JPS61145699A - Vending machine permissible to securities - 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] [Technical field to which the invention pertains] This invention accepts only paper or paper and coins, distinguishes their authenticity, and pays out products commensurate with the input amount and necessary change. It is a further development of a vending machine that can dispense products (hereinafter referred to as a vending machine), and its main purpose is to enable the dispensing of products and necessary change using other forms of paper than cash.

Here, a valid ticket is like a gift certificate for cigarettes or beer.
It is a type of security that is recorded with at least predetermined product information and amount information or face value information, and the recording of the product information means that it is recorded optically or magnetically in addition to the characters of the product name. Including encoded or patterned information. The amount information includes number information, unit price information, or total amount information displayed on the face of the ticket or encoded or patterned optically or magnetically. In addition, the face value information similarly includes number information and the issue date (8) of the ticket or validity information equivalent thereto.

The apparent value of the face value, which is expressed only by the number of pieces without including the unit price, is due to the price increase (decrease) of the product for which the ticket is issued, at the time of issue of the ticket and at the time of exchange for the product. This is because it changes with

[Prior art and its problems]

In the following description of each figure, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Figures 2 and 3 are Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1983-1993, respectively, by the present applicant.
8-51396 "Vending Machine" shows a front view of an example of this type of beer vending machine and a plan view of a beer ticket as an example of a valuable ticket.

In Fig. 2, l is the main body of the vending machine, and the door is equipped with a display section 2, on which samples such as canned beer 21-24° and large bottle beer 25.26 are displayed, and below each sample is the corresponding product. Selection buttons P (Pi to Pn) are provided. This product selection button P has an indicator lamp (saleable Also called indicator lamp)L
(1,1~Ln) is built-in. If the product is out of stock,
This indicator lamp L does not light up, or displays the message "full". 4 is an out-of-change display lamp, 5 is a coin slot, and 6 is a return lever for returning the inserted coins. 7 is a digital display section that displays information such as the amount of money put in and the amount of change paid out.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a paper/value note insertion slot (insertion of paper or value notes is also referred to as insertion in a broad sense). When the return lever 6 is operated after inserting coins or bills, coins are returned from the return slot 9, and paper and bills are returned from the paper/bill insertion slot 8. Change is also returned from the return port 9. However, hereafter, when referring to all of the money that is used as fishing, it is referred to as change.

Reference numerals 10 and 11 denote product take-out ports, which are structured so that products can be easily taken out depending on the product storage and delivery format of the vending machine main body 1. In this example, the product outlet 10 is exclusively for products corresponding to product samples 21 to 24 on the display section 2, and the product outlet 11 is also exclusively for products corresponding to product samples 25 to 26. D is a display window equipped with an indicator lamp to indicate whether the paper is defective or whether the ticket can be used.

The coins inserted through the coin input slot 5 are judged to be genuine or false by a known coin sorting mechanism 32, and counterfeit coins are guided to the return slot 9, while genuine coins are guided to a change cylinder according to denomination. The paper money/value note inserted through the paper money/value bill insertion slot 8 is verified for authenticity by a paper damage/value ticket discrimination machine 31 installed inside the paper money/value ticket insertion slot 8, and the counterfeit bill or counterfeit note is returned to the insertion slot and becomes a genuine bill. Alternatively, genuine notes may be temporarily held in case of cancellation or other events.

FIG. 3 shows a beer ticket 12 as an example of a valuable ticket. Conventional beer tickets include (a) product name (e.g. large beer bottle), (b) number of redeemable bottles (e.g. 2 bottles), (c) manufacturer's salt (some are common), and issue date (
El (e) Issuance tax verification stamp (c) Information such as the vendor of the ticket is printed on the front and back sides.

The printing position of this information varies depending on the manufacturer, so in Figure 3, the vending machine has placed the ticket 1 so that it can be easily accepted.
A beer ticket is shown in which a magnetic information recording band 12a is provided on a part of the beer ticket 2. Unlike paper tickets, the printing format of beer tickets can be easily changed, so by standardizing only the format and position of the magnetic information, it is possible to create a unique gift card surface for each manufacturer. .

Therefore, on the magnetic information recording band, the product information corresponding to the product name (U), as well as the face value information related to the number of exchanged units and the date of issue are recorded. Information and code information for forgery identification are also added.

The paper/valuable bill discriminating machine 31 is for discriminating the authenticity and denomination of ordinary circulating paper, and a known device equipped with an optical sensor and a magnetic sensor is used. Isobetsu machine 31
If the machine determines that the large piece of paper is defective, it sends a signal corresponding to the denomination (for example, 1,000 yen) to a vending machine control section (not shown). When the discriminator 31 discriminates the inserted piece as a beer ticket, it sends a signal related to the product name, the number of exchanged tickets, the date of issue, and other necessary information to the vending machine control section.

In this way, this vending machine operates like a normal vending machine when a coin is inserted, and on the other hand, when a ticket is inserted, it is determined whether or not there is a product specified by the face value in the vending machine. The vending machine control section determines whether there is a ticket, and accepts the ticket only when it is determined that there is a ticket.

Furthermore, if there is a price increase for the product after the ticket is issued, a message indicating that additional money should be made will be displayed, and once the additional money has been deposited, the sellable display lamp L will correspond to the product selection button P for the product in question. and lights up, validating the selection operation of selection button P.
As a result, the selected product is carried out.

In addition, if the price of the product is reduced after the ticket is issued, or if there is no change in the price of the product, the above-mentioned additional payment will not be required. This is for dispensing change, etc.

However, since vending machines of this type only exchange products of the type and number specified by the face value of the inserted ticket, it is necessary to provide various means for detecting the number of remaining products depending on the type of ticket. This makes vending machines mechanically complex, and there are many occasions when the number of products remaining is less than the face value.
In this case, you will have to purchase any number of tickets that you can purchase at that time, and as a result, there will be fewer opportunities to use the coupons for vending machines, which will limit product sales from vending machines. There is a problem.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a vending machine that can eliminate the above-mentioned problems and eliminate restrictions on the use of valuable tickets as much as possible.

[Key points of the invention]

The key point of the present invention is to determine the authenticity of a ticket (beer ticket, etc.) on which face value information such as amount information or date of issue of 9 units exchanged is recorded, and to read each of the above information. In vending machines (beer vending machines, etc.) that are equipped with a means of discrimination (paper discrimination machine, paper currency discrimination machine, etc.) and, if necessary, a currency discrimination means (coin discrimination mechanism 1 paper discrimination machine, paper currency discrimination machine, etc.), Calculate and obtain the money@value (hereinafter referred to as the negotiable note amount) as necessary based on the information read out from the negotiable note inserted through the negotiable note discrimination means,
Ticket sales control means (
In addition, the ticket sales control means includes means (such as a change amount designation switch) for setting the maximum amount of change to be returned at one time (hereinafter referred to as the designated change amount). , at least when securities are inserted, calculate the cumulative set price of all products selected and delivered under the said input from the sum of the amount of currency input including additional inputs and the amount of said securities. The present invention is provided with means (such as a CPU) for prohibiting the return of change and for continuing the product sales operation until the remaining amount as the deducted amount becomes equal to or less than the designated change amount.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be described in detail below based on FIG. 1 (5), @.・FIG. 1(E) is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the main part as an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1(B) is a flowchart explaining the operation of FIG. 1(5).

In FIG. 1, beer tickets 120 as valuable tickets in the present invention include not only the beer ticket 1.2 described in the conventional example, but also the following new beer ticket 121. In other words, this new beer ticket 121 is a ticket that can be freely exchanged for various beer products and their numbers, without limiting the products to be exchanged to specific beer products and their numbers. The ticket 121 and the magnetic information recording band 121a6ζ attached to the ticket mainly contain the face value information (
The number of exchanged bottles9 issue date, etc.) is replaced with amount information (for convenience, information expressed by the number of exchanged bottles and its unit price, or information indicating the total amount of each volatile beer product that can be exchanged, etc.) Printed and recorded. In addition, in the same figure, the magnetic information recording band 12a of each beer ticket 12.121,
The recording band 121a is shown as 120a.

In addition, the paper denomination/valuable note discriminating machine 311, like the conventional discriminating machine 31, inputs the above-mentioned denomination information when inserting a paper denomination into the conventional beer ticket 1.
When inserting item 2, the above product information.

Face value information and other necessary information, new beer ticket 12
When inserting item 1, the above product information and amount information.

Other necessary information is sent to the CPU 30 as a signal 311a.
give to

Here, the CPU 30 corresponds to the vending machine control section described above, and controls the entire vending machine.

33 is a change amount designation switch (hereinafter also referred to as SW) provided in the vending machine, and is a switch for setting the maximum amount of change to be dispensed at one time (referred to as the designated change amount).

Reference numeral 5 (81 to Sn) denotes a product carrying/unloading solenoid, which is provided corresponding to each of the product selection buttons P (P1 to Pn) and carries out the corresponding product based on the selection. 34 is a keyboard inside the vending machine, and variable setting values necessary for the operation of the vending machine, such as the set price (also referred to as selling price) of the product corresponding to each selection button P1 to Pn, are input to the RA (not shown) belonging to the CPU 30.
This is for setting M. Reference numeral 6a is a refund SW that is opened and closed by the return lever 6, and is used to release the input amount or remaining amount (
This is a switch that instructs the CPU 30 to return change.

Next, the operation of FIG. 4 will be explained based on FIG. 1(C).

In step S1, the CPU 30 outputs a signal 32a output from the coin sorting mechanism 32 and the paper waste/valuable bill validator 311.
and 311a to determine whether or not coins or paper have been inserted. If it is determined that there is an input, the process proceeds to step 81A via branch Y and calculates the amount of input, and if it is determined that there is no input, the process directly proceeds to step S2.

In step S2, the output signal 311a of the paper/valuable ticket validating machine 311 is checked again, and first, whether or not a beer ticket 120 that can be accepted by the vending machine is inserted (for example, whether the ticket is true, false, manufacturer name, etc.) is checked. Determine. If it is determined that the ticket is not acceptable as a result of this determination, the ticket is returned and branched to N.
The process moves to step S3, but if it is determined that it is acceptable, the process moves to step 82A via branch Y.

In step S2A, the discriminator 311
When a beer ticket 12 is inserted based on the signal 311a input from Issuance - If the price of the product to be exchanged for that ticket is increased, then (sales price of the product before the price increase) x (. Also, if beer ticket 121 is inserted, the unit price of the product to be exchanged is calculated from the amount information. ) x (number of tickets exchanged) or total amount, etc., is calculated.

Furthermore, since beer tickets are generally expensive, we take into account the amount of products in the vending machine (also called contents) and the amount of change, and in order to prevent them from becoming unsold, an excessive number of beer tickets will be sold for a short period of time. In step S2A, in order to prevent the
If necessary, for example, one sales operation (disbursement of one or more products corresponding to the value equivalent to the total input amount, including the initial input of coins or securities and subsequent inputs, and the necessary change are completed at the beginning) operations such as calculating the cumulative total of the number of beer tickets or the value of the tickets to be inserted during the series of operations up to the point in time), and prohibiting acceptance of more than a predetermined cumulative number or value in step S2. can also be done.

In step S3, the sum of the input amount and the value of the voucher calculated in steps 81A and S2A is used.

Then check whether there is a product that can be sold by pressing each product selection button P (Pi
~Pn), based on data such as the set price and whether or not the product is sold out, the sellable lamp L (Ll~L
The corresponding one of n) is lit, and the customer is informed that the product selection button P corresponding to the lit lamp L can be selected.

However, in this step S3, the vending machine does not sell alcohol (
If the product sells soft drinks (beer, rice cake, etc.) and soft drinks, the products that can be redeemed with beer tickets are currently limited to beer products, so it is necessary to limit the sales products in this way or to sell products that are not shown. In conjunction with the software timer, it also determines the products that can be sold by restricting sales parts to specific time periods, such as prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages during a predetermined time at night.

In addition, in this step S3, in order to make it easier to limit the amount of change, when a beer ticket is inserted, selectable products are changed as needed so that low-priced products are not exchanged. It is also possible to perform price-limiting operations for sale items, such as limiting the price to items whose set price is greater than a predetermined amount.

The information necessary for calculating the above-mentioned ticket amount is stored in a ROM (not shown) belonging to the CPU 30 for fixed information.
The variable setting information is set and stored in the same RAM (not shown) belonging to the CPU 30 via the keyboard 34 or the like.

Next, when a selection operation of the product selection button P is detected in step S5, the process moves to step S6 via branch Y, and the product selected in step S5 is set based on the input amount or the input amount equivalent value calculated in step S3. Calculate the remaining amount after subtracting the amount.

However, in the case of continuous sales, it is necessary to consider the additional input amount (including the equivalent value) as the input amount (including the equivalent value), and in this case, multiple products will be selected in one sales operation. The remaining amount is generally expressed by the following formula (1).

(Remaining amount) = (sum of the amount of currency input including additional input and the amount of securities up to that point during one sales operation) - (set price of all products selected and taken out up to that point during one sales operation) (1) In the next step S7, the product corresponding to the selection button P selected in step S5 is driven by the corresponding product delivery solenoid S. and carry it out.

In the next step S7A, it is determined whether the remaining amount represented by the formula (13) is less than or equal to the lowest price (referred to as the minimum set price) among the set prices for each selection button P set on the keyboard 34. If it is determined that the product is accepted (branch Y), it is no longer possible to purchase (or exchange) the product, so the process moves to step S11, where the change is automatically paid out to complete one sales operation, and the process returns to step S1. Go into standby.

On the other hand, if the determination in step 87A is negative (branch N), the designated change amount set in change amount designation 5W33 is read in the next step S8. In the next step S9, it is determined whether the remaining amount is less than or equal to the designated change amount. As a result of this determination, if it is determined that the remaining amount is less than or equal to the designated change amount, the process proceeds from branch Y to step 810, and it is checked whether or not there is an operation input for refund 8W6a. That is, in this case, the operation of the return lever 6 is valid. When it is determined in step 810 that the refund 5W6a is ON, the process moves from branch Y to step S11, the remaining amount is returned as change, and one sales operation is completed, but the refund 5W
If 6a is not turned on, the process returns to step S1 via branch N to continue the sales operation.

If it is determined in step S9 that the remaining amount exceeds the designated change amount, the process returns to step S1 via branch N to continue the sales operation. That is, in this step S1, it is determined whether or not there is an additional charge of coins, and in the next step S2, it is determined whether or not beer tickets are additionally inserted, and in the next step S3, a sales propriety calculation is performed. However, if one sales operation is not completed and continues as described above, in step S3, instead of the initial input amount (or its equivalent value), the remaining amount of equation 11 is used as the set price for each product selection button P. Compare with.

The subsequent operations are the same as described above, and steps S9→S1 are performed until the remaining amount becomes less than the specified change due to the product selection Φ.
~ Repeating the operation of S9 and not completing the sales operation, in other words, operating the return lever 6 (therefore turning on the refund 5W6a)
is invalidated, and only when the remaining amount is less than the specified change amount, will the refund be made in steps S9 → S10 → 811, and 5W6a will be turned ON.
By making this valid, change is paid out and one sales operation can be completed.

The reason why sales are continued until the remaining amount is below the designated change amount is because the value of beer tickets is generally high, so if only relatively inexpensive products are purchased using beer tickets, the change is If the amount is too large, there will be a method of sorting out the amount
The amount of change stored in the ticket validator 311 and the coin sorting mechanism 32) decreases rapidly, and it is easy to run out of change.As a result, even though there are products in the vending machine, they cannot be sold.
This is because sales opportunities are often missed.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, by treating and accepting securities in the same way as currency equivalent to their monetary value, restrictions on the selection of exchange products are greatly relaxed, When selling with valuable tickets, the vending machine owner is configured to limit the amount of change that can be dispensed in advance, increasing the number of opportunities to use valuable tickets and preventing the reserve of change from decreasing rapidly. This makes it possible to provide a vending machine with more sales opportunities, as it is less likely to cause problems such as "you can't sell the product even though it has the product".

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

! 1. Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the main circuit configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1) is a flowchart explaining the operation of Figure 4. Figure 2. 1 A vending machine that can use beer tickets. FIG. 3 is a front view of an example of a conventional beer ticket as an example of a valuable ticket. 120 (12,121)...Beer ticket, 30...C
PU1311...Paper/bill validator, 32...Coin sorting mechanism, 33...Change amount designation switch, 34...
・Keyboard, 6... Return lever, 6a... Refund switch, P (Pi ~ Pn) - Product selection button, L (Ll
~Ln)...Sellable display lamp, 5 (s1~8n
)...Product unloading solenoid.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A means for discriminating securities that determines the authenticity of securities in which face value information such as amount information, number of products exchanged, date of issue, etc. is recorded, and reads each of the above information; In a vending machine equipped with currency discrimination means as necessary, the monetary value (hereinafter referred to as the value of the currency) is determined as necessary based on the information read out from at least the inserted paper currency via the paper currency discrimination means. A value ticket characterized by comprising a value ticket sales control means that calculates and calculates the amount of money (referred to as the amount of money) and selectively carries out and pays out products and necessary change corresponding to the amount of the inserted value of the value ticket, respectively. Vending machines available. 2) In the vending machine according to claim 1, the ticket sales control means includes means for setting a maximum amount of change to be returned at one time (hereinafter referred to as designated change amount), and at least When a value note is inserted, the sum of the amount of money input including additional money input and the value of the note mentioned above minus the cumulative set price of all the products selected and carried out under the said injection. A vending machine that can use valuable coupons, characterized in that the vending machine is characterized in that it is equipped with a means for prohibiting the return of change and for continuing the sale of products until the remaining amount of the change is equal to or less than the designated change amount.