JPH02220192A - Controller for automatic card type vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a control device for a card-type vending machine that sells products using prepaid cards.

[Conventional technology] In a vending machine that sells products using this type of card,
In order to promote sales by card users, services such as bonuses or discounts are provided, and these services include the following.

■Increase the amount that can be purchased with the card to be greater than the price of the card.

■Make the product price cheaper when using a card than the purchase price using coins.

- Give a discount when a predetermined balance is reached on the card.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] By the way, if services such as ■ and ■ are implemented, purchasing products with cash may give the impression that it is a loss, and there is a risk that the number of product purchases using cash will decrease. . Therefore, service ① is considered preferable.

Incidentally, this type of card is generally disposable, and considering the cost of the card issuing machine, the cost required to issue the card cannot be ignored. Therefore, with a commonly used 1,000 yen card, the bonus amount is at most several thousand yen, which is less than the purchase price of the product, so small-value cards do not have any bonuses.

This invention was made in order to eliminate the above-mentioned problems, and is a card-type automatic machine that is not limited to one card but that sells bonuses when the cumulative amount of money spent reaches a predetermined amount. The purpose is to provide a control device for vending machines.

[Means for Solving the Problems] As shown in FIG. 1, the card-type vending machine control device of the present invention, in a pre-payment type card-type vending machine, records the accumulated usage amount in the magnetic information part of the card. In addition to providing an area for writing, there is also a cumulative amount calculation section B that adds the sold product price to the cumulative usage amount x0 read from the card by the card reader A, and a predetermined cumulative amount X calculated by the cumulative amount calculation section B. When the cumulative amount X reaches a predetermined amount W according to the judgment of the determining section C, which determines whether the amount has reached the amount of 0 yen, and when the cumulative amount X is less than a predetermined amount W, the controller writes the cumulative amount X calculated by the cumulative amount calculation part B onto the card.

[Operation] According to the above configuration, the cumulative amount X used for each product purchase is calculated on the card, and when the cumulative amount X reaches a predetermined amount W, a bonus sale is performed, and at this time, 0 yen is written on the card as the cumulative amount spent. On the other hand, when the cumulative amount X is less than the predetermined amount W, the cumulative amount X is written on the card. In addition, if the card balance at this time is 0 yen, it will be written to the second card inserted, and if the second card is not inserted, it will be written to the card with a balance of 0 yen. By writing and inserting a card with a balance of 0 yen at the time of the next product purchase, the cumulative amount X is read from the card and added to the next inserted card.

[Embodiment] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a control device for a card-type vending machine according to the present invention.

1 is a card that stores information such as the deposited amount as magnetic information, etc. As shown in FIG.
A is for personal identification! In addition to the area where the D code and card balance are written, there is provided an area J where the cumulative amount of money spent is written.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a card reader that reads the deposited amount of the inserted card 1, settles the payment after selling the product, and writes the balance. 3 is a sales control department that carries out the delivery of products;
is a CPU (central processing unit) that centrally controls this device, and is connected to each of the above-mentioned devices via input/output sections 6 and 7. Further, inside the CPU 5, there is a cumulative amount calculation unit 5 that adds the sales amount to the cumulative usage amount read from the card 1.
a, and a determination unit 5b that determines whether the amount accumulated by the cumulative amount calculation unit 5a has reached a predetermined amount (3000 yen in this embodiment). 8 is a ROM (read only memory) that stores a control program for the CPU 5. 9 is a RAM (random access memory), C
Stores various data necessary for controlling the PU5.

Next, the operation of the apparatus having the above configuration will be explained according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When card l is inserted into card reader 2, step S
The process advances to step S2 from t, and the balance information and cumulative usage amount written on the card l are read out. In step S3, it is determined whether there is a sale, and in step S4,
Subsequently, it is determined whether a second card has been inserted.

Now, suppose you insert a second card because your balance is low, the process advances from step S4 to step S5, where the remaining amount and cumulative usage amount of the second card are read out, and in step S6, the second card is inserted. The balance and cumulative usage amount of the second card is 1.
The amount will be added to the balance of the second card and the total usage amount. Then, in step S7, information of 0 yen for the remaining amount and the cumulative usage amount is written on the first card, and the card is returned by the card reader 2. After that, the process returns to step S3 and waits for the product to be sold.

Now, when the product selection button is pressed, the process advances from step S3 to step S8, and the selected product is carried out. Then, in step S9, the amount of the sold product is subtracted from the remaining amount, and in step SIO, the product price is added to the cumulative usage amount. In the next step Sll, the determination unit 5b determines whether the newly determined cumulative usage amount has reached 3,000 yen. If the cumulative amount used is less than 3000 yen,
Proceeding to step S14, the newly determined remaining balance and cumulative usage amount are written on the card 1, and the card 1 is returned in step S15. On the other hand, when the cumulative usage amount reaches 3000 yen, the process advances from step Sl+ to step S12, and a 100 yen product is sold as a bonus. Then, in step S13, the accumulated usage amount is cleared to 0 yen, and in step S14, the remaining amount and the accumulated usage amount of 0 yen are written.

In the above embodiment, when the balance on the first card becomes 0 yen or decreases, the cumulative amount spent is written on the second card, but when only one card is inserted, Even if the remaining balance on the card is 0 yen, the cumulative usage amount may be written, and the cumulative usage amount may be read out by inserting a card with 0 yen balance at the time of the next purchase.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, this invention accumulates the amount spent without being limited to one card.
Even if the card has a small amount, if the cumulative amount spent on the card reaches a predetermined amount, the customer can receive a bonus service, which improves the service provided to card users and can be expected to increase sales of products.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a diagram corresponding to the claims of the control device for a card-type vending machine of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a control block diagram showing an embodiment of the invention, and Fig. 3 shows the control operation of the device of Fig. 2. The flowchart shown in FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the storage area of the magnetic information section of the card used in the vending machine of FIG. l...Card, 2...Card reader, 3...Sales control unit, 5...CPU, 5a...Cumulative amount calculation unit,
5b... Judgment unit, 8... ROM, 9... RAM. First plan

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a prepaid card-type vending machine, an area is provided in the magnetic information section of the card to write the cumulative amount spent, and the price of the sold product is added to the cumulative amount read out from the card by a card reader. a cumulative amount calculating unit; a determining unit that determines whether the cumulative amount calculated by the cumulative amount calculating unit reaches a predetermined amount; and when the cumulative amount reaches the predetermined amount according to the determination by the determining unit; , a control unit that sells a bonus, sets the cumulative amount written to the card as 0 yen, and writes the cumulative amount calculated by the cumulative amount calculation unit to the card when the cumulative amount is less than a predetermined amount; A control device for a card-type vending machine characterized by comprising: