EP0286130A2
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EP
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Automatic article renting machine
Assignee: Omron Corp
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Filing: 1988-04-08
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2008-04-08
Abstract
Abstract In an automatic article renting machine, when a customer rents a new article (e.g. videocassette), since the number of videocassettes now being rent by the customer is checked and an additional renting is prohibited when the checked number exceeds a predetermined value, it is possible to prevent limitless videocassette renting to the same customer and to urge the customer to return videocassettes. Further, since the rental fee and the rental period are adjusted according to days of the week, it is possible to make uniform the videocassette renting business through the week. Further, even when a bar code indicative of the videocassette number is defective and therefore non-readable, since the customer can return the defective videocassette by inserting an ID card and by indicating the videocassette number, it is possible to prevent the customer from paying extra rental fee.
Inventors
- 👤 Shinya Omron Tateisi Electronics Co. Yoshida
- 👤 Masanao Omron Tateisi Electronics Co. Nakagawa
- 👤 Hajime Omron Tateisi Electronics Co. Takebayashi
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-28 01:46
CPC Classifications
G; G07; G07F; G07F7/00; G07F7/06; G07F7/069
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 6
Claim 1
Independent Claim
105 words
An automatic article renting machine (1) comprising: article accommodating means (50) having a plurality of compartments (50a) in which articles are held, each article having an identification code (II); an article rental/return slot (9); article conveying means (35, 51) for moving an article between each compartment and the article rental/return slot; rental processing means (20, 21) for causing the conveying means to convey a designated article from the compartment to the rental/return slot; and return processing means (20, 21) for causing the conveying means to convey a returned article from the rental/return slot to a compartment in which the returned article is to be held.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
105 words
An automatic article renting machine (1) comprising: article accommodating means (50) having a plurality of compartments (50a) in which articles are held, each article having an identification code (II); an article rental/return slot (9); article conveying means (35, 51) for moving an article between each compartment and the article rental/return slot; rental processing means (20, 21) for causing the conveying means to convey a designated article from the compartment to the rental/return slot; and return processing means (20, 21) for causing the conveying means to convey a returned article from the rental/return slot to a compartment in which the returned article is to be held.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
96 words
An automatic article renting machine as defined in claim 1 further comprising: means (30) for inputting an identification data of a customer; file means for storing the number of articles being rented for each customer identification data; means, whenever an article is rented by a customer, for determining the number of articles being rented for the customer identification data of the customer on the basis of the data stored in the file means; and means for prohibiting the rental processing by the rental processing means when the number of articles being rented exceeds a predetermined number.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
157 words
An automatic article renting machine as defined in claim 1 or 2 further comprising: a management table for recording at least one of rental fee and rental period for each identification code of the article to be rented; means for settling rental fee being paid by at least one of cash or card on the basis of the data in the management table; at least one of a rental fee table in which rental fees are adjusted according to days of the week and a rental period table in which rental periods are determined for each day of the week; a calender clock (29) for counting days of the week; and means for determining at least one of a today's rental fee or a today's rental period in the management table with reference to a day of the week indicated by the calendar clock and at least one of the rental fee table and rental period table.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
71 words
An automatic article renting machine as defined in claim 3 further comprising: operation mode selecting means for selecting any one of the rental fee table and rental period table, and wherein the determining means determines a today's rental fee or a today's rental period in the management table with reference to the day of the week indicated by the calendar clock and the table selected by the operation mode selecting means.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
207 words
An automatic article renting machine as defined in claim 1, 2 or 3 further comprising: first means (34) for reading the identification code on the article; second means (30) for reading an identification data recorded on a card of a customer; the rental processing means for storing a customer identification data read from the card and a identification code read from an article to be rented or a code related to the article to be rented in corresponding relation to each other as rental data; the return processing means for performing a return processing on the basis of the rental data corresponding to the identification code read from the returned article; means for allowing the customer card to be inserted into the second means, when an identification code on a returned article is not readable by the first means; means for allowing a data for identifying the returned article to be inputted; the return processing means for performing an article return processing on the basis of a rental data specified by the customer identification data read by the second means and the inputted article identifying data; and means for inhibiting an article whose identification code is not readable from being rented again by the rental processing means.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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