Integrated control system and integrated control method for a self-service vending cabinet

Abstract

The application discloses an integrated control system and method of an unmanned vending cabinet. The integrated control system is located on the side of the unmanned vending cabinet and comprises an edge computing board, a control board and a routing module. The edge computing board is connected with external devices of the edge computing board, is used for obtaining a commodity identification result according to commodity identification information, and the commodity identification information is collected by the external devices of the edge computing board. The control board is connected with external devices of the control board and is also connected with the edge computing board, and is used for performing on-off quantity control on the external devices of the control board. The routing module is directly connected in communication with one of the edge computing board and the control board and the cloud platform, and is connected in communication with the other one of the edge computing board and the control board and the cloud platform through the one of the edge computing board and the control board and the cloud platform. The above scheme improves the identification speed, improves the reliability of the integrated control system, improves the equipment management efficiency and reduces the equipment management and maintenance upgrade cost.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application belongs to the technical field of unmanned vending, and particularly relates to an integrated control system and an integrated control method of an unmanned vending cabinet. BACKGROUND

[0002] The unmanned vending cabinet is an unattended vending cabinet, which greatly improves the purchase willingness of users, expands the time dimension of user consumption, provides a continuous and stable sales channel for merchants, and has become an important way of retailing goods in public places.

[0003] The goods purchased by the user in the unmanned vending cabinet need to be automatically identified. At present, the identification of the goods is completed by a server deployed in the cloud by processing the data collected by the unmanned vending cabinet. Since the data needs to be transmitted to the cloud, the response speed of the goods identification is affected, and the user experience is reduced. SUMMARY

[0004] In order to solve the above problems, the present application provides an integrated control system of an unmanned vending cabinet. The integrated control system is located on the side of the unmanned vending cabinet, and comprises: an edge computing board connected with an edge computing board external device, used to obtain a goods identification result according to goods identification information, the goods identification information being collected by the edge computing board external device; a control board connected with a control board external device and also connected with the edge computing board, used to control the on-off quantity of the control board external device; and a routing module directly connected with one of the edge computing board and the control board and the cloud platform, and the edge computing board and the control board are connected with the other one of the cloud platform in communication.

[0005] In the integrated control system as described above, the edge computing board external device comprises: an image sensor, and / or a weight sensor, or an electronic tag code scanner.

[0006] In the integrated control system as described above, the control board external device comprises: a door cabinet lock module; and / or a lamp; and / or a first temperature sensor and a refrigeration device.

[0007] In the integrated control system as described above, the routing module is a hard routing module; if an abnormal instruction is generated, the working state is switched from a first working mode to a second working mode; wherein the first working mode is that the routing module is directly connected in communication with the edge computing board, and the routing module is connected in communication with the control board through the edge computing board; the second working mode is that the routing module is directly connected in communication with the control board; and the abnormal instruction indicates that one of the edge computing board and the control board is disconnected in communication with the cloud platform.

[0008] In the integrated control system as described above, optionally, the other one of the edge computing board and the control board controls one of the edge computing board and the control board to restart in response to an abnormal instruction.

[0009] The other aspect provides an integrated control method of a vending machine, the vending machine is installed with an integrated control system, the integrated control system comprises an edge computing board, a control board and a routing module, the control board is connected with the edge computing board, the integrated control method comprises: the routing module is directly connected in communication with one of the edge computing board and the control board and the cloud platform, and the edge computing board and the control board are connected in communication with the other one of the cloud platform, the edge computing board and the control board; wherein the edge computing board obtains a product identification result according to product identification information, the product identification information is collected by an edge computing board external device connected with the edge computing board; the control board controls a control board external device connected with the control board to make the control board external device realize its own function in response to a control instruction.

[0010] In the integrated control method as described above, optionally, the edge computing board external device comprises: an image sensor, and / or a weight sensor, or an electronic tag code scanner.

[0011] In the integrated control method as described above, optionally, the control board external device comprises: a door cabinet lock module; and / or a lamp; and / or a first temperature sensor and a refrigeration device.

[0012] In the integrated control method as described above, optionally, the routing module is a hard routing module; if the routing module receives an abnormal instruction, the working state of the routing module is switched from a first working mode to a second working mode; wherein the first working mode is that the routing module is directly connected in communication with one of the edge computing board and the control board; the second working mode is that the routing module is directly connected in communication with the other one of the edge computing board and the control board; the abnormal instruction indicates that the communication connection of one of the edge computing board and the control board with the cloud platform is disconnected.

[0013] The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application has the following beneficial effects:

[0014] By setting the edge computing board, the control board and the routing module, wherein the edge computing board obtains the product identification result, and the control board controls the control board external device, so that the product identification process can be realized at the edge end, the identification speed is improved, the system integrates the calculation, the external device control and the cloud communication, the reliability of the integrated control system is improved, the equipment management efficiency is improved, and the equipment management and maintenance upgrade cost is reduced. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0015] Figure 1 A structural schematic diagram of an integrated control system of a vending machine provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0016] Figure 2 A flowchart of an integrated control method of a vending machine provided by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] To make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present application clearer, the following will further describe the embodiments of the present application in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0018] Reference Figure 1 The integrated control system of the vending machine provided by the embodiment of the present application is located at the side of the vending machine, i.e. at the scene, for example, is arranged in the vending machine. The integrated control system comprises an edge computing board 101, a control board 102 and a routing module 103.

[0019] The edge computing board (or core computing board) has strong computing capability and is used to obtain a product identification result according to received product identification information. The edge computing board is connected with external devices of the edge computing board. The product identification information is collected by the external devices of the edge computing board. The external devices of the edge computing board are external devices connected with the edge computing board. The system running on the edge computing board can be a Linux system. The edge computing board is loaded with a processor, for example, CPU+GPU, which can be a NX edge computing circuit board of NVIDIA, or other models or other manufacturers, which are not limited in the embodiment.

[0020] If the identification method used by the edge computing board in identifying products is a visual identification method, the external devices of the edge computing board are image sensors, for example, cameras or cameras. If the identification method used by the edge computing board in identifying products is a weighing identification method, the external devices of the edge computing board are weight sensors. If the identification method used by the edge computing board in identifying products is a visual+weighing identification method, i.e. a visual and weight-based identification method, in other words, the product identification information includes visual information and weight information, the external devices of the edge computing board include weight sensors and image sensors. If the identification method used by the edge computing board in identifying products is an electronic tag identification method, accordingly, an electronic tag will be attached to each product to be sold. When the customer takes out the product, the electronic tag is scanned to identify what product the customer selects, and the external devices of the edge computing board are electronic tag code scanners. The specific identification process of each identification method is not limited in the embodiment, which can be prior art, or updated technology with the development of technology.

[0021] In other embodiments, in order to better improve the shopping experience of customers, the external device of the edge computing board can also include one or more of a display, a speaker, a payment terminal, an electronic price tag, and a storage device. The display can be used to display the information of the goods currently purchased by the customer, such as the type, quantity, and price of the goods. The display can be installed outside the self-service vending cabinet and located at the top of the self-service vending cabinet. The speaker can be used to play the information of the goods currently purchased by the customer in the form of voice. The payment terminal (or POS terminal) is used to interact with the customer, so that the customer can settle the purchase of the goods and pay the corresponding fees, which can be a card reader or a code scanner or a payment code generator. The electronic price tag is used to display the price information in electronic form, which can replace the paper price tag. The storage device is used to store and record the information collected by the external device of the edge computing board during the selling process of the self-service vending cabinet, which can facilitate the tracing and viewing of historical information, such as when a shopping dispute occurs, the historical information can be used to solve the shopping dispute.

[0022] The control board is used to control the on-off of the external device of the control board, that is, the external device of the control board performs the corresponding on-off action. The control board is connected with the external device of the control board and also connected with the edge computing board. The external device of the control board is the external device connected with the control board. The system running on the control board can be a single-chip microcomputer system or an embedded system. When the control board is connected with the edge computing board, it can be connected through a serial port and an I / O port. The control board has a MCU (Microcontroller Unit) and a switching value interface. The switching value interface is connected with the external device of the control board, and the MCU is used to control the on-off of the external device of the control board to realize the on-off of the external device of the control board. The state information of the external device of the control board can also be collected.

[0023] The unmanned vending cabinet is usually placed in public places such as shopping malls, stations, hospitals, parks, squares, etc., and a cabinet door can be provided. When a customer selects and purchases goods, the cabinet door needs to be opened first, that is, when a customer selects and purchases goods, the cabinet door is unlocked to be in an open state; when the customer finishes selecting and purchasing goods, the cabinet door is closed, that is, when no one selects and purchases goods, the cabinet door is locked to be in a closed state. The opening or closing of the cabinet door is controlled by the door cabinet lock module, that is, the door cabinet lock module is used to control the opening or closing of the cabinet door, at this time, the control board external device is the door cabinet lock module. The door cabinet lock module can be an electronic lock, such as an electric mortise lock. The unmanned vending cabinet forms a containing space, which has a bearing plate placed therein, and the bearing plate is provided with goods. The containing space is relatively closed, and the lighting effect is not good, which affects the customer's selection and purchase of goods and the image sensor's collection of images. The lamp can be a fill light, such as an LED lamp. The control board controls the opening or closing of the fill light, for example, the unmanned vending cabinet is in a goods selling state, and the fill light is turned on; the unmanned vending cabinet is in a device maintenance state, and the fill light is turned off. The containing space of the unmanned vending cabinet is small, and in order to effectively eliminate bacteria and viruses in the unmanned vending cabinet, the lamp can be a disinfection lamp, such as an ultraviolet disinfection lamp. The control board controls the opening or closing of the disinfection lamp under the indication of the control instruction, for example, when the cabinet door of the unmanned vending cabinet is in an open state, the disinfection lamp is turned off; when the cabinet door of the unmanned vending cabinet is in a closed state, the disinfection lamp is turned on. Since the unmanned vending cabinet is unattended, it is convenient for customers to understand the current state of the unmanned vending cabinet, and the lamp can be an indicating lamp representing the current state, such as a combination of one color lamp or multiple color lamps. The color lamp can be a red lamp, a yellow lamp or a green lamp. The control board controls the lighting or extinguishing of the indicating lamp, for example, when the cabinet door is in an open state, the green lamp is lit and the red lamp is extinguished, and when the cabinet door is in a closed state, the red lamp is lit and the green lamp is extinguished. When a customer takes away goods from the bearing plate, the indicating lamp corresponding to the bearing plate can be lit, otherwise the indicating lamp is extinguished.

[0024] In order to improve the diversification of goods, some unmanned vending cabinets can be provided with refrigeration equipment to sell goods with temperature requirements, such as cold drinks or cool drinks or frozen goods. At this time, a first temperature sensor and a refrigeration device can be provided in the unmanned vending cabinet. The first temperature sensor is used to monitor the temperature in the unmanned vending cabinet. When the collected temperature is within a preset temperature range, the control board does not start the refrigeration module, and when the collected temperature is not within the preset temperature range, the control board starts the refrigeration device.

[0025] The embodiment does not limit the specific implementation of the functions of the control board external device, which can be existing technology or updated technology as technology develops. It should be noted that the control instructions required by the control board can be issued by the cloud platform, transmitted to the control board through the routing module and the edge computing board, also can be issued by the cloud platform, transmitted to the control board through the routing module, and also can be generated by the control board itself. The embodiment does not limit this.

[0026] The routing module is used to establish a communication connection between the edge computing board and the control board and the cloud platform (or cloud end) 104. In application, one of the edge computing board and the control board is directly connected with the routing module, and the other is connected with the routing module through the one. For example, the edge computing board can be directly connected with the routing module, and the control board is connected with the routing module through the edge computing board. Alternatively, the control board can be directly connected with the routing module, and the edge computing board is connected with the routing module through the control board.

[0027] By setting the edge computing board, the control board and the routing module, the edge computing board acquires the commodity recognition result, and the control board controls the external equipment of the control board, so that the commodity recognition process can be realized at the edge end, the recognition speed is improved, the system integrates the calculation, the external equipment control and the cloud communication, the reliability of the integrated control system is improved, the equipment management efficiency is improved, and the equipment management and maintenance upgrade cost is reduced.

[0028] The routing module is a hard routing module, which is a hardware independent module rather than a soft routing dependent on a computing board, so that in the case of core computing board or control board crash, another board still has network communication capability, which can make the integrated control system return to normal working state. That is, if the routing module generates an abnormal instruction, the working state (or channel mode or data transmission mode) of the routing module is switched from the first working mode to the second working mode, the first working mode is that the routing module is directly connected in communication with one of the edge computing board and the control board, and the routing module is indirectly connected in communication with the other of the edge computing board and the control board, that is, the routing module is connected with the other of the edge computing board and the control board through one of the edge computing board and the control board. The second working mode is that the routing module is directly connected in communication with the other of the edge computing board and the control board, for example, the first working mode is that the routing module is directly connected in communication with the edge computing board, at this time the control board is connected in communication with the routing module through the edge computing board, and the working mode can be called the main communication channel mode, and the second working mode is that the routing module is directly connected in communication with the control board, at this time the edge computing board is connected in communication with the routing module through the control board, and the working mode can be called the standby communication channel mode. That is, the routing module is connected with the edge computing board and the control board, and the routing module usually works in the first working mode, that is, the first working mode is the main communication channel mode, in which mode the edge computing board serves as the main channel, and when the abnormal instruction is generated, the routing module switches the channel mode from the current main communication channel mode to the standby communication channel mode, in which mode the control board serves as the standby channel. The abnormal instruction indicates that one of the edge computing board and the control board is disconnected in communication with the cloud platform, at this time it can be represented that one of the edge computing board and the control board appears to be down or disconnected from the network. The abnormal instruction can be generated by the cloud platform and sent to the routing module, or it can be generated by the routing module itself, which is not limited in the embodiment. It should be noted that the communication connection mentioned above refers to data transmission.

[0029] In order to improve the reliability of the unmanned vending machine, the other of the edge computing board and the control board responds to the abnormal instruction to control one of the edge computing board and the control board to restart to restore normal operation, so as to realize that when one of the edge computing board and the control board appears to be down, the other can be used to maintain the one. That is, when one of the edge computing board and the control board appears to be down, the other can be used to restart and activate the one. Correspondingly, the control board and the edge computing board have a system recovery function.

[0030] The integrated control system further comprises a power management module, a battery can be installed, and can be used as an emergency power supply when power is off, and a power-off notification is sent to the cloud to avoid abnormal system shutdown. Power control refers to the power-on and power-off instructions issued from the cloud to the device port or module to achieve remote power control. Device signal (state) quantity, our definition of some key states of the device, such as networking, locking, opening the door, temperature, etc. The device end state monitoring and signal collection can be sent to the cloud system, and the cloud system can be viewed through the device log and configured with alarm functions; Device control refers to the control instructions of the terminal device, such as unlocking, locking, temperature adjustment, etc., which can be issued from the cloud.

[0031] In application, the edge computing board, the control board and the routing module are arranged in the box body. The top wall of the box body refers to the wall at the top after the box body is installed. The first board surface of the control board and the first board surface of the edge computing board are opposite to each other. The first board surface of each of the foregoing is a board surface with electronic components. In order to facilitate installation and optimize the structure in the box body, the first board surface of the control board is closer to the top wall of the box body than the first board surface of the edge computing board, that is, the distance between the first board surface of the control board and the top wall of the box body is less than the distance between the first board surface of the edge computing board and the top wall of the box body. The edge computing board generates a large amount of heat when working. In order to facilitate heat dissipation, a heat sink is arranged on the first board surface of the edge computing board. Generally, the heat sink is opposite to the processor of the second circuit board. Based on the distance between the first board surface of the edge computing board and the top wall of the box body being greater than the distance between the first board surface of the control board and the top wall of the box body, the heat sink can be conveniently installed on the first board surface of the edge computing board. Since the routing module is a separately arranged circuit board, that is, a hard routing, in order to facilitate optimization of the structure in the box body, the routing module is arranged on the edge computing board. The routing module is connected with the control board through the edge computing board, and network addresses are respectively allocated to the edge computing board and the control board.

[0032] Referring to Figure 2 The embodiment of the present application provides an integrated control method of a vending machine, which is implemented based on an integrated control system. The integrated control system comprises an edge computing board, a control board and a routing module, and the control board is connected with the edge computing board. The method comprises the following steps:

[0033] In step 201, the edge computing board acquires a product identification result according to product identification information collected by an external device connected with the edge computing board;

[0034] In step 202, the control board responds to a control instruction to control the external device of the control board to realize the function of the external device of the control board;

[0035] In step 203, the routing module selectively establishes a direct communication connection between the edge computing board, the control board and the cloud platform.

[0036] Optionally, the edge computing board external device comprises:

[0037] An image sensor, and / or a weight sensor, or an electronic tag scanner.

[0038] Optionally, the control board external device comprises: a door cabinet lock module; and / or a lamp; and / or a first temperature sensor and a refrigeration module; and / or a second temperature sensor and a lens anti-condensation module.

[0039] Optionally, the routing module is a hard routing module; the routing module switches the working state from the first working mode to the second working mode if an abnormal instruction is received; wherein the first working mode is that the routing module is directly communicatively connected with one of the edge computing board and the control board; the second working mode is that the routing module is directly communicatively connected with the other one of the edge computing board and the control board; the abnormal instruction indicates that the one of the edge computing board and the control board is disconnected from the cloud platform.

[0040] Optionally, the other one of the edge computing board and the control board controls the one of the edge computing board and the control board to restart in response to a running instruction.

[0041] For the implementation of steps 201-203, please refer to the relevant content of the edge computing board 101, the control board 102 and the routing module 103 in the above embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0042] It is to be understood by those skilled in the art that the present application can be implemented by other embodiments without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Therefore, the above disclosed embodiments are merely illustrative in all aspects and are not the only ones. All changes within the scope of the present application or within the scope equivalent to the present application are intended to be included in the present application.

Claims

1. An integrated control system for a vending kiosk, the system comprising: The integrated control system is located on the side of the vending cabinet, and comprises: an edge computing board connected with an edge computing board external device and configured to obtain a product identification result according to product identification information collected by the edge computing board external device; a control board connected with a control board external device and also connected with the edge computing board, and configured to perform on-off quantity control on the control board external device; and a routing module configured to establish a communication connection between the edge computing board and the control board and a cloud platform, wherein the routing module is directly connected in communication with one of the edge computing board and the control board, and establishes a communication connection with the other of the edge computing board and the control board through the one of the edge computing board and the control board; the routing module is a hard routing module; if an abnormal instruction is generated, the working state is switched from a first working mode to a second working mode; in the first working mode, the routing module is directly connected in communication with the edge computing board, and the routing module is connected in communication with the control board through the edge computing board; in the second working mode, the routing module is directly connected in communication with the control board; the abnormal instruction indicates that the communication connection between one of the edge computing board and the control board and the cloud platform is disconnected.

2. The integrated control system of claim 1, wherein, The edge computing board external device comprises: an image sensor, and / or a weight sensor, or an electronic tag code scanner.

3. The integrated control system of claim 1, wherein, The control board external device comprises: a door cabinet lock module; and / or a lamp; and / or a first temperature sensor and a refrigeration device.

4. The integrated control system of claim 1, wherein, The other of the edge computing board and the control board controls the one of the edge computing board and the control board to restart in response to the abnormal instruction.

5. An integrated control method of a vending machine, characterized by, The vending cabinet is provided with an integrated control system, the integrated control system comprises an edge computing board, a control board and a routing module, the control board is connected with the edge computing board, and the integrated control method comprises: the routing module establishes a communication connection between the edge computing board and the control board and a cloud platform, wherein the routing module is directly connected in communication with one of the edge computing board and the control board, and establishes a communication connection with the other of the edge computing board and the control board through the one of the edge computing board and the control board; the routing module is a hard routing module; if an abnormal instruction is received, the working state is switched from a first working mode to a second working mode; in the first working mode, the routing module is directly connected in communication with one of the edge computing board and the control board; in the second working mode, the routing module is directly connected in communication with the other of the edge computing board and the control board; the abnormal instruction indicates that the communication connection between one of the edge computing board and the control board and the cloud platform is disconnected; the edge computing board obtains a product identification result according to product identification information collected by an edge computing board external device connected with the edge computing board; the control board controls a control board external device connected with the control board to realize the function of the control board external device in response to a control instruction.

6. The integrated control method of claim 5, wherein, The edge computing board external device comprises: an image sensor, and / or a weight sensor, or an electronic tag code scanner.

7. The integrated control method of claim 5, wherein The control board external device includes: a door cabinet lock module; and / or a light; and / or a first temperature sensor and a refrigeration device.

8. The integrated control method of claim 5, wherein, The other one of the edge computing board and the control board controls the one of the edge computing board and the control board to restart in response to a running instruction.

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