Vending Machine/Cashless Device

The MDB spec already takes into account cashless devices, so we simply have to build a device that conforms to the spec.

Device Level

The specification defines 3 levels of cashless devices, with more more features the higher the level. The Vending Machine (VMC) also has a level, and a device and VMC can only communicate using the highest commonly supported level. As our VMC is only level 1, we only need to implement a level 1 cashless device.

So let's look at what a level 1 device needs to do. Here we will reference commands by their plain English names. For the technical details on these commands, please refer to the specification section 7. For details on how these commands are sent/received by the VMC, refer to secitons 2,3 and 4.

States

A (slightly simplified) diagram of the state machine, with commands sent from/to the VMC in capitals.

The cashless device is basically a state machine with 5 states (7 for level 2 and 3 machines). These states are:

1. Inactive
2. Disabled
3. Enabled
4. Session Idle
5. Vend

When turned on, the cashlss device enters state 1. Almost all state transistions are initiated by the VMC, with the exception of 3 -> 4, which is initiated by the cashless device on a valid card read.

If the cashless device receives a command it cannot act upon in its current state, or receives an unexpected command whilst in an uninterruptable state it must ACK(nowledge) the command, then on the next POLL from the VMC, issue a COMMAND OUT OF SEQUENCE response.

The VMC will then respond with a RESET command, putting the reader back to state 1.

Uninterruptable States

During certain command sequences, the VMC should not issue any additional commands to the cashless device. These are the Uninteruptable States. If the VMC does issue any additonal commands during one of thes states, the reader should responds with COMMAND OUT OF SEQUENCE, as noted above.

These sequences for a level 1 device are:

VMC Command	Cashless Device Response	Result
SETUP/CONFIGURATlON DATA	READER CONFIGURATION DATA
EXPANSION/REQUEST ID	PERIPHERAL ID
READER CANCEL	CANCELLED
VEND REQUEST... VEND CANCEL	VEND DENIED
VEND REQUEST	VEND DENIED
VEND REQUEST	VEND APPROVED	VEND SUCCESS
VEND REQUEST	VEND APPROVED	VEND FAILURE
SESSION COMPLETE	END SESSION

The highlighted rows are all possible sequences in the vend state (state 5), so this state is completely uninterruptable.

Commands

Where a response is ACK, this can also be NAK (Not Acknowledged).

You will notice that some responses appear in the table twice. This is because the cashless device can respond ACK to a request for data, sending the data in response to a later POLL.

Command	Sub-command / Data	Response	Req?	Spec Page Num
Reset	(none)	ACK	Required	102
Setup	Config Data	Reader Config Data	Required	103
	Max/Min Prices	ACK	Required	106
Poll	(none)	Just Reset	Required	108
		Reader Config Data	Required	108
		Display Request	Our VMC doesn't support this!	108
		Begin Session	Required	109
		Session Cancel Request	Required	112
		Vend Approved	Required	112 + 123
		Vend Denied	Required	113 + 123
		End Session	Required	113 + 126
		Cancelled	Required	113 + 133
		Peripheral ID	Required	113
		Malfunction / Error	Required	115
		Command Out of Sequence	Required	116
		Diagnostic Response	Required	122 + 147
Vend	Vend Request	Vend Approved	Required	123
		Vend Denied	Required	123
	Vend Cancel	Vend Denied	Required	125
	Vend Success	ACK	Required	125
	Vend Failure	ACK	Required	126
	Session Complete	End Session	Required	126
	Cash Sale	ACK	??	127
Reader	Reader Disable	ACK	Required	132
	Reader Enable	ACK	Required	132
	Reader Cancel	Cancelled	Required	133
Expansion	Request ID	Peripheral ID	Required	138
	Diagnostics	Diagnostic Response	Optional?	147

Command Sequences

• All sequences are shown from the point of view of the cashless device.
• CHK indicate the calculated CHK byte
• * indicates the mode bit is set.

Start Up / Reset

As the address for the cashless reader is the same as the RESET command, a startup and reset can be treated the same. The VMC will immediately start sending the address through the MDB bus to try and contact the device. As this will also appear to be a RESET command, we can just treat it as such.

This is absolutely not true and needs rewriting!

Command Received	Command Sent	Data	Hex Representation
RESET		{none}	10H*

Not true!