JPS6120195A - Pos system - 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 of the Invention] The present invention relates to a method for shutting off power when a file control unit becomes inoperable during execution of various tasks such as sales registration and settlement operations. The present invention relates to a POS system that sends status control data stored in a storage unit to an external recording device in response to a charging operation.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems] When it is necessary to install a large number of electronic cash registers, such as in department stores and supermarkets, it is common to connect each electronic cash register to one file control unit via a transmission path. A POS (point of sale) system has been adopted. In such a system, sales data such as product codes such as JAN and PLU, department code, sales amount, and number of sales items of each sales product registered for sale at each electronic cash register during sales registration operations are stored in each electronic cash register. Each department code is registered in the sales registration file formed in the storage section of the register, and is also sent to the file control section via the transmission path, and the above-mentioned JAN, PLU
etc. are aggregated by product code. For example, the total data collected from each electronic cash register is stored in a total file in the file control section during sales operations after the end of the day's sales, and is recorded externally on a floppy disk recording device or the like connected to this file control section. Let the device record it once.

After that, a host computer etc. analyzes the recorded contents of the floppy disk containing the day's total data and performs the necessary arithmetic processing, and then prints out a daily settlement report using a printing device connected to the host computer. Output.

However, as described above, the POS system in which the file control section is equipped with an external recording device but not equipped with a printing device or a display device such as a CRT has the following problems.

In other words, if the file control unit becomes inoperable (machine lock) for some reason during the execution of various tasks such as sales registration and settlement operations, the power will be shut off and then turned on again to resume program control. The above-mentioned inoperable state is released by executing an initialization operation (status clear) to clear the memory contents. However, when I perform this initialization operation (clear status),
The progress state of the control program immediately before it becomes inoperable,
The status control data indicating the cause of the inoperable state is also cleared at the same time, so after the inoperable state is released and the file control unit starts normal operations,
It was extremely difficult to determine the cause of the inoperable state. If this state continues, there is a risk that the same inoperable state will occur again.

In order to solve this problem, multiple burp switches and multiple light emitting diodes (
At the time when the file control unit becomes inoperable, before performing the initialization operation, the plurality of burp switches are operated to display the status control data indicating the cause of the inoperable state. A method was adopted in which the diode displayed the information in 8-bit or 16-bit byte units, and the information was recorded in a notebook or the like and analyzed later.

However, if we adopt this method of displaying status control data one step at a time using light emitting diodes and sequentially recording them, the time required to collect the data increases, causing the file control unit to interrupt its work. Time increases. If the file control unit stops working for a long time,
Since it is not possible to send out sales data for sold products from each electronic cash register, there is a problem in that the entire sales operation is hindered.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a system for responding to power-off and power-on operations performed when an inoperable state occurs in the file control unit. To provide a POS system that can shorten business interruption time of a file control unit and reliably identify the cause of an inoperable state by sending status control data stored in a storage unit to an external recording device. be.

[Summary of the Invention] In the POS system of the present invention, when an inoperable state occurs in 1110 files during the execution of various tasks such as sales registration work and settlement work, a power cutoff is executed to release the inoperable state. In response to the input operation, the status control data stored in the storage section of the file IIJ control section is sent to the external recording device.

[Embodiments of the invention] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the entire POS system of the embodiment, in which a plurality of electronic cash registers 3 are connected to one file control unit 1 via a transmission line 2 in a closed loop. The file control unit 1 includes a CPLI 4 that executes various calculation processes, and a ROM 6. A RAM 8 .backed up by a battery 7 , in which a total file and the like for totaling sales data of sold products transmitted from each electronic cash register 3 by product code, such as JAN, etc., is formed. A floppy disk control unit 10 that controls a floppy disk recording device 9 as an external recording device. and a 5DLC (synchronous, data link, controller) 11 that controls the sales data etc. inputted via the transmission line 2.

In addition to the above-mentioned tally file RA1, the RAMa contains information indicating the progress of the control program and the cause of the file control unit 1 becoming inoperable (machine lock) due to some reason. System system-data area RA2 for storing system control data. The system error flag (SE, FLAG) indicates that the system has become inoperable.
) is formed.

Each of the electronic cash registers (hereinafter abbreviated as ECR) 3 includes a keyboard as a registration input device, a display section that displays the sales amount of the sold products, the number of sales items, and the department code entered manually from the keyboard, and a receipt display section. The above department code and sales amount.

Number of Sales Items 9 A printer that prints out the total amount, etc., a drawer that stores cash received from customers, and a sales registration file that aggregates sales data such as the sales amount and number of items sold by this ECR3, for example, by department code. It consists of an internal storage section.

During normal sales operations, each cashier on each ECR3 manually inputs sales data of sales products using registration keys such as stroke number keys and department keys provided on the keyboard. is each ECRa
It is aggregated by department code in the sales registration file provided in the 5D of the file control unit 1 via the transmission path 2.
It is input to LC11. 5QLC1 of file control unit 1
Each sales data from each ECR3 input to 1 is stored in RAM.
The data is totaled by product code in the total file RAI in B.

For example, at the time of settlement work after the end of a day's sales work, the total data collected in the total file RA1 in the RAM 8 of the file control unit 1 is transferred to a floppy disk connected to the file control unit 1 via the floppy disk control unit 10. The information is temporarily recorded on the floppy disk of the disk recording device 9. After that, a host computer etc. analyzes the recorded contents of the floppy disk containing the day's total data and performs the necessary arithmetic processing, and then prints a daily settlement report on a printing device connected to the host computer. Print out.

In such a POS system, if the file control unit 1 becomes inoperable for some reason while executing various operations such as sales registration operations and settlement operations, the CPU 4 of this file control section 1 It is configured to perform processing according to the flowchart in the figure. That is, in the main routine shown in FIG. 3 that is executed at regular intervals, it is monitored whether a system error indicating an inoperable state has occurred at Pl, and if no system error has occurred, each electronic cash register is RA the sales data sent from 3.
After performing normal business processing such as storing the total data in the total file RAI of M8 and sending the total data of this total file RA1 to the floppy disk recording device 9, the process returns to the beginning.

If a system error occurs in Pl for some reason and it becomes inoperable, the flag area RA3 of RAM8
system error flag (SE.

FLAG) is set to 1. After that, the error occurrence is displayed on the indicator lights such as LED, and each electronic cash register 3
After performing error processing such as sending an error signal to the system and storing status control data indicating the cause of the inoperable state in the system control data area RA2 of the RAM 8, the program is terminated.

Also, if a system error occurs in the file control unit 1 and it becomes inoperable, if you turn off the power and then turn it on again to release the inoperable state,
The CPU 4 is configured to execute processing according to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, when the power is turned on, first, the system error flag in the flag area RA3 of the RAM 8 is checked at P2, and it is confirmed that this system error flag is set to 1. In addition, the floppy disk recording device 9
Check whether a floppy disk for backing up status control data is set in the floppy disk. and,
If a backup floppy disk is set, the status ll+I indicating the cause of the inoperable state is stored in the system control data area RA2 of RAM8.
J11 data is read and the floppy disk control unit 10
The data is written to the floppy disk of the floppy disk recording device 9 via the floppy disk. When writing to the floppy disk is completed, an initialization operation (status clear) is executed to clear the memory contents of each storage section and return the control program to its initial state. When this initialization operation is completed, this inoperable state is released, and the file control unit 1 returns to a normal state and executes the next normal operation.

If the system error flag in the flag area RA3 is O at P2, this power-on operation is determined to be an operation at the start of normal business operations, and the data in the system control data area RA2 in RAM8 is transferred to the floppy disk storage device. 9
Perform the initial operation without recording it. Furthermore, if a floppy disk is not set in the floppy disk recording device 9, or if a floppy disk containing the tally data of the tally file RA1 after the settlement operation is set and a regular backup floppy disk is not available. Even if these floppy disks are not set, the initialization operation is executed without writing status control data to these floppy disks.

In a POS system configured in this way, the file control unit 1 may become inoperable (machine lock) due to a system error that occurs while executing various tasks due to some reason.
Even if the problem occurs, if you set a backup floppy disk in the floppy disk recording device 9 as an external storage device and turn off the power to the file control unit 1 and then turn it on again, the cause of the inoperable state can be resolved. Status control data indicating this is read from the system control data area RA2 of the RAM 8 and automatically written to the floppy disk of the floppy disk recording device 9. Then, the file control unit 1 performs the initialization operation (status clear) and immediately returns to the normal state.

Therefore, unlike conventional systems, there is no need to record the lighting status of each LED, etc. in a notebook, etc. in order to obtain status control data indicating the cause of the inoperable state. The time required for setting a backup floppy disk into the floppy disk recording device 9 can be reduced to a very short time. As a result, it is possible to minimize the impact on the overall sales operations.

Furthermore, the status control data indicating the cause of the inoperable state is automatically written to the floppy disk of the floppy disk recording device 9 without human intervention.
It is possible to prevent mistakes during dictation in conventional systems.

Furthermore, by analyzing the status control data recorded on this Florabee disk using a separate cause-analysis computer, the cause of the inoperable state can be determined more quickly and reliably than with conventional systems. I can figure it out. As a result, recurrence of the inoperable state due to the same cause can be suppressed.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, information is stored in the storage unit in response to power-off and power-on operations performed when the file control unit becomes inoperable due to a system error or the like. Status control data indicating the cause of the inoperable state is sent to an external recording device such as a floppy disk device for recording. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the time during which the file control unit is interrupted, and also to reliably find out the cause of the inoperable state, and to suppress recurrence of the inoperable state due to the same cause.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figure shows a POS system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall schematic configuration;
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the main memory of the file control section, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are flowcharts showing the operations, respectively. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... File control part, 2... Transmission path, 3... Electronic cash register, 4... CPU, 5... Pass line, 8... RAM, 9... Floppy disk recording device , 10...floppy disk control section, RA
I...Tally file, RA2...System control data area, RAS...Flag area. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] During the sales registration process, the sales data of the sales products input through the registration input devices of multiple electronic cash registers are totaled in a totalization file formed in the file control unit connected via a transmission path, and the data is also calculated. In a POS system that sends sales data aggregated in the aggregation file to an external recording device connected to the file control unit during business operations, the operation of the file control unit during execution of various operations such as sales registration operations and settlement operations; When an inoperable state occurs, the status control data stored in the storage unit of the file control unit is sent to the external recording device in response to a power-off/on operation performed to release the inoperable state. Features of POS system.