JPH10162209A - Automatic vending machine and card adapter used therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify the configuration of control part on the side of automatic vending machine by moving a hardware circuit into a card adapter at least among various kinds of circuits provided on the side of automatic vending machine for controlling a memory card. SOLUTION: In place of the direct insertion of memory card 20 into a connector C provided on a control substrate, a separately prepared card adapter 30 is inserted into the connector C and the memory card 20 is inserted into the connector C provided on that card adapter 30. Among various kinds of circuits conventionally provided on the side of automatic vending machine for controlling the memory card 20, the hardware circuit is installed inside the card adapter 30 at least. Because of such a system, the circuit to be functioned only at the time of reloading a control program is omitted from the control circuit of automatic vending machine, the configuration of control part can be simplified.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine using a flash memory as a storage medium for a control program, and more particularly to a vending machine for writing a control program into a flash memory through a memory card, and a vending machine for use in the vending machine. Related card adapters.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is necessary to upgrade a control program even in a vending machine. This is often based on a request from a vending machine management company rather than a version upgrade for functional enhancement. Even for the same type of vending machine, different control programs may be installed depending on the management company of the delivery destination.

[0003] As a storage medium for storing a control program from such a background, a flash memory which is easily electrically written and erased and which can store a large amount of data without backup is often used. Sales data such as product prices and sales data are stored in a normal RAM.

When the control program is written in the flash memory, the control program is stored in a memory card in advance so that it can be easily performed on site, and the memory card is inserted into a connector provided in a control unit of a vending machine. FIG. 5 shows a state at that time.

A control board constituting the control circuit 10 of the vending machine includes a central processing unit for controlling the vending machine as a whole.
(CPU) 11, a program storage unit (flash memory) 12 for storing a control program executed by the CPU 11, and a data storage unit (RAM) 13 for storing various control data, and C stores a control program and the like. Is a connector into which the inserted memory card 20 is inserted.

[0006] In such a vending machine,
Various circuits necessary for controlling the memory card 20 are provided in the control circuit 10, and a functional block diagram thereof is shown in FIG. The main circuits for controlling the memory card 20 include a capacity detection circuit 31 of a battery with a built-in memory card, a card power supply circuit 32 for supplying power to the memory card 20, and an address line for taking in programs and data from the memory card 20. Noise removal circuit 33, a card access input circuit 34 including a switch for activating data read / write to the memory card 20, and a card access for checking the access state to the memory card 20 with a buzzer or a monitor lamp. There is an output circuit 35. Input / output unit (I / O) 14
Is for connecting the CPU 11 and the connector C.

[0007]

However, such a circuit for controlling the memory card 20 functions only when the control program is rewritten, and some vending machines do not rewrite the control program once. And its availability is extremely low. Nevertheless, it is useless to permanently install such a circuit in the control unit, and an extra burden is increased when designing the circuit, and the price of the main body of the vending machine is also increased.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a vending machine having a simplified control circuit and a vending machine having a simplified control circuit, in which a circuit required for controlling the memory card is not permanently installed in the control circuit of the vending machine. It is intended to provide a card adapter.

[0009]

In the vending machine according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the memory card (20) is inserted directly into the connector (C) provided on the control board. ), A separately prepared card adapter (30) is inserted, a memory card (20) is inserted into a connector (C) provided on the card adapter (30), and the memory card (20) is inserted.
In order to control the above, at least a hardware circuit among various circuits conventionally provided on the vending machine side is provided inside the card adapter.

With such a system, a circuit that functions only when the control program is rewritten (that is, a circuit unnecessary in the normal sales mode) is omitted from the control circuit of the vending machine, so that the configuration of the control unit is simplified. it can.

In this system, a separate card adapter is required, but since the card adapter can be used in common for a plurality of vending machines, the cost occupied by the card adapter in this system can be said to be small. Therefore, claims 3 and 4 claim the configuration of the card adapter itself.

[0012]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, and the same elements as those in FIG. 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals. As shown, the adapter 30 is separately
Be prepared. A pin P ′ provided at the lower end of the adapter 30
Has the same pin structure as the pin P of the memory card 20,
The connector C ′ provided on the upper surface of the card adapter 30
Has the same shape as the connector C on the control board of the control circuit 10. The pin P 'of the card adapter 30 is inserted into the connector C, and the pin P of the memory card 20 is inserted into the connector C' of the card adapter 30.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the card adapter 30. 2, the same elements as those in FIG. 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals. Memory card 2
The respective circuits of the hardware configuration of 31 to 35 necessary for controlling 0 are transferred to the card adapter 30, and only the function of controlling the memory card 20 by software is left in the CPU 11.

FIG. 3 shows a circuit diagram in the adapter 30, and the same elements as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals. Hereinafter, the circuit configuration of each of the circuits 31 to 35 will be described.

The memory element of the memory card 20 is an SRAM
In the case of, the battery for data backup is built in the card, and when the capacity is less than the specified capacity, the reliability of the data stored in the card cannot be guaranteed. For this purpose, the card capacity detection circuit 31 is provided to check the battery capacity.

The pins p ₁ and p ₂ of the memory card 20 are for outputting two types of voltage signals for detecting the capacity of the built-in battery, and the lines from each pin are provided with a changeover switch SW ₁ (FIG. 1). It is input to the inverter I ₁ through the illustrated), the output of each inverter I ₁ is input to the negative logic OR gate OR of the control circuit 10 side of the vending machine. If one of the voltage signal lines has a voltage higher than the specified value,
The output of the OR gate OR becomes active and the CPU 11
Determines that the built-in battery is normal. When no active signal is output, the CPU 11 does not execute the processing described below.

On the other hand, when the memory card 20 is a flash memory which does not need to be backed up as described above, since the voltage signal as described above is not output, the switch SW
₁ is switched to the Vcc terminal to generate a pseudo active signal. Note that the pin numbers such as p ₁ and p ₂ are simply added in the order of explanation, and do not match the actual pin numbers.

The pins p ₃ and p ₄ shorted to each other in the memory card 20 are connected to the control circuit 1 through the card adapter 30.
Is connected to an input of AND gate AND of 0, also the pin p ₄ of the line is grounded by the card adapter 30 within.
C output of the AND gate AND through an inverter I ₂
It is taken into the PU 11 and supplied to the base of the transistor TR in the card power supply circuit 32. With this configuration, if the card adapter 30 and the memory card 20 are properly mounted on the connector C of the control circuit 10,
Both inputs of the AND gate AND goes low, the low from inverter I ₂ is outputted. As a result, the transistor TR is turned on, and DC 5 V is output from the card power supply circuit 32.

The memory card 20 is charged while being carried, and when the charged memory card 20 is mounted on the connector C, high-voltage static electricity is applied to the CPU 11 of the control circuit 10 and the like, and the semiconductor components are broken down. The address line noise elimination circuit 33 is provided to eliminate such inconvenience. The circuit 33 in each line than the pin p ₅ ~p ₂₆ for address lines, in which the clamping circuit and the discharge resistor R ₂ using a diode D ₃ is connected.

The card access input circuit 34 has a structure in which a diode D ₁ and a push button switch SW ₂ (shown in FIG. 1) are inserted in series in a line from pins p ₂₇ and p ₂₈ of the memory card 20, respectively. is there. One SW ₂ is a read switch (from the memory card to the vending machine) and the other SW ₂ is a write switch (from the vending machine to the memory card).

The card access output circuit 35, as a monitor lamp, through a diode D ₂ and resistor R ₁ relative to the pin p _29, p ₃₀ of the control circuit 10 side LED (Fig. 1
Shown) is connected to, as a confirmation and a warning buzzer, with respect to the pin p ₃₁ of the control circuit 10 side, the piezoelectric buzzer BZ (shown in FIG. 1) and an oscillator OSC which is the drive circuit is connected.

In addition to the circuits 31 to 35 described above, the pins of the memory card 20 are short-circuited or grounded in the card adapter 30 (these wiring processes are also conventionally performed by the control circuit 10 of the vending machine). Has been performed), the circuit configuration of the control circuit 10 is simplified.

The operation when the card adapter 30 is used will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, after inserting the card adapter 30 with the memory card 20 inserted into the connector C of the control circuit 10 and then turning on the power of the vending machine, the process proceeds from step S1 to step S2 and proceeds to step S2. It is determined whether 20 has been inserted. In this case, since the memory card 20 is inserted via the card adapter 30,
Proceeding to step S3, the capacity of the built-in battery is determined through the card built-in battery capacity detection circuit 31.

When the capacity of the built-in battery is less than the specified amount, the power of the vending machine is turned off, the memory card 20 is removed, the built-in battery is replaced, and the operation is started from the beginning. On the other hand, when the built-in battery is normal,
As described above in step S4, the card power supply circuit 32 is activated and outputs DC 5V. Thereafter, if the switch SW ₂ of the read turned on, the process proceeds from step S5 to step S6, the read control program which has been stored in the memory card 20 is started, are stored in the program storage unit 12. When the control data is read, it is stored in the data storage unit 13. During this readout period, the LED is turned on in step S7 to notify that it is operating, and in step S8,
It is determined whether there is any abnormality in the reading operation. If there is abnormality, in step S11, the piezoelectric buzzer BZ outputs a warning sound for warning. In that case, after investigating the cause, turn off the vending machine, and start again from the beginning.

On the other hand, if the reading is completed without any abnormality, the process proceeds from step S9 to step S10, and the piezoelectric buzzer BZ sounds with another tone to notify the end of reading. Since the setting mode of the control program and the control data has been completed, the vending machine is turned off, the card adapter 30 is removed, and the vending machine is turned on again. At this point, since there is no insertion of the memory card 20, the mode shifts to the normal sales mode.

In the present embodiment, the connector C provided on the control board has a structure matching the pins P of the memory card 20. However, as shown in FIG. Therefore, the number of pins P ′ of the card adapter 30 is smaller than the number of pins P of the memory card 20. Therefore, the number of pins of the connector C of the control circuit 10 and the pin P 'of the card adapter 30 can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced accordingly.

[0027]

According to the present invention, a card adapter is inserted between a connector and a memory card inserted into the connector, and the memory card is conventionally provided on a vending machine side for controlling the memory card. Since at least the hardware circuit among the various circuits is moved to the inside of the card adapter, the configuration of the control unit on the vending machine side can be simplified.
Since this card adapter can be used in common for a plurality of vending machines, the cost occupied by the card adapter in this system can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of use of a card adapter according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the card adapter of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment of the card adapter of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control operation of the vending machine when the card adapter of FIG. 3 is used.

FIG. 5 shows an example of mounting a memory card on a vending machine.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of a control circuit in the vending machine of the system of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 control circuit 11 CPU 12 program storage unit 13 data storage unit 20 memory card 30 card adapter C connector P pin

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A memory card (2) inserted into a connector (C).
In a vending machine that reads a control program from (0) and writes it into an internal program storage unit (11), a memory card adapter (30) to which the memory card (20) is detachably attached.
In order to control the memory card (20), at least a hardware circuit among various circuits conventionally provided on the vending machine side is provided in the card adapter (30) for controlling the memory card (20). A vending machine. 2. A memory card (2) inserted into a connector (C).
In a vending machine that reads a control program from (0) and writes it into an internal program storage unit (11), a memory card adapter (30) to which the memory card (20) is detachably attached.
Through the connector (C), and a circuit conventionally provided on the vending machine side for controlling the memory card (20), that is, a capacity detection circuit (31) of a battery with a built-in memory card, a memory A power supply circuit for the card (32) for supplying power to the card (20), a noise elimination circuit (33) for an address line for taking in programs and data from the memory card (20), and a data read / read for the memory card (20); Part or all of the card access input circuit (34) including a switch to activate data writing, and the card access output circuit (35) for checking the access status to the memory card (20) with a buzzer or monitor lamp A vending machine provided in the card adapter (30). 3. A memory card (2) inserted into a connector (C).
When writing the control program read from (0) to the program storage unit (12) inside the vending machine, the memory card
A detachable card adapter (30) that is used by being inserted between the connector (20) and the connector (C), and is provided with various types of devices conventionally provided in the vending machine for controlling the memory card (20). A card adapter comprising at least a hardware circuit among the circuits. 4. A memory card (2) inserted into a connector (C).
When writing the control program read from (0) to the program storage unit (12) inside the vending machine, the memory card
A detachable card adapter (30) that is used by being inserted between a connector (20) and a connector (C), a circuit conventionally provided on a vending machine side for controlling a memory card (20). That is, the capacity detection circuit (31) of the memory card built-in battery, the card power supply circuit (32) for supplying power to the memory card (20), and the address line for taking in programs and data from the memory card (20). The noise removal circuit (33), the card access input circuit (34) including a switch to activate data reading / writing to the memory card (20), and the access status to the memory card (20) are checked with a buzzer or monitor lamp. A card adapter incorporating a part or all of a card access output circuit (35) for use in the present invention.