Beverage dispensing machine4597506Abstract A beverage dispensing machine provided with the ability to alter machine characteristics and to diagnose machine faults without additional fault indicating displays through use of beverage select buttons normally used to select a variety of beverage selections offered by the machine. Claims We claim: Description This invention relates to beverage dispensing machines, especially to those of the "In-Cup" vending type.
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Depression of button 4
Function Mode Selected
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First Beverage price setting
Second Beverage option setting
Third Coin Inventory
Fourth Fault Diagnosis
Fifth Water dispense time
selection
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Thus to enter the Fault diagnosis mode, for example, the espresso select button 4 must be depressed four times whilst the front door of the machine is open. The various function modes will now be described. BEVERAGE PRICE SETTING This enables the vend price of each selectable beverage to be altered. Upon entry into this function mode (one depression of espresso select button 4), the left-most character of display 2 illuminates as a "P" to indicate the price setting function selected. The operator may change the price of any beverage by first depressing the appropriate beverage select button 8. Its adjacent green l.e.d. 10 illuminates, and the currently set price for the beverage appears in the three right-most characters of display 2. A further depression of this particular beverage select button 8 then causes the vend price to increment slowly until depression is released. A second depression causes the vend price to decrement slowly until depression is released. Thus, one or two depressions of the button may be employed to alter the vend price up or down as desired. The procedure may then be repeated for any other beverage by depressing that particular beverage select button 8 and proceeding through the cycle just described. BEVERAGE OPTION SETTING The second depression of espresso select button 4 enters this mode. The left-most character of display 2 indicates "0". For the purposes of this example these might be: hot water (no accessories), cold water (no accessories), hot water and an accessory such as sugar, hot water and an accessory such as salt, hot water and an accessory such as milk. These may be changed for any beverage during this function mode. To effect such a change, the given beverage select button 8 is depressed and its adjacent green l.e.d. 10 illuminates. The right-most character of display 2 is employed to indicate the various options: "0" for hot water, "1" for cold water, "2" for carbonated water, and so forth. COIN INVENTORY This enables the coins held in the coin change tubes to be dispensed. Assume in this example that three different coins (1p, 2p, 5p) may be dispensed as change. This function mode is entered with the third depression of espresso select button 4. Immediately, the left-most character of display 2 illuminates as a "C" and the top three green l.e.d.'s 10 illuminate. Upon depressing the topmost beverage select button 8 (adjacent the top illuminated green l.e.d. 10) the lowest value change coins are dispensed for as long as the button remains depressed (i.e. the 1p change tube is emptied). The second to topmost beverage select button 8 dispenses the 2p change coins for as long as it is depressed, and the third to topmost button 8 dispenses the 5p change coins for as long as it is depressed. FAULT DIAGNOSIS Upon entry into this mode (fourth depression of espresso select button 4) any of a number of selected faults which may have occurred in the machine since the last time the front door was opened are indicated. The faults detected could be for any of a number of reasons: for example, faults in the cup dispensing operation, in the water preparation/dispensing, or in the operation of the coin mechanism. The faults might be mechanical or electrical, and detected by the machine electronics by appropriate sensors such as microswitches. In this example 24 separate possible faults are displayed. Specific single examples are cup carousel rotation problem, slug coin received, thermostat fault, cup jam. The 24 possible faults are grouped into three pages of eight. Upon depression of the topmost beverage select button 8, diagnosis of the first page of possible faults is achieved. The l.e.d. displays associated with the top eight beverage select buttons 8 are employed to indicate whether the diagnosis has indicated whether any of these faults exist. The presence of a given fault on page 1 will cause selected green or red l.e.d.'s 10 and 12 to illuminate. In order to identify the fault conditions to be ascribed to these three pages of 8 faults and the meaning to be ascribed to any red or green l.e.d.'s illuminated, the operator is provided with a separate description to decode the faults and conditions displayed. The operator can thus immediately identify which faults exist from the position and colour of the illuminated l.e.d.'s. Depression of the second and third to topmost beverage select buttons 8 causes diagnosis of the second and third pages of faults, respectively, in an exactly similar fashion. During the Fault diagnosis mode, the left-most character of display 2 indicates a "d", whereas the rightmost character indicates "1", "2" or "3" depending upon which page of faults is being diagnosed. WATER DISPENSE TIME SELECTION Upon the fifth depression of espresso select button 4 this mode is entered. It is displayed on the left-most character of display 2 as a "t". It enables the operator to vary the time period over which the water is dispensed to the cup, for any given beverage, to be altered. Any period between 0 and 5 seconds may be selected in 50 millisecond steps. To effect such a change, the given beverage select button 8 is depressed and its adjacent green l.e.d. 10 illuminates. The right-most characters of display 2 indicate the current water dispense period as a percentage of 5 seconds. Depression, and holding down of this button 8 causes the percentage to increment slowly until released, whereas a second depression causes a slow decrement until the button is released. This may be repeated for any of the beverages via their appropriate select buttons 8. The function mode capability of the components described is obtained by opening the front door of the machine: door switches disable the normal vending operation. The function mode capability is cancelled and normal vending operation returns when the door is closed. With a carousel-type machine, where stacks of cups are indexed past a cup separating station, the beverage dispensed by any given stack in the carousel may be changed simply by inserting the new stack in the carousel and changing the label on the front of the machine, adjacent the beverage select button 8 for that stack. It may then be necessary to alter the vend price, beverage option setting, and water dispense time appropriately as described above. FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of the electrical circuits employed in the dispensing machine just described. It includes a microprocessor 20 comprising a central processing unit with an integral, on-chip RAM, which microprocessor in this example is an Intel type 8039-6. Linked to microprocessor 20 by the usual buses are an EPROM 22, an EAROM 24, a plurality of input/output ports and expanders 26 A to F, and an interrupt circuit 28. Input/output port 26A is linked to a display multiplexer 30 which drives the l.e.d.'s 10, 12 and the four digit seven segment display 2 shown in FIG. 1. A second input/output port 26B is linked to a plurality of machine status signals provided from position switches associated with various machine functions, to indicate to the circuitry, for example, the position of the cup carousel, or whether any stack of cups is empty. Input/output port 26C is linked to a plurality of relays, optical isolators and triac drives 32 which in turn control six neons and a number of machine drives. These neons and machine drives are such as on the known Klix 3000 or 5000 beverage vending machine. The machine drives actuate the various valves, pumps and motors within the machine as required to dispense a beverage, e.g. the cup splitting motor, the cold water pump, the carousel rotation motor. The neons 1-6 are displayed to the user of the machine to indicate various messages e.g. machine ready and can dispense change, or espresso drinks selected. Input/output port 26D is linked to a coin mechanism 34, whereas port 26E is linked to the beverage select buttons 8 (of FIG. 1) and to a diagnostics interface 36. The latter comprises an 8 to 1 multiplexer together with opto-isolators and which are linked to eight machine condition sensors: cold and hot water drip trays, hot and cold water levels low and high and over-temperature cut-outs for the water heater. These sensors provide active signals in the event of a machine fault being diagnosed. Input/output port 26F is linked to the espresso select and cancel buttons 4, 6 (of FIG. 1). The mains power supply drives a machine power supply 38 which not only provides the necessary D.C. voltage levels for driving the various electronic circuits, but is also connected to the interrupted circuit 28. The latter senses the voltages at the power supply and, in the event of an abnormally low supply (e.g. power failure), provides an interrupt to the CPU normal operation to enable essential machine conditions to be dumped rapidly into the non-volatile EAROM 24. In this manner, upon restoration of power, the machine can quickly return to its original condition without the need for resetting of machine conditions such as beverage prices, water dispense times etc. The mains power supply is also employed to power the machine drives and the six neons via the relays, triacs 32, but only if the front door of the machine is closed, as controlled by door switches 40. Certain of the machine condition sensors provide diagnosis of faults which make it desirable to disconnect the mains power supply, and this is shown schematically by safety cutouts 42. In a further version of the apparatus described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the red and green l.e.d.'s 10 and 12 are replaced by three-digit seven-segment alphanumeric displays. In the beverage dispensing (vending) mode these displays (termed "beverage price displays" to avoid confusion with the credit display 2) indicate the current price of the beverage which may be obtained by actuation of the associated beverage select button 8. If the particular beverage is not available, e.g. if the stack of cups is exhausted, then the associated beverage price display indicates three dashes. The displays are also employed during the various control modes to indicate machine functions and characteristics alphanumerically. When the machine door is opened, the machine automatically defaults from the beverage dispensing mode to the fault diagnosis mode. Any faults on the machine since the last time the door was opened are displayed in the beverage price displays as three digit alphanumeric codes informative to the mechanic. If more faults exist than the number of beverage price displays then the faults are displayed in successive groups. The last fault is indicated by the next display indicating three dashes rather than a three digit fault code. Similarly, in other control modes, characteristics and functions relative to any given beverage may be viewed (and changed if appropriate) with reference to information held in the relevant beverage price display. Thus, the price of any beverage is viewed and changed using the relevant beverage price display rather than using the credit display 2. The machine is also in two versions. In one, the cancel espresso button is employed to select control modes as described above. In a further version, in which an espresso-type drink option is not provided, the Key(s) for assisting in enabling the various machine control mode is/are provided inside the machine, in accessible to the normal user and having no function during the beverage dispensing mode. The following is a machine code listing of the program employed in the above-described microprocessor. The listing is in Intel hexadecimal format: the first two characters indicate the number of characters of instructions at each address (16 decimal characters), the next four indicate the address, the next two are unused (00 hex), then follows sixteen two-hex character instructions, and finally a two character check sum. ##SPC1##
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