sale. , If you refill the column
The inventory number detecting means for detecting whether or not all the products stored in the column before the replenishment have been sold, and after detecting that the product before the replenishment has been sold by the stock number detecting means, Sales vending control means for bringing the vending machine into a vending state until the replenished product reaches the vending temperature.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the vending machine according to the first aspect, the sales suspension control means includes a temperature detection means for detecting a temperature of a product in the column or a vicinity of the product, and the temperature detection means. Before the temperature detected by the inventory number reaches the selling temperature, the vending machine is put into a sales halt state only when the stock quantity detecting means detects that the product before the replenishment has been sold. Means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the vending machine according to the first aspect, the sales suspension control means sets a sales time from when the product is refilled to the column until the product reaches the sales temperature. Sales time setting means, measuring means for measuring the sales time set by the sales time setting means from the time the product is refilled in the column, and the inventory quantity before the measurement by the measuring means reaches the sales time. Only when the detecting means detects that the product before the replenishment has been sold, the vending machine is a sales suspension start means for setting the vending machine to a sales suspension state.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vending machine which stores a plurality of products in a column and cools or heats the products to a predetermined sales temperature to sell the products. Sold-out display means for indicating that there is a product, temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of the product inside the column or the vicinity of the product, and the sold-out display means until the temperature detected by the temperature detection means reaches the sales temperature. And a display state control means for changing the display according to the detected temperature.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vending machine which stores a plurality of products in a column and cools or heats the products to a predetermined sales temperature to sell the products. Sold-out display means for indicating that there is, sales time setting means for setting the sales time from when the product is refilled to the column until the replenished product reaches the selling temperature, and from when the product is refilled to the column. Measuring means for measuring the selling time set by the selling time setting means, and display state control for changing the display of the sold-out display means according to the measured time until the measurement by the measuring means reaches the selling time. Means.

In the vending machine of the first aspect, after the sales suspension control means detects that the product before the replenishment has been sold by the stock quantity detecting means, the vending machine automatically operates until the replenished product reaches the selling temperature. Put the vending machine in the sales suspension state. In other words, if there is any remaining product before replenishment by the inventory quantity detection means, the vending machine continues to sell,
Since sales are suspended only after these products are sold out, sales efficiency can be improved.

[0014] In the vending machine according to the second aspect, the sales suspension start means of the sales suspension control means, before the temperature detected by the temperature detection means reaches the sales temperature, the goods before replenishment by the stock quantity detection means. Only when it is detected that the vending machine has been sold, the vending machine is put into the sales suspension state. Therefore, if the replenished product reaches the selling temperature while the product before replenishment is being sold, the vending machine does not go into the sales suspension state.

[0015] In the vending machine according to the third aspect, the sales suspension start means of the sales suspension control means, before the time measured by the measuring means reaches the sales time, the goods before replenishment are sold by the stock quantity detecting means. Only when it detects that
Putting the vending machine into a sales stop state. Therefore, if the product before replenishment remains after the sales time elapses, the vending machine does not enter the sales suspension state.

In the vending machine according to the fourth aspect, the display control means changes the display of the sold-out display means in accordance with the detected temperature until the temperature detected by the temperature detecting means reaches the selling temperature. it can. for that reason,
The customer can determine the temperature of the sold product by looking at the display state of the sold-out display means.

In the vending machine according to the fifth aspect, the display state control means changes the display of the sold-out display means according to the measured time until the measurement by the measuring means reaches the sales time. Therefore, the customer can determine the temperature of the sold product by looking at the display state of the sold-out display means.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A vending machine 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

The vending machine 10 will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG.

The vending machine 10 sells cans such as juice and coffee as products.
Each is stored in n columns. The temperatures inside the n columns can each be adjusted. For example, columns 1 to 3 can be sold by cooling the product, and columns 4 to n can be sold by heating the product.

Each column has a selection button 12 for purchasing a product, a sold-out lamp 14 indicating whether or not the product is sold out, a temperature sensor 16 for detecting the temperature inside the column, and a storage device for storing the product in the column. A bend device 18 is provided for sequentially selling the sold products one by one.

Further, a cooling device 20 for cooling or heating each column and a heating device 22 are provided. The cooling device 20 includes a compressor and an evaporator, and the heating device 22 includes a heater. Furthermore, a coin device 24 for handling coins, a bill validator 2 for handling bills
6 and a control box 28 used by the administrator to control the vending machine.

A control device 30 is provided for controlling the devices in the columns 1 to n, the cooling device 20, the heating device 22, the control box 28, the coin device 24, and the bill validator device 26. The control device 30 includes:
A timer 32 is provided. This timer 32
The suspension time of the column is measured, and when the suspension time reaches the set time, the control device 30
Releases the column from sales suspension and resumes sales.

Next, in the column of the vending machine 10, an operation state when a service person replenishes commodities will be described.
The types of control methods will be described.

The flowchart of FIG. 2 relates to the first control method, and will be described below with reference to FIG.

In step a1, it is determined whether or not a product remains in the column where the product has been supplied before the supply. As a method for this determination, the number of products supplied by the service engineer last time is input from the control box 28, and the number obtained by subtracting the number sold is the number remaining in the column, that is, the stock number N. . And
If there is no stock in the column, that is, if N = 0, the process proceeds to step a7, and the column is put into the sales suspension state. If there is stock, the process proceeds to step a2.

In step a2, the number A sold is initialized so that A = 0. Then, the process proceeds to step a3.

In step a3, it is determined by measuring with the temperature sensor 16 whether or not the put product has reached the selling temperature (0 ° C.).
If the temperature has reached the selling temperature, the process is terminated and the selling is continued.

In step a4, after replenishing the commodities, it is determined whether or not the commodities have been sold in the column. If the product is not sold, the process returns to step a3, and if the product is sold, the process proceeds to step a5.

In step a5, 1 is added to the sold number A.
And proceeds to step a6.

In step a6, the number of stocks N is compared with the number of sold units A. If the number of sold units has reached the number of units in stock, the process proceeds to step a7.
Return to

In step a7, the sold-out lamp 14
Lights up, and the sales stop state of the column is started. That is, in steps a1 to a6, the sale of the goods is continued until all the goods remaining before the replenishment are sold out,
When all of these products have been sold, a sales suspension state is started in this step. Then, the process proceeds to step a8.

In step a8, if the product has reached the selling temperature as measured by the temperature sensor 16, this process is terminated and the sold-out lamp 14 is turned off, and selling is resumed.
If not, continue this step.

According to the first control method, as described above, when there is a product before replenishment, the sales state is maintained until the product is sold out, and after all the products have been sold, the first control method is performed. Sales are suspended. for that reason,
The sales efficiency can be improved as compared with the conventional case.

Next, a second control method will be described with reference to FIG.

In the above-described first control method, whether or not the product can reach the selling temperature is directly measured by the temperature sensor 16 to determine whether or not the product can be sold. However, in the second control method, Control is performed by time instead of the selling temperature. This will be described below.

At step b1, it is determined whether or not the product before replenishment remains in the column. If no commodities before replenishment remain in the column, the flow proceeds to step b2, and if even one remains, the flow proceeds to step b3.

In step b2, the service person inputs the time until all of the supplied commodities reach the selling temperature (0 ° C.) using the control box 28. For example, when 30 products can be stored in the column, the time until all of the 30 products reach the selling temperature is input, and the process proceeds to step b9.

In step b3, since there is a product before replenishment remaining in the column, this remaining stock number N
Set the sales suspension time in consideration of For example, a column can store 30 products, and if the stock quantity is 5, the number of resupplied products is 25. Accordingly, a service technician sets the sales suspension time until the 25 products reach the sales temperature and inputs the same from the control box 28. Therefore, the sales suspension time in step b3 is set shorter than the sales suspension time in step b2 described above. Then, the process proceeds to Step b4.

In step b4, the number A sold is initialized, A = 0, and the process proceeds to step b5.

In step b5, it is determined whether or not the set sales suspension time has elapsed. If the sales suspension time has elapsed, this processing is terminated and sales are continued. If it is within the sales suspension time, step b6 is performed. Proceed to.

In step b6, it is determined whether or not the product has been sold after the supply of the product. If the product has not been sold, the process returns to step b5. If the product has been sold, step b7.
Proceed to.

In step b7, 1 is added to the sold number A.
And proceeds to step b8.

In step b8, the number of stocks N is compared with the number of sold units A. If the number of sold units has reached the number of units in stock, the process proceeds to step b9.
Return to

In step b9, the sold-out lamp 14
Lights up, and the sales suspension state starts. That is, if there is no stock in the column in step b1, the sales suspension time is set, and this sales suspension state is started immediately. On the other hand, if there is a stock of the product before replenishment in the column, all the products in this stock are sold out, and then the sales suspension state is set. Then, the process proceeds to step b10.

In step b10, it is measured whether or not the sales suspension time has elapsed. If the sales suspension time has elapsed, the process is terminated and sales are resumed. If not, this step is continued. The sales suspension time is measured by a timer 32 provided in the control device 30.

As described above, in the second control method,
In the case where products before replenishment remain in the column, the column is put into the sales suspension state only after all of these products are sold, so that the sales efficiency can be improved.

Next, the third control method will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In the third control method, additional control is added to the first control method. In the first control method, when the sales stoppage occurs in step a7, the sold-out lamp 14 is turned on. This sales suspension state is continued until the sales temperature is reached. Instead, in the third control method, the temperature until the temperature of the replenished product reaches the selling temperature is divided into three stages, and the sold-out lamp 14 is provided for each stage.
Is changed to indicate the temperature of the product sold to the customer.

The first set temperature (10 ° C.) and the second set temperature (5 ° C.)
° C) is set. Steps a1 to a7 are the same as those in the first control method, and thus description thereof is omitted.

In step a7, the sales suspension state is started. In step a8, it is determined whether or not the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 16 has reached the first set temperature. If the temperature has not reached the first set temperature, the process proceeds to step a9. If the temperature has reached, the process proceeds to step a10.

In step a9, since the temperature has not reached the first set temperature (10 ° C. or more), the sold-out lamp 14 is turned on and the process returns to step a8.

In step a10, it is determined whether or not the column has reached the second set temperature. If not, the process proceeds to step a11.
Proceed to 13.

In step a11, since the temperature has reached the first set temperature but not the second set temperature, the sold-out lamp 14 is blinked at a high speed. The blinking of the sold-out lamp 14 at a high speed indicates that the sold product has a temperature between 10 ° C. and 5 ° C. Then, the process proceeds to step a12.

In step a12, the sales suspension state is released, and the process returns to step a10. As a result, if the sold-out lamp 14 is blinking at a high speed, the product to be sold is 10 ° C.
Even if the temperature is between 5 ° C. and 5 ° C., the customer can purchase the product if the customer can purchase it.

At step a13, it is determined whether or not the sales temperature has been reached. If the selling temperature has been reached, the process proceeds to step a16. If not, the process proceeds to step a14.
Proceed to.

At step a14, the sold-out lamp 14 is blinked at a low speed because the temperature has reached the second set temperature but has not reached the selling temperature. That is, the state where the sold-out lamp 14 is blinking at a low speed indicates that the sold product has a temperature between 5 ° C. and 0 ° C. Then, the process proceeds to step a14.

In step a15, the sales suspension state is released, and the flow returns to step a13. That is, if the sold-out lamp 14 is blinking at a low speed, even if the sold product has a temperature between 5 ° C. and 0 ° C., if the customer can purchase the product, the user can purchase the product. Can be.

In step a16, the sold-out lamp 14 is turned off, the sales suspension state is released, and the process is terminated. That is, since the sales temperature (0 ° C.) has been reached, normal sales can be performed.

As described above, according to the third control method, even if the product does not reach the selling temperature, the display state of the sold-out lamp 14 is changed step by step until the product reaches the selling temperature, and the customer is asked for the product. , Which indicates that the customer can purchase the product even if the customer has not reached the sales temperature. Therefore, sales efficiency can be improved.

Next, a fourth control method will be described with reference to FIG.

This control method is a modified example of the third control method. In the third control method, the display state of the sold-out lamp 14 is changed by dividing the selling temperature stepwise. In the method, the sales suspension time set by the second control method is divided stepwise, and the display state of the sold-out lamp 14 is changed for each time step.

For example, when the set sales suspension time is one hour, the first set time is set to 20 minutes and the second set time is set to 40 minutes. Step b1 to step b
8 is the same as the second control method, and the description is omitted.

In step b 9, the sales suspension state of the column is started, and the flow advances to step 10.

In step 10, it is determined whether or not the first set time has elapsed. If so, the process proceeds to step b12. If not, the process proceeds to step b11.

In step b11, since the first set time (20 minutes) has not elapsed, the sold-out lamp 14 is turned on to indicate that this column is in a sold-out state, and the process returns to step b10.

At step b12, it is determined whether or not the second set time has elapsed. If the second set time has elapsed, the process proceeds to step b15, and if not, the process proceeds to step b13.

In step b13, since the first set time (20 minutes) has elapsed but the second set time (40 minutes) has not elapsed, the sold-out lamp 14 is blinked at a high speed. Then, the process proceeds to Step b14.

In step b14, the sales suspension state is released, and the flow returns to step b12. In other words, when the sales temperature has not been reached but the customer may purchase, the product can be purchased in this state.

At step b15, it is determined whether or not the sales suspension time has elapsed. If the sales suspension time has elapsed, the process proceeds to step b18, and if not, the process proceeds to step b16.

In step b16, since the second set time (40 minutes) has elapsed but the selling time (60 minutes) has not elapsed, the sold-out lamp 14 is blinked at a low speed, and the process proceeds to step b17.

In step b17, the sales suspension state is released, and the flow returns to step b15.

At step b18, the sales time (60
Minute), the out-of-sale lamp 14 is turned off, and the sales suspension state is released.

Even in the fourth control method described above, the sales suspension time is divided into several stages, and the sold-out lamp 14
Can be changed so that the customer can determine the temperature of the product to be sold. If the customer can purchase the product at this temperature, the customer can purchase the product. Can be improved.

Although the first to fourth control methods have been described for the case of the cooling column, the same can be applied to the case of the heating column. In this case, it is conceivable that the sales temperature is set to 60 ° C., the first set temperature in the third control method is set to 40 ° C., and the second set temperature is set to 50 ° C.

[0076]

As described above, according to the vending machine of the first aspect, since the column is not in the suspension state until all the products before replenishment are sold, the sales efficiency of the column can be improved. .

According to the vending machines of the second and third aspects, the sales suspension time of the column in which the commodities are replenished can always be suppressed to the minimum time.

In the vending machine according to claims 4 and 5,
Since the temperature of the product to be sold can be determined based on the display state of the sold-out display means, even if the sales temperature has not been reached, customers who want to purchase the product can purchase the product, thereby improving the sales efficiency of the column. Can be done.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a vending machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a first control method until a sales suspension state is released.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a second control method.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a third control method.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a fourth control method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Vending machine 12 Selection button 14 Sold-out lamp 16 Temperature sensor 18 Benzo device 20 Cooling device 22 Heating device 24 Coin device 26 Bilvari device 28 Control box 30 Control device 32 Timer

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A vending machine which stores a plurality of products in a column and cools or heats the products to a predetermined selling temperature and sells the products. The inventory number detecting means for detecting whether or not all of the products stored in the column have been sold, and after detecting that the product before the replenishment has been sold by the stock quantity detecting means, the replenished product is the A vending machine comprising: vending control means for bringing the vending machine into a vending state until the temperature reaches a vending temperature. 2. The sales suspension control means includes: a temperature detection means for detecting a temperature of a product inside the column or a temperature near the product; and before the temperature detected by the temperature detection means reaches the sales temperature, 2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a sales suspension start unit that sets the vending machine to a sales suspension state only when the stock quantity detection unit detects that the product before the replenishment is sold. vending machine. 3. The sales suspension control means includes: sales time setting means for setting a sales time from when the product is replenished to the column until the product reaches the sales temperature; and when the product is refilled into the column. Measuring means for measuring the selling time set by the selling time setting means from; and, before the measurement by the measuring means reaches the selling time, that the product before the replenishment is sold by the stock quantity detecting means. 2. The vending machine according to claim 1, further comprising a sales halt start unit that sets the vending machine to a sales halt state only when the vending machine detects the vending machine. 4. A vending machine which stores a plurality of commodities in a column and cools or heats the commodities to a predetermined selling temperature to sell the commodities, wherein a sold-out display means indicating that the commodities in the column are sold out. Temperature detection means for detecting a temperature of a product in the column or in the vicinity of the product; and a temperature detected by the sold-out display means until the temperature detected by the temperature detection means reaches the sales temperature. A vending machine comprising display state control means for changing the display state in accordance with the condition. 5. A vending machine which stores a plurality of commodities in a column and cools or heats these commodities to a predetermined selling temperature for sale, wherein a sold-out display means for indicating that the commodities in the column are sold out. Sales time setting means for setting a sales time from when the column is replenished with the product to when the replenished product reaches the selling temperature; and setting by the sales time setting means from the time the column is refilled with the product. Measuring means for measuring the measured sales time, and display state control means for changing the display of the sold-out display means according to the measured time until the measurement by the measuring means reaches the sales time. And vending machine.