JPS63211488A - Price setter for 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 (A) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a price setting device for a vending machine using barcodes.

(b) As for the price setting of conventional technology vending machines,
As shown in the publication, there is a type that is set mechanically using a digital switch or a digital switch, and as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 50-38598, it is set in memory manually with a key. There is a type of thing that does. In addition to the key manual input method, there is also a configuration shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 5 B-76 in which input is made by actually inserting money corresponding to the sales price to be set.

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the case of dip switches, the selling price must be converted into a binary code and set, which becomes difficult to set as the selling price becomes high. Further, in the case of a digital switch, although there is no need for the trouble of converting it into a binary code, there is a drawback that as the number of sales columns in a vending machine increases, the price setting device becomes larger and the cost increases. There is also a method of inputting the selling price into the memory circuit of the vending machine using the keyboard, but inputting using the keyboard requires operating the function keys and numeric keypad in a specified order, which is extremely difficult for inexperienced users. becomes. The method of setting by inserting money requires time and effort to insert money, and is a difficult task for vending machines with a large number of prices.

Therefore, the present invention provides a vending machine in which the information necessary for setting the selling price is displayed in the form of a barcode on a sheet, and the selling price can be set by scanning the sheet with a barcode reader. be.

Furthermore, the present invention provides a price setting device for a vending machine that can specify which sales column the input sales price data belongs to by operating a selection switch provided in each sales column. It is.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, a price setting device for a vending machine according to the present invention includes a bar sheet in which a selling price to be set in a vending machine is printed as a bar code, and a plurality of bar sheets. storage means having a plurality of storage areas corresponding to each of the sales columns and storing sales price data set for the corresponding sales column; and storage means for converting the bar food pattern into an electrical signal. a detecting device for outputting, a converting device for converting the detected force by the detecting device into selling price data that can be recognized by a vending machine, and a converting device for converting the detected force by the detecting device into selling price data that can be recognized by a vending machine; The converter includes an address means for addressing a storage area, and a writing means for writing the sales price data outputted by the conversion device into the storage area addressed by the address means.

(*) When any selection switch is operated when setting the effect price, the storage area corresponding to this selection switch in the storage means is addressed by the address means. When the barcode is scanned by the detection device, the conversion device converts the bar food pattern signal detected by the detection device into sales price data and outputs it. The writing means writes this sales price data into the storage area addressed by the address means, thereby setting the sales price for the sales column.

(v) Embodiment Figure 1 shows a barcode input device for a vending machine, (1) is a bar sheet on which the selling price to be input into the vending machine is printed in barcode, and (2) is a barcode input device for a vending machine. This is a detection device consisting of a code league (3), an amplifier circuit (4), and a waveform shaping circuit (5). A barcode is one in which black lines or spaces are arranged alternately in the longitudinal direction, and one barcode pattern in this example consists of a start character S, character space SP, data character D, character Space SPφ data character D
.

Each data character consists of 9 bars (black stripes and spaces) with 3 outs and 9 hoods, and one barcode pattern has the information amount of 2 characters. 3 out op 9 chord is 9 thick bar
Three characters are always placed in one bit character.
The thick bar is logic r1. Each thin bar indicates a logic "0".

Figure 3 shows the barcode league (3), which faces the through hole (11) formed at the tip and has a light emitting diode (12).
The operator moves the barcode league (3) in the longitudinal direction of the barcode to sequentially irradiate each bar with light from the light emitting diode (12), and the reflected light generates a photo. Transistor (13
> is configured to detect changes in the output current. Then, the detection power by the barcode league (3) is amplified by the amplifier circuit (4) as shown in Figure 2, and then the waveform is shaped (C in Figure 2) by the waveform shaping circuit (5>), and then the pulse width is The determination unit (6) determines the magnitude of the pulse width,
The first converter e(7) digitally encodes this determination result, so that one character is detected as a 9-bit code.

At this time, even if the barcode is the same, the waveform shaping circuit (5
) output pulse width can be determined by the operator using a barcode reader (3
) differs depending on the speed at which the pulse width is moved, so the determination data used to determine the magnitude of the pulse width of the pulse width determination section (6) must be set for each measurement. Therefore, the pulse width determination section (6) first sets determination data using the pulse output from the waveform shaping circuit (5) when the barcode reader (3) passes the start character.

The start character S consists of a first bar that is a thin black striation, a first space that is a thin space, and a second bar that is a thick black striation. 3) The operation starts upon detection of the first bar, and the pulse width of the waveform shaping circuit (5) generated by the first space and the second bar is adjusted according to the moving speed of the barcode reader (3) in the longitudinal direction. Each measurement is made by counting clock pulses, and judgment data is predicted when the barcode reader (3) detects a thick bar and a thin bar of a data character. When the barcode reader (3) reaches the data character, it determines whether the first bar of the data character is thick or thin based on this prediction determination data 1, and the first converter (7) determines whether the first bar is thick or thin according to the determination result. ” or r OJ.Thus, the pulse width determination section (6)
The method determines the pulse width of the waveform shaping circuit (5) that indicates the thickness of each bar in the data character, but each time the measured value of the pulse width is obtained, the judgment data is corrected sequentially based on this measured value. , even if the moving speed of the barcode reader (3) changes midway, it can be handled.

However, since the first converter (7) indicates one character with a 9-bit code, if the control section of the vending machine is configured with 8-bit processing, it is easier to perform subsequent processing by converting the 9-bit code into an 8-bit code. becomes. Therefore, in this example, the 9-bit code is further converted into an 8-bit hex code by the second conversion device (8), and a comparison between the 9-bit code and the hex code is shown in FIG. In this example, one barcode pattern includes information of two characters, and the selling price is indicated by the binary hexahood detected from the one barcode pattern. Figure 5 shows the selling price expressed in binary hexacode.
For example, the barcode pattern shown in FIG. 2 is a hexacode according to the second conversion device (8), and the upper digit is 01 (8 bits, oooo).

001) The lower digit is 00 (8 bits, ooooo.

OO), which represents the selling price of 100 yen. However, the hexacodes 01 and 00 of the levers may be stored as sales price data in the storage means, but in the calculation process in actual vending operations, the sales price data that has been set using the hexacode is converted into decimal code before calculation processing. need to be converted to . Therefore, in this example, when setting the selling price, a third converter, which will be revealed later, converts the hexa code into a decimal code, and stores this as selling price data in the storage means. Therefore, the third converter converts hex codes 01 and 00 into decimal codes 10 and converts them into 1-byte binary codes (00010000
) to output.

Another example of selling price is the price in 10 yen increments from 10 yen to 90 yen and the price in 10 yen increments from 100 yen to 900 yen.
Prices per 00 yen and 10 from 1ooo yen to 9000 yen
Prices for each 00 yen are OC・01～QC-09,QC-
The hexahoods are set to OB~OC, 13°OC, 15~OC, and 2D, and each digit of the sales price can be represented by a binary hexacode. For example, sales price 11
20 yen is represented by OC.15 representing 1000 yen, OC.OB representing 100 yen, and OC.02 representing 20 yen. In this case, when the 9-bit detection code by the first converter (7>) is converted into a hex code, each of the OC and 15
．． Three barcode patterns are available: QC-OB and QC-02. And at this time the third
The conversion device converts each binary hex code OC.15. QC・
Convert OB, QC・02 to decimal code 112 which is sales price data, 00000001・0001001
It is designed to output as a binary code of 0 and 2 bytes.

To describe a specific example of a bar sheet, FIG. 6 is a bar sheet that includes a bar code specifying a sales column for price setting and a bar code indicating each sales price in 10 yen increments from 10 yen to 260 yen. The bar sheet in Figure 7 shows the amount for each digit of the sales price using barcodes, with barcodes representing amounts in the hundred yen digit from 100 yen to 900 yen, and barcodes in the thousand yen digit. There are barcodes representing amounts ranging from 10 yen to 90 yen.

FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram illustrating the operation when setting prices using the bar sheet of FIG. 6 or 7. FIG. In the figure, a RAM (10) serving as a storage means has a plurality of storage areas corresponding to each of a plurality of sales columns of a vending machine, and this storage area contains sales price data for the corresponding sales column. Store. Further, the selection switches (Sl) (S,) to (S,) are switches that are pressed by a customer who has inserted a predetermined amount of money into the vending machine to specify the product to be purchased. The circuit of this embodiment enters the price setting mode by operating the switch (35), and the control device (16) is controlled by the address encoder (16) which is the address means.
7) gives a control signal to Then press any selection switch (51) (S=) corresponding to the sales column for which you want to set the price.
~ (S,) can be operated completely, and the selection switch manual buffer (
When selection switch data is generated in step 23), the address encoder (17) specifies the address of the RAM<10) that stores the sales price of the sales column corresponding to the operated selection switch. After that, the bar food showing the arbitrary selling price shown in FIG. 6 or 7 is rubbed with a barcode reader (3), and the two hex codes outputted from the second converter (8) are transferred to the third converter. e(9) latches the control signal input from the control device (16), converts it into a decimal code, and introduces it into the RAM (10) to set the price. At this time, the control device (16) functions as a writing means, and the RA
Give a write signal to M(10).

For example, when the barcode (18) on the bar sheet shown in Fig. 6 is rubbed from left to right with the rubber code reader (3), the second conversion device (7) will respond in two ways based on the detection force of the detection device (2). Outputs hex code 02.02. When the instruction decoder (15) decodes this hex code 02.02 as data indicating the selling price, the control device (16) outputs a control signal to the third conversion device (9). Therefore, the third converter (9) converts 02.02 to decimal code 22, and the RAM (10) converts 02.02 to 0010.
It is stored as 0010 and 1 byte. On the other hand, although it is not shown in the barcode, when the second converter (8) outputs the hexacode 02/OA indicating the selling price data of 1,200 yen, the third converter (9> converts it into a decimal hood 120). , RAM (10) is 00000001・00100
It is stored as 000 and 2 bytes.

To input 180 yen using the bar sheet shown in Fig. 8, rub the bar code (20) from left to right with the bar code reader (3), and the detection force of the detection device (2) will be used to input the amount of 180 yen. 2 conversion device (8) has two types of hexahood OC.
Output OB. This hexacode QC-OB is 100
This indicates that the content of the address that stores 10 yen data along with yen data is to be cleared, and when decoded by the instruction decoder (15), the control device (16>
A control signal is output to the conversion device (9). Therefore, the third
The conversion device (9) converts the QC-OB into a decimal code of 10 and outputs it, and the specified address of the RAM (10) is set to 00.
010000 can be stored. And then the barcode (
21) from left to right with the bar food reader (3), the second conversion device (8
) outputs two types of hexacode OC・08. When the instruction decoder (15) decodes that this hexacode OC.08 indicates 80 yen, the control device (16) outputs a control signal to the third conversion device (9>).

Therefore, the third conversion device (9) converts into a decimal hood 8, so 8 is introduced into the lower 4 bits of the designated address of the RAM (10) and stored as 00011000 in 1 byte.

In the above embodiment, one barcode pattern has the information amount of two characters, but it can also be made to have one character or more than three characters by increasing or decreasing the number of sales columns and the number of sales prices. If one bar food pattern is one character, if the bar code is set so that the detection food by the first converter (7) directly shows the selling price data by decimal, the second converter (8) and 3 converter (9) step is omitted. Although such a method narrows the range of selling prices to be set, the range of selling prices can be expanded by using it in combination with a switch.

For example, the barcode can be set from 10 yen to 990 yen,
If you configure the system so that 1,000 yen signal, 2,000 yen signal, etc. are input using switches other than the barcode, sales prices below 990 yen will be set only for bar food, and sales prices over 990 yen will be set at bar food. 1000 yen signal/2000 yen signal generated from cords and switches etc.
You can set it with...

(G) Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, the price setting device can be miniaturized because the sales price input device is composed of a barcode representing the sales price and a detection device that converts the barcode pattern into an electrical signal. In addition, it is possible to significantly reduce the signal harness for inputting the selling price by simply connecting the lead wire of the barcode league to the control circuit board of the vending machine. Moreover, the operation is easy because the sales column can be specified by operating the selection switch and the sales price can be set simply by applying the barcode to the barcode league.

Since the action of the setter pressing the selection switch necessarily involves the action of checking the sales column, the sales price can be reliably set for the desired sales column.

Furthermore, when increasing or decreasing the types of sales prices to be set or changing prices, there is an advantage that this can be handled simply by replacing the barcode sheet without changing the mechanism.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 shows a price setting device for a vending machine according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of operation, Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the main part of a barcode league, and Fig. 4 is a 9-bit code based on a barcode pattern. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing the contents indicated by two types of hexa codes, Figs. 6 and 7 respectively show embodiments of bar sheets used for price setting, and Fig. 8 The figure is a control block diagram showing the sales price setting operation. (1)... Barcode sheet, (2)... Detection device, (7), (8), (9)... Conversion device,
(16)...control device, (17)...address means, (S,)(S*)~(S,>...selection switch).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a vending machine equipped with multiple selection switches for specifying products to purchase corresponding to multiple sales columns, a bar sheet with a barcode printed with the selling price to be set on the vending machine, and multiple storage means having a plurality of storage areas corresponding to each of the sales columns and storing sales price data set for the sales column; and storage means for converting the barcode pattern into an electrical signal. a detecting device for outputting, a converting device for converting the detected force by the detecting device into selling price data that can be recognized by a vending machine, and a converting device for converting the detected force by the detecting device into selling price data that can be recognized by a vending machine; A price setting device for a vending machine comprising an address means for addressing a storage area, and a writing means for writing selling price data output by the conversion device into the storage area addressed by the address means.