JP6973722B2 - Meter reading device and meter reading system for vending machines - Google Patents

Description

The present invention particularly relates to a meter reading device and a meter reading system that measure the power consumption of a vending machine such as a drink and transmit the power consumption value to a predetermined server via a network to read the meter of the vending machine. The present invention relates to a meter reading device and a meter reading system that can be retrofitted to an existing vending machine and can enable automatic meter reading at low cost.

Conventionally, in order to calculate the electricity bill for a vending machine such as a drink, the meter is read by reading a watt-hour meter connected to the outlet of the vending machine. In the case of such a meter reading method, it is common for a meter reader to visit a place where a watt-hour meter to which each vending machine is connected is installed and visually check.

However, since the number of vending machines for soft drinks in Japan alone exceeds 2 million, the meter reading method by meter readers requires a large number of meter readers, and there is also the problem that it may lead to long working hours. be.

In addition, it is not possible to know the power consumption in real time by the meter reading method by the meter reader. The power consumption of vending machines is closely related to the operating rate of vending machines, and it is preferable to know in real time in order to prevent sales loss of products and improve sales.

In order to grasp the power consumption in real time, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, it can be realized by equipping the vending machine with a power amount detecting means and a communication control means.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-007167

However, it is not realistic to replace an existing vending machine with a vending machine equipped with an electric energy detecting means because it requires a large amount of cost.

On the other hand, vending machines in recent years have supported communication of standards such as VCS and JVMA in order to send sales data online to a server and to make electronic money available in vending machines. Most of them.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining the configuration of a conventional vending machine.
As shown in FIG. 6, the vending machine 100 includes a power supply unit 102, a sales management unit 104 that manages product sales, control of a cooling / heating unit, control of coin mech and building burr, and control of a product carry-out unit. A main controller including a control unit 106 that controls various control devices that perform such operations, and a communication unit 108 that transmits sales data generated by the sales management unit to a predetermined server 120 via a wireless communication device 112. Has 110.

The power supply unit 102 is usually connected to a commercial power supply 130 and is supplied with electric power for operating the vending machine 100. The main controller 110 and various control devices operate by the electric power supplied from the power supply unit 102.

By connecting to the wireless communication device 112, such a vending machine 100 can perform wireless communication and transmit / receive data to / from a predetermined server 120 via the network 122. However, in general, the communication unit 108 incorporated in the vending machine 100 is not a general-purpose one and can be used only for transmission / reception of predetermined data.

In the present invention, in view of such a situation, it can be retrofitted to an existing vending machine, and the system of the existing vending machine is used to read the meter of power consumption at low cost. It is an object of the present invention to provide a meter reading device and a meter reading system for vending machines that can be used.

The present invention has been invented to solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and the present invention includes, for example, the following aspects.

[1] A main controller including at least a sales management unit that manages sales of products, a communication unit that transmits sales data generated by the sales management department to a predetermined server via a communication device, and the like. a needle apparatus for a vending machine that can be installed in a retrofit to an existing vending machine having,
To communicate with the pre-Symbol main controller, a first connection terminal connected to the communication unit,
A second connection terminal for communicating with a watt-hour meter connected to the power supply unit of the vending machine, and
A third connection terminal for communicating with the communication device,
An electric energy measuring unit that generates electric energy data based on the information transmitted from the watt-hour meter, and
A communication control unit configured to add predetermined information to the electric energy data, transmit the information to a predetermined server via the communication device, and pass the sales data as it is.
A meter reading device.

[ 2 ] The meter reading device according to item [1], further comprising a wireless communication means.

[ 3 ] The meter reading device according to the item [1] or [2], and the meter reading device.
A watt-hour meter that transmits information about the power consumption of the vending machine to the meter reading device.
A meter reading system equipped with.

[ 4 ] The meter reading system according to item [3 ], wherein the watt-hour meter is a watt-hour meter with a pulse transmission function.

[ 5 ] The meter reading system according to item [3 ] or [ 4 ], which comprises at least one of an online product free provision means, an environmental data acquisition means, and a beacon radio wave receiving means.

[ 6 ] Further equipped with a server connected to the meter reading device via a network,
The server includes information sent from the vending machine, and said predetermined information appended power amount data, based on the predetermined information, terms that will be configured to determine [3] [5 ] The meter reading system according to any one of the items.

According to the present invention, by adding predetermined information only to the information on the power consumption of the vending machine measured by the electricity meter, it is used in an existing system such as sales data. It can be separated from the data.

This makes it possible to obtain the power consumption of an existing vending machine online without making major modifications to the existing vending machine.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining an embodiment of the meter reading system of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining the configuration of a vending machine provided with the meter reading system of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the operation of the communication control unit of the meter reading device. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a modified example of the meter reading system of FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining another embodiment of the meter reading system of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining the configuration of a conventional vending machine.

Hereinafter, embodiments (examples) of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining an embodiment of the meter reading system of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining a configuration of a vending machine provided with the meter reading system of FIG.

Since the configuration of the vending machine is basically the same as that of the existing vending machine 100 shown in FIG. 6, the same components are designated by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted. ..

The meter reading system 10 of the present embodiment measures the electric energy based on the electric energy meter 12 capable of outputting the electric energy value and the electric energy value transmitted from the electric energy meter 12, and is a predetermined server via the wireless communication device 112. It is composed of a meter reading device 14 that transmits meter reading data to 120, and a server 120.

The electricity meter 12 is provided between the commercial power supply 130 and the power supply unit 102 of the vending machine 100, detects the electric power consumed by the power supply unit 102, and transmits the electric energy value to the meter reading device 14. It is composed. In the present embodiment, a watt-hour meter with a pulse transmission function is used as such a watt-hour meter 12, but the watt-hour meter 12 is not limited to this, and a known watt-hour meter is used. can do.

The meter reading device 14 includes an electric energy measuring unit 14a that calculates power consumption and generates electric energy data based on a pulse transmitted from the electric energy meter 12, an electric energy data transmitted from the electric energy measuring unit 14a, and a main. It includes a communication control unit 14b that transmits sales data transmitted from the controller 110 to a predetermined server via the wireless communication device 112.

Further, the meter reading device 14 includes at least two connection terminals 15a and 15b, and as shown in FIG. 2, the first connection terminal 15a is connected to the communication unit 108 of the main controller 110 of the vending machine 100. The second connection terminal 15b is connected to the watt hour meter 12. Further, in the present embodiment, the meter reading device 14 further includes a third connection terminal 15c for connecting to the wireless communication device 112.

The meter reading device 14 is configured to receive the sales data of the vending machine 100 from the main controller 110 and the electric energy data of the vending machine 100 from the watt-hour meter 12. Further, the communication control unit 14b of the meter reading device 14 is connected to the wireless communication device 112.

In such a meter reading device 14, the connection terminal 15a with the communication unit 108 of the main controller 110 and the connection terminal 15c with the wireless communication device 112 are combined with the main controller 110 and the wireless communication device 112 of the existing vending machine 100. It can be appropriately selected, and for example, a connection terminal compliant with a standard such as RS-232C or USB (Universal Serial Bus) can be used.

In addition, this embodiment is described as an example of using the wireless communication device 112 provided in the existing vending machine 100, but for example, when the communication device is not provided in the existing vending machine 100. It is also possible to enable the meter reading device 14 to be connected to the network by itself by incorporating the wireless communication means into the meter reading device 14.

The meter reading device 14 configured in this way operates as follows.
FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the operation of the communication control unit 14b of the meter reading device 14.
When the sales data is transmitted from the main controller 110, the communication control unit 14b passes it as it is and transmits it to a predetermined server 120 via the wireless communication device 112.

On the other hand, when the electric energy data is transmitted from the electric energy meter 12 via the electric energy measuring unit 14a, the communication control unit 14b adds, for example, meta information to the electric energy data, and wireless communication is performed. It transmits to a predetermined server 120 via the device 112.

In this way, by adding meta information to the electric energy data and configuring it to be transmitted to the server 120, the server 120 can easily separate the sales data and the electric energy data based on the presence or absence of the meta information. Is possible.

Further, in the present embodiment, the server 120 is configured to manage both the sales data and the electric energy data, but for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the electric energy is separately from the server 120 that collects the sales data. An electric energy data server 124 for collecting electric energy data is provided, and the electric energy data separated by the server 120 is transmitted from the server 120 to the electric energy data server 124, and the electric energy data server 124 manages the electric energy data. You can also do it. Further, data including both sales data and power amount data is transmitted to the server 120 and the power amount data server 124, respectively, and the server 120 discards the power amount data using only the sales data based on the presence or absence of meta information. On the other hand, the power amount data server 124 can also be configured to use only the power amount data and discard the sales data.

In FIG. 4, the server 120 and the electric energy data server 124 are configured to be directly connected, but of course, they may be connected via the network 122. When the Internet is used as the network 122, an intranet including the server 120 and the power amount data server 124 is constructed separately from the network 122, and the server 120 and the server 120 are constructed via this intranet (without using the Internet). It can also be configured to communicate with the power data server 124. Further, a server for managing sales data and a server for managing electric energy data may be physically implemented as a virtual server on one server.

As described above, the meter reading device 14 is configured to process only the electric energy data transmitted from the electric energy meter 12 via the electric energy measuring unit 14a without affecting the existing system. It is possible to add an automatic meter reading function to existing vending machines.

That is, by configuring the communication between the main controller 110 of the vending machine 100 and the predetermined server 120 to pass as it is, for example, even in the case of a vending machine compatible with electronic money, electronic money By allowing the meter reading device 14 to pass the data required for the payment as it is, the communication between the vending machine and the electronic money payment server is not affected.

In the present embodiment, meta information is added to the electric energy data and transmitted to the same server 120 as the sales data, but the electric energy data and the sales data are transmitted to different servers. It can also be configured to add destination information to the quantity data.

Further, the sales data and the electric energy data can be configured to be automatically transmitted to the meter reading device 14 based on a predetermined time schedule, or based on a data collection request from the server 120. The meter reading device 14 may request the main controller 110 and the electric energy meter 12 to transmit sales data and electric energy data.

Further, the meter reading system 10 of the present invention can also add the following functions.
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining another embodiment of the meter reading system 10 of the present invention.
Since the meter reading system 10 of this embodiment is basically the same as the meter reading system 10 shown in FIG. 1, the same components are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 5, the meter reading system 10 of the present embodiment includes an online product free provision means 20, an environmental data acquisition means 22, and a beacon (Beacon) radio wave receiving means 24.

When the online product free provision means 20 receives a specific signal via the wireless communication device 112, the online product free provision means 20 transmits a request to the main controller 110 of the vending machine 100 to provide a product such as a beverage free of charge. By providing such an online product free provision means 20, for example, even in the event of a disaster, it is possible to remotely supply beverages and the like in the vending machine 100 to the disaster victims.

The environmental data acquisition means 22 measures, for example, temperature, humidity, rainfall, etc. as environmental data. By acquiring such environmental data and transmitting it to the server 120 via the wireless communication device 112, it is possible to collect the environmental data at the installation location of the vending machine 100. This makes it possible to collect environmental data from vending machines installed throughout Japan.

When the beacon radio wave receiving means 24 receives the beacon radio wave emitted by the corresponding beacon radio wave transmitting means 25 (beacon tag), the beacon radio wave receiving means 24 transmits predetermined data to the server 120 via the wireless communication device 112. Here, the predetermined data is data including, for example, identification information of the beacon radio wave transmitting means 25, position information of the vending machine 100, and the like. By providing such a beacon radio wave receiving means 24, for example, by having a child or an elderly person carry the beacon radio wave transmitting means 25, it can be used for a service that can grasp the whereabouts.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, in the above embodiment, a wireless communication device is used as a communication device, but of course, it is wired. Various changes can be made without departing from the object of the present invention, such as using a communication device.

10 Meter reading system 12 Electric energy meter 14 Meter reading device 14a Electric energy measuring unit 14b Communication control unit 15a First connection terminal 15b Second connection terminal 15c Third connection terminal 20 Online product free provision means 22 Environmental data acquisition means 24 Beacon radio wave receiving means 25 Beacon radio transmission means 100 Vending machine 102 Power supply unit 104 Sales management unit 106 Control unit 108 Communication unit 110 Main controller 112 Wireless communication equipment 120 Server 122 Network 124 Electric energy data server 130 Commercial power supply

Claims (6)

An existing main controller having at least a sales management unit that manages sales of goods, a communication unit that transmits sales data generated by the sales management unit to a predetermined server via a communication device, and a main controller. A meter reading device for vending machines that can be retrofitted to vending machines .
To communicate with the pre-Symbol main controller, a first connection terminal connected to the communication unit,
A second connection terminal for communicating with a watt-hour meter connected to the power supply unit of the vending machine, and
A third connection terminal for communicating with the communication device,
An electric energy measuring unit that generates electric energy data based on the information transmitted from the watt-hour meter, and
A communication control unit configured to add predetermined information to the electric energy data, transmit the information to a predetermined server via the communication device, and pass the sales data as it is.
A meter reading device. The meter reading device according to claim 1, further comprising a wireless communication means. The meter reading device according to claim 1 or 2,
A watt-hour meter that transmits information about the power consumption of the vending machine to the meter reading device.
A meter reading system equipped with. The meter reading system according to claim 3, wherein the watt-hour meter is a watt-hour meter with a pulse transmission function. The meter reading system according to claim 3 or 4, further comprising at least one of an online product free provision means, an environmental data acquisition means, and a beacon radio wave receiving means. Further equipped with a server connected to the meter reading device via a network,
Any of claims 3 to 5, wherein the server is configured to discriminate between the information transmitted from the vending machine and the electric energy data to which the predetermined information is added, based on the predetermined information. The meter reading system described in item 1.

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