JPH0677278B2 - vending machine - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a vending machine that selectively sells products and the like by using a card.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, product selection in a vending machine is performed by pressing a selection button facing a product sample, or when there is no product sample, pressing a selection button corresponding to a character or a photograph. .

By the way, the number of types of recent vending machines has increased, and the number of types of additional selection such as seasoning selection of products has greatly increased. Here, the additional selection refers to selection of the type of coffee beans, the strength of coffee, the amount of cream, the amount of sugar, and the like in a coffee vending machine, for example.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in recent vending machines, the number of items to be selected is too large due to an increase in the selection of product types and additional selections. It is necessary to press the selection button, which has a drawback of burdening the operation.

On the other hand, even if the vending machine has many selection items, the selection content such as the seasoning selection is usually determined for one user.

An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic vending machine that can reduce the operation load of product selection (including additional selection) by using an identification card and can easily rewrite the product selection information stored in the storage unit. To do.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the vending machine according to the present invention includes a read-only card reader for reading the identification information from an identification card in which the identification information is recorded, A product selection part that can arbitrarily select the type of product including product seasoning,
Selection unit lighting means that can light the product selection unit for each product type, a registration operation unit that outputs the product selection information selected by the product selection unit as a registration signal, and sales of the products that are illuminated by the product selection unit A sales operation unit that outputs a signal, and a storage unit that stores the identification information and the product selection information via an arithmetic processing unit, the arithmetic processing unit including the identification information read by the card reader and the product Information registration processing means for recording the product selection information selected by the selection unit in the storage unit based on the registration signal of the registration operation unit, identification information read by the card reader, and card identification stored in the storage unit A lighting signal output for outputting a lighting signal to the selection unit lighting means corresponding to the product selection information of the identification card when the identification information is matched by the matching means for matching information with the matching means. And having means, and a drive signal output means for outputting a drive signal to the product discharge drive unit for unloading the product corresponding to the product selection information based on the sale signal from the sales operation unit.

(Operation) According to the present invention, before the purchase of the product, the identification card is inserted into the card reader, and the card identification data read by the card reader and the product selection information selected by the product selection unit are registered. It is stored and held in the storage unit based on the registration signal of the unit.

Then, when purchasing the product, the identification card is again inserted into the card reader. As a result, the card reader reads the identification information, and the collating means collates the identification information with the identification information stored in the storage section.

When these pieces of identification information match, the product selection unit corresponding to the product selection information stored in the storage unit is turned on once.
Here, the user determines whether or not the illuminated selected product matches the product intended to be purchased, and when they match, operates the sales operation unit.

As a result, the product unloading drive unit is driven, and the product is unloaded based on the product selection information stored in the storage unit.

When purchasing this product, if the illuminated selected product does not match the product intended to be purchased, insert the identification card into the card reader, select the desired product again through the product selection unit, and register this state. It is stored in the storage unit through the operation unit. Thereby, the product can be purchased based on the newly rewritten product selection information.

(Embodiment) FIGS. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of a vending machine according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control circuit of the vending machine, and FIG. It is a control flowchart of a vending machine.

As shown in FIG. 1, the control circuit configuration of the vending machine includes a microprocessor 1 as an arithmetic processing unit, a read-only card reader 2 for reading information of a magnetic card (identification information of the vending machine user), and various types. A product selection unit 3 having a large number of selection buttons for each product and selection buttons for additional selection, a selection unit lighting means 4 for lighting the part selected by the product selection unit 3, and a product selection selected by the product selection unit 3. A registration operation unit 5 that outputs information as a registration signal, a sales operation unit 6 that outputs a sales signal of the product illuminated by the product selection unit, a storage unit 7 that stores the identification information of the magnetic card and the product selection information,
It comprises a money discriminator 8 for identifying inserted money, a product unloading drive unit 9 to which a sales drive signal of a product is input, and a product storage / unloading unit 10 for carrying out a product unloading operation by the operation of the product unloading drive unit 9.

On the other hand, this microprocessor 1 has an amount calculation means 1a.
An information registration processing means 1b, a matching means 1c, a lighting signal output means 1d, and a drive signal output means 1e. The amount calculation means 1a compares the amount of money input to the money discriminator 8 with the amount of money of the selected product, and when the amount of money inserted is equal to or more than the amount of the selected product, outputs a sales drive signal to the drive output means 1e. . Further, the identification information is read by the card reader 2,
Moreover, the product selection information is input to the product selection unit 3. When the registration operation unit 5 operates to register the information, the information registration processing unit 1b stores the information in the storage unit 7. The identification information stored in the storage unit 7 is collated by the collating means 1c with the identification information read by the card reader again. Here, when it is determined that the same identification information is stored, the lighting signal output means 1d is driven.
Further, the drive signal output means 1e is adapted to drive the product unloading drive unit 9 by a drive signal from the sales signal of the sales operation unit 6 or the like.

The control circuit thus configured is controlled as shown in the flowchart of FIG.

First, when using the vending machine with a magnetic card, the user obtains a magnetic card in which card identification information is written in advance. Next, the user uses the money discriminator 8
And the magnetic card is read by the card reader 2 (S1, S2).

Here, when the card is unused and the card identification information and product selection information are not stored in the storage unit 4, the product selection unit 3 is operated to select a desired product, and the product selection information and the card are selected. Is input to the information registration processing unit 1b through the registration signal from the registration operation unit 5 and stored in the storage unit 7 (S3 to S6).

When such a product purchase is ready, the magnetic card is read again by the card reader 2. As a result, the lighting signal output means 1d drives the selection part lighting means 4 based on the product selection information stored in the above-mentioned storage part 7, and the product selection part 3 corresponding to this product selection information is lit. By this lighting, the user can confirm whether or not the desired product is selected (S7).

Here, if it is determined that the product selection information in the storage unit 7 needs to be rewritten due to an error in product selection, the magnetic card is read again by the card reader 2 (S8), and the process proceeds from step 4 to step 6. Then, the storage unit 7 can be rewritten. As described above, the product selection information stored in the storage unit 7 can be easily rewritten, and the selected product can be confirmed in advance by the selection unit lighting means 4 when the product is purchased. You can buy.

When this rewriting is not necessary, the sales operation unit 6 is operated to output the product sales signal to the drive signal output means 1e (S
9). Here, it is determined whether or not the input amount is greater than or equal to the amount of the selected product (S10), and if this is satisfied, the product delivery drive unit 4 is driven to deliver the product (S11). On the other hand,
When the amount of money to be inserted is insufficient, the product is carried out after waiting for the money to be inserted into the money discriminator 8 and the condition of step 10 being satisfied.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the product selection operation such as the complicated seasoning designation operation can be omitted, and the operability of the vending machine can be improved.

Further, by operating the registration push button, there is an effect that the restriction on the operation order for registering and storing the product selection information is reduced. As another method for simplifying the operation of selecting a product by using a card, for example, a method of writing product selection information on a card can be considered. According to this method, a card reader has both reading and writing functions. Therefore, the price of the card reader is considerably higher than that of the read-only card reader in this embodiment. This embodiment has an advantage that it can be realized by adding an inexpensive read-only card reader to the conventional ordinary vending machine. Especially for an automatic vending machine such as a coffee automatic vending machine that has many items for product selection (additional selection), the effect of simplifying the operation of the present embodiment is particularly great.

Although a magnetic card specified by JIS B-9596 was used as the card in this embodiment, it is needless to say that the same effect can be obtained by using a card of other material, shape, and standard.

In addition, in this embodiment, the block element shown in FIG. 1 may be incorporated in the main body of the vending machine, or the vending machine has a separate structure from the controller section, the money discriminator, and the product storing / unloading section. Anything is fine. Even if the control means are physically separated in this way, or the number and combination thereof are changed, the same effect can be expected.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the vending machine according to the present invention, the operation of selecting a product is unnecessary by the identification card, and the operation of purchasing a product is not only simple, but also in the storage unit. The stored product selection information can be easily rewritten, and when purchasing a product with a card, it is convenient to purchase the product in which the selected product is confirmed in advance by the selection unit lighting means.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control circuit of the vending machine, and FIG. 2 is a control flowchart of the vending machine. 1 ... Microprocessor, 1b ... Information registration processing unit, 1c
... collation means, 1d ... lighting signal output means, 1e ... drive signal output means, 2 ... card reader, 3 ... product selection section,
4 ... Selection section lighting means, 5 ... Registration operation section, 6 ... Sales operation section, 7 ... Storage section, 9 ... Commodity unloading drive section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A read-only card reader for reading the identification information from an identification card on which the identification information is recorded, a product selection unit capable of arbitrarily selecting a product type including seasoning of the product, and the product selection unit. Selection unit lighting means that can be turned on for each type, a registration operation unit that outputs the product selection information selected by the product selection unit as a registration signal, and a sales operation that outputs a sales signal of the product that is turned on by the product selection unit And a storage unit that stores the identification information and the product selection information via an arithmetic processing unit, the arithmetic processing unit being selected by the identification information read by the card reader and the product selection unit. Information registration processing means for recording product selection information in the storage part based on a registration signal of the registration operation part, identification information read by the card reader, and a card stored in the storage part. Collating means for collating the card identification information, and when the collating means matches the identification information, a lighting signal output means for outputting a lighting signal to the selecting part lighting means corresponding to the product selection information of the identification card, An automatic vending machine comprising: a drive signal output unit that outputs a drive signal to a product unloading drive unit that carries out a product corresponding to the product selection information based on a sales signal from the sales operation unit.