JPS61188688A - Controller for 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]

The present invention relates to a control device for a vending machine (hereinafter referred to as a vending machine) in which products can be purchased with valuable tickets such as beer tickets and with money. Here, the term "valuable coupon" refers to predetermined product information (e.g., specific product name or (unit price), or total amount of exchanged products), such as gift certificates for cigarettes or beer, or face value information (e.g., number of exchanged products) in place of the amount information (e.g., number of exchanged products). and date of issue of the relevant security (day))
A type of security that is printed or recorded with various information such as (including information encoded or patterned optically or magnetically), and the vending machine targeted by the present invention is This allows bonds to be accepted as money equivalent to their monetary value (referred to as the value of securities).

[Prior art and its problems]

In the following description of each figure, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the main part of the control circuit of this type of vending machine in which beer tickets can be used as bonds. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a banknote/valuable note discriminator, which discriminates a banknote when it is inserted and gives a corresponding denomination signal to the CPU 3, and also identifies a beer ticket 1a when it is inserted.
Based on the recorded information, the monetary value (value of the ticket) is calculated as necessary, and information corresponding to the monetary value and information i indicating the type of the ticket are sent to the CPU 3. 2 is a coin sorting mechanism (hereinafter referred to as CoinMech, and coins are also referred to as coins), 3 is a CPU that controls the entire vending machine, and P (P
1 to Pn) are product selection switches (also abbreviated as push buttons, also generally referred to as SW), and L (L1 to L'n) are sales ready indicator lamps (also abbreviated as APi) ÷ , are provided corresponding to each push button P, and display a 4-push iP corresponding to a product that can be sold based on the insertion of money or valuable notes. Note that each APiL also corresponds to each sales column (simply referred to as column, which refers to a product storage shelf provided for each product delivery means). S
i''&1 to S.) is a product exit solenoid serving as the product delivery means, which transports the product selected by the push button P. 4 (41 to 4n) is a sell-out switch provided corresponding to each push button P. 5 detects that the corresponding product is sold out, disables the operation of the corresponding push button P, and lights up a sold out lamp (not shown) provided corresponding to each push button P. 5 indicates each button on the keyboard. This is for setting various data necessary for the operation of the vending machine, such as the selling price of the product for each push button P (or each sales column).6 is Refund & W, which cancels the sales operation and requests a refund of the remaining amount. It is a switch to do this.The above-mentioned remaining amount is the amount obtained by subtracting the total amount of products that have been taken out during a sales operation from the amount of money put in or the amount of a ticket during a sales operation.By the way, a normal ticket is They are issued on the premise that they can be exchanged for specific products such as beer or cigarettes. □ Even in this type of vending machine, when a ticket is inserted, it is limited to only the products that can be sold at that time (referred to as specific products for convenience). However, after that,
When a specific product is sold out, when you accept a ticket, you may not be able to enter i even though there are products other than the specific product (referred to as other products for convenience) that are not sold out, and you will not be able to enter the next product. If the refund SW6 is not pressed, the sales operation will not end (return the ticket), but the customer will not be able to immediately avoid such a situation.
There are times when I am confused, not knowing what to do next and wondering if my IIJi4m has malfunctioned.
Also, even if a specific product is not completely sold out, by inserting a ticket once, the product will be sold out during the continuous sales operation of the specific product that was not sold out, and as a result, the specific product will be completely sold out. In this case, the remaining value of the ticket at this time is enough to purchase another product, and even if the other product is not sold out, the purchase cannot be made, which similarly confuses the customer.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, but does not confuse customers when a specific product that can be sold with a bond is sold out, or when a specific product is sold out in the middle of a series of sales. It is an object of the present invention to provide a control device for a vending machine that allows a customer to easily recognize this situation and, in the latter case, immediately terminates the vending operation.

[Key points of the invention]

The key points of the present invention are that the U111 is equipped with a ticket identification device that determines the authenticity of a ticket, and outputs information on its type and equivalent amount.
In addition to setting in advance the specific products that can be sold with valuable coupons, we also prohibit the sale of specific products. The remaining amount is paid out as change unconditionally, the sales operation is ended, and the customer is immediately made aware that the sale using the ticket is no longer possible. In other words, the gist of the present invention is to provide a bill discriminating means (bill/bill validating machine) that determines the authenticity of a bill on which information equivalent to amount information or cough information is recorded, and reads each of the above information. etc.), currency discrimination means (banknote/valuable note discrimination machine, coin sorting machine, etc.), multiple product selection means (product selection switch, etc.) for selecting products, and currency discrimination means to select the value from the inserted paper currency. Fi is input based on the information read out through the means (CPU, etc.) that calculates the monetary value of the bond (hereinafter referred to as the bond amount), and based on the denomination signal output from the currency discrimination means. A means for calculating an amount (such as a CPU), and a sold-out detection means (such as a sold-out switch) for detecting sold-out of the corresponding product for each of the product selecting means and invalidating the selection operation of the corresponding product selecting means. , a vending machine that sells products corresponding to the value of the voucher or the amount of money inserted, respectively, based on the input of a ticket or money, and also returns the necessary change, where the product corresponds to each of the product selection means described above. , products that can be sold with valuable tickets (hereinafter referred to as specified products)
A specific product storage means (RAM, etc.) that sets and stores in advance (via a keyboard, etc.) for each product selection means, and when inserting a ticket, it is based on the memory of the specific product storage means. , a product selection limiting means (such as a CPU) that invalidates the selection operation of the product selection means corresponding to products other than the specific product; and based on the sold-out detection of the sold-out detection means and the storage of the specific product storage means. , specific product all-sold-out determination means (CPU
etc.), and in many cases where the specific product sold-out determining means does not determine whether the specific product is completely sold out, a ticket acceptance permission means ( C.P.
(U, etc.); and specific product sales means (CPU, etc.) that causes the specific product to be sold based on the determination by the paper currency discriminating device as to whether a valid ticket has been inserted, or Further, the specific product sales means causes the corresponding specific product to be carried out based on the selection operation of the product selection unit whose operation is effective, and each time the specific product is carried out, the value ticket of the value ticket related to the product carryout is carried out. A means for calculating the amount obtained by subtracting from the amount the cumulative sales price of all specific products carried out after the insertion of the said voucher and before the said product is carried out (hereinafter referred to as the "remaining amount"); and a method for carrying out the said specific product. means for checking whether or not the specific product is completely sold out at each time, and when it is determined that the specific product is completely sold out, causing the change corresponding to the remaining amount to be returned; The point is that it is equipped with the following.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 1, which is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a control device as an embodiment of the present invention. Describing the procedure in FIG. 1, in step 101, before entering the sales standby state, products (specific products) that can be sold with a ticket are stored in a RAM (not shown) by column (therefore, by push button P) via the keyboard 5.
Enter the settings. Next, in step 102, it is determined whether or not money has been inserted, and if it is determined that money has been inserted (branch Y), the process branches to a sales operation routine using money (not shown). If there is no money input (branch N), in step 103, whether or not each specific product is sold out is read via the sell-out SW4, and in step 104, it is determined whether all of the specific products are sold out. , all sold out (branch Y)
If so, the process returns to step 102 and other products are sold using only money. If it is determined in this step 104 that all of the specific products are not sold out (branch N), the process proceeds to step 105, where it is determined whether or not there is enough change left to sell with a valid ticket. do. If it is determined that there is change fever (branch N), return to step 102 and step 10
If it is determined in step 5 that there is change (branch Y), proceed to step 10.
Proceeding to step 6, it is possible to accept valuable tickets, and it is determined whether or not they have been inserted. Although not shown, before proceeding to step 106, a step is provided to determine whether or not the nighttime sale of alcoholic beverages is being suspended, using a timer output (not shown), and when the nighttime sale is being suspended, the process returns to step 102. In some cases, the process may proceed to step 106 when the night sales are not suspended without accepting the valid tickets. Now, if it is determined in step 106 that no securities have been inserted (branch N), the process returns to step 102, but if the paper has been inserted (branch Y), the process proceeds to step 107.
APiL corresponding to a specific product that is not sold out is lit, and in step 108 it is determined whether the push button P is turned on or not. If not (branch N), it is determined in step 113 whether refund SW6 is ON or not, and if not (branch N), step 108
Return to step 1 to determine whether push 10P is ON again.
If yes in step 13 (branch Y), the ticket is returned via the money/valuable bill validator 1 (if the product has not yet been taken out), or the bill is returned via the money/valuable bill validator 1 or the coin mech 2 in step 114. Then, change corresponding to the remaining amount is returned, and the process returns to the first step 102. When it is determined in step 10B that the push button P is ON, the process proceeds to step 109, where the selected product is carried out and a new remaining amount is calculated accordingly. Next, in step 110, the sold out data of each specific product is read in the same way as step 103, and in step 111, it is determined whether all of the specific products are sold out, and if not all are sold out (branch N). returns to step 107 and allows continuous sales by selecting the product again (turning on push button P).
If all the items are sold out (branch Y), the process advances to step 112 and, as in step 114, change corresponding to the remaining amount is returned. In this way, the customer can immediately recognize that sales using the ticket are no longer possible. After this, the customer can purchase other products in the money sales routine by re-inserting the remaining money into the vending machine.

【Effect of the invention】

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, it is determined whether a product (specific product) that can be sold with a ticket is sold out, and if all the specific products are sold out, the ticket is not accepted.
In addition, once the bond is accepted and the sales operation begins, it will be determined whether or not a specific product is sold out each time the product is delivered, and if all the specific products are sold out, the remaining amount will be returned unconditionally. This has the effect that customers can immediately recognize that it is no longer possible to continue sales using valuable tickets.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a m-control device as an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a general configuration example of main parts of a control device of the present invention and a conventional control device. 1: Banknote/bill validator, 2: Coin sorting mechanism (coin knock), 3: CPU, P (P1 to Pn): Product selection switch (push button), 4 (41 to 4n): Sold out switch, 58 keyboard, 6: refund switch, L (L1
~Ln): Available lamp (APL), S (S 1
=Sn): Product delivery 7L/noid.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) Selection of a bill discriminating means, a money discriminating means, and a product for determining the authenticity of a bill on which monetary information or information equivalent to the information is recorded, and reading each of the above information. A method of calculating the value of the value of the value (hereinafter referred to as the value of the value (hereinafter referred to as the value of the value) based on the above information from the multiple product selection methods for the product and the issued ticket, based on the above information. , means for calculating the input amount based on the denomination signal output from the currency discrimination means, detecting sold-out of the corresponding product for each of the product selection means, and invalidating the selection operation of the product selection means. In the vending machine, the vending machine is equipped with a sold-out detection means, and sells products corresponding to the value of the ticket or the amount of money inserted, respectively, based on the insertion of a ticket or money, and returns the necessary change, each of the above-mentioned product selection means. a specific product storage means for setting and storing in advance for each product selection means whether or not the product corresponding to the item is a product that can be sold with a value ticket (hereinafter referred to as a specific product); product selection limiting means for invalidating the selection operation of the product selection means corresponding to products other than the specific product based on the specific product storage means; Based on the memory of
a specific product all-sold-out determination means for determining that all of the sold-out detection means corresponding to the specific product have detected a sell-out (hereinafter referred to as "specific product all-sold-out"); and the specific product all-sold-out determination means A ticket acceptance permission means that enables the input of a valid ticket into the ticket discrimination means under the condition that it is not determined whether the specific product is completely sold out; 1. A control device for a vending machine that can use a ticket, characterized in that it comprises a specific product selling means that causes the specific product to be sold based on the determination. 2) In the control device according to claim 1,
The specific product selling means causes the corresponding specific product to be carried out based on the selection operation of the product selection unit whose operation is effective, and each time the specific product sales unit carries out the carrying out, the value of the ticket related to the carrying out of the product is changed. , a means for calculating the amount obtained by subtracting the cumulative sales price of all the specific products carried out after the insertion of the said value ticket and the time when the said product is carried out (hereinafter referred to as the "remaining amount"); means for checking whether or not the specific product is completely sold out at each time, and when it is determined that the specific product is completely sold out, causing the change corresponding to the remaining amount to be returned; A control device for a vending machine that can use valuable tickets.