JPH046607B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an article rental processing device that rents out a plurality of different articles for a fee, and particularly relates to an article rental processing device that rents out a plurality of different articles for a fee, and particularly relates to an article rental processing device that rents out a plurality of different articles for a fee. For example, the present invention relates to an article rental processing device that allows the cancellation of rental registration.

[Prior Art] For example, when a book rental store or a record rental store lends out an item of almost regular size to the general public for a fee, the store clerk provides the item name or product code that specifies the rental item, the address and name of the borrower, and the rental date. I try to record it on my vote or in my notebook. However, if the store clerk records the name and product code of each loaned item on the rental slip or notebook, the efficiency of the rental office work will be reduced. Additionally, if this manual work is done, there is a concern that the clerk may write the product code incorrectly or forget to record the loan altogether.

On the other hand, software rental companies that rent out records, audio tapes, CD records, video tapes, etc. to the general public for a fee generally limit the number of rentals or the loan amount to software supply companies such as record companies, movie companies, and TV companies. There is an obligation to pay copyright fees at a certain rate accordingly. Therefore, conversely, software supply companies need to strictly manage which software is rented out and how many times at each rental company's store. It is also necessary to prevent careless duplication in stores.

In order to eliminate this inconvenience, we attach a barcode indicating the product code to the rental item, issue a membership card with the membership number recorded to the borrower, and scan the barcode with a barcode reader when lending the item. 2. Description of the Related Art An article lending processing device has been developed that reads a product code and stores it in a storage device together with a membership number inputted from a keyboard, for example.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, even in the above-mentioned article lending processing device that strictly manages the lending of articles using bar codes, the following problems still occur. That is, in the above-mentioned device, since the product code of the item currently being lent is stored in the storage device, it is possible to grasp the item currently being lent by printing out the stored contents of this storage device. is possible. However, there is a problem in that no information is stored that indicates that items that are not currently being lent are definitely stored on the shelf.

Also, for example, if a customer rents an item he or she wants from a store and is on his way home, he changes his mind and returns to the store and requests to return the item he has borrowed. Since the product is not used at all, the store does not need to pay copyright fees for this product to the software supplier. However, in the conventional device described above, once the lending process is performed, the number of lending times is counted up in the storage device, which is an inconvenience. Therefore, it has been desired to develop an article lending processing device that can carry out stricter and fairer lending management.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a rental management memory that stores rental information of each item, and to return the item to the shelf within a certain cancellation permission time after being registered for rental. It is an object of the present invention to provide an article rental processing device that can perform article rental management more strictly and fairly by automatically canceling registration when the article is canceled.

[Means for Solving the Problems] As shown in FIG. 1, the article rental processing device of the present invention includes an IC circuit 2 that is incorporated into an article 1 to be rented for a fee, and stores product information of this article. , a plurality of shelves 3 into which each article is inserted, a detection device 4 provided in each of these shelves to detect that an article has been inserted into the shelf, and a detection device 4 that detects the insertion of an article into the shelf in correspondence with each article. A rental management memory 5 consisting of a plurality of tapes having a product information area for storing product information, a rental information area for storing rental information, and a storage bin area for storing insertion shelf numbers, and writing of information to this rental management memory. A main body control device 6 for reading data, and a signal connection mechanism 7 provided between the shelf and the article for transmitting data between the IC circuit and the main body control device when the article is inserted into the shelf, After the detection device detects an operation to pull out an article from the shelf, the rental registration means 8 registers rental information including the rental time in the rental information area of the table corresponding to the shelf number of the shelf where this withdrawal operation occurred. In addition, in response to the detection of the insertion operation of the article into the shelf by the detection device, the product information reading means 9 reads the product information of the inserted product via the signal connection mechanism, and the read product is read. If the elapsed time from the rental time stored in the rental information area of the table in which the information is stored to the insertion time of this article is less than the predetermined cancellation permission time, the cancellation registration means 10 records the rental information of the corresponding table. It is to be canceled.

[Operation] In the article lending processing device configured as described above, the presence or absence of articles on each shelf is constantly detected by the detection device. Further, product information for each article stored on each shelf is stored in each table along with the shelf number and rental information. Then, when an item is pulled out from the shelf for lending, lending information including the lending time is registered in the lending information area of the product information stored in the shelf number table of the pulled-out shelf. Also,
When the item is inserted into the shelf, the detection device is activated again.
Product information stored in the IC circuit is read through the signal connection mechanism. If the elapsed time from the rental time stored in the rental information area of the table in which the read product information is stored to the insertion time of this item is less than the cancellation permission time, the item has not been rented. As a result, the lending information stored earlier in the corresponding table is canceled.

[Example] An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the entire article processing apparatus of the embodiment. In this embodiment, a case will be explained in which the device is installed in a video rental shop that rents out video tapes to the general public for a fee. In other words, 2 in the figure
Reference numeral 1 denotes a rack with a large number of shelves 22 arranged on the front, and a main body control device 23 adjacent to this rack 21.
is installed. Each shelf 22 provided in the rack 21 has a rectangular shape into which a videotape cassette 24 as an article is inserted with a slight gap in the longitudinal direction, and a detecting device is mounted on the abutting wall of each shelf 22. A micro switch is attached, and when the cassette 24 is inserted into the shelf 22 to its proper position, the micro switch is closed. Furthermore, a light emitting element and a light receiving element as a signal connection mechanism are arranged on one side wall of the shelf 22. Further, an operation panel 25 is attached to the front surface of the main body control device 23.

In the cassette 24, as shown in FIG. 3, a window 26 for optical communication is provided near the corner of the side surface of the cassette case. An IC circuit 27 is disposed within the cassette 24 facing the window 26, and a light emitting element 28a and a light receiving element 28b are disposed on a PC board supporting the IC circuit 27. Furthermore, a battery 29 is provided adjacent to the PC board. Please note that these electronic components are located in the corners of the cassette case.
It does not interfere with tape running. and,
When the cassette 24 is properly inserted into the shelf 22, it faces a light emitting element and a light receiving element attached to the side wall of the shelf 22.

As shown in FIG. 5, the operation panel 25 includes display lamps 30a and 30b that indicate that the cassette has been inserted incorrectly and cannot be borrowed, a display section 31 that displays various messages and amounts, and a display section 31 for inputting numerical data such as a membership number. numeric keys 32, A to F for hexadecimal display used when setting various data in the storage unit
Alphabet key 33, set key 34 used when inputting numerical data, rental key 3 to press when lending a cassette
5. Transmission key 36, 3 for transmitting data to the host computer of the video software management center
A discount key 37, a discount available lamp 38 that displays discount availability, a mode selection key 39 that is operated with a key that selects and sets various business modes, and an issuance port 41 for a printer 40 that prints rental slips, etc. are provided. has been done.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the IC circuit 27 built into the cassette 24. To CPU27a,
Through the bus line 27, ROM27c, RAM
27d is connected to an input/output port 27e to which the emitting element 28a and the light receiving element 28d are connected. Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 7, the RAM 27d stores the product code of the videotape in this cassette 24, the branch number used when there is more than one of the same product, the title name, and the rental unit price indicating the rental fee for one time. Product information is stored. This product information is written at the video software management center, and the cassette 24 is supplied to the rental store with the product information written therein.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the main body control device 23. The CPU 42 connects to the ROM via the bus line.
43, RAM 44, input port 46 into which opening/closing information of each micro switch 45 provided in each shelf 22 is input, input/output to which the issuing element 47a and light receiving element 47b attached to the side wall of the shelf 22 are connected. Port 48, keyboard 49 of operation panel 25
An input port 50 into which key signals are input, an output port 51 which sends data to the printer 40 and the display section 31, a clock circuit 52 which has a built-in timer 52a and clocks the current month, day, hour, and minute, and data such as rental information. Controls the I/O interface 53 for transmission. Note that this I/O interface 53 is connected to a host computer 56 of the video software management center via a MODEM 54 and a switch 55.

Further, each of the electronic components described above is supplied with a driving voltage from a power supply circuit 58 connected to an AC power supply via a power switch 57.

In the RAM 44, as shown in FIG.
A rental management memory 59 is formed. This rental management memory 59 is stored on a shelf 22 formed in the rack 21.
Each table 60 includes a shelf number area 62 for storing the shelf number of the shelf 22, and product information including a product code, branch number, title name, and rental unit price. The product information area 63 stores the total number of loans lent to date, the total loan amount, the total arrears, the date and time of the loan (rent time) if the loan is currently in progress, and the member of the borrower if the loan is currently in progress. A rental information area 64 is formed to store rental information consisting of numbers. Note that if the item is currently on loan, the shelf number in the shelf number area 62 is cleared.

Furthermore, within the RAM 44, there is a lending buffer 65 that temporarily stores product information and lending information of each cassette 24 for one customer pulled out from the shelf 22 when the cassette 24 is rented out, and a lending buffer 65 that temporarily stores the product information and lending information of each cassette 24 for one customer when the cassette 24 is rented out, and stores the number N of cassettes 24 lent to one customer. Loan number counter 6 to count
6. Bad member (customer) who caused a problem when returning the loan.
A defective member memory 67 that stores the membership number of , a discount memory 68 that stores discount information such as each discount rate or discount amount corresponding to each discount key 37, a rental days memory 69 that stores the number of days for one rental, and a rental period. A late payment memory 70 and a shelf 22 that store the delinquent amount or the number of delinquencies per day when the item is returned after the
A shelf number flag 71 is formed to set the shelf number of the shelf when an abnormality occurs during insertion of the cassette 24 into the shelf.

Furthermore, in addition to each memory used during the normal lending operations mentioned above, the RAM 44 contains transmission data for transmitting lending information, etc. to the host computer 56 of the video software management center, as shown in FIG. A memory 72 is formed. In this transmission data memory 72, the main body control device 23
A: Loan, B: Return, C: Cancellation,
Information such as D: power on, E: power off, etc. is stored sequentially in the order of occurrence time. For example, when a loan occurs, the loan category [A], month, date, hour and minute of the loan, product code and branch number, slip number of the loan slip, discount amount, membership number, customer class, etc. are stored. In addition, if a cancellation occurs, the cancellation category [C], the month, date, hour, and minute of the cancellation,
Product code, branch number, etc. are stored.

The main body control unit 23 of such an article lending processing device
performs lending, cancellation, and return processing of the cassette 24 according to the flowcharts of FIGS. 11 and 12. First, when the power switch 57 is turned on, predetermined initial processing including registration of the power-on time in the transmission data memory 72 is performed in S1. When the initial processing is completed, confirm that the mode selection key 39 is set to the [ON] position, which indicates normal operations such as lending and returning.

Then, when the micro switch 45 of one shelf 22 is opened in S2, the cassette 24 inserted into that shelf 22 is pulled out, so the timer 52a is reset and restarted in S3. Next, the shelf number area 62 of each table 60 in the rental management memory 59 of the RAM 44 is searched using the shelf number of the shelf 22 in question. Then, when the table 60 of the relevant shelf number is specified, the rental information area 64 of that table 60 is
The current month, day, hour, and minute read from the clock circuit 52 are stored as the rental month, day, hour, and minute. Clear the shelf number at the same time. In addition, the product information area 6 of the corresponding table 60
3 is stored in the lending buffer 65, and 1 is added to the lending number N in the lending number counter 66. Then, the number N of loans after the addition is displayed on the display section 31 for a certain period of time, such as about 2 seconds.

If discount information is set in the discount memory 68 of the RAM 44 in S4, the rental unit price of the corresponding cassette 24 is discounted in response to the key operation of the discount key 37. When the single item discount process for the cassette 24 is completed, it is confirmed in S6 that the elapsed time of the timer 52a has not exceeded a preset grace period such as 5 minutes. If the predetermined grace time has not elapsed in S6 and the lending key 35 is not input in S7, the process returns to S2 and the next cassette 24 is
has withdrawal operations. Then, in S2, another shelf 22
When micro switch 45 is opened, S3
The timer 52a in the clock is cleared at , and time counting starts again from zero.

Before the timer 52a finishes counting the grace period
When the rental key 35 is pressed in S7, the selection of the rental cassette 24 for one customer has been completed, so the time value of the timer 52a is cleared.
If the discount information is set in the discount memory 68 again in S8, in response to the key input operation of the discount key 37, it is determined whether any of the rental cassettes stored in the rental buffer 65 has not yet been discounted. Discounts are applied to rental unit prices for all cassettes. Then, the total discount amount for all loaned cassettes is calculated and displayed on the display section 31.

When the discount processing is completed and the customer's membership number is entered using the number keys 32 in S11 and the displayed membership number is confirmed using the set key 34, the RAM is saved in S12.
44 is not registered in the defective member memory 67. Next, in S13, when a code indicating a customer group such as a student, an office worker, or a housewife is input using the number key 32 and the set key 34, the entered membership number and customer group are stored in the lending buffer 65.

When the above processing is completed, in S14, the product code and branch number of each rental cassette, title name, rental unit price, and discount amount are stored in the rental slip 73 as shown in FIG. 13, which is temporarily stored in the rental buffer 65. , the total number of lending points, the total loan amount, the membership number, the lending month, day, hour, minute, lending deadline, etc., are printed out by the printer 40 and discharged from the issuing port 41.

Note that the loan slip 73 shown in FIG. 13 also serves as a loan slip, a bill for late fees, and a cancellation slip.

When the issuance of the lending slip 73 is completed, each piece of lending information of the lending buffer 65 is registered in the lending information area 64 of the corresponding table 60 of the lending management memory 59 in S15. That is, the total number of loans and the total loan amount are updated, and the membership number is stored. Next, in S16, the month, date, hour, and minute of the loan and the loan information in the loan buffer 65 are stored in the transmission data memory 72 shown in FIG. Since the lending process of the cassette to one customer is thus completed, the lending buffer 65 and the lending number counter 66 are cleared in S17, and the process returns to S2 to wait for the opening/closing operation of each micro switch 45.

In addition, before operating the rental key of S7, timer 5 is set on S6.
If the elapsed time measured in step 2a exceeds the grace period, the corresponding cassette 24 is assumed to have been lent, and the lent registration process from S14 onwards is performed.

Micro switch 45 is not opened at S2,
When the micro switch 45 of the other shelf 22 which is already open is closed in S18 of FIG. 12, the cassette 2
4 is inserted into the shelf 22. Then, the shelf number of the corresponding shelf 22 is read, and the cassette 24 is inserted into the cassette 24 via the light emitting element and the light receiving element.
The product information stored in the RAM 27b of the IC circuit 27 is read. Then, in S19, it is confirmed that no communication error has occurred. Further, in S20, each table 60 of the lending management memory 59 is searched using the product code of the product information read from the cassette 24 to confirm that the corresponding product information is set in the lending management memory 59. Note that when an abnormality occurs in S19 and S20, the details of the abnormality are displayed on the display section 31,
The shelf number flag 71 is set and the process returns to S18.

In S21, the read shelf number is stored in the shelf number area 62 of the searched corresponding table 60. Then, the shelf number flag 71 is cleared. In S22, if the elapsed time of the timer 52a is before the grace period, it is determined that the cassette 24 has not been properly lent yet, and that the customer changed his mind during the lending process and returned it to the shelf 22. Then, the loan month, date, hour, and minute in the loan information area 64 are cleared, and the corresponding product information and loan information in the loan buffer 65 are cleared, and the process returns to S18.

If the grace period has elapsed in S22, the loan has already been registered, so in S23 the corresponding table 60
The rental month, day, hour, and minute of the rental information area 64 are read out, and the elapsed time from this rental month, date, and time to the current time (insertion time) read from the clock circuit 52 is calculated. Then, it is confirmed that this elapsed time has passed a preset cancellation permission time such as 30 minutes. When the confirmation is completed, it is determined that the cassette 24 has been properly returned. Then, a return message is displayed on the display section 31, and in S24, the rental date in the rental information area 64 is compared with the current month and date from the clock circuit 52 to determine whether the rental period is within or outside the period. If the lending deadline has passed, the overdue amount is calculated using the amount information set in the overdue amount memory 70 of the RAM 44 and displayed on the display unit 31. At the same time, the arrears are printed out on the loan slip 73 shown in FIG. As mentioned above, since the lending form 73 uses double-print paper on which frames and fixed characters are printed in advance,
In this case, this loan slip 73 becomes a bill for arrears.

When the arrears processing is completed, return registration processing is executed for the rental information area 64 of the corresponding table 60 in S25. That is, the overdue charge is updated, and the loan month, date, hour, and minute and membership number are cleared.
Further, in S26, the return month, date, hour, minute, product code, branch number, and late fee are stored in the transmission data memory 72 as return information. With this, the return process for one returned cassette 24 is completed.

In addition, even if the elapsed time is less than the 30 minute cancellation permission time in S23, a cancellation message is displayed on the display section 31 in S27, and the product code of the corresponding cassette 24,
The branch number, title name, refund amount, etc. are printed on the cancellation slip (loan slip) 73 shown in FIG. 13 and issued. Then, cancellation registration processing for the rental information area 64 of the corresponding table 60 is performed. In other words, the total number of loans,
In addition to reducing the total loan amount, the loan date and time,
Clear membership number. Further, the current month, day, hour, minute, product code and branch number of the corresponding cassette 24 are stored in the transmission data memory 72 with a cancellation classification [C] attached.

With the article rental processing device configured in this way, the store clerk can manage the rental information by simply pulling out the cassette 24 desired by the customer from the shelf 22, operating the rental key 35, and inputting the membership number, etc. It is registered in the memory 59. Additionally, a rental slip 73 with necessary information printed on it is issued. Therefore, the clerk only needs to pull out the cassette 24 from the shelf 22 without any special operation when lending the cassette 24. As a result, the efficiency of office work at the time of lending can be greatly improved.

In addition, the storage status of each cassette 24 on each shelf 22 is constantly monitored by the micro switch 45, and information on whether all cassettes 24 are on loan/in stock is always stored in the lending management memory 59, so the inventory is always kept strictly. Can be managed.

Furthermore, even if a cassette 24 is pulled out from the shelf 22 and once registered for rental, if the cassette 24 is returned to the shelf 22 within a certain cancellation permission time, such as 30 minutes from the time of rental registration, the rental management In the memory 59, the fact that the corresponding cassette 24 was lent out earlier is registered as cancelled. Therefore,
Since the rental information in the rental management memory 59 returns to the state before the rental operation, the total number of times the cassette 24 was actually used by the customer and the total rental fee are stored in the rental management memory 59. Therefore, lending management can be carried out fairly and strictly among the three parties: the borrower, the lending company, and the software supply company.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, a rental management memory is provided to store rental information of each item, and when the item is registered for rental and returned to the shelf within a certain cancellation permission time, the item is automatically registered. I am trying to cancel the registration. Therefore, for lenders and lending companies,
Item rental management can be performed more strictly and fairly.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of the present invention, FIGS. 2 to 13 are illustrations of an article lending processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the entire device, and FIG. Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the cassette, Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing the IC circuit built into the cassette,
Fig. 5 is a diagram showing the operation panel, Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing the IC circuit, Figs. 7, 9, and 10 are diagrams showing the memory contents, and Fig. 8 is a block diagram showing the main body control device. , FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 are flowcharts showing the operation, and FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a lending slip. 22... Shelf, 23... Main body control device, 24...
Cassette, 25...Operation panel, 27...IC circuit, 31...Display section, 32...Number keys, 35...
...Rental key, 37...Discount key, 39...Mode selection key, 40...Printer, 42...CPU,
44...RAM, 45...Micro switch, 5
7...Power switch, 59...Rental management memory,
60...Table, 62...Shelf number area, 63...
...Product information area, 64...Rental information area, 68...
...Discount memory, 70...Due payment memory, 72...
Transmission data memory, 73...Rental slip (cancellation slip).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An IC circuit that is built into an article to be rented for a fee and stores the product information of the article, a plurality of shelves each into which one article is inserted, and an IC circuit that is installed in each shelf and stores the product information of the article. a detection device that detects that an article has been inserted; a product information area that stores product information of the article corresponding to each of the articles; a rental information area that stores rental information; and a shelf bin area that stores an insertion shelf number. a lending management memory consisting of a plurality of tables having a plurality of tables; a main body control device that writes and reads information to and from the lending management memory; a signal connection mechanism provided between the shelf and the article for data transmission between the shelves, and a shelf number of the shelf on which the withdrawal operation occurred after the detection device detects the withdrawal operation of the article from the shelf; rental registration means for registering rental information including rental time in a rental information area of a table corresponding to the table; and a rental registration means for registering rental information including rental time in a rental information area of a table corresponding to A product information reading means that reads the product information via a connection mechanism, and an elapsed time from the rental time stored in the rental information area of the table in which the read product information is stored to the insertion time of this article is less than a predetermined cancellation permission time. If so, the article rental processing device is characterized by comprising: cancellation registration means for canceling the rental information in the corresponding table.