JPS6288093A - 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 (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a vending machine that sells products using cards.

(Prior art) Generally, vending machines sell in cash (coins or banknotes), but recently so-called card-based vending machines have been introduced that allow sales and payments to be made using cards such as magnetic cards. It has been put into practical use.

In addition, as a payment method for vending machines that use cards, a card is purchased in advance with cash, on which monetary information corresponding to the purchase price is written using magnetic information or other means, and the information is written on the card each time the vending machine is used. There is a so-called pre-payment method, in which the amount of money remaining is kept low, and a so-called deferred payment method, in which the card holder is required to pay the accumulated usage amount every predetermined period when using a vending machine with a card.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) The prepayment method is a method in which a card with amount information written on it is purchased in advance by cash payment, and the card is used at an automatic vending machine. This is a method of thinking of the card as a kind of cash voucher by rewriting it on the card. The prepayment method is safe in terms of cash collection because you can obtain cash in advance. On the other hand, with the deferred payment method, you do not write the amount information,
This is a system in which a vending machine is used with a card on which only card identification information is written, and the sales amount of a certain card is later collected and billed to the card holder. The disadvantage of the deferred payment method is that it takes time and effort to collect cash. There is also the risk that cash cannot be recovered.

For the above reasons, the pay-per-must method is preferred and implemented because of the reliability of payment collection, but the card reader in the pre-pay method must be able to write as well as read.

This writable card reader has the disadvantage that it is considerably more expensive than a read-only card reader.

As described above, conventional prepaid card vending machines have the disadvantage of being expensive because they require a writable card reader.

On the other hand, the number of products in vending machines has increased recently, and the number of flavors to choose from has also increased. For example, in a coffee vending machine, the choice of seasoning refers to the selection of the type of coffee beans, the strength of the coffee, the amount of cream, the amount of sugar, etc. It is a recent trend that the range of choices expected from vending machines is expanding and requests are becoming more diverse, but on the other hand, there are too many items to choose from, and users have to press too many selection buttons. This has the disadvantage that it is a burden on the operator.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide means for realizing a prepayment type card vending machine that can simplify the selection operation of multiple items and ensure cash collection using an inexpensive read-only card reader.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a read-only card reader, a product selection section, a money acceptance section, a selection information registration operation section, a password input section, and an arithmetic processing section. In the prepayment operation, the card information input from the card reader, the password information input from the password input section, and the information on the amount of money prepaid from the money acceptance section are included in the prepayment operation. The balance information including the balance described in Note 1.2 is stored in the storage section, and in the selection information registration operation, the card information input from the card reader and the selection information selected by the product selection section are combined. is stored in the storage unit based on the operation of the selected information registration operation unit, and in the automatic vending operation, combination information of the card information input from the card reader and the password information input from the password input unit; The combination information of the cart information and PIN information recorded in advance in the storage unit (<2 is checked, and - if you lose, the balance stored in advance becomes the limit amount of a predetermined negative number. The product is sold based on the selection information stored in advance in the storage section corresponding to the card information until , and after the sale, the amount obtained by subtracting the sales amount from the balance specified in n11 is stored in the storage section as a balance. , these controls are performed by the arithmetic processing section.

(Example) The present invention will be described below based on examples.

FIG. 1 is a combination diagram of block elements built into a vending machine according to the present invention, and the configuration of the vending machine according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG.

A microprocessor 1 serving as an arithmetic processing unit having functions to be described later includes a card reader 2 capable of reading magnetic cart information, a product selection unit 3, and a storage unit 4 for storing card information, etc.
, a money validator 7 as a money receiving section, a password input section 8, and a selection information registration operation section 9 are connected, and furthermore, the microprocessor 1 is connected to a product storage/export section 6 via a product delivery drive section 5. has been done.

First, in order to use a vending machine with a card, a user obtains a magnetic card on which card identification information is written in advance. Next, the user causes the card reader 2 to read the card identification information of the card, inputs the password from the password input section 8, and also causes the money validator 7 to read the 100 yen bill.

The microprocessor 1 combines the card identification information, the password, and the deposit information of 1,000 yen, and stores the combination in the card information storage section 4. This means that the vending machine stores that a prepayment of 1000 yen has been made for that card.

Next, have the card reader read the same card, enter the PIN from the PIN input section 8, press the button for the product you wish to purchase from the product selection section 3, and press the purchase request button (not shown).
If the product is 100 yen when the PIN number matches when you press , the microprocessor 1 sets the balance to 900 yen and sends a control signal to the product delivery drive unit 5 because the balance is 1000 yen and the product is requested to be 100 yen. The specified products are carried out from the product storage and carry-out section 6 and sold.

Next, we will explain how to use cards to simplify flavor selection in coffee vending machines. As mentioned above, during the sales operation, the product may be selected by pressing the button of the product you want to purchase from the product selection section 3, but for example, the flavoring in a coffee vending machine is selected, i.e., the type of coffee beans, the strength of the coffee, These selection operations are troublesome in vending machines where items cannot be sold unless you select each item, such as cream, amount of sugar, etc. By the way, since the selection combination of a certain user is usually fixed, this selection information is registered in the storage unit 4 in correspondence with the card, and when purchasing with the card, the selection information is stored in the storage unit 4. It can be read out from the page and used as is without any product selection operations. This selection information registration operation will be explained below.

First, the card is read by the card reader 2, and then the password is input. Next, select the selection information you wish to register in the product selection section 3, and then press the registration button (not shown) included in the selection information registration operation section 9.
The selection information is combined with card information and stored in the storage section. Next, to make a purchase based on your selections, swipe the same card, then enter your PIN.
The selection information stored in the storage section 4 is read out in accordance with the card information, and the product selection button of the product selection section 3 is illuminated in the same way as when it is illuminated during normal selection. This is visually confirmed, and if the user wishes to purchase the item, he/she presses a purchase request button (not shown), and if the above-mentioned balance conditions are satisfied, the item based on the selection information is delivered and sold. A flowchart of the sales operation is shown in FIG.

Give other users magnetic cards with different card identification information written on them. In this case, a prepaid vending machine can also be realized using the same procedure as above. After reading the card information, the balance for that card is displayed numerically. If you continue to make purchases with your card, the balance will gradually decrease and become less than the amount needed to purchase the product, but in that case, you can prepay 1,000 yen for the 30 yen balance, and get 1000 yen.
You can have a balance of 0.30 yen.

The password input in the above explanation is effective for preventing unauthorized use.

If you continue to make card purchases and choose to purchase a product for 100 yen when the balance reaches 30 yen, a negative balance will be allowed within a predetermined limit, and for example, the limit will be changed to the debt limit. If you call it 500 yen, the actual balance will be 500 yen + 30 yen = 530 yen, so you can purchase the product for 100 yen.

After the original balance becomes a negative number, if you pay cash in advance (it becomes a deferred payment due to partial debt repayment), the balance becomes a positive number again. For example, if your balance is 170 yen and you pay 1000 yen in advance, your balance will be 930 yen. It is assumed that the above arithmetic processing is performed by the microprocessor 1.

In the first place, the benefits for card vending machine users are:
It was convenient because you could make a purchase even if you didn't have the necessary amount of cash (especially small change) when you wanted to make a purchase. However, there was a drawback that if the balance became less than the product purchase price and there was no additional cash on hand, the product could not be purchased.

According to this specific example, a temporary debt can be made to the vending machine, and the above-mentioned inconvenience can be solved.

Due to its nature, such vending machines are used in environments where users can trust them (for example, factories where the users are always fixed,
Although the condition is that it is used in an office (such as in an office), it will be convenient for users in the above environment.

If we were to try to forgive debts only to creditworthy people, we could, for example, increase the debt limit according to the cumulative usage amount stored in the storage unit 4 for card information, etc. It is possible to realize a service that forgives debt only for cards such as

In conventional prepayment type card vending machines, in order to write information on the prepaid amount and balance onto the card, it was necessary to have a card league key with both reading and writing functions. 11.2 However, a card league with both of these functions had the drawback of being expensive. On the contrary,
Prepayment card vending machine in two series embodiments1. 5. Write down the prepaid amount or balance information in the vending machine.

In order to do this, Card League is a read-only machine, which has the advantage of being low cost.

In addition, it is possible to register and store IA selection information such as the selection of flavor according to the card information. .

Also, the selection information registration operation section 96. , By pressing the registration button, you can obtain the effect that there are fewer restrictions on the order of operation of the registration record ta of selected information.
In the embodiment described in Figure 1, the block elements in Figure 1 were built into the vending machine body (J,), but modern vending machines have separate parts such as the controller part, money acceptance part, product storage and delivery part, etc. The composition is -1, t2, &'bj'! Ru. In this way, even if the block elements are physically separated,
Further, even if the number of block elements and their combinations change, the function as a prepaid card-using vending machine does not change, so similar effects can be expected.

In the above description, a magnetic card was used as a specific example of the card, but similar effects can be obtained with cards of other principles and shapes.

In the above description, a numeric input pushbutton switch has been considered as the password input section 8, but this does not necessarily have to be a numeric input switch, and may be other symbol input switches or voice input, and various selections are possible.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the vending machine according to the present invention, it is difficult to use the machine illegally by entering a password, and since it is possible to make a temporary debt to the vending machine, it is convenient that it is possible to make a purchase even when the balance is insufficient. By using read-only card leagues, which are both affordable and inexpensive, the product can be made at a low price, and the payment can be made by card.
To provide a vending machine that can obtain the advantages of n'A'yi and easy selection information registration operation.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention;
The figure is a chart showing the temporary selling operation of the embodiment of the present invention. 1... Microphone 1 as an arithmetic processing unit 2
...Card League 4...Storage unit 7 for card information, etc....Money identifier 8 as a money acceptance unit...Password input unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] It includes a read-only card reader, a product selection section, a money acceptance section, a selection information registration operation section, a password input section, an arithmetic processing section, and a storage section, and in the prepayment operation, input from the card reader is provided. storing in the storage unit information on a balance obtained by adding the previously stored balance to the card information inputted, the password information input from the password input unit, and the information on the amount of money prepaid from the money acceptance unit; In the selection information registration operation, the card information input from the card reader and the selection information selected by the product selection section are stored in the storage section based on the operation of the selection information registration operation section, and the automatic vending operation is performed. In the step, the combination information of the card information inputted from the card reader and the password information inputted from the password input section is collated with the combination information of the card information and password information stored in advance in the storage section. and if they match, product sales based on the selection information previously stored in the storage unit corresponding to the card information until the pre-stored balance reaches a predetermined negative limit amount. and after the sale, an amount obtained by subtracting the sales amount from the balance is stored in the storage section as a balance, and these controls are performed by the arithmetic processing section.