JP2641413B2 - vending machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine,
More particularly, the present invention relates to a vending machine that includes a communication and processing unit and that orders merchandise inventory held by itself and changes the selling price.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional vending machine, the stock status of commodities is not known until the door of the vending machine is directly opened, and only an appropriate shortage is periodically replenished. In addition, the selling price of a product is fixed and cannot be changed as appropriate according to the situation.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-242888 discloses an example in which a vending machine having a communication function is connected to a host system so that the host system can monitor the operation status and inventory status. According to this prior example,
Although the operating status and the stock amount can be monitored by a remote host system, it is not possible to periodically deliver the goods from the nearest store or to take the goods when the stock is out of stock. In addition, it is not possible to change the price of the stock product by discounting the price based on the number of days of stock.

[0004]

In a conventional vending machine, the number of goods in stock or out of stock is notified to the nearest stock shop, the goods are delivered, the number of days of stock of the goods is monitored, and the price is monitored. Reflected in the discount.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a vending machine capable of delivering or retrieving an insufficient quantity of goods from a nearby stock shop and changing the price of the goods by discounting the stock days. It is.

[0006] Therefore, in a vending machine which keeps the product inventory of the present invention and pays out and sells a specified quantity of products from the product inventory according to the input amount and the product designation, the stock information of the held product and the product are stored. A file data section containing stock shop information of stock shops to be stocked, a communication processing section for monitoring and sending / receiving messages of inquiry messages to / from stock shops, and date information of time and product stock days for time monitoring. A time management unit that generates and holds a product, a number-of-issues detection unit that detects the product payout amount, a sales price display output unit that obtains and visualizes the product sales price from the product inventory information, and searches for products with no inventory from the inventory information The inventory store information that is open and closest to the store from the inventory store information, and issues and recurs the inventory inquiry message of the product to the inventory store. A stock processing unit that performs, upon receiving the stock inquiry message from inventory store, and periodic replenishment processing unit for responding to product availability held in inventory information,
Monitors the number of days of product inventory after replenishment, discounts the selling price of products that have passed the specified number of days, and changes the selling price.
Inventory information change processing unit that updates the number of products in the inventory information or updates the inventory information by the inventory information change message, timer interrupt, out-of-stock interrupt, inventory replenishment inquiry interrupt, date change interrupt, outgoing number detection interrupt, communication And a control unit that determines each interrupt of the transmission / reception interrupt and activates each of the processes.

[0007]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1 showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, a vending machine 1 stores stock information 2
A file data unit 5 containing stock store information 3 of a store that stocks and distributes products, a communication processing unit 6 for message communication with the stock store, and a time management unit for monitoring time of message communication and for date and timer interrupt. 7, an outgoing number detection unit 8 for detecting the amount of goods paid out, a selling price display unit 9 for visualizing and displaying the selling price of goods, an out-of-stock processing unit 10 for searching the stock information 2 and searching for out-of-stock goods, and a stock inquiry. A periodic stock replenishment processing unit 11 that responds to the message with the stock quantity of the stock information 2, a selling price change processing unit 12 that monitors the number of days in stock to change the product selling price, and A stock information change processing unit 13 that updates the stock quantity of the stock information 2; and a control unit 14 that detects and operates an interrupt to each of the above-described processing units.

Next, FIG. 2 showing the operation flow of this embodiment.
, The control unit 14 monitors an interrupt, and if there is no interrupt, continues the waiting state (Y in step 21). When there is an interrupt (N in step 21), the control unit 14 analyzes the interrupt and activates a processing unit corresponding to the interrupt. When detecting the timer interrupt (Y in step 22), the control unit 14 activates the time management unit 7, performs the time / date update process 23, and updates the time and date (step 23). When the control unit 14 detects an out-of-stock interrupt of the stock information update processing unit 13 (Y in step 24), the control unit 14 activates the out-of-stock processing unit 10 and sends out a stock inquiry message to the nearest stock store or sends out again. Processing is performed (step 25). When the communication processing unit 6 receives the inventory status inquiry message from the inventory store and generates an inventory replenishment interrupt (Y in step 26), the control unit 14 activates the periodic inventory replenishment processing unit 11 and performs the periodic inventory replenishment process. (Step 27). The control unit 14 detects a date change interrupt from the time management unit 7 (Y in step 28), activates the selling price change processing unit 12, performs a selling price change process, updates the number of product stock days in the stock information 2, The selling price is changed by applying the price discount to the stock for which the number of days set in advance has passed, the stock information 2 is updated, and the changed selling price is passed to the selling price display section 9 (step 29). When the control unit 14 detects the exit number detection interrupt of the exit number detection unit 8 (Y in step 30), the control unit 14 activates the inventory information change processing unit 13, performs the inventory information update process, and updates the product inventory number of the inventory information 2 (Step 31). Control unit 1
4 detects a notification interruption of retransmission based on transmission of the inquiry message and time monitoring (Y in step 32),
The communication processing unit 6 is activated, performs communication processing 33, and transmits a message communication to the stock shop (step 33).

Further, each information of the file data section 5 will be described. Referring to FIG. 3 illustrating the inventory information 2,
The stock information 2 includes a product 201, a stock quantity 202, a regular selling price a203, a discounted selling price b204, and the number of days a2 after stocking.
05, the number of days b206 for the discount application deadline, and the discount rate 207
And has an entry for each stock item.

Referring to FIG. 4 which illustrates the stock store information 3, a stock store 301 having a stock of merchandise, and the business hours 30 of the store
2, regular holiday 303, telephone number 304, reply waiting time 305 for the stock inquiry message, and retry waiting time 306 which is a waiting time for resending the stock inquiry message. Has an entry.

Next, a specific operation of each of the above-described processes will be described.

The stock-out process 25 will be described. In the case where the stock information 2 and the stock store information 3 are respectively illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, when one product A is delivered, the delivery number detection unit 8 notifies the control unit 14 of a delivery detection interrupt, and the inventory information change processing unit 13. Is started, and a stock information change process 31 is performed. Since the number of items in stock A of the product A in the stock information 2 becomes 0, an out-of-stock interrupt is notified to the control unit 14. The stock-out processing unit 10 is activated, and the stock-out processing 25 acquires the current date and time data “20:00 on Monday” from the time management unit 7, searches the stock store information 3, and operates the nearest stock store A. Time "19: 0
0 ”is obtained and compared with the current time“ 20:00 ”to determine that the business hours have passed. The stock-out processing 25 acquires the business hours of the next nearest stock shop B and determines that it is a regular holiday. Further, the stock-out process 25 obtains the business hours of the stock store C which is next closest, determines that the store is open, extracts the telephone number of the stock store C in the stock store information 3, and replenishes the stock store C with stock. An inquiry message including the request and data indicating the product A is generated, and a notification interrupt is issued. The control unit 14 detects the notification interrupt (Y in step 32),
The communication processing unit 6 is activated, and the communication processing 33 sends the inquiry message to the stock shop C. The communication processing unit 6 receives the response message from the stock shop C and does not issue an interrupt to the control unit 14 when stock replenishment is possible. When the response message of the inventory store C indicates that inventory replenishment is not possible, or when there is no response message for a certain period of time and the time exceeds five minutes, which is the return waiting time of the inventory store information 3, the communication processing unit 6 sends the request to the control unit 14. An out-of-stock interrupt is issued, and the out-of-stock process 25 is repeated until a stock store capable of replenishing stock is found. If all the stock stores cannot replenish the stock, after waiting 30 minutes, which is the retry waiting time of the stock store information 3, the stock store A resends the inquiry message.

The periodic stock replenishment process 27 will be described.
Upon receiving the periodic stock inquiry message from the stock shop A, the communication processing unit 6 issues a stock replenishment interrupt. The periodic inventory replenishment processing unit 11 activated by the inventory interruption extracts the inventory status of the inventory information 2 and the telephone number data of the inventory store A in the inventory store information 3. The periodic stock replenishment process 27 sends the stock status to the stock store A as a response message through the communication processing device 6.

The stock shop A, which has received the stock status response message, can deliver each product only in an amount corresponding to the stock quantity. The selling price change processing 29 will be described.
When the date is updated by the time, date, and update process 23 of the time management unit 7, a date change interrupt is issued, and the selling price change process 29 is started. The selling price change process 29 updates the number of days a205 in the stock information 2, applies the discount rate 207 to the product that has passed the number of days b206, and passes the selling price b204 obtained by discounting the selling price a203 to the selling price display unit 9.

The stock information change processing 31 will be described.
The clerk of the stock store A sends a product information change message to the stock information 2 of the vending machine 1. Vending machine 1
The stock information change processing unit 13 can update the stock information based on the message.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, even if the product is out of stock, the vending machine itself selects the nearest stock store and requests the stock replenishment, so that the product can be refilled quickly.

Further, according to the present invention, when replenishing the periodic stock, the stock situation in the vending machine can be known while staying at the stock shop, so that useless goods are not delivered.

According to the present invention, since the selling price can be changed in the vending machine, various services can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flow of an operation of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram exemplifying inventory information of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram exemplifying inventory store information of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vending machine 2 Inventory information 3 Inventory store information 5 File data part 6 Communication processing part 7 Time management part 8 Outgoing number detection part 9 Selling price display part 10 Out of stock processing part 11 Periodical stock replenishment processing part 12 Selling price change processing part 13 Inventory Information change processing unit

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vending machine that holds a product inventory and pays out and sells a specified quantity of products from the product inventory according to the input amount and the product designation. A file data section containing store information of a store, a communication processing section for monitoring and sending and receiving messages of inquiry messages to and from the store, and a message processing section, and generating time information for time monitoring and date information of product stock days. A time management unit that stores and holds the product, a number-of-issues detection unit that detects the number of items paid out, a product price display output unit that obtains and visualizes the product sales price from product inventory information, Out-of-stock, which obtains information on the stock store that is open and closest to the store from the store information and issues and reissues a stock inquiry message for the product to the stock store A processing unit, a periodic stock replenishment processing unit that receives a stock inquiry message from the stock store and responds to the product stock status held in the stock information, and monitors an elapsed number of days of the stock of the product after replenishment, and determines a predetermined number of days. A selling price change processing unit that discounts and changes the selling price of products that have passed, and a notification of the number of products issued from the number-of-issues detection unit, updates the number of items in the inventory information or updates the inventory information by the inventory information change message. A stock information change processing unit to be performed, and a control unit that determines each interrupt of a timer interrupt, an out-of-stock interrupt, a stock replenishment inquiry interrupt, a date change interrupt, an outgoing number detection interrupt, and a communication transmission / reception interrupt, and starts each of the processes. A vending machine comprising: