JPH0619783B2 - Line error handling method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Technical Field of the Invention The present invention is directed to Point of Sales (P
The present invention relates to an electronic register of a system (OS), and particularly to a line abnormality processing method in which post-processing of untransmittable transaction data due to an abnormality of a line is easy.

(b) Background of technology Recently, electronic registers have been widely used as POS terminals in department stores, supermarkets, etc. with the spread of computer network systems.

The electronic register is operated by an operator such as a store clerk,
The product price is sequentially displayed on the display, and finally the total price is displayed by the push button instruction, and the printer issues a receipt for each sales transaction and records the journal at the same time.

In addition to this register function, it also has an input function of an information management system that sends sales information for each product online to the computer center one by one and comprehensively manages products such as sales totals, inventory management, and purchase management.

Therefore, it is necessary to provide a system capable of preventing leakage of transaction data even if the line connecting the electronic register and the computer center becomes abnormal and the line is disconnected.

(c) Prior Art and Problems The conventional method will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 by taking an electronic register of a POS as an example. FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an electronic register to which the present invention is applied, and FIG.
FIG. 1 is an internal side view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an outline of a POS system to which the present invention is applied.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the electronic register 1, a display 3 is arranged on the upper front surface of a housing 2, and a keyboard portion 4 is installed in the central portion of the front surface.

A speaker 3a is arranged at the lower right of the keyboard unit 4,
A cash drawer 9 is arranged at the bottom of the device.

As shown in FIG. 2, a control unit 8 is arranged behind the keyboard unit 4 and on the right side of the drawing, and a printer unit 6 is provided above it.

A winding unit 7 is provided below the keyboard unit 4, and a paper feeding unit 10 is provided behind the printer unit 6.

With such a configuration, a signal is sent to the control unit 8 according to entrance information such as an operation of a push button of the keyboard unit 4 by an operator, and a command signal from the control unit 8 sends a product number, a product name, a unit price, and an operation to the operator. The instructions are displayed one by one on the display 3, and finally the necessary calculation processing is performed to display the total amount of money and the change or the like.

At the same time, the printer 11 prints the receipt 11 and the journal, the roll paper of the receipt 11 is cut, and the receipt 11 is issued from the receipt issuing port 5.

Next, the cash drawer 9 is opened and comes out in front of the cash drawer so that cash can be paid and received.

During this time, if there is an operation error by the operator or if there is an abnormality in the line, a warning display or the like is displayed on the display 3, and if necessary, an alarm sound of the speaker 3a is used.

As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of electronic registers 1 are usually connected to a terminal controller (hereinafter referred to as T / C) 12 via a local line, and the T / Cs 12 are connected to a computer center 13 via a communication line.

The T / C 12 has a function of branching and controlling terminal devices such as a plurality of electronic registers 1, and the computer center 13 processes transaction data sent from the plurality of electronic registers 1. is there.

The electronic register 1 processes and edits the input transaction data,
The POS system is operated by transmitting to the computer center 13 through the line via the T / C 12.

Here, a conventional example of a coping method when an abnormality occurs in a line or the like will be described.

In department stores and supermarkets, if a line failure occurs due to disconnection of cables or loose connection of plugs due to interior remodeling of sales floors, or a line failure occurs due to CPU13 or T / C12 down, the data generated on the terminal side is transmitted to the host device. The following various methods are performed so as not to be prevented. That is, in the case where the line is disconnected due to the T / C 12 or the CPU 13 being down, a data collecting device, for example, a floppy recorder, which is an alternative to these, is always connected for backup.

A method that manages data so that generated data is stored in a buffer memory on the terminal side and can withstand offline for a short time. (Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-3249) A method that prints out the transaction number where the line is disconnected and the transaction serial number when the line is restored so that the range where the generated data is not transmitted to the T / C 12 or the CPU 13 can be known. (Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-6609) has already been implemented.

Further, in order to make the operator aware of the line disconnection, the display 3 or an off-line lamp (not shown) notifies the operator by blinking when the line is disconnected, and after the operator releases the alarm, the line disconnection indicator is displayed. Has been done.

However, according to these methods, it is necessary to provide a floppy recorder corresponding to the T / C12 in the method, and not only the economical burden is large, but also the intermittent factor between the electronic register 1 and the T / C12, that is, However, there is a drawback that it is not possible to deal with wiring disconnection accidents such as interior remodeling work and loose insertion connections.

With the method (1), when the line abnormality does not continue to be recovered until the capacity of the buffer memory is exceeded, further data cannot be held, so that there is a drawback that it is not possible to deal with high transaction frequency or long-time line disconnection.

The method of 1 has a disadvantage that the post-processing is troublesome when there is a large amount of transaction data in a range that is not transmitted due to the continuation of the line abnormality.

In the conventional method of displaying the line disconnection notification, the off-line lamp etc. blinks at the time of occurrence, but after the alarm is released, the off-line lamp etc. is only in the lighting state, indicating that the abnormality continues. The drawback is that it is difficult for the operator to recognize.

(d) Object of the invention It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, and to provide a line abnormality processing method in which post-processing of untransmittable transaction data that occurs during an abnormality such as a line is easy. .

(e) Structure of the Invention The present invention includes a data input unit, a printer unit, and a line connection unit, and adds transaction serial numbers to transaction data based on the data input from the data input unit and transfers them to the line. The terminal device for sending includes a transaction data storage unit that stores transaction data during the line disconnection and a transaction serial number of the transaction data when the line disconnection occurs, and the transaction data storage unit stores the transaction data during the line disconnection. When the transaction data and the transaction serial number of the transaction data are input in excess of the capacity, the transaction data that disappears due to excess input and the transaction serial number of the transaction data are printed out together with a predetermined mark on the printer unit by a line error processing method. Yes, if the disconnection is restored before the input transaction data and serial number exceed the capacity of the transaction data storage unit, there is no need to print out the data, so it is stored in the transaction data storage unit. Data can be transmitted, and when the capacity of the data storage unit is exceeded, it is only necessary to re-enter the transaction data of the printed serial number, which facilitates post-processing.

(f) Embodiments of the Invention One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 4 to 7. 4 is a block diagram showing an outline of an electronic register to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an embodiment according to the present invention, FIG. 6 is a flow chart of FIG.
FIG. 7 is a time chart showing the operation of FIG. The same reference numerals denote the same objects throughout the drawings.

4 and 5, 14 is a control unit, 15 is a line adapter, 15a is a line state detection unit, 16 is a power supply, 1
7 is a microprocessor, 18 and 19 are storage devices, 20
Is a transaction data buffer, 21 is a storage pointer, 22 is a transmission pointer, 23 is a transaction serial number buffer, 24 is a line status storage unit, 25 is a reception buffer, and 26 is an extinguished transaction serial number storage unit.

The line adapter 15 controls transmission / reception with the T / C 12 side and includes a line state detection unit 15a. The line state detection unit 15a sends a polling signal sent from the computer center 13 at predetermined time intervals to a predetermined time. If transaction data is not sent even after (for example, 10 seconds), the line disconnection is notified to the microprocessor 17,
Further, it has a function of notifying the microprocessor 17 of the restoration when the line restoration is detected by the polling signal.

The storage device 18 stores data, and the storage device 19 stores programs.

The transaction data buffer 20 stores transaction data and transaction serial numbers, and is an area for storing transaction data and transaction serial numbers for a predetermined amount, for example, 16 times, that is, storage positions No1 to No.
16 is provided, and when the line or the like is normal, it is sent out to the T / C 12 side via the line adapter 15 immediately after being stored. When the transmission is completed, it is cleared.

When the transaction data and the transaction serial number cannot be sent to the T / C 12 side due to the disconnection of the line, the transaction data and the transaction serial number are stored at the storage positions No1, No2, ...
Are sequentially stored in.

If the line is disconnected during transmission, it will be stored in the storage position No. 1 as it is.

When the line disconnection is restored within the range of the storage capacity of the transaction data buffer 20, that is, when the transaction data is stored within 16 times, the instruction of the microprocessor 15 causes the stored transaction data and transaction serial number to be T / T at a time. It is sent to the C12 side.

If the line disconnection continues and the transaction data during that time exceeds 16 times, the transaction data and transaction serial number stored first,
That is, the transaction data and the transaction serial number stored in the storage position No1 disappear, and the 17th transaction data and the transaction serial number are stored in the storage position No1. After that, the transaction data and the transaction serial number stored in the position No. 2, ... Are erased, and the subsequent transaction data and the transaction serial number are sequentially stored.

The storage pointer 21 indicates the storage position of transaction data and transaction serial number.

The transmission pointer 22 indicates from which storage position in the transaction data buffer 20 the transaction data and transaction serial number are read. The read transaction data is sent to the line adapter 15.

When sending transaction data in the initial state, the storage pointer 2
The 1 and the send pointer 22 indicate the position of the first storage area of the transaction data buffer 20.

The transaction serial number buffer 23 holds the transaction serial number, and when the input of one transaction is started, the content is incremented by one. The transaction serial number indicates the number of the transaction on that day. This transaction serial number is added to the transaction data and stored in the transaction data buffer 20.

A line state of line disconnection / recovery is written in the line state storage unit 24.

The reception buffer 25 is a buffer memory used when receiving, for example, initial program loading from the T / C 12.

The disappearance transaction serial number storage unit 26 stores the transaction data and the transaction serial number stored in the transaction data buffer 20 when they disappear.
The transaction serial number of the transaction data that disappears is stored.

With such a configuration and function, as shown in FIG. 6, when transaction data is input from the keyboard 4 of the electronic register 1, the transaction sequence number is incremented by 1 in the transaction sequence number buffer 23 and stored in the transaction data buffer 20. The transaction data and transaction serial number are stored in the printer unit 6, the receipt 11 is issued, the journal is wound up by the winding unit 10, and the transaction is completed.

On the other hand, the transaction data and the transaction serial number are sent to the T / C 12 side via the line adapter 15.

If the line is normal, such transaction data is repeatedly transmitted.

If a line disconnection occurs at this point, as shown in FIG. 7, the line state detection unit 15a detects that the transaction data cannot be transmitted due to the interruption of the polling signal and notifies the microprocessor 17 to the line state storage unit 24. The line disconnection is stored, and the transaction data and transaction serial number at that time are stored in the storage position No. 1 of the transaction data buffer 20.

Immediately after that, the line disconnection mark and the transaction serial number are printed in the same manner as the printout during the line disconnection described later.

Then, the display for informing the off-line state blinks on the display 3 and an alarm sound is generated from the speaker 3a.

When the operator operates the alarm release button (not shown) to release the alarm, the alarm sound disappears and the display 3 becomes a still display of "offline".

When the line disconnection continues, if the line status storage unit 24 disconnects the line at the end of the subsequent transaction, the display 3 flashes "offline" every time a transaction is made and an alarm sound is generated from the speaker 3a.

The transaction data and the transaction serial number are sequentially stored in the storage area of the transaction data buffer 20.

Then, a line disconnection mark and a transaction serial number are printed on the receipt 11 and the journal as in the following example.

“* Offline 0021 *” The storage capacity of the transaction data buffer 20 due to continuous line disconnection,
That is, when the transaction data and the transaction serial number are stored 16 times, the transaction data and the transaction serial number stored in the storage position No. 1 are erased and input by the next transaction data, here the 17th input. The transaction data and the transaction serial number are stored in the storage location No1.

Then, the lost transaction serial number is stored in the lost transaction serial number storage unit 26.

Then, the disappearance mark NG, the line disconnection mark, and the disappearance transaction serial number are printed on the sheet 11 and the journal as in the following example.

"* Offline 0021NG *" And the transaction data is printed below it.

When the transaction data is further input, the transaction data stored in the storage location No. 2 disappears, new transaction data is stored in the storage location, and the transaction data is processed in the same manner as the disappearance transaction data.

When the line status detection unit 15a detects the line recovery, the transaction serial number is stored in the transaction serial number storage area 25 in the line recovery.

Then, the transmission pointer 22 sequentially designates the transmission of the transaction data and the transaction serial number stored in the transaction data buffer 20, and all are transmitted to the T / C 12 side.

All except transaction data and transaction serial number which disappeared in this way
Since it has been sent to the / C12 side, at the time of payment such as after work, by operating a payment button (not shown), the transaction serial number of the extinct transaction data is read from the extinct transaction serial number storage area 26 and printed out by the printer unit 6. By checking the extinct transaction data printed out each time the extinction corresponds to the transaction serial number, re-entering it, and transmitting it to the T / C 12 side,
Post-processing of non-transmittable transaction data due to line disconnection can be completed.

In this way, among the transaction data and transaction serial numbers stored in the transaction data buffer 20 due to continuation of the line disconnection, the lost transaction data and transaction serial numbers are printed with the line disconnection mark and the disappearance mark NG added each time they disappear. It is possible,
Further, since the transaction data stored in the transaction data buffer 20 at the time of line disconnection restoration is sent to the T / C 12 side and sent to the computer center 13 immediately after the line restoration, the transaction data printed with the disappearance mark NG is displayed to the operator. You only have to re-enter it, which has the effect of making the process easier and faster, and the transaction serial number with the line disconnection mark is printed out every time a transaction is closed while the line is off line. The blinking of the "middle" display and the generation of an alarm sound from the speaker 3a enable the operator to strongly recognize that the line is being disconnected each time. Therefore, the information of the line disconnection can be promptly notified to facilitate the line recovery procedure. The effect is that it can be done.

Transaction data buffer 2 promotes recovery from line disconnection.
Transaction data that disappears from 0 decreases or disappears, post-processing of transaction data during line disconnection can be further facilitated, and the POS system operates smoothly.

Although the example in which the disappearance transaction serial number and the transaction data are printed on the receipt together with the disappearance mark NG and the line disconnection mark has been described in the above example, a method of omitting the printing of the transaction data is also conceivable.

In this case, the lost transaction data will be transferred to T / C1 after the line is restored.
When sending to the 2 side, by checking and entering the corresponding transaction data in the journal from the list of disappearing transaction serial numbers,
The disappearance transaction data can be sent to the T / C 12 side.

Therefore, the same effect can be obtained although it is somewhat troublesome.

Further, a method of omitting printing out the transaction serial number with the line disconnection mark for each transaction during the line disconnection may be adopted.

Although the above embodiment has been described by taking the electronic cash register 1 of the POS system as an example, it can be similarly applied to other transaction terminal devices.

(g) Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, when the line failure continues and the untransmittable transaction data held in the storage unit disappears, the disappearance mark is added and printed out. Because it is possible, it is easy to grasp the disappearance transaction data.

There is an effect that the amount of transmission processing by re-inputting after the line abnormality is recovered is small and the processing is easy.

There is an effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a perspective view illustrating an electronic register to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is an internal side view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an outline of a POS system to which the present invention is applied. 4 is a block diagram showing an outline of an electronic register to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an embodiment according to the present invention, FIG. 6 is a flowchart of FIG. 4, and FIG.
6 is a time chart showing the operation of the figure. In the figure, 1 is an electronic register, 3 is a display, 3
a is a speaker, 4 is a keyboard, 6 is a printer section, 11
Is a receipt, 12 is a terminal controller (T /
C), 13 is a computer center, 8 and 14 are control units,
Reference numeral 15 is a line adapter, 15a is a line state detection unit, 17
Is a microprocessor, 18 and 19 are storage devices, 20 is a transaction data buffer, 21 is a storage pointer, 22 is a transmission pointer, 23 is a transaction serial number buffer, 24 is a line state storage unit, and 26 is an extinguished transaction serial number storage area.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A terminal device comprising a data input section, a printer section, and a line connection section, wherein a transaction serial number is attached to transaction data based on the data input from the data input section and the transaction data is transmitted to the line. A transaction data storage unit for storing transaction data input to the terminal device and a transaction serial number of the transaction data when the line is disconnected, and the transaction data storage unit while the line is disconnected. When the transaction data to be stored and the transaction sequence number of the transaction data are input in excess of the capacity of the transaction data, the transaction data that disappears due to excess input and the transaction sequence number of the transaction data are printed out together with a predetermined mark on the printer unit. Line abnormality processing method characterized by.