Vending machine having slave dispensing units

What is claimed is:

1. A vending machine system comprising:

a master vendor including at least a coin mechanism performing receiving and payout of money and means for judging whether vending is possible or not by comparing amount of deposited money with a set vend price and a plurality of slave vendors made separately from said master vendor and including a plurality of article stocker sections for storing a plurality of different articles, article selection means corresponding to the respective article stocker selections and an article conveying device for dispensing an article from the respective article stocker sections, wherein:

said master vendor further comprises a master control unit for controlling the operation of said respective slave vendors,

each of said slave vendors has a subcontrol unit supplying necessary information to said master control unit and receiving control information from said master control unit to control the dispensing cf articles from said plurality of article stocker sections in response to said control information,

said master control unit includes means for transmitting requests that specific information should be transmitted from a specific one of said subcontrol units to said master control unit, and means for transmitting demands that specific information should be received by a specific one of said subcontrol units from said master control unit, said transmitted requests and demands including the identification of said specific one of said subcontrol units, and

said respective indentified subcontrol units transmit and receive the specific information in accordance with the requests and demands of said master control unit; wherein;

said master control unit transmits, when it requests that specific information should be transmitted from the specific subcontrol unit to said master control unit, an identification comprising number data indicating the specific subcontrol unit and a module code representing contents of the request to the respective subcontrol units and transmits, when it demands that the specific subcontrol unit should receive the specific information from said master control unit, an identification comprising number data indicating the specific subcontrol unit and a module code representing contents of the demand to the respective subcontrol units, and

each of said subcontrol units decodes the number data provided by said master control unit and, if it indicates the number of the subcontrol unit which has received the number data, complies with the demand represented by the module code, by receiving data representing contents of the information and utilizing the information if the demand indicates the receiving of the information and transmitting data representing contents of the information to said master control unit if the request indicates the transmitting of the information.

2. A vending machine system as defined in claim 1 wherein wiring is provided between said master control unit and said respective subcontrol units and said master control unit provides a request signal through said wiring when said master control unit indicates a specific one of said subcontrol units with which transmission and receiving of information should be performed.

3. A vending system having slave vending units, comprising:

a master vending unit having a money acceptance mechanism, an article storage mechanism, an article conveying mechanism, and a master control unit, said master control unit comprising:

master control means for providing control data including instruction data and unit data identifying slave vending units;

master data output means for receiving said control data from said control means and providing said control data as external data signals;

master data input means for receiving externally provided input data and providing said data to said master control means;

a plurality of slave vending units each having an article storage mechanism comprising a plurality of separate storage sections for storing articles of different types having differing vend prices associated therewith, an article conveying mechanism, and a subcontrol unit for receiving data from said master control unit and transmitting data to said master control unit, said subcontrol unit comprising:

slave data input means for receiving data from said master control unit;

slave data output means for outputting data to said master control unit; and

subcontrol means coupled to said data input means and said data output means for controlling a plurality of subcontrol functions including dispersing of said articles in response to said instructor data received from said master control unit and for providing input data to said master control unit in response to said instruction data received from said master control unit wherein:

said master control unit transmits, when it requests that specific information should be transmitted from the specific subcontrol unit to said master control unit, an identification comprising number data indicating the specific subcontrol unit and a module code representing contents of the request to the respective subcontrol units and transmits, when it demands that the specific subcontrol unit should receive the specific information from said master control unit, an identification comprising number data indicating the specific subcontrol unit and a module code representing contents of the demand to the respective subcontrol units, and

each of said subcontrol units decodes the number data provided by said master control unit and, if it indicates the number of the subcontrol unit which has received the number data, complies with the demand represented by the module code, receiving data representing contents of the information and utilizing the information if the demand indicates the receiving of the information and transmitting data representing contents of the information to said master control unit if the request indicates the transmitting of the information.

4. A vending system as set out in claim 3, wherein said master control means comprises a microprocessor and a program memory and wherein each of said subcontrol means comprises a separate microprocessor and program memory.

5. A vending system as set out in claim 3, wherein said plurality of slave vending units is connected in series with the first of said series of slave vending units and the last of said series of slave vending units connected to said main vending unit and wherein the data output means from each of the slave vending units, other than the last slave vending unit, is connected to the data input means of the next consecutive slave vending unit.

6. A vending system as set out in claim 3, wherein said control data provided by said master control means further comprises a one-bit control signal for indicating

7. A vending system as set out in claim 3, wherein said master control unit further comprises peripheral memory means for alterably storing data representative of vend prices and other data for control of said slave vending units.

8. A vending system as set out in claim 3, wherein said instruction data comprises a series of module codes of 4-bit parallel data.

9. A vending system as set out in claim 3, wherein said master data output means comprises a master data output port and a master control signal output port, said master data input means comprises a master data input port and a master control signal input port, and wherein in each of said plurality of slave vending units said slave data input means comprises a slave data input port and a slave control signal input port, and said slave data output means comprises a slave data output port and a slave control signal output port.

10. A vending machine system comprising:

a single master vendor including a coin mechanism and a vend possible judgment circuit, and

a plurality of slave vendors controlled by said master vendor, each having a plurality of article dispensers,

said master vendor having a master control unit for controlling the operation of all of the respective slave vendors,

each of said slave vendors having a respective subcontrol unit which performs transmission and receiving of information to and from the master control unit and which controls the article vending operation of the respective slave vendor in response to the information provided from the master control unit, and wherein;

the output of said master control unit is applied to the first subcontrol unit, outputs and inputs of the first and nth subcontrol units are sequentially connected in series, and the output of the nth subcontrol unit is connected to the input of said master control unit, whereby the respective subcontrol units are serially connected to said master control unit; and wherein

each of said units comprises means for prohibiting receipt of input data and for outputting the input data instantly for transfer to the sequentially adjacent subcontrol unit, when said number data does not indicate the number of said subcontrol unit.

11. A vending machine system comprising:

a single master vendor including a coin mechanism and a vend possible judgment circuit, and

a plurality of slave vendors controlled by said master vendor, each having a plurality of article dispensers,

said master vendor having a master control unit for controlling the operation of all the respective slave vendors,

each of said slave vendors having a respective subcontrol unit which performs transmission and receiving of information to and from the master control unit and which controls the article vending operation of the respective slave vendor in response to the information provided from the master control unit, and wherein;

said master control unit executes a pre-vend processing step in which said master control unit sequentially makes inquiry to the subcontrol units as to the maximum number of available article storing sections and one or more of said subcontrol units provide an answer to such inquiry, and

after such pre-vend processing step, said master control unit transmits and receives information only between the subcontrol units which have provided an answer and performs vend possible judgment processing with respect to the corresponding slave vendors based on the maximum number of article storing sections indicated in the answer.

12. A vending machine system as set out in claim 11 wherein said inquiry includes a module code signal transmitted sequentially to each subcontrol unit and said answer is a three word signal including a maximum available column indication signal.

13. A vending system comprising:

a master vendor, including a coin receiving mechanism and means for judging whether vending is possible or not by comparing the amount of deposited money with a set vend price; and

a plurality of slave vendors made separately from said master vendor, each including a plurality of article stocker sections for storing a plurality of articles, article selection means corresponding to the respective article stocker sections and an article conveying device for dispensing an article from the respective article stocker sections, wherein:

said master vendor further comprises a master control unit for controlling the operation of said respective slave vendors,

each of said slave vendors has a subcontrol unit supplying necessary information to said master control unit and receiving control information from said master control unit to control the dispensing of articles from said plurality of article stocker sections in response to said control information,

said master control unit includes means for transmitting requests that specific information should be transmitted from a specific one of said subcontrol units to said master control unit, and means for transmitting demands that specific information should be received by a specific one of said subcontrol units from said master control unit, said transmitted requests and demands including the identification of said specific one of said subcontrol units, and

said respective identified subcontrol units transmit and receive, in compliance with a demand from said master control unit, signals representing the current state of operation of said subcontrol unit, including first and second article conveying signals which represent that an article is being conveyed, the first article conveying signal being used when articles can be dispensed simultaneously in parallel from a plurality of article storing sections in the same slave vendor, and the second article conveying signal being used when articles cannot be dispensed simultaneously in parallel from a plurality of article storing sections in the same slave vendor, and

said master control unit judges the function of a certain slave vendor depending upon which type of article conveying signal has been received from said slave vendor and performs a proper control in accordance therewith.

Description Submit all comments and votes

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a vending machine in which a plurality of separate slave vendor units are connected addibly or detachably to a master vendor.

Since the number of article conveying columns in a vending machine is physically fixed, an extra vending machine must be additionally provided if the kind of articles to be handled by the vending machine is to be increased. Each vending machine, however, has a coin mechanism, a vend possible judgment device, an article selection device and an article conveying device and, if the article conveying device is to be increased, the coin mechanisms, vend possible judgement devices and control devices related thereto are necessarily provided by the number of the vending machine increased notwithstanding the fact that the article selection devices and the article conveying devices only need to be increased. Such superfluous provision of the coin mechanism etc. results in waste of the manufacturing cost and therefore is quite uneconomical.

For overcoming such defect, there has recently been proposed what may be called a master-and-subunit vending machine. According to this proposal, a master vendor having independent functions of a vending machine is provided and one or more subunit vendors having only the article selection and conveying functions and having no coin mechanism are connected to the master vendor. An example of such master-and-subunit vending machine is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-27511. Judging from the construction of the article conveying control circuit of the proposed vending machine, the article conveying control circuit to be included in a single vending machine is simply divided into several control circuits corresponding to several article selection switches and each of the divided control circuits is disposed in each subunit vendor as the article conveying control circuit for the subunit vendor and these subunit vendors are connected to the master vendor by electrical wiring. While an article conveying operation is performed in one subunit vendor, connection between all other subunit vendors and the master vendor is cut off and the respective subunit vendors are incapable of operating independently from one another.

It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a vending machine comprising a master vendor having at least a coin mechanism and vend possible judgement means and one or more separate slave vendors having no coin mechanism combined to the master vendor characterized in that the respective slave vendors are capable of operating as independently from one another as possible.

In view of the fact that the prior art vending machine in which plural vendor units are connected to a master vendor necessitates a large number of wiring for connection, it is another object of the invention to simplify the connection wiring by improving an information transmission and receiving system between the master vendor and the slave vendors.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1 which shows the basic concept of the vending machine according to the invention, the vending machine comprises a master vendor 1 including at least a coin mechanism 2 for performing receiving and paying out of money and vend possible judgement means 3, a plurality of article stockers 4, article selection means 5 corresponding to the respective article stockers and one or more slave vendors 7.sub.1 -7.sub.n each including an article conveying device 6 for dispensing an article from the respective article stockers. The master vendor 1 and the respective slave vendors 7.sub.1 -7.sub.n consist of separate units and one or more vendors 7.sub.1 -7.sub.n having a desired vending function can be connected to a single master vendor 1 as desired.

The master vendor 1 includes master control unit MCU for controlling the operation of the respective vendors 7.sub.1 -7.sub.n. The vendors 7.sub.1 -7.sub.n include subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n which supply necessary information to the master control unit MCU and also receive the control information from the master control unit MCU to control the operations of the respective devices provided in the vendors 7.sub.1 -7.sub.n.

Transmission and receiving of information between the master vendor 1 and the respective vendors 7.sub.1 -7.sub.n are effected between the master control unit MCU and the subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n. The invention is characterized in that transmitting of certain information from a specific one of the subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n to the master control unit MCU (since this mode is receiving as viewed from the master control unit MCU, this will be referred to as "receiving mode" in the embodiment to be described hereinbelow) and receiving of certain information by a specific one of the subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n from the master control unit MCU (since this mode is transmission as viewed from the master control unit MCU, this will be referred to as "transmission mode" hereinafter) are demanded exclusively from the side of the master control unit MCU and the respective subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n transmit and receive the information in accordance with the demands of this master control unit MCU.

According to the invention, the transmission and receiving of information between the respective subcontrol units and the master control unit are controlled under the leadership of the master control unit and the operations of the respective vendors are controlled in response to this control. Accordingly, operation timing and other operation factors can be properly controlled by the master control unit so that the respective vendors can be controlled as if they were connected independently to the master vendor.

In addition, necessary information only can be transmitted and received in accordance with the demands of the master control unit, the amount of information to be transmitted and received at a time between the master control unit and the respective subcontrol units can be reduced with resulting decrease in the number of wirings necessary for transmission of information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying drawings,

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic concept of the vending machine of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware construction of an embodiment of the vending machine of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing an example of a signal input-output processing subroutine executed on the side of the master control unit in the transmission and receiving of signals between the master control unit and the subcontrol units of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an example of a signal input-output processing subroutine executed on the side the respective subcontrol units in the transmission and receiving of the signals between the master control unit and the subcontrol units of the same embodiment;

FIGS. 5a and 5b are flow charts showing schematically an example of a main program executed by the master control unit of the same embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing schematically an example of a main program executed in the subcontrol units of the same embodiment;

FIGS. 7 through 15 are block diagrams showing respectively modified examples of signal connections in the hardware construction shown in FIG. 2;

FIGS. 16 through 19 are time charts showing respectively states f signals at input and output ports of the subcontrol units in a case where request signal wiring has been increased as shown in the examples of FIGS. 8, 9 and 13 in which FIG. 16 shows a case where a given unit number is the number of the subcontrol unit, FIG. 17 a case where the given unit number is not the number of the subcontrol unit, FIG. 18 a case where the time length of the request signal is shortened as compared with the example of FIG. 16 and FIG. 19 a case where the request signal has not been given at all.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

An embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hardware construction

Referrring to FIG. 2, a coin mechanism control unit CCU is a control device for the coin mechanism 2 (FIG. 1) and performs computation and control relating to receiving and paying out of money and a function corresponding to vend possible judgement means 3 (FIG. 1). The master control unit MCU and plural subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n perform the functions described above in conjunction with FIG. 1.

By way of example, the respective control units MCU, SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n and CCU are composed of microcomputer systems, having central processing units (hereinafter referred to as CPU) 8, 9 and 10, program ROMs (ROM being an abbreviation of read-only memory) 11, 12 and 13, random-access memories (hereinafter referred to as RAM) 14, 15 and 16 and input-output port sections (hereinafter referred to as I/O port sections) 17, 18.sub.1 -18.sub.n, 19 and 20.

Peripheral input-output devices such as coin switches for respective denominations, empty switches for respective denominations, a coin payout motor, a carrier switch for this motor, a coin return switch, a CREM solenoid and a money amount indicator are connected to a busline of the coin mechanism control unit CCU and controlled by the control unit CCU.

The master control unit MCU has attachments such as peripheral input-output device 21 comprising a data setting keyboard for setting various data including a set vend price and a display relating thereto and a peripheral memory device 22 for storing sales data, set vend price and other various set data.

Setting and storing of vend prices for the respective vendors 7.sub.1 -7.sub.n (FIG. 1) are performed by this master control unit MCU.

To the respective subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n are connected a group of article selection switches, a vend possible lamp, an article conveying device, an out-of-stock lamp, a vending lamp and other devices provided on the respective corresponding vendors 7.sub.1 -7.sub.n .

For transmitting and receiving necessary information between the master control unit MCU and the subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n and controlling the subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n, the I/O port section 17 of MCU and the I/O port sections 18.sub.1 -18.sub.n of the respective SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n are detachably connected to each other by means of connectors and wirings not shown. Various manners of connection wirings are conceivable as will be described later. By way of example, as shown in FIG. 2, an OU port (data output port) and a CO port (control signal output port) of the master control unit MCU are connected to an IN.sub.s port (data input port) and a CI.sub.s port (control signal input port) of the first subcontrol unit SCU.sub.1 and an OU.sub.s port (data output port) and a CO.sub.s port (control signal output port) of the subcontrol unit SCU.sub.1 are connected to the IN.sub.s port and the CI.sub.s port of the second subcontrol unit SCU.sub.2 Likewise, the output ports OU.sub.s and CO.sub.s of each subsequent subcontrol unit are connected to the input ports IN.sub.s and CI.sub.s of the adjacent subcontrol unit and the output ports OU.sub.s and CO.sub.s of the last subcontrol unit SCU.sub.n are connected to a data input port IN and a control signal input port CI of the master control unit. Such sequential and serial connection can save a large amount of wiring as compared to a case where the output of the master control unit MCU is distributed to the respective subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n in parallel and the outputs of the respective subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n are applied to the master control unit MCU in parallel. As will be described later, control is effected in such serial connection such that number data representing a subcontrol unit which is to receive or has transmitted information is transmitted and received with the information to be transmitted and received. Each subcontrol unit judges whether the number data received at the data input port IN.sub.s is its number or not and, if it is not its number, the number data is immediately delivered out of the data output port OU.sub.s.

The master control unit MCU has a function of controlling the coin mechanism control unit CCU in addition to the function of controlling the respective subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n. In this function also, the receiving of information by the coin mechanism control unit CCU from the master control unit MCU or, conversely, transmission of information from CCU to MCU is demanded from the side of the master control unit MCU as in the function of the master control unit MCU with respect to the subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n. Since this mechanism is described in detail in the specification of Japanese Patent Application No. 29129/1983 and is not a part of the subject matter of the present invention, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The master control unit MCU has another I/O port section 19 for connection with the coin mechanism control unit CCU. The connection of the I/O port section 19 of MCU and an I/O port section 20 of CCU is effected as illustrated in the figure, i.e., output ports OU.sub.m, OU.sub.c, CO.sub.m and CO.sub.c of one side are connected to input ports IN.sub.m, IN.sub.c, CI.sub.m and CI.sub.c of the other side.

Data transmitted and received through the I/O port sections 17-20 consists of four bits per one word and control signals transmitted and received through the I/O port sections 17-20 consists of one bit. The control signals transmitted and received through the control signal input-output ports are used for ensuring the transmission and receiving operations of the data transmitted and received through the data input-output ports.

Description will now be made briefly about registers and memories related to the I/O port sections 17 and 18.sub.1 -18.sub.n. Input port data registers RIN and RPI temporarily store data received from the data input ports IN.sub.s and IN. Output port data registers ROU and RPO temporarily store data to be transmitted from data output ports OU.sub.s and OU. Data pool memories MR and MR.sub.v temporarily store (pool) a set of data for one mode received through the data input ports IN.sub.s and IN and the registers RIN and RPI or a set of data to be transmitted through the data output ports OU.sub.s and OU and the registers ROU and RPO. Predetermined areas in the RAMs 14 and 15 are utilized. Similar registers and memories are provided for the I/O port sections 19 and 20 of which detailed description will be omitted.

Description of data

A specific example of data transmitted and received between the master control unit MCU and the respective subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n through the data input-output ports OU, IN.sub.s, OU.sub.s and IN will now be described.

(1) Data transmission format

One unit of information to be transmitted and received consists of data of plural words arranged in the order as shown in Table 1, one word being 4-bit parallel data. In Table 1, the unit numbers and module codes of Order 1 and Order 2 are always transmitted from the side of the master control unit MCU whereas signals of Orders 3 to 2+n are transmitted from the side of the subcontrol units in the case of the receiving mode and transmitted from the side of the master control unit in the case of the transmission mode.

TABLE 1 ______________________________________ order 1 2 3 to 2+ n end number of words bit 1 1 n ______________________________________ 0 0 1 unit module contents of signal 0 2 number code to be transmitted 0 3 and received 0 ______________________________________

In Table 1, "unit number" means data representing the number identifying one of the subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n (i.e., vendors 7.sub.1 -7.sub.n) to recieve or transmit information.

"Module code" means a code representing transmission and receiving mode of information and a demand as to which information is to be transmitted or received is indicated by this module code.

"Contents of signal to be transmitted and received" means that data representing specific contents of the information indicated by the module code has been assigned here and being transmitted and received.

The signal "0000" which is finally transmitted is an end code indicating the end of transmission of information of one unit. The logical expression of the bit signals is active-low, i.e., "0" being an active level (signal present) and "1" being a non-active level (signal absent). In Table 1, the bits 0, 1, 2 and 3 indicate respective bits of the 4-bit data constituting one word, 0 indicating LSB and 3 indicating MSB.

(2) Data contents of the unit number

Table 2 shows data contents of the "unit number" consisting of four bits.

TABLE 2 ______________________________________ data (bit) data (bit) number 3 2 1 0 number 3 2 1 0 ______________________________________ no number 1 1 1 1 8 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 9 0 1 1 0 2 1 1 0 1 A 0 1 0 1 3 1 1 0 0 B 0 1 0 0 4 1 0 1 1 C 0 0 1 1 5 1 0 1 0 D 0 0 1 0 6 1 0 0 1 E 0 0 0 1 7 1 0 0 0 F 0 0 0 0 ______________________________________

(3) Contents of the module code

Sixteen types of different modes can be expressed by the module code of four bits. By way of example, the following six modes can be set in correspondence to decimal values of the code "1", "2", "3", "8", "9" and "10". The respective modes are generally classified into the receiving mode and the transmission mode. The receiving mode is one in which the master control unit MCU receives information from the subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n and the transmission mode is one in which the master control unit MCU transmits information to the subcontrol units. In the case of the receiving mode, the unit numbers and the module codes of the Orders 1 and 2 in Table 1 are transmitted from the side of the master control unit MCU and, in response thereto, the signal of the Orders 3 to 2+n of Table 1 are transmitted from one of the subcontrol units.

TABLE 3 ______________________________________ Receiving mode data (bit) number 3 2 1 0 Symbol mode name of words ______________________________________ 1 1 1 0 SVMC1 master control unit 3 words indication mode 1 1 0 1 SVMC2 sold-out contents indication 6 words mode 1 1 0 0 SVMC3 conveying possible column 6 words indication mode ______________________________________

TABLE 4 ______________________________________ Transmission mode data (bit) number 3 2 1 0 Symbol mode name of words ______________________________________ 0 1 1 1 SVMC8 subcontrol unit indication 3 words mode 0 1 1 0 SVMC9 vend possible lamp light- 6 words ing indication mode 0 1 0 1 SVMC10 sold-out lamp lighting 6 words indication mode ______________________________________

In the above Tables 3 and 4, symbols indicate symbols of code contents corresponding to the respective code names and the number of words indicates one of a signal to be transmitted and received in the corresponding module code (i.e., n in Table 1).

"Master control unit indication mode" (module code SVMC1) is a mode in which various operation modes in the subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n are notified to the master control unit MCU.

"Sold-out contents indication mode" (module code SVMC2) is a mode in which whether or not an article is out of stock in each article stocker (hereinafter called "column") of the subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n is notified to the master control unit MCU.

"Conveying possible column indication mode" (module code SVMC3) is a mode in which a column capable of conveying an article is notified from the side of the subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n to the master control unit MCU.

"Subcontrol unit indication mode" (module code SVMC8) is a mode in which various operation orders and other necessary information are supplied from the master control unit MCU to the subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n.

"Vend possible lamp lighting indication mode" (module code SVMC9) is a mode in which information for lighting a vend possible lamp in correspondence to a column which has been judged to be capable of vending from the master control unit MCU to the subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n

"Sold-out lamp lighting indication mode" (module SVMC10) is a mode in which information for lighting a sold-out lamp in correspondence to a column in which the article has been sold out is supplied from the master control unit MCU to the subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n.

(4) Contents of signals transmitted and received in

respective modes

Formats of signals each consisting of three words which are transmitted and received in "master control unit indication mode" (module code SVMC1) or "subcontrol unit indication mode" (module code SVMC8) are described in the following Table 5. In the word order 1, data representing the name of signal to be transmitted and received (i.e., type of information to be transmitted and received) is transmitted and received and in the word orders 2 and 3, data representing the column number is transmitted and received. In the word order 2, data of the order of 1 (10.sup.0) of the column number is transmitted and received and in the word order 3, data of the order of 10 (10.sup.1) is transmitted and received.

TABLE 5 ______________________________________ word order bit 1 2 3 ______________________________________ 1 name of column column 2 signal number number 3 (10.sup.0) (10.sup.1) ______________________________________

The name of a signal which is transmitted and received in "master control unit indication mode" (module code SVMC1) is one of those listed in Table 6. Each signal in Table 6 consists of data of one word (four bits).

TABLE 6 ______________________________________ Mode of SVMC1 data (bit) 3 2 1 0 symbol name of signal ______________________________________ 1 1 1 0 MCN maximum available column number indication signal 1 1 0 1 SVB slave vendor standby signal 1 1 0 0 SSB article selection signal input standby signal 1 0 1 1 SIN article selection signal input presence indication signal 1 0 1 0 SHC1 article conveying signal (1) 1 0 0 1 SHC2 article conveying signal (2) 1 0 0 0 PSO money collection indication signal 0 1 1 1 VSHC vend test article conveying signal 0 1 1 0 MORK motor lock signal 0 1 0 1 HNG1 conveying malfunctioning (1) 0 1 0 0 HNG2 conveying malfunctioning (2) 0 0 1 1 HNG3 conveying malfunctioning (3) 0 0 1 0 HNG4 conveying malfunctioning (4) ______________________________________

The maximum available column number indication signal MCN is a signal indicating a maximum number of columns available for use in a particular slave vendor. (i.e., number of article stockers).

The slave vendor standby signal SVB is a signal indicating that the slave vendor is in a standby state (i.e., it is not performing the vending operation).

The article selection signal input standby signal SSB is a signal indicating that an article selection operation in a particular column is in a standby state.

The article selection signal input presence indication signal SIN is a signal indicating that the article selection operation in a particular column has been made.

The article conveying signals (1) and (2) (SHC1 and SHC2) are signals indicating that a particular column is performing the article conveying operation. Difference between SHC1 and SHC2 resides in that SHC1 is used when the article conveying operation can be performed concurrently in one column while the article conveying operation is being performed in another column of the same slave vendor whereas SHC2 is used when such concurrent article conveying operation cannot be performed. By selecting one of these signals SHC1 and SHC2, the master vendor can perform a suitable control no matter which type of the above described mechanisms the slave vendor may adopt.

The money collection indication signal PSO is a signal indicating subtracting of the set vend price of the conveyed article from the amount of deposited money (i.e., money collection operation). This signal is generated in accordance with a column conveying the article at a suitable time point after starting of the article conveying operation.

The vend test article conveying signal VSHC is a signal indicating that an article is being conveyed due to a vend test (an article conveying operation test).

The motor lock signal MORK is a kind of a malfunction code and generated when a conveying motor has been locked (i.e., the carrier switch has kept an ON state) during the article conveying operation.

The conveying malfunctioning signals HNG1-HNG4 are kinds of malfunction codes and generated when malfunctioning has taken place in the article conveying circuit, e.g., malfunction in the relay switches.

The name of a signal which is transmitted and received in the "subcontrol unit indication mode" (module code SVMC8) is one of those listed in the following Table 7. In Table 7, each signal consists of data of one word (four bits).

TABLE 7 ______________________________________ Mode of SVMC8 data (bit) 3 2 1 0 symbol name of signal ______________________________________ 1 1 1 0 SLFK vend impossible indication signal 1 1 0 1 MSTK master vendor standby signal 1 1 0 0 CKIC deposited money presence signal 1 0 1 1 SLNG vend impossible signal 1 0 1 0 SHOK article conveying indication signal 1 0 0 1 VTHS vend test conveying indication signal 1 0 0 0 NGRS abnormality reset indication signal 0 1 1 1 TMON1 timer (1) ON indication signal 0 1 1 0 TMOF1 timer (1) OFF indication signal 0 1 0 1 TMON2 timer (2) ON indication signal 0 1 0 0 TMOF2 timer (2) OFF indication signal 0 0 1 1 TMON3 timer (3) ON indication signal 0 0 1 0 TMOF3 timer (3) OFF indication signal ______________________________________

The vend impossible signal SLFK is a signal indicating that vending is not possible.

The master vendor standby signal MSTK is a signal indicating that the master vendor is in a standby state.

The deposited money presence signal CKIC is a signal indicating that there is deposited money.

The vend impossible signal SLNG is a signal generated in correspondence to a column in which vending has become impossible.

The article conveying indication signal SHOK is a signal indicating that the article conveying operation should be started.

The vend test conveying indication signal VTHS is a signal indicating start of the article conveying operation during the vend test.

The abnormality reset indication signal NGRS is a signal indicating resetting of a column which has been set at an abnormal state, this signal being provided when the column has recovered from the malfunctioning state.

The three types of timer ON/OFF indication signals TMON1-TMOF3 are signals indicating turning on and off of three types of timers (1), (2) and (3). The master vendor has a time counting function and supplies a timer output to the slave vendors in response to these timer ON/OFF indication signals.

Formats of signals consisting of six words to be transmitted and received in "sold-out contents indication mode" (module code SVMC2) or "conveying possible column indication mode" (module code SVMC3), "vend possible lamp lighting indication mode" (module code SVMC9) or "sold-out lamp lighting indication mode" (module code SVMC10) is described in Table 8. In Table 8, each bit of 6.times.4=24 bits corresponds to one of the column numbers 1-24. The bit of its corresponding column becomes "0" and the bit of not-corresponding column becomes "1".

TABLE 8 ______________________________________ Mode of SVMC2, 3, 9 or 10 word order bit 1 2 3 4 5 6 ______________________________________ 0 column column column column column column 1 5 9 13 17 21 1 2 6 10 14 18 22 2 3 7 11 15 19 23 3 4 8 12 16 20 24 ______________________________________

Description of outline of data transmission and receiving processings

Transmission and receiving of information of one unit in the order as shown in Table 1 between the master control unit MCU and the subcontrol units SCU.sub.1 -SCU.sub.n are made, by way of example, by proceeding with the order of transmission while confirming word by word, on both the transmitting and receiving sides, that data of the same contents has been received. More specifically, the receiving side returns data which is the same as 4-bit parallel data for one word received to the transmitting side whereas the transmitting side collates the data which it has transmitted with the data which has been returned and proceed to a next data transmitting order upon confirming coincidence of the two data.

Data representing contents of a signal to be transmitted and received which has been transmitted following the module code is sequentially stored in the data pool memory MR or MR.sub.v of the receiving side. When transmission and receiving of an end code has finally been confirmed, contents of the memory MV or MV.sub.v are transferred in a block to a predetermined area in the RAMs 14 and 15 and utilized therein.

FIGS. 3 and 4 schematically show an outline of a program of executing transmission and receiving processing for information of one unit as shown