JPS6172382A - Ticket 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 of the Invention] The present invention relates to an automatic ticket vending machine that prints and issues tickets, for example, according to a user's operation.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems] In recent years, for example, in the railway industry, with the labor saving of station operations, automatic ticket vending tS (so-called automatic ticket vending), in which tickets are printed and issued by user operations, has become popular. It is widespread. This type of ticket vending machine automatically prints the ticket and dispenses change as needed when the user inserts money and selects a destination or fare button. ing. However, these automatic ticket vending machines only have the function of selling tickets, and after purchasing a ticket, it is necessary to go to the staff in order to get a refund for the mistakenly purchased ticket. There was a problem that had to be solved.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its first purpose is to provide an automatic ticket vending machine that allows the user to refund the ticket by his or her own operation. .

A second object of the present invention is to provide an automatic ticket vending machine that allows the user to refund and repurchase tickets through his/her own operations.

[Summary of the Invention] In order to achieve the above first object, the present invention accepts a refund ticket owned by a user, reads information recorded on the accepted ticket, and uses this read information to The system is configured to calculate the fee for the ticket and dispense money corresponding to the calculated fee.

In addition, in order to achieve the second object, the present invention roughly displays the calculated fee, and when money is inserted as necessary based on the displayed amount and the bill type is selected and specified, the fee is displayed. The system is configured to print and issue a new ticket corresponding to the selected and designated ticket type.

[Embodiment of the Invention] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the customer service side of an automatic ticket vending machine that prints and issues ordinary tickets, as an example of the automatic ticket vending machine according to the present invention. , an amount display section 3 for displaying the input amount, a cancel button (push button switch) 4 for canceling a purchase, a refund ticket slot 5 for inserting a refund ticket, and a coin slot 6 for inserting coins.
Refund button (push button switch) 7 for specifying , charge refund, or
, a condition button (push button switch) 8 for specifying the number of purchased tickets and a 10% discount ticket for children, and multiple variable display account buttons (as a means of specifying the ticket type) that illuminate and display the section fare of the route on sale based on the amount invested. (Push button switch with built-in numeric display) 9.
There are respective outlets 10 for receiving issued tickets, refunds, and change.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of an automatic ticket vending machine having the customer service aspect described above. That is, the refund ticket slot 5 is connected to the refund ticket reader 11, and the refund ticket reader 11 is connected to the refund ticket storage box 1.
2 is provided. In addition, the coin insertion slot 6 is connected to the coin verification section 13.
A change unit 14 is connected to the coin validation unit 13 . Thereby, the coins identified by the coin verification unit 13 are stored in the change unit 14 as change, and can be discharged from the withdrawal port 10. In addition to the change section 14, a ticket issuing mechanism section 15 is also connected to the outlet 10.

This ticket issuing mechanism section 15 includes a printing section 16 and an encoding section 17.
The ticket sheet printed by the printing section 16 is sent to the encoding section 17, where magnetic information for automatic ticket gates is recorded in the magnetic recording section, and the ticket sheet is ejected from the exit 10 as a ticket B. It has become. The refund ticket reading section 11, the coin verification section 13, the change section 14, the ticket issuing mechanism section 15,
The amount display section 3, the refund button 7, the condition button 8, and the variable display account button 9 are all controlled by the main control section 18. The main control section 18 is mainly composed of, for example, a microcomputer and its peripheral circuits,
It controls the entire automatic ticket vending machine.

Next, the ticket issuing operation in the above configuration will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, the variable display account button 9 normally displays all route fares for adults that can be sold on this device for the sales route.

To purchase a ticket, the user inserts coins or banknotes of an amount equal to or exceeding the amount of the desired ticket through the coin slot 6 and bill slot (not shown). When coins or banknotes are inserted through these slots, the coin verification section 13 and banknote discrimination section (not shown) detect and discriminate the inserted coins or banknotes. The total amount of these verified coins is calculated by the main control section 18 and displayed on the amount display section 3 as the input amount. Also, when money is inserted, the fare display on the variable display account button 9 will turn off once, and then
Only account buttons for tickets that can be purchased depending on the amount invested are displayed. For example, if the input amount is 100 yen, 100
The fare for each section up to 300 yen will be displayed, and the input amount will be 3.
In the case of 30 yen, all section fares that can be purchased for 330 yen are displayed. The user selects and presses one of the displayed variable display account buttons 9. When a variable display account button 9 is selectively pressed, only the selected variable display account button 9 is turned on under the control of the main control unit 18, and the other variable display account buttons 9 are turned off. The main control unit 18 then starts printing and issuing tickets and sending out change. That is, the ticket face information is edited in the main control unit 18, this edited ticket face information is printed on the ticket paper in the printing unit 16,
This printed ticket is sent to the encoding section 17. The encoding unit 17 magnetically records magnetic information for automatic ticket gates, such as issue date information, 1 departure station information, 9 destination station information, 1 section (fare) information, etc., on the magnetic recording unit formed on the back side of the ticket. Then, it is released as a ticket B to the takeout port 10.

At this time, if there is change, the change unit 14 operates and the change coins are discharged to the outlet 10. When ticket issuance is completed in this way, the variable display account button 9 lights up and displays all the sales accounts (adult fares) for the sales route again, and returns to the sales standby state.

Next, the operation for refunding the ticket issued as described above will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 4. Refund guidance display section 1 in the guidance display section 1 on the customer service side
When A is lit, the shutter (not shown) of the refund ticket slot 5 is open, and in this state, the user first inserts the refund ticket A that he/she owns into the slot 5. As a result, the ticket A is taken into the refund ticket reading section 11, and at the same time, the shutter is closed and read. The refund ticket reading section 11 reads magnetic information recorded in the magnetic recording section of the loaded ticket A, such as issue date information, 1 departure station information, @station information 2 section (fare) information, etc., and also reads them. A test is performed to determine whether or not it has been read correctly, and if it has been read correctly, the information is sent to the main control section 18.

The main control unit 18 calculates the fare (fare) of the ticket A based on the information from the refund ticket reading unit 11 and displays it on the amount display unit 3. Note that if the refund ticket reading unit 11 cannot read the information correctly as a result of the judgment test, for example, the information may be missing due to some reason, or the magnetic recording unit may be damaged and the magnetic information may not be read. If the ticket A cannot be read, the ticket A is returned to its slot 5. Next, the user confirms whether the amount displayed on the amount display section 3 is correct or not, and by pressing the refund bank 7, the main control section 18 operates the change section 14 and coins coins corresponding to the calculated fee. is discharged into outlet 10.

Furthermore, if the user wants to repurchase a ticket before pressing the refund bank 7, the ticket can be purchased in the order shown in the issuance operation flowchart shown in FIG.

That is, the main control unit 18 displays the calculated fee on the amount display unit 3.
At the same time, only the variable display account button 9 of the ticket that can be purchased according to the displayed amount is lit up. Therefore, when repurchasing a ticket at this point, the user must first check whether the displayed amount is equal to or greater than the amount of the ticket he or she wishes to repurchase, and if it is not, the user must purchase the predetermined amount of money. Insert. Next, the user selects and specifies the displayed variable display account button 9, and a new ticket B is issued by the same operation as described above.

In this case, the magnetic information of the ticket B read by the refund ticket reading unit 11 is compared with the magnetic information of the selected account, and if the image information matches, the user wishes to repurchase. The ticket is the same as the ticket A that was inserted for refund, and there is no need to reissue the ticket. , and the main control unit 18 returns the display on the customer service side to the sales standby state.

As described above, repurchase information indicating that the ticket B was repurchased at the time of printing and issuance is recorded in the magnetic recording section of the newly issued ticket B. Therefore, as mentioned above, when the ticket B issued according to the refund operation flowchart of FIG. 4 is inserted into the refund ticket slot 5, the refund ticket reading section 11 takes in the ticket B.
The magnetic information is read in the same way as described above. At this time, the refund ticket reading section 11 checks to determine whether repurchase information exists in the read magnetic information, and can return the captured ticket B to the refund ticket slot 5.

With the configuration described above, the user can easily refund an erroneously purchased train ticket through his or her own operations, and can also refund and repurchase the ticket as necessary. Therefore, not only is it possible to significantly reduce the congestion at the staff counters as in the past, but also the excellent effect of completely automating station equipment can be achieved. Furthermore, if the refunded ticket and the ticket the user wishes to repurchase are the same, the accepted refunded ticket will be returned and a new ticket will not be issued, thus preventing mischief and unnecessary refund operations. can do.

In addition, although the above-mentioned example explained the case where it was applied to the automatic sale of one ticket, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to other things such as commuter passes, meal tickets, movie theaters, and theater admission tickets. It can also be applied to automatic securities vending machines.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, there is provided an automatic ticket vending machine that allows the user to refund a ticket through his/her own operation, and also allows the ticket to be refunded and repurchased as necessary. can.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figures are for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the customer service side of an automatic ticket vending machine, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the automatic ticket vending machine. , FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the ticket issuing operation, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the ticket refund operation. 3... Amount display section, 5... Refund ticket slot, 6... Coin slot, 7...
Refund button, 9... Variable display account button (ticket type designation means), 10... Ejection port, 11... Refund ticket reader, 13...・Validation Department, 14...
...Change department, 15...Ticket issuing mechanism department, 18...
...Main control section.

Claims (12)

[Claims] (1) Has a coin insertion section and a bill type selection means on the customer service side;
In an automatic ticket vending machine that prints and issues a ticket corresponding to the selected and designated ticket type by selecting and specifying a desired ticket type using a ticket type selection means after inserting money into a coin insertion section,
a ticket insertion unit into which a refund ticket owned by a user is inserted;
a reading means for accepting a ticket inserted into the ticket insertion unit and reading information recorded thereon from the ticket; a calculating means for calculating the fee for the accepted ticket based on the information read by the reading means; An automatic ticket vending machine characterized by comprising: a coin discharging means for discharging coins corresponding to the fee calculated by. (2) The information read from the accepted ticket is magnetic information magnetically recorded on the ticket.
Ticket vending machine mentioned in section. (3) The automatic ticket vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the ticket is a ticket used for transportation. (4) The information read from the accepted ticket is issue date information;
The automatic ticket vending machine according to claim 3, which includes departure station information, destination station information, section information, etc. (5) Has a coin insertion section and a bill type selection means on the customer service side;
In an automatic ticket vending machine that prints and issues a ticket corresponding to the selected and designated ticket type by selecting and specifying a desired ticket type using a ticket type selection means after inserting money into a coin insertion section,
a ticket insertion unit into which a refund ticket owned by a user is inserted;
a reading means for accepting a ticket inserted into the ticket insertion unit and reading information recorded thereon from the ticket; a calculating means for calculating the fee for the accepted ticket based on the information read by the reading means; a display means for displaying the fee calculated by the display means, and when money is inserted into the money insertion section as necessary based on the amount displayed by the display means and a bill type is selected and designated by the bill type selection means; An automatic ticket vending machine characterized by comprising a control means for controlling printing and issuing of a new ticket corresponding to the selected and designated ticket type. (6) The information read from the accepted ticket is magnetic information magnetically recorded on the ticket.
Ticket vending machine mentioned in section. (7) The automatic ticket vending machine according to claim 5, wherein the ticket is a ticket used for transportation. (8) The information read from the accepted ticket is issue date information;
The automatic ticket vending machine according to claim 7, which includes departure station information, destination station information, section information, etc. (9) Has a coin insertion section and a bill type selection means on the customer service side;
In an automatic ticket vending machine that prints and issues a ticket corresponding to the selected and designated ticket type by selecting and specifying a desired ticket type using a ticket type selection means after inserting money into a coin insertion section,
a ticket insertion unit into which a refund ticket owned by a user is inserted;
a reading means for accepting a ticket inserted into the ticket insertion unit and reading information recorded thereon from the ticket; a calculating means for calculating the fee for the accepted ticket based on the information read by the reading means; a display means for displaying the fee calculated by the display means, and when money is inserted into the money insertion section as necessary based on the amount displayed by the display means and a bill type is selected and designated by the bill type selection means; a comparison means for comparing the information of the selected and designated ticket type with the information read by the reading means; and when the comparison result of the comparison means shows that both pieces of information do not match, a new one corresponding to the selected and designated ticket type is added. A ticket automatic machine characterized by comprising a control means for controlling printing and issuing of a ticket, and a ticket return means for returning the accepted ticket to its input section when both pieces of information match as a result of comparison by the comparison means. Release machine. (10) The automatic ticket vending machine according to claim 9, wherein the information read from the accepted ticket is magnetic information magnetically recorded on the ticket. (11) The automatic ticket vending machine according to claim 9, wherein the ticket is a ticket used for transportation. (12) The automatic ticket vending machine according to claim 11, wherein the information read from the accepted ticket includes issue date information, departure station information, destination station information, section information, etc.