JPH10162221A - Cold and warm display device of automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve serviceability to customers by indicating that articles are not cooled or warmed enough right after a rack is replenished with the articles with characters and a voice and automatically switching the display to a display for regular vending when the replenished articles are cooled or warmed to the suitable temperature for vending. SOLUTION: This is a cold and warm display device for sale articles mounted in the article display chamber 2 of the automatic vending machine, and a temperature sensor 15 detects the temperature of articles 14 stored in the article storage rack 13 in the machine; and a cold and warm display body 10 displays 'in-cooling' or 'in-warming' at a subordinate electric illumination part 9 before the articles in the rack reach the proper vending temperature, and automatically switches the display to 'COLD' or 'HOT' for regular vending when the articles reach the proper vending temperature. When an article select push button is pressed during time cooling or warming, a speaker 16 notifies the customer of an in-cooling or in-warming message.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cold and hot display device for a vending machine which sells cans and bottled products (drinks such as coffee) as cold products or hot products.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, in the vending machine mentioned above, a refrigerator for storing and storing goods is defined in the machine, and the products to be sold are cooled or heated to a suitable temperature for sale in a rack for storing the goods. At the time of sale, cold and hot products are sold in accordance with the customer's selection of products. For this purpose, a cold / hot display device for the sold product is installed in the product display room of the vending machine and sold. "COLD" for cold products and "HO for hot products"
"T" is displayed.

FIG. 4 is an external view of a vending machine for selling such hot and cold products in parallel. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a front outer door of the vending machine, and 2 denotes a product display defined on the front side of the outer door 1. Room 3 is a coin insertion slot, 4 is a product outlet, and product display room 2 is covered with a transparent lighting plate 5 on the front surface.
Are displayed side by side on the display stand 7, and further, in front of the display stand 7, a product selection push button 8 corresponding to each product sample 6 is provided. Also,
The display unit 7 is provided with a display unit called a sub-illumination unit to display the price of the product and the cold / hot state (“cold” or “hot”) of the product for sale.

[0004]

By the way, when a normal-temperature product is supplied to a product storage rack in the machine, immediately after the supply of the product, an appropriate temperature for selling as a cold product (for example, 10 ° C.).
When the product is sold during the pull-down time until it is cooled down to about) or the pull-up time until it is heated to a suitable temperature for sale (for example, about 60 ° C.) as a hot product,
Warm products that have not been sufficiently cooled or heated will be sold.

[0005] In this regard, as described above, the cold / cold display section of the sub-illumination section provided in the product display room has "cold",
Just by displaying the “hot” sales mode, the user cannot know whether or not the product is kept cool or heated to the appropriate selling temperature. Therefore, in the past, vending machine managers raised a card in the display room indicating that cooling and heating were in progress after replenishing products, to alert the customer, or during pull-down or pull-up. At present, measures are being taken to take measures such as forcibly stopping sales of products that are being cooled or heated.

[0006] However, forcibly stopping sales during the cooling and heating of replenished commodities leads to a missed sales opportunity. In addition, if the preparation period during cooling and heating is managed by time, the temperature of the product may not reach the appropriate sales temperature even after the preparation time during cooling and heating has elapsed, depending on the ambient temperature conditions. Even after returning to regular sales, there is a risk that freshly warmed products will be sold by mistake. In addition, unless the indication that the replenished product is being cooled or heated is not displayed, the customer purchases a fresh product without knowing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to solve the above-mentioned problems. During the period when the product is not sufficiently cooled and heated after the supply of the product, the cooling and heating are currently performed. Is displayed properly to prevent customers from purchasing raw products without their knowledge. Also, when the replenished products are kept cool and suitable for sale, the display automatically switches to the regular display. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cold and hot display device of a vending machine which can be performed to improve serviceability to customers.

[0008]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, the temperature of a product stored in a product storage rack in a machine is detected by a temperature sensor, and a product temperature signal detected by the sensor is detected. Cold temperature display means for displaying “Cooling” or “Heating” on the sub-illumination unit until the product temperature reaches the suitable temperature for sale after the product is supplied to the product storage rack after the product is supplied to the product storage rack. Specifically, the present invention can be implemented in the following forms.

1) The cold temperature display means displays the status of "cold", "hot", "cooling", and "heating" on the peripheral surface and faces the display window of the sub illuminator. A rotary type cold / hot display unit, a drive unit for rotating the cold / hot display unit to a display position corresponding to the current cold / hot state based on a sales mode setting signal and a product temperature signal from a temperature sensor, and a control unit therefor. Configure.

2) Until the product temperature of the product stored in the product storage rack reaches the appropriate temperature for sale, when the product selection push button is pressed, a message “cooling” or “heating” is voiced. A voice output means for notifying the user is provided. As described above, the temperature of the product stored in the product storage rack is detected by the temperature sensor, and based on the product temperature signal, the cold state of the product after the supply of the product is displayed on the sub-illumination unit, thereby automatically selling the product. Not only can the user of the machine know exactly the cold condition of the product, but also unexpected troubles such as the sale of a hot product by mistake during regular sales can be prevented. Also, in addition to displaying the cold temperature in the sub-lighting section, when the product selection button is pressed, the customer is notified by voice of the message of cooling and heating, so that the customer can
As well as preventing the purchase of warm products while heating,
It is possible to sell to a customer who purchases a product while being aware of the state during cooling and heating without missing a sales opportunity.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, in FIG. 1, a sub-illumination unit 9 having the following configuration is provided as a means for displaying the temperature of a product for sale on a display stand 7 on which a product sample 6 is placed in the product display room 2. . This sub illuminator 9
Indicates "COLD" on the peripheral surface as shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b).
The rotary cold / hot display body 10 displaying the states of “HOT”, “cooling”, and “heating” separately and facing the display window of the display stand 7, and the cold / hot display body 10 at that time Drive motor 11 that rotates to display position corresponding to the state
And the control unit 12. 7a is a fluorescent lamp for illumination.

A product storage rack (serpentine-type product storage rack) 13 installed inside the refrigerator heat-transfers the temperature of the products arranged in the lowest sales standby position among the products 14 stored in the rack. A temperature sensor 15 is provided on a partition plate 13b opposed to the bend mechanism 13a across the product passage so as to directly detect the product 14, and a product temperature signal of the product 14 detected by the temperature sensor is provided. It is input to the control unit 12. Further, the control unit 12 sends the operation signal of the product selection push button 8 to the speaker 1 as described later.
6 is provided with an audio output unit 12a for outputting a message by voice.

Next, the cold temperature display operation according to the above configuration will be described separately for regular sales and for resumption of sales after replenishment of goods. 1) Regular sales: In a normal sales state, products arranged in the sales standby position in the cold sales mode based on the sales mode signal input to the control unit 12 and the product temperature signal of the product 14 detected by the temperature sensor 15. If the product temperature is kept at a predetermined suitable temperature for sale, “COLD” of the cold / temperature indicator 10 is displayed on the display window of the sub-illumination unit 9. Further, in the hot selling mode, if the product temperature of the product 14 is heated to a predetermined suitable selling temperature, the cold / hot indicator 10 displays “HOT”.

When the customer looks at the display contents of the sub-illumination section 9 and selects a desired cold product or hot product, and then presses the product selection push button 8, the product storage rack 13
Is carried out to the product outlet of the front outer door (see FIG. 4). 2) At the time of resuming sales after replenishment of goods: When resuming sales after replenishing the merchandise storage rack 13 with normal temperature merchandise 14 from the outside, the control unit based on the product temperature signal of the merchandise 14 detected by the temperature sensor 15. In step 12, the temperature of commodities arranged in the sales standby position is compared with the preset appropriate temperature for selling cold and hot commodities. If the product temperature (the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 12) in the cold sales mode is higher than the appropriate sales temperature, the cold / hot indicator 10 is rotated via the drive motor 11 by a command from the control unit 12, and “ The display position is switched from the display "COLD" to the display position "Cooling". In the hot selling mode, if the product temperature is lower than the appropriate selling temperature, the cold / hot indicator 10 is changed from “HOT” to “while heating”.
Is displayed to inform the customer that the product is not sufficiently cooled or heated. If the temperature of the products 14 arranged in the sales standby position is kept cool or heated to a suitable temperature for sale, the cold / hot indicator 10 is instructed by the control unit 12 based on the detection signal of the temperature sensor 15. The display position is switched to the display position of “COLD” or “Hot” for displaying the state of regular sales.

Further, when the customer inserts a coin without visually checking the display contents of the cold / hot display body 10, and selects a product "cooling" or "heating" and presses the push button 8. First, the bend mechanism 13a of the product storage rack 13 does not immediately operate, and first the sound output unit 12
From the speaker 16 through the speaker 16, a voice message “Now cooling down” or “Now heating up” is issued, and then a message such as “If you want to purchase a product, press the button again.” Shed.

Here, if the customer stops purchasing a product and operates the change lever, the inserted coin is returned. On the other hand, when the customer presses the product selection push button 8 again (second time) after knowing that the desired product is being cooled and heated, the bend mechanism 13a of the product storage rack 13 operates in response to this signal. Then, the merchandise 14 is carried out to the merchandise outlet. FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of the cold temperature display operation in the state where the sales are resumed after the product is supplied.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, the temperature of a product stored in a product storage rack is detected by a temperature sensor, and based on the product temperature signal, the cold / hot state of the product after product replenishment is detected. By displaying it on the sub-illuminator's cold and hot display,
Vending machine users can be accurately informed of the cold or hot condition of the product, and unlike the method of managing the time during cooling and heating by time, when the product returns to regular sales, the product with the warm temperature is mistakenly sold. Accidents such as accidents.
Also, in addition to displaying the cold temperature in the sub-lighting section, when the product selection button is pressed, the customer is notified by voice of the message of cooling and heating, so that the customer can It is possible to prevent the purchase of a warm product while heating, and to sell the product to customers who purchase the product while being aware of the condition during cooling and heating without missing a sales opportunity.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a cold temperature display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a cold / hot display body in FIG. 1;
Is an external perspective view, and (b) is an expanded view of the display pattern.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a cold temperature display operation in a sales resume state after replenishment of goods.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the entire vending machine to which the present invention is applied;

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Commodity display room 6 Commodity sample 7 Display stand 8 Commodity selection push button 9 Sub-illumination unit 10 Cold / hot display body 11 Drive motor 12 Control unit 12a Audio output unit 13 Commodity storage rack 14 Commodity 15 Temperature sensor 16 Speaker

Claims (3)

[Claims] Claims 1. A cold / hot display device for selling products, which is provided in a product display room of a vending machine, which is compatible with cold and hot sales modes by juxtaposing a product sample displayed on a display stand and a product selection push button. In a device provided with a sub-illumination unit for displaying a cold temperature, the temperature of a product stored in a product storage rack in the machine is detected by a temperature sensor, and based on a product temperature signal detected by the sensor, the product temperature is transmitted to the product storage rack. From the replenishment of the product until the product temperature reaches the appropriate selling temperature, the sub-illumination unit is provided with a cold / hot display means for displaying "cooling" or "heating". Vending machine cold and hot display device. 2. The cold / hot display device according to claim 1, wherein the cold / hot display means displays, on the peripheral surface, states of "cold", "hot", "cooling", and "heating" by subdivision. Rotating the cold / cold indicator to the display position corresponding to the current cold / hot state based on the rotating cold / hot indicator facing the display window of the illuminator, the sales mode setting signal, and the product temperature signal from the temperature sensor And a controller for controlling the temperature of a vending machine. 3. The cooling temperature display device according to claim 1, wherein the product selection push button is "cooling" until the product temperature of the product stored in the product storage rack reaches a suitable selling temperature, or A cold and hot display device for a vending machine, comprising: voice output means for notifying a user of a message "warming" by voice.