Technique for automatic tracking of cassette rentals and managing of information related thereto

• US 4,839,875 A
• Filed: 05/14/1987
• Issued: 06/13/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/1986
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Anritsu Corporation, DAN, Yuasa Shoji Company
• Original Assignee: Anritsu Corporation, DAN, Yuasa Shoji Company
• Inventors: Takeuchi, Teruo, Aoba, Masaho, Kuriyama, Zenkichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Faber, Alan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Weinhardt, Robert A.
• Application Number:
  US07/050,711
• Time in Patent Office: 761 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/376, 235/377, 235/380, 235/381, 235/383, 235/385, 235/419, 235/492, 235/432, 235/488, 235/487, 340/825.35, 364/401, 364/402, 364/403, 364/410, 364/478, 364/479, 369/14, 369/33, 369/34, 369/30, 360/132, 360/137, 360/91, 360/92, 360/96.5, 371/66
• US Class Current: 369/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/069 by box-like containers, e.g. videocassettes, books
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/655 Memory in cassette [MIC]
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/90 Tape-like record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/11 by using information not detectable on the record carrier

Abstract

A rental control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes is disclosed. Each cassette internally contains an article such as a recorded information medium, with an IC circuit for storing commodity information concerning the article, and a signal output unit for transferring the commodity information of the IC circuit to outside. For controlling the cassettes, the rent control system further comprises a plurality of shelves and a controller. The plurality of shelves respectively accommodate the cassettes to be controlled. The controller is provided in connection with the plurality of shelves, and includes a plurality of signal input unit for receiving signals from the signal output units of the cassettes, and a memory coupled with the control circuit so as to store signals from the plurality of signal input units.

Claims

1. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:

a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;

a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and

control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store signals from said plurality of signal input means;

wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf;

a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number;

a timer for measuring time from the instant that said detector detects the pull-out of the cassette from the shelf;

rent registering means for registering rent information into the rent information area of the table corresponding to the number of the shelf from which said cassette is pulled out, in response to a rent key operation which has been done before the time measures a predetermined allowance time;

status pending registering means for registering status pending information into the rent information area of the table corresponding to the number of the shelf from which said cassette has been pulled out, in response to the end of the allowance time measured by said time.

2. The rent control system according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf;

a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number;

main body controller for performing the read and write of information for the rent control memory;

signal transfer means provided between said shelf and said cassette, and for performing data transfer to and from said IC circuit and said main body controller when said cassette is set in said shelf;

rent registering means for registering, after said detector detects the pull-out of the cassette from the shelf, the rent information into the rent information area of the table corresponding to the shelf number of the cassette pulled-out shelf;

commodity information reading means for reading out, after said detector detects the cassette insertion into the shelf, the commodity information of the inserted cassette via said signal transfer means;

return registering means for registering the return information into the rent information area of the table, which stores the read out commodity information; and

arrears registering means for registering the arrears information into said rent information area, when the rent term from said rent registration to said return registration exceeds a specified rent term.

3. The rent control system according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf;

a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number;

main body controller for performing the read and write of information for the rent control memory;

signal transfer means provided between said shelf and said cassette, and for performing data transfer to and from said IC circuit and said main body controller when said cassette is set in said shelf;

rent registering means for registering, after said detector detects the pull-out of the cassette from the shelf, the rent information including rent time into the rent information area of the table corresponding to the number of the shelf from which said article has been pulled out;

commodity information reading means for reading out, in response to the detection by the detector of cassette insertion into the shelf, the commodity information of the inserted cassette via said signal transfer means; and

retraction registering means for retracting the rent information of the table storing the read out commodity information, if the time elapsed from the rent time when the read out commodity information is stored into the rent information area of said table until the insertion time of the cassette, is shorter than a predetermined during of said allowance time.

4. The rent control system according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf;

a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number;

rent registering means for registering, in response to a rent key operation performed after said detector has detected the pulling of the cassette from the shelf, the rent information into the rent information area of the table associated with the shelf number of the cassette pulled-out shelf; and

rent slip issuing means for printing said registered rent information on a rent slip.

5. The rent control system according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf;

a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number;

rent registering means for registering, in response to the rent key operation performed after said detector has detected the pulling of the cassette from the shelf, the rent information into the rent information area of the table associated with the shelf number of the cassette pulled-out shelf; and

rent slip issuing means for printing said registered rent information on a rent slip;

single discounting means for registering, in response to a discount key operation performed before a rent key is operated, discount information into the rent information area of the table corresponding to the number of the shelf from which the article has been pulled out just before the discount key is operated, and whole discounting means for registering, in response to the discount key operation after said rent key is operated, discount information into the respective rent information areas of the tables associated with the shelf numbers of all the shelves from which the cassettes have been pulled out before the rent key is operated.

6. The rent control system according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf;

a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number;

main body controller for performing the read and write of information for the rent control memory;

signal transfer means provided between said shelf and said cassette, for performing data transfer to and from said IC circuit and said main body controller when said cassette is set in said shelf;

commodity information reading means for reading out, when said detector detects the insertion of the article into the shelf, the commodity information of the inserted article via said signal transfer means;

working selector means having a registering work mode for registering commodity information into said rent control memory;

commodity information registering means for storing said read out commodity information into the commodity information area of the corresponding table provided in the rent control memory, when the registering work mode is set in the working selector means.

7. The rent control system according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the insertion of the cassette into the shelf;

a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number;

main body controller for performing the read and write of information for the rent control memory;

working selector means having delete work mode for deleting the commodity information stored in said rent control memory;

rent information printing means for printing the rent information stored in the table associated with the number of shelf from which said article has been pulled out when the delete work mode is set in the working selector means, when said detector detects the pull-out of said cassette from the shelf;

commodity information delete means for clearing the rent information and commodity information in the table with the number of the shelf from which said article has been pulled out.

8. The rent control system according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf;

a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of at least a commodity information area for storing commodity information and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number;

main body controller for performing the read and write of information for the rent control memory;

signal transfer means provided between said shelf and said cassette, and for performing data transfer to and from said IC circuit and said main body controller when said cassette is set in said shelf number clear means for clearing, when it is detected that said cassette is pulled from the shelf, the shelf number stored in the shelf number area of the table associated with the number of the shelf from which said article has been pulled out;

commodity information reading means for reading out, when the detector detects the insertion of the cassette into the shelf, the commodity information of the inserted cassette via said signal transfer means;

table search means for searching for the commodity information areas of said tables by using the read out commodity information; and

shelf number setting means for storing the number of the shelf into which said cassette has been inserted, into the shelf number area searched by said table search means.

9. The rent control system according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of shelf means constitute rack means having each a pair of upper and lower members arranged in parallel whose surfaces facing each other have first and second guide grooves along which cassettes are slidably guided;

at least one stopper which limits the insertion of cassette when it is inserted along said guide grooves;

means for preventing the cassette from slipping off the guide grooves, said means being a stepped portion formed upwardly at the entrance portion for cassette insertion of said second guide groove; and

means for detecting that the cassette reaches said at least one stopper.

10. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:

a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;

a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and

control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store signals from said plurality of signal input means;

wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf;

a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number;

main body controller for performing the read and write of information for the rent control memory;

signal transfer means provided between said shelf and said cassette, and for performing data transfer to and from said IC circuit and said main body controller when said cassette is set in said shelf;

rent registering means for registering, after said detector detects the pull-out of the cassette from the shelf, the rent information into the rent information area of the table corresponding to the shelf number of the cassette pulled-out shelf;

commodity information reading means for reading out, after said detector detects the cassette insertion into the shelf, the commodity information of the inserted cassette via said signal transfer means;

return registering means for registering the return information into the rent information area of the table, which stores the read out commodity information; and

arrears registering means for registering the arrears information into said rent information area, when the rent term from said rent registration to said return registration exceeds a specified rent term.

11. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:

a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;

a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and

control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store signals from said plurality of signal input means;

wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf;

a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number;

main body controller for performing the read and write of information for the rent control memory;

signal transfer means provided between said shelf and said cassette, and for performing data transfer to and from said IC circuit and said main body controller when said cassette is set in said shelf;

rent registering means for registering, after said detector detects the pull-out of the cassette from the shelf, the rent information including rent time into the rent information area of the table corresponding to the number of the shelf from which said article has been pulled out;

commodity information reading means for reading out, in response to the detection by the detector of cassette insertion into the shelf, the commodity information of the inserted cassette via said signal transfer means; and

retraction registering means for retracting the rent information of the table storing the read out commodity information, if the time elapsed from the rent time when the read out commodity information is stored into the rent information area of said table until the insertion time of the cassette, is shorter than a predetermined retractable allowance time.

12. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:

a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;

a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and

control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store signals from said plurality of signal input means;

wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf;

a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number;

rent registering means for registering, in response to a rent key operation performed after said detector has detected the pulling of the cassette from the shelf, the rent information into the rent information area of the table associated with the shelf number of the cassette pulled-out shelf; and

rent slip issuing means for printing said registered rent information on a rent slip.

13. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:

a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;

a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and

control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store signals from said plurality of signal input means;

wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf;

a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number;

rent registering means for registering, in response to the rent key operation performed after said detector has detected the pulling of the cassette from the shelf, the rent information into the rent information area of the table associated with the shelf number of the cassette pulled-out shelf; and

rent slip issuing means for printing said registered rent information on a rent slip;

single discounting means for registering, in response to a discount key operation performed before a rent key is operated, discount information into the rent information area of the table corresponding to the number of the shelf from which the article has been pulled out just before the discount key is operated, and whole discounting means for registering, in response to the discount key operation after said rent key is operated, discount information into the respective rent information areas of the tables associated with the shelf number of all the shelves from which the cassettes have been pulled out before the rent key is operated.

14. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:

a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;

a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and

control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store signals from said plurality of signal input means;

wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf;

a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number;

main body controller for performing the read and write of information for the rent control memory;

signal transfer means provided between said shelf and said cassette, for performing data transfer to and from said IC circuit and said main body controller when said cassette is set in said shelf;

commodity information reading means for reading out, when said detector detects the insertion of the article into the shelf, the commodity information of the inserted article via said signal transfer means;

working selector means having a registering work mode for registering commodity information into said rent control memory;

commodity information registering means for storing said read out commodity information into the commodity information area of the corresponding table provided in the rent control memory, when the registering work mode is set in the working selector means.

15. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:

a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;

a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and

control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store signals from said plurality of signal input means;

wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the insertion of the cassette into the shelf;

a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of a commodity information area for storing commodity information, a rent information area for storing rent information, and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number;

main body controller for performing the read and write of information for the rent control memory;

working selector means having delete work mode for deleting the commodity information stored in said rent control memory;

rent information printing means for printing the rent information stored in the table associated with the number of shelf from which said article has been pulled out when the delete work mode is set in the working selector means, when said detector detect the pull-out of said cassette from the shelf;

commodity information delete means for clearing the rent information and commodity information in the table with the number of the shelf from which said article has been pulled out.

16. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:

a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;

a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and

control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store signals from said plurality of signal input means;

wherein said control means includes detectors provided in said respective shelves, each detecting the cassette insertion into the shelf;

a rent control memory including a plurality of tables respectively corresponding to said cassettes, said tables each consisting of at least a commodity information area for storing commodity information and a shelf number area for storing a shelf number;

main body controller for performing the read and write of information for the rent control memory;

signal transfer means provided between said shelf and said cassette, and for performing data transfer to and from said IC circuit and said main body controller when said cassette is set in said shelf;

shelf number clear means for clearing, when it is detected that said cassette is pulled from the shelf, the shelf number stored in the shelf number area of the table associated with the number of the shelf from which said article has been pulled out;

commodity information reading means for reading out, when the detector detects the insertion of the cassette into the shelf, the commodity information of the inserted cassette via said signal transfer means;

table search means for searching for the commodity information areas of said tables by using the read out commodity information; and

shelf number setting means for storing the number of the shelf into which said cassette has been inserted, into the shelf number area searched by said table search means.

17. A rent control system for controlling the rent and return of cassettes, said system comprising:

a plurality of cassettes to be controlled, each internally containing an article, and being provided with IC circuit means for storing commodity information concerning said article, and signal output means for transferring said commodity information stored in said IC circuit means to outside;

a plurality of shelf means for respectively accommodating a plurality of said cassettes to be controlled; and

control means connected with said plurality of shelf means, and having a plurality of signal input means for receiving signals from said signal output means of said cassettes, and memory means being coupled with said control means so as to store signals from said plurality of signal input means;

wherein said plurality of shelf means constitute rack means having each a pair of upper and lower members arranged in parallel whose surfaces facing each other have first and second guide grooves along which cassettes are slidably guided;

at least one stopper which limits the insertion of cassette when it is inserted along said guide grooves;

means for preventing the cassette from slipping off the guide grooves, said means being a stepped portion formed upwardly at the entrance portion for cassette insertion of said second guide groove; and

means for detecting that the cassette reaches said at least one stopper.