JP2001229266A - Method and system for supporting person of advanced age, which directs activation of shopping center - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To activate a store and a shopping center from the position of a user such as person of advanced age with a future aging society as a background, to help the shopping of the person of advanced age and information transmission and to positively secure 'safely, convenience and pleasure'. SOLUTION: The support system for person of advanced age, which directs the activation of a shopping center, is provided with a user side communication terminal 2 sending a request on the commodity order of a user including person of advanced age and a request on urgent communication through a communication line, and a shopping center side information processing system 1 conducting a processing in accordance with the request sent by the communication terminal 2. The shopping center side information processing stem 1 is provided with a server 11 giving the notice of the commodity order and delivery arrangement to the respective stores PC 13...13 and the delivery center PC 14 of the shopping center in accordance with the request on the correspondence of the commodity and giving the notice to the urgent communication destinations (a hospital, a family doctor, a relative, an acquaintance, a friend and other communication destinations) and a communication terminal 3 in accordance with the request on urgent communication.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a support method and a support system for elderly people who intend to activate a shopping street.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In Japan, one in three households will be elderly households in 2010, and one in four households will be six in 2025.
It is expected to be over 5 years old. According to publicly known data, the period until a country reaching the UN-designated elderly population (a country in which the population aged 65 or over exceeded 7% of the total population) has 14% of the elderly, 115 years in France, 85 years in Sweden, 4 years in the UK
In Japan, it takes only 24 years (7% in 1970 to 14% in 1994), compared to five years. From these figures, Japan is about to enter an aging society at an unprecedented speed.

[0003] Such rapid "aging" in Japan
In addition to the long-term care insurance and welfare pensions, which have already been taken up as real issues, there are various support systems in the local community as well as the public systems of the national and local governments that receive them. Need to be maintained at the same time.

[0004] According to reports of behavioral surveys, in the case of elderly people who cannot ride a car (that is, it is considered to correspond to the majority of elderly people), the places where they go frequently are "hospitals" and "shopping streets" of 50% of the total. From these figures, it can be said that at present, many elderly people use various hospitals and shops in shopping streets.

[0005] Based on this situation, as one of the aging support systems to be developed in the local community, from the standpoint of elderly people who use hospitals and shopping streets closely, "safety, convenience, and enjoyment." It is necessary to have something that actively secures "Sasa".

[0006]

However, in small and medium-sized shops and shopping streets currently used by many elderly people, the growth of chain stores and convenience stores in recent years, and the transmission of information through the Internet and multi-channel TVs, etc. With the development of technology or the rapid changes in society, such as the advancement of women in society, changes in people's purchasing behavior have forced them to decline.

[0007] Certainly, there is a tendency that the behavior time zone of the consumer tends to use 24 hours fully, and products can be bought and sold at convenience stores 24 hours a day.
In this regard, the value of shops and shopping streets may have diminished. However, some point out that if the shopping streets are all replaced by chain stores or convenience stores, the town itself will not be interesting at all.

[0008] In particular, from the standpoint of elderly people who tend to gain convenience and enjoyment through shops and shopping streets compared to other generations, the advantages of small and medium-sized shops and shopping streets not found in convenience stores or chain stores are considered. There is naturally a demand that this be activated.

The present invention has been made in consideration of such conventional problems, and in the context of an aging society in the future, a store or a shopping street will be activated from the standpoint of users such as the elderly. The purpose is to help people to shop and transmit information, and to assure security, convenience and enjoyment more positively.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a support method for elderly people who aims at revitalizing a shopping street according to the present invention comprises a shopping mall in response to a request for a product order of a user including an elderly person. And an emergency response step of notifying a predetermined contact address in response to a request for emergency contact by the user. And

In addition, the support system for elderly people who intends to activate a shopping street according to the present invention provides a system for ordering goods and arranging delivery to each store in the shopping mall in response to a request for a product order of a user including the elderly person. It is characterized by comprising product correspondence means for notifying, and emergency response means for notifying a predetermined contact address in response to the user's request for emergency contact.

[0012] The product response means and the emergency response means can be mounted on an information processing system for a shopping street. The information processing system may include means for recognizing and responding to the user request by voice.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a support method for elderly people who intends to activate a shopping street and a support system therefor according to the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 shows an outline of a support system for elderly people who intends to activate a shopping street of this embodiment, FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of this system, and FIG. 3 shows an example of processing of this system.

The system shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes a shopping mall information processing system 1, a user communication terminal 2, and an emergency contact communication terminal 3. In addition, as shown in FIG.
It also has As shown in FIG. 2, communication between the mall information processing system 1, the user communication terminal 2, and the emergency contact communication terminal 3 is performed via communication lines 5 and 5 such as a public line and a dedicated line. Connected as possible.

As shown in the figure, the shopping street information processing system 1 is composed of, for example, a server / client type network system, and is installed as a server on the manager side such as a shopping mall management association or a third-party agency. In addition to the server 11 and its management PC (personal computer) 12, a client communicably connected to the server 11 via a predetermined communication line (public network, dedicated network, or the like), that is, each store (for example, PCs (in this example, PCs in A store, PC in B store, PC in C store) 13 ... 13 placed in stores such as liquor store, rice shop, greengrocer, fish shop, side dish shop, flower shop, etc. 13 ... 13, PC 14 placed in the product distribution center, And payment system 15
Etc. are provided.

The server 11 is, for example, a CPU and a memory that are responsible for the control center of the entire system, and is a support that can execute a processing procedure (see FIG. 3) based on each step and each means for emergency response and product response of the present invention. It is composed of a computer equipped with various I / Fs such as a storage medium storing programs and the like (ROM, hard disk, magnetic disk, CD-ROM, etc.), and a communication I / F (interface) which plays a central role in communication with an external terminal. Have been.

The server 11 responds to a request for a commodity order from the user side communication terminal 2 via the communication line 5 by executing the support program of the storage medium by the CPU. 13, the distribution center PC 14, the settlement system 15, and the like, while executing various processes on the client, and receiving an emergency contact request from the user side communication terminal 2 via the communication line 5. A process for communicating with the destination system 3 via the communication line 5 is performed in a predetermined time zone (for example, 24 hours any time).

Among them, the support program includes, in this example, a telephone, a mobile phone,
A predetermined voice recognition engine (voice recognition program) capable of recognizing a request content from a user using the PHS or the like by voice and responding to a necessary message or the like set in advance in response to the voice is installed. The present invention is not limited to this,
For example, a program that can respond to a request from an electronic mail or a web page on the Internet from a user who uses a PC, a mobile phone, a PHS, a PDA, or the like, which will be described later, as the user-side communication terminal 2 is also applicable.

PCs 13 ... 13 placed at each store in the shopping street
Is an application of, for example, existing hardware, and is capable of displaying, on a monitor, a product order content (type, quantity, etc.) from a user in a predetermined display format according to a product order notification from the server 11. In this example, each store has PC1
3, but may be replaced or used depending on the store, and may be a server 11 such as an existing FAX (facsimile), telephone, mobile phone, PHS, or other dedicated terminal.
It is also possible to use a communication terminal capable of communicating with the server.

The PC 14 placed at the distribution center is, for example, one to which existing hardware is applied. The PC 14 monitors the contents of the order (type, quantity, etc.) from the user in a predetermined display format according to the notification of the commodity delivery from the server 11. It can be displayed on the top. This allows the distribution center to
Arrange delivery cars and go around each store in the shopping street, where you can shop for products ordered by users, organize them for each user, and deliver it to the user's home etc. .
Note that, in this example, the product delivery notification is sent directly from the server 11, but of course, it is also possible to use a communication terminal such as a PC 13 ... 13 located at each store in the shopping street. In this example, the PC 14 is placed at the distribution center.
It is also possible to use a communication terminal that can communicate with the server 11, such as a (facsimile), a telephone, a mobile phone, a PHS, and other dedicated terminals.

The settlement system 15 is constituted by, for example, a computer capable of executing a predetermined settlement algorithm in cooperation with the server 11 or its software (in this case, it can be implemented in the server 11). Various types can be applied, and in the case of the membership system in this example, data is collected periodically and debited from the account of a predetermined financial institution,
Alternatively, any form, such as issuing a bill for each use, is possible.

The user-side communication terminal 2 is, for example, a communication terminal (including an existing one) used in a general household or the like in addition to an elderly club or an elderly household for the elderly, that is, as shown in FIG. FAX 20, telephone 21, mobile phone 22,
PHS (Personal Handyphone Sy)
stem: simplified mobile phone system) 23, PC 24,
PDA (Personal Digital Assist)
(mobile information terminal) 25, a dedicated terminal, and the like. Among them, various types of dedicated terminals are applicable, and include, for example, a card reader type terminal which can be easily communicated by inserting an IC card, and a communication terminal such as a cable TV (including Internet compatible). It is. Here, when using the Internet from the mobile phone 22, it is possible to use, for example, an “i-mode” service provided by NTT DoCoMo.

Each of these terminals is provided with push-type or other dedicated buttons and other input devices that can be easily operated by the elderly or the like as needed. In the processing of the side information processing system 1, the emergency contact information (hospital / physician, close friend, acquaintance, friend,
Other contacts) The communication terminal 2 can be contacted.

In this example, a membership system is assumed as a user, but the present invention is not limited to this.
It is of course applicable to any use form.

The emergency contact communication terminal 3 is connected to the user's hospital
A communication terminal (including an existing one) used by the attending physician, close friends, acquaintances, friends, and other contacts, that is, a FAX 30 as shown in FIG.
Phone 31, mobile phone 32, PHS33, PC34, PD
A35, a dedicated terminal and the like. Identification information necessary for communication such as a telephone number and an address of the communication terminal 3 is set in advance to be identifiable on the server 11 side of the shopping mall information processing system 1.

The backup system side system 4 is composed of each information processing system placed in a local government, a local credit union, etc. and its communication network.
Execute various negotiations, procedures, business processes, etc. necessary for subsidies from local governments and financing from financial institutions such as local credit unions via predetermined communication lines (dedicated lines, public networks, etc.) It is possible. It should be noted that the backup system 4 is one of the options of the present invention, and of course, it does not have to be communicably connected to the mall information processing system 1 as in this example. Or,
It is also possible to exchange information required for settlement between the financial institution side information processing system of this system 4 and the settlement system 15 in the shopping mall side information processing system 1.

Here, the overall operation of the present system will be described mainly with reference to the processing of the server 11 of the shopping mall information processing system 1 in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

First, an elderly person who is a user, for example,
When a request is made to the shopping mall information processing system 1 using 1, the server 11 is activated in response to the request and starts, for example, the processing shown in FIG.

That is, in FIG. 3, the server 11
When a request from the elderly is input (step S1), it is determined whether the request is an emergency contact (step S1).
2) If the judgment is YES (emergency contact), the elderly contact information is recognized by voice or by referring to preset contact information or the like ( Step S21), and notifies the contact (step S22). As a result, emergency calls from the elderly
Your doctor, relatives, acquaintances, friends, and other contacts are automatically notified. The processes in steps S21 and S22 are performed similarly when a dedicated button or the like provided on the user-side communication terminal 2 is operated.

If the result of step S2 is NO (not emergency contact), it is determined whether the request is for a product order (step S3), and the result of this determination is YES (for product order). In this case, the contents of order (type, quantity, etc.) of the elderly person are recognized by voice (step S31), and the recognized contents are confirmed by voice to the elderly person (step S3).
2) After the confirmation, the notice of the order of goods / delivery arrangement is sent to each store PC 13... 13 and the distribution center PC 14. As a result, the delivery vehicle at the delivery center goes around each store, where the elderly purchases the ordered item on behalf of the customer, and the item is transported to the destination such as the user's home. Here, when a product order is placed at the time of closing each store in the shopping street, etc.,
Product transportation is performed at an appropriate time, such as after the next opening of the store.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to respond to a request for an emergency contact and a request for a product order to a shopping mall 24 hours a day by telephone or the like. Notifications can be made easily and quickly, so that the "safety" of the life of the elderly can be ensured, and in the case of product orders, product orders and delivery arrangements to each store in the shopping district can be made easily and quickly. As a result, the elderly and the like can easily and happily do shopping while staying at the shopping street, and the "convenience" such as being able to order products 24 hours a day is greatly improved.

As a result, the merchant side of the shopping street is expected to further secure fixed customers and increase the number of product orders, and therefore has a great business advantage. We can expect much more revitalization of the shopping street through. This effect is expected to become even more pronounced in the future as the proportion of elderly people increases.

It should be noted that the processing example shown in FIG. 3 of this example is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can be applied to any configuration capable of performing processing related to emergency response and product response in response to a user request.

Further, in this example, the request of the user is recognized by, for example, voice and the response is performed. However, as a more preferable mode in this case, the request of the user cannot be accurately recognized by voice, Alternatively, if there is a product order that has not been input in advance in the system, or if processing cannot be handled by the system, etc., an operator on the administrator side can automatically respond by telephone at that point in time. It is also possible to perform a switching process from correspondence to manual correspondence. For example, a modification example in which a step based on the switching process in this case is inserted after step S31 or S32 in the processing procedure of the server shown in FIG. 3 can be exemplified.

In this embodiment, PCs are provided at each store in the shopping street and at the distribution center. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and as described above, a communication terminal capable of communicating with a server. If it is, for example, it can also be used by telephone, FAX, mobile phone, PHS, etc. In the case of a mobile phone, for example, the “i-mode” service described above can be used.

Further, the use example of the emergency response on the user side is not necessarily limited to an emergency such as illness. For example, when requesting a nearby electric shop to replace a light bulb, a shopping street and its area are used. Various applications unique to residents are also conceivable.

Further, as an application example of the information processing system on the shopping street side, advertisement information including bargain products, etc. of each store in the shopping street, hot selling information, analysis information thereof, and other information useful for users are used via the server. It is also possible to notify the user or to contact the user in response to a request.

For communication with the user's communication terminal, various encryption techniques can be adopted for security reasons. Considering the settlement and the like, it is also possible to use, for example, a debit card or the like.

For communication devices communicably connected to the server, it is also possible to add services related to maintenance management, such as remotely checking, diagnosing, and maintaining the operation and failure status of the devices. is there. In this case, for example, a method in which a program or the like capable of remotely inspecting and diagnosing the server or the communication device is installed is also effective.

Further, the system according to the present embodiment can be applied not only to the above-mentioned shopping street but also to, for example, an enterprise. As a configuration example in this case, for example, a shopping street side information processing system is a company side information processing system, a server located at the shopping street side is a server located at the company side, and PCs and telephones located at each store and the distribution center are provided. And the like may be used as terminals such as PCs and telephones placed in each business office (section, etc.). According to this configuration, the request from the user is automatically notified to each business office and distribution center. The request in this case is not limited to a product order, but can include various inquiries, business negotiations, and the like.

It goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In accordance with a request for a product order by a user including an elderly person, notification of a product order and delivery arrangement to each store in a shopping mall is performed, and notification to a predetermined contact address is performed in response to a request for an emergency contact of the user. As a result of the aging society, revitalizing stores and shopping streets from the viewpoint of the elderly and other users in the future, and helping the elderly with shopping and information transmission, especially " , Fun ”can be more positively secured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of a support system for elderly people who intends to activate a shopping street according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing the overall configuration of a support system for the elderly.

FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart showing processing of a server of the shopping mall side information processing system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Store information processing system 2 User side communication terminal 3 Emergency contact communication terminal 4 Backup system side system 5, 5 Communication line 11 Server 12 Management PC 13 ... 13 Each store (A store, B store, C store) PC 14 Delivery center PC 15 Payment system 20 FAX (user side) 21 Telephone (user side) 22 Mobile phone (user side) 23 PHS (user side) 24 PC (user side) 25 PDA (user side) 26 Dedicated terminal (user side) 30 FAX (emergency contact) 31 Telephone (emergency contact) 32 Mobile phone (emergency contact) 33 PHS (emergency contact) 34 PC (emergency contact) 35 PDA (emergency contact) 36 Dedicated terminal (emergency contact)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A product response step for notifying a product order and delivery arrangement to each store in a shopping mall in response to a request for a product order by a user including an elderly person, and responding to a request for emergency contact by the user. And an emergency response step of notifying a predetermined contact address to the elderly person. 2. A product response means for notifying a product order and delivery arrangement to each store in a shopping mall in response to a request for a product order by a user including an elderly person, and responding to a request for emergency contact by the user. And an emergency response means for notifying predetermined contact information. 3. The elderly according to claim 2, wherein said merchandise response means and said emergency response means are installed in a shopping mall information processing system. Support system. 4. The invention according to claim 3, wherein the information processing system has means for recognizing and responding to the user's request by voice, for elderly people who intend to activate a shopping street. Support system.