VENDING MACHINE WITH HALF MIRROR SIGNBOARD Technical Field The present invention relates to an automatic vending machine having a half mirror signboard, and more particularly, to an automatic vending machine having a half mirror signboard adapted such that a half mirror functions as a mirror when money is not inserted into the vending machine and adapted such that an advertising effect can be maximized by displaying information printed on a film adhered to the back of the half mirror by turning on an illuminating means provided at the rear of the half mirror when money is inserted into the vending machine.

Background Art In general, an automatic vending machine is a device in which commodities are stored and when money corresponding to a predetermined amount required to purchase a desired commodity is inserted into the vending machine and then a commodity selection button is pressed, the desired commodity is ejected through an outlet. The automatic vending machine is an unmanned selling system, which eliminates purchasers'inconvenience in purchasing commodities and removes the need of providing a separate store or place for selling commodities.

Although the conventional automatic vending machine is convenient in purchasing and selling commodities, it has limitations to advertisement for providing information on commodity features and advantages and arousing customers'interest.

In particular, since advertisement is performed by using a prefabricated film containing information previously printed on a signboard provided in the automatic vending machine, a commodity being currently intended to be purchased can not be timely advertised.

Thus, it is crucially necessary for an automatic vending machine to be equipped with a function of advertising consumers on commodities as well as a function of selling commodities. In order to promote the advertising effect, a particular image has been printed or colored on the automatic vending machine or a commodity display unit has been designed in a characteristic manner. However, these methods have been limited in that features or advantages of commodities could not been properly informed to

customers, that is, the advertising efficiency is undesirably poor, and could not attract the attention of customers.

Disclosure of the Invention To solve the above-described problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic vending machine having a half mirror signboard, in which a signboard is formed in the form of a half mirror functioning as a mirror, an illuminating means is provided at the rear of the half mirror, and a film on which advertisement information is printed is provided on the back of the half mirror, wherein the illuminating means is turned on when money is not inserted into the automatic vending machine to project the advertisement information printed on the back of the half mirror and the illuminating means is turned off to make the half mirror function as a mirror, thereby enhancing advertisement efficiency.

To accomplish the above object of the present invention, there is provided an automatic vending machine having a half mirror signboard, including a signboard unit positioned on the front surface or left or right surface of the automatic vending machine, a slot through which money is inserted into the automatic vending machine, a commodity selection button for selecting a desired commodity, and an outlet through which the selected commodity is ejected, wherein the signboard unit includes a half mirror functioning as a mirror and having a film on the back of which images corresponding advertising information for commodities are printed, and an illuminating means which is positioned at the rear of the half mirror and to which power is not applied when the money is inserted through the slot, and power is applied when the selected commodity is ejected through the outlet.

Also, the automatic vending machine may further include a sensor for detecting that a passerby gets closer to the automatic vending machine, to allow the half mirror signboard unit functioning as a mirror to be served as a signboard for displaying advertisement information.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which: FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an automatic vending machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an automatic vending machine according to a second embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a plane sectional view of an automatic vending machine according to a third embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a portion"A"shown in FIG. 3.

Best mode for carrying out the Invention The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, an automatic vending machine 1 according to the present invention includes a signboard unit 2 provided in front of or in the left and right surface thereof, and a slot 3 provided in the vicinity of its center and through which money corresponding to a predetermined amount required to purchase a desired commodity is inserted into the vending machine, a commodity selection button 4 for selecting a desired commodity, and an outlet 5 through which the selected commodity is ejected.

In accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG.

1, the signboard unit 2 includes a half mirror 10 functioning as a mirror and an illuminating means 11 positioned at the rear of the half mirror 10. A film 12 on which advertisement information is printed is provided on the back of the half mirror 10.

The above-described automatic vending machine operates as follows. If money is inserted through the slot 3, the power of the illuminating means 11 is turned off. Then, if the selected commodity is ejected through the outlet 5, the power is applied to the illuminating means 11. In other words, when the money is not inserted through the slot 3, since the illuminating means is on, the light from the illuminating means 11 is transmitted through the half mirror 10, so that the advertisement information of the film 12 provided on the back of the half mirror 10 is projected

through the half mirror 10. If the money is inserted through the slot 3, the power of the illuminating means 11 is interrupted, so that the half mirror 10 functions as a mirror.

Here, even when the power is applied to the illuminating means 11 in a reverse manner, the same operational effect is exerted. In other words, when the money is not injected through the slot 3, the illuminating means 11 is off, so that the half mirror 10 functions as a mirror. When the money is inserted, power is applied to the illuminating means 11, so that the advertisement information of the film 12 is projected through the half mirror 10.

In accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, a sensor 13, such as a distance sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor or an illuminometer, is further provided in the vicinity of the half mirror 10. Thus, when a passerby gets closer to the automatic vending machine 1 or it gets dark, the illuminating means 11 is turned on/off according to the sensing result by the sensor 13, so that the advertisement information of the film 12 is displayed or the half mirror 10 is made to function as a mirror.

In accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of images of advertisement information printed on the film 12 provided on the back of the half mirror 10 are provided, wherein the images corresponding to the advertisement information are finely partitioned into several parts to be alternately printed. Also, a driver 20 for driving the film 12 is provided, and an opaque filter band 21 is provided between the half mirror 10 and the film 12 for preventing projection of an image (a). In this case, the filter band 21 is configured such that a projection layer 22 and a non-projection layer 23 are alternately formed.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, if power is applied to the illuminating means 11, the power is also applied to the driver 20. Thus, the film 12 is moved up and down or left and right, so that one image (b) printed on the film 12 is positioned on the projection layer 22 while the other image (a) is positioned on the non-projection layer 23, thereby displaying the figure positioned on the projection layer 22. Then, if the film 12 is continuously moved by the driver 20, the image (a) positioned on the non-projection layer 23 is moved to be positioned on the projection layer 22 and the image (b) previously positioned on the projection layer 22 is moved to be positioned on the non-projection layer 23. Thus, when viewed from the front side of the half mirror 10,

different images are alternately displayed.

Here, a control operation can be performed such that only when the commodity selection button 4 is pressed, power is applied to the driver 20 to move the film 12, and when the commodity selection button 4 is not pressed, only a still image is displayed.

Thus, when a plurality of commodities are ejected from the automatic vending machine 1, the money corresponding to the number of commodities is inserted, the commodity selection button 4 is continuously pressed after a commodity is ejected until the inserted money is used up. Whenever the commodity selection button 4 is pressed, power is applied to the driver 20, so that an image different from the previously displayed image is projected, which captivates the attention of passersby, thereby enhancing the advertising effect.

Also, as shown in FIG. 2, in the case where the automatic vending machine 1 is provided with the sensor 13, whenever it is detected by the sensor 13 that a passerby walks past the automatic vending machine 1, the driver 20 is controlled to be turned on according to application of power to allow different images to be displayed, thereby further increasing the advertising effect.

Therefore, according to the present invention, when money is inserted to purchase a commodity from the automatic vending machine 1 or when a passerby walks past the automatic vending machine 1, the illuminating means 11 provided at the rear of the half mirror 10 is turned on or off, so that the image printed on the film 12 provided on the back of the half mirror 10 is projected or the half mirror 10 functions as a mirror.

If a desired commodity is ejected from the automatic vending machine 1 or if a predetermined time elapses after the passerby walked past the automatic vending machine 1, the automatic vending machine 1 returns to the original state, captivating consumers'attention, thereby maximizing the advertising effect.

Industrial Applicability As described above, according to the present invention, deterioration in advertising effect due to displaying a monotonous still image can be prevented. That is to say, when a passerby gets closer to the automatic vending machine or when the automatic vending machine is used for commodity sale, an illuminating means of a signboard unit provided at one side of the automatic vending machine is turned on/off

so that images corresponding to advertisement information are projected through a half mirror of the signboard unit or the half mirror functions as a mirror, thereby captivating the attention of consumers. Also, since a plurality of images, rather than a still image, are alternately projected through the half mirror, thereby diversifying and maximizing the advertising effect.

While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included with the spirit and scope of the appended claims.