JP3309690B2 - Vending machine management data collection method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a management data collection method for collecting management data such as inventory data of each product sold by a vending machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Vending machines that automatically sell various kinds of soft drinks and other products can be purchased freely by inserting coins and bills. ing. When a user inserts coins, for example, such a vending machine sorts and accumulates inserted coins and turns on a lamp of each commodity corresponding to the amount of the inserted coins. Then, when the user presses a desired button corresponding to the lit lamp, the corresponding commodity is discharged and the stored coins are stored.

[0003]

In each of the vending machines installed in various places, a delivery vehicle for delivering the goods goes out, for example, once a day to replenish the goods. That is,
The worker who transports the commodities checks the stock status of each commodities in the vending machine one by one and replenishes the missing commodities, collects money, and replenishes the change when the change is insufficient. Such a vending machine is capable of selling various types of products, and has a problem that the burden on the operator increases due to the large number of installations. For this reason, there has been a demand for a system capable of grasping management data such as inventory status of vending machines in advance. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to reduce the burden on an operator by accurately ascertaining the stock status of each vending machine from a delivery vehicle in advance.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a plurality of vending machines which are equipped with a first wireless unit and a detecting unit for detecting various management situations, and which sell various products. A wireless device including a second wireless unit, a display unit, a GPS control unit that performs its own position calculation based on signals from GPS satellites, and a memory that registers arrangement position information of each vending machine in combination with identification information. consists of a wireless device determines that approaches the comparing the position information of the vending machine, which is registered in the position information memory computed by the GPS control unit vending machine, with respect to the corresponding vending machine Registered knowledge
Read another information from memory and call signal by radio signal
To each species managed like the detecting unit transmits to the automatic vending machine
In this method, the management data transmitted from the vending machine is received as a detected wireless signal and displayed on a display unit . So, for example, this wireless device
Work, such as from being able to accurately grasp the inventory status of vending machines and the like in advance in the tower mounting the delivery vehicle, for replenishment or the like is unnecessary vending machine products, examine its availability to the one by one delivery van to stop the Work efficiency can be improved.

[0005]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a system to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a delivery vehicle for replenishing products to a vending machine, 2 denotes a vending machine (hereinafter referred to as a vending machine), and 3 denotes a GPS (Global Positioning).
ng System) satellite. The GPS satellite is provided with a known transmitter (not shown), and constantly transmits a radio transmission signal to the delivery vehicle 1 on the ground.

That is, in the present system, a terminal circuit of a PHS (Personal Handy Phone System), which is rapidly spreading in recent years, is added to a vending machine 2, while a P
A PHS terminal control circuit that controls the HS terminal and a GPS control circuit that calculates its own position based on signals from the GPS satellites 3 are provided. And delivery car 1 is GP
The position of the vending machine 2 is calculated by receiving the signal from the S-satellite 3 and calculating the position of the vending machine 2. If it is determined, the PHS terminal control circuit calls the vending machine to receive and display management data such as inventory data returned from the vending machine.

[0007] The position calculation in the delivery vehicle 1 is similar to that of a well-known car navigation system that has been spreading in recent years, and as shown in FIG.
Signals transmitted from 1 to 33 are received, and the position is calculated based on the phase difference between these signals. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of such a delivery vehicle 1. As shown in FIG.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a GPS receiving unit that receives a transmission signal from a GPS satellite 3 via an antenna AT1, reference numeral 12 denotes a compact disk (hereinafter, referred to as CD) as a memory for storing map information, reference numeral 13 denotes an operation unit, and reference numeral 14 denotes an operation unit. Is a display unit for displaying map information, 15 is a GPS control unit for performing position calculation from the phase difference between signals of the GPS satellites 31 to 33 received by the GPS receiving unit 11 and displaying the result on the display unit 14;
Reference numeral 6 denotes a memory for storing position information of each vending machine 2 and the like. Reference numeral 17 denotes a PHS control unit for controlling the vending machine 2;
Reference numeral 8 denotes a display unit for displaying the stock status of the vending machine 2 and the like, and 19 denotes a wireless transmitting / receiving unit for transmitting / receiving a wireless signal to / from the vending machine 2 via the antenna AT2.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a vending machine 2 for transmitting inventory data and the like to the delivery vehicle 1 by radio signals as described above, and a control circuit of the vending machine 2 having an appearance as shown in FIG. Is configured as shown in FIG. That is, in FIG. 4A, reference numeral 21 denotes a control unit including a CPU or the like;
2 is a wireless transmission / reception unit for transmitting and receiving wireless signals to and from the delivery vehicle 1 via the antenna AT3, 23 is a memory, 24 is a product selection switch provided for each product and selects a product to be purchased, and 25 is a product selection switch for each product , A product lamp comprising LEDs and the like for displaying the presence or absence of stock of each product, a detection unit 26 comprising sensors for detecting the stock status of each product and the presence or absence of change, and 27 a currency (coin, (Banknotes) sorting process and storage process of money corresponding to sold products (sales process)
, A selling product discharging drive unit 28 for discharging sold products, and 29 a display unit for displaying the amount of money of the inserted money.

When the delivery vehicle 1 moves with respect to the vending machine 2 configured as described above, the GPS control unit 15 of the delivery vehicle 1
Then, by comparing own position information (latitude and longitude information) calculated based on a signal from the GPS satellite 3 with position information (latitude and longitude information) of each vending machine registered in the memory 16 in advance. It recognizes that it has approached the vending machine 2. In this case, the GPS control unit 15 reads out the calling number and the ID code of the vending machine stored in pairs with the location information of the vending machine from the memory 16 and
Output to S control unit 17. Then, the PHS control unit 17 transmits the call number together with the ID code of the vending machine to the vending machine 2 via the control channel of the wireless transmission / reception unit 19 as a call signal.

When the vending machine 2 receives such a calling signal, it compares the calling number contained in the calling signal with its own number stored in the memory 23. And
When both numbers match and the transmitted ID matches the own ID of the memory 23, the stock status of each product and the presence or absence of change are detected via the detection unit 26, and these data are used as management data. The data is transmitted to the delivery vehicle 1 via the control channel. In addition, the sales information of the sales product processed by the input money processing unit 27, that is, the collection information, is transmitted to the delivery vehicle 1 together. When the delivery vehicle 1 receives these management data from the vending machine 2, it displays the stock data, change accumulation data, and collection data of each product of the vending machine 2 on the display unit 18. As a result, the delivery vehicle 1 can confirm the stock status of the products of the vending machine 2 in advance.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the main part of such a system. First, the operation of the delivery vehicle 1 shown in FIG. GPS control unit 15 of delivery vehicle 1
While the delivery vehicle 1 is moving, its position is constantly calculated based on the transmission signals from the GPS satellites 31 to 33 (step S1). Then, the calculated own position is compared with the position information of each vending machine registered in the memory 16 in advance, and it is determined in step S2 whether or not the delivery vehicle 1 has moved into the installation area of the vending machine 2. .

If it is determined that the vending machine 2 has approached the area of the vending machine 2, the GPS control unit 15 gives the calling number of the vending machine 2 to the PHS control unit 17 and gives the PHS control unit 17 the wireless communication unit 19 of the vending machine 2 A call is made (step S3). When calling the vending machine 2, the calling number and ID code of the vending machine 2 and the ID code of the delivery vehicle 1 stored in the memory 16 in advance are also transmitted to the vending machine 2. Such a call to the vending machine 2 is called a transceiver call in a normal PHS system because it does not involve a base station. When the vending machine 2 receives this call, the control unit 21
Compares a match with its own number stored in the memory 23, and when a match is detected, the transmitted ID of the own vehicle and the ID of the delivery vehicle 1 and the ID of the own vehicle stored in the memory 23.
After confirming that D and the ID of the delivery vehicle 1 match, a response signal is transmitted to the delivery vehicle 1 side.

As a result, the PHS control unit 17 of the delivery vehicle 1 determines that the “vending machine response” of step S4 is “Y”,
In this case, the vending machine 2 is caused to transmit, as a wireless signal, instruction data including an instruction for detecting the stock of each product and an instruction for detecting the balance of change (step S5). Upon receiving the instruction data, the vending machine 2 detects the stock of each product and returns the detection result to the delivery vehicle 1. Then, the PHS control unit 17 of the delivery car 1 determines “Y” from “Receive data from vending machine” in step S6, processes the received data (step S7), and displays the processed data on the display unit 18. (Step S8).

As a result, the display unit 18 displays the stock status of each product in the vending machine 2 and the accumulation status of change, etc., so that the delivery vehicle 1 grasps the stock status of each product in the vending machine 2 in advance. If the vending machine does not require replenishment of products, the vending machine can pass through the vending machine as it is and move on to the next vending machine inventory check operation. Can be greatly improved.

FIG. 5B is a flowchart showing the operation of the vending machine 2 responding to the operation of the delivery vehicle 1. That is, a transceiver call is received from the delivery vehicle 1,
If determined to be “Y” in step S11, the control unit 21 causes the response signal to be transmitted as a wireless signal via the wireless transmission / reception unit 22 (step S12). When the response signal is transmitted to the delivery vehicle 1, the delivery data is transmitted from the delivery vehicle 1. When the determination in step S13 becomes “Y” by receiving the instruction data from the delivery vehicle 1, the control unit 21 of the vending machine 2 inputs the stock status of each product and the change accumulation status via the detection unit 26 (step S13). S14). The sales information of each product processed by the input money processing unit 27 is also input. Then, the detection data and the input data are returned to the delivery vehicle 1 as wireless signals via the wireless transmission / reception unit 22 (step S15). In this embodiment, the PHS wireless function is incorporated in the delivery vehicle 1. However, the same effect can be obtained even when the delivery portable vehicle 1 having such a wireless function is brought into the delivery vehicle 1 to collect the management data. To play.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of vending machines having a first wireless section and a detecting section for detecting various management situations for selling various products, a second wireless section,
A wireless device comprising a display unit, a GPS control unit for calculating its own position based on signals from GPS satellites, and a memory for registering the location information of each vending machine in combination with identification information; If it is determined that approached to compare the position information of the vending machine, which is registered in the position information memory computed by the GPS control unit vending machine, the identification information registered to the corresponding vending machine Read from memory
Look out to detect each species management status by the detecting unit and <br/> transmitted to the automatic vending machine as a call signal by radio signal, and receives management data transmitted from the corresponding vending machine as the detected radio signal because it is displayed on the display unit, eg
The inventory status of vending machine of this radio equipment in advance in the tower mounting the delivery van from being able to accurately grasp if For example, with respect to replenishment is unnecessary vending machines of goods, the inventory situation in a point-by-point delivery vehicle is stopped There is no need to do work such as checking,
Work efficiency can be improved. In addition, since the position of the delivery vehicle is calculated based on the signal from the GPS satellite, the position of the delivery vehicle can be accurately determined. As a result, the delivery vehicle side accurately detects the installation position of the vending machine. The call signal can be transmitted only when the mobile phone is within the radio wave range, so that unnecessary radio wave transmission can be avoided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a delivery vehicle of a system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining position calculation of a delivery vehicle by GPS.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of the system.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a vending machine constituting the system.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of each main part of the delivery vehicle and the vending machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... delivery car, 2 ... vending machine (vending machine), 31 ~ 33 ...
GPS satellites, 11 GPS receiver, 12 compact disk (CD), 14, 18, 29 display, 15 G
PS controller, 16, 23 memory, 17 PHS controller, 19, 22 wireless transmitter / receiver, 21 controller, 26
Detection unit.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] And 1. A plurality of automatic vending machines which sell various products provided with a detector for detecting a first radio unit and various management status, the second radio unit, a display unit, itself based on a signal from a GPS satellite And a wireless device having a memory for registering the location information of each vending machine in combination with the identification information. The wireless device includes the position information calculated by the GPS control unit. When compared with the arrangement position information of the vending machine, which is registered in the memory is determined to have approached the vending machine, the identification that is registered to the corresponding vending machine
Paging signal by radio signal reading information from said memory
Each species by the detection unit and transmitted to the automatic vending machine as
A management data collection method for a vending machine, comprising detecting a management situation , receiving management data transmitted from the vending machine as a detected wireless signal, and displaying the management data on a display unit .