Dispensing system, information processing device, product dispensing method, and program

Abstract

To make it possible to dispense products from a vending machine, by a method that is different from existing methods and uses a configuration that can be implemented inexpensively.SOLUTION: A dispensing system 1 is used when dispensing a product using a vending machine 700 to a user who uses a terminal device 600 in which information used for dispensing the product is stored. The vending machine 700 is provided with a sound wave communication unit 701 that transmits authentication information and a transmission source identifier to the terminal device 600 by sound waves. The information processing device 100 is provided with an acquisition unit that acquires terminal reception information based on information transmitted from the terminal device 600 to the information processing device 100, and the information used to dispense the product, and a determination unit that uses the acquired information to determine whether or not a predetermined condition related to the dispensing of the product using the vending machine 700 is satisfied.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a dispensing system, a terminal device, a product dispensing method, and a program that enable a user to dispense a product from a vending machine using a terminal device used by the user. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a dispensing system has been used that allows a user to dispense products from a vending machine using a terminal device used by the user.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 below describes a food and beverage dispensing device that connects to a mobile terminal and is configured to transmit identification information of the dispensing device and information on the food and beverage to the terminal, and determine whether or not dispensing is possible based on a dispensing instruction for the food and beverage, and then dispense the food and beverage.

[0004] The following Patent Document 2 describes the configuration of an information management system having a measuring instrument and an information terminal. In this configuration, the measuring instrument transmits information by ultrasonic waves, and the information terminal detects the information, acquires identification information, and displays it on the terminal.

[0005] Furthermore, the following Patent Document 3 describes the configuration of a reward awarding system that makes it possible to limit the mobile terminals that award rewards that should be received as a result of making a payment at a restaurant to only those terminals that transmit time information via ultrasound. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] JP 2017-174320 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2020-160589 A [Patent Document 3] JP 2015-148891 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] In the meantime, in the dispensing system, it is desirable to be able to dispense products from a vending machine using a method different from the existing method, and it is preferable that such a method uses a configuration that can be realized at low cost.

[0008] As an example, in a dispensing system, a decision is made as to whether or not to dispense a product based on the results of wireless communication between a terminal device and a vending machine, etc. Examples of wireless communication include communication using RFID, etc. However, in order to be able to perform such communication using RFID, etc., it is necessary to provide a reader, etc., which is costly.

[0009] The present invention aims to provide a dispensing system, terminal device, product dispensing method, and program that can determine whether or not specified conditions regarding the dispensing of products using a vending machine are met by a method that does not necessarily require equipment with complex configurations. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] The dispensing system of the first invention includes a vending machine, a terminal device in which information used to dispense goods from the vending machine is stored, and an information processing device capable of communicating with at least one of the vending machine, and is used when dispensing goods using the vending machine to a user using the terminal device, and is equipped with: an acoustic communication unit provided in the vending machine and configured to be able to transmit authentication information for authenticating the vending machine and a transmission source identifier capable of identifying the vending machine to the terminal device by communication means using acoustic waves; an acquisition unit provided in the information processing device and acquiring terminal received information based on information transmitted from the terminal device to the information processing device based on a reception result of information transmitted to the terminal device by the acoustic communication unit, and information used to dispense goods from the vending machine transmitted from the terminal device to the information processing device; and a judgment unit provided in the information processing device and using the information acquired by the acquisition unit to judge whether or not predetermined conditions related to the dispensing of goods using the vending machine are satisfied.

[0011] With this configuration, it is possible to determine whether or not a predetermined condition regarding the dispensing of a product using a vending machine is satisfied, without necessarily using a device with a complex configuration.

[0012] In addition, the dispensing system of the second invention is a dispensing system in which, compared to the first invention, the ultrasonic communication unit is configured to start transmitting authentication information and a transmission source identifier when a specified instruction for preparing the vending machine for dispensing a product is received.

[0013] With this configuration, when a specific instruction for preparing the vending machine to dispense products is received, communication by the sonic communication unit can be started.

[0014] In addition, the dispensing system of the third invention is a dispensing system in which, compared to the first or second invention, the ultrasonic communication unit is further configured to be able to transmit authentication information and a sender identifier to the information processing device, and the judgment unit is configured to make a judgment using the information acquired by the acquisition unit and the information transmitted to the information processing device by the ultrasonic communication unit.

[0015] With this configuration, it is possible to more reliably identify the correspondence between the vending machine and the terminal device related to the dispensing of the product.

[0016] In addition, the dispensing system of the fourth invention is a dispensing system relative to any one of the first to third inventions, which is provided in an information processing device and includes an identification information transmitting unit that transmits identification information related to a time code, the ultrasonic communication unit is configured to be able to transmit authentication information based on the identification information transmitted from the information processing device to a terminal device, and the judgment unit is configured to make a judgment using the identification information transmitted by the identification information transmitting unit and the terminal received information acquired by the acquisition unit.

[0017] With this configuration, it is possible to more reliably identify the correspondence between the vending machine and the terminal device related to the dispensing of the product.

[0018] Furthermore, the dispensing system of the fifth invention is a dispensing system according to any one of the first to fourth inventions, wherein the judgment unit is capable of identifying an order for each of two or more terminal devices which have transmitted information corresponding to a reception result of information transmitted by an ultrasonic communication unit of a vending machine, and is configured to make a predetermined judgment for each of the two or more terminal devices based on the order identification result, and the predetermined condition includes the judgment result of the order of the terminal device to be judged being within a predetermined number of 1 or more.

[0019] With this configuration, even in a situation where there are two or more terminal devices, it is possible to make an appropriate determination for each terminal device.

[0020] In addition, the dispensing system of the sixth invention is a dispensing system in which, compared to the fifth invention, the judgment unit is configured to determine the order based on time information related to information corresponding to the reception results transmitted by each of two or more terminal devices.

[0021] With this configuration, even in a situation where there are two or more terminal devices, it is possible to make an appropriate determination for each terminal device.

[0022] In addition, the dispensing system of the seventh invention is a dispensing system wherein, with respect to any one of the first to sixth inventions, the specified condition includes that the number of terminal devices which transmitted information to an information processing device based on the reception result of information transmitted by an ultrasonic communication unit of a vending machine is a specified number of two or more.

[0023] With this configuration, when there are two or more terminal devices, it is possible to make a decision regarding the dispensing of products.

[0024] In addition, the vending machine of the eighth invention is a vending machine that has the function of dispensing goods to a user using a terminal device in which information used to dispense goods is stored, and is equipped with an acoustic communication unit configured to be able to transmit authentication information for authenticating the vending machine and a transmission source identifier capable of identifying the vending machine to the terminal device via communication means using acoustic waves, a vending machine control unit that controls the acoustic communication unit to start transmitting the authentication information and the transmission source identifier when a specific instruction for preparing the vending machine to dispense goods is received, and a vending machine receiving unit that receives instructions regarding the dispensing of goods transmitted from another device in accordance with the communication result using the acoustic communication unit.

[0025] With this configuration, it is possible to dispense products from a vending machine using a terminal device without necessarily using equipment with a complex configuration.

[0026] In addition, the terminal device of the ninth invention is a terminal device used to dispense goods from a vending machine that is capable of communicating with an information processing device, and comprises a terminal storage unit in which information used to dispense goods from the vending machine is stored, a terminal receiving unit that receives information transmitted from the vending machine by a communication means using sound waves, a terminal transmitting unit that transmits information based on the reception results of the information transmitted from the vending machine received by the terminal receiving unit to the information processing device or the vending machine together with the information used to dispense goods from the vending machine, and a motion detection unit that detects the user's motion, and is configured so that when it is determined that the detection result by the motion detection unit satisfies a predetermined motion condition, reception by the terminal receiving unit or transmission by the terminal transmitting unit is performed.

[0027] With this configuration, it is possible to dispense products from a vending machine using a terminal device without necessarily using equipment with a complex configuration.

[0028] The tenth aspect of the present invention provides a product dispensing method for use when dispensing products using a vending machine to a user using a terminal device, using a vending machine having a sound wave output unit that outputs sound waves, and an information processing device capable of communicating with at least one of the vending machine and a terminal device in which information used to dispense products from the vending machine is stored, the product dispensing method including: a communication step in which the vending machine transmits, by sound waves, authentication information for authenticating the vending machine and a transmission source identifier capable of identifying the vending machine to the terminal device using the sound wave output unit; an acquisition step in which the information processing device acquires, based on a reception result of the information transmitted to the terminal device using the sound wave output unit, terminal received information based on information transmitted from the terminal device to the information processing device and information used to dispense products from the vending machine transmitted from the terminal device to the information processing device; a judgment step in which the information acquired in the acquisition step is used by the information processing device to judge whether or not a predetermined condition related to the dispensing of products using the vending machine is satisfied; and an output step in which the information processing device outputs instructions related to the dispensing of products in accordance with the judgment result of the judgment step.

[0029] With this configuration, it is possible to dispense products from a vending machine using a terminal device without necessarily using equipment with a complex configuration. Effect of the Invention

[0030] According to the present invention, it is possible to determine whether or not a predetermined condition regarding the dispensing of a product using a vending machine is satisfied, without necessarily using a device with a complex configuration. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0031] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overview of a dispensing system according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] Block diagram of the payment system [Diagram 3] Block diagram of the vending machine [Figure 4] Block diagram of the information processing device [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of product information used in the information processing device; [Figure 6] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of user information used in the information processing apparatus; [Figure 7] A flowchart showing an example of the operation of the vending machine. [Figure 8] A flowchart showing an example of the operation of the terminal device. [Figure 9] A flowchart showing an example of the operation of the information processing device. [Figure 10] A flowchart showing an example of a process for receiving information from a terminal device in the information processing device. [Figure 11] A sequence diagram showing a specific example of the processing and operations performed using the dispensing system. [Figure 12] FIG. 13 shows an example of a screen displayed on the terminal device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0032] Hereinafter, an embodiment of a dispensing system and the like will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that, in the embodiments, components with the same reference numerals perform similar operations, so that repeated description may be omitted.

[0033] In the present embodiment, the terms used below are generally defined as follows. The meanings of these terms should not always be interpreted as shown here, but should be interpreted in accordance with the explanations given below.

[0034] A user is a consumer who purchases, uses, or consumes a product.

[0035] A commodity is something that has value. An example of a commodity is canned drinks or bottled drinks that can be sold by a vending machine, but is not limited to this. A commodity sold by a vending machine may be food or drink such as food or drink, or other tangible object itself, or may be an object that is treated as equivalent in value to a specific food or drink or other tangible object. A commodity sold by a vending machine may be an object that is treated as equivalent in value to an intangible object, such as a service for a user, electronic content (such as, but not limited to, information that allows the user to appreciate music, images, books, etc.), or data indicating points having monetary value. Note that the sale of a commodity is not limited to the sale of a commodity for a fee, and may also be interpreted as including the distribution of a commodity free of charge. In other words, dispensing a commodity from a vending machine may be said to be selling a commodity by the vending machine.

[0036] An identifier for a certain item is a character or code that uniquely identifies that item. An identifier is, for example, an ID, but any type of information can be used as long as it can identify the corresponding item. In other words, an identifier may be the name of the thing it represents, or it may be a combination of codes that uniquely identify the thing.

[0037] The term "acquisition" may include acquiring items input by a user or the like, or may include acquiring information stored in the device itself or another device (which may be information stored in advance or information generated by information processing performed in the device). Acquiring information stored in another device may include acquiring information stored in the other device via an API or the like, or may include acquiring the contents of a document file provided by the other device (including the contents of a web page, etc.). It may also include acquiring information in a format different from that of the original information, such as acquiring information by performing optical character reading on an image. For example, it may include acquiring information represented by an image of a one-dimensional code, a multi-dimensional code, etc., by reading the image.

[0038] Also, the so-called machine learning technique may be used to acquire information. The machine learning technique can be used, for example, as follows. That is, a learning device (learning information) that receives a specific type of input information as an input and outputs a type of output information to be acquired is configured using the machine learning technique. For example, two or more pairs of input information and output information are prepared in advance, and the two or more pairs of information are provided to a module for configuring a machine learning learning device to configure the learning device, and the configured learning device is stored in a storage unit. The learning device can also be called a classifier. Note that the machine learning technique may be, for example, deep learning, random forest, SVM, or the like. For machine learning, functions in various machine learning frameworks such as fastText, tinySVM, random forest, and TensorFlow, or various existing libraries, can be used. Acquiring information using such a learning device is sometimes called acquisition by machine learning.

[0039] Moreover, the learning device is not limited to one obtained by machine learning. The learning device may be, for example, a table showing the correspondence between an input vector based on input information and output information. In this case, output information corresponding to a feature vector based on input information may be obtained from the table, or a vector approximating a feature vector based on input information may be generated using two or more input vectors in the table and parameters for weighting each input vector, and final output information may be obtained using output information and parameters corresponding to each input vector used in the generation. Obtaining information using such a learning device may be referred to as obtaining using a correspondence. Also, the learning device may be, for example, a function that represents the relationship between an input vector based on input information and information for generating output information. In this case, for example, information corresponding to a feature vector based on input information may be obtained by a function, and output information may be obtained using the obtained information. Obtaining information using such a learning device may be referred to as obtaining using a function.

[0040] Outputting information is a concept that includes displaying on a display, projecting using a projector, printing on a printer, outputting sound, transmitting to an external device, storing on a recording medium, passing the processing results to another processing device or another program, etc. Specifically, it includes, for example, enabling information to be displayed on a web page, transmitting as e-mail, etc., and outputting information to be printed.

[0041] The concept of accepting information includes the acceptance of information input from input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, or touch panel, the reception of information transmitted from other devices via wired or wireless communication lines, and the acceptance of information read from recording media such as optical disks, magnetic disks, and semiconductor memories.

[0042] With regard to various types of information stored in information processing devices, etc., the term "update" is a concept that includes not only changing the stored information, but also adding new information to the stored information and deleting some or all of the stored information.

[0043] (Embodiment)

[0044] The outline of this embodiment is as follows. In this embodiment, the dispensing system includes a vending machine and an information processing device. The vending machine is capable of communicating with the information processing device. The dispensing system is used together with a terminal device that stores information used to dispense merchandise from the vending machine, and is used when dispensing merchandise using the vending machine to a user using the terminal device. In other words, the dispensing system is configured to be available to a user using the terminal device that the user uses.

[0045] In this embodiment, the vending machine has a sonic communication unit configured to be able to transmit information between the vending machine and the terminal device by a communication means using sonic waves. The information processing device is configured to be able to acquire information transmitted by the sonic communication unit from the terminal device, and to determine whether or not a predetermined condition related to the dispensing of a product using the vending machine is satisfied based on the acquired information. Depending on the result of this determination, the vending machine is configured to dispense a product, etc.

[0046] The dispensing system configured in this manner will be described below.

[0047] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overview of a dispensing system 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0048] In this embodiment, the dispensing system 1 includes an information processing device 100 and a plurality of vending machines 700 that are installed at respective locations. The dispensing system 1 is used together with a terminal device 600 used by a user who uses the dispensing system. The dispensing system 1 may be interpreted as being composed of the information processing device 100, the vending machines 700, and the terminal device 600.

[0049] The information processing device 100 and the terminal device 600 can communicate with each other via a network such as a local area network or the Internet. The information processing device 100 and the vending machine 700 can also communicate with each other via various networks. The vending machine 700 may be connected to the same network as the information processing device 100 and the terminal device 600, and may be communicatively connected to the information processing device 100 via a network different from the network. The information processing device 100 is configured to transmit information about the vending machine 700 to the information processing device 100, so that the information is managed by the information processing device 100. The information processing device 100 may be configured to realize point-of-sale information management (POS) in a sales system including each vending machine 700. The information processing device 100 configured to realize point-of-sale information management is communicatively connected to each vending machine 700. For example, the vending machines 700 configured to realize point-of-sale information management, which are arranged at locations such as a plurality of stores, transmit information about sales and information about product inventory to the information processing device 100. The information processing device 100 is capable of carrying out various processes such as tallying, analyzing, ordering, etc. based on this information. This can be realized by using a well-known configuration.

[0050] The vending machine 700 does not have to be connected to the information processing device 100. In this case, the information described below as being transmitted from the information processing device 100 and received by the vending machine 700 may be obtainable by the vending machine 700 via, for example, the terminal device 600 capable of communicating with the vending machine 700 or another external device.

[0051] The configuration of the dispensing system 1 is not limited to this. The number of each device included in the dispensing system 1 is not important, and other devices may be included in the dispensing system 1.

[0052] In FIG. 1, a mobile information terminal device such as a smartphone is shown as the terminal device 600, but the terminal device 600 is not limited to this. For example, the terminal device 600 may be a tablet-type information terminal device, a personal computer (PC) such as a laptop computer, or other devices. A user of the dispensing system 1 can use the dispensing system 1 by using the terminal device 600. In the following example, the terminal device 600 is described assuming that a mobile information terminal device such as a smartphone is used, but is not limited to this.

[0053] Fig. 2 is a block diagram of the dispensing system 1. Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the vending machine 700. Fig. 4 is a block diagram of the information processing device 100.

[0054] First, a description will be given of the configuration of the terminal device 600. As shown in Fig. 2, the terminal device 600 includes a terminal storage unit 610, a terminal receiving unit 620, a terminal acceptance unit 630, a terminal processing unit 640, a terminal output unit 660, a terminal transmission unit 670, a motion detection unit 680, and a terminal acquisition unit 690.

[0055] The terminal storage unit 610 stores a user identifier capable of identifying the terminal device 600. The user identifier is information capable of identifying a user who uses the terminal device 600. As the user identifier, various identifiers can be used, such as a terminal identifier unique to each terminal device 600, an identifier unique to each piece of software operating on the terminal device 600 (for example, an identifier identifying an account logged in for a function realized by the software), and an identifier identifying an account in a web service that can be used using the terminal device 600. More specifically, as the user identifier, various information can be used, such as account information of a user of an operation system that functions the terminal device 600, account information logged in to a web service that can be accessed by a web browsing function realized by the terminal device 600, and cookies provided from a web page accessed by the web browsing function.

[0056] The terminal receiving unit 620 receives information transmitted from the information processing device 100 or other devices via the network. The terminal receiving unit 620 accumulates the received information, for example, in the terminal storage unit 610, so that the device processing unit 640 and the like can acquire the information.

[0057] The terminal reception unit 630 receives various input operations for the terminal device 600 by a user who uses the terminal device 600. The operations are performed, for example, using an input device (not shown), but are not limited to this. The terminal reception unit 630 may receive, for example, an input operation by voice acquired by the terminal acquisition unit 690.

[0058] The terminal processing unit 640 uses each unit of the terminal device 600 to perform various information processing operations.

[0059] The terminal output unit 660 outputs information, for example, by displaying it on a display device. Note that the method of outputting information is not limited to this, and the information may be output by outputting sound or the like from a speaker or the like.

[0060] The terminal transmitting unit 670 transmits, for example, information acquired by the terminal processing unit 640 or the like via the network.

[0061] The motion detection unit 680 has, for example, an acceleration sensor. The type of acceleration sensor does not matter. The motion detection unit 680 is configured to be able to detect the movement or change in posture of the terminal device 600 as the motion of the user. For example, when the user holds the terminal device 600 and displaces the terminal device 600 in a predetermined manner, the motion detection unit 680 is configured to acquire a detection result according to that manner. The acquired information is accumulated, for example, in the terminal storage unit 610 or the like. Note that the motion detection unit 680 may be configured to be able to detect the motion of the user of the terminal device 600 using a camera or the like. In addition, the motion detection unit 680 may be configured to capture an input operation accepted by the terminal acceptance unit 630 as something that detects. For example, a swipe operation by the user detected on a touch panel provided in the terminal device 600 may be a motion of the user that can be detected by the motion detection unit 680.

[0062] The terminal acquisition unit 690 has, for example, a microphone 691. The terminal acquisition unit 690 acquires a detection result of a sound wave detected by the microphone 691. The terminal acquisition unit 690 may include a camera, a position information sensor capable of identifying a position by a GPS, or the like, or a reading device or measuring device different from these may be used as the terminal acquisition unit 690. The information acquired by the terminal acquisition unit 690 is stored in, for example, the terminal storage unit 610 or the like.

[0063] In this embodiment, the terminal device 600 can transmit information based on the detection result of the sound wave acquired by the terminal acquisition unit 690 using the microphone 691 to the information processing device 100 by the terminal transmission unit 670. The information based on the received information may be the received information itself, or may be information acquired using the received information. The information based on the detection result of the sound wave acquired by the microphone 691 may be the detection result of the sound wave itself, or may be information acquired using the detection result of the sound wave. The information based on the detection result of the sound wave acquired by the terminal acquisition unit 690 using the microphone 691 may be called terminal reception information. In addition, the terminal device 600 can transmit information based on the user's operation accepted by the terminal acceptance unit 630 and the detection result detected by the motion detection unit 680 to the information processing device 100 by the terminal transmission unit 670.

[0064] The information to be transmitted is preferably transmitted in association with a user identifier stored in the terminal storage unit 610. That is, it is preferable that the terminal device 600 transmits a user identifier capable of identifying a user who uses the terminal device 600 to the information processing device 100. That is, the terminal transmitting unit 670 is configured to transmit information based on the reception result of the information transmitted from the vending machine 700 received by the terminal receiving unit 620 to the information processing device 100 together with information used to dispense a commodity from the vending machine 700. The information based on the reception result of the information transmitted from the vending machine 700 may be information indicating the reception result itself, or may be information obtained by the terminal processing unit 640 or the like performing a predetermined information processing based on the reception result.

[0065] In this embodiment, the terminal device 600 may be configured to function as a code reader capable of reading barcodes, two-dimensional codes, multi-dimensional codes, and the like. Such a function is realized by a known configuration, and may be configured, for example, so long as the terminal processing unit 640 is configured to be able to acquire the read result based on information (such as an image or a signal indicating the read result) acquired by the terminal acquisition unit 690. By using such a function, the terminal device 600 is capable of reading access information displayed as a barcode, two-dimensional code, multi-dimensional code, and the like, and performing various processes using the access information. For example, when access destination information (including access destination information usable in a specific web service) such as a URI to a web page or other resource is used as the access information, it is possible to access the access destination using the information. Also, when a destination such as an e-mail address or various text messages (including those that can be sent by messaging services such as SNS) is used as the access information, it is possible to send information to the destination. Also, when a registration code such as a keyword or password corresponding to a specific web service or specific software functioning in the terminal device 600 is used as the access information, it is possible to input the registration code to the web service, software, or the like.

[0066] Next, the configuration of the vending machine 700 will be described.

[0067] When a predetermined dispensing condition is satisfied, the vending machine 700 can sell one product selected by the user from among two or more products to the user. The predetermined dispensing condition is, for example, but not limited to, that the user has performed a product selection operation, that the product is available for sale, and that a predetermined payment condition is satisfied. The predetermined payment condition being satisfied means that the price of the product has been paid (payment has been made), but may also be that it has been confirmed that a seller who sells products using the vending machine 700 can obtain the payment. The predetermined payment condition being satisfied may also be that it has been confirmed that the user has the right to receive the product, and may also be that information on a coupon that can be exchanged for the product has been confirmed. Note that the vending machine 700 may be able to sell one product selected by the vending machine 700 to the user when the predetermined dispensing condition is satisfied. In this case, the predetermined dispensing condition may be, for example, that a predetermined price has been paid, and the selection of the product may be performed by the vending machine processing unit 740 or the like according to a predetermined method that can be set appropriately. In addition, the vending machine 700 may be configured to be able to sell only one specific product to the user. The dispensing conditions may also be called sales conditions.

[0068] 3, in this embodiment, vending machine 700 includes a vending machine communication unit 720, a product dispensing unit 705, a cashier unit 707, a display device 708, and a vending machine control unit 709. Vending machine control unit 709 includes, for example, a vending machine storage unit 710, a vending machine reception unit 730, and a vending machine processing unit 740.

[0069] The product dispensing unit 705 has a product storage unit 706. The product dispensing unit 705 is a mechanism that takes out the products to be sold from the product storage unit 706 and dispenses the taken-out products to a product outlet.

[0070] Product storage section 706 is a section that stores products that can be sold. It may be provided with a cooling function, a heat retention function, etc. Products are stored in product storage section 706 corresponding to each of a plurality of columns provided in vending machine 700. Here, a column refers to a product shelf in vending machine 700, and one or more of the same product can be stored in one column. Here, the product shelf is an expression that does not matter whether it is actually provided in vending machine 700 or is virtually provided. Selecting a product in vending machine 700 may be said to be selecting a column corresponding to the product to be selected.

[0071] The teller unit 707 accepts money inserted into the vending machine 700. The teller unit 707 is composed of a coin counter that distinguishes and counts inserted coins, a bill counter that distinguishes and counts bills, and the like.

[0072] The display device 708 is a display capable of displaying information in the form of a character string. The display device 708 may be capable of displaying, for example, only characters indicating numbers. Also, for example, the display device 708 may be configured to be capable of displaying information indicating the status of the vending machine and other information in addition to the information in the form of a character string. In this embodiment, the display device 708 is capable of displaying information to be provided to the user regarding the sale of a product, such as the price of the product to be sold, the amount of money inserted into the vending machine 700, and the amount of change. The display device 708 may be configured to be capable of displaying at least one of the price of the product to be sold, the amount of money inserted into the vending machine 700, and the amount of change. For example, a segment type display or a dot matrix type display can be used as the display device 708.

[0073] Such display device 708, product dispensing section 705, and cashier section 707 can be realized by known configurations.

[0074] The vending machine communication unit 720 receives information transmitted from the information processing device 100 via the network. The vending machine communication unit 720 stores the received information, for example, in the vending machine storage unit 710, so that the vending machine processing unit 740 or the like can acquire the information. The vending machine communication unit 720 also transmits information acquired by, for example, the vending machine processing unit 740 or the like via the network.

[0075] In this embodiment, vending machine communication unit 720 has a sound wave communication unit 701 for communicating with terminal device 600 and the like.

[0076] The sonic wave communication unit 701 has a sonic wave output unit 703 configured to be able to output sonic waves. The sonic waves are those in the audible range, but may also be inaudible range sound waves or so-called ultrasonic waves.

[0077] In this embodiment, the sound wave output unit 703 is, for example, a speaker for outputting audible sound such as a voice for guiding the user. It may be said that the sound wave output unit 703 is a communication means using sound waves for communicating with an output destination device by outputting sound waves. The sound wave output unit 703 is not limited to a speaker, and may be configured using other devices capable of outputting sound waves. In addition, the sound wave output unit 703 may be configured using hardware provided exclusively for communication.

[0078] In this embodiment, the sonic communication unit 701 is configured to be able to transmit authentication information and a transmission source identifier between the vending machine 700 and the terminal device 600 using the sonic output unit 703. That is, the sonic communication unit 701 can transmit authentication information and a transmission source identifier from the vending machine 700 to the terminal device 600. The sonic communication unit 701 may be called a sonic transmission unit, a sonic communication unit, a voice communication unit, or the like.

[0079] Here, the authentication information is information for authenticating the sending device. The authentication information may be called identification information for identifying the sending device. In this embodiment, the authentication information is, for example, information based on timing information indicating the date and time when a specific condition is satisfied. The authentication information is, for example, encoded information obtained using timing information and a predetermined constant or the like. The authentication information may be, for example, a time code. The authentication information may be, for example, information that is unique for each vending machine 700 according to the date and time. Note that the authentication information is not limited to information according to such timing information indicating the date and time, and may be a unique value identified by one vending machine at the timing when a specific condition is satisfied.

[0080] In this embodiment, the authentication information is information obtained using, for example, timing information and identification information transmitted from the information processing device 100. The identification information is received, for example, by the vending machine communication unit 720 and stored in the vending machine storage unit 710 described later. When transmitting information using the sound wave output unit 703, for example, the sonic communication unit 701 obtains the timing information and the identification information stored in the vending machine storage unit 710 to identify the authentication information. That is, the sonic communication unit 701 is configured to be able to transmit authentication information based on the identification information transmitted from the information processing device 100 between the vending machine 700 and the terminal device 600. Note that the authentication information is the identification information transmitted from the information processing device 100, and may be the identification information itself based on the timing information. In this case, it may be expressed that the authentication information is transmitted from the information processing device 100 to the vending machine 700.

[0081] The transmission source identifier is information capable of identifying a transmission source device. For example, a vending machine identifier capable of identifying the transmission source vending machine 700 is used as the transmission source identifier. In other words, the sound wave communication unit 701 is configured to be able to transmit the transmission source identifier using sound waves.

[0082] In the present embodiment, the sonic communication unit 701, i.e., the vending machine communication unit 720, is further configured to be able to transmit authentication information and a transmission source identifier to the information processing device 100. The authentication information is the same information as the authentication information transmitted using the sonic output unit 703. The transmission timing is, for example, the timing when transmission using the sonic output unit 703 is started or the timing during transmission, but is not limited to this. Note that, when a product selection operation is accepted, the sonic communication unit 701 may be configured to transmit information capable of identifying the selected product, such as information identifying a column, to the information processing device 100 in the same manner as the authentication information, etc.

[0083] In the vending machine storage unit 710, for example, a vending machine identifier capable of identifying the vending machine 700 or a vending machine identifier capable of identifying a vending entity including the vending machine 700 is stored.

[0084] The vending machine reception unit 730 receives various input operations for the vending machine 700 by a user who uses the vending machine 700. An example of an input operation is a product selection operation. The product selection operation is performed using product selection buttons (not shown) each set to correspond to one or more columns, but is not limited to this. A column selection operation using a cursor key, a selection confirmation key, or the like may be received as a product selection operation.

[0085] The vending machine processing unit 740 controls the operation of the vending machine 700 based on the input operation accepted by the vending machine acceptance unit 730, the program to be executed, etc. For example, when a product selection operation is performed and a sufficient payment is made, the vending machine processing unit 740 sells the corresponding product and dispenses the product to the user via the product dispensing unit 705.

[0086] In this embodiment, sonic communication unit 701 may be configured to start an operation for communication when a predetermined instruction (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as a preparation instruction) for preparing vending machine 700 to dispense a commodity is received. That is, sonic communication unit 701 is configured to start transmitting authentication information and a transmission source identifier when a preparation instruction for vending machine 700 is received. It can be said that such an operation is performed by the control of vending machine control unit 709. The operation for communication may be stopped when communication is completed, when a predetermined time has elapsed, or when a predetermined state regarding the dispensing of a commodity is reached (when the commodity has been dispensed or is no longer to be dispensed).

[0087] Here, the reception of the preparation instruction means, for example, pressing a selection button for a column (product), but is not limited to this. It may also mean that other operations such as starting a process related to the dispensing of a product are received by the vending machine 700, that an instruction to start a process is sent directly or indirectly to the vending machine 700 from the information processing device 100, or that a human sensor or the like provided in the vending machine 700 detects that a user (or something that may be a user) is approaching the vending machine 700.

[0088] In addition, starting communication means, but is not limited to, starting communication for actually transmitting information or starting output of sound waves. For example, going into a standby state for starting communication or starting output of sound waves may be referred to as starting communication here.

[0089] With this configuration, sound waves are output when necessary. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the impact of the sound wave output on the surroundings of the vending machine 700. Also, it is possible to reduce the power consumed for the sound wave output.

[0090] Next, the configuration of the information processing device 100 will be described.

[0091] 4, the information processing device 100 includes a storage unit 110, a receiving unit 120, a accepting unit 130, a processing unit 140, an output unit 160, and a transmitting unit 170. The information processing device 100 is, for example, a server device.

[0092] The storage unit 110 includes a vending machine information storage unit 111 , a product information storage unit 113 , and a user information storage unit 115 .

[0093] A vending machine identifier and vending machine information about a vending machine 700 corresponding to the vending machine identifier are stored in association with each other in the vending machine information storage unit 111. A vending machine identifier and vending machine information about a group of multiple vending machines 700 included in a vending entity corresponding to the vending machine identifier may also be stored in association with each other.

[0094] The vending machine information may include, for example, various information related to the vending machine 700. In the present embodiment, the vending machine information may include, for example, installation information related to the organization that installs the vending machine 700 and the area in which the vending machine 700 is installed, information related to the model of the vending machine 700, and information related to the sales of the vending machine 700. The vending machine information may be interpreted as including a vending machine identifier. In other words, the vending machine information may be information in which the vending machine identifier is associated with vending machine information other than the vending machine identifier.

[0095] The product information storage unit 113 stores information indicating the correspondence between product information on the products stored in the product storage unit 706 and information specifying the columns (product identifiers in this embodiment) in each vending machine 700. For example, this information is associated with a vending machine identifier that identifies each vending machine 700. In other words, by using the information stored in the product information storage unit 113, it is possible to obtain product information on the product to be purchased based on the information specifying the column, i.e., the product identifier corresponding to the product to be purchased, and the vending machine identifier from which the product is purchased.

[0096] In the present embodiment, the product identifier is an identifier for identifying a column (for example, a number assigned to a column). Regardless of the existence of the concept of columns, the product identifier may be a product number assigned to a product in the vending machine 700 or an identifier capable of identifying the product itself.

[0097] Furthermore, the product information is various attribute values ​​related to one product, such as an identifier capable of identifying one product, the product name of the product, information related to the product price, and the like.

[0098] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of product information used in the information processing device 100. As shown in FIG.

[0099] As shown in FIG. 5, for example, the product information is information indicating which product is stored in which column in which vending machine 700 and can be sold at what price. That is, the product information includes an identifier that can identify one product, attribute values ​​regarding the price of the product, and the like. These pieces of information are associated with one vending machine identifier and the column number (prize identifier) ​​of the column in which the product is stored. This makes it possible to identify the product information stored in the column based on the vending machine identifier and the column number. For example, it can be seen that in the vending machine 700 with the vending machine identifier "234569", a product identified by the identifier "AB02" is stored in the column with the column number "4". It can also be seen that the product is sold in the vending machine 700 for 130 yen. Using such product information, the information processing device 100 can identify the price of the product designated as the dispensing target in each vending machine 700.

[0100] 4, various pieces of user information related to the user are stored in the user information storage unit 115 in association with a user identifier capable of identifying the user. For example, the user information may include history information related to sales of products for each user, contact information for the user, and various other attribute values ​​related to the user.

[0101] In this embodiment, the user information may include, for example, dispensing means information related to the dispensing means of the user. The dispensing means information may be, for example, information used for payment using a credit card, information used for payment using a wallet or the like that has been deposited in advance, information used for electronic payment such as so-called code payment, or information on a bank account, but is not limited to these. For example, it may be information indicating that the user has the right to dispense a product, such as coupon information. The coupon information may include, for example, information that can identify the type of product that can be dispensed, the amount of the product, information on the expiration date, and other information on the conditions under which the coupon can be used. Such dispensing means information can be identified by a user identifier. In other words, the user identifier and information such as the dispensing means information corresponding thereto can be said to be information used to dispense products from the vending machine 700.

[0102] In this embodiment, as described later, a user identifier that can be specified based on information transmitted from the terminal device 600 that communicates with the vending machine 700 may be used as information used to dispense products from the vending machine 700. However, this is not limited to this, and dispensing means information itself may be transmitted from the terminal device 600 to the vending machine 700 and stored in the user information storage unit 115, and the information may be used as information used to dispense products from the vending machine 700.

[0103] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of user information used in the information processing device 100. As shown in FIG.

[0104] As shown in Fig. 6, for example, the user information is recorded in association with a user identifier, including contact information for a user, terminal model information that can identify the model of the terminal device 600 used, and a dispensing means identifier that can identify dispensing means information. Other information may be included, or contact information and terminal model information may not be included. The dispensing means information identified by the dispensing means identifier is recorded in, for example, another table, or may be recorded in the table shown in Fig. 6. With such user information, it is possible to identify dispensing means information corresponding to a user identifier.

[0105] Returning to Fig. 4, the receiving unit 120 receives information transmitted from another device. The receiving unit 120 stores the received information in, for example, the storage unit 110. When the receiving unit 120 receives such information from the terminal device 600, it is capable of identifying the user identifier of the user related to the transmission based on the transmitted user identifier.

[0106] The reception unit 130 receives information input using an input means (not shown) connected to the information processing device 100. The reception unit 130 stores the received information in, for example, the storage unit 110. The input means may be any means, such as a numeric keypad, a keyboard, a mouse, or a menu screen. The reception unit 130 may receive information input by an input operation (including, for example, information read by a device) performed using a reading device (for example, a code reader, etc.) connected to the information processing device 100.

[0107] The accepting unit 130 may be regarded as accepting the information received by the receiving unit 120 as information input to the information processing device 100. In other words, the input of information to the information processing device 100 may be interpreted as meaning that the information is indirectly input to the information processing device 100 by the user via the terminal device 600 or the like, or may be interpreted as meaning that the information is directly input to the information processing device 100 by the user using an input means. In addition, the input of information to the information processing device 100 may be regarded as the user providing information to the information processing device 100 by executing a program that automatically generates information or by providing various information to a program to make it function.

[0108] The processing unit 140 performs various types of processing. The various types of processing are, for example, processing performed by each unit of the processing unit 140 as follows.

[0109] The processing unit 140 includes an identification information transmitting unit 141 , an acquiring unit 145 , and a determining unit 151 .

[0110] In this embodiment, the processing unit 140 is configured to obtain the results of communication between the terminal device 600 of a user attempting to purchase a product and the vending machine 700 from the terminal device 600, and to determine whether or not the conditions for the dispensing of the product are met accordingly.

[0111] That is, the identification information transmitting unit 141 transmits the identification information related to the time code to the vending machine 700 via the transmitting unit 170. This enables each vending machine 700 to transmit authentication information.

[0112] The acquisition unit 145 is configured to be able to acquire terminal reception information based on the reception result of information transmitted between the vending machine 700 and the terminal device 600 by the sonic communication unit 701. The terminal reception information may be information itself based on the reception result of the terminal device 600 transmitted from the terminal device 600, or may be information acquired by performing a predetermined information processing or the like based on the information transmitted from the terminal device 600. It may be said that the terminal reception information is information derived from the information transmitted between the vending machine 700 and the terminal device 600 by the sonic communication unit 701. In this embodiment, for example, when the authentication information and the transmission source identifier are transmitted from the vending machine 700 to the terminal device 600 by the sonic communication unit 701, the terminal device 600 receives them. The terminal device 600 is configured to transmit the received information to the information processing device 100, and the acquisition unit 145 acquires the terminal reception information based on the information including the authentication information and the transmission source identifier.

[0113] The acquiring unit 145 may acquire the price of a product when information identifying the product to be purchased is transmitted from the terminal device 600 or the vending machine 700. The price can be acquired, for example, based on the product information stored in the product information storage unit 113. For example, a transmission source identifier or a vending machine identifier and information identifying a column can be used as the information identifying the product to be purchased.

[0114] The determination unit 151 determines whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied regarding the dispensing of a product using the vending machine 700, using the information acquired by the acquisition unit 145. The predetermined condition may be referred to as an instruction condition.

[0115] The instruction condition may include, for example, that the price of the product has been paid or that it has been determined that payment is possible. For example, when the price of the product has been paid using the user's withdrawal means information specified by the above-mentioned terminal reception information, it can be determined that the price of the product has been paid. Also, for example, when a predetermined amount of payment is possible using the user's withdrawal means information specified by the terminal reception information, it can be determined that the price of the product is payable. The ability to pay a predetermined amount of money means, for example, that there is a predetermined balance (payment capacity) or that credit card payment is possible. Note that such a determination may be made based on the amount of the product price when the price of the product is acquired by the acquisition unit 145.

[0116] The instruction condition may include the satisfaction of the dispensing condition as described above. For example, when a user selects a product and it is determined that the product is available for sale, and when it is determined that the price of the product can be paid using the terminal reception information as described above, it can be determined that the dispensing condition is satisfied.

[0117] The instruction condition may include that the vending machine 700 identified by the vending machine identifier or the transmission source identifier and the terminal device 600 corresponding to the user identifier are able to communicate (are paired) by the sonic communication unit 701. For example, when the authentication information received by the terminal device 600 corresponds to the authentication information recognized as being output from the vending machine 700 identified by the transmission source identifier, it can be determined that the vending machine 700 and the terminal device 600 are able to communicate. In other words, when the authentication information received by the terminal device 600 corresponds to the authentication information transmitted to the information processing device 100 by the sonic communication unit 701, the determination unit 151 can determine that the vending machine 700 and the terminal device 600 are able to communicate.

[0118] The determination as to whether communication is possible through the sonic communication unit 701 may be interpreted as being performed as follows. That is, it may be said that the determination unit 151 is configured to make a determination using the identification information transmitted to the vending machine 700 by the identification information transmission unit 141 and the terminal reception information based on the reception result by the terminal device 600, acquired by the acquisition unit 145. In this case, the determination unit 151 may determine whether the identification information transmitted to the vending machine 700 and the authentication information based on the reception result by the terminal device 600 correspond to each other (for example, whether the authentication information is based on the identification information), and use the result to determine whether the instruction condition is satisfied.

[0119] Here, it may be said that the identification of the cooperation relationship using the authentication information is performed by the acquisition unit 145. For example, the acquisition unit 145 may be configured to determine whether or not a predetermined specific condition is satisfied by using information including the authentication information and the sender identifier transmitted from the terminal device 600, and the authentication information and the sender identifier transmitted to the information processing device 100 by the sonic communication unit 701. Then, when it is determined that the specific condition is satisfied, the acquisition unit 145 may be configured to acquire information including the authentication information and the sender identifier transmitted from the terminal device 600 as terminal reception information based on the reception result by the terminal device 600. That is, it may be configured to acquire information including the sender identifier when it is determined that the specific condition is satisfied as terminal reception information. In this case, it may be considered that the instruction condition includes the specific condition.

[0120] In this case, it can be said that the acquisition unit 145 is configured to be able to acquire terminal reception information based on the reception result of information transmitted between the vending machine 700 and the terminal device 600 by the sonic communication unit 701 and information transmitted to the information processing device 100 by the sonic communication unit 701. With such a configuration, the cooperation relationship between the terminal device 600 and the vending machine 700 can be reliably identified in the information processing device 100. These processes are performed by the processing unit 140, and may be considered to be performed by the determination unit 151.

[0121] In either case, by having the processing unit 140 compare the authentication information based on the communication results from the ultrasonic communication unit 701 with the information based on the communication between the vending machine 700 and the information processing device 100, the collaborative relationship between the terminal device 600 and the vending machine 700 can be reliably identified in the information processing device 100.

[0122] The output unit 160 outputs an instruction regarding dispensing of a product, depending on the result of the determination made by the determination unit 151 as to whether or not the instruction condition regarding dispensing of the product is satisfied. The instruction regarding dispensing of the product may be, for example, an instruction to dispense the product, an instruction not to dispense the product, or an instruction used to determine the dispensing condition in the vending machine 700. The output unit 160 outputs the instruction, for example, by transmitting the instruction via the transmission unit 170.

[0123] In this embodiment, for example, when it is determined that the instruction condition is satisfied, output unit 160 outputs an instruction to dispense a product to vending machine 700. For example, the determination result regarding the instruction condition itself may be output to vending machine 700 as an instruction to dispense a product. Also, for example, based on the determination result that the dispensing condition is satisfied, an instruction to dispense a product may be output to vending machine 700. Also, when it is determined that the instruction condition is not satisfied, the result may be output to vending machine 700.

[0124] When an instruction to dispense a product is output by output unit 160 in this manner, vending machine communication unit 720 in vending machine 700 receives the instruction. In response to the received instruction, vending machine control unit 709 can then control the operation of vending machine 700, for example, to dispense a product or to perform a specified operation when a product is not to be dispensed.

[0125] The transmitting unit 170 transmits information via the network to other devices constituting the dispensing system 1. The transmitting unit 170 transmits information to be output to, for example, the vending machine 700, the terminal device 600, and other devices.

[0126] The storage unit 110, the terminal storage unit 610, and the vending machine storage unit 710 are preferably non-volatile recording media, but may also be volatile recording media. Each of these stores information acquired by the respective devices, but the process by which the information is stored is not limited to this. For example, the information may be stored via a recording medium, information transmitted via a communication line, or information inputted via an input device may be stored.

[0127] Furthermore, the above-mentioned processing unit 140, terminal processing unit 640, and vending machine processing unit 740 can usually be realized by an MPU, memory, etc. The processing procedures of the processing unit 140, terminal processing unit 640, and vending machine processing unit 740 are usually realized by software, and the software is recorded in a recording medium such as a ROM. However, they may also be realized by hardware (dedicated circuitry).

[0128] Furthermore, the input means that can be used to input information that can be accepted by acceptance unit 130, terminal acceptance unit 630, and vending machine acceptance unit 730 may be anything, such as an operation button, a numeric keypad, a keyboard, a mouse, a menu screen, etc. Acceptance unit 130, terminal acceptance unit 630, and vending machine acceptance unit 730 can be realized by a device driver for an input means such as a numeric keypad or a keyboard, control software for a menu screen, etc.

[0129] Furthermore, the receiving unit 120 and the terminal receiving unit 620 are usually realized by wireless or wired communication means, but may be realized by means for receiving broadcasts.

[0130] Furthermore, the transmitting unit 170 and the terminal transmitting unit 670 are usually realized by wireless or wired communication means, but may be realized by broadcasting means.

[0131] In this embodiment, the dispensing system 1 may be configured as follows.

[0132] For example, the instruction condition or the specific condition may include a condition regarding the ranking of each terminal device 600. In other words, in a case where two or more terminal devices 600 are present around the vending machine 700, the terminal device 600 linked to the vending machine 700 may be identified, and instructions regarding the dispensing of products may be given to the terminal device 600 based on the ranking determined for each terminal device 600. This may be performed, for example, as follows.

[0133] That is, in this embodiment, the determination unit 151 is configured to be able to specify the order of each of two or more terminal devices 600 that have transmitted information corresponding to the reception result of information from the sonic communication unit 701 of one vending machine 700. The order refers to, for example, a time order of reception of information from the sonic communication unit 701 and transmission of information corresponding to the reception result to the information processing device 100, but is not limited thereto. Instead of the time order of reception or transmission of information, the order from a predetermined perspective may be specified, or the order may be specified based on these multiple perspectives. For example, the order may be determined according to the rank of each of the two or more terminal devices 600 that are determined in advance, or the order may be specified according to the magnitude of the level of the received sound waves. In addition, the order may be specified based on the score that can be obtained for each terminal device 600 according to one or more of these perspectives.

[0134] More specifically, the determination unit 151 is configured to specify the order of the terminal devices 600 based on, for example, time information related to information corresponding to the reception results transmitted by each of the two or more terminal devices 600. As the time information related to the information corresponding to the reception results, for example, a time that can be specified by authentication information included in the terminal reception information corresponding to the reception results may be used. Also, for example, the time when the information by sound waves is received in the terminal device 600 or the time when information based on the reception results is transmitted, or the time when information based on the reception results is received in the information processing device 100 may be used as the time information. The order of reception of the information based on the reception results in the information processing device 100 may be used as the time information.

[0135] The determination unit 151 may be configured to, for example, identify the order of the terminal devices 600 that have transmitted information corresponding to the results of reception of information from the sonic communication unit 701 of one of the vending machines 700 until a predetermined time point arrives. The predetermined time point is, for example, a time point when a predetermined time has elapsed from the time point when the information processing device 100 first receives information from any of the terminal devices 600, but is not limited to this. For example, it may be a time point a predetermined time after the timing of transmitting identification information to the vending machine 700, or a time point when information is received from a predetermined number of terminal devices 600, or a time point a predetermined time after that time point.

[0136] In addition, the judgment unit 151 may be considered to be configured to determine that the ranking of a terminal device 600 is number 1 when there is only one terminal device 600 that has transmitted information corresponding to the reception result of information from the ultrasonic communication unit 701 of a vending machine 700.

[0137] In this embodiment, the determination unit 151 is configured to perform a predetermined determination for each terminal device 600 based on the result of identifying the order of each terminal device 600. For example, the predetermined condition may include that the result of determining the order of the terminal device 600 to be determined is within a predetermined number of 1 or more. For example, when only one terminal device 600 should be associated with one sound wave output opportunity of one vending machine 700, the predetermined condition may include that the result of determining the order of the terminal device 600 to be determined is number 1. In this case, among two or more terminal devices 600 that satisfy the remaining instruction conditions, the terminal device 600 with the first order is identified as the one to be linked with the vending machine 700, and an instruction to dispense a product may be output only to the terminal device 600. Furthermore, for example, if only three terminal devices 600 should be associated with one sound wave output opportunity of one vending machine 700, the predetermined condition may include, for example, a determination result of the order of the terminal device 600 to be determined being higher than third (the order is within three). In this case, of the three or more terminal devices 600 that satisfy the remaining instruction conditions, the terminal devices 600 ranked first, second, or third are identified as those that are to be linked with the vending machine 700, and an instruction to dispense a commodity may be output only to these terminal devices 600.

[0138] As a result, even if the area around the vending machine 700 is crowded and there are many terminal devices 600, it is possible to dispense products corresponding to only the number of terminal devices 600 that satisfy the conditions. Even when two or more terminal devices 600 are targeted, it is possible to dispense products corresponding to each terminal device 600 without the trouble of bringing each terminal device 600 close to the vending machine 700.

[0139] Furthermore, for example, in the case where communication is performed using sound waves, the terminal device 600 may be configured to receive transmitted information based on the detection of a predetermined operation in the terminal device 600.

[0140] For example, the terminal receiving unit 620 may be configured to receive information transmitted from the sonic communication unit 701 when the detection result of the user's motion by the motion detection unit 680 is specified to satisfy a predetermined motion condition. Also, the terminal transmitting unit 670 may be configured to transmit information based on the reception result to the information processing device 100 when the detection result of the user's motion by the motion detection unit 680 is specified to satisfy a predetermined motion condition. As the predetermined motion condition, for example, it is possible to set that the terminal device 600 has been moved in a predetermined manner, that a swipe operation in a predetermined manner has been performed, or the like.

[0141] By doing so, in a case where there are other devices capable of receiving sound waves in addition to the terminal device 600, it is possible to more reliably identify the terminal device 600 that the user wishes to link to the vending machine 700.

[0142] In addition, the information processing device 100 may determine whether the detection result of the user's motion by the motion detection unit 680 satisfies a predetermined motion condition. For example, the detection result by the motion detection unit 680 is transmitted from the terminal device 600 to the information processing device 100. Then, in the information processing device 100, the processing unit 140 determines whether the detection result of the user's motion by the motion detection unit 680 satisfies a predetermined motion condition. Based on this determination result, the information processing device 100 may transmit an instruction to the terminal device 600 to start receiving information from the sonic communication unit 701 or to transmit information based on the reception result. In this case, the detection result by the motion detection unit 680 may be transmitted from the terminal device 600 to the information processing device 100 together with information based on the reception result. In this case, the processing unit 140 may determine whether the detection result of the user's motion by the motion detection unit 680 satisfies a predetermined motion condition, and may acquire or determine terminal reception information according to the result.

[0143] An example of the operation performed by the dispensing system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described below. A user using the terminal device 600 brings the terminal device 600 close to the vending machine 700 in order to link the terminal device 600 and the vending machine 700 by communication using the sonic communication unit 701. In this case, information including the vending machine identifier of the vending machine 700 is transmitted from the terminal device 600 to the information processing device 100, and the information processing device 100 uses the transmitted information to determine whether or not an instruction condition regarding the dispensing of the product is satisfied. For example, a user using the terminal device 600 can use the terminal device 600 in a state in which a predetermined application operating on the terminal device 600 is operating, but this is not limited to this. For example, the terminal device 600 may be used by using a web application that becomes available by accessing a predetermined web page or the like using the terminal device 600.

[0144] FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the vending machine 700.

[0145] The following process is executed periodically or repeatedly by the vending machine processing unit 740 controlling each unit of the vending machine 700.

[0146] (Step S111) The vending machine processing unit 740 determines whether or not a preparation instruction for preparing for dispensing of a product has been accepted. In this embodiment, for example, the vending machine processing unit 740 determines whether or not an operation to press a selection button in a column has been accepted by the vending machine 700. If it is determined that a preparation instruction has been accepted, the process proceeds to step S112, and if not, the same process is repeated.

[0147] (Step S112) The vending machine processing unit 740 acquires the identification information transmitted from the information processing device 100, and acquires authentication information based on the identification information. For example, the vending machine processing unit 740 may acquire the identification information transmitted from the information processing device 100 at this opportunity, or may acquire the identification information received in advance and stored in the storage unit 110.

[0148] (Step S113) Vending machine processing unit 740 starts outputting authentication information and the like by sound waves through sound wave communication unit 701. In addition, vending machine processing unit 740 transmits the authentication information and the like to information processing device 100.

[0149] (Step S114) The vending machine processing unit 740 judges whether or not an instruction regarding dispensing of a product has been acquired from the information processing device 100. If it is determined that an instruction has been acquired, the process proceeds to step S117, and if not, the process proceeds to step S115.

[0150] (Step S115) The vending machine processing unit 740 determines whether or not a predetermined timeout period has elapsed from a predetermined start time (whether or not a timeout has occurred). The predetermined start time may be, for example, the timing at which a preparation instruction is received, but is not limited to this. For example, it may be the timing at which sound wave output begins, or the timing at which authentication information is acquired. If it is determined that a timeout has occurred, the process proceeds to step S116, and if not, the process returns to step S114. In other words, if a timeout has occurred without an instruction regarding dispensing based on the terminal received information being issued from the information processing device 100, the process proceeds to step S116.

[0151] (Step S116) The vending machine processing unit 740 performs an error action. The error action may include, for example, stopping a series of communication actions. The error action may also include outputting to the information processing device 100, the terminal device 600, or another device a message indicating that dispensing will not be performed as a result. The error action may also include an action of notifying a user in front of the vending machine 700 that an error has occurred, for example by displaying on a display unit or the like of the vending machine 700 that an error has occurred.

[0152] (Step S117) The vending machine processing unit 740 determines whether or not the dispensing conditions are satisfied. If it is determined that the dispensing conditions are satisfied, the process proceeds to step S118, and if not, the process proceeds to step S116.

[0153] (Step S118) The vending machine processing unit 740 sells the selected product. That is, the vending machine processing unit 740 dispenses the product contained in the product container unit 706 by the product dispensing unit 705.

[0154] When the process of step S116 or step S118 is performed, the series of operations ends.

[0155] FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the terminal device 600.

[0156] The following process is executed, for example, by the terminal processing unit 640 controlling each unit of the terminal device 600. The following process is started, for example, when a user using the terminal device 600 causes the vending machine 700 to dispense a product. More specifically, the following process may be started, for example, when an application executed to use the dispensing system 1 is started in the terminal device 600, or when a predetermined operation by the user is detected in the application. Note that the process may be started at a different timing.

[0157] In the following, an example is shown in which reception of sound waves is started by a predetermined operation being performed by the terminal device 600.

[0158] (Step S131) ​​The terminal processing unit 640 notifies the user that a predetermined operation is required to start communication with the vending machine 700. This may be referred to as an operation request being made. The notification may be made, for example, by displaying information on the display unit of the terminal device 600, but is not limited to this. This allows the user to recognize that a predetermined operation is required and to perform the operation.

[0159] (Step S132) The device processing unit 640 judges whether or not the detection result by the motion detection unit 680 detected within a predetermined time satisfies a predetermined motion condition. If it is judged that the motion condition is satisfied, the process proceeds to step S133, and if not, the process proceeds to step S135.

[0160] (Step S133) The device processing unit 640 starts receiving information transmitted from the sonic communication unit 701 via the device receiving unit 620 between the vending machine 700. In this case, the device processing unit 640 may notify the user that reception of information transmitted from the sonic communication unit 701 has started, that is, that sonic waves are being received. This allows the user to wait while taking care that the voice is being properly received.

[0161] (Step S134) The device processing unit 640 judges whether or not the acquisition of information transmitted from the sonic communication unit 701 is completed during the time from the predetermined start point until the predetermined time has elapsed. The predetermined start point can be, for example, the timing when the reception of sonic waves starts, but is not limited to this. If it is judged that the acquisition of information is completed, the process proceeds to step S136, and if not, the process proceeds to step S135.

[0162] (Step S135) The terminal processing unit 640 notifies the user that communication with the vending machine 700 could not be performed normally. In other words, it notifies the user that an error has occurred in the communication. The notification can be performed, for example, by displaying information on the display unit of the terminal device 600, but is not limited to this.

[0163] (Step S136) The terminal processing unit 640 transmits information based on the reception result to the information processing device 100. For example, the terminal processing unit 640 transmits to the information processing device 100 the transmission source identifier (i.e., the vending machine identifier) ​​received by sound waves and the authentication information.

[0164] (Step S137) The terminal processing unit 640 acquires the result information. The result information is, for example, information related to the result of communication between the terminal device 600 and the vending machine 700. More specifically, the result information may include, for example, information indicating that the communication has been completed normally, that the product has been dispensed, that the price has been paid, or other information. The terminal processing unit 640 can acquire the result information based on, for example, information transmitted from the information processing device 100. The information transmitted from the information processing device 100 may be the result information itself, or the result information may be acquired using the transmitted information. The terminal processing unit 640 may also acquire the result information using information transmitted from the vending machine 700.

[0165] (Step S138) The terminal processing unit 640 outputs information to the user based on the result information. This allows the user to recognize information based on the result information, such as, for example, that the communication has been completed normally, that the product has been dispensed, or that the price has been paid. The information can be displayed on the display unit of the terminal device 600, for example, but is not limited to this.

[0166] When the process of step S135 or step S138 ends, the series of processes ends.

[0167] FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the information processing device 100.

[0168] The following process is executed periodically or repeatedly by, for example, the processing unit 140 controlling each unit of the information processing device 100.

[0169] (Step S151) Processing unit 140 judges whether or not it is time to transmit identification information to information processing device 100. If it is judged that the timing has arrived, processing proceeds to step S152, otherwise, processing proceeds to step S153.

[0170] (Step S152) The processing unit 140 transmits the identification information to the information processing device 100.

[0171] (Step S153) The processing unit 140 judges whether or not authentication information, etc. has been received from the vending machine 700. If it is determined that authentication information, etc. transmitted by the vending machine 700 has been received, the process proceeds to step S156, and if not, the process ends.

[0172] (Step S154) The processing unit 140 performs a process of receiving information based on the reception result transmitted from the terminal device 600 for the vending machine 700. For example, the process is performed as follows.

[0173] FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing an example of a process for receiving information from the terminal device 600 in the information processing device 100. In FIG.

[0174] (Step S171) The processing unit 140 judges whether or not a result of communication using the sonic communication unit 701 has been received from the terminal device 600. If it is judged that a reception result of information by sonic communication has been received, the process proceeds to step S172, and if not, the process proceeds to step S174.

[0175] (Step S172) The processing unit 140 determines whether or not a specific condition is satisfied, using information including the authentication information and the transmission source identifier transmitted from the terminal device 600, and the authentication information and the transmission source identifier transmitted to the information processing device 100 by the sonic wave communication unit 701. If it is determined that the specific condition is satisfied, the process proceeds to step S173, and if not, the process proceeds to step S174.

[0176] (Step S173) The processing unit 140 acquires terminal reception information using information based on the reception result transmitted from the terminal device 600. For example, the processing unit 140 acquires terminal reception information including a transmission source identifier, that is, terminal reception information capable of identifying dispensing means information.

[0177] (Step S174) The processing unit 140 judges whether a predetermined time has come regarding the reception of information based on the reception result from the terminal device 600. The terminal reception information is acquired using the information based on the reception result transmitted from the terminal device 600. The predetermined time is, for example, a time when a predetermined time has elapsed since the authentication information or the like was received from the vending machine 700, but is not limited to this. If it is determined that the predetermined time has come, the process returns to the upper level process, and if not, the process returns to step S171. In other words, if a reception result from another terminal device 600 is received until the predetermined time comes, the processes of steps S172 and S173 are performed.

[0178] (Step S155) Returning to FIG. 9, the processing unit 140 identifies the order for each terminal device 600 from which terminal reception information has been acquired.

[0179] In step S156 and after, the process is sequentially performed for each of the terminal devices 600 whose order has been specified.

[0180] (Step S156) That is, the processing unit 140 sets the variable N to zero.

[0181] (Step S157) The processing unit 140 increments the variable N by one.

[0182] (Step S158) The processing unit 140 performs the following process for the Nth terminal device 600. That is, the processing unit 140 judges whether or not the instruction condition is satisfied for the terminal device 600. For example, the processing unit 140 judges whether or not the instruction condition is satisfied using the terminal reception information acquired for the terminal device 600. If it is judged that the instruction condition is satisfied, the process proceeds to step S159, and if not, the process proceeds to step S160.

[0183] (Step S159) Processing unit 140 outputs an instruction to dispense the product to vending machine 700. In the present embodiment, for example, when such an instruction is output, vending machine 700 determines that the dispensing condition is satisfied, and dispenses the product.

[0184] (Step S160) On the other hand, processing unit 140 outputs an instruction to vending machine 700 not to dispense the product. In the present embodiment, for example, by outputting such an instruction, vending machine 700 does not determine that the dispensing condition is satisfied and does not dispense the product.

[0185] (Step S161) The processing unit 140 judges whether or not there is a next terminal device 600. If it is judged that there is, the process returns to step S157, and processing is performed for that terminal device 600. If not, the series of processes ends.

[0186] A specific example of the flow of processing and operations performed using the dispensing system 1 according to this embodiment will be described below.

[0187] FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing a specific example of the processing and operation performed by using the dispensing system 1.

[0188] (Step S11) The user starts an application on the terminal device 600.

[0189] (Step S12) The user performs a product selection operation to select a product to be dispensed from the vending machine 700. An operation to select a product (column) is performed.

[0190] (Step S13) The vending machine 700 transmits a product identifier for identifying the selected product (column) to the information processing device 100. In this case, information indicating the price of the product may also be transmitted. The price of the product may be obtained in the information processing device 100 based on the product identifier.

[0191] (Step S14) The vending machine 700 transmits the identification information to the information processing device 100.

[0192] (Step S15) The vending machine 700 starts communication using the sound wave communication unit 701. Information is output by sound waves.

[0193] (Step S16) On the other hand, an action request to start receiving sound waves is made in the terminal device 600. For example, a display requesting the user to perform a predetermined action is output to the display unit of the terminal device 600.

[0194] (Step S17) The terminal device 600 detects that a predetermined action has been performed and determines that the action condition is satisfied.

[0195] (Step S18) The terminal device 600 starts receiving sound waves. Note that the terminal device 600 may be configured to notify the user that communication by sound waves will be performed. This allows the user to wait while taking care to ensure that the reception of sound waves is completed.

[0196] The process after the start of reception of sound waves is performed, for example, as in step S21 and subsequent steps.

[0197] (Step S21) The vending machine 700 transmits the authentication information acquired using the identification information and the vending machine identifier by sound waves using the sound wave communication unit 701. The terminal device 600 receives the sound waves to acquire this information.

[0198] (Step S22) Furthermore, the vending machine 700 transmits the authentication information and the vending machine identifier to the information processing device 100.

[0199] (Step S23) When the terminal device 600 has completed receiving the information transmitted using the sound wave communication unit 701, the terminal device 600 transmits the received information to the information processing device 100 in association with the user identifier.

[0200] (Step S24) The information processing device 100 identifies the terminal device 600 that cooperates with the vending machine 700 based on the information received in step S22 and the information received in step S23.

[0201] (Step S25) The information processing device 100 uses terminal reception information acquired based on information based on the reception result of the terminal device 600 to determine whether the instruction condition is satisfied.

[0202] (Step S26) The information processing device 100 transmits to the vending machine 700 an instruction to dispense the product.

[0203] (Step S27) The vending machine 700 determines that the dispensing conditions are met, and dispenses the selected product.

[0204] When the product is dispensed, the following operations are carried out in this example.

[0205] (Step S26) The information processing device 100 transmits result information to the terminal device 600.

[0206] (Step S27) Based on the result information, the terminal device 600 outputs information indicating the result of the operation, such as the fact that the product has been dispensed or the fact that the price has been paid, thereby letting the user know that the operation has ended.

[0207] When such processing and operations are performed, for example, a screen displayed on the display unit of the terminal device 600 by a client application running on the terminal device 600 will be as follows.

[0208] FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the terminal device 600. As shown in FIG.

[0209] FIG. 12 shows an example of a display screen on the display unit from when an application is started on the terminal device 600 until the product is dispensed.

[0210] That is, when the application is started, first, the action to be performed by the user is shown on the screen S1201. For example, the user is requested to operate the product selection button of the vending machine 700. Also, for example, the user is requested to perform a predetermined action to start receiving information output by sound waves. Here, an example is shown in which the user is requested to perform an action of holding the terminal device 600 in his / her hand and shaking it, but the predetermined action is not limited to this.

[0211] When a predetermined action is detected by the user and the action conditions are satisfied, communication by sound waves is performed. In this case, for example, a notification screen S1202 indicating that communication by sound waves is being performed is displayed on the terminal device 600.

[0212] When the communication by sound waves is completed, the terminal device 600 that communicates with the information processing device 100 is identified using the result, and when the instruction condition is satisfied, an instruction to dispense the product is given by the information processing device 100. Then, the product is dispensed by the vending machine 700. In this case, for example, a screen S1203 including result information is displayed on the terminal device 600. This allows the user to easily recognize that the product has been dispensed.

[0213] As described above, according to this embodiment, the vending machine 700 and the terminal device 600 communicate using the sonic communication unit 701, and depending on the communication result, the information processing device 100 can determine whether or not a predetermined condition related to the dispensing of a product using the vending machine 700 is satisfied. The communication between the vending machine 700 and the terminal device 600 can be realized by a relatively simple hardware configuration, and the dispensing of a product can be made using information stored in the terminal device 600 that is used for dispensing the product.

[0214] In addition, when two or more terminal devices 600 are present around the vending machine 700, even if two or more terminal devices 600 have transmitted information based on the reception results to the information processing device 100, it is determined whether or not a predetermined condition for dispensing a product is satisfied appropriately according to the order. Therefore, appropriate dispensing of products can be realized under various circumstances. Since information can be output to each of the two or more terminal devices 600 by sound waves, it becomes easier to dispense products using information used to dispense products from each terminal device 600.

[0215] The process in this embodiment may be realized by software. This software may be distributed by software download or the like. This software may be recorded on a recording medium such as an optical disk and distributed. The software for realizing the terminal device 600 of the dispensing system 1 in this embodiment is a program as follows. That is, this program is used to dispense products from a vending machine capable of communicating with an information processing device, and is executed by a computer of a terminal device having a terminal storage unit in which information used to dispense products from the vending machine is stored and a motion detection unit that detects a user's motion. The program causes the terminal device to execute a terminal reception step of receiving information transmitted from the vending machine by a communication means using sound waves, and a terminal transmission step of transmitting information based on the reception result of the information transmitted from the vending machine received by the terminal reception step together with information used to dispense products from the vending machine to the information processing device or the vending machine, and the reception by the terminal reception step or the transmission by the terminal transmission step is configured to be executed when it is determined that the detection result by the motion detection unit satisfies a predetermined operation condition.

[0216] Moreover, the software for realizing the vending machine 700 of the dispensing system 1 in this embodiment is the following program. That is, this program is a program executed by a computer of a vending machine having a sound wave output unit that outputs sound waves and a function of dispensing a commodity to a user using a terminal device in which information used for dispensing a commodity is stored, and causes the vending machine to execute a reception step of receiving a predetermined instruction for preparing the vending machine for dispensing a commodity, a sound wave communication step of starting to transmit, to the terminal device, authentication information for authenticating the vending machine and a transmission source identifier capable of identifying the vending machine by sound waves using the sound wave output unit when the predetermined instruction is received in the reception step, and a vending machine reception step of receiving an instruction regarding dispensing of a commodity transmitted from another device according to the communication result using the sound wave output unit.

[0217] In this embodiment, it can be said that the following product dispensing method is used when dispensing products using the vending machine to a user using the terminal device, using a vending machine and an information processing device capable of communicating with at least one of the vending machine and a terminal device in which information used to dispense products from the vending machine is stored. This product dispensing method can be said to include a communication step in which the vending machine transmits authentication information for authenticating the vending machine and a transmission source identifier capable of identifying the vending machine to the terminal device by sound waves using a sound wave output unit, an acquisition step in which the information processing device acquires terminal reception information based on information transmitted from the terminal device to the information processing device based on a reception result of the information transmitted to the terminal device using the sound wave output unit, and information used to dispense products from the vending machine transmitted from the terminal device to the information processing device, a judgment step in which the information processing device judges whether or not a predetermined condition related to dispensing products using the vending machine is satisfied using the information acquired in the acquisition step, and an output step in which the information processing device outputs an instruction related to dispensing products according to the judgment result of the judgment step.

[0218] (others)

[0219] In addition, in the above program, the transmitting step of transmitting information and the receiving step of receiving information do not include processing performed by hardware, such as processing performed by a modem or interface card in the transmitting step (processing that is performed only by hardware).

[0220] The program may be executed by a single computer or a plurality of computers, that is, centralized processing or distributed processing may be performed.

[0221] In the above-described embodiments, two or more components present in one device may be physically realized on one medium.

[0222] In the above embodiment, each component may be configured by dedicated hardware, or a component that can be realized by software may be realized by executing a program. For example, each component may be realized by a program execution unit such as a CPU reading and executing a software program recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk or a semiconductor memory. During execution, the program execution unit may execute the program while accessing a storage unit or a recording medium. The program may be executed by being downloaded from a server or the like, or may be executed by reading a program recorded on a predetermined recording medium (for example, an optical disk, a magnetic disk, a semiconductor memory, etc.). The program may be used as a program constituting a program product. The computer that executes the program may be single or multiple. That is, centralized processing may be performed, or distributed processing may be performed.

[0223] Furthermore, in the above embodiments, each process (each function) may be realized by centralized processing by a single device (system), or may be realized by distributed processing by multiple devices (in this case, the entire system made up of multiple devices performing distributed processing can be considered as a single "device").

[0224] In addition, in the above embodiments, the transfer of information between each component may be performed, for example, by one component outputting information and the other component receiving information if the two components transferring the information are physically different, or, if the two components transferring the information are physically the same, by shifting from a processing phase corresponding to one component to a processing phase corresponding to the other component.

[0225] In the above embodiment, information related to the processing performed by each component, such as information accepted, acquired, selected, generated, transmitted, or received by each component, and information such as thresholds, formulas, and addresses used by each component in processing, may be temporarily or long-term stored in a recording medium (not shown) even if not specified in the above description. Furthermore, each component or a storage unit (not shown) may store information in the recording medium (not shown). Furthermore, each component or a reading unit (not shown) may read information from the recording medium (not shown).

[0226] In the above embodiment, if the information used by each component, such as the thresholds, addresses, and various setting values ​​used by each component in processing, may be changed by the user, the user may or may not be able to change the information as appropriate, even if not specified in the above description. If the information is changeable by the user, the change may be realized, for example, by a reception unit (not shown) that receives a change instruction from the user, and a change unit (not shown) that changes the information in response to the change instruction. The reception unit (not shown) may receive the change instruction from an input device, may receive information transmitted via a communication line, or may receive information read from a predetermined recording medium.

[0227] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible, which are also included within the scope of the present invention.

[0228] The present invention is not limited to the configurations of the above-described embodiments, and each of the components of the above-described embodiments may be replaced or combined with other components as appropriate. In addition, some of the components or functions of the above-described embodiments may be omitted. [Industrial Applicability]

[0229] As described above, the dispensing system of the present invention has the effect of making it possible to determine whether or not predetermined conditions regarding the dispensing of products using a vending machine are satisfied by a method that does not necessarily require equipment with a complex configuration, and is useful as a dispensing system, etc. [Explanation of symbols]

[0230] 1. Payment System 100 Information processing device 110 Storage area 111 Vending machine information storage unit 113 Product information storage section 115 User information storage section 120 Receiving unit 130 Reception 140 Processing section 141 Identification information transmission unit 145 Acquisition Department 151 Judgment Department 160 Output section 170 Transmitter 600 Terminal Equipment 610 Terminal storage section 620 Terminal receiving unit 630 Terminal Reception 640 Terminal Processing Unit 660 Terminal Output Unit 670 Terminal Transmitter 680 Motion detection unit 690 Terminal Acquisition Department 691 Mike 700 Vending Machines 701 Sonic Communication Department 703 Sonic output unit 705 Product Delivery Department 706 Product Storage Section 707 Treasury Department 708 Display device 709 Vending machine control unit 710 Vending machine storage area 720 Vending Machine Communication Department 730 Vending Machine Reception 740 Vending Machine Processing Unit

Claims

1. A dispensing system including a vending machine, a terminal device storing information used for dispensing a commodity from the vending machine, and an information processing device capable of communicating with at least one of the vending machine and the terminal device, the system being used when dispensing a commodity using the vending machine to a user using the terminal device, a sound wave communication unit provided in the vending machine and configured to be able to transmit authentication information for authenticating the vending machine and a transmission source identifier capable of identifying the vending machine to the terminal device by a communication means using sound waves; an acquisition unit provided in the information processing device, which acquires terminal reception information based on information transmitted from the terminal device to the information processing device based on a reception result of information transmitted to the terminal device by the sonic wave communication unit, and information used for dispensing products from the vending machine transmitted from the terminal device to the information processing device; A dispensing system comprising: a judgment unit provided in the information processing device, which judges whether or not a predetermined condition regarding the dispensing of a product using the vending machine is satisfied using the information acquired by the acquisition unit.

2. The dispensing system of claim 1, wherein the acoustic communication unit is configured to start transmitting the authentication information and the transmission source identifier when a specified instruction for preparing the vending machine to dispense a product is received.

3. the sonic wave communication unit is further configured to transmit the authentication information and the transmission source identifier to the information processing device, The dispensing system according to claim 1 , wherein the judgment unit is configured to make the judgment using the information acquired by the acquisition unit and the information transmitted to the information processing device by the ultrasonic communication unit.

4. an identification information transmitting unit provided in the information processing device and transmitting identification information related to a time code; the sonic wave communication unit is configured to be able to transmit to the terminal device the authentication information based on the identification information transmitted from the information processing device, A dispensing system as described in claim 1, wherein the judgment unit is configured to make the judgment using the identification information transmitted by the identification information transmission unit and the terminal reception information acquired by the acquisition unit.

5. The determination unit is configured to be able to identify an order for each of the two or more terminal devices that have transmitted information corresponding to a reception result of the information transmitted by the sonic communication unit of one of the vending machines, and to make the predetermined determination for each of the two or more terminal devices based on the result of identifying the order; The dispensing system according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined condition includes a condition that the result of the judgment of the order of the terminal device to be judged is within a predetermined number of 1 or more.

6. The dispensing system of claim 5, wherein the determination unit is configured to determine the order based on time information related to information corresponding to the reception results transmitted by each of two or more of the terminal devices.

7. The dispensing system of claim 1, wherein the specified condition includes that the number of terminal devices that have transmitted information to the information processing device based on the reception result of the information transmitted by the ultrasonic communication unit of one of the vending machines is a specified number of two or more.

8. A vending machine having a function of dispensing a commodity to a user who uses a terminal device in which information used for dispensing the commodity is stored, a sound wave communication unit configured to be able to transmit, to the terminal device, authentication information for authenticating the vending machine and a transmission source identifier capable of identifying the vending machine by a communication means using sound waves; a vending machine control unit that controls the sonic communication unit to start transmitting the authentication information and the transmission source identifier when a predetermined instruction for preparing the vending machine to dispense a product is received; a vending machine receiving unit that receives instructions regarding the dispensing of products transmitted from another device in response to a communication result using the sonic communication unit.

9. A terminal device used to dispense products from a vending machine capable of communicating with an information processing device, a terminal storage unit in which information used to dispense products from the vending machine is stored; A terminal receiving unit that receives information transmitted from the vending machine by a communication means using sound waves; a terminal transmitting unit that transmits information based on a reception result of the information transmitted from the vending machine received by the terminal receiving unit to the information processing device or the vending machine together with information used to dispense a product from the vending machine; A motion detection unit that detects a user's motion, A terminal device configured to perform reception by the terminal receiving unit or transmission by the terminal transmitting unit when it is determined that the detection result by the motion detection unit satisfies a predetermined motion condition.

10. A product dispensing method using a vending machine having a sound wave output unit that outputs sound waves, and an information processing device capable of communicating with at least one of the vending machine and a terminal device storing information used for dispensing products from the vending machine, the method being used when dispensing products using the vending machine to a user using the terminal device, the method comprising: a communication step of transmitting, by the vending machine, authentication information for authenticating the vending machine and a transmission source identifier capable of identifying the vending machine to the terminal device by sound waves using the sound wave output unit; an acquisition step of acquiring, by the information processing device, terminal reception information based on information transmitted from the terminal device to the information processing device based on a reception result of information transmitted to the terminal device using the sound wave output unit, and information used for dispensing products from the vending machine that is transmitted from the terminal device to the information processing device; a determination step of determining, by the information processing device, whether or not a predetermined condition related to the dispensing of a commodity using the vending machine is satisfied using the information acquired by the acquisition step; an output step of outputting, by the information processing device, an instruction regarding the dispensing of the product depending on the result of the determination step.

11. A program executed by a computer of a vending machine having a sound wave output unit that outputs sound waves and a function of dispensing a product to a user using a terminal device in which information used for dispensing a product is stored, The vending machine, a receiving step of receiving a predetermined instruction for preparing the vending machine for dispensing a commodity; a sonic wave communication step of starting to transmit, when the predetermined instruction is received by the receiving step, authentication information for authenticating the vending machine and a transmission source identifier capable of identifying the vending machine to the terminal device by sonic waves using the sonic wave output unit; and a vending machine receiving step of receiving an instruction regarding the dispensing of a commodity transmitted from another device in response to a communication result using the sound wave output unit.

12. A program executed by a computer of a terminal device that is used to dispense a product from a vending machine that can communicate with an information processing device, the program comprising: a terminal storage unit that stores information used to dispense the product from the vending machine; and a motion detection unit that detects a user's motion, The terminal device, a terminal receiving step of receiving information transmitted from the vending machine by a communication means using sound waves; a terminal transmission step of transmitting information based on a reception result of the information transmitted from the vending machine received in the terminal reception step, together with information used for dispensing a commodity from the vending machine, to the information processing device or to the vending machine; The program is configured to execute the reception by the terminal reception step or the transmission by the terminal transmission step when it is determined that the detection result by the motion detection unit satisfies a predetermined motion condition.

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