JPH01169571A - Method for retrying transmission in sale information collecting system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a line from being occupied by one terminal and to improve the line using efficiency of the whole system by restricting the number of times of retry operation, and when the number of times exceeds the restriction, canceling the transmission of sales information. CONSTITUTION:When a line is not connected by one calling, a transmission retrying means 4B increases the contents of a retry counter 4C and repeats calling until the count value reaches the restricted value. Even when a data error is generated during the transmission of sale data and the sale data can not be normally transmitted to a center unit 12, the contents of the counter 4C are similarly increased and the transmission of the sale data is retried from the initial state until the count value reaches the restricted value. When the count value of the counter 4C exceeds the restricted value, the end of data transmission at that time is regarded and the sale data are continuously counted up to the next time (tomorrow) without executing transmission with the center unit 12 until the next time.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention provides a plurality of vending machines (
vending machines), PO3 terminals (also simply referred to as terminals), and a common center device (also simply referred to as center) that collects the sales information of each terminal via a public communication line (also simply referred to as line). ), each of the terminals calls the center in turn at a predetermined time via the public communication line, and transmits the sales information accumulated up to the relevant time. The present invention relates to a transmission retry method for preventing a terminal from continuing to occupy a line, especially when the retry operation of transmitting sales information from a terminal to a center is repeated due to some kind of failure. Note that in the following figures, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of this type of sales information system. In the figure, vending machines V (Vl to Vn) that also serve as terminals are connected to one center device 12 via a public communication line 9 and an exchange IO, and the center device 12 sequentially performs data communication with each terminal. There is. A call to connect line 9 is made from the terminal device (vending machine) ① at a predetermined time. The reason for this is that it would be expensive to install a dedicated telephone for each vending machine at each location, so the idea is to install the vending machine in advance in a location where there is a telephone, and to communicate data at night when the telephone usage rate is low. The idea behind this is that in the center call method, in which a center device calls each terminal in turn and connects the lines, the telephone bell on the terminal side would ring at night, so calls are called from terminals.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In this method of terminal call origination, even if the call origination time for each terminal is determined in advance by anticipating the data communication time of each terminal, if an error occurs during call origination or data communication, the data is sent to the center again. Since the terminal must call again to send the message, it is necessary to allow sufficient time for the next terminal to make a call. Otherwise, the next terminal will be busy even if it makes a call to the center device. However, with this method of allowing a margin for the call origination time, if this margin becomes extremely large, the line usage efficiency deteriorates, and while it is fine as long as the number of terminals is small, as the number of terminals increases, it becomes difficult to use the line at night. Since it becomes impossible to send data within the specified time, there is a problem in that the number of terminals is severely limited. Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to perform a transmission retry for a sales information collection system that counts the number of times the terminal calls again when a communication failure occurs, and when this number reaches a predetermined limit, sends the communication to the next time (the next day). By providing a method, it is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems and improve the efficiency of line usage.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above problems, the method of the present invention includes a plurality of terminal devices (such as vending machines v) that accumulate and store sales information generated each time a product is sold (via a sales product determination signal 2, etc.); A common center device (1) that collects the sales information of each terminal device via a public communication line (9 etc.)
2, etc.), and each of the above-mentioned terminal devices makes a call to the center device in turn at each predetermined time (determined via the transmission time determination means 4A, etc.) via the public communication line. , in a sales information collection system that transmits the sales information accumulated up to the relevant time, after making the call, the terminal device:
If any failure related to the transmission of the sales information is determined before confirming the completion of the transmission of the sales information based on the call, immediately (via the transmission retry means 4B, etc.) each time it is determined. A retry operation is performed in which the operation from the above call origination to the f111 confirmation of the end of the transmission corresponding to the call origination is repeated from the beginning, and the number of times this retry operation (counted via the retry counter 4C etc.) is When a predetermined limit number of times is exceeded, the transmission of the sales information corresponding to the time is discontinued.

[For use]

The present invention provides a sales information collection system using a fixed terminal call system, in which when a communication failure occurs on the line, the number of re-calls from the terminal is controlled, and when the number of re-calls exceeds the limit, the next call is made. No data exchange until the time of call (the next day).
This system prevents one terminal from monopolizing the line by not interfering with the next terminal's call and data communication, thereby increasing the line usage efficiency of the entire system.

【Example】

Next, the present invention will be explained in detail based on FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of main parts of a sales information collection system as an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the main parts of FIG. In FIG. 1, 1 is a sales control device that controls the sales of the vending machine (■), and 2 is a sales product determination signal outputted from this sales control device 1 to detect the type of product sold. It is input to the CPU 4 via an input/output interface (also abbreviated as Ilo) 3. The CPU 4 creates sales data including cumulative sales by type of sales product based on the input sales product determination signal 2, and controls data communication between the vending machine ① and the center device 12. The transmission time determination means 4A, the transmission retry means 4B, and the retry counter 4C in this CPU4 are
This is a partial functional unit when it is assumed that one representative part of the various functions of the system is equivalently shared and executed. 5 is a clock that measures time and sends the clock signal to the CPU 4; 6 is an RA that belongs to the CPU 4 and stores sales data and calling times;
It is M. The CPU 4 sends the sales data to the modem NCU 8 (that is, a device that functions as both an NCU and a modem that automatically switches the public communication line 9 between a telephone (not shown) and the modem interface 7 side) 8 through the modem interface. As a result, this sales data is transmitted to the center device 12 consisting of a personal computer or the like via the public communication line 9 -> switchboard 10 -> public telephone line 9 -> modem NCU 3.
2 prints out the collected sales data via a printer 13. Next, the operation of the main part shown in FIG. 1 will be explained using FIG. 2. When the CPU 4 (internal transmission time determining means 4A) determines that the calling time has arrived via the clock 5 (step 1019 branch Y), the CPU 4 of the terminal
When a call is made to the center device 12 via the modem NCU 3 (step 102), if the line is connected (step 1039)
Branch Y), the CPU 4 starts transmitting sales data to the center device 12 (step 104), and if there is no communication error in this transmission (step 1051 branch N), the CPU 4 starts transmitting sales data to the center device 12. Data transmission ends (step 1069 branch Y). However, when the line is not connected by one call in step 102 (step 103 branch N
), CPU4 (transmission retry means 4B within) is CPU
4 (step 107), and until the count value of this retry counter reaches the limit number of times (step 108, branch Y), the process returns to step 102 and calls are made again. Also, when a data error occurs during the transmission of sales data and the sales data cannot be sent normally to the center device 12 (step 1051 branch Y), the retry counter 4C is incremented in the same way as above, and this counter count value is Until the number of calls reaches the limit, return to the calling procedure and start sending sales data from the beginning (steps 107 and 108 → 1).
02.103-)). In this way, when the count value of the retry counter 4C exceeds the limit number of times (step 1081 branch N), it is assumed that the data communication for that time has ended, and no communication with the center device 12 will be performed until the next time (the next day). , sales data will continue to be counted until the next time. In this way, it is possible to prevent a communication error from causing the current terminal to continue data communication until the next terminal in turn calls, and it is possible to prevent one terminal from monopolizing the line.

【Effect of the invention】

According to the present invention, when a failure occurs in the transmission of sales data, a limit is set on the number of re-calls, and if the sales data cannot be transmitted within the limited number of times, the sales data is not transmitted until the next time (the next day). This configuration prevents this transmission failure from interfering with the next terminal in the order to make a call, prevents one terminal from monopolizing the line, and increases the efficiency of line usage in the entire system. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration as an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart explaining the main operation of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a sales information collection system. It is. ■(■l~■n): Vending machine, 1: Sales control device, 2: Sales product determination signal, 4: cPU, 4A: Transmission time determination means, 4B = Transmission retry means, 4C: Retry counter,
5: Clock, 6: RAM, 1: Modem interface, 8
: Modem NCU, 9: Public communication line, 10: Exchange, 1
2: Center device. ■: Go to vending machine 11 Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) From a plurality of terminal devices that accumulate and store sales information generated each time a product is sold, and a common center device that collects the sales information of each terminal device via a public communication line. Each of the terminal devices calls the center device in turn at each predetermined time via the public communication line,
In the sales information collection system that transmits the sales information accumulated up to the relevant time, the terminal device transmits the sales information after making the call and before confirming that the transmission of the sales information based on the call is completed. When any failure related to the transmission of sales information is determined, each time it is determined, a retry operation is immediately performed that repeats the operation from the beginning to confirming the completion of the transmission corresponding to the call. A transmission retry method for a sales information collection system, characterized in that when the number of retry operations exceeds a predetermined limit number of times, transmission of the sales information corresponding to the time is terminated.