CN210776987U

CN210776987U - Self-checkout device

Info

Publication number: CN210776987U
Application number: CN201921906171.5U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 渡邉收
Original assignee: Toshiba TEC Corp
Current assignee: Toshiba TEC Corp
Priority date: 2019-06-14
Filing date: 2019-11-07
Publication date: 2020-06-16
Anticipated expiration: 2029-11-07
Also published as: JP7304745B2; JP2020204827A

Abstract

The to-be-solved problem of the utility model is to provide a self-service checkout device that can assist deposit to handle. The self-checkout apparatus according to an embodiment includes a coin insertion unit including: a coin passage through which coins pass, a first detection unit that is provided on a primary side of the coin passage and detects a coin jam, and a second detection unit that is provided on a secondary side of the coin passage with respect to the first detection unit and detects a passage of a coin; and a control unit that executes at least one of a notification process for notifying a coin jam and an auxiliary process for assisting passage of a coin, based on a detection result of the first detection unit. Through the utility model discloses, can be smooth carry out deposit and handle.

Description

Self-checkout device

Technical Field

The utility model discloses an embodiment relates to a self-service checkout device.

Background

In pos (point Of sales) terminals, a self-checkout apparatus is known in which a customer performs a settlement process by himself. The self-checkout apparatus has, for example, a barcode scanner, a display, a touch panel, and an in-out apparatus. For example, the depositing and dispensing device includes a coin depositing section, a banknote inserting section, a money accommodating section, a coin discharging section, and a banknote discharging section. The self-checkout apparatus performs a deposit process of storing money deposited by a user into the coin insertion section and the coin insertion section in the money storage section, and a withdrawal process of calculating change and discharging the change from the coin discharge section and the coin discharge section. However, in the self-checkout apparatus, there is a case where a coin is jammed in the coin slot during the deposit process, which leads to an unfavorable deposit process.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

The to-be-solved problem of the utility model is to provide a self-service checkout device that can assist deposit processing.

The self-checkout apparatus according to an embodiment includes a coin insertion unit including: a coin passage through which coins pass, a first detection unit that is provided on a primary side of the coin passage and detects a coin jam, and a second detection unit that is provided on a secondary side of the coin passage with respect to the first detection unit and detects a passage of a coin; and a control unit that executes at least one of a notification process for notifying a coin jam and an auxiliary process for assisting passage of a coin, based on a detection result of the first detection unit.

Through the utility model discloses, can be smooth carry out deposit and handle.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a self-checkout apparatus according to a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of the self-checkout apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a part of the self-checkout apparatus;

fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the structure of a coin insertion section of the self checkout apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the structure of the coin inserting section;

fig. 6 is a perspective view showing a structure of the coin inserting section in a partial cross section.

Detailed Description

[ first embodiment ] to provide a liquid crystal display device

The self-checkout apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment will be described below with reference to fig. 1 to 6. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a self-checkout apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment; fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the self-checkout apparatus. Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing a part of the self-checkout apparatus 1; fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the structure of the coin inserting section. FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the structure of a coin inserting section; fig. 6 is a perspective view showing a structure of the coin inserting section in a partial cross section.

The self-checkout apparatus 1 is a pos (point Of sales) terminal operated by a customer to perform a checkout transaction. As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the self-checkout apparatus 1 includes a housing 10, an operation display unit 20, a reading unit 30, a receipt processing unit 40, a money processing unit 50, and a control unit 70 connected to the respective units and controlling the operations of the respective units.

The casing 10 houses some or all of the operation display section 20, the reading section 30, the bill processing section 40, the money processing section 50, and the control section 70. Disposed on the front surface of the case 10 are: the barcode scanner 31, a card slot 32a for a user to insert a card, a bill issuing port 41a for discharging a bill, a bill insertion port 52a for a user to insert a bill, a coin insertion portion 51 for a user to insert a coin, a bill discharge port 53a for discharging a bill, and a coin discharge port 54a for discharging a coin.

A binding table 12 is provided on a side portion of the case 10, and is used as a table on which commodities and commodity baskets are placed or on which a work such as bagging is performed. In the present embodiment, the checkout station 12 is provided on one side surface portion of the casing.

The operation display unit 20 includes a display 21 as a display unit and a touch panel 22 as an operation unit. For example, the display 21 is disposed at the upper front portion of the housing, and displays information related to sales of commodities, including a plurality of pieces of information such as message information, operation guidance information, sales information (commodity name, unit price, quantity, total amount, prepaid amount, change amount), input key display on the touch panel 22, and the like, in a switched manner according to the processing stage under the control of the control unit 70. The touch panel 22 is provided on the surface of the display 21, and outputs information based on the position touched by the user to the control section 70.

The reading section 30 has a barcode scanner 31 and a card reader/writer 32. The barcode scanner 31 reads the appearance of the commodity and the symbol attached to the commodity. The card reader/writer 32 reads data from or writes data to a card inserted into a card slot 32a provided in the case 10.

The bill processing section 40 includes: a sheet storage unit that stores, for example, a sheet wound in a roll; a bill printer that prints on a bill paper; and a bill conveying section that conveys the bill paper. The bill processing section 40 performs printing processing and conveying processing on bill sheets under the control of the control section 70, sends the printed bill sheets to a bill issuing port 41a formed at a predetermined position of the casing 10, and discharges the printed bill sheets from the bill issuing port 41 a.

As shown in fig. 1, 3 and 4, the money handling unit 50 includes a coin insertion unit 51, a banknote insertion unit 52, a banknote discharge unit 53, a coin discharge unit 54, and a deposit and withdrawal unit. The money processing unit 50 is an automatic change machine that stores deposited banknotes and coins and discharges change under the control of the control unit 70.

The coin inserting section 51 shown in fig. 3 to 6 has: a slit-shaped coin slot 56; a guide portion 57 extending from the coin slot 56 to the outside of the case 10 and constituting a funnel-shaped coin passage 51a through which coins pass; a check table 58 communicating with the guide portion 57; a shutter 59 that opens and closes the coin slot 56, i.e., opens and closes the coin passage 51 a; a first coin sensor 61 disposed as a first detection unit on the primary side of the coin slot 56, that is, the first coin sensor 61 is disposed on the primary side of the coin passage 51 a; and a second coin sensor 62 disposed on the secondary side of the coin slot as a second detection unit, that is, the second coin sensor 62 is provided on the secondary side of the coin passage 51a with respect to the first coin sensor 61. The primary side is the upstream side and the outer side of the upstream side of the coin moving path, the secondary side is the downstream side and the outer side of the downstream side of the coin moving path, and the boundary between the upstream side and the downstream side of the coin moving path is generally based on the coin opening 56.

The coin slot 56 is an opening formed by the lower end of the guide portion 57. The coin slot 56 is configured in a slit shape in which a dimension in one direction (width direction) is smaller than an outer diameter of a coin to be inserted, and a dimension in the other direction (length direction) orthogonal to the one direction is larger than an outer shape of the coin. A shaft 56a for regulating the posture of the coin is disposed in the coin slot 56. The shaft 56a is a shaft body extending in the longitudinal direction of the coin slot 56, and is provided at the center in the width direction of the coin slot 56. In the present embodiment, two shafts 56a are provided.

The guide portion 57 is configured in a funnel shape, and has (i.e., the coin passage 51a has): a cylindrical narrow width portion 57a extending from the coin opening 56 to the outside of the case 10, that is, the narrow width portion 57a communicates with the coin opening 56; and a wide width portion 57b formed in a conical cylindrical shape whose width is enlarged from the narrow width portion 57a toward the outside of the case. The narrow width portion 57a is configured to have a width smaller than the outer diameter of the coin to be inserted. A first coin sensor 61 is disposed outside the intermediate portion of the narrow portion 57 a. A hole 57c, which is an opening through which light from the first coin sensor 61 passes, is formed in a predetermined portion of the narrow portion 57 a. The hole 57c is formed in the peripheral wall of the guide portion 57 so as to penetrate through two portions facing each other.

The inspection stage 58 has a flat surface extending in the horizontal direction from the upper end of the guide portion 57.

The shutter 59 includes a plate 59a provided on the secondary side of the coin slot 56 and a solenoid-type shutter driving portion. The shutter drive portion rotates the plate 59a about a predetermined axis, and the plate 59a reciprocates between a first position at which it is located on the secondary side of the coin slot 56 and closes the coin slot 56 and a second position at which it is retracted to a position away from the coin slot 56, thereby opening and closing the coin slot 56.

The first coin sensor 61 is an optical sensor having a light emitting portion 61a and a light receiving portion 61b arranged on one side and the other side, respectively, so as to sandwich the narrow width portion 57a, and detects the presence or absence of an object on the optical path, and outputs data to the control portion 70. The first coin sensor 61 detects a coin jam by detecting whether or not an object is in the narrow portion 57a of the coin passage 51a for a predetermined time. In the present embodiment, the coin passage 51a at the narrow width portion 57a extends in the vertical direction, and the optical axes of the optical paths of the first coin sensor 61 and the second coin sensor 62 extend in the horizontal direction and are orthogonal to the extending direction of the coin passage 51 a.

The second coin sensor 62 is an optical sensor having a light emitting portion 62a and a light receiving portion 62b arranged below the light emitting portion 61a and the light receiving portion 61b of the first coin sensor 61, respectively, and detects the presence or absence of an object on the optical path and outputs data to the control portion 70. The second coin sensor 62 is disposed slightly below the coin slot 56 and detects whether or not an object passes through the coin slot 56.

In the present embodiment, the first coin sensor 61 and the second coin sensor 62 are arranged side by side in the vertical direction. The coin passage 51a at the narrow-width portion 57a extends in the vertical direction, and the optical axes of the optical paths of the first coin sensor 61 and the second coin sensor 62 extend in the horizontal direction and are orthogonal to the extending direction of the coin passage 51 a.

The bill insertion section 52 has a bill insertion opening 52a formed as a slit-shaped opening in the casing 10.

The bill discharging unit 53 has a bill discharging port 53a formed as a slit-shaped opening in the casing 10.

The coin discharge unit 54 includes: a coin discharge port 54a that opens downward at a predetermined position of the casing 10; and a coin tray 54b which faces the lower side of the coin discharge port 54a and receives the falling coins.

The deposit and withdrawal part has a cash box and a transport mechanism for transporting paper money and coins.

The cashbox is disposed below the coin slot 56 in the box body 10, for example, and stores plural types of banknotes and coins by type.

The transport mechanism transports the banknotes and coins between the cashbox and the coin slot 56, the banknote insertion slot 52a, the banknote discharge slot 53a, and the coin discharge slot 54a under the control of the control section.

The deposit and withdrawal section carries out a deposit process of transporting coins deposited in the coin slot 56 or banknotes inserted from the banknote insertion slot 52a by the transport mechanism and storing them in the cash box (i.e., transporting coins from the coin deposition section 51 to the cash box), and a withdrawal process of transporting change of a predetermined amount from the cash box to the banknote discharge slot 53a and the coin discharge slot 54a by the transport mechanism.

The control unit 70 includes a processor 71, a main memory 72, a secondary storage device 73, and a system transfer path 74.

The processor 71 corresponds to a central portion of the control unit. The processor 71 controls each section according to an operating system or an application program to realize various functions as the self-checkout apparatus 1. The processor 71 is, for example, a CPU (Central processing Unit).

The main memory 72 corresponds to a main memory portion of the control unit. The main memory 72 includes a nonvolatile storage area and a volatile storage area. The main memory 72 stores an operating system or an application program in a nonvolatile storage area. The main memory 72 stores data necessary for the processor 71 to execute processing for controlling each section in a volatile storage area. The data is sometimes stored in a nonvolatile storage area. The main memory 72 uses a volatile storage area as a work area for the processor 71 to appropriately rewrite data. The nonvolatile memory area is, for example, a rom (read Only memory). The volatile memory area is, for example, a ram (random Access memory).

The auxiliary storage device 73 corresponds to an auxiliary storage portion of the control unit. For example, the auxiliary storage device 73 may be an EEPROM (Electric Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), an hdd (hard drive), or an ssd (solid State drive). The auxiliary storage device 73 stores data used when the processor 71 executes various processes, data generated by processes in the processor 71, or the like. The auxiliary storage device 73 sometimes stores the above-described application program.

The system transmission path 74 includes an address bus, a data bus, and a control signal line, and the like.

The control unit 70 is connected to the operation display unit 20, the reading unit 30, the bill processing unit 40, and the money processing unit 50, and controls the operations of the respective units. The control unit 70 controls the operations of the respective units by driving the drive circuits of the respective units such as the display 21 and the money processing unit 50 in accordance with various programs based on data detected or input by the

various sensors

61 and 62, the barcode scanner 31, the card reader/writer 32, and the touch panel 22.

For example, based on the input from the operation display unit 20 and the detection results of various sensors including the second coin sensor 62, the control unit 70 drives the money processing unit 50 at a predetermined timing, and executes various processes such as money counting, money determination, money deposit, money change calculation, and money change supply as the deposit and withdrawal process. As an example, the processor 71, upon receiving a command for settlement processing, opens the shutter 59 while displaying necessary information on the display 21, prompting the user to perform deposit processing. When the second coin sensor 62 detects that the user has inserted coins into the coin insertion portion 51 or when the sensor provided in the bill insertion portion 52 detects that the user has inserted bills into the bill insertion portion 52, the correctness determination and denomination determination are performed, and the deposit process of sorting and storing coins and bills recognized as money in the cash box is performed.

The control unit 70 calculates the amount of change and sends out the calculated amount of money from the cash box to the bill outlet 53a and the coin outlet 54 a. When the money or banknotes inserted by the validity determination are not recognized as money, the control unit 70 executes the reject processing for discharging the money or banknotes from the banknote outlet 53a and the coin outlet 54 a.

The control section 70 executes at least one of an assist process of assisting passage of the coin and a notification process of notifying a coin jam based on a detection result of the first coin sensor 61. In the present embodiment, an example of executing both the support processing and the notification processing is shown. Specifically, when the first coin sensor 61 detects that a coin is present in the coin passage 51a for a prescribed first reference time, the processor 71 opens and closes the flapper 59 (i.e., actuates the flapper 59) as an auxiliary process. Specifically, for example, by performing a sliding motion of moving the flapper 59 in the open state once in the closing direction and abutting the coin, and then moving it again in the opening direction, an external force is applied to the coin held in the coin slot 56 to move the coin or break the jammed state, thereby eliminating the coin jam and assisting the passage of the coin. For example, the first reference time is three seconds to five seconds.

When the first coin sensor 61 detects that the coin is present in the coin passage 51a for a predetermined second reference time, the control unit 70 displays notification information on the operation display unit 20 (i.e., the display 21) as a notification process. The second reference time is set to be longer than the first reference time, and in the present embodiment, for example, is eight to fifteen seconds.

The self checkout apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes: a coin input unit having: the coin detection device includes a coin passage through which coins pass, a first detection unit that is provided on a primary side of the coin passage and detects a coin jam, and a second detection unit that is provided on a secondary side of the coin passage with respect to the first detection unit and detects the passage of coins.

According to the self-checkout apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, by including the second coin sensor for detecting passage of a coin and the first coin sensor for detecting a coin jam on the primary side of the second coin sensor, even when a coin jams on the primary side of the coin slot, it is possible to reliably detect the coin. For example, in the self checkout apparatus 1, when the user inserts all of the plurality of coins, the plurality of coins may be overlapped and jammed in the narrow portion 57a of the coin passage 51 a. In the self-checkout apparatus 1 according to the above embodiment, the first coin sensor can reliably detect the coin jam, and the user can be prompted to remove the coin jam by the notification process or the coin jam can be removed by the auxiliary process. For example, when a coin is stopped on the shaft 56a, the user can take the coin out by pinching with a finger according to the notification.

Further, the self checkout apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes: a coin input unit having: a coin passage through which coins pass, a first detection unit that is provided on a primary side of the coin passage and detects a coin jam, and a second detection unit that is provided on a secondary side of the coin passage with respect to the first detection unit and detects a passage of coins; the self-checkout apparatus 1 also has a barrier for opening and closing the coin passage.

The jamming can be assisted by operating the flapper 59 while the coin is resting on the shaft 56 a. Therefore, the deposit process can be smoothly performed.

In the self-checkout apparatus 1 according to the above embodiment, the second coin sensor 62 is disposed so as to be located in the vicinity of the coin slot 56, and detects the passage of a coin as a criterion for starting the deposit process; and a first coin sensor 61 which is located outside the primary narrow width part 57a of the second coin sensor 62 and detects a coin jam, whereby the coin jam can be reliably detected by the first coin sensor 61.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the example in which the notification process and the support process are executed is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, one of the notification process and the support process may be executed. In addition, although the example of the slide shutter 59 is shown as the auxiliary process, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, as another embodiment of the auxiliary processing, the coin jam can be eliminated by operating another member provided in the coin passage 51a, for example, by operating a part of the shaft 56a or the guide 57. In addition, as an example of the notification process, an example in which a message is displayed on the display 21 is shown, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the indication may be made by lighting.

While several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These new embodiments can be implemented in other various manners, and various omissions, substitutions, combinations, and changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. These embodiments and modifications are included in the scope and gist of the present invention, and are included in the present invention described in the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

Claims

1. A self-checkout apparatus, comprising:

a coin insertion section having: a coin passage through which coins pass, a first detection unit that is provided on a primary side of the coin passage and detects a coin jam, and a second detection unit that is provided on a secondary side of the coin passage with respect to the first detection unit and detects a passage of a coin;

and

and a control unit that executes at least one of a notification process for notifying a coin jam and an auxiliary process for assisting passage of a coin, based on a detection result of the first detection unit.

2. The self-checkout apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a flapper that opens and closes the coin passage,

the control unit operates the shutter as the assist process when the first detection unit detects that the coin is present in the coin passage for a predetermined time.

3. The self-checkout apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a display part for displaying the information,

the control unit displays notification information on the display unit as the notification process when the first detection unit detects that the coin is present in the coin passage for a predetermined time.

4. The self-checkout apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a display part for displaying the information,

5. The self-checkout apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a cashbox which stores money; and

a depositing and dispensing unit that performs a depositing process of transporting coins from the coin depositing unit to the cashbox,

the control unit executes a deposit process based on a detection result of the second detection unit.

6. The self-checkout apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a cashbox which stores money; and

7. The self-checkout apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

a cashbox which stores money; and

8. The self-checkout apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising:

a cashbox which stores money; and

9. The self-checkout device of claim 1,

the coin passage has a narrow width portion communicating with the coin opening and a cylindrical wide width portion configured in a conical shape, the narrow width portion having a width smaller than an outer diameter of a coin to be inserted, and the first detection portion is provided outside the narrow width portion.

10. The self-checkout device of claim 2,