CN102254374A - Vending system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a vending system, which comprises a portable device, a vending device, a verification module, a remote device and a pricing module. The portable device is used for outputting an authentication number. The vending device comprises commodities, a communication module and an output module. The communication module is used for receiving an authentication number of the portable device; the output module outputs the commodity according to output information. The verification module is used for verifying the authentication number according to a verification list and determining whether to output the output information to the output module according to a verification result. The remote device is connected with the vending device through the network, and sends out a notification message to the holder of the portable device when the vending device outputs the commodity. The pricing module is connected with the remote device and calculates salary data corresponding to the authentication number according to the notification information. The invention avoids the information exposure of the consumer. In addition, the invention also provides a vending method.

Description

Sales system and method

technical field

The invention relates to a vending system and method, in particular to a vending system and method with the function of identifying consumers.

Background technique

Vending machines are common equipment in daily life, which can facilitate consumers to purchase desired goods at any time, such as beverages, snacks, newspapers, tickets, etc., and can also replace personnel for long-term vending services. However, known vending machines have the disadvantage of needing coins for consumption. Although it is known that some vending machines can receive banknotes for consumption and have a change function, if the coins stored in the vending machine are not enough, they will not be able to provide change. The function needs to suspend the service.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a schematic block diagram of a mobile phone network vending machine system proposed in Taiwan Patent No. 535387. The product vending machine 110a includes a phone number, and the communication device 130a dials the phone number to the product vending machine 110a through the communication system 150a. The communication system 150a is connected to the backend management center 170a, and the backend management center 170a can store sales records and various settings. For the purchase of commodities in the commodity vending machine 110a via the communication device 130a, the consumption amount is incorporated into the telephone bill by the telecom operator of the communication system 150a. Therefore, the consumer does not need to directly consume with physical money, and does not need to bring coins; the commodity vending machine 110a does not need to reserve enough coins to sell commodities, and the above-mentioned dilemma of stopping the service due to insufficient coins can be eliminated.

However, the above-mentioned mobile phone network automatic vending system is an open system and cannot be limited to specific objects. For special needs, it is necessary to limit some consumers to use vending machines. If only discounted products are sold to company employees or members of clubs, the above-mentioned mobile phone network vending system will not be applicable.

In addition, the payment method of the above-mentioned mobile phone network automatic vending machine system incorporates the consumption amount into the telephone bill and sends it out. Often, the bill is lost and the bill is not received, or the payment is forgotten, resulting in difficulties in payment.

Furthermore, although telecom operators can filter consumers based on the mobile phone number of the dialing source, they can only provide this value-added service to consumers with their own phone number, and cannot consume it for mobile phone numbers that do not belong to the telecom operator recipients receive payments.

Or, taking selling discounted products to club members as an example, the club can provide the member's mobile phone number to the cooperating telecommunications operator for comparison. Of course, providing member data to telecom operators will increase the risk of member data leakage.

In addition to the above-mentioned disadvantages, the above-mentioned mobile phone network vending machine system purchases goods by dialing to the voice system provided by the telecommunications operator, which also adds additional call charges to consumers.

Contents of the invention

In view of this, the main purpose of the present invention is to propose a vending system and method to identify consumers' identities and provide specific consumer consumption, and the payment method does not need to be combined with third-party consumption, which can avoid consumer information exposure .

The vending system proposed by the present invention includes a portable device, a vending device, a verification module, a remote device and a pricing module. The portable device is used for outputting an authentication number. The vending device includes commodities, communication modules and output modules. Wherein, the communication module is used for receiving the authentication number of the portable device; the output module outputs the commodity according to an output information. The verification module is used to verify the authentication number according to a verification list, and decide whether to output the output information to the output module according to the verification result. The remote device is connected to the vending device via the network, and sends a notification message to the owner of the portable device when the vending device outputs goods. The pricing module is connected to the remote device, and calculates a salary data corresponding to the certification number according to the notification information.

The present invention also proposes a vending method, which includes displaying a product, receiving an authentication number output by a portable device, verifying the authentication number according to a verification list, and deciding whether to export the product according to the verification result, and sending a notification message when the product is exported For the owner of the portable device, continue to calculate a salary data corresponding to the authentication number according to the notification information.

Another purpose of the present invention is to make the vending machine not answer the call after the consumer dials to the vending machine, but only obtain the source phone number of the consumer's dialing, and the consumer does not need to pay extra for the call.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention and their effects are described below with illustrations.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a GSM vending machine system in the prior art.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the vending system proposed by the present invention.

FIG. 3A is a schematic block diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3B is a schematic block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of the vending method proposed by the present invention.

Symbol Description

110a: Merchandise vending machine 130a: Communication equipment

150a: Communication system 170a: Backend management center

210: Portable Devices 230: Vending Devices

231: Commodity 233: Communication Module

235: Output module 240: Verification module

250: remote device 270: pricing module

290: Communication system S301: Steps

S303: Step S305: Step

S307: Step S309: Step

Detailed ways

Specific embodiments are listed below to describe the content of the present invention in detail, and illustrations are used as auxiliary descriptions. The symbols mentioned in the description refer to the symbol symbols.

Please refer to FIG. 2 , which is a block diagram of the vending system proposed by the present invention. The vending system proposed by the present invention includes a portable device 210 , a vending device 230 , a verification module (not shown in the figure), a remote device 250 and a pricing module 270 . The portable device 210 is used to output an authentication number. The vending device 230 includes a product 231 , a communication module 233 and an output module 235 . Wherein, the communication module 233 is used for receiving the authentication number of the portable device 210 . The output module 235 outputs the commodity 231 according to an output information. The verification module is used to verify the authentication number according to a verification list, and decide whether to output the output information to the output module 235 according to the verification result. The remote device 250 is connected to the vending device 230 via the network, and sends a notification message to the owner of the portable device 210 when the vending device 230 outputs the product 231 . The pricing module 270 is connected to the remote device 250, and calculates a salary data corresponding to the authentication number according to the notification information. Here, the sales device 230 further includes a sales phone number, and the portable device 210 dials the sales phone number, and outputs the authentication number to the sales device 230 through the communication system 290 . Wherein, the communication system 290 is owned by a telecommunications company, and provides services such as making calls, sending and receiving short messages, and the like.

Referring to Fig. 3A, it is the first embodiment of the present invention. The vending system proposed by the present invention can be applied in a closed environment, such as inside a company. A specific consumer (such as a company employee) uses a portable device 210 (such as a mobile phone, a smart phone, a dial-up device such as a VoIP phone) to dial the sales phone number of the sales device 230, and outputs the authentication number to the sales device through the communication system 290 230. Here, the verification number is a phone number of the holder, which can actually be a mobile phone number. The communication module 233 of the vending device 230 immediately disconnects from the portable device 210 after receiving the authentication code. Here, in essence, the communication module 233 hangs up the incoming call immediately after receiving it, and only obtains the consumer's mobile phone number without establishing a call between the portable device 210 and the vending device 230 . In this way, consumers can be exempted from paying additional call charges.

The verification module 240 is located in the vending device 230 and verifies the verification number according to the verification list, wherein the verification list records the verification number of a specific consumer who is allowed to consume. The verification module 240 verifies that the consumer is an allowable specific consumer and then outputs an output message to the output module 235 . After receiving the output information, the output module 235 allows the consumer to select the commodity 231 to be purchased, and after the consumer selects the commodity 231, the output module 235 outputs the selected commodity 231 to the consumer. Here, the vending device may have a plurality of product selection keys corresponding to a plurality of products 231 , and the product selection keys have a light emitting function. The product selection key lights up after verifying that the consumer is a specific consumer who is allowed to consume, so that the consumer knows that he has passed the verification and can press the product selection key corresponding to the product 231 to be purchased to purchase the product. After pressing the product selection key or when the product selection key is not pressed within a certain period of time (such as 20 seconds), these product selection keys will no longer emit light, and will no longer accept the trigger of the product selection key. Further, a cancel button can be set Press the button to cancel the transaction directly.

The vending device 230 is connected to the remote device 250 via a network. The remote device 250 is used to maintain the verification list, so as to set specific consumers who are allowed to consume, and provide the verification list to the verification module 240 through the network. After the output module 235 outputs the commodity 231, it notifies the remote device 250 through the network, so that the remote device 250 sends a notification message to the consumer. Here, the notification information includes a short message, and the remote device 250 sends the short message to the portable device 210 through the communication system 290 according to the mobile phone number of the consumer; Personal data transmission e-mail. The content of the text message or e-mail can include the name and amount of the product 231 that the consumer chooses to purchase, the time of purchase, the serial number of the selling device or the selling phone number, so as to keep the record of this consumption, so that the consumer can confirm whether the consumption record is wrong in real time .

The remote device 250 is connected to the pricing module 270 . Here, the pricing module 270 can also be located in a remote device. The pricing module 270 records the consumption record according to the notification information, and can accumulate the consumption amount within a certain period of time, and calculate the salary data of the consumer corresponding to the authentication number. Here, the salary information is the salary income of the consumer in the company, and the consumption amount is deducted from the salary income. In this way, consumers do not need to pay for this consumption, which can simplify the steps for consumers to consume, and can also solve the problem that it is not easy to charge through bill payment.

Referring to FIG. 3B , which is the second embodiment of the present invention, the difference from the first embodiment is that the authentication module 240 can be located in the remote device 250 . Therefore, the communication module 233 transmits the authentication number to the verification module 240 via the network, and the verification module 240 outputs an output message to the output module 235 via the network when verifying that the authentication number is owned by an allowable consumer according to the verification list. The remaining components and their operation methods are the same as those described in the first embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

Although it is described in the first embodiment that the pricing module 270 can calculate the salary data corresponding to the authentication number according to the consumption records recorded in the notification information, here, the salary data is not limited to the income of the consumer. Taking the vending system proposed by the present invention applied to a club as an example, the specific consumer can be a club member, and the salary information can be the consumer's expenditure, such as the club membership fee, and the pricing module 270 merges the consumption amount into the membership fee. Although this model still requires the consumer to pay the bill, it does not need to be charged by a third party, which can reduce the risk of member data leakage.

Please refer to FIG. 4 , which is a flow chart of the vending method proposed by the present invention. The vending method that the present invention proposes comprises the following steps:

Step S301: Display a commodity. Display the products to be sold for consumers to choose.

Step S303: Receive an authentication number output by a portable device. Here, before the step S303, the following steps may be included: providing a sales phone number, and the portable device outputs the verification number by dialing the sales phone number. Step S303 further includes the following steps: after receiving the verification number, interrupting the transmission of the verification information. In essence, after receiving an incoming call from the consumer, immediately hang up the incoming call, and only obtain the mobile phone number of the consumer without establishing a call. The mobile phone number is the authentication number. The known vending system uses voice calls for consumers to operate. Not only is the operation complicated, but consumers need to pay additional phone charges. In step S303, after receiving a call from the consumer, the call is immediately hung up, and the call is not established and no voice is used. System operation, which can save consumers from paying additional phone charges and simplify operations for consumers.

Step S305: Verify the verification number according to a verification list, and decide whether to export the commodity according to the verification result. Here, the verification list records the authentication number of the consumer who is allowed to consume. The authentication number can be a phone number of the holder, and can actually be the mobile phone number of the consumer. When it is verified that the received authentication number belongs to the consumer who is allowed to consume, the consumer is allowed to purchase the product. At this time, like a known vending machine, the product selection key corresponding to the product can be lighted up. When the consumer presses the selected product selection key, the product selection key will no longer emit light and will no longer receive button triggers, and continue to output the selection key. purchased goods. Or, when the product selection key is not pressed within a certain period of time (such as 20 seconds), the product selection key will no longer emit light and receive key triggers. Furthermore, a cancel button can be set to directly cancel the transaction.

Step S307: Send a notification message to the owner of the portable device when exporting the product. Here, the notification information may include SMS or email. Send a short message according to the phone number of the holder; or provide a personal data before step S307, and send an email to the consumer according to the personal data. The content of the text message or email can include the name and amount of the product that the consumer chooses to purchase, the time of purchase, and the sales phone number, so as to keep the record of this consumption, so that the consumer can confirm whether the consumption record is wrong in real time.

Step S309: Calculate a salary data corresponding to the authentication number according to the notification information. Here, the consumption amount is recorded in the notification information, and the consumption amount is merged into the salary data of the consumer. As mentioned above, the salary data can be the income or expenditure of the consumer, thereby simplifying the consumption operation and eliminating the need to go through a third party for charging.

The vending system and method proposed by the present invention can provide a limited number of consumers to sell commodities, and enable consumers to directly purchase commodities after dialing, without complicated operation steps, and without going through a third party for charging.

Although the technical content of the present invention has been disclosed above with preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any changes and modifications that are familiar with this item and do not depart from the spirit of the present invention should be covered by the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be based on the content defined by the claims.

Claims (11)

1. A vending system, characterized in that it comprises: a portable device for outputting an authentication number; A vending device, comprising: a commodity; a communication module for receiving the authentication number; and an output module, outputting the commodity according to an output information; A verification module, which verifies the verification number according to a verification list, and decides whether to output the output information to the output module according to the verification result; A remote device, connected to the vending device via a network, sends a notification message to the owner of the portable device when the vending device outputs the product; and A pricing module, connected to the remote device, calculates a salary data corresponding to the certification number according to the notification information. 2. The vending system according to claim 1, wherein the vending device further comprises a vending phone number, and the portable device outputs the authentication number by dialing the vending phone number. 3. The vending system according to claim 2, wherein the authentication number is an owner's phone number, the notification message includes a short message, and the remote device sends the short message according to the owner's phone number. 4. The vending system according to claim 1, wherein the remote device includes personal data, the notification message includes an email, and the remote device sends the email according to the personal data. 5. The vending system according to claim 1, wherein the authentication module is located in the vending device or in the remote device. 6. The vending system according to claim 1, wherein the communication module disconnects the portable device immediately after receiving the authentication code. 7. A selling method, characterized in that it comprises the following steps: display a product; receiving an authentication number output by a portable device; Verify the certification number according to a verification list, and decide whether to export the product according to the verification result; sending a notification message to the owner of the portable device when the product is exported; and A salary data corresponding to the certification number is calculated according to the notification information. 8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the following steps before the step of receiving the authentication number output by the portable device: A sales phone number is provided, and the portable device outputs the authentication number by dialing the sales phone number. 9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the following step after the step of receiving the verification number: interrupting the transmission of the verification information after receiving the verification number. 10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the authentication number is a phone number of the holder, the notification information includes a short message, and in the step of sending the notification information when the commodity is exported, according to the holder The recipient's phone number to send the message to. 11. The method according to claim 7, wherein the notification information includes an e-mail, and before the step of sending the notification information when the product is exported, further includes the following steps: providing a personal data; In the step of sending the notification information at the time, the e-mail is transmitted according to the personal data.

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