JP3036569B2 - Vending machine remote control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control device for communicating with an inside of a vending machine main body by an optical signal from outside the main body of the vending machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art This type of remote control device does not require the user to open the front door of the vending machine to check the number of remaining items or to open the front door of the vending machine to rewrite the selling price. It is used to complete. Specifically, it is configured as shown in FIG. The vending machine main unit 1 that pays out goods according to the operation of the user has a transmitting unit 4a and a receiving unit 5a via a communication control unit 3a to a sales control device 2 that manages a selling operation.
Is connected. An infrared light emitting diode 6 is connected to an output of the transmitting unit 4a, and a photodiode 7 is connected to an input of the receiving unit 5a. A portable unit 8 prepared separately from the vending machine body 1 includes a photodiode 9 for detecting light A from the infrared light emitting diode 6 of the vending machine body 1 and a photodiode 7 of the vending machine body 1. An infrared light emitting diode 10 that emits light B toward the light, a receiving unit 5b having the input connected to the photodiode 9, and a transmitting unit 4b having the output connected to the infrared light emitting diode 10,
A communication controller 3b for controlling the receiver 5b and the transmitter 4b is provided.

[0003]

In such a configuration,
When the communication control section 3a of the vending machine main body 1 detects the timing of the polling selection, the communication section 3a drives the infrared light emitting diode 6 via the transmission section 4a and inquires the portable unit 8. When the reading of the information on the remaining number of commodities is set in the communication control unit 3b of the portable unit 8, the communication control unit 3b drives the infrared light emitting diode 10 via the transmission unit 4b to display "the remaining number of commodities. "Reading of information". This request is decoded by the communication controller 3a via the photodiode 7 and the receiver 5a. The communication control unit 3a is a portable unit 8
From the sales control device 2 according to the request from
And read out the infrared light emitting diode 6 via the transmitting unit 4a.
Is transmitted to the portable unit 8. “Remaining number of commodities” transmitted from the vending machine body 1 is the photodiode 9
Is decoded by the communication control unit 3b via the receiving unit 5b, and is displayed on the portable unit 8, for example.

Further, the reading and rewriting of the sales price set in the sales control device 2 can be performed by the portable unit 8.
Can be instructed in the same way. In such a configuration, the infrared light emitting diode 10 consuming a large amount of power is required for the portable unit 8, and it is difficult to maintain a reliable operation for a long period of time because the battery is greatly consumed. is necessary.

An object of the present invention is to provide a remote control device capable of performing optical communication without providing an infrared light emitting diode 10 having large power consumption on the side of the portable unit 8.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a remote control device for communicating with an inside of a vending machine by an optical signal from outside the main body of the vending machine. A light emitting element and a light receiving element, which are provided outside the vending machine main body, are driven by information to be transmitted to the vending machine main body, modulate light received from the light emitting element with information to be transmitted, and reflect the light to the light receiving element. A reflection control unit for receiving the light signal, which is reflected and modulated from the reflection control unit, is received by the light receiving element, and information is extracted from an output of the light receiving element.

A remote control device according to a second aspect of the present invention is a remote control device for communicating with the inside of the vending machine main body by an optical signal from outside the main body of the vending machine. A light emitting element whose light output is modulated by information to be transmitted to the vending machine, and a second light receiving element which is provided outside the vending machine main body and detects light from the light emitting element.
And the light receiving element, which is provided outside the vending machine main body and is driven by information to be transmitted to the vending machine main body, modulates light received from the light emitting element with information to be transmitted to the first light receiving element. A reflection control unit for reflecting light,
The information to be transmitted to the outside from the vending machine main body is extracted from the light receiving element of the vending machine, and the reflected and modulated optical signal from the reflection control unit is received by the first light receiving element, and the first light receiving element automatically receives the signal. It is characterized by extracting information to be transmitted to the vending machine body.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the reflection control unit outside the vending machine main body is driven by the information to be transmitted, the light of the light emitting element provided in the vending machine main body is applied to the same vending machine main body. The light is reflected by the provided light receiving element to extract information from the output of the light receiving element.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the second light emitting element provided outside the vending machine main body from the light emitting element of the vending machine main body.
When the information is transmitted to the light receiving element of the vending machine and the reflection control unit outside the vending machine is driven by the information to be transmitted,
The light of the light emitting element provided in the vending machine main body is reflected by the first light receiving element provided in the same vending machine main body, and information is extracted from the output of the first light receiving element.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. It is to be noted that components having the same functions as those in FIG.

FIG. 1 shows a vending machine provided with a remote control device according to the present invention. On the side of the vending machine main body 1, an infrared light emitting diode 6 and a photodiode 7 are provided as in the related art. The portable unit 8 is provided with the reflection control unit 11 and the photodiode 9, and the infrared light emitting diode 10 having large power consumption as shown in FIG. 4 is not provided in the portable unit 8.

The infrared light emitting diode 6 is connected to the output of the transmission unit 4a controlled by the communication control unit 3a, and the photodiode 7 is connected to the communication control unit 3a via the reception unit 5a.
It is connected to the. The photodiode 9 for detecting the light A from the infrared light emitting diode 6 of the vending machine main body 1 is connected to the communication control unit 3b via the receiving unit 5b. The reflection control unit 11 is connected to the output of the transmission unit 4b controlled by the communication control unit 3b. The reflection control unit 11
Reflector 12 and liquid crystal shutter 13 covering the reflective surface of reflector 12
It is composed of

The liquid crystal shutter 13 has a sandwich type cell structure, and changes the state from "transmissive" to "non-transmissive" by turning on and off a voltage applied between the electrodes. When viewed from the side of the main body 1, the reflector 12 is present in the “transmissive” state, and “non-transparent”
In this state, a state equivalent to the absence of the reflector 12 is created.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the communication control section 3a continuously emits light from the infrared light emitting diode 6 periodically as polling selection timing.
Is detected by the photodiode 9. When the request J to the vending machine body 1 is set in the communication control unit 3b as shown in FIG. 2B, the timing S1 at which the photodiode 9 detects the light A following the setting of the request J Then, the communication control unit 3b drives the liquid crystal shutter 13 via the transmission unit 4a as shown in FIG.

When the liquid crystal shutter 13 is driven during the continuous light emission of the infrared light emitting diode 6, the light A
Is reflected by the reflection plate 12 in response to the driving of the liquid crystal shutter 13 and received by the photodiode 7. When the request J is not set in the portable unit 8, the communication control unit 3a that has identified this should end one cycle of continuous light emission at timing S2 as indicated by a virtual line at timing S2.
After that, continuous light emission is continued, and the communication control unit 3b drives the liquid crystal shutter 13 based on the content of the request J to transmit information to the communication control unit 3a via the photodiode 7. At the timing S3, the transmission of information from the portable unit 8 to the vending machine main unit 1 ends, and the infrared light emitting diode 6 turns off. The external light emitting diode 6 is driven according to the information and transmitted to the communication control unit 3b via the photodiode 9.

As described above, the infrared light emitting diode 6 on the side of the vending machine main body 1 that does not need to worry about power consumption is effectively used, and the portable unit 8 consumes much more than the infrared light emitting diode 10. Information can be transmitted from the portable unit 8 to the vending machine main unit 1 only by driving the liquid crystal shutter 13 with low power, and the power consumption of the portable unit 8 can be greatly reduced.

In the above embodiment, the portable unit 8 is provided with the photodiode 9, and the bidirectional communication for receiving the transmission of information from the vending machine body 1 has been described as an example.
In the case of one-side communication from the portable unit 8 to the vending machine body 1, the photodiode 9 and the receiving unit 5b can be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 3, the reflection plate 12 of the reflection control unit 11 in each of the above-described embodiments is inclined at an angle such that the light A from the infrared light emitting diode 6 is efficiently reflected by the photodiode 7. Alternatively, it is also possible to mount the infrared light emitting diode 6 and the photodiode 7 at an angle so that the light A is efficiently reflected by the reflection plate 12 and enters the photodiode 7.

In each of the above embodiments, the infrared light emitting diode 6 is continuously turned on while information is transmitted from the portable unit 8 to the vending machine main body 1. In this case, the infrared light emitting diode 6 is turned on at a specific frequency. , And the receiving unit 5a of the vending machine main body 1 can be configured to extract a component of a specific frequency and accurately recognize information.

In each of the above embodiments, the light A is transmitted from the infrared light emitting diode 6 connected to the transmitting section 4a of the vending machine main body 1 to the reflection control unit 11, but the vending machine main body 1 is provided with the infrared light emitting diode. A dedicated light source for transmitting light to the reflection control unit 11 can be provided separately from the reflection control unit 6 to contribute to power saving of the portable unit 8.

In each of the above embodiments, the optical communication between the unit outside the vending machine and the unit inside the vending machine is described as an example, but the data provided inside the vending machine main body is described. Of the transmitting unit and the data receiving unit, the data receiving unit includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element, and the data transmitting unit transmits light received from the light emitting element driven by information to be transmitted to the data receiving unit. By providing a reflection control unit that modulates with power information and reflects the light to the light receiving element, and configured to take out information from the output of the light receiving element, it is possible to reduce the wiring harness by performing optical communication in a vending machine warehouse. At the same time, the power consumption of the data transmission unit can be reduced.

[0022]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the light emitting element and the light receiving element provided in the vending machine main body and the information provided outside the vending machine main body and driven by the information to be transmitted to the vending machine main body are used. Since a reflection control unit that modulates light received from the light emitting element with information to be transmitted and reflects the light to the light receiving element is provided, when the reflection control unit outside the vending machine body is driven by the information to be transmitted, The light of the light emitting element provided in the vending machine main body is reflected on the light receiving element provided in the same vending machine main body so that information can be transmitted, and the power saving of the portable unit provided separately from the vending machine main body can be saved. Can be achieved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the light emitting element and the first light receiving element, which are provided in the vending machine main body and whose light output is modulated by information to be transmitted from the vending machine main body to the outside, the vending machine main body A light receiving element provided outside the vending machine for detecting light from the light emitting element, and a light received from the light emitting element driven by information provided outside the vending machine main body and transmitted to the vending machine main body. A reflection control unit for modulating the information with the information to be transmitted and reflecting the information to the first light receiving element, extracting information to be transmitted from the vending machine body to the outside from the second light receiving element, , The information to be transmitted to the vending machine main body can be obtained, and the power saving of the portable unit provided separately from the vending machine main body can be achieved.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, of the data transmitting section and the data receiving section provided inside the vending machine main body, the data receiving section is provided with the light emitting element and the light receiving element, and the data transmitting section is provided with the data receiving section. A reflection control unit that is driven by information to be transmitted to the unit and modulates light received from the light emitting element with information to be transmitted and reflects the light to the light receiving element, and extracts information from an output of the light receiving element. As a result, the wire harness can be reduced by performing optical communication in the vending machine, and the power consumption of the data transmission unit can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a vending machine provided with a remote control device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a waveform diagram of a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a main part of another embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a vending machine provided with a conventional remote control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vending machine main body 4a, 4b Transmitting part 5a, 5b Receiving part 6 Infrared light emitting diode 7, 9 Photodiode 8 Portable unit 11 Reflection control unit 12 Reflector 13 Liquid crystal shutter

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G07F 5/22 G07F 9/00

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A remote control device for communicating with an inside of a vending machine main body by an optical signal from outside the vending machine main body, comprising: a light emitting element and a light receiving element provided in the vending machine main body; A reflection control unit that is provided with the information to be transmitted to the vending machine main body, modulates the light received from the light emitting element with the information to be transmitted, and reflects the light to the light receiving element . Reflected
A vending machine remote control device for receiving a modulated optical signal by the light receiving element and extracting information from an output of the light receiving element. 2. A remote control device for communicating with the inside of a vending machine by an optical signal from the outside of the vending machine body, wherein a light output based on information to be transmitted from the vending machine body to the outside provided in the vending machine body. A light-emitting element and a first light-receiving element which are modulated, a second light-receiving element provided outside the vending machine main body for detecting light from the light-emitting element, and a vending machine provided outside the vending machine main body A reflection control unit that is driven by the information to be transmitted to the machine body and modulates the light received from the light emitting element with the information to be transmitted and reflects the light to the first light receiving element; The information to be transmitted to the outside is taken out from the vending machine body, and the reflection control unit is taken out.
The reflected and modulated optical signal from the knit is applied to the first
A vending machine remote control device for receiving information received by a light receiving element and extracting information to be transmitted to the vending machine main body from the first light receiving element. 3. The remote control device for a vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the reflection control unit comprises a reflection plate and a liquid crystal shutter covering the reflection surface of the reflection plate. 4. A data transmitting section and a data receiving section provided inside a vending machine main body. The data receiving section is provided with a light emitting element and a light receiving element, and the data transmitting section is to transmit to the data receiving section. by modulating light received from the light emitting element is driven by information in the information to be transmitted is provided a reflection control unit for reflecting the light receiving element, from the reflection control unit
The reflected and modulated optical signal is received by the light receiving element.
Vending machine remote control device that extracts information from the output of a light receiving element.