JPH02148291A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a customer from erroneously purchasing an article or forgetting to take a card by returning all of plural cards at the time when plural cards are received and the money value of the card whose money value is smallest is larger than the money value of an offered article. CONSTITUTION:A card part 23 and variable display account buttons 6 are controlled by a main control part 29. When the customer inserts two money cards at the time of purchasing a passenger ticket and the balance of the money card whose balance is smaller is larger than the amount of money for purchase of the passenger ticket, all inserted money cards are discharged. Thus, the customer is prevented from erroneously purchasing the passenger ticket and forgetting to take money cards.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Purpose of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is capable of handling tickets, such as ride tickets, admission tickets to amusement parks, theaters, etc., and food tickets to cafeterias, etc., by the user's operation. This invention relates to vending machines that print and issue products or provide goods or services corresponding to a predetermined monetary value, such as food, beverages, telephone services, etc.

(Prior Art) A vending machine for transportation tickets will be described below as an example of a vending machine.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, for example, in the railway industry, automatic ticket vending machines (so-called automatic ticket vending machines) that print and issue tickets according to user operations have become popular as station operations become labor-saving. In this type of ticket vending machine, when the user inserts money or a monetary value card such as a prepaid card and selects a destination or fare button, the machine automatically stamps the ticket. The system issues prints and dispenses change as needed.

However, in such a ticket vending machine, when purchasing a ticket when a plurality of value cards are inserted, the amount is reduced according to the order in which the cards are inserted. Therefore, tickets are sold even if the remaining amount on the previously inserted money card is greater than the purchase price of the ticket. In this case, there is a drawback that the passenger may purchase the ticket incorrectly or forget to take out the fare card due to excessive spending by the passenger.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) This invention eliminates the disadvantages of purchasing items incorrectly or forgetting to take out a card with monetary value due to excessive amounts being deposited by the customer. To provide a vending machine capable of preventing erroneous purchase of goods or forgetting to take out a card having monetary value due to insertion of an excessive amount of money.

[Structure of the invention] (Means for solving the problem) The vending machine of this invention starts a transaction by giving a monetary value and provides goods or services according to the given monetary value. , an accepting means for successively accepting a plurality of cards having a monetary value, a reading means for reading the monetary value from each of the cards accepted by the accepting means, and a plurality of cards accepted by the accepting means. At the time, the monetary value of the card with the least monetary value is compared with the monetary value of the goods or services to be provided according to the reading result of the reading means,
If, as a result of this comparison, the monetary value of the card with the least monetary value is greater than the monetary value of the goods or services provided, processing means for returning all the plurality of cards accepted by the two-legged accepting means; be done.

(Operation) This invention starts a transaction by giving a monetary value and provides goods or services corresponding to the given monetary value, and when a plurality of cards are accepted, The monetary value of the card with the least monetary value is compared with the monetary value for the goods or services provided, and as a result of this comparison, the monetary value of the card with the least monetary value is the monetary value for the goods or services provided. If the value is greater than the specified value, all accepted cards are returned.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows the customer service side of a ticket vending machine that prints and issues regular tickets and sells them according to the present invention.
Staff call button (push button switch) 2, Cancel button to cancel the purchase (
(push button switch) 3. Based on the amount of money inserted and the balance on the amount card A, the section fare of the route being sold will be lit up, the section fare on the number card B will be displayed on the display, and the amount card (prepaid card, etc.) will be displayed based on the amount of money inserted. A card with a monetary value of (push button switch) 6, Condition button to specify the number of tickets purchased, child ticket, discount ticket (push button switch 4-) 7, Amount card A
, a card slot 9 into which the number card B is inserted and cards A and B are ejected, a coin slot 10 into which coins are inserted, a bill slot 11 into which banknotes are inserted and which are ejected, and a ticket slot. A ticket issuing port 12 for issuing tickets, a discharge port 13 for discharging coins and banknotes, and a tray 14 for discharging issued tickets and change are provided.

FIG. 3 shows the configuration of a ticket vending machine having the customer service aspect described above. That is, the card slot 9 is connected to the card section 23.

Further, the banknote input slot 11 is connected to a banknote inspection section 20. Further, the coin slot 10 is connected to a coin verification section 24, and a change section 25 is connected to the coin verification section 24. Thereby, the coins discriminated by the coin verification section 24 are stored in the change section 25 as change and coins, and can be discharged from the discharge port 13. In addition to the change section 25, a ticket issuing mechanism section 26 is also connected to the ticket issuing port 12. This ticket issuing mechanism section 26 consists of a printing section 27 and an encoding section 28, and the ticket printed by the printing section 27 is sent to the encoding section 28, where magnetic information for automatic ticket gates is recorded in the magnetic recording section. The receiver is then released from the ticket issuing slot 12 into a tray 14 as a ticket. The refund ticket reading section 21, the card section 23, the banknote inspection section 20, the coin verification section 24, the change section 25, the ticket issuing mechanism section 26, and the display section 1,
The condition button 7 and the variable display account button 6 are all controlled by the main control section 29. The main control section 29 is
For example, it is mainly composed of a microcomputer and its peripheral circuits, and is responsible for controlling the entire ticket vending machine.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic structure of the internal mechanism of the card section 23. As shown in FIG. That is, the amount card A1 or the number card B inserted through the card slot 9 is conveyed on the conveyance path 31 in the direction of arrow a or b by conveyance means such as conveyance rollers 32, . . . . The amount card A1 or the number card B has a magnetic recording area in which monetary value information is magnetically recorded. On the conveyance path 31,
Starting from the card slot 9, a reading head 33 reads the magnetic information on the amount card A or the number card B, and a writing head 34 updates the magnetic information on the card A1 or B.
, a perforation unit 35 that punches a hole to indicate the start of use on the card A1 or B, and a name perforation for the used card, and a printing unit 36 that is composed of a thermal printer that prints visible data on the card A1 or B. There is.

Further, a sorting gate (not shown) is provided at the end of the conveying path 31, and the dividing gate allows the amount card A or the number card B conveyed by the conveying path 31 to be transferred to the conveying path 37, 38, Alternatively, cards from conveyance paths 37, 38, or 39 are guided to conveyance path 39.
It will lead you to 1.

The cards on the conveyance path 37 are conveyed by the movement of the conveyor belts 40, 41. This conveyor belt 40.41
The portion above the conveyance path 37 sandwiched between the two is a card storage section 37a. A recovery section 42 is provided at the terminal end of the conveyance path 37 (on the opposite side to the conveyance path 31 side).

The cards on the transport path 38 are transported by the movement of the transport belts 43, 44. The area on the conveyance path 38 sandwiched between the conveyor belts 43 and 44 is a card holding section 38a. The terminal end of the transport path 38 (lli! 2 transport path 3
1 side), a hopper 45 is provided. This hopper 45 stores an unused amount card A, and due to the action of the take-out rollers 46, 46, the hopper 45
The amount card A in 5 is taken out to the conveyance path 38.

The cards on the transport path 39 are transported by the movement of transport belts 47, 48. A hopper 49 is provided at the terminal end of the conveyance path 39 (on the side opposite to the conveyance path 31 side). This hopper 49 stores an unused number card B, and the number card B in the hopper 49 is taken out to the conveyance path 39 by the action of take-out rollers 50 and 50.

The amount card A in the hopper 45 is issued when the print area of the sales history becomes full even though the amount card A in use still has a balance.

The number card B in the four hoppers is issued when the printing area of the release history becomes full even though the number of times remaining on the number card B in use remains.

Next, the ticket issuing operation in the above configuration will be explained. First, the variable display account button 6 normally displays all route fares for adults that can be sold on this device for the sales routes. To purchase a ticket, a user inserts coins or banknotes of an amount equal to or exceeding the amount of the desired ticket through a coin slot 10 and a bill slot 11. When coins or banknotes are inserted through these slots, the coin verification section 24 and banknote discrimination section 20 detect and discriminate the inserted coins or banknotes. These identified coins are sent to the main control unit 29.
The total amount is calculated and the input amount is displayed on the display section 1. Further, when money is inserted, the fare display of the variable display account button 6 is completely turned off, and then only the account buttons of the tickets that can be purchased according to the amount of money inserted are displayed. For example, if the input amount is 200 yen, each section fare that can be purchased for 200 yen is displayed, and if the input amount is 330 yen, all section fares that can be purchased for 330 yen are displayed. The user selects and presses one of the displayed variable display account buttons 6. When a variable display account button 6 is selectively pressed, only the selected variable display account button 6 is turned on under the control of the main control unit 29, and the other variable display account buttons 6 are turned off.

The main control unit 29 then starts printing and issuing tickets and sending out change. In other words, the card information is stored in the main control unit 2.
9, the edited ticket face information is printed on the ticket paper by the printing section 27, and the printed ticket paper is sent to the encoding section 28.

The encoding unit 28 magnetically records magnetic information for automatic ticket gates, such as issue date information, 1 departure station information, 1 arrival station information, 2 section (fare) information, etc., on the magnetic recording unit formed on the back side of the ticket. Then, the receiver is released as a ticket from the ticket issuing port 12 into the tray 14.

At this time, if there is change, the change section 25 operates, and the change coins and banknotes are discharged from the outlet 13 into the tray 14. When ticket issuance is completed in this way, the variable display account button 6 lights up and displays all the sales accounts (adult fares) for the sales route again, and returns to the sales standby state.

Further, the variable display account button 6 normally displays all route fares for adults that can be sold on this device for the sales route. In order to purchase a ticket, the user inserts an amount card A having a balance equal to or exceeding the amount of the desired ticket through the card slot 9. When the amount card A is inserted through the card slot 9, the card section 23 detects and discriminates the inserted amount card A.

That is, the amount card A is inserted into the card slot 9 by the user.
, the amount card A is conveyed on the conveyance path 31. Then, the reading head 33 reads the magnetically recorded contents of the money card A, that is, the remaining amount, etc., and outputs it to the main control section 29.

The amount card A whose magnetically recorded contents have been read by the reading head 33 is further transported in the direction a by the transport path 31, guided to the transport path 37, and held in the holding section 37a.

Thereby, the main control section 29 causes the display section 1 to display the remaining amount information supplied from the card section 23 as the input amount.

Also, when the amount card A is inserted, the variable display account button 6
After all the fare display lights go out, only the account buttons for tickets that can be purchased depending on the amount invested are displayed. For example, when the input amount is 200 yen, each section fare that can be purchased for 200 yen is displayed, and when the input amount is 330 yen, all section fares that can be purchased for 330 yen are displayed.

Then, the user selects and presses one of the displayed variable display account buttons 6. When a variable display account button 6 is selectively pressed, only the selected variable display account button 6 is turned on under the control of the main control unit 29, and the other variable display account buttons 6 are turned off.

Then, the main control unit 29 starts printing and issuing the ticket and sending out the card. In other words, the card information is stored in the main control unit 2.
9, the edited ticket face information is printed on the ticket paper by the printing section 27, and the printed ticket paper is sent to the encoding section 28.

The encoding unit 28 magnetically records magnetic information for automatic ticket gates, such as issue date information, 9 departure station information, 1 arrival station information, 1 section (fare) information, etc., on the magnetic recording unit formed on the back side of the ticket. Then, the receiver is released as a ticket from the ticket issuing port 12 into the tray 14.

At this time, the main control section 29 displays on the display section 1 the remaining amount after the purchase amount is expended.

In addition, a card unit 2 is stored in a storage unit (not shown) of the main control unit 29.
3, a new remaining amount is written, and the card section 23 sends out the amount card A on which the ticket sales history is printed from the card slot 9 to the outside.

That is, the amount card A held in the holding section 37a
is transported in the direction b on the transport path 37′ by the action of the transport belts 40 and 41, and guided to the transport path 31. As the amount card A is conveyed on this conveyance path 31, the release history such as the date, time, departure station, used machine number, and remaining amount is printed on the amount card A by the print unit 36, and furthermore, the writing head 34 Magnetic information such as date, time, station of departure, machine number used, and remaining amount is recorded magnetically. Thereafter, the amount card A is ejected from the card slot 9.

When ticket issuance is completed in this way, the variable display account button 6 lights up and displays all the sales accounts (adult fares) for the sales route again, and returns to the sales standby state.

Next, the operation when two money cards A are inserted in succession will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, the user inserts the amount card A that he or she owns into the card slot 9 while the variable display account button 6 displays all adult fares available for sale. When the amount card A is inserted through the card slot 9, the card section 23 detects and discriminates the inserted amount card A. That is, when the user inserts the amount card A into the card slot 9, the amount card A is conveyed on the conveyance path 31. Then, the magnetically recorded contents of the money card A, that is, the remaining amount, etc., are read by the reading head 33 and outputted to the main control section 29. The amount card A whose magnetically recorded contents have been read by the reading head 33 is further transported in the direction a by the transport path 31, guided to the transport path 37, and held in the holding section 37a.

Thereby, the main control section 29 causes the display section 1 to display the remaining amount information supplied from the card section 23.

Further, the main control unit 29 once turns off all fare displays on the variable display account buttons 6, and then displays only the variable display account buttons 6 for tickets that can be purchased according to the amount of money invested. For example, when the input amount is 200 yen, each section fare that can be purchased for 200 yen is displayed, and when the input amount is 330 yen, all section fares that can be purchased for 330 yen are displayed.

In this display state, the user inserts another amount card A' from the card slot 9. When the amount card A' is inserted through the card slot 9, the card section 23 detects and discriminates the inserted amount card A'.

That is, when the user inserts the amount card A' into the card slot 9, the amount card A' is conveyed on the conveyance path 31. Then, the reading head 33 reads the magnetically recorded contents of the money card A', that is, the remaining amount, etc., and outputs it to the main control section 29. The amount card A'' whose magnetically recorded content has been read by the reading head 33 is further transported in the direction a by the transport path 31 and guided to the transport path 38.
It is held in the holding unit 38a.

Thereby, the main control section 29 causes the display section 1 to display the total amount of the remaining amount supplied from the card section 23 and the remaining amount for the previous amount card A.

Further, the main control unit 29 displays only the variable display account buttons 6 for tickets that can be purchased according to the total amount.

Then, the user selects and presses one of the displayed variable display account buttons 6. When a variable display account button 6 is selectively pressed, only the selected variable display account button 6 is turned on under the control of the main control unit 29, and the other variable display account buttons 6 are turned off.

Then, the main control unit 29 compares the purchase amount of the ticket with the remaining amount on the amount card A, and if the remaining amount on the amount card A is larger than the purchase amount of the ticket, it is determined that the passenger has made an erroneous purchase, and the card portion 29 Instruct the person to eject the amount card A, 8゛.

As a result, in the card unit 23, the amount card A held in the holding unit 37a is conveyed in the direction b on the conveyance path 37 by the action of the conveyance belts 40, 41, and guided to the conveyance path 31. The amount card A guided to the conveyance path 31 is discharged from the card slot 9 without being processed by the printing section 36 or the writing head 34. Next, the holding section 38a
The amount card A' held on the conveyor belt 43.4
4, the paper is transported in the direction b on the transport path 38 and guided to the transport path 31. The amount card A' guided to the conveyance path 31 is discharged from the card slot 9 without being processed by the printing section 36 or the writing head 34.

Further, when the main control unit 29 compares the purchase amount of the ticket and the remaining amount of the amount card A, if it is determined that the remaining amount of the amount card A is smaller than the purchase amount of the ticket, the main control portion 29 is determined to be a normal purchase specification.

Thereby, the main control section 29 instructs the ticket issuing mechanism section 26 to print and issue a ticket. Thereby, the ticket face information is edited in the main control unit 29, this edited ticket face information is printed on a ticket paper in the printing unit 27, and the printed ticket paper is sent to the encoding unit 28. The encoding section 28 stores magnetic information for automatic ticket gates in the magnetic recording section formed on the back side of the ticket, such as issue date information, 2nd departure station information, 1st destination station information.

Section (fare) information and the like are magnetically recorded and released as a ticket from the ticket issuing slot 12 to the receiver 114. At this time, the main control section 29 displays the remaining amount of the input amount on the display section 1.

In addition, the main control unit 29 calculates the remaining amount of the amount card A, the remaining amount of the amount card A', and the purchase amount of the ticket above.
, A''s balance update details are determined.

That is, the main control unit 29 compares the remaining amount of the amount card A with the remaining amount of the amount card A'', and as a result of this comparison, the purchase amount of the ticket is subtracted from the amount card A with the smaller remaining amount (AI), It is determined that the amount is to be subtracted from the amount card A-(A) with the larger remaining amount.

Therefore, the main control section 29 uses the above determination result to cause the card section 23 to perform a deduction process of subtracting the monetary value from each card. The card unit 23 prints the ticket sales history on the back side of the card in the print unit 36, updates and records the remaining amount of the amount card A1 and amount card A' as magnetic information by the writing head 34, and also records the remaining amount of the amount card A1 and amount card A' as magnetic information.
After confirming the magnetic information by step 3, the amount cards ASA- are sequentially ejected from the card slot 9.

That is, when deducting the purchase amount from the amount card A and deducting the insufficient amount from the card A, the main control unit 2
9 uses the card section 23 to write "No remaining amount" on the amount card A, prints the ticket sales history, ejects the amount card A from the card slot 9', and then inserts the amount card A into the amount card A.
A new remaining amount is written in ', the ticket sales history is printed, and the amount card A' is ejected from the card slot 9.

In addition, the purchase amount will be deducted from the amount card A゛, and
When deducting the insufficient amount from card A, the main control unit 29 uses the card unit 23 to write the new remaining amount on the amount card A, prints the ticket sales history, and prints the ticket sales history on the amount card A.
is ejected from the card slot 9, then "no remaining amount" is written on the amount card 8', the sale history of the ticket is printed, and the amount card A' is ejected from the card slot 9.

In the card section 23, the amount card A held in the holding section 37a is conveyed in the direction b on the conveyance path 37 by the action of the conveyor belts 40, 41, and guided to the conveyance path 31. The amount card A guided to the conveyance path 31 is ejected from the card slot 9 via the print section 36 and the writing head 34.

Next, the amount card A' held in the holding section 38a is conveyed in the direction b on the conveyance path 38 by the action of the conveyor belts 43 and 44, and guided to the conveyance path 31. The amount card A- guided to the conveyance path 31 is ejected from the card slot 9 via the printing section 36 and the writing head 34.

When the issuance of the ticket and the reduction processing for the fare card A1A' are completed in this way, the variable display account button 6 lights up and displays all the sales accounts (adult fares) for the sales route again, and returns to the sales standby state.

As mentioned above, when purchasing a ticket, two value cards are inserted, and if the remaining value of the value card with the smaller balance is greater than the purchase price of the ticket, all of the value cards inserted are It is designed to be discharged. This makes it possible to prevent passengers from purchasing tickets incorrectly, and also from forgetting to take out their fare card.

In addition, although the above-mentioned example explained the case where it was applied to a ticket vending machine, the present invention is not limited to this. The invention can also be applied to vending machines for A-value securities, or vending machines that provide goods or services corresponding to a predetermined monetary value, such as food, beverages, telephone services, etc.

Further, although the case where two money cards are inserted has been described, three or more money cards may be inserted.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, an automatic vending system is provided that can prevent customers from purchasing goods or services by mistake or forgetting to take out a card with monetary value due to excessive amounts being inserted by customers. We can provide equipment.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings are for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of purchasing a ticket using two value cards, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the customer service side of a ticket vending machine. FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the ticket vending machine, and FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the internal mechanism of the card section. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Display part, 6... Variable display account button, 9... Card slot, 10... Coin slot, 11... Bill slot, 14... Receiver is a plate, 23...・Card Department, 24...
・Cash verification department, 25... Change department, 26... Ticket issuing mechanism department,
29...Main control unit, A, A...Money card, 33...Reading head, 34...Writing head, 3
6...Print department.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A vending machine that starts a transaction by giving a monetary value and provides goods or services according to the given monetary value, which successively accepts a plurality of cards having a monetary value. an accepting means; a reading means for reading the monetary value from each of the cards accepted by the accepting means; when a plurality of cards are accepted by the accepting means;
According to the reading result of the reading means, the monetary value of the card with the least monetary value is compared with the monetary value of the goods or services provided, and as a result of this comparison, the monetary value of the card with the least monetary value is determined. the financial value of the goods or services provided is greater than the monetary value of the goods or services provided;
A vending machine characterized by comprising: processing means for returning all the plurality of cards accepted by the above-mentioned accepting means;