JP2000348241A - Vending machine compatible with IC card type electronic money - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To effectively use a control system equipped in a conventional vending machine as a resource, and sell the product by an IC card type electronic money without making a significant change to the control system. To enable high-speed processing of electronic payments while ensuring high security. In a vending machine for selling goods in response to an IC card type electronic money, a card processing slave (5) constituting a control system is provided with a control C for the slave.
CPU dedicated to encryption processing with high processing speed separately from PU9
When the electronic payment is carried out with the IC card 7 used by the user by mounting the cryptographic processing unit 12 and the cryptographic processing unit 12, the cryptographic processing dedicated CPU 14 uses a predetermined cryptographic processing algorithm and a cryptographic key to execute the electronic payment. Performs encryption and decryption of data required for electronic payment.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an integrated circuit (IC) in which, in addition to ordinary sales of coins and bills using cash, an IC card type electronic money can be used to sell goods and make an electronic payment.
The present invention relates to a vending machine compatible with card-type electronic money.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, electronic money systems for electronic settlement of commercial transactions using electronic money have been activated, and among them, for small-scale settlement using an IC card represented by a Mondex card. Field testing of the "open loop" electronic money system is being advanced in some parts of Japan.

In this electronic money system, as is well known, an IC card authenticated by an electronic money issuing organization is issued to users such as individual consumers and retail stores, and consumers join the electronic money system. Using an ATM or the like from a personal account opened at a financial institution such as a bank
This is a system in which electronic money equivalent to cash is withdrawn to a C card, and the IC card can be used to purchase goods at retail stores, restaurants, vending machines, and the like. The transfer of money is performed by a card processing terminal provided in a retail store or a vending machine, and electronic money deducted from a user's IC card as a product price is stored in an IC card built in the terminal or in a memory for electronic money. It is stored once and then transferred to an account of a financial institution or converted to cash at the financial institution.

[0004] Further, when selling goods using an IC card, an IC card used by a user, a retail store,
Checking the ID of the terminal on the vending machine side (checking the validity of the card and terminal, etc.), electronic payment, and the transfer of electronic money require a high level of security to prevent fraud. Data is encrypted between the card and the terminal for communication.

Here, the encryption system used for the above-mentioned IC card includes a secret key encryption method for performing encryption processing (data encryption processing and decryption processing) using a predetermined encryption algorithm and an encryption key, or an RSA method. There are known public key cryptosystems, but any of the cryptosystems uses a combination of complicated encryption functions to perform encryption and decryption processing in order to enhance security, and the encryption processing requires a huge amount of computation. Need.

On the other hand, in response to the electronic money system which is expected to spread and expand in the future, vending machine manufacturers can also purchase goods and make electronic payments using IC card type electronic money. Is being developed.

As a vending machine compatible with a card, a vending machine which can use a prepaid card and a credit card has been put into practical use in some parts. In this vending machine, a card reader / writer and a card processing C
Equipped with a card terminal unit combining a PU, etc., and as a card processing slave of the vending machine control system, exchange card information with the main control unit (master) to sell products and settle. ing.

[0008]

By the way, a control system provided in a vending machine which can use the above-mentioned prepaid card is used as a resource, and a card reader / writer for an IC card is combined with the control system to provide an IC card type electronic money. If the electronic payment and the transfer processing of the electronic money are performed according to the above, there are the following problems in terms of the selling operation and the like.

That is, the control system employed in current vending machines includes a main control unit called a master,
A plurality of slave control units called slaves (a coin slave that controls a coin mechanism, a building validator, etc., a door slave that controls a product selection button, an amount indicator, a product unloading slave that controls the removal of products from a product storage rack, a warehouse Cooling / heating slave to control the cooling / heating unit inside
The master and each are based on a distributed control system that combines a keyboard slave for switching between hot and cold operation modes, setting a product price, a POS slave for totalizing POS data, and a card processing slave as described above. The slaves are connected to each other by a bus line, and commands and data are exchanged between the master and each slave to control product sales.

[0010] Further, as a processor for performing these controls, since the vending machine sales control is not as complicated as the left and does not require high-speed processing, an 8- to 16-bit CPU is used for the master and each slave. At present, it is mounted and controlled.

Here, in a conventional vending machine equipped with the control system described above, coins and bills are inserted in cash, or in normal sales using a prepaid card, money is inserted.
The time from insertion of the card until the sale permission lamp of the product selection button turns on is about 1 second at the longest, and the time from when the user presses the product selection button to when the product is unloaded is a normal can or bottle product. And the change is carried out with almost no time delay from the carry-out of the goods.

On the other hand, a control system equipped in a conventional vending machine is used as a resource as it is,
If a card reader / writer for a C card and software required for electronic money settlement are combined to sell products using an IC card type electronic money, the data settlement and the transfer of the electronic money require encryption of the data. Because of this, the processing time is twice as long as that of the prepaid card described above.

For this reason, it takes a long time from when the user inserts the card to when the sale permission lamp of the product selection button is turned on, and the product selected by the user pressing the push button is carried out to the product exit. Even after the payment, the encryption process required for electronic payment with the IC card takes a long time, and the time it takes to return the card becomes longer. During this time, your card remains loaded in the vending machine It gives users anxiety and distrust. Further, when a subsequent user is waiting, there is another problem that the sales time of one vending machine is reduced due to a longer sales time of one vending machine.

[0014] In this regard, when the payment for providing the service at a retail store or the like is settled using an IC card type electronic money, the operation of the electronic settlement terminal is performed in a face-to-face manner with the clerk, so that the work time is somewhat longer. There is no danger of giving the user anxiety, but in the case of purchasing a product with a vending machine, the longer the above-mentioned waiting time becomes, the more anxiety the user gives.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, if a CPU having a high processing power is to be used as a processor of a control system provided in the vending machine, the entire control system of the vending machine will be significantly increased accordingly. Needs to be changed, which increases costs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to solve the above-mentioned problems and to effectively utilize a control system equipped in a conventional vending machine as a resource, and to greatly improve the control system. To provide a vending machine compatible with IC card-type electronic money, which has been improved so that high-speed processing of product sales and electronic settlement with IC card-type electronic money can be ensured with high security without making any major changes. is there.

[0017]

According to the present invention, a card processing slave constituting a control system of a vending machine is provided with a CPU for controlling the slave.
A dedicated CPU for encryption processing capable of high-speed processing is separately provided, and when performing electronic payment with an IC card used by a user, a predetermined CPU required for electronic payment is performed by the CPU for encryption processing. Processing is performed (claim 1).

[0018] With this, when selling a product or making an electronic payment with an IC card type electronic money, the data encryption / decryption processing performed with the IC card using a predetermined encryption algorithm and encryption key is performed. High-speed processing can be performed by a dedicated CPU, so that merchandise sales and electronic payment can be performed in a short time without giving the user a long waiting time and anxiety. In addition, the control system installed in conventional vending machines does not require significant changes, and a slight addition of a hardware dedicated terminal unit including a CPU dedicated to encryption processing and a card reader / writer for IC cards We can cope only by equipping.

Further, according to the present invention, the following structure is provided for safely collecting and transferring electronic money taken into a vending machine from a user's IC card as a sales price of a product.

(1) The card processing slave is provided with a communication means for transferring electronic money and POS data to and from an external counting center, and an electronic vending machine stored in the vending machine with the counting center. When transferring money and POS data, a cryptographic processing dedicated CPU is used to perform cryptographic processing necessary for data communication.

(2) Transfer of electronic money and POS data to and from the data processing device carried by Routeman to the card processing slave (this data processing device has a built-in IC card for electronic money). Communication means for performing
When a rootman collects electronic money stored in a vending machine using a data tallying device, the cryptographic processing required for data communication is performed by using the above-mentioned cryptographic processing dedicated CPU (claim Item 3).

[0022]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
A description will be given based on the embodiment shown in FIGS.

Embodiment 1 First, FIGS. 1A and 1B show a basic embodiment of a control system equipped in a vending machine according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a main control unit (master),
Reference numeral 2 denotes a coin mechanism, a coin slave for controlling a building validator, 3 a door slave for controlling a product selection button corresponding to each sales product arranged in a display room of an outer door, 4
Is a carry-out slave that controls a bend mechanism of a product storage rack (for example, a serpentine-type product storage rack) in the warehouse.
Is an IC mounted on a vending machine as a terminal unit
Card processing slave corresponding to card type electronic money,
Reference numeral 6 denotes a bus line for data transmission between the main control unit and each slave, and reference numeral 7 denotes an IC card for electronic money. In addition,
The control system constructed by the main control unit 1 and the slaves 2 to 4 is the same as that provided in a conventional vending machine, and the card processing slave 5 is used by connecting to the expansion bus of the bus line 6. .

Here, the card processing slave 5 includes an interface 8 for the bus line 6, a CPU 9 for controlling the slave, a card reader / writer 10 for an IC card, and an electronic payment for merchandise sales as described later. The vending machine stores the electronic money withdrawn from the user's IC card 7 and the POS data sold by the electronic money, and the encryption for performing encryption and decryption processing when data is exchanged between the IC card 7. Processing unit 12
And a combination of

Further, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), the encryption processing unit 12 includes an interface 13, a CPU 14 dedicated to encryption processing for the IC card 7 separately from the CPU 9, and an encryption processing (encryption and decryption processing). ) It is composed of a combination of the ROM 15 storing the program and the RAM 16. Here, a 32-bit CPU capable of high-speed processing of a complicated encryption function is employed as the CPU dedicated to the encryption processing.

When the user purchases a product from a vending machine using electronic money of the IC card type, the sales of the product and the IC card are performed according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. Electronic payment between and. FIG. 4A shows the overall flow of the merchandise selling operation.
(b) and (d) are the IC card processes I and I in FIG.
The flowchart executed by the card processing slave 5 in correspondence with each step of I, and the flowchart of FIG.

When purchasing a product, first, the IC card process I (S10) is performed, and FIG. 4B is executed.

That is, when the user inserts the IC card 7 into the aforementioned card reader / writer 10, this is detected (S11), and the card processing slave 5 performs communication processing with the IC card 7 according to a predetermined protocol (S11). S1
2) is started, and after confirming the authentication (validity of the card, etc.) of the IC card inserted by the user, data such as the balance of electronic money stored in the IC card is fetched (S
13) Further, the encrypted data is transmitted to the encryption processing unit 1
2 and the CPU 14 performs an operation according to a predetermined algorithm to decrypt the data that has been encrypted (S1).
4) is performed, and the data of the electronic money balance is transmitted to the main control unit 1 of the vending machine (S15), and the IC card processing step is completed.

When the IC card processing (S10) is completed, the processing shifts to the sales processing (S20), and the main control unit 1 uses the electronic money data transmitted from the card processing slave 5 to execute normal cash (such as coins). ) As well as I
A sales permission signal corresponding to a product that can be purchased with the electronic money balance of the C card 7 is sent to the door slave 3 (S21), and the lamp of the product selection button is turned on.

Here, when the user presses a desired product selection button and detects this (S22), the price information of the selected product is transmitted to the main control unit 1 (S23). Thus, the sales processing (S20) is completed and the IC card processing II is completed.
Move to (S30). IC card processing II (S30)
FIG. 4 (b) shows the operation of (a), the price information of the commodity is sent from the main control unit 1 to the card processing slave 5 (S31), and the electronic settlement processing is started (S32).

That is, data required for electronic payment is subjected to predetermined encryption processing (S33), and data communication is performed with the IC card 7, and the sales price is deducted from the IC card 7 as electronic money, and the data is automatically transferred. The card is transferred to the vending machine and stored in the memory 11 of the card processing slave 5 (S34), and the IC card taken into the card reader / writer 10 is returned to the user (S35). After that, the completion of the electronic settlement processing is sent to the main control unit 1 (S3
6) In response to this, the main control unit 1 gives a product unloading command (S40) to the unloading slave 4 and unloads the product, thereby
A series of merchandise selling operations using the C card type electronic money is ended. In this example, the flow of returning the IC card to the user and then carrying out the product is shown. However, the order is not limited to this order, and the IC card may be returned after carrying out the product.

Next, a method of collecting electronic money as sales proceeds accumulated in a vending machine in a batch manner will be described. In other words, as a method for collecting electronic money, a route man patrols a vending machine at a location as in the case of collecting cash sales, and a data counting device carried by root man (this data counting device includes POS data). Transfer of electronic money from the vending machine to the IC card of the data aggregator using an electronic money tallying IC card certified by the issuing institution for business use in addition to the recording function of Alternatively, there is a method of transferring electronic money from a vending machine at a location to an aggregation center that manages vending machines distributed at locations in various locations by using a communication line such as telephone, wireless, etc. Even in the system, high security is required in order to prevent data of electronic money from being stolen on the way.

Therefore, in response to such a request, the present invention collects electronic money as sales proceeds stored in a vending machine to an aggregation center or a data aggregator carried by Routeman in the following manner. The control system of the embodiment is described in FIGS. 2 and 3, and the flowcharts are described in FIGS. 5 and 6. [Embodiment 2] First, FIG. 2 shows a control system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. An interface 18 is additionally provided for transferring electronic money stored as sales proceeds to a vending machine via a communication line 20 with an aggregation center 19 and transmitting the POS data thereof. ing. That is, as shown in the flowchart of FIG.
When a tallying process start command (S50) is given through the communication line 20, the vending machine control system starts the data tallying process (S60) based on this command, and the card processing slave 5 stores the electronic data stored in the memory 11 in the electronic memory. The transmission data including the money is sent to the encryption processing unit 12 to be subjected to the encryption processing, and then transmitted together with the POS data from the communication unit 17 to the communication line 2.
0 to the aggregation center 19 (S70). As a result, there is no possibility that the electronic money data is intercepted or falsified by a third party on the communication line 20, and high security can be ensured. Since the encryption processing is performed as described above, the communication line 20 can be a general public line or a dedicated line as well as a PHS or a mobile phone line.

[Embodiment 3] FIG. 3 shows an embodiment corresponding to claim 3 of the present invention, and shows a configuration of a card processing slave of the control system. In this embodiment, the routeman automatically carries out a connector method or an optical communication method with a data compiling device 21 carried by Routeman (the compiling device has a built-in counting IC card for storing electronic money). A communication unit 17 for transmitting data from a vending machine and an interface 18 are provided. Then, when the routeman goes around the vending machine at the location, the vending machine uses the portable data tabulator 21 to send electronic money and PO.
The S data is collected in the data tabulator 21.

That is, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6, a totaling process start command (S5) is issued by the portable data totaling device 21 or a switch provided inside the vending machine.
0) to start the data tallying process (S60), and to execute the electronic money and POS by the tallying IC card process (S80).
Collect data.

At this time, the data stored in the memory 11 is subjected to encryption processing by the encryption processing unit 12 and then to the communication unit 17 in order to enhance security similarly to the embodiment of FIG.
To transfer the data to the data tabulator. In addition, the data collection work by the routeman is performed by opening the outer door of the vending machine, and the vending machine sales are stopped during the work.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, a card processing slave constituting a control system of a vending machine is provided with a CPU dedicated to cryptographic processing having a high processing capability separately from the control CPU of the slave. I equipped and used by the user
When electronic payment is performed with the C card, the encryption processing and decryption processing of data necessary for electronic payment are performed by the above-mentioned encryption processing dedicated CPU using a predetermined encryption processing algorithm and encryption key. In order to make use of the control system as a resource without making significant changes to the control system installed in conventional vending machines, users will be able to purchase products using IC card-type electronic money. Data encryption and decryption processing for ensuring necessary security can be performed at high speed. As a result, there is almost no delay in the sales operation time required for the card processing for the IC card user, and the product sales and sales are performed at the same speed as the cash sales operation.
Electronic payments can be made.

According to the second and third aspects of the present invention, the electronic money and the POS data accumulated as sales proceeds in the vending machine can be transferred to an aggregation center or a routeman while ensuring high security. Can be forwarded to the data tallyer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a control system of a vending machine compatible with an IC card type electronic money according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
(a) is a block diagram of the entire control system, and (b) is a block diagram of the cryptographic processing unit in (a).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control system including a communication unit with an aggregation center according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a card processing slave of a control system including a communication unit with a routeman portable data counting device according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a product selling operation using IC card type electronic money corresponding to the first embodiment, where (a) is a flowchart showing the entire selling operation, and (b), (c) and (d) are ( a) IC card processing I, sales processing, IC
Flow chart showing card processing of card processing II

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a merchandise selling operation corresponding to the second embodiment and a totaling process performed with an aggregation center.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a merchandise selling operation corresponding to the third embodiment and a totaling process performed with an aggregation center.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main control part 5 Card processing slave 7 IC card 9 Slave control CPU 10 Card reader / writer for IC card 11 Memory 12 Encryption processing part 14 CPU for encryption processing 17 Communication means 19 Aggregation center 20 Communication line 21 Portable data totaling vessel

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A vending machine for selling goods corresponding to an IC card type electronic money, wherein a card processing slave constituting a control system is provided with a control CP of the slave.
Equipped with a CPU dedicated to encryption processing separately from U, and when electronic payment is performed with an IC card used by a user, predetermined processing required for electronic payment is performed by the CPU dedicated to encryption processing. A vending machine compatible with IC card type electronic money. 2. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the card processing slave of the control system is provided with communication means for transferring electronic money and POS data to and from an external counting center. Vending machine compatible with IC card type electronic money. 3. The vending machine according to claim 1, further comprising communication means for transferring electronic money and POS data to and from a data processing device carried by a root man as a card processing slave of the control system. A vending machine compatible with IC card type electronic money.