CN112002061A - Method and device for judging article distribution state of automatic vending equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for judging the article distribution state of automatic vending equipment, which comprises the following steps: collecting a rotation signal of a motor; judging whether the rotation signal of the motor is set with a waveform or not, if so, judging that the motor rotates normally; otherwise, generating an inquiry interface, requesting the user to select whether to receive the goods, if the user selects to receive the goods, judging that the motor shaft position detection unit is invalid, generating maintenance information, and ending the delivery; if not, judging that the shipment fails, and selecting to ship again; wherein the motor rotation signal is output by a motor shaft position detecting unit which outputs a specified level signal when detecting that a shaft of the motor rotates to a set position, and outputs another specified level signal when a motor shaft rotates to another position. The invention also relates to a device for realizing the method. The implementation of the method and the device for judging the article distribution state of the automatic vending equipment has the following beneficial effects: the method has the advantages of low cost, short judgment time and good user experience.

Description

Method and device for judging article distribution state of automatic vending equipment

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a vending machine for goods, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for determining an article dispensing status of a vending machine.

Background

Vending machines are gaining wider use. However, in most vending machines, there is no means for determining the current dispensing state of the article, so that the user cannot take the article purchased by the user when the dispensing of the article is abnormal (for example, the motor does not rotate after the control signal is output, or the motor does not rotate but does not rotate in place, etc.). In this case, the user is sure that the complaint transaction is not completed and the product is not obtained. In the present case, such complaints are usually made via telephone or network, which requires manual intervention, confirmation of the condition reflected by the user and cancellation of the transaction, refund of the relevant money to the user, and so on. Due to the lack of means for monitoring the article issuing state, on one hand, the operation is high in cost and needs manual calling of the shipment record confirmation of the equipment, and on the other hand, the operation is long in time, so that the return of the money of the user is slow, the satisfaction of the user is reduced, and the user experience is poor.

Disclosure of Invention

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for determining an article dispensing status of a vending machine, which have the advantages of low cost, short determination time and good user experience, aiming at the defects of high cost, long determination time and poor user experience in the prior art.

The technical scheme adopted by the invention for solving the technical problems is as follows: a method for judging the article dispensing state of a vending machine is constructed, comprising the following steps:

A) when a motor of a cargo channel for pushing out cargos starts to rotate at present, acquiring a rotation signal of the motor;

B) judging whether the rotation signal of the motor is set with a waveform or not, if so, judging that the motor rotates normally; otherwise, judging that the motor rotates abnormally, and executing the next step;

C) generating an inquiry interface to be displayed on the automatic vending equipment, requiring a user to select whether goods are received or not, if the user selects to receive the goods, judging that the motor shaft position detection unit is invalid, generating maintenance information of the rotary unit, and ending the delivery; if not, judging that the shipment fails, selecting to ship again, and generating the maintenance information of the cargo channel;

wherein the motor rotation signal is output by a motor shaft position detecting unit which outputs a specified level signal when detecting that a shaft of the motor rotates to a set position, and outputs another specified level signal when a motor shaft rotates to another position.

Further, the re-delivery comprises the step of selecting another delivery channel for placing the same goods, and if the delivery failure occurs again, the user order is cancelled.

Further, in step B), the method further comprises the following steps:

B1) the method comprises the steps of collecting signals output by infrared correlation units arranged on two sides of a cargo channel within set time, judging whether output signals of a single infrared pair tube in the signals are recovered after interruption, judging that an article detection signal is normal if the output signals are interrupted and recovered, and judging that the article detection signal is abnormal if the output signals are not interrupted and recovered.

Further, in step B), the method further comprises the following steps:

B2) and using the combination of the state of the article detection signal and the state of the motor rotation signal to further confirm and judge the current article issuing state:

if the motor rotation signal and the article detection signal are normal, the article dispensing state is normal;

if the motor rotation signal is normal and the article detection signal is abnormal, the article distribution state is still judged to be normal, and the maintenance information of the article detection part is generated to require the maintenance of the infrared correlation unit;

and C) if the motor rotation signal is abnormal and the article detection signal is normal or the motor rotation signal and the article detection signal are abnormal, executing the step C).

Furthermore, article detected signal is exported by the infrared correlation unit who sets up the both sides that get into the space of getting goods region after article are pushed out the goods way, infrared correlation unit is including setting up the light emission board of space one side and setting up the light-receiving board of the other side of space, light emission board and light-receiving board are vertical rectangular shape, and its surface is provided with a plurality of light-emitting tubes and the light-receiving tube of top-down interval set distance, forms the light curtain that gets into and get goods region object and pass at the whereabouts in-process, light-receiving tube on the light-receiving board respectively export, show that it receives a plurality of signals constitution of light signal article detected signal.

Further, the motor shaft position detecting unit includes a rotating piece connected to the motor shaft and having a set shape, and a switch, and the rotating piece triggers or does not trigger the switch with the rotation of the motor shaft, so that the switch outputs output signals of different levels to obtain the motor rotation signal.

Furthermore, the rotating sheet comprises a circular sheet-shaped object with a section of circular arc cut off, a mounting hole is formed in the center of the circular sheet-shaped object, and the rotating sheet is connected to a shaft of the motor through the mounting hole; the switch is arranged on a mounting sheet, so that the switch is contacted with the arc part of the rotating sheet, and when the arc part of the rotating sheet rotates to the position of the switch, the switch is contacted to output a signal with a specified level; when the position of the cut-off circular arc of the rotating sheet rotates to the position of the switch, the switch outputs a signal of another specified level because of no contact with the switch.

The invention also relates to a device for realizing the method, which comprises the following steps:

motor rotation signal acquisition unit: the device comprises a motor, a control circuit and a control circuit, wherein the motor is used for acquiring a rotation signal of the motor when the motor of a cargo channel for pushing out cargos at present starts to rotate;

a judging unit: the motor control device is used for judging whether the rotation signal of the motor is set with a waveform or not, if so, judging that the motor rotates normally; otherwise, judging that the motor rotates abnormally;

a human-computer interaction unit: the system is used for generating an inquiry interface to be displayed on the automatic vending equipment, requiring a user to select whether goods are received or not, judging that the motor shaft position detection unit is invalid if the user selects to receive the goods, generating maintenance information of the rotary unit and finishing the delivery; if not, judging that the shipment fails, selecting to ship again, and generating the maintenance information of the cargo channel;

wherein the motor rotation signal is output by a motor shaft position detecting unit which outputs a specified level signal when detecting that a shaft of the motor rotates to a set position, and outputs another specified level signal when a motor shaft rotates to another position.

Still further, the judging unit further includes:

article detection signal module: the device is used for collecting signals output by infrared correlation units arranged on two sides of a cargo channel within a set time, and judging whether the output signals of a single infrared pair tube in the signals are recovered after interruption, if the output signals are interrupted and recovered, judging that the article detection signals are normal, otherwise, judging that the article detection signals are abnormal.

Still further, the judging unit further includes:

a comprehensive judgment module: the motor is used for detecting the state of the article detection signal and the state of the motor rotation signal, and further confirming and judging the current article issuing state; the current article issuance state includes:

if the motor rotation signal and the article detection signal are normal, judging that the article issuing state is normal;

if the motor rotation signal is normal and the article detection signal is abnormal, the article distribution state is still judged to be normal, and the maintenance information of the article detection part is generated to require the maintenance of the infrared correlation unit;

and calling a human-computer interaction unit if the motor rotation signal is abnormal and the article detection signal is normal or the motor rotation signal and the article detection signal are abnormal.

The implementation of the method and the device for judging the article distribution state of the automatic vending equipment has the following beneficial effects: the motor shaft position detection unit is arranged, so that the rotating position of the motor can be conveniently and simply obtained, whether the rotation of the motor is enough to push the articles out of the goods channel under the action of the control signal is judged, and the article distribution state is further judged; under the condition that the article is failed to be issued, the user experience is better by adopting an automatic human-computer interaction method for confirming and re-issuing or re-delivering. Meanwhile, under the condition that reissue still fails, the user experience can be improved by selecting an immediate refund mode. Such a method allows for less manual intervention, simpler validation, and faster refunds when transactions actually fail. Therefore, the cost is low, the judgment time is short, and the user experience is good.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of a method for determining an article dispensing status of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a motor shaft position detecting unit in the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an infrared correlation unit in the embodiment;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural view of the device in the embodiment.

Detailed Description

The embodiments of the present invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in fig. 1, in an embodiment of the method and the apparatus for determining an article dispensing state of a vending machine according to the present invention, the method for determining an article dispensing state of a vending machine includes the following steps:

step S11 collects motor rotation signals: in this step, when the motor of the current cargo channel for pushing out the cargo starts to rotate, a rotation signal of the motor is acquired. For the embodiment, the automatic vending equipment comprises a plurality of goods channels, and each goods channel is provided with a goods channel motor; when a user selects or purchases an article and pays for the article, the control unit of the automatic vending equipment selects a goods channel for placing the article according to the preset setting (the same article is placed on one goods channel, and one article can be placed by a plurality of goods channels), and then outputs a control signal, so that the motor of the goods channel rotates by a set angle, and the goods channel can push out one article placed on the goods channel, fall downwards and enter a goods taking area. In the prior art, the ejection of an article is typically achieved by controlling the duration of the signal. Such methods, while sometimes also enabling the ejection of items or goods, may also present problems in some cases. For example, although the control signal is applied to the motor, the motor is not rotated or rotates very slowly due to the blockage of the goods passage by the goods, and the system cannot detect that the control signal is maintained for a set time, but the goods are not pushed out. The system may misunderstand that the transaction has been completed, thus resulting in customer complaints requiring refunds. In the prior art, manual intervention is required at this time to perform a series of operations such as confirmation, refund and the like. Thereby having a negative impact on labor costs, time and customer satisfaction. To solve this problem, in this embodiment, for each cargo way motor, a motor shaft position detecting unit is provided, which is disposed on the motor shaft and detects the rotation position of the motor shaft, and the signal output by the motor shaft position detecting unit is the motor rotation signal, and in this step, this signal is collected to obtain the signal.

In this embodiment, the motor shaft position detecting unit includes a rotatingpiece 21 having a set shape and aswitch 23 connected to amotor shaft 22, and the rotatingpiece 21 triggers or does not trigger theswitch 23 with the rotation of the motor shaft, so that theswitch 23 outputs output signals of different levels to obtain the motor rotation signal. Referring to fig. 2, therotary plate 21 includes a circular sheet-shaped object with an arc cut away, a mounting hole is formed at the center of the circular sheet-shaped object, and therotary plate 21 is connected to themotor shaft 22 through the mounting hole; theswitch 23 is arranged on amounting piece 24, themounting piece 24 is arranged at a position that theswitch 23 is contacted with the circular arc part of therotating piece 21, so that when the circular arc part of the rotatingpiece 21 rotates to the position of theswitch 23, theswitch 23 is contacted to output a signal with a specified level; when the position of the cut-off arc of therotary piece 21 is rotated to the position of theswitch 23, theswitch 23 outputs another signal of a specified level because of no contact with theswitch 23.

Step S12, if the signal is normal, executing step S13; otherwise, step S14 is executed. In this step, one of the most basic operations is to determine the motor rotation signal, and when the cut-off arc portion of the upper rotatingpiece 21 is rotated to the position of theswitch 23 as shown in fig. 2 and the above description, the level of the motor rotation signal is different from the level when the other arc portion contacts the switch, and thereby the position of the motor rotation shaft can be determined. When the motor rotates normally, the waveform of the motor rotation signal is fixed and known, so that whether the signal is normal or not, namely whether the rotation of the motor rotating shaft is normal or not can be judged according to the level of the motor rotation signal.

Step S13, the goods are normally sent, and the shipment is finished: in this step, since it is determined that the motor is rotating normally, the pushing or sending of the article is considered to be normal, that is, the transaction is normal, and the shipment is ended.

Step S14 is a dialog box generated, the user confirms whether the item is obtained, if the user confirms that the item is obtained, step S15 is executed; if the user feedbacks that the article is not obtained, executing step S16; in this step, since the motor rotation signal is not normal, in order to confirm whether the motor shaft position detection unit has a fault, a step of human-machine interaction is added, a dialog box or dialog is generated on the screen of the automatic vending equipment, a user is required to confirm whether the purchased goods are received, if the user confirms that the goods are received, it is determined that the motor shaft position detection unit has a fault, and the motor rotation signal is not normal, and then step S15 is executed; if the user' S feedback indicates that he or she has not received the goods, it is determined that the lane has a failure, the lane number is recorded, and if necessary, the lane needs to be temporarily stopped, and a maintenance person waits for maintenance, and step S16 is performed.

Step S15, determining a failure of the motor shaft position detection unit, generating maintenance information: in this step, since the goods is normally delivered from the goods passage, the user has received or obtained the goods, but the motor rotation signal is not normal, it is determined that the motor shaft position detecting unit is faulty, and maintenance information is generated, requiring the maintenance personnel to go to the field for processing.

Step S16 executes the re-shipment program: in this step, since the shipment fails in the shipping lane, the user executes the re-shipment program in order to acquire the purchased items. In this procedure, another lane on which the same goods or items are placed is rotated for shipment. It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the above determination step is performed in the same manner in the re-shipment program, but it is marked as re-shipment, and if the re-shipment program still fails to deliver the money, the user order is directly cancelled without entering the re-shipment program again, and the user money is returned as it is. The method has the advantages that the method can ensure the volume of the transaction as much as possible, and can timely return the user money when the equipment is in fault, thereby improving the satisfaction degree and the user experience of the user.

In the present embodiment, the above-described functions can be achieved only by determining the above-described motor rotation signal as described above in some cases. However, in some cases of this embodiment, more sensor signals are added and the integrated determination is performed together with the motor rotation signal, so that the determination result is more reliable. Such as a current box number added to the motor or an infrared article detection signal.

Therefore, in some cases in this embodiment, the determination in step S12 may also be added to the determination of the article detection signal, that is, in step S12, the signals output by the infrared correlation units arranged on both sides of the cargo passage within the set time may also be collected, and whether the output signal of the single infrared pair transistor in the signals is interrupted and then recovered is determined, if the interruption and recovery occurs, it is determined that the article detection signal is normal, otherwise, the article detection signal is not normal; then, the state of the article detection signal is combined with the state of the motor rotation signal to further confirm and judge the current article issuing state; in this case, the states include:

if the motor rotation signal and the article detection signal are normal, judging that the article issuing state is normal;

if the motor rotation signal is normal and the article detection signal is abnormal, the article distribution state is still judged to be normal, and the maintenance information of the article detection part is generated to require the maintenance of the infrared correlation unit;

if the motor rotation signal is not normal and the article detection signal is normal or if the motor rotation signal and the article detection signal are not normal, step S14 is performed.

In some cases in the present embodiment, the above-described article detection signal is output by infrared correlation units provided on both sides of a space where an article enters the pickup area after being pushed out of the cargo way. Referring to fig. 3, the infrared correlation unit includes alight emitting plate 31 disposed at one side of the space and alight receiving plate 32 disposed at the other side of the space, the light emitting plate and the light receiving plate are both vertical and elongated, and a plurality of light emitting tubes (shielded in fig. 3 because of the angle relationship) andlight receiving tubes 34 are disposed on the surfaces of the light emitting plate and the light receiving plates at intervals from top to bottom to form a light curtain for objects entering the goods taking area to pass through during falling, and a plurality of signals respectively outputted by thelight receiving tubes 34 on thelight receiving plate 32 and indicating whether the light receiving tubes receive light signals constitute the object detection signals.

In this embodiment, above-mentioned infrared object detection signal and motor rotation signal are in the organic combination of judgement in-process, including the setting of man-machine interactive window so that gain the user to the feedback of site conditions, can judge the most likely condition that appears in using comparatively accurately to make and reduce the artifical intervention to the degree that can accept in the use of automatic vending equipment, improved feedback speed simultaneously, specifically the speed of refunding, this experience that just makes the user is better.

The invention also relates to a device for realizing the method, which comprises a motor rotation signal acquisition unit 1, a judgment unit 2 and a human-computer interaction unit 3; the motor rotation signal acquisition unit 1 is used for acquiring a rotation signal of a motor when the motor of a cargo channel where cargos are currently pushed out starts to rotate; the judging unit 2 is used for judging whether the rotation signal of the motor is set with a waveform or not, if so, judging that the motor rotates normally; otherwise, judging that the motor rotates abnormally; the man-machine interaction unit 3 is used for generating an inquiry interface to be displayed on the automatic vending equipment, requesting a user to select whether goods are received or not, judging that the motor shaft position detection unit is invalid if the user selects to receive the goods, generating maintenance information of the rotary unit, and finishing the delivery; if not, judging that the shipment fails, selecting to ship again, and generating the maintenance information of the cargo channel; wherein the motor rotation signal is output by a motor shaft position detecting unit which outputs a specified level signal when detecting that a shaft of the motor rotates to a set position, and outputs another specified level signal when a motor shaft rotates to another position.

In some cases in this embodiment, the determiningunit 2 further includes: the articledetection signal module 201 is used for collecting signals output by infrared correlation units arranged on two sides of a cargo channel within a set time, and judging whether an output signal of a single infrared geminate transistor in the signals is recovered after interruption, if the output signal is interrupted and recovered, judging that the article detection signal is normal, otherwise, judging that the article detection signal is abnormal. Meanwhile, in the case of the articledetection signal module 201, thedetermination unit 2 is not a simple determination module but acomprehensive determination module 202 which is integrated in consideration of the article detection signal. Thecomprehensive judgment module 202 is configured to further confirm and judge the current article dispensing state by using the combination of the state of the article detection signal and the state of the motor rotation signal.

With thecomprehensive judgment module 202, the current article dispensing status includes:

if the motor rotation signal and the article detection signal are normal, judging that the article issuing state is normal;

if the motor rotation signal is normal and the article detection signal is abnormal, the article distribution state is still judged to be normal, and the maintenance information of the article detection part is generated to require the maintenance of the infrared correlation unit;

and calling a human-computer interaction unit if the motor rotation signal is abnormal and the article detection signal is normal or the motor rotation signal and the article detection signal are abnormal.

Basically, in addition to improving the accuracy of the determination, the introduction of the article detection signal also adds a state to the final state to determine whether the infrared correlation device generating the signal is faulty.

The above-mentioned embodiments only express several embodiments of the present invention, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the inventive concept, which falls within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.

Claims (10)

1. A method for judging the article distribution state of automatic vending equipment is characterized by comprising the following steps:

A) when a motor of a cargo channel for pushing out cargos starts to rotate at present, acquiring a rotation signal of the motor;

B) judging whether the rotation signal of the motor is set with a waveform or not, if so, judging that the motor rotates normally; otherwise, executing the next step;

C) generating an inquiry interface to be displayed on the automatic vending equipment, requiring a user to select whether goods are received or not, if the user selects to receive the goods, judging that the motor shaft position detection unit is invalid, generating maintenance information of the rotary unit, and ending the delivery; if not, judging that the shipment fails, selecting to ship again, and generating the maintenance information of the cargo channel;

wherein the motor rotation signal is output by a motor shaft position detecting unit which outputs a specified level signal when detecting that a shaft of the motor rotates to a set position, and outputs another specified level signal when a motor shaft rotates to another position.

2. The method for determining the article dispensing status of a vending machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the re-shipment comprises selecting another shipment channel for placing the same article for shipment, and canceling the user order if the shipment failure occurs again.

3. The method for determining an article dispensing status of a vending machine according to claim 2, wherein in the step B), the method further comprises the steps of:

B1) the method comprises the steps of collecting signals output by infrared correlation units arranged on two sides of a cargo channel within set time, judging whether output signals of a single infrared pair tube in the signals are recovered after interruption, judging that an article detection signal is normal if the output signals are interrupted and recovered, and judging that the article detection signal is abnormal if the output signals are not interrupted and recovered.

4. The method for determining an article dispensing status of a vending machine according to claim 3, wherein in the step B), the method further comprises the steps of:

B2) and using the combination of the state of the article detection signal and the state of the motor rotation signal to further confirm and judge the current article issuing state:

if the motor rotation signal and the article detection signal are normal, the article dispensing state is normal;

if the motor rotation signal is normal and the article detection signal is abnormal, the article distribution state is still judged to be normal, and the maintenance information of the article detection part is generated to require the maintenance of the infrared correlation unit;

and C) if the motor rotation signal is abnormal and the article detection signal is normal or the motor rotation signal and the article detection signal are abnormal, executing the step C).

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the article detection signal is outputted from an infrared correlation unit disposed at both sides of a space where the article is pushed out of the goods passage and enters the goods taking area, the infrared correlation unit includes a light emitting plate disposed at one side of the space and a light receiving plate disposed at the other side of the space, the light emitting plate and the light receiving plate are both vertically elongated, and a plurality of light emitting tubes and light receiving tubes are disposed on the surface of the light emitting plate and spaced from top to bottom at a predetermined distance to form a light curtain through which the article entering the goods taking area passes during falling, and a plurality of signals respectively outputted from the light receiving tubes on the light receiving plate and indicating whether the article detection signal is received or not constitute the article detection signal.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the motor shaft position detecting unit includes a rotary plate connected to a rotation shaft of the motor and having a predetermined shape, and a switch, and the rotary plate is rotated by the motor shaft to trigger or not trigger the switch, so that the switch outputs output signals of different levels to obtain the motor rotation signal.

7. The method for determining the dispensing status of a vending machine as recited in claim 6, wherein the rotary plate comprises a circular plate-shaped object with a cut-off arc, a mounting hole is formed at the center of the circular plate-shaped object, and the rotary plate is connected to the shaft of the motor through the mounting hole; the switch is arranged on a mounting sheet, so that the switch is contacted with the arc part of the rotating sheet, and when the arc part of the rotating sheet rotates to the position of the switch, the switch is contacted to output a signal with a specified level; when the position of the cut-off circular arc of the rotating sheet rotates to the position of the switch, the switch outputs a signal of another specified level because of no contact with the switch.

8. An apparatus for implementing the method for determining the dispensing status of an article of a vending machine according to claim 1, comprising:

motor rotation signal acquisition unit: the device comprises a motor, a control circuit and a control circuit, wherein the motor is used for acquiring a rotation signal of the motor when the motor of a cargo channel for pushing out cargos at present starts to rotate;

a judging unit: the motor control device is used for judging whether the rotation signal of the motor is set with a waveform or not, if so, judging that the motor rotates normally; otherwise, judging that the motor rotates abnormally;

a human-computer interaction unit: the system is used for generating an inquiry interface to be displayed on the automatic vending equipment, requiring a user to select whether goods are received or not, judging that the motor shaft position detection unit is invalid if the user selects to receive the goods, generating maintenance information of the rotary unit and finishing the delivery; if not, judging that the shipment fails, selecting to ship again, and generating the maintenance information of the cargo channel;

wherein the motor rotation signal is output by a motor shaft position detecting unit which outputs a specified level signal when detecting that a shaft of the motor rotates to a set position, and outputs another specified level signal when a motor shaft rotates to another position.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the judging unit further comprises:

article detection signal module: the device is used for collecting signals output by infrared correlation units arranged on two sides of a cargo channel within a set time, and judging whether the output signals of a single infrared pair tube in the signals are recovered after interruption, if the output signals are interrupted and recovered, judging that the article detection signals are normal, otherwise, judging that the article detection signals are abnormal.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the determining unit further comprises:

a comprehensive judgment module: the motor is used for detecting the state of the article detection signal and the state of the motor rotation signal, and further confirming and judging the current article issuing state; the current article issuance state includes:

if the motor rotation signal and the article detection signal are normal, judging that the article issuing state is normal;

if the motor rotation signal is normal and the article detection signal is abnormal, the article distribution state is still judged to be normal, and the maintenance information of the article detection part is generated to require the maintenance of the infrared correlation unit;

and calling a human-computer interaction unit if the motor rotation signal is abnormal and the article detection signal is normal or the motor rotation signal and the article detection signal are abnormal.

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