KR20230138628A - Self service gas station system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a self-fueling system comprising a plurality of pumps driven to supply oil from a plurality of oil tanks and a plurality of self-lubricators including an ODT provided on the front and back, respectively, wherein the ODT and the pump of the self-lubricator are provided. Point Of Sale (POS) for communicating with others to send and receive various data, settle store prices, and manage tasks for store operation; and a communication control unit that controls communication between the ODT and pumps and the POS, wherein the communication control unit communicates with the ODTs, and the ODT transmits the event to the POS when an event occurs among the connected pumps. And, the communication control unit communicates with the pump and the POS where the event occurred, maintains communication with the pump while the event is in progress, and stops communication with the pump when the event ends. A self-fueling system is provided.

Description

Self-fueling system{SELF SERVICE GAS STATION SYSTEM}

The present invention relates to a self-fueling system.

Generally, a gas pump is installed at a gas station that is connected to a gas tank and allows the vehicle to be refueled. In these gas pumps, a fuel gun is installed through an oil hose, and the fuel attendant performs fueling by inserting the fuel gun into the fuel filler port of the vehicle. At this time, the ODT installed on or connected to the gas pump displays the fuel quantity and the main cost calculated by multiplying this fuel quantity by the fuel unit price. Drivers will be able to check the current fuel status and prepare for payment through the display device.

Like a general POS system, the gas station POS system has the function of processing various information about gas station sales, easily identifying the status of the gas station related to sales, and facilitating management of the gas station.

In addition, an additional function of the gas station POS in addition to the general POS is that an outdoor terminal (ODT) is installed together with or integrated with the gas pump and is used as a terminal to input information related to fueling and customers. The gas pump consists of two ODTs on the front and back and up to eight pumps.

The gas station POS communicates with the ODT and pump of the gas pump connected to the oil tank to collect real-time sales information, such as the sales volume payment method for each gas pump. The communication method between POS and gas pumps is that ODT communication and pump communication are separated and communication is performed through a single communication port. However, in terms of communication technology, ODT and pump communication are performed separately.

In the case of a gas pump with a total of 4 fuel guns, 2 on the front and 2 on the back, there are 2 ODTs and 4 pumps. If the front ODT is called the 1st ODT, the back ODT is the 2nd ODT, the front pump is the 1st pump, the 2nd pump, and the back pump is the 3rd pump and 4th pump, then when one gas pump and the POS communicate, the communication subject Inforce communicates with all registered ODTs and pumps sequentially or in odd-even order by separating ODTs and pumps in the following order: 1st ODT ⇒ 2nd ODT ⇒ 1st pump ⇒ 2nd pump ⇒ 3rd pump ⇒ 4th pump. or communicate in the following order: 1st ODT ⇒ 1st pump ⇒ 2nd pump ⇒ 2nd ODT ⇒ 3rd pump ⇒ 4th pump, which is the method of communicating between the communicating ODT and the pump connected to the ODT. Both methods communicate sequentially with all ODTs and all pumps.

When registering and using up to 16 ODTs and 32 pumps in one POS, the POS must perform 16 ODT communications and 32 pump communications. As the status of the gas pump may change and POS processing may occur, communications must continue sequentially. It consists of

If the status of the first pump changes and the status needs to be transmitted to the POS, if the POS is communicating with the second pump at that time, according to the above sequence as shown in FIG. 4, in the case of the first method, After communicating with the 2nd pump, the 3rd pump ⇒ 4th pump... 32nd pump ⇒ 1st ODT... ⇒ 16ODT communication can be performed with the first pump.

Therefore, the conventional gas station POS system has a problem in which communication between the gas pump and the POS is not achieved at an appropriate time.

Korean registered patent 10-2029848 Korean public utility model 20-1998-055689 Korean public patent 10-2015-0113463 Korean public patent 10-2020-0139959

In order to solve the above problems, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a POS system for self-service gas stations that can improve the communication speed between gas pumps and POS by up to 8 times or more.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention,

In a self-fueling system comprising a plurality of pumps driven to supply oil from a plurality of oil tanks and a plurality of self-lubricators including ODTs provided on the front and back, respectively,

POS (Point Of Sale) for communicating with the ODT and pumps of the self-service gas pump to transmit and receive various data, to settle store prices and manage tasks for store operation; and

It includes a communication control unit that controls communication between the ODT and pumps and the POS,

The communication control unit communicates with the ODTs,

If an event occurs among the connected pumps, the ODT transmits the event to the POS,

The communication control unit communicates with the pump and the POS where the event occurred, maintains communication with the pump while the event is in progress, and stops communication with the pump when the event ends. Provides a system.

The communication control unit is characterized in that it stops communication of the connected ODT when the pump is refueling during ODT communication and resumes connected ODT communication when the refueling ends.

When transmitting a command from the POS to one of the pumps, the communication control unit transmits the command to the corresponding pump even if an event is not delivered from the ODT and stops communication with the pump when the transfer command function ends. It is characterized by

According to the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above, the communication speed between self-gas pumps and POS can be improved by more than 8 times, thereby increasing customer operation speed, thereby improving the turnover rate of gas stations, contributing to increased gas station sales, and equipment communication errors. A POS system for self-service gas stations can be provided that can reduce the probability of occurrence.

Figure 1 is a diagram schematically showing a gas pump at a self-service gas station.
Figure 2 is a diagram showing a self-fueling system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating communication control of a self-fueling system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 4 is a diagram explaining communication control of a conventional self-fueling system.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail so that those skilled in the art can easily practice it. Since the present invention can be modified in various ways and can have various embodiments, specific embodiments will be described in detail by illustrating them in the drawings. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to specific embodiments, and should be understood to include all changes, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and technical scope of the present invention.

Terms containing ordinal numbers, such as first, second, etc., may be used to describe various components, but the components are not limited by the terms. The above terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, a first component may be named a second component, and similarly, the second component may also be named a first component without departing from the scope of the present invention. The term and/or includes any of a plurality of related stated items or a combination of a plurality of related stated items.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the technical field to which the present invention pertains. Terms defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning in the context of the related technology, and unless explicitly defined in the present application, should not be interpreted in an ideal or excessively formal sense. No.

Figure 1 is a diagram schematically showing a gas pump at a self-service gas station, and Figure 2 is a diagram showing a POS system at a self-service gas station according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the self-fueling system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a gas pump 100, a POS 300, and a communication control unit 200 that controls communication between the POS 300 and the gas pump 100.

The gas pump 100 is installed at a gas station, connected to an oil tank, and receives oil from the oil tank. A plurality of pumps 120 supply oil according to the type of oil, and depending on the type, it is a two-ply gas pump or a four-ply gas pump. It can be composed of a gas pump or a 6-ply gas pump. Additionally, a plurality of gas pumps 100 are generally installed at a gas station, and for example, each gas pump 100 is identified as 'Unit 1', 'Unit 2', etc.

The gas pump 100 has an outdoor terminal (110, ODT: OUTDOOR TERMINAL) placed on the front and back, respectively. The ODT (110) provides a screen UI for each fueling procedure. The ODT (110) has a touch screen, a card reader, It may include a bill recognizer, receipt output unit, barcode scanner, communication unit, and control unit. The touchscreen provides screens related to fuel settings. The card reader can read a credit card, etc., obtain card information, and transmit the obtained card information to the POS (200) or VAN server, which will be described later, to process payment. The bill acceptor recognizes deposited bills and allows payment processing to proceed. The receipt printing unit can print a card statement or receipt for gas payment. The communication unit performs communication between the ODT (110) and POS. The control unit controls the operation of each component, displays a settings screen for refueling according to an input signal through the touch screen, and after the settings for refueling and payment of the refueling price are completed through the settings screen, the refueling request is made. When the switch operates, the pump 120 is controlled to supply oil through the fuel gun.

The POS (300) has a function that facilitates gas station management by processing various information about gas station sales and easily identifying the status of gas stations related to sales. Gas station business management is performed based on various data related to fueling received from a plurality of gas pumps 100 through the communication control unit 200.

The communication control unit 200 is a communication control program responsible for controlling communication between the POS and the gas pump. The communication control unit 200 controls the operation of each gas pump and simultaneously transmits various data related to fueling received from each gas pump 100 to the POS 300. Gas pump control information and gas pump status information are transmitted and received through communication between the gas pump 100 and the POS 300. The communication control unit 200 can implement communication using a communication module capable of wired, wireless, or integrated wired and wireless connection. At this time, the communication module may include both a wired communication module and a wireless communication module. For example, the wired communication module may be implemented as a power line communication device, a telephone line communication device, home cable (MoCA), Ethernet, IEEE1294, integrated wired home network, and RS-485 control device. Additionally, the wireless communication module can be implemented with WLAN (wireless LAN), Bluetooth, HDR WPAN, UWB, ZigBee, Impulse Radio, 60GHz WPAN, Binary-CDMA, wireless USB technology, and wireless HDMI technology.

Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating communication control of a self-fueling system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The operation of the communication control unit 200 of the self-fueling system will be described with reference to FIG. 3 as follows.

The self-fueling system according to an embodiment of the present invention separates communication between the ODT 110 and the pump 120.

As described above, the gas pump 100 is equipped with two ODTs 110 and two to eight pumps 120, and a plurality of ODTs 110 and a plurality of pumps ( The communication control unit 200 controls communication between 120) and POS (300).

The communication control unit 200 communicates with the ODT 110, and when an event occurs in the corresponding pump 120 among the pumps 120 connected to the ODT 110, the event is sent to the POS 300. is transmitted to the POS (300), and the communication control unit 200 communicates with the pump 120 where the event occurred and the POS (300). While the event is in progress, communication with the pump 120 is maintained, and when the event ends, communication with the pump 120 is stopped.

When an event occurs in the pump (120), it starts with the ODT (110) communication message, so even if pump communication is not performed, pump communication is determined and processed using the ODT communication message, and if the pump is being processed, the pump communication continues. If a situation occurs where the pump's status is terminated while maintaining, communication for the pump is stopped. When the pump 120 is refueling, communication with the connected ODT is stopped, and when refueling is completed, communication with the connected ODT is resumed.

Assuming that the ODTs of the plurality of self-gas pumps 100 are 1st to 16th ODTs and the pumps are 1st to 32nd pumps, the communication control unit 200 performs sequential communication from the 1st ODT to the 16th ODT, and the first ODT among them is 2If an event occurs in which a refueling command is input to the third pump through the ODT, the event information is transmitted to the POS, communication with the ODT is stopped, and communication between the POS and the third pump proceeds. When the third pump's refueling ends, communication between the third pump and the POS is stopped, and communication with the ODT is performed again.

However, there are cases where the force 300 arbitrarily transmits a command to the pump 120, and in this case, pump communication is started immediately regardless of the ODT communication message, and pump communication is stopped when the function of the transmission command is terminated. In other words, when commands such as unit price change, totalizer request, refueling permission, refueling stop, etc. are transmitted to any pump 120, pump communication is immediately performed with the corresponding pump 120 regardless of the ODT communication message. .

By adopting a method of communicating and processing only the pump 120 with an event, the event processing speed is up to 32 times faster than other force.

According to the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above, the communication speed between self-gas pumps and POS can be improved by more than 8 times, thereby increasing customer operation speed, thereby improving the turnover rate of gas stations, contributing to increased gas station sales, and equipment communication errors. It can reduce the probability of occurrence.

100: Gas pump ODT: 110
120: Pump 200: Communication control unit
300: POS

Claims (3)

In a self-fueling system comprising a plurality of pumps driven to supply oil from a plurality of oil tanks and a plurality of self-lubricators including ODTs provided on the front and back, respectively,
POS (Point Of Sale) for communicating with the ODT and pumps of the self-service gas pump to transmit and receive various data, to settle store prices and manage tasks for store operation; and
It includes a communication control unit that controls communication between the ODT and pumps and the POS,
The communication control unit communicates with the ODTs,
If an event occurs among the connected pumps, the ODT transmits the event to the POS,
The communication control unit communicates with the pump and the POS where the event occurs, maintains communication with the pump while the event is in progress, and stops communication with the pump when the event ends. system. According to claim 1,
The communication control unit is a self-fueling system, characterized in that when the pump is refueling during ODT communication, communication with the connected ODT is stopped and when refueling ends, communication with the connected ODT is resumed. According to claim 1,
When transmitting a command from the POS to one of the pumps, the communication control unit transmits the command to the corresponding pump even if an event is not delivered from the ODT and stops communication with the pump when the transfer command function is terminated. Features a self-fueling system.