JPS6286486A - 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 vending machine that sells products using cards.

(Prior art) Generally, vending machines sell in cash (coins or banknotes), but recently so-called card-based vending machines have been introduced that allow sales and payments to be made using cards such as magnetic cards. It has been put into practical use.

In addition, as a payment method for vending machines that use cards, you purchase a car in advance with cash, on which information equivalent to the purchase price is written using magnetic information, etc., and the information is written on the card each time you use the vending machine. When using a vending machine with a card, the cumulative usage amount is reduced to the card holder for each predetermined period. There is a so-called deferred payment method.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) The prepayment method is a method in which a card with amount information written on it is purchased in advance with cash payment, and the card is used in a vending machine. This is a method of thinking of the card as a kind of cash voucher by writing on it. The prepayment method is safe in terms of cash collection because the cash can be obtained in advance. On the other hand, the deferred payment method is a method in which a vending machine is used with a card on which only card identification information is written without amount information written on it, and the sales amount of a certain card is collected later and the card is retained. This is a method of charging the person for the payment. The disadvantage of the deferred payment method is that it takes time and effort to collect cash. There is also the risk that cash cannot be recovered.

For the above reasons, the prepayment method is preferred and implemented because of the reliability of payment collection, but the card reader in the prepayment method must be able to write as well as read.

This writable card league had the disadvantage that it was considerably more expensive than a read-only card league.

As described above, the conventional prepaid car 1 vending machine has the drawback of being expensive because it requires a writable card league.

On the other hand, the number of products in vending machines has increased recently, and the number of flavors to choose from has also increased. For example, in a coffee vending machine, the choice of seasoning refers to the selection of the type of coffee beans, the strength of the coffee, the amount of cream, the amount of sugar, etc. It is a recent trend that the range of choices expected from vending machines is expanding and requests are becoming more diverse, but on the other hand, there are too many items to choose from, and users have to press too many selection buttons. This has the disadvantage that it becomes a double burden of operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a means for realizing a prepayment type card vending machine that simplifies the selection operation of multiple items and ensures cash collection using an inexpensive read-only card reader.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a read-only card league, a money acceptance section, a product selection section, an arithmetic processing section, and a storage section. , stores in the storage unit balance information obtained by adding the balance stored up to that point to the card information input from the card league and the information on the amount of money prepaid from the money acceptance unit, and registers the selected information. In the operation, the card information input from the card league and the selection information selected by the product selection section are stored in the storage section, and in the vending operation, the card information input from the card league and the selection information selected by the product selection section are stored in the storage section. The card information stored in advance in the storage unit is checked, and if they match, when the balance stored in advance is equal to or higher than the price of the requested product, the storage unit corresponding to the card information is checked. A product is sold based on previously stored selection information, and after the sale, the amount obtained by subtracting the sales amount from the balance is stored in the storage unit as a balance, and these controls are performed by the arithmetic processing unit. shall be.

(Example) The present invention will be described below based on examples.

FIG. 1 is a combination diagram of block elements built into a vending machine according to the present invention, and the configuration of the vending machine according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG.

The microprocessor 1 as an arithmetic processing unit having functions to be described later includes a card league 2 capable of reading magnetic card information, a product selection unit 3, and a storage unit 4 for storing card information, etc.
, a money validator 7 as a money receiving unit is connected,
Further, a product storage/export section 6 is connected to the microprocessor 1 via a product transfer drive section 5 .

First, in order to use a vending machine with a card, a user obtains a magnetic card on which card identification information is written in advance. Next, the user causes Card League 2 to read the card identification information of the card. Furthermore, the money identifier 7 is made to read a 1000 yen bill. The microprocessor 1 combines the card identification information and the deposit information of 1,000 yen and stores the combination in the card information storage section 4. This means that the vending machine stores that a prepayment of 1000 yen has been made for that card. Next, if you let the card league read the same card and press the button for the product you want to purchase from the product selection section 3, the product will cost 100 yen.The microprocessor 1 requests 100 yen for the balance of 1ooo yen. The balance is set to 900 yen, and a control signal is given to the product carry-out drive section 5 to carry out and sell the specified product from the product storage and carry-out section 6.

Next, we will explain how to use cards to simplify flavor selection in coffee vending machines. As mentioned above, during the sales operation, the product may be selected by pressing the button of the product you want to purchase from the product selection section 3, but for example, the flavoring in a coffee vending machine is selected, i.e., the type of coffee beans, the strength of the coffee, In vending machines, where items cannot be sold unless you select the amount of cream, amount of sugar, etc., these selection operations are troublesome.

By the way, since the selection combination of a certain user is usually fixed, this selection information is registered in the storage unit 4 in correspondence with the card, and when purchasing with the card, the selection information is stored in the storage unit 4. It can be read out from the page and used as is without any product selection operations. This selection information registration operation will be explained below.

First, let Card League 2 read the card. Next, the selection information to be registered is selected in the product selection section 3, and the card is then read by the card league 2 again. By this operation, the selection information is combined with the card information and stored in the storage section. Then, to make an informed purchase,
When the same card is read, the selection information written in 1 and a in the storage section 4 is read out according to the card information, and the product selection button in the product selection section 3 is illuminated in the same way as when it is illuminated during normal selection. . This is visually confirmed, and if the user wishes to purchase the item, he/she presses a purchase request button (not shown), and if the above-mentioned balance conditions are satisfied, the item based on the selection information is delivered and sold.

A flowchart of the sales operation is shown in FIG.

Give other users magnetic cards with different card identification information written on them. In this case as well, advance payment is made in the same manner as above and the vending machine is used. After reading the card information, the balance for that card is displayed numerically. If you continue to make purchases with your card, the balance will gradually decrease and become less than the amount needed to purchase the product.
At that time, for example, the balance of 30 yen can be prepaid by 1,000 yen, leaving a balance of 1,030 yen. In this way, it is necessary to prepare only 1000 yen bills as cash, and there is an advantage that small change is not necessary, and small change is not necessary when using a card.

In conventional prepayment type card vending machines, in order to write information on the prepaid amount and balance onto the card, the card league needs to be equipped with both reading and writing functions. However, card leagues with both of these functions had the drawback of being expensive. On the other hand, in the prepayment type card vending machine in the above embodiment, since the prepaid amount or balance information is stored in the vending machine, the card league is a read-only machine, which results in a low price. You can get advantages.

Further, by registering and storing selection information such as selection of seasoning in correspondence with card information, an operational advantage can be obtained in that a complicated selection operation for seasoning can be omitted.

In the above embodiment, the condition for registering and storing product selection information was the reading operation of a magnetic card, but as another condition, for example, when a card is read and a product is sold, the product selection at that time is always the same. It may also be registered and stored. According to this condition, the same product selection will be made any number of times for the same card unless the product selection is corrected during the process, and once the product selection is changed, this selection will continue. It is conceivable that the registration information may be registered as described above, but in any case, any conditions may be used as long as the effects of the present invention can be similarly obtained.

In the above embodiment, the block elements shown in Fig. 1 are built into the vending machine body, but in recent vending machines, the controller part, money acceptance part, product storage and delivery part, etc. are separated. Sometimes there are. In this way, even if the block elements are physically separated, or even if the number and combination of block elements changes, the function as a prepaid card vending machine will not change, so the same effect can be expected. .

In the above description, a magnetic card was used as a specific example of the card, but similar effects can be obtained with cards of other principles and shapes.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the vending machine of the present invention, the price is lower than that of using an inexpensive read-only card league, and the payment can be made by card and the product selection can be made by using the card. It is possible to provide a vending machine that has the advantage of simplicity.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart 1 of the sales operation of the embodiment of the present invention. 1... Microprocessor as an arithmetic processing unit 2...
・Card reader 4... Recording section 7 for card information, etc.... Money validator as a money receiving section (Fig. 1) Fig. 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] It includes a read-only card reader, a money acceptance unit, a product selection unit, an arithmetic processing unit, and a storage unit, and in a prepayment operation, the card information input from the card reader and the prepayment from the money acceptance unit are In the selection information registration operation, the card information input from the card reader and the product selection part are stored in the storage unit. The selected selection information is stored in the storage unit, and in the automatic vending operation, the card information input from the card reader is compared with the card information pre-stored in the storage unit to find that they match. In this case, when the pre-stored balance is equal to or higher than the price of the product requested for sale, the product is sold based on the selection information pre-stored in the storage unit corresponding to the card information, and the sales amount after the sale is A vending machine characterized in that an amount subtracted from a balance is stored in the storage section as a balance, and these controls are performed by the arithmetic processing section.