JPS61250795A - Controller for securities usable vending machine - 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) that allows products to be purchased with valuable tickets such as beer tickets and coins. Here, the term “valuable coupon” refers to predetermined product information (for example, the name of a specific product or the name of a product in the shell), such as gift certificates for cigarettes or beer.
, amount information (for example, (number of items exchanged) x (unit price), or total amount of exchanged products), or face value information in place of the amount information (
Printing or recording of various information (including optically or magnetically encoded or patterned information), such as the number of exchanged tickets and the date of issue (day) It refers to a type of securities, and the vending machine to which the present invention is directed can accept these securities, considering them as money equivalent to the monetary value of the securities (referred to as the value of the 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 valuable tickets. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a banknote/valuable note validating machine (also abbreviated as BV). When a banknote is inserted, it is discriminated and a corresponding denomination signal is sent to the CPU 3a in the control device 3.
When a is inserted, it is identified, the monetary value (value of the bond) is calculated as necessary based on the recorded information, and information corresponding to the monetary value and information indicating the type of bond are sent to the CPU 3a. do. 2 is the coin sorting mechanism (hereinafter referred to as CHU)
3 is a control device that controls the entire vending machine, and 3b is an RA belonging to the CPU 3a.
M, 4 (41 to 4n) are product selection switches (also abbreviated as push buttons, and switches are also generally referred to as SW) for selecting sales products, and each push button 4 corresponds to each sales column (not shown).
It also corresponds to a product storage shelf (also simply referred to as a column, which refers to a product storage shelf provided for each product delivery means). 6 (61~6n
) is a product carrying-out mechanism serving as a product carrying-out means, and carries out the product selected by the push button 4. 5 (51 to 5n) is a sell-out SW, which is provided corresponding to each push button P, detects the sold-out of the corresponding product, invalidates the operation of the corresponding push button 4, and corresponds to each push button 4. Turn on the sold-out lamp (not shown) provided. A keyboard 7 is used to set various data necessary for the operation of the vending machine, such as the selling price of the product for each push button 4. 8 is a refund SW attached to the CHU 2, which is a switch for discontinuing the sales operation and requesting a refund of the remaining amount. Note that the remaining amount refers to the amount obtained by subtracting the total amount of products taken out during one sales operation from the amount of money put in or the amount of valuable tickets during one sales operation. Note that regular tickets are issued with the assumption that they will be exchanged for a specific product such as beer or cigarettes, and even in this type of vending machine, when inserting the ticket, the ticket will be exchanged for the type of product for which the bond is being exchanged ( For convenience, sales are limited to only specific products (referred to as specific products). FIG. 3 shows an example of data for each column stored in RAMab via the keyboard 7, and 303 indicates NO,
Column numbers from 1 to NO, n (each push button 4 (41 to 4f)
(corresponding to the number i)), 301 and 302 respectively indicate price data as part setting price (sales price) for each column number and whether or not the column stores the specific product. (logical 11 or 0") data. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the main part of the conventional operation of the CPU 3a in FIG. By putting money into CHU2, it is determined in a step not shown that the money put in or its equivalent (hereinafter collectively referred to as the money put in) is the amount that allows the product to be sold, and then in step 101 the product is made salable. When it is determined that the corresponding push button 4 is ON (branch Y), the product is transported out via the product delivery mechanism 6 in step 102, and step 103
In step 101, the remaining amount is calculated by subtracting the set price of the product taken out from the input amount, and the process returns to step 101. If it is not determined in step 101 that push button 4 is ON (branch N), in step 104 refund SW 8 is ON.
Determine the presence or absence of , and if this is also not pressed (branch N)
, return to step 101 again. If it is determined in step 104 that the refund switch is ON, in each step 20 (201 to 20n) it is determined whether or not each column (column numbers 1 to n) can be sold, and if any column is sold ( Branch Y), the process returns to step 101, and when it is determined that none of the columns can be sold (branch N), the remaining amount is paid out and returned as change via the BVI or CHU 2. The detailed procedure of the column-by-column sales availability determination 20 at this time is shown in FIG. That is, in step 20A, it is determined that the product in the relevant column exists, that is, it is not sold out (branch Y), and in the next step 20B, it is determined that the product in the relevant column is the specific product (branch Y).0 Next is step At 20C, it is determined that the remaining amount is equal to or higher than the set price of the product (Y)
, after determining via a change switch (not shown), etc. that change to be paid later remains in the BVI or CHU2 when the product is carried out in the next step 20D (branch Y). , it is determined that the column in question can be sold for the first time. In step 20A, it is also determined that there is no failure in the column and that the product does not fall under the category of night sales suspension. On the other hand, any of steps 20A to 20D is negative (branch N
), the column in question is determined to be unsaleable. By the way, since the voucher 1a was originally issued for the purpose of exchanging it for the above-mentioned specific product and is not intended to be re-exchanged with money, as can be seen from these steps,
Until there are no specific products that can be purchased with the remaining amount at the time of inserting the ticket, the push button 4 is pressed many times to carry out the delivery of the specific products, and the control is such that no change is paid out. In this case, a customer who is purchasing a product with a valid ticket cannot immediately know when the sale will no longer be possible, and must, for example, press the refund switch 8. Therefore, if the remaining amount is low, the customer will There is a problem in that the operation of pressing the refund SW 4 is repeated each time the product is taken out, making the operation cumbersome for the customer.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks and to provide a mm device for a vending machine that provides good service to customers who purchase products with valuable coupons.

[Key points of the invention]

The gist of the present invention is to determine the authenticity of valuable certificates (gift certificates, etc.) on which monetary information or information equivalent to the information is recorded, and to read each of the above-mentioned information.
(valuable ticket validator, etc.), product selection means (components selection SW) for selecting various products, including the types of products (beer products, etc., hereinafter referred to as specific products) for which the ticket is to be exchanged.
, comprising a product delivery means (such as a product delivery mechanism) for transporting the product selected by the means, and based on the input of the ticket into the ticket discrimination device,
The remaining amount obtained by subtracting the cumulative set prices of the specific products selected and exported via the product selection means and the product delivery means from the monetary value of the inserted securities is the set price of the specific products that can currently be sold. The selection operation of the product selection means corresponding to the specific products that can be sold with the remaining amount (hereinafter referred to as the specific product selection operation) remains valid until the amount falls below the minimum amount (hereinafter referred to as the end of all exchange of specific products). In the vending machine, each time the specific product is taken out based on the specific product selection operation, it is determined whether or not all the specific products have been exchanged;
The present invention is provided with a means (such as a CPU) for validating a new specific product selection operation if all exchanges have not been completed, and dispensing change equivalent to the remaining amount if all exchanges have been completed.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Next, the present invention will be explained in detail based on FIG. FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the CPU 3a as an embodiment of the present invention, and corresponds to FIG. 4. The difference from FIG. 4 is that the step 104 of pressing the refund SW 8 is omitted, and subsequent to the step 103 of calculating the remaining amount, the saleability determination 20 (201 to 20n) for each column is performed. In other words, each time the product is removed, refund SW8
Determine sales availability for all columns without pressing 20
This is what we do. Therefore, in the procedure shown in Fig. 1, when selling with a ticket, as is clear from the explanation of Figs. After carrying out the product removal by repeating the ON operation, change will be automatically paid out for any column when a specific product cannot be purchased due to the remaining amount at that time. In this way, customers who have purchased products with vouchers can easily recognize whether or not the next sale is not possible during a series of sales without having to press the refund switch, which improves customer service. can improve sexual performance.

【Effect of the invention】

As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, each time a product is taken out based on the insertion of a ticket, whether the product grows, whether it is a specific product, whether the remaining amount is greater than the price of the product, etc., is determined for each column. We also check whether it is possible to pay out change after the product is carried out and sold, and when all columns cannot be sold, change is automatically paid out.As a result, customers who have purchased a product with a voucher can It can be easily recognized that the sale of valuable tickets is no longer possible, and therefore the operation of pressing the refund SW many times can be omitted, resulting in the effect that the service quality for customers can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart explaining the main part of the operation as an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart explaining the main part of the operation of a conventional control device.
Corresponds to the figure. Further, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing detailed procedures for determining whether or not a product can be sold for each column in FIGS. 1 and 4. 1: Banknote/valuable note validator (BV), la: Valuable note, 2
: 11 coin sorters (CHU), 3 H control devices, 3
a: CPU, 3b: RAM, 4 (41~4n
): Product selection switch (push button), 5 (51~5
n): Sold out switch, 6, (61 to 6n): Product delivery mechanism, 7: Keyboard, 20 (201 to 20n): Determination of sales availability. Fang 1 spear 3 spears

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) Valuable certificate discriminating means for determining the authenticity of a certificate on which amount information or information equivalent to the information is recorded and reading each of the above information, and a method for determining the authenticity of a certificate on which monetary information or information equivalent to the information is recorded; a product selection means for selecting various products including the following types of products (hereinafter referred to as specific products), and a product delivery device for transporting the products selected by the means, and the method includes a product selection device for transporting the products selected by the device, and inputting the ticket into the ticket discrimination device. On the basis of the,
The remaining amount obtained by subtracting the cumulative set prices of the specific products selected and exported via the product selection means and the product delivery means from the monetary value of the inserted securities is the set price of the specific products that can currently be sold. The selection operation of the product selection means corresponding to the specific products that can be sold with the remaining amount (hereinafter referred to as the specific product selection operation) remains valid until the amount falls below the minimum amount (hereinafter referred to as the end of all exchange of specific products). In the vending machine, each time the specific product is taken out based on the specific product selection operation, it is determined whether or not all the specific products have been exchanged;
A vending machine that can use valuable coupons, characterized in that it is equipped with a means for validating a new specific product selection operation if all exchanges have not been completed, and dispensing change equivalent to the remaining amount if all exchanges have been completed. Control device.