JPS58114293A - Sales managing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a sales management device that allows sales management of a vending machine to be performed using an electronic cash register.

In conventional vending machine sales management, an attendant checks the vending machine at an appropriate time, replenishes products and collects money, and also matches the sales amount with the collected amount.

According to such a sales management method, as the number of vending machines increases, more manpower and time are required for management. Additionally, if a vending machine breaks down or is sold out, it is not known until the staff goes around and checks the vending machines, and until then sales cannot be made, causing inconvenience to customers and causing sales managers to lose profits. . Furthermore, even if the total amount of sales and the amount collected were different, there was a fear that it would be unclear which vending machine caused the error.

The present invention has been made in order to eliminate such shortcomings in sales management, and is a sales management device that can collect information on sales, sold outs, breakdowns, etc. from vending machines in real time and perform sales management. The purpose is to provide

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The configuration of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of the sales management device of the present invention. In this figure, a sales management device 1, which is also used as an electronic cash register (hereinafter referred to as ECR), is installed in one store. The sales management device 1 is for registering sales of products within the store, and sales information is given to the control unit 8 via the keyboard 2. The control unit 8 registers the input data according to a predetermined arithmetic processing procedure, displays the result on the display 4, and outputs the result to the printer 6.
Print by. Now, in the present invention, n vending machines V, , V installed at arbitrary locations inside and outside the store
, , ... Vn are connected to the control section 8 via the interface section 6 of the sales management device 1, and the vending machines v, l
Various information of V2r...Vn is sent to the sales management device 1. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the detailed configuration of the sales management device.

In this figure, the interface unit 6 includes interfaces II + It for converting the outputs of the vending machines v1 to Vn into the signal level of the sales management device.
In is provided. The output of each interface 11 to In is given to a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) 8 of a control circuit 8 via an input/output gate 7.

A program memory 9 for storing arithmetic processing procedures and a data memory 10 for temporarily storing various data are connected to the CPU 8 as storage means. A time signal from a clock 11 inside the control circuit 8 is applied to the CPU 8 via an input gate 12, and input data from the keyboard 2 is applied to the CPU 8 via an input gate 18. Further, the output signal of the CPU 8 is given to the display 4 and printer 5 via output signals 14 and 15, respectively. Next, Figure 8 explains the interface in more detail, and shows the vending machine Vt
Interface connected to 1. and its peripheral circuits.

If vending machine v1 is now selling m+1 types of products, vending machine ■1 will output sales information and sold-out information for each m+1 type of product to output terminal 01 of vending machine V, respectively.
0~O1m, O1o~0□m from interface 1. Also, out-of-change information and malfunction information of the vending machine v1 are transmitted to the interface 11 from the output terminals Os and 04, respectively. Sales information for vending machines■ is photo-powered. Amplifier A via Tsubushi PC1o-PC1m
o=Am, and the output of the amplifiers AO~Am is further given as R
It is given to type 5 flip-flops FFo to FFm.

Sales information for flip-flops FFo to FFm is stored in the control unit 8.
The signal is temporarily held until the signal is transmitted to the CPU 8 through the input/output gate 7, and the output thereof is applied to the CPU 8 and the OR circuit 16. The OR circuit 16 connects all interfaces 1 as shown in FIG.
It takes the logical sum output of the output of the sales information of l-In, and gives the output to the CPU 8 as an interrupt signal.

As a result, registration processing is performed when each vending machine Vl-Vn sells.

In addition, the vending machine ■1's product sales will be hindered. Trouble information in this case, that is, sold-out information, out-of-change information, and failure information are photo couplers P21-P2m, P3, respectively.
P4', and their outputs are provided to the CPU 8 via input/output gates 7, respectively. Next, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of the sales management device 1, and FIG. 6 shows the front panel surface thereof. In these figures, the sales management device 1 is operated through a keyboard 2 consisting of a numeric keypad 2a, a department key 2b, and a function key 2C on the panel. E
During operation as a CR, when each vending machine runs out of change or breaks down, the data is displayed on the display 4, and registration information, calculation results, etc. are printed out from the printer 5. Further, FIG. 6 shows an example of the storage area of the data memory 10 in the control section 8, and DPI indicates the storage area of the product department 1. In Gojin, the products handled by each vending machine V1=Vn are determined to be included in one of the product categories, and it is assumed that the product category 1 includes products 0 to m handled by the vending machine v1. In this case, product department 1 includes a preset unit price area that stores the unit prices of product categories o-m, a total sales volume area that stores the sales volume and quantity of vending machine v1 and the store, and a total amount that stores the total sales amount. Area, vending machine sales quantity that stores the sales quantity of only vending machine v1 Area, vending machine total amount that stores the total sales amount of only vending machine V, a sellout that is set when the product of vending machine V is sold out. , a flag is provided for each product category. Further, the storage area of the product department I is provided with an area for an out-of-balance flag and a failure flag for the vending machine V. In addition to the storage areas DPI to DPn for this product department, a numeric flag FKNN that is set when there is an input from the numeric keypad 2a A department registration flag FSDPTN that is set when a department is registered A numeric counter NCOUNT that counts the digits The data memory 10 is provided with a number buffer NBUF 1 for temporarily storing the s number and a sales total area for storing the total sales amount.

Next, the operation of the sales management device of this embodiment will be explained with reference to a flowchart. Numbers indicated using leader lines in the flowchart indicate operation steps of the CPU 8. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of registering in-store product sales as ECR. In this figure, the presence or absence of key personnel is checked in step 20, and when registering a product, first the product classification (
1 digit) from the numeric keypad 2a. If a key is pressed, the type is determined, and if it is a numeric key, the process advances to step 22 via step 21, and the input data is stored in the numeric numeric buffer NBUP. And the number flag F
Set KN (step 28), set number counter NC0UN
Increment T step 24), step 20
Return to After inputting the product classification in this way, the department key 2b is pressed. Then step 25 via step 2
At step 6, the state of the placeholder flag FKN is checked, and further at step 27, the state of the placeholder counter NC0UNT is checked. If the numeric flag FKN is not set or if the numeric counter NC0UNT is not 1, processing is performed in step 28, but in this case, enter the 1-digit product classification into the light from the numeric keypad 2a. Since there is, proceed to step 29 and set the department registration flag FSD.
PT will be set up.

Next, in step 80, the total sales quantity of the product category specified in the pressed product category is updated, and furthermore, the total amount is updated based on the preset product unit price. Then, in step 81, the set number flag FKN,
Number counter NC0UNT and number buffer NBUF
is cleared, and then the display unit 4 displays the parts unit price, quantity,
The sales amount is displayed (step 82) and printed by the printer 6 (step 83). After registering all the products sold to customers in each product category,
Press the cash/deposit key of the function key 2c. Then, the state of the department registration flag psopt is checked in step 85 via step 84, and if this flag is not set, error processing is performed. In this case, since the product department has been registered and the department registration flag FSDFr is set, the process proceeds to step 86, where the total sales amount is calculated and stored in the total sales amount area. The results are then displayed on the display 4 (step 87) and printed on the printer 5.
is printed (step 88). Then, the department registration flag FSDPTs numeric flag \FKN s numeric counter NC0UNT s numeric buffer NBUF are cleared (step 89), and the registration process ends.

Next, when a certain product is sold by some vending machine, for example vl, the output terminal O of the vending machine V,
A sales signal from IK (0<k<, m) is transmitted to the photocoupler P, k of the interface 11, and its output sets a flip-flop FFk via an amplifier Ak. Then, the output of the flip-flop FFk is given as an interrupt signal to the CPU 8 through the OR circuit 16, and the CPU 8 automatically performs registration processing for product sales of the vending machine. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing this interrupt processing. If there is an interrupt, first, in step 41, sales data of the vending machine v1 is read from the input/output gate 7, and when the reading is completed, the interface II is transferred to the step string. Each flip-flop FFo~F
Reset Fm so that the next sales data input can be retained. Then, in the judgment steps starting from step 48, it is checked which product classification the product was sold. If the product of product classification 0 is sold, the process jumps to step 44 and the data in each area of the data memory 10 is updated. That is, in the storage area of the data memory 10 shown in FIG. 6, 1 is added to the total sales volume area, the total amount area is updated based on the data in the preset single area, and the sales volume of only the vending machine is updated. Add 1 to the vending machine sales quantity area to be stored and update the vending machine total amount area. When a product of any product category is sold, the data of each area of the product category is updated in the same way, so that the product department If,
The sales of products ~m are registered, and the processing routine Rt (steps 41 to 46) regarding the vending machine V is completed. Next, vending machine V! is processed using a similar processing routine. It is checked whether or not a product is on sale, and if there is a sale, the data in each area of the product category is updated (processing routine Rz). Processing routines R1 to Vn for all vending machines v1 to Vn connected to the sales management device 1 in this way
With Rn, the sales check is completed and the interrupt processing is terminated.

Next, the operation when performing an inspection operation will be explained with reference to FIG. In this case, first press the check key among the function keys 2c of the keyboard 2. Then, from step 20 in FIG. 7 to step 51 in FIG.
The department registration flag FSDP is set in step 52 via
The status of T is checked, and since the status of the numeric flag FKN is being recorded in step 68, error processing is performed (step 28). If it is not set, the sales information needle data memo IJ 10 of each vending machine is Various data stored in the data memory 1o (step 64) are displayed on the display 4 and printed by the printer 6 (steps 55, 56). In other words, for vending machines in each product category, the total amount of sales per product category,
Displays data such as sold out items, out of change, and malfunctions. In addition to records of sales by vending machines, records of sales in the store may be output at the same time.

When the CPU 8 is not performing the registration process shown in FIG. 7, the interrupt process shown in FIG. 8, and the inspection process shown in FIG. 9, the vending machines V and -Vn are monitored. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing this operation. First, in step 61, the output terminals Ozo to 0 of the vending machine V are
2m, Oa, 04 to Interface I.

A sold-out signal, an out-of-change signal, and a failure signal for products of product classifications 0 to m given to the terminal are read through the turnout gate 7. Then, in step 62, the data is compared with the data read last time, and if the data is not the same, it is sequentially checked in step 68 and subsequent steps to see if there was a sold-out signal for the product with product classification o"m, and further whether there was a failure signal or out-of-change signal. (steps 64 and 66)
). After determining which signal it is, the sold-out flag of the corresponding product category of product category 1 in the data memory 10 is determined.

Set the out-of-change flag or failure flag (step 6)
6). Next, a message to that effect is displayed on the display 4 (step 67) and printed on the printer 6 (step 68), and the processing routine L for the vending machine v1 is completed. If the data is the same as the previously read data in step 62, processing routine L is immediately terminated. Next is the vending machine v
2, a similar process routine L2 is used to check whether the product is sold out, etc., and a process routine Ln is similarly used to check up to the vending machine Vn. In this way, the CPU 8 always performs the monitoring operation of the vending machines V] to Vn shown in FIG. 10 unless there is other processing. If a product is sold out or malfunctions, an alarm such as a buzzer may be emitted in addition to displaying and printing the product. Furthermore, when each product is sold out, change is out, or a malfunction occurs, a flag may be set and the time at which the signal was given from the clock 11 may be stored instead of the name.

As explained in detail above, the present invention registers and processes registration information at the time of vending product sales using x-b 3i1i human power means, and registers data including one-sale information of products and trouble information of vending machines. , and control means for causing an output means to output a message to that effect when there is a problem in the vending machine's product sales. Therefore, information on product sales in a vending machine is input to the sales management device and processed as sales data in the same way as product sales in a store. Therefore, sales management of vending machines scattered at various locations can be centrally performed using the sales management device. Furthermore, even if the vending machine is sold out of products, out of change, or malfunctions, the sales management device immediately outputs information to that effect, so that necessary measures can be taken immediately. Therefore, as long as appropriate countermeasures are taken, there is no risk that vending machines will be left unusable for long periods of time, and there will be no inconvenience to customers and no loss of profit for the installer. Furthermore, the centralized sales management makes it possible to check the collection of payments more reliably, and the management effort can be significantly reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an overview of the sales management device of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a blower diagram showing its configuration, Fig. 8 is a circuit diagram showing a specific example of the interface and its surroundings, and Fig. 4 is FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the sales management device, FIG. 6 is a front view showing its keyboard, FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing the stored contents of the data memory, FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation at the time of product registration,
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an interrupt operation when selling a product in a vending machine, FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an inspection operation,
FIG. 10 is a flowchart for monitoring a vending machine. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Sales management device, 8...Control unit, 4...Display unit, 6...Printer, 6...Interface unit,
7...input/output gate, 1. ~In...Interface, ■1~Vn...Vending machine, 8...CPU,
9...Program memory, 10...Data memory Patent applicant Tateishi Electric Co., Ltd. Agent Patent attorney Yoshiki Okamoto (and one other person) Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 6 Figure 10 Figure 10

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A collection means that is connected to a vending machine and collects sales information of the product and trouble information that occurs when the sale is disrupted, an input means that inputs sales information when selling the product, and the collection means and input storage means including an area for storing product sales information given by the means and vending machine trouble information given by the collection means; output means; and output means given by the collection means and the input means according to a predetermined arithmetic processing procedure. A sales management device characterized by comprising a control means for registering product sales information and for causing the output means to output a message to that effect when there is a problem with product sales in a vending machine. (The sales management device according to claim 1, wherein the trouble information of the phantom vending machine is information on sold-out products, information on out-of-change, and information on failure.