KR101612943B1 - Automatic Vending Machine By Nearfield User Identification - Google Patents

Abstract

[0001] The present invention relates to a vending machine system using near-field user identification, more particularly, to a system for identifying a user located near a vending machine and processing a payment for a desired vending machine product by the identified user, And more particularly, to a vending machine system using a short-range user identification capable of using a vending machine even without the use of a vending machine.

Description

Technical Field [0001] The present invention relates to a vending machine system,

[0001] The present invention relates to a vending machine system using near-field user identification, more particularly, to a system for identifying a user located near a vending machine and processing a payment for a desired vending machine product by the identified user, And more particularly, to a vending machine system using a short-range user identification capable of using a vending machine even without the use of a vending machine.

A vending machine is a device that sells goods unattended, and generally has a structure in which cash or credit cards are recognized and payment is made and a product is discharged to an outlet when a user designates a desired product.

However, although conventional vending machines can be settled with cash or credit cards, the number of vending machines capable of paying with credit cards is insufficient, so that the vending machines are mainly made up of cash.

Conventional vending machines have a problem in that they can not be used unless they have cash or credit cards because they can only be used if they have cash or a credit card.

In addition, in the case of the cash settlement method, there is a problem that manpower is wasted for the management of the vending machine since a person has to take charge of the task of cash collection and exchange of change.

In addition, since statistics and analysis of a person using a vending machine can not be performed, there is a problem in that it is difficult to sell customized products according to the tendency of people moving around the vending machine.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a vending machine capable of identifying a user terminal held by a user located nearby and providing a desired product by a payment method selected by the identified user, And to provide a vending machine system using a short-range user identification capable of using a vending machine without using a credit card.

This section is a repetition of the <Claims> section and is omitted for the convenience of review. Please refer to <Patent Claims> for this part.

The vending machine system using near-field user identification according to the present invention can use a vending machine as a portable terminal without having a cash or a credit card, and can use a mileage by integrating a credit card, a prepaid card and a point in cooperation with a mobile wallet It is possible to increase convenience.

In addition, since the control button of the automatic vending machine, the bill counter, and the coin inlet can be removed, the complexity of the apparatus can be reduced, and the manufacturing and maintenance costs can be reduced An excellent effect of lowering costs is generated.

However, the conventional vending machine can not know who to sell, but the present invention is a technology that can recognize the user from the time of use to the time of settlement, and has a secondary advantage of providing contents such as advertisement and recommendation Have.

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram schematically illustrating a vending machine system using near-field user identification according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of FIG.
3 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a method of operating an automatic vending machine through user identification according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating a process of executing a control application according to a user identification according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram schematically illustrating a vending machine system using near-field user identification according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of FIG.

1 and 2, a vending machine system according to the present invention includes a user terminal 10 having a control application 110 provided by a user and providing an interface for controlling a vending machine at a user terminal, A detector 20 for detecting detec- tion information of a terminal located in a short distance, a detector 20 for detecting detec- tion information of the terminal sensed by the detector and identifying a user terminal, and a vending machine control and settlement And a user identification server 30 that provides an interface for the user.

The control application 110 requests user identification for controlling an automatic vending machine and provides an interface for product selection and payment of a vending machine when a user is identified.

The detector 20 may be integrally embedded in the automatic vending machine and may be installed and installed in the automatic vending machine.

The detector 20 includes a detec- tion unit 210 for detecting only detec- tion information of a broadcasting state of a memory and a surrounding user terminal, a wireless communication unit 220 for transmitting the detected detec- tion information to the user identification server, A CPU 230 for controlling the detec- ting unit and the wireless communication unit, and a connector unit 240 for supplying power to the apparatus.

The detector 20 may be provided with a detector ID so that the position information may be stored together with the user identification server, or the vending machine may be specified based on the identification information of the vending machine in which the detector is installed.

The detection unit 210 detects only the detection information of the user terminal in the vicinity of the detector, and the wireless communication unit 220 transmits the detected detection information to the user identification server 30 . When the detecting unit 210 is applied as a Bluetooth detecting module, the detecting unit and the wireless communication unit can share the antenna in the same frequency band (2.4 GHz).

Since the wireless communication unit 220 serves as a Wi-Fi module, it can directly set the SSID, detect the Rssi, and transmit the detection information to the user identification server.

The wireless communication unit 220 may include a plurality of BD stacks at the same time, and may include a channel scan function that enables simultaneous scanning of multi-channels to search a plurality of channels.

The connector unit 240 may include a connector that can receive power from the outside. The detector 10 may request the user through the control application 110 and activate the detaching mode only when there is a detaching command through the user identification server, thereby minimizing power consumption.

The detection unit 210 may include a network detection module that receives only detec- tion information through a network identifier with a surrounding user terminal, or a local communication detection module that receives detec- tion information through a local communication identifier with a peripheral user terminal .

The network detec- tion module is a module for receiving only detec- tion information in a Wi-Fi communication coverage by performing an internet connection through Wi-Fi, and is a Wi-Fi MAC address (Wi-Fi Mac address) is set and stored.

Generally, a Wi-Fi module, which is a network module, performs an internet connection through Wi-Fi to transmit / receive data, or tracks a location according to location information of the Wi-Fi module.

However, the network detecting module according to the present invention does not perform data transmission / reception and location tracking, but detects only the Wi-Fi MAC address of peripheral user terminals located near Wi-Fi and connected to the Wi-Fi as detaching information .

Since the Wi-Fi is a wireless AP, a user terminal connected to the same Wi-Fi as the Wi-Fi where the client terminal is located is located near the client terminal, so that the user connected to the same Wi- Detecting a terminal can search for a user located in a short distance.

Here, the detection does not track the position through Wi-Fi, but refers to detecting only a Wi-Fi MAC address, which is unique identification information of a terminal connected to Wi-Fi.

When the Wi-Fi MAC address includes the Wi-Fi MAC address in the member information previously registered in the data register of the user identification server, the detected Wi-Fi MAC address is compared with the member information And if the matching member information is included, the user is identified according to the member information.

The local area communication detection module is a module for receiving detec- tion information of a peripheral device located within a short-range communication range, and may be configured as a Bluetooth detec- tion module having unique identification information for each terminal.

Bluetooth is a method of performing communication between devices located near by a pairing, and stores and stores a Bluetooth MAC address as Bluetooth identification information, which is unique identification information.

Accordingly, the Bluetooth communication is a function of performing communication through a pairing with a nearby peripheral device.

In other words. Bluetooth communication is a standard short-range communication method that allows communication between a peripheral device of a portable device or another terminal through pairing, and has a characteristic not suitable for position tracking.

Bluetooth communication is performed through pairing, that is, by activating networking at a specific time, in order to reduce the power consumption of the battery due to the characteristics of many devices using the battery and security at a close range.

However, the Bluetooth detec- tion module according to the present invention does not perform pairing with a peripheral device, but detects only a MAC address of Bluetooth of a peripheral device existing within a Bluetooth communication range as detec- tion information.

In the case of pairing, if the detected subject does not authorize the Bluetooth right, pairing can not be performed, so that the information of the near user can not be confirmed through the pairing mode. However, since the present invention detects only the MAC address of the user terminal owned by the user in the Bluetooth coverage range, It is possible to detect only the Bluetooth MAC address (BD address) address in the device search mode regardless of whether the user to be detected is allowed to communicate.

When the Bluetooth MAC address (BD address) is included in the member information registered in advance in the data register of the user identification server, the Bluetooth MAC address (BD address) is the unique identification information of the terminal, ) Is compared with the member information, and if matching user information is included, the user can be identified through the user information.

Meanwhile, the user identification server 30 according to the present invention includes a detec- tion information management unit 310 for receiving and managing detec- tion information from the detector 20, A UI control unit 330 for providing an interface for product selection and settlement of an automatic vending machine through the control application to the identified user at a server terminal, a user interface unit 330 for extracting and identifying a user, And a database 340 for storing and managing information.

The detaching information management unit 310 receives detec- tion information from the detector 20 when there is a user identification request from the control application 110 of the user terminal. Here, the detection information management unit 310 receives the detection information and the detector ID or the vending machine identification information, and identifies the detector.

The detector information stored in the database 340 may include a detector ID, position information, and vending machine identification information.

The user identification unit 320 receives the detected detec- tion information from the detector 20 and compares the received detec- tion information with the membership information stored in the database 340 to determine whether there is matching user information And, if there is matching user information, plays a role of identifying the user through the user information.

Here, the detection information may be a network identifier or a local communication identifier, which is unique identification information of the user terminal received from the detector, as described above.

The network identifier may be a Wi-Fi MAC address managed by the network module of the user terminal, and the short-range communication identifier may be a Bluetooth MAC address (BD address) managed by the Bluetooth module.

The database stores and manages registered detector information and user information. The user information includes user identification information, detec- tion information (Wi-Fi MAC address and / or Bluetooth MAC address) of the user terminal held by the user, As shown in FIG.

The detector information may include an automatic vending machine ID and a detector ID. Product information provided by the automatic vending machine installation location and the automatic vending machine is mapped to the automatic vending machine ID and stored in the database.

Here, the merchandise information provided by the automatic vending machine includes an inventory status of the current merchandise. For example, if there are five products (A, B, C, D, and E) provided by a vending machine, the inventory status of each product is managed at the same time, Current inventory status can be grasped.

When a vending machine manager fills a vending machine, the inventory status can be updated and managed.

Accordingly, when the Wi-Fi MAC address or the Bluetooth MAC address information is received as the detection information, the user identification unit compares the detec- tion information with Wi-Fi MAC address or Bluetooth MAC address information of registered users stored in the database And if there is matching user information, the user near the automatic vending machine provided with the detector is identified from the user information, and it can be confirmed that the user is positioned near the automatic vending machine.

The user identification information may include a user ID or a telephone number of a user terminal of the user. The user detailed information may include personal information such as a user's name, age, address, and sex, credit card information, And payment method information.

When the user is identified, the UI control unit 330 allows the control application of the user terminal owned by the user to allow an interface for product selection and payment of the automatic vending machine, and transmits a product selection and payment request of the automatic vending machine through the control application , A product selection and settlement command is transmitted to the detector to control the automatic vending machine.

When the detector 20 is interlocked with the CPU of the automatic vending machine, the control command can be transmitted directly to the detector. However, if the detector 20 and the automatic vending machine are not interlocked, the control command can be directly transmitted to the CPU of the automatic vending machine In this case, the vending machine may include a wireless communication module capable of transmitting and receiving data to and from the user identification server separately from the detector.

When the user selects a desired payment method for the product selected by the user, the UI control unit 330 controls the settlement process accordingly.

The control application 110 can pay for a credit card and a prepaid card in cooperation with a mobile wallet, and can provide an interface for a mobile phone settlement or a credit card settlement if there is no mobile wallet.

Hereinafter, a method of operating a vending machine through user identification according to the present invention will be described.

3 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a method of operating an automatic vending machine through user identification according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

First, the user installs the control application 110 in his / her user terminal 10, and registers the user information in the user identification server 30.

More specifically, the user terminal 10 is a smart terminal such as a mobile phone capable of being accessed by the user and capable of accessing the Internet. The control application 110 is installed in the user terminal, and the control application 110, (30) to register the user information.

The user information can be directly input by the user and transmitted to the user identification server. However, since the detection application (Wi-Fi MAC address or Bluetooth MAC address) is difficult for the user to confirm and input, And automatically transmit the detected information to the user identification server 30.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating a process of executing a control application according to a user identification according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the control application 110 for purchasing a product of a vending machine may be configured such that a user manually activates the control application 110 installed in the user terminal or is automatically activated by automatic user identification.

First, when the user manually activates the control application 110 installed in the user terminal, the user enters the vending machine ID into the control application and requests the user identification server 30 for user identification.

Here, the control application 110 may further include a bar code or QR code recognition module, and may read the vending machine ID through a bar code or a QR code attached to the vending machine.

The user identification unit 320 of the user identification server specifies the automatic vending machine through the automatic vending machine ID according to the request and receives the detected BD address from the detector 20 installed in the automatic vending machine. The present embodiment will be described on the assumption that the BD address, which is a Bluetooth MAC address, is detected by the detection information.

Since the vending machine ID is stored and managed in the database 340 and the detector identification information is mapped to the vending machine ID, the detector can be identified and identified only by the vending machine ID.

Detector identification information and product information being sold by an automatic vending machine may be mapped and stored in the vending machine ID.

Compares the received BD address with the BD address of the user information stored in the database, extracts the matching BD address, and identifies the user by checking the user information mapped to the extracted BD address.

Here, if the user information requested through the control application coincides with the identified user, it can be confirmed that the user who requests to use the vending machine is the same as the user who is located near the vending machine.

In order to confirm that the user possessing the user terminal is the user, the UI control unit 330 may request the preset password input and perform further authentication.

If the user is identified as described above, the UI control unit 330 provides an interface for product selection and payment based on the product information being sold by the vending machine mapped to the vending machine ID.

On the other hand, when the user is automatically identified, the detector 20 periodically detects the BD address of peripheral user terminals and transmits the detected BD address to the user identification server. Here, the detector 20 may transmit the detector identification information or the vending machine ID to the user identification server 30 together.

The user identification unit 320 of the user identification server identifies the detector through the detector identification information or the vending machine ID and identifies the BD address transmitted from the detector 20 and the BD address included in the user information registered in the database And extracts a matching BD address and identifies the user by checking the user information mapped to the extracted BD address.

If the user is identified, the UI control unit 330 generates and transmits a push message inquiring whether or not to use the vending machine to the user terminal of the user, and automatically activates the control application when the user selects to use the pushing message.

Here, in order to confirm that the user possessing the user terminal is the user, the UI control unit 330 may request the preset password input to perform additional authentication.

When the control application is activated, the UI control unit 330 provides an interface for product selection and payment based on the product information being sold by the vending machine mapped to the vending machine ID. Therefore, the user does not need to activate the control application, and the control application is activated only by confirming the acceptance of the use of the vending machine.

When an interface for product selection and payment is provided as described above, the user selects a desired product and a desired payment method among the vending machine products and inputs payment.

When the desired goods and the payment means are transmitted to the UI control unit, the UI control unit processes payment according to the payment means and transmits a payment instruction of the selected goods to the automatic vending machine.

Here, the payment means may be a conventional payment means such as a mobile phone payment, a credit card payment, a check card payment, a prepaid gift certificate payment, a gift certificate payment, a point payment, etc. Depending on the payment means, Lt; / RTI &gt;

The specific settlement method and processing are not only obvious but also deviates from the core of the present invention, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

When payment for the vending machine product is completed as described above, the purchase details of the product are stored in the database.

Therefore, the vending machine operator can check the sales of the vending machine by checking the database, and it is possible to manage the unit of time as well as the unit of time, and it is also possible to check the availability of the product.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

10: User terminal 20: Detector
30: User identification server

Claims (9)

A user terminal provided with a control application possessed by the user and providing an interface for controlling the vending machine at the user terminal;
A detector installed in the vending machine for detecting detection information of surrounding user terminals existing in the communication coverage;
A user identification unit for identifying the user by comparing the detec- tion information with the detec- tion information of the stored user information to extract a matching user terminal; A UI control unit for providing an identified user with an interface for product selection and payment of an automatic vending machine through a control application, and a user identification server including a detector database and a database for storing and managing registered user information,
Wherein the user identification unit receives a user identification request from the control application, extracts detector information mapped with the vending machine ID included in the request together with the user ID, and extracts, from the detector corresponding to the extracted detector information, And the detected detec- tion information is compared with the stored detec- tion information of the member information stored in the database to check the user ID mapped to the matching detec- tion information, and the user ID received the user identification request and the identified user ID And the user is identified by comparing whether they match with each other.
The method according to claim 1,
The detector
A detecting unit for detecting only the detecting information;
A wireless communication unit for transmitting the detected detection information to the user identification server;
And a CPU for controlling the detecting unit and the wireless communication unit.
delete The method according to claim 1,
The information stored in the database
Detector information including a detector ID or a vending machine ID;
Wherein the user identification information includes user identification information, detection information of the user terminal owned by the user, and user information including user detailed information.
5. The method of claim 4,
The database
Wherein the map information is mapped to the detector ID or the vending machine ID so that the product information sold by the vending machine and the inventory status information of each product are mapped and stored and managed.
5. The method of claim 4,
The UI control unit
If the user is identified by the user identification unit, provides an interface for product selection and payment of the vending machine based on the product sales information of the vending machine mapped to the vending machine ID through the control application of the user terminal of the identified user Wherein the vending machine system comprises:
delete The method according to claim 1,
The user identification unit
Receiving the detected detection information from the detector, comparing the detected detection information with stored detection information of the user information stored in the database, extracting user information mapped to the matching detection information to identify the user,
The UI control unit
Pushing a message confirming whether or not to use the vending machine to the identified user terminal and receiving a confirmation of use of the vending machine from the control application, an interface for product selection and payment based on the product information being sold by the vending machine mapped to the vending machine ID Wherein the vending machine system provides the vending machine with a short-range user identification.
10. The method according to any one of claims 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8,
The detection information
A Wi-Fi MAC address or a Bluetooth MAC address (BD address).

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