KR100365043B1 - Method and system for watching lack status of goods in a vending machine and abnormal status of the vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a method and a system for monitoring a product shortage condition and an abnormal condition of a vending machine. a) registering the management data of the vending machine, b) determining whether the vending machine is in a product fulfillment state or a normal state, c) transmitting data when the vending machine is in a shortage or abnormal state, d. ) Receiving the transmitted data, e) transmitting the received data to a receiver. When abnormal state of vending machine occurs in the above stage, vending machine manager or mechanic can be notified immediately of product shortage or abnormal state so that prompt action can be taken and the inconvenience of occasional inspection can be eliminated, and the efficiency of management Can increase.

Description

METHOOD AND SYSTEM FOR WATCHING LACK STATUS OF GOODS IN A VENDING MACHINE AND ABNORMAL STATUS OF THE VENDING MACHINE}

The present invention relates to a system and method for monitoring a product shortage and abnormal condition of a vending machine, and in particular, a vending machine that can detect a shortage of a product sold in a vending machine and an abnormal state of a device and promptly deliver it to a vending machine manager and a mechanic. The present invention relates to a commodity shortage condition and an abnormal condition monitoring system and method.

In general, vending machines sell a variety of beverages such as coffee, cider, cola, and other tobacco products. From such a vending machine, a user inputs bills or coins to purchase and consume a desired product.

However, if a particular product is sold out in the vending machine, the consumer will not be able to purchase this particular product. To prevent this, the vending machine manager dispatches people at regular intervals to replenish the shortage of goods and coins, and check the state of the vending machine. Checking

Therefore, it is not possible to meet the time when a particular product is out of stock, it is unable to supply the necessary products to consumers in a timely manner, there is a problem that unnecessary people are dispatched to waste time and manpower unnecessarily. In addition, there was a problem that can not be quickly maintenance work because the vending machine does not know the exact time of failure.

The present invention has been invented to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to promptly notify the vending machine manager of the lack of goods sold in the vending machine to supply the goods to the consumer without running out of stock, The present invention provides a system and a method for monitoring a shortage of goods and an abnormal condition of a vending machine, which immediately detects an abnormal condition and notifies the vending machine mechanic so that it can be maintained in a timely manner.

The system according to the present invention for achieving the above object,

In a vending machine selling a large number of products,

A control module embedded in the vending machine for controlling the storage and transmission of vending machine management data;

Means for transmitting data from the control module via a communication network; And

A short message transmission center for storing and confirming management data received through the communication network and transmitting the stored management data to a receiver's mobile communication terminal;

The control module,

Input means for inputting vending machine management data and setting and releasing an operation mode of the system;

Display means for displaying an input state of the input means;

Sensing means installed in the vending machine for generating a signal corresponding to a product shortage condition and an abnormal state of the vending machine; And

And control means for storing the management data input from the input means at a specific address of the memory, and reading out the data stored in the memory based on a threshold generated by the sensing means and outputting the data to the transmission means.

According to the present invention, when a threshold occurs in the sensing means, a vending machine manager or a mechanic can immediately notify a product shortage condition or an abnormal condition and take prompt action.

The method according to the invention,

a) registering management data of the vending machine;

b) determining whether the vending machine is in a product fulfillment state or normal state;

c) transmitting data when the vending machine is in a shortage or abnormal state of a product;

d) receiving the transmitted data; And

e) transmitting the received data to a recipient,

Step b),

b-1) inputting management data of the vending machine;

b-2) storing said management data; And

b-3) setting an operation mode on the vending machine.

According to the present invention, when a situation occurs after pre-registering situations that may occur in the vending machine, the situation can be quickly delivered to the vending machine manager / maintenance worker.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a system according to the present invention.

2 is a block diagram of a control module embedded in a vending machine in accordance with the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating an input unit of FIG. 2.

4 is a view illustrating an attachment state of the sensor unit illustrated in FIG. 2.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for monitoring a product shortage condition and an abnormal condition of a vending machine according to the present invention.

6 is a view showing the registration content according to the present invention.

7 is an example of a message sent in accordance with the present invention.

8 is a flowchart illustrating a shortage product process and an abnormal state process according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings>

10: can drink 20: holder

100: power supply 200: controller

300: sensor unit 400: input unit

500: display 1000: vending machine

2000: mobile communication terminal 3000: mortgage station

4000: Mobile Network 5000: SMSC

6000: Peripheral Base Station 7000: Vending Machine Manager / Maintenance

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a system according to the present invention, and includes a vending machine 1000, a mobile communication terminal 2000 mounted in the vending machine 1000, and an automatic transmission from the mobile communication terminal 2000. A mortgage station 3000 that receives the vending machine management data and transmits it to the SMSC 5000 through the mobile communication network 4000;

The SMSC 5000 storing and transmitting the vending machine management data received through the mobile communication network 4000, and the data output from the SMSC 5000 to the vending machine manager / maintenance worker (7000: hereinafter referred to as a receiver). It consists of a neighboring base station 6000 to transmit.

Here, the mortgage station 3000 refers to a base station having the vending machine 1000 in a service area. In addition, although FIG. 1 illustrates that the receiver 7000 is receiving data from the neighbor base station 6000, the receiver 7000 may receive data from the mortgage station 3000.

This is because the receiver 7000 may be in the service area of the mortgage station 3000.

The mobile communication network 4000 includes a control station, an exchange station and a home location register.

2 is a block diagram of a control module embedded in a vending machine according to the present invention. The power supply unit 100 receives an external AC power and converts the power into power consumed in the vending machine. A sensor unit 300 including a plurality of sensors installed at a plurality of positions in the 1000,

A controller 200 that outputs a control signal to the mobile communication terminal 2000 based on the detection signal of the sensor unit 300, is connected to the controller 200, and sets and releases an operation mode of the system, An input unit 400 for inputting a registration item and a display 500 connected to the controller 200 and displaying an input state of the input unit 400 are included.

Here, the mobile communication terminal 2000 and the controller 200 can be connected by using the RS-232C method.

3 illustrates an example of the input unit 400 of FIG. 2, and the start button 401 initializes the system. The mode set / release button 402 sets and releases the operation mode of the system.

The character unit 404 is composed of a plurality of character keys to enable character input, and the number unit 405 is composed of a plurality of numeric keys to enable numeric input. In addition, the save button 403 allows the input contents of the character unit 404 and the numeral unit 405 to be stored in a memory (not shown).

4 is an example illustrating a mounting state of the sensor unit 300 illustrated in FIG. 2.

4 is a view showing a state in which the sensor unit 300 is mounted on the holders 20 of the can drink 10, the sensor unit 300 is composed of a plurality of light emitting elements and a light receiving element in a pair. The light emitting element and the light receiving element are mounted at a predetermined position on the left and right sides of the holders 20, for example, the left lower portion and the upper right portion of the laid canned beverage 10.

For convenience of description, those mounted on the lower left side of the holders 20 will be described as light receiving elements, and those mounted on the upper right side will be described as light emitting elements.

In this embodiment, the light receiving element is mounted on the lower left side of the fifth can beverage 10, for example, from the lower end of the holders 20 through which the canned beverage 10 is discharged, and the light emitting element is mounted on the upper right side. Is mounted.

The function will be described below.

Each can holder 20 is filled with a predetermined number of canned beverages 10, and in this state, the intensity of a signal sent from the light emitting element of the sensor unit 300 to the light receiving element is constant.

However, each time a consumer purchases the canned beverage 10, the empty space is increased from the top of the holder 20 by the lying height of the canned beverage 10.

Therefore, when the empty space comes to the position where the light emitting element and the light receiving element are mounted, the intensity of the signal sent from the light emitting element to the light receiving element is changed.

The strength of the different signal is sensed by the controller 200, the operation of the controller 200 will be described later.

In the present invention, the strength of the different signal is called a threshold.

In the same way, the light emitting device and the light receiving device may be installed in a coin holder (not shown) to detect a shortage of coins.

In addition, the light emitting device and the light receiving device are mounted on the power supply unit 100 to sense the rated voltage supplied from the power supply unit 100. In this case, when an abnormal voltage occurs, the intensity of the signal received by the light receiving element is changed, and the strength of the different signal is sensed by the controller 200 as in the above.

In the present invention, up to 32 sensors of the sensor unit 300 may be provided, which is currently up to 30 products (including cigarettes, cup coffee, etc. in addition to canned drinks) that are currently sold in vending machines. This is because two more sensors are attached to the coin holder and the power supply unit.

That is, in the present invention, a sensor corresponds to each holder filled with a plurality of beverage cans, and one sensor corresponds to a coin holder and a power supply unit, respectively.

Thus, the threshold of the 32 sensors is sensed by the controller 200.

It goes without saying that the number of the sensors is not limited to 32. For example, a shock sensor (not shown) is attached to a portion of the inside of the front window of the vending machine 1000 (when the window of the vending machine exposed outside is referred to as the outside, the opposite side thereof).

The shock sensor detects a shock amount of a predetermined amount or more and outputs a detection signal to the controller 200. The impact amount is set in advance to a value converted from the experimental value of the degree that the window attached to the vending machine 1000 can be broken by an external impact.

In this way, by installing a shock sensor on the glass window of the vending machine 1000, it is possible to monitor the abnormal state caused by the external shock, the operation will be described later.

1, 5, 6 and 7 will be described in detail the product shortage status and abnormal state monitoring method of the vending machine according to the present invention.

The method according to the present invention initializes the system (S100), registers the management data of the vending machine after initializing the system in the step (S100), and whether the threshold occurs after the step (S200). Determining step (S300) and, if a threshold occurs in the step (S300), determining the threshold value from which sensor (S400), and transmitting the data according to the determination result of the step (S400) ( S500),

Receiving the data transmitted through the step (S500) (S600), checking the data received in the step (S600) (S700), and the data confirmed in the step (S700) vending machine manager It includes the step (S800) for transmitting to the mechanic.

The step S200 includes inputting vending machine management data (S210), storing the management data (S220) and setting an operation mode in the vending machine (S230).

The step S200 is a registration step and is performed by operating the start button 401 of the input unit 400 shown in FIG. 3. That is, when the start button 401 is operated, an input screen is output on the display 500.

The character unit 404 and the numeral unit 405 of the input unit 400 are operated on the input screen to sequentially input data as shown in FIG. 6 (step S210). After inputting one data, the storage button 403 is operated to store the data (step S220).

Specifically, after inputting the position data of the vending machine, for example, this century building 1 (1 means the vending machine in the lobby on the first floor), and then operating the storage button 403, the controller 200 returns the data. To be stored at a specific address in memory.

This process is equally applied after inputting the respective data indicating the shortage of goods (lack of cider, lack of cola, lack of coins, etc.) and abnormal conditions (power supply abnormality, glass breakage). In addition, the process is performed even after the mobile communication terminal number of the vending machine manager / maintenance operator is input.

Subsequently, an operation mode is set by operating the mode setting / release button 402 of the input unit 400 (step S230).

After this registration step is performed, when the canned beverage 10, for example can cider, in each holder 20 continues to be consumed and passes the position where the sensor is mounted, i.e., first, the can cider is placed where the sensor is located. The above threshold is generated when it disappears (step S300).

The threshold is detected by the controller 200, and at the same time, the controller 200 determines that the threshold is generated by a sensor mounted on the holder 20 of the can cider (step S400).

Subsequently, the controller 200 reads and transmits the mobile communication terminal number data of the "sida lack" and the vending machine manager / maintenant stored in a specific address of the memory and transmits the data through the mobile communication terminal 2000 (step S500).

The transmitted data is received and stored in the SMSC 5000 through the mortgage station 3000 and the mobile communication network 4000 (step S500). The SMSC 5000 checks the contents of the received data, that is, data indicating product shortage and the mobile communication terminal number of the vending machine manager / maintenant (step S600).

Thereafter, the SMSC 5000 transmits the received data to the neighboring base station 6000 through the mobile communication network 4000. The neighbor base station 6000 transmits the data to the mobile communication terminal of the receiver 7000.

Accordingly, the mobile communication terminal of the receiver 7000 displays the data 'sida shortage' of FIG. 7A, that is, a message indicating the shortage of goods (step S800).

Here, when the receiver 7000 is in the service area of the mortgage station 3000, data is transmitted through the mortgage station 3000.

By the same method as described above, in the case where the threshold value is generated in the sensor mounted on the coin holder, the message " coin shortage " in Fig. 7B is displayed on the mobile communication terminal of the vending machine manager 4000.

In the case where the threshold value is generated in the sensor mounted on the power supply unit 100, the message " power supply unit abnormality " of FIG. 7C is displayed on the mobile communication terminal of the vending machine mechanic 4000 by the same method as described above.

In addition, even when a shock detected by a shock sensor attached to the window of the vending machine 1000 is detected by a threshold value, that is, a predetermined shock amount or more, the message “window breakage” shown in FIG. It is displayed on the mobile communication terminal of the manager 4000.

8 is a flowchart illustrating a shortage process and an abnormal state process after the transmission process is completed, and the receiver 4000 receiving the data is dispatched to the vending machine.

First, in step S10, the receiver 4000 opens the vending machine 1000 and operates the mode setting / release button 402 of the input unit 400 mounted therein to release the operation mode set in the system.

Subsequently, in step S20, when the "sida shortage" occurs in the above example, the vending machine manager 4000 fills the can 20 with the can cider to solve the shortage of goods. In addition, when a "coin shortage" occurs, the coin shortage state is solved by filling a coin in the coin holder.

Similarly, when the "power supply unit abnormality" is generated, the vending machine mechanic 4000 maintains the power supply unit 100 to solve the abnormal state of the vending machine.

As described above, when the corresponding action is performed in step S20, the mode setting / release button 402 is operated again to return to the previous operation mode (S30).

On the other hand, if the action is not performed in step S20, the process proceeds to step S40 and waits for the action to be performed. When the corresponding action is performed after the step S40 (S50), the operation returns to the operation mode as described above (S30).

If the action is not performed after the step S40 (S50), the process proceeds to step S40 again to wait for the execution of the action. In other words, this case is applied to a case in which the working time is slightly longer than that of filling the canned beverage, such as " power supply unit abnormality ".

In the present embodiment, the abnormal state of the vending machine has been described as an example of an abnormality in the power supply unit and breakage of the glass window.

Therefore, as soon as a shortage of goods sold at the vending machine or an abnormal state of the device occurs, the matter is notified to the vending machine manager or the mechanic and the corresponding action can be performed.

As described above, according to the present invention, when a shortage of goods in the vending machine or an abnormal state of the vending machine occurs, it can be promptly notified to the vending machine manager or a mechanic so that quick actions can be performed. Therefore, efficient management of the vending machine can be realized, and unnecessary waste of manpower can be prevented.

Although the present invention has been described in detail by the above embodiments, various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Claims (11)

A vending machine for selling a plurality of goods; A control module embedded in the vending machine for controlling the storage and transmission of vending machine management data; Means for transmitting data from the control module via a communication network; And And a short message transmission center for storing and confirming management data received through the communication network and transmitting the received management data to a mobile communication terminal of a receiver. The method of claim 1, wherein the control module, Input means for inputting vending machine management data and setting and releasing an operation mode of the system; Display means for displaying an input state of the input means; Sensing means installed in the vending machine for generating a signal corresponding to a product shortage condition and an abnormal state of the vending machine; And And control means for storing management data inputted from the input means at a specific address of the memory, and reading out data stored in the memory based on a threshold generated by the sensing means and outputting the stored data to the transmission means. Characteristic shortage and abnormal condition monitoring system of the vending machine. 3. The vending machine management data according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the vending machine management data includes position data of the vending machine, data indicating product shortages, data indicating an abnormal state of the vending machine, and mobile communication terminal number data of the receiver. Vending machine shortage and abnormal condition monitoring system. 3. The product shortage condition and abnormal state monitoring system according to claim 2, wherein the sensing means is mounted at predetermined positions on the left and right sides of the product holder to generate a signal corresponding to a shortage condition of the product. The system of claim 2, wherein the sensing means is mounted to a power supply unit and generates a signal corresponding to an abnormal voltage of the power supply unit. The system of claim 2, wherein the sensing means is mounted inside the front glass of the vending machine to generate a signal corresponding to a predetermined amount of impact or more. a) registering management data of the vending machine; b) determining whether the vending machine is in a product fulfillment state or normal state; c) transmitting data when the vending machine is in a shortage or abnormal state of a product; d) receiving the transmitted data; And and e) transmitting the received data to a receiver. The method of claim 7, wherein step b) b-1) inputting management data of the vending machine; b-2) storing said management data; And b-3) a method for monitoring a product shortage condition and an abnormal condition of the vending machine, comprising: setting an operation mode in the vending machine. The method of claim 7 or 8, wherein the information registered in the step b) includes location data of the vending machine, data indicating lack of goods, data indicating an abnormal state of the vending machine, and a mobile communication terminal number of the receiver. To monitor the shortage and abnormal conditions of the vending machine. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein whether or not the product satisfactory state or the normal state of the step c) is determined by the generation of a threshold indicating the product shortage and abnormal state. The method of claim 7, wherein the abnormal state of the vending machine includes a power supply abnormal state and a broken glass window.