Vending machine
AssigneeKabushiki Kaisha Nippon Conlux
InventorsTakeshi Ishida, Tsunehiro Aso
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vending machine capable of preventing fraudulent use of false coins of a plurality of kinds. The number of slotted coins acceptable in one vending operation is preset in setting unit (112). The coins slotted into a coin slotting unit (101) are counted based on the sensing output from a counting sensor (104). When a refund operation is carried out while the number of coins slotted into the coin slotting unit(101) is equal to or larger than the preset acceptable number of coins set in the setting unit (112), the coin return in response to the refund instruction is inhibited as a fraudulent use.
Claims10
A vending machine which counts an amount of slotted money, vends merchandise within a range of the counted amount of slotted money, and returns money corresponding to a return amount based on a refund instruction, characterized in that the vending machine comprises:
- counting means for counting, by denomination, the number of slotted coins of the slotted money;
- setting means for setting, by denomination, an administrative value indicating number of slotted coins that is acceptable in one vending operation;
- a judging means for judging, by denomination, whether the number of slotted coins counted by the counting means is equal to or larger than the administrative value set with the setting means;
- detecting means for detecting refund instruction;
- refund prohibiting means for prohibiting a coin refund operation based on the refund instruction, if the judging means judges that there is at least one denomination for which the number of slotted coins counted by the counting means is equal to or larger than the administrative value set with the setting means when the refund instruction is detected by the detecting means without a sale of merchandise;
- and
- reception prohibiting means for prohibiting reception of coins for a predetermined period of time after the coin return operation is terminated if a difference between the amount of slotted money and the amount of money to be returned is within a predetermined specific value when the refund instruction is detected by the detecting means after the sale of merchandise.
A vending machine having a main control unit and a coin processing unit, wherein in a coin return operation the main control unit counts an amount of slotted money based on communication with the coin processing unit, calculates an amount of money to be return based on a refund request from the coin processing unit and gives the coin processing unit a refund instruction to refund coins corresponding to the amount of money to be returned, and wherein the coin processing unit returns coins based on the refund instruction, characterized in that the coin processing unit comprises:
- counting means for counting, by denomination, the number of slotted coins;
- setting means for setting, by denomination, an administrative value indicating number of slotted coins that is acceptable in one vending operation;
- judging means for judging by denomination, whether the number of slotted coins counted by the counting means is equal to or larger than the administrative value set with the setting means;
- detecting means for detecting a refund instruction;
- transmission prohibiting means for prohibiting sending of the refund request to the main control unit, if the judging means judges that there is at least one denomination for which the number of slotted coins counted by the counting means is equal to or larger than the administrative value set with the setting means when the refund instruction is detected by the detecting means without a sale of merchandise;
- and
- reception prohibiting means for prohibiting reception of coins for a predetermined period of time after the coin return operation is terminated if a difference between the amount of slotted money and the amount to be returned is within a predetermined specific value when the refund instruction is detected by the detecting means after the sale of merchandise.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.