JPS63251890A - Video cassette rental apparatus - 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 (Al Industrial Field of Application) The present invention relates to a video cassette rental system that automatically rents video cassettes desired by customers.

Summary of the Invention The present invention provides a video cassette rental device that includes a slot table that stores management data including slot numbers, cassette numbers, and rental fees, and that performs rental operations by referring to the table. A rental table that stores rental management data including the customer's ID number for each rented video cassette, a shutter that is normally closed at the rental and return slot, and a shutter that is closed only when the customer's ID number is present in the rental table at the time of return. In order to prevent incorrect video cassettes from being returned to the lending/returning slot or being tampered with, the shutter is opened only when the customer is recorded in the lending record. This is what I did.

(Jin) (6) Prior Art A conventionally proposed video cassette rental device includes a plurality of slots for storing video cassettes, a moving device for moving the video cassette between each slot and a rental/return slot, a slot number, It also includes a slot table that stores management data including cassette numbers and rental fees. In the process of lending or returning a video cassette specified by a customer, the slot position and fee for the video cassette are determined by referring to the slot table, and the moving device moves the video cassette between the determined slot and the rental/return slot. In such mobile rental devices, video cassettes can always be inserted into the rental/return slot.

(d) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, if the video cassette can be always inserted into the rental/return slot, there is a possibility that the mobile device will malfunction if the wrong video cassette of a different size is inserted at the time of return. .

Furthermore, if a foreign object other than a video cassette is placed on the rental device, the rental device itself may malfunction.

The purpose of this invention is to prevent an incorrect video cassette from being returned to the lending/returning slot or being tampered with by opening the shutter only when the customer is recorded in the lending record at the time of return. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a video cassette rental device.

(Q) Means for Solving the Problems This invention provides a plurality of slots for storing video cassettes, a moving device for moving the video cassettes between each slot and a rental/return slot, and a slot number.

A slot table that stores management data including a cassette number and a rental fee is provided, and the slot table is used to determine the slot position and fee for a video cassette specified or returned by a customer by referring to the slot table. In addition, the video cassette is moved by the moving device during the lending or return process, the fee is settled by cash or card, and when the video cassette is returned, the customer's ID number is confirmed before the return process is performed. In the video cassette rental device, a shutter which is normally closed is provided at the rental/return slot, a rental table is provided for storing rental management data including rental video cassettes and customer ID numbers for each rental video cassette, and the rental table is further provided with a shutter that is normally closed. The present invention is characterized in that the shutter is opened only when a customer's ID number is present on the lending table.

(f) Function In the video cassette rental apparatus according to the present invention, when a video cassette rental process is performed, rental management data regarding the video cassette is newly added to the rental table. The rental management data includes rental video cassettes and customer ID numbers. When returning a video cassette, this table is checked to see if the customer's ID number exists. If it exists, the shutter will open, otherwise it will not open. Therefore, if the ID number does not exist, it is assumed that a video cassette that has not been lent out is about to be returned to the circulation slot, so by not opening the shutter, an incorrect video cassette can be put into the circulation slot. can be prevented. Also, since the shutter remains closed during normal times, it will not be tampered with.

Embodiment FIG. 2 is a schematic external view of a video cassette rental apparatus used in an embodiment of the present invention. Rental device body 1
The entire surface has a CRT 2, card slot 3, bill slot 4,
A coin slot 5, a mode selection key 6, a change lower, a slip exit 8, a video cassette exit 9 (loan/return slot), and a video cassette selection key 10 are provided.

The CRT 2 displays operation messages and the like to the customer. The card insertion slot 3 accepts a credit card as an ID card. The bill slot 4 and the coin slot 5 accept bills and coins, respectively, when paying charges.

The mode selection key 6 is composed of a rental key and a return key, and is a key for selecting rental mode or return mode. When change is generated during fare settlement, the change is released to the change lower. At the slip exit 8, a slip is released when payment is made, and at the video cassette exit 9, a video cassette desired by the customer is released from an internal slot at the time of rental, and the video cassette is returned by the customer when returning. Store the cassette.

As will be described later, between each of the plurality of slots provided inside the rental device main body 1 and this bidet holder outlet 9, there is a cassette ejecting and storing mechanism (moving device) for moving the bidet holder. It is provided.

The bidet talent selection key 10 is composed of a plurality of keys, each key is associated with a video cassette number, and the title name of the bidet talent is displayed on the key top of each key.

FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view of the video cassette.

As shown in the figure, a bar code 11 representing a video cassette number is printed on the back end of the video cassette. A barcode league is provided in the cassette ejecting and storing mechanism that moves between the slot and the video cassette exit, and when a video cassette is stored in this cassette ejecting and storing mechanism, the barcode league displays the barcode 1.
1 is read.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the video cassette rental apparatus. The CPU 20 includes a memory 21 consisting of ROM and RAM, a rental device 11022, a video cassette selection key 11023, a CRTI 1024, and a card league 110.
25, Cash processing ■1026, Printer l1027, CA
TI1028 is connected by bus. The video cassette selection key 1023 has the video cassette selection key 10, the CRTI 1024 has the CRT2, and the card league 11
025 has a card reader 30, and cash processing 11026 has a banknote deposit processing device 31 and a coin deposit/withdrawal processing device 32.
However, a receipt/journal printer 33 is connected to each printer l1027. Also CATI10
28 is connected to a credit center (not shown) via a line.

Furthermore, the rental device 11022 is connected to a cassette take-out/storage mechanism 35 (moving mechanism), a lending/returning port shutter 36, and a barcode league 34, respectively.

The bill deposit processing device 31 performs a deposit process for bills inserted into the bill slot 4 . The coin deposit/withdrawal processing device 32 is
The coins inserted into the coin slot 5 are deposited, and if there is change, the change is withdrawn. The cassette removal/storage mechanism 35, which is a moving device, moves the cassette between the plurality of slots provided inside the rental device main body 1 and the video cassette exit 9, as described above. The rental/return rochasota 36 is provided behind the video cassette person exit 9 and is controlled to open only when necessary. The barcode league 34 is provided in the cassette take-out/storage mechanism 35 and reads the barcode printed on the back of the video cassette being returned.

The card league 30 includes a magnetic head for reading a customer's ID card (credit card), and
It is equipped with a terminal for reading a memory card, which will be described later.

FIG. 5 shows a map of the memory 21. Area M1 stores system programs, and area M2 stores application programs for performing rental operations and return operations. Area M3 is also used as a work area, and area M4. M5 constitutes the slot table 8 lending table, respectively.

Figure 6 shows a card reader 30 inserted into the card insertion slot 3.
1 shows a top view of a memory card from which data is read. This memory card includes a non-volatile IC memory 41 to which data can be written electrically, and data can be written to and written to the IC memory 41 through contacts 40. This is performed by a personal computer (not shown). When the memory card with data written thereon is read by the card league 30, the data stored in the IC memory 41 is arranged in the slot table M4 of the rental device. Note that the data stored in the IC memory 41 is
As will be described later, management data blocks corresponding to all video cassette selection key numbers are stored, and a change flag is attached at the end of each program. Only those whose change flag is "1" are subject to change of management data. Therefore, in the rental device, only the management data block whose change flag is "l" when the memory card is read is rewritten.

FIG. 7 shows a structural diagram of the cassette ejecting and storing mechanism.

The video cassette storage shelf 50 is divided into vertical and horizontal slots, and each slot can accommodate one bidet cartridge. That is, a total of 100 video cassettes can be stored in this video cassette storage 1115 degrees. The bidet is stored and taken out from the side with the front lid facing down.

Horizontal rails 57.57° are provided above and below the front surfaces of the storage shelves 5, 0, and guide plates 59,59' are slidably attached to the horizontal rails 57, 57°. Further, the guide plates 59 and 59' are engaged with belts 55 and 55 degrees driven by a motor 56 and a shaft 58 that transmits the driving force of the motor 56.
It moves in the horizontal axis direction by the rotation of .

There are two vertical shaft rails 5 between the upper and lower guide plates 59.59°.
4 is attached to the vertical shaft rail 54, and a video power supply section 51 is slidably attached to this vertical shaft rail 54. This bidet center conveying section 51 has an upper guide plate 59.
It is driven in the longitudinal direction by a motor 52 and a belt 53 attached to. That is, by appropriately driving the motors 56 and 52, the video cassette transport section 51 can be moved to a position facing all the slots of the video cassette storage shelf 20 and the video cassette outlet 9.

The bidet storage unit 51 is formed into a cylindrical shape capable of storing a video cassette I with its front lid facing downward, and one opening is open to the bidet storage shelf 50 side. The other opening opens toward the front panel. A motor and a feed belt (not shown) are provided inside the video cassette conveying section 51, and the video cassette is taken out from the video cassette storage shelf 50, the video cassette is stored in the video cassette storage shelf 50, and the video cassette is stored in the video cassette storage shelf 50. Ejection of the video cassette to the exit 9 can take place. Further, a barcode reader 34 is provided at the upper part of the video cassette transport section 51. This barcode reader 34 reads the barcode printed on the back side of the video cassette.

Further, behind the video cassette exit 9, a lending/returning port shutter 36 is arranged so as to be openable/closeable. This shade 7
When the holder 36 is closed, the video cassette cannot be completely inserted into the video cassette outlet 9, and the video cassette cannot be discharged from the video cassette conveyor 51 to the video cassette outlet 9.

FIG. 8(A) shows an IC memory map of the memory card. The number of blocks is 1, which is the total number of cassette selection keys.
It is 00. Each block consists of a key number (video cassette selection key number), title name, cassette number, slot number 6 fee, and change flag. Blocks whose change flag is "1" are subject to change. These data are written by a personal computer (not shown) or the like.

FIG. 8(B) shows a slot table set in the memory 21 of the rental device main body. The number of blocks is 100, which is the number of video cassette selection keys, and each block includes a key number, title name, cassette number, and slot number. , fee, rental flag, and rental not allowed flag. Management data of each block is referenced in rental operation or return operation. For example, when the cassette selection key 2 is operated in a rental operation, this table is referred to to obtain the slot position (slot number) in order to move the video cassette transport section 51 to the slot position corresponding to the selection key. Also, when paying the fee, the user refers to this slot table to know the fee. At the time of return operation, the bar code of the cassette returned by the customer is read and the slot position corresponding to the cassette number is obtained from this table. In this way, rental operations and return operations are performed while referring to the management data of the slot table.

FIG. 8(C) shows the rental table. This rental table is created when a rental operation is performed, and as shown in the figure, each block is composed of a cassette number, rental date, ID number, and fee. The ID number here uses the account number of the person recorded on the credit card.Next, the operation of the video cassette rental apparatus described above will be explained. FIGS. 1(A) to 1(D) are flowcharts showing the operation of the apparatus.

When the power is turned on, initial processing is first performed at step n1, and at n2 a message "Select mode J" is displayed on the CRT 2. At n3 to n5, the mode selection key 6 and the attendant key provided inside the main body of the device 2 are displayed. , waits for an interrupt from one of the timer interrupts provided in the CPU 20.When the mode selection key is pressed, the process moves to the rental/return operation at n6, and when the attendant key is pressed, the process moves to the video cassette exchange operation.Also. When the timer interrupt occurs, the process moves to the lending table update operation.Although the timer interrupt may occur at any arbitrary time, it is assumed here that the interrupt occurs at 0:00 and 12:00 every day.

■Rental operation When the mode selection key 6 is pressed, Fig. 1 (B)
Proceed to the operation shown in . The mode selection key 6 is composed of a rental key and a return key, and first, it is determined in nlo which key has been pressed. If it is a rental key, the process moves to the rental operation below nll. first"
Select video cassette J is displayed to prompt the customer to operate the cassette selection key 10. When any of the video cassette selection keys 10 is pressed, the management data block corresponding to that key number is searched from the slot table (n13). As a result of the search, if the lending flag for that block is "l", the video tape is currently being lent out, so you can select it again because the cassette is being lent out.
is displayed and returns to the original n2. When the lending flag of the corresponding block is in the reset state, the message "Insert card" is displayed to prompt the user to insert a credit card, and when the card is inserted, the correctness of the card is checked (
nlB). If the card is not correct, it will be displayed as unusable and the process will return to n2. When it is confirmed that the card is correct, the total number of rental table records for the ID number (account number) recorded on the card is searched from the table. If the total number of ID numbers, that is, the total number of cassettes lent to the owner of that card, exceeds a certain number, "This card cannot be used" will be displayed to restrict further video cassette rentals. and return. If the number of loans is less than a certain number, CAT authorization is performed, that is, an inquiry is made to a credit center to inquire about the creditworthiness of the owner of the card. If the authorization is not OK, that is, if the ID number (account number) of the card is on the negative list of the credit center, the process advances to n22 and a message indicating that the card cannot be used is displayed.

If the authorization is OK, the video cassette transport unit 5 is placed in the slot position of the management data block searched in n13.
Move 1. Then, the video cassette is taken out from the slot (n25).

Next, the shutter 36 is opened, and the video cassette transport section 51
is moved again to the position of the video cassette outlet 9 and the corresponding video cassette is ejected (n27). Next, the slot table and lending table are updated. That is, the lending flag of the corresponding management data block is set to "1" in the slot table, and a new block is added to the lending table. As described above, this block is composed of the cassette number, lending date, ID number, and fee.

The voucher/journal is then printed, the voucher is ejected, and the shutter 36 is closed again (n30) to end the rental operation.

(2) Return operation If the mode selection key pressed at n3 of the idle routine (shown in FIG. 1(A)) is the return key, the return operation from n40 is performed. In n40, "insert your card"
is displayed to prompt the user to insert a credit card. When a card is inserted, it is then determined whether the ID number in the card data is stored in the lending table. If it does not exist, display "Not registered -" (
n43) Return to idle routine. - First, the shutter 36
Open <(n44), and then click ``Insert video cassette 1''.
is displayed and waits for the video cassette to be inserted into the video cassette exit 9. When the video cassette is inserted, the bar code (cassette number) of the video cassette is read by the bar code reader 34 at n47, and if the video cassette can be read correctly, the video cassette is carried and stored in the corresponding slot. Note that the relevant slot position at this time is obtained by searching the slot table for the management data block corresponding to the read cassette number. Next, the fee is calculated from the rental table, the message "Enter fee" is displayed, and the fee settlement process is performed at n52. Once payment is completed, the slot table and rental table will be updated. That is, in the slot table, the lending flag of the corresponding management data block is reset. Also, the corresponding block is deleted from the lending table. Then, the slip and journal are printed, the slip is ejected, and the original idle routine is returned.

If the cassette number cannot be read correctly in n48, the process advances to n60 and below. First, the message ``Insert the video cassette correctly'' and the message ``Input the video cassette number'' are displayed to prompt the user to input the video cassette number. At this time, the cassette selection key 10 is used to input the cassette number. Next, the message "Insert video cassette" is displayed and the video cassette is inserted again. This time, do not read the cassette number (please store the video cassette in the corresponding slot n65) and calculate the fee. Then, the non-rental flag of the corresponding management data block is set (n67), and the process proceeds to the fee settlement process from n51 onwards.

In the above process, the shutter 36 is opened for the first time when the corresponding ID number is found in the lending table at n44, and the shutter 36 is closed when the return operation is completed (n55), so when necessary. Otherwise, the shutter 36 remains closed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent an incorrect cassette from being inserted into the video cassette exit 9 or from being tampered with.

(2) Video cassette exchange operation When the attendant key provided in the rental apparatus body is pressed in the idle routine, the process proceeds from n4 to n7 and moves to the video cassette exchange operation.

FIG. 1(D) shows this operation. First, the message ``Insert memory card'' is displayed on the n70, prompting the staff member to insert the memory card into the card insertion slot 3. The data shown in A) is inserted. Then, when this memory card is inserted into the card insertion slot 3 at n71, the card reader 30 reads the data stored in the IC memory 41 via the contacts 40 of the memory card. Then, the blocks whose change flags are set are rearranged in the slot table.In other words, the blocks whose change flags are set are rewritten.For example, in the example shown in Fig. 8, the key number is 1. Since the change flag of and 2 is set, change the part of the slot table corresponding to this block.In other words, change the cassette number of key number 1 from 1001 to 1002, and change the fee of key number 2 from 600 yen. Change the price to 700 yen.Perform the above processing for all blocks for which the change flag is set and return to the original idle routine ■Lending table update operation If there is a timer interrupt in the idle routine, n8
The process moves on to the lending table update operation. FIG. 1(E) shows this operation. As described above, timer interrupts occur at 0:00 and 12:00 every day, and the same operation is executed each time at those times. At n80, the lending table is read and it is determined whether each block is within the maximum lending 'M limit. If the video cassette is rented for one night and two days, the rent date of each block is compared with the sum of, for example, seven days. For blocks that have exceeded the lending date for more than 7 days, that is, blocks that have exceeded the maximum lending period, the blocks are deleted at n82 and printed in a journal (n83). Perform the above checks on all blocks in the lending table and end.

In the above-mentioned lending table updating operation, since those whose maximum lending period has passed are automatically and sequentially deleted, the problem of not being able to accommodate the lending video cassettes in the lending table is eliminated. In other words, there is no need to increase the memory size. Moreover, since deleted blocks are printed in a journal, blocks whose maximum lending period has passed can be managed based on the output results of this journal.

Moreover, since the only blocks stored in the lending table are those within the maximum lending period, there is an advantage that the search time in n41 is also shortened.

th＞Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, a lending table is provided separately from the slot table, and an ID number for identifying a customer of a video cassette that has already been lent out is recorded on this lending table. Since it is checked whether the customer's ID number is present or not, it can be immediately determined whether the video cassette to be returned is a video cassette without an ID number, that is, a video cassette that has not been rented out. Further, since the shutter does not open when a video cassette without an ID number is to be returned, it is possible to prevent the video cassette from being inserted into the rental/return slot. Similarly, since the video cassette is normally closed, it can be prevented from being tampered with.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1A to 1E are flowcharts showing the operation of the video cassette rental apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a schematic external view of the rental device, Fig. 3 is a rear perspective view of the bidet center, Fig. 4 is a block diagram of the rental device, Fig. 5 is a memory map, and Fig. 6 is a memory map. FIG. 7 is a plan view of the card, FIG. 7 is a structural diagram of the cassette ejecting and storing mechanism, FIG. 8(A) is a diagram showing an IC memory map, and FIGS. 8(B) and 8(C) are a slot table and lending table, respectively.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Equipped with a plurality of slots for storing video cassettes, a moving device that moves the video cassettes between each slot and the rental/return slot, and a slot table that stores management data including slot numbers, cassette numbers, and rental fees. , the slot position and fee for the video cassette designated or returned by the customer are determined by referring to the slot table, and the video cassette is moved between the determined slot and the rental/return slot using the moving device to perform the rental or return process. At the same time, the fee will be settled by cash or card,
Furthermore, in a video cassette rental device that performs return processing after confirming the customer's ID number when returning a video cassette, the rental and return opening is provided with a shutter that is normally closed, and the rental video cassette is
and a rental table for storing rental management data including a customer's ID number for each rented video cassette, and means for opening the shutter only when the customer's ID number is present in the rental table at the time of return. A video cassette rental device.