JP2002353874A - Information communication method and information communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information communication system by which shop information is provided to customers and personal information of the customers is provided to shops by a method which does require time and effort for the customers and the shops. SOLUTION: A wireless information switch 20 at a shop side 2 is provided with a wireless communication interface 21 in compliance with the IrDA and the Bluetooth or the like and a mobile phone 40 possessed by the customer 4 is provided with a similar wireless communication interface 41. Through the operation by the customer 4 or the shop 2, the mobile phone 40 acquires the shop information stored in a storage device section 25 of the wireless information switch 20 via the wireless communication interfaces 21, 41 and stores the shop information to a storage device 45. When the customer 4 provides its own personal information to the shop 2, the mobile phone 40 transmits the personal information stored in the storage device 45 to the wireless information switch 20 via the wireless communication interfaces 21, 41 through operations by the customer 4 or the shop 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for providing information on a store from a store to a customer, or a method for providing personal information of the customer from the customer to the store.

[0002] In the present invention, a facility or an institution providing a tangible or intangible service is defined as a "store",
The person who receives the service from the store is defined as "customer".

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art A customer purchases a product at a store, eats a meal at a restaurant, and has the haircut at a beauty salon.
When I receive a service at a store, I like the service contents and the atmosphere of the store, so that I can visit the store again, such as the phone number, location, e-mail address, homepage address of the store, and the store Including information about bargain sales and other events taking place in
Conventionally, when information about the store is to be recorded, a method of writing the information in a notebook, a cellular phone or a PDA (Personal Diary) possessed by a customer.
A method of operating a button of a portable information terminal such as a digital assistant and inputting the information into the portable information terminal is adopted.

When a store opens a home page and transmits store information, for example, when a customer who visits the store wants to view the home page,
A method of handing a card on which information such as a homepage address is printed to a customer is adopted.

[0005] Furthermore, an individual discloses personal information such as his / her e-mail address and address to various businesses on the Internet, and when a business conducts an event or the like, the business sends the information by e-mail or the like. To the individual
A system for distributing the information is also being considered.

[0006]

However, the method of writing down store information in a notebook is cumbersome for customers,
It takes time and effort. A method of inputting store information into a portable information terminal by operating a button of a portable information terminal such as a mobile phone or a PDA is cumbersome for a customer, and takes time and effort.

[0007] Further, a method of handing a card on which information such as a homepage address is printed from the store side to the customer is also available. The customer later operates a personal computer or a portable information terminal that can be connected to the Internet to obtain the store information. The data must be input to a personal computer or a personal digital assistant, which is troublesome and time-consuming for the customer. Also,
If the store has not issued such a card,
For example, the customer needs to search the homepage of the store by Internet search.

In any case, as a customer, even if the customer actually visits the store, recording information on the store and connecting to a homepage of the store later requires a great deal of labor.

[0009] Further, as for the method in which an individual discloses his / her personal information on the Internet, the individual discloses his / her personal information to a business because a store of the business is a famous and reliable store. And it is rare to disclose personal information to small businesses.

[0010] However, an individual actually visits a store,
If you receive a satisfactory service and trust the store, it is not enough that you want to release your personal information to the store and have the store distribute various information later. It is possible.

However, in such a case, at present, there is no easy way to disclose personal information, and there is no other way but to write his / her own e-mail address and address on paper prepared by the store. It takes time for the store to type the characters into the computer.

[0012] Furthermore, the delivery of various information by e-mail or the like from a store to a customer who actually visits a store and trusts the store is more difficult than a delivery completed only on the Internet. Although it is considered that the advertising effect is extremely large, in actuality, it takes time and effort as described above to distribute information to the customer by e-mail or the like.

[0013] Therefore, in one aspect of the present invention, store information can be provided from the store side to the customer and recorded on the customer side in a manner that does not require much effort and time for both the customer and the store. It is like that.

[0014] Further, the present invention provides, in part, a method in which both the customer and the store provide the customer's personal information to the store by a method that does not require much labor and time, and the store provides the customer with the personal information. It is intended to be able to be used for a convenience when distributing various information.

[0015]

According to the information communication method of the first invention, the information communication method is performed directly without using a telephone line or a network.
From a wireless information exchange device having a wireless communication interface for performing wireless communication with another device, store information recorded in a storage unit of the wireless information exchange device can be transmitted without using a telephone line or a network. Directly transmitting to the portable information terminal having a wireless communication interface for performing wireless communication with another device by using the wireless communication interface of the wireless information exchange device and the wireless communication interface of the portable information terminal. The information is recorded in the storage device of the information terminal.

According to the information communication method of the second invention, the portable information terminal having a wireless communication interface for performing wireless communication with another device directly without using a telephone line or a network is used. The personal information recorded in the storage unit of the wireless information exchange device having a wireless communication interface for performing wireless communication with another device directly without using a telephone line or a network, the portable information The transmission is performed by the wireless communication interface of the terminal and the wireless communication interface of the wireless information exchange device.

According to the information communication method of the first aspect of the present invention, store information is provided from the store side to the customer in a manner that does not require much labor and time for both the customer and the store side, and is recorded on the customer side. be able to.

According to the information communication method of the second invention, both the customer and the store provide the customer with the customer's personal information to the store in a time-saving manner. Can provide a convenient service for distributing various types of information to customers.

[0019]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [System Configuration] FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an information communication system according to the present invention.

The information communication system of this embodiment includes a server device 10 provided under a store business operator 1, a wireless information exchange device 20 provided in a store 2 of the store business operator 1, and a mobile telephone carried by a customer 4. 40 and a personal computer 70 provided in the home of the customer 4, and the server device 10 and the wireless information exchange device 20 are connected via a network 90.

(Server Device) The server device 10 comprises (1)
The store operator 1 stores information on the store 2 by inputting information on the store 2, and (2) transmits the stored store information to the wireless information exchange device 2 via the network 90.
0, (3) receive and store the personal information of the customer 4 transmitted from the wireless information exchange device 20 via the network 90, and (4) send the personal information to the individual based on the stored store information and personal information. By generating special information, the network 90
And the like to transmit the data to the mobile phone 40 or the personal computer 70 of the customer 4 via the Internet.

However, these functions may be executed by a plurality of servers instead of a single server.

(Various Information) Store information is provided at the telephone number of the store 2, the location (a map indicating the location), regular holidays, business hours, the e-mail address of the store operator 1, the homepage address, and the store 2. In addition to information on events such as bargain sales, when the customer 4 uses the store 2, the details of services received by the customer 4, such as the date and time of use and the number of times, the content and price of the product purchased by the customer 4, And information such as consideration.

The personal information of the customer 4 includes the telephone number of the customer 4,
Email address, address, date of birth, age, gender, field of interest, credit card number, etc.

The special information for the individual is information generated based on the store information and the personal information of the customer 4, which is considered to have a high advertising effect for the customer 4. , Birthday discount on the day of the date, customer visit discount multiple times when the customer 4 visits the store 2 multiple times, elderly person discount if the customer 4 is an elderly person, and so on.

(Wireless Information Exchange Device) Wireless Information Exchange Device 2
0 is Ir for directly performing wireless communication between the mobile phone 40 and the mobile phone 40 without using a telephone line or a network.
DA (InfraredData Associate)
on: One of the infrared communication standards) and Bluetooth
Ethernet (registered trademark) for performing communication between the wireless information exchange apparatus 20 and the server apparatus 10 via the wireless communication interface 21 and the network 90 according to (one of the specifications of short-range wireless communication using radio waves). One of the bus-type LAN standards), IrDA or Bluetooth
and a storage unit 25 for storing store information.

More specifically, the wireless information exchange device 20
As shown in FIG. The control unit 31
A ROM having a PU 32 and a bus 33 storing a program including routines for various processes to be executed by the CPU 32 and fixed data such as a character font for displaying characters;
And a RAM 35 functioning as a work area for the CPU 32 and the like.

The bus 33 has the above-mentioned wireless communication interface 21, network interface 23,
And the storage unit 25 are connected. As the storage unit 25, a flash memory or the like is used. However, a part of the area of the RAM 35 can be used as the storage unit 25.

Further, an operation unit 37 including various buttons and a display control unit 38 are connected to the bus 33, and the display control unit 38 includes an LCD (liquid crystal display).
Is connected.

The wireless information exchange device 20 is actually
cm, 10 cm in width and about 5 cm in height, and is installed in the store 2, for example, near a cash register.

(Mobile Phone) The mobile phone 40 is a wireless communication interface 41 such as IrDA or Bluetooth for performing wireless communication directly between the mobile phone and the wireless information exchange device 20 without using a telephone line or a network. , And a storage unit 45 for storing personal information and store information of the customer 4.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the portable telephone 40 includes an antenna 49, a receiving speaker 61, a transmitting microphone 62, a transmitting / receiving unit 63, a modem 64, a signal processing unit 65, a signal processing unit 65, DAC (Di) for converting the digital reception voice data from the section 65 into an analog reception voice signal.
digital to Analog Converte
r) 66, an audio amplifier 6 for amplifying the received audio signal
7. An audio amplifier 68 for amplifying an analog transmission voice signal from the microphone 62, and an ADC (Analog) for converting the amplified transmission voice signal into digital transmission voice data.
to Digital Converter) 69.

The mobile phone 40 includes a control unit 51. The control unit 51 includes a CPU 52, and the bus 53
A ROM 54 storing programs including routines for various processes to be executed by the CPU 52, fixed data such as character fonts for character display, and a RAM 55 functioning as a work area of the CPU 52 are connected to the CPU 52.

The bus 53 is connected to the wireless communication interface 41 and the storage unit 45 described above. A flash memory or the like is used as the storage unit 45. However, a part of the RAM 55 may be used as the storage unit 45. Storage unit 45
Are the personal information storage area 45a and the store information storage area 4
5b.

Further, an operation unit 57 including various buttons and the like and a display control unit 58 are connected to the bus 53, and a display unit 59 such as an LCD is connected to the display control unit 58.

(Personal Computer) In this case, the personal computer 70 has a function of connecting to the network 90, transmitting and receiving e-mails, and browsing home pages.

[Operation of System] The customer 4 operates the operation unit 57 of the mobile phone 40 to record his / her personal information in the personal information storage area 45a of the storage unit 45 in advance.

In this case, the character input can be performed in the same manner as the creation of an e-mail, and the CPU 52 writes the personal information in the personal information storage area 45a in response to the recording instruction after the character input. The same applies when personal information is changed.

The store business operator 1 inputs and stores store information in the server device 10 in advance, and further stores the stored store information from the server device 10 through the network 90.
To the wireless information exchange device 20 via In the wireless information exchange device 20, the store information is received by the network interface 23 and written into the storage device 25 by the CPU 32.

(Provision of Store Information to Customer) When the customer 4 visits the store 2 and obtains the store information of the store 2, the wireless communication interface 21 of the wireless information exchange device 20 and the wireless communication interface of the mobile phone 40 41, the operating unit 57 of the mobile phone 40
To store the store information recorded in the storage unit 25 of the wireless information exchange device 20 into the wireless communication interface 2.
According to 1 and 41, the data is taken into the mobile phone 40 from the wireless information exchange device 20 and stored in the storage unit 4 of the mobile phone 40.
5 in the store information storage area 45b.

In this case, by performing a capture operation such as pressing a capture button on the operation unit 57, the CPU 52 of the mobile phone 40 causes the CP of the wireless information exchange device 20 to operate.
The U32 requests the U32 to transmit the store information, and in response, the CPU 32 reads the store information from the storage unit 25 and transmits it to the mobile phone 40 via the wireless communication interface 21. The transmitted store information is received by the wireless communication interface 41 and written by the CPU 52 into the store information storage area 45b of the storage device unit 45.

Even if the customer 4 does not perform any special operation, by setting the mobile phone 40 in advance so as to accept the store information, the store 2 can transmit the information via the operation unit 37 of the wireless information exchange device 20. When a transmission operation such as pressing a button is performed, store information recorded in the storage device unit 25 is transmitted from the wireless information exchange device 20 to the mobile phone 40 and stored in the store information storage area 45b of the storage device unit 45.
It can also be configured to be recorded in.

The customer 4 can call and browse the store information recorded in the store information storage area 45b on the display unit 59 by a calling operation on the operation unit 57 of the mobile phone 40, and can read the store information. 2, the telephone number, the location (a map showing the location), regular holidays, business hours, the e-mail address of the store operator 1, the homepage address, and the like can be confirmed.

As described above, for the customer 4, the store 2
In a way that saves time and effort,
Store information can be provided from the store 2 to the customer 4 and recorded on the customer 4 side.

Today, when many people carry a mobile phone and the mobile phone is generally provided with a network connection function such as i-mode (a network connection service provided by NTT DOCOMO). That the customer 4 can connect to the homepage of the store 2 to obtain the latest information and send an e-mail to the store 2 by easily importing the store information to the mobile phone 40. It is also very convenient for the two sides.

For example, when the customer 4 purchases a product at the store 2,
When the service is received, the information such as the date and time, the contents of the service received by the customer 4 and the price are obtained by operating the operation unit 37 of the wireless information exchange device 20 of the store 2.
The information is stored in the storage device unit 25 of the wireless information exchange device 20 as part of the store information, and is transmitted to the server device 10 via the network 90 by the network interface 23 and stored.

(Provision of Customer's Personal Information to Store) When the customer 4 visits the store 2 and decides to provide his / her personal information to the store 2 and provides it, the portable telephone 40
In the wireless communication area of the wireless communication interface 41 of the wireless communication interface 21 and the wireless communication interface 21 of the wireless information exchange device 20, the operation unit 57 of the mobile phone 40 is operated to store the personal information storage area 45a of the storage unit 45 of the mobile phone 40. Is transmitted from the mobile phone 40 to the wireless information exchange device 20 via the wireless communication interfaces 41 and 21.

In this case, by performing a transmission operation such as pressing a transmission button on the operation unit 57, the portable telephone 40
CPU 52 of the wireless information exchange device 20 notifies the CPU 32 of the wireless information exchange device 20 that the personal information is to be transmitted, reads the personal information from the personal information storage area 45a, and sends the wireless information exchange device 20
In the wireless information exchange device 20, the transmitted personal information is received by the wireless communication interface 21, temporarily stored in the RAM 35 by the CPU 32, and then transmitted to the server device 10 via the network 90 by the network interface 23. Sent to and stored.

Even if the customer 4 does not perform any special operation, the mobile phone 40 is set in advance so that personal information is transmitted by a command from the wireless information exchange device 20 so that the customer 4 can be acknowledged. When the obtained store 2 performs a capture operation such as pressing a capture button on the operation unit 37 of the wireless information exchange device 20, the personal information recorded in the personal information storage area 45a of the storage unit 45 of the mobile phone 40 is displayed. Alternatively, it may be configured to be transmitted from the mobile phone 40 to the wireless information exchange device 20.

As described above, for the customer 4, the store 2
In a way that saves time and effort,
The customer 4 can provide the personal information of the customer 4 to the store 2 and use the personal information of the customer 4 for delivery of various information from the store 2 to the customer 4.

(Provision of Special Information for Individuals to Customers) The server device 10 generates special information for individuals based on the store information and personal information stored in the server device, and provides the special information for each customer at the optimal time. The special information for individuals is transmitted to the mobile phone 40 or the personal computer 70 of the customer 4 via the network 90 as e-mail or the like.

The customer 4 receives the special information for the individual by using the mobile phone 40 or the personal computer 70 and displays the information on the display unit 59 of the mobile phone 40 or the display of the personal computer 70, so that the customer 4 can receive the special information. We can know information.

In this case, since the information is delivered to the customer 4 who has actually visited the store 2 and trusted the store 2, compared with the current delivery service by e-mail on the Internet, etc. Thus, the possibility that the customer 4 will see the information is extremely high, and the advertising effect of the store 2 is extremely high.

It is considered that a small-scale store business operator is unlikely to have a customer who visits the store later access the homepage of the store even if he / she likes the store. According to this, it is possible to easily advertise the store 2 to the customer 4 who has visited the store 2 from the store 2 side, and this is particularly effective for small-scale business store operators.

Further, since the number of times the customer 4 has used the store 2 is recorded in the server device 10, the customer 4 can receive, for example, a repeater discount when visiting the store 2 next time. In this case, in the store 2, the amount calculated at the cash register and the store information stored in the storage unit 25 of the wireless information exchange device 20 or transmitted from the server device 10 to the wireless information exchange device 20 as the store information. A discount amount is calculated from information such as the number of times of use.

[Other Embodiments] In the above-described embodiment, the portable information terminal 40 carried by the customer 4 is a portable telephone. However, when the portable information terminal other than the portable telephone is a portable information terminal, IrDA or Bluetooth can be used. With the configuration including the wireless communication interface 41 and the storage unit 45 for storing the personal information of the customer 4 and the store information, a system and a method similar to those of the above-described embodiment can be realized.

In the above-described embodiment, the store operator 1
In the case where the original server device 10 and the wireless information exchange device 20 in the store 2 are connected via the network 90, for example, when the store business operates only in one store, A server device and a wireless information exchange device are provided in a store, and the server device and the wireless information exchange device are connected via an IrDA or Bluetooth device such as the above-described wireless communication interface 21 without using a network.
The present invention can also be applied to a case where connection is made through a wireless communication interface such as that described above.

[0058]

As described above, according to the first aspect,
Store information can be provided from the store side to the customer and recorded on the customer side by a method that does not require much effort and time for both the customer and the store.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, both the customer and the store provide personal information of the customer from the customer to the store by a method that does not take much time and effort.
The store can provide a convenient service for distributing various types of information to customers.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one embodiment of an information communication system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a wireless information exchange device used in the information communication system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a portable information terminal used in the information communication system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

Since the main parts are all described in the figure, they are omitted here.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A wireless information exchange apparatus having a wireless communication interface for performing wireless communication directly with another device without using a telephone line or a network, and recording the information in a storage unit of the wireless information exchange apparatus. Store information that is, directly without a telephone line or network, to a portable information terminal having a wireless communication interface for performing wireless communication with other devices, the wireless communication interface of the wireless information exchange device and An information communication method, wherein the information is transmitted by a wireless communication interface of the portable information terminal and recorded in a storage unit of the portable information terminal. 2. A portable information terminal having a wireless communication interface for performing wireless communication directly with another device without using a telephone line or a network, and recorded in a storage unit of the portable information terminal. Wireless information exchange device having a wireless communication interface for wirelessly communicating with another device directly without using a telephone line or a network, without using a wireless communication interface of the portable information terminal and the wireless communication interface. An information communication method for transmitting information via a wireless communication interface of an information exchange device. 3. A wireless communication interface for performing wireless communication directly with an external portable information terminal without using a telephone line or a network, and information transmitted to the portable information terminal by the wireless communication interface is recorded. A wireless information exchange device comprising: 4. The wireless information exchange apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the information transmitted from the external server device is received, and the information transmitted from the portable information terminal and received by the wireless communication interface is transmitted to the server device. A wireless information exchange device having a network interface for transmitting. 5. A wireless communication interface for directly performing wireless communication with another device without using a telephone line or a network, and storage for recording information received from another device by the wireless communication interface. A portable information terminal comprising: a device unit; 6. A wireless communication interface for directly performing wireless communication with another device without using a telephone line or a network, and storage for recording information to be transmitted to another device by the wireless communication interface. A portable information terminal comprising: a device unit; 7. A wireless communication interface for performing wireless communication directly with another device without using a telephone line or a network, and information received from another device is recorded by the wireless communication interface. A storage unit for storing information to be transmitted to another device by the wireless communication interface. 8. The wireless information exchange device according to claim 3 or 4,
An information communication system comprising the portable information terminal according to claim 5.