JPS6138513B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement of an inline system in which information such as registered sales data stored in a slave unit is collected in a master unit, and particularly relates to an electronic cash register (hereinafter referred to as (simply referred to as ECR)
This is related to the improvement of a system that connects inline.

In conventional ECR, the information stored in the memory that stores data generated in each transaction registration, etc. is stored in the ECR.
The configuration is such that it is cleared when the payment operation is performed.

On the other hand, recently, in some large stores, multiple ECRs are electrically connected to each other, and one of the ECRs or a separate central processing machine (master machine) exchanges data with each ECR (slave machine). An in-line system has been developed and put into practical use that allows the system to be configured in such a way that the information registered and stored in the child device can be collected on the parent device, and the sales status of the entire store can be quickly grasped. .

In such an inline system, each ECR slave unit performs the payment operation independently before the master unit collects the registration data of each ECR slave unit, and the stored data of each ECR slave unit is used for the payment operation. Therefore, there was a problem that once the data was cleared, the system would no longer be able to collect data.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and even if a payment instruction is issued from the parent device or a payment operation is performed on the child device itself, the memory of the child device is not cleared and the machine becomes locked, causing the memory of the child device to become locked. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a memory clear processing method for a slave device in an inline system in which clearing and releasing the machine lock state can be performed by a memory clear command from the parent device, and in order to achieve this purpose,
The present invention provides an in-line system configured to collect information such as sales data that has been registered and processed stored in a slave unit into a base unit. Alternatively, memory clearing of the slave device that has performed the payment operation by the slave device itself is executed by memory clear command means provided in the parent device.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an inline system to which the present invention is applied.

In Fig. 1, M is the ECR main unit, S1, S2...
... is an ECR slave machine, and the base machine M and slave machines S1, S
2... are connected in-line via the transmission line L.

In the main unit M, 1 is a numerical information input means for inputting unit price, quantity, etc., 2 is a key encoder of the numerical information input means 1, 3 is a function information input means such as a department key, a subtotal key, etc., and a settlement command key. A, a tally command key B, and a memory clear command key C. 4 is a key discrimination means connected to the function information input means 3, 5 is a central processing unit (CPU), and 6 is a memory storing a control operation program including a transmission program for the CPU 5. 6 is constituted by a read-only memory (ROM). Further, 7 is a data storage memory for storing registration data, data collected from slave devices, and the like. This memory 7 is constituted by a random access memory (RAM), addresses are specified by an address counter 8, and information is exchanged with the CPU 5 via an input/output control means 9. Further, 10 is a display means, and 11 is a printing means.

12 is a mode switch for setting the operation mode of the master unit M to registration mode, setting mode, inspection mode, payment mode, etc., and has a transmission mode switch for collecting data stored in slave units S1, S2... The transmission mode switch signal is
5 is input. 13 is an IRC (interregister control) control means; 14 is a lamp for displaying the transmission mode status; the lamp 14 is configured to be driven by a driving means 15 operated by an output signal from the IRC control means 13; There is.

In the handset S1, 21 is a numerical information input means for inputting unit price, quantity, etc., 22 is a key encoder of the numerical information input means 21, 23 is a function information input means such as a department key, subtotal key, etc., and 24 is the function information. key determination means connected to input means 23; 25 is a central processing unit (CPU);
A memory 6 stores a control operation program for the CPU 25, and this memory 26 is constituted by a read-only memory (ROM). Further, 27 is a data storage memory for storing registration data, etc. This 27 is constituted by a random access memory (RAM), and is addressed by an address counter 28 and connected to the CPU 25 via an input/output control means 29. Information is sent and received between them. Further, 30 is a display means, and 31 is a printing means.

32 is a mode switch for setting the operation mode of the handset S1 to registration mode, setting mode, inspection mode, payment mode, etc.; 33 is an IRC control means;
The IRC control means 33 connects the main unit M via line L.
It is connected to the IRC control means 13. Reference numeral 34 denotes a lamp for displaying the transmission mode state, and the lamp 34 is configured to be driven by a driving means 35 operated by an output signal from the IRC control means 33.

Furthermore, the slave units S2, . . . are configured similarly to the slave unit S1.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained with reference to the operation flow diagram shown in FIG.

If the operator wants to settle the account on the slave machine S side rather than the master machine M side, the operator first presses the transmission mode switch of the mode switch 12 to inform the CPU 5 that the master machine M has been set to the transmission mode. Upon receiving this instruction, the CPU 5 processes various instructions inputted thereafter in accordance with the transmission program stored in the ROM 6.

Next, the operator inputs the slave unit number of the transmission destination (for example, the number for slave unit S1) to the CPU 5 from the numerical information input means 1 via the key encoder 2 (step in FIG. 2). Subsequently, the operator presses a specific key A in the function key group 3 for designating the payment operation, and gives the CPU 5 a payment instruction for the previously designated slave unit S1 via the key discrimination means 4 (step). Upon receiving this instruction, the CPU 5 uses the IRC under the control of the transmission program stored in the ROM 6.
A payment instruction is given to the slave unit via the control means 13.

The slave device S1 (stage) which received this payment instruction via the IRC control means 33 reads out the stored contents of the memory 27 via the input/output control means 29 under the control of the CPU 25, and under the control of the IRC control means 33. Then, the payment data is transferred to the master machine M (step), and the slave machine S1 itself enters the machine lock state.

The master device receives the transferred data (step), stores it in a predetermined area of the memory 7, and prints the contents using the printing unit 11 (step).

Further, the payment instruction to the slave unit S2 is also issued in the same manner.

Incidentally, when such a payment command is issued, the stored data in the memory 37 is conventionally cleared, but in the present invention, the data is not cleared and the machine remains in a locked state. Therefore, in the present invention, data can be aggregated even after the payment operation is completed.

That is, after having the master machine M perform the payment operation for each slave machine S1, S2..., specifying the slave machine number to be tallied (step) and pressing the tally command key B, first the slave machine S1 The aggregation instruction for is transferred to the child device via line L (step). Upon receiving this totalization instruction (step), the slave device S1 reads out the total data stored in the memory 27 while keeping the machine locked and transfers it to the parent device M (step). The master device M receives this total data (step), adds it up (step), and sends the data to the next slave device S.
2, the same operation is repeated, the data stored in each slave device is totaled in the master device M, and the result of the addition is sent to the printing section 11.
is printed (steps).

The aggregation operation, etc. is completed as described above, and each slave unit S
1, S2... When it is time to clear the stored data, the operator specifies the handset number (for example, for handset S1) in the same way as above (step),
The memory clear command key C of the function key group 3 is pressed to give a clear command to the CPU 5 (step). Upon receiving this instruction, the CPU 5 transfers a clear command to the slave device S1 via the IRC control means 13. The slave device S1 receives this clear command (step), clears the stored contents of the memory 27 by the CPU 25 (step), releases the machine lock state, and further transfers the memory clear completion data to the parent device M (step). ). The master device M receives this memory clear completion data and prints the message using the printing section 11 (step).

A memory clear command to the slave device S2 is also issued in the same manner.

FIG. 3 shows the control flow of the memory clear processing method in the present invention in more detail, in which initial settings such as data block numbers are performed in the base unit M in each step, and the specified data transmission is performed in the next step. is carried out, and in step 〓, the specified slave device enters the machine lock state, and in step 〓, if there is an access (command) from the master device, the slave device judges the contents, and if it is other than a memory clear command (step 〓) Performs the specified data transmission (step 〓), has the next access, and if it is a memory clear command, proceeds to step 〓, executes memory clear and releases the machine lock state, and concludes the series of transmission processing. Become.

Note that even when the slave unit performs payment processing alone, the contents stored in the memory 27 of the slave unit are not cleared and enters a machine lock state, and this machine lock state is canceled by a memory clear command from the base unit M, and the memory 27 is cleared. The contents are cleared.

As described above, according to the inline system of the present invention, the child device itself enters the machine lock state when it performs a payment operation based on a payment instruction from the parent device or the payment operation of the child device itself, and this payment operation also causes the above-mentioned The memory of the handset is not cleared,
This memory clear is executed only when a command is received from the memory clear command means on the base unit side, which is operated when the memory can be cleared, and since the machine lock state is also released at the same time, the memory of the slave unit connected inline is Data protection can be made more reliable.

Furthermore, even after payment has been made, the data of each child device can be aggregated by the parent device, and the data of the child devices can be centrally managed by the parent device in an inline system.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an inline system in which the present invention is implemented, FIG. 2 is an operational flow diagram for explaining its operation, and FIG. 3 is a control flow diagram of the present invention. M...Main unit, S1, S2...Slave unit, L...Transmission line, 27...Memory, A...Payment command key,
C...Memory clear command key.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an inline system configured to collect registered and processed sales data and other information stored in the memory of the slave device into the parent device, the parent device clears the data stored in the memory of the slave device. A memory clear command means is provided to enable the slave machine to enter a machine lock state after receiving a payment command from the master machine or perform a payment operation on the slave machine itself, and to operate the machine when the memory of the slave machine can be cleared. In an in-line system, the memory of the slave device is cleared and the machine lock state of the slave device is released by receiving a command from the memory clear command means provided in the parent device. Memory clear processing method for the slave device.