JP2006113787A - Disused article decision method and article management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a disused article decision method capable of automatically detecting a disused article, and to provide an article management system capable of immediately warning a user that the user does not purchase the disused article when the user intends to acquire the disused article. <P>SOLUTION: A residual validity period of an article is detected, and a residual amount of the article is measured when the validity period of the article is expired. When the residual amount of that time large as compared to a criterion of unnecessity of the article of an article database 803, it is decided that the article is hardly used or not used at all until the validity period is expired, and the article is determined as the disused article. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an article management system for managing articles in a home or the like, and more particularly, to an unnecessary article determination method for determining the degree of necessity according to the degree of use of an article with respect to articles obtained in the past. The present invention also relates to an article management system that advises whether or not to obtain the article according to the degree of necessity of the article when trying to obtain the article again.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of network technology, information processing technology, and RFID tag technology for automatically managing articles, technological development for automating article inventory management is progressing mainly in business fields such as logistics. As a typical example, an RFID tag (hereinafter referred to as a tag) is placed on an article to be managed in a warehouse, and an RFID tag reader (hereinafter referred to as a tag reader) is placed in an article loading / unloading section of the warehouse, so that the goods are loaded and unloaded. Is performed, the article inventory in the warehouse can be automatically calculated by reading the tag of the article with the tag reader. As a result, for example, if there are missing items, it is possible to automatically order them immediately via the network.

  As shown in this example, the technology to automatically replenish by managing the inventory amount of goods and automatically detecting that it will disappear or will disappear can be applied to ordinary households. is there. For example, Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2 disclose a technique for automatically placing an order for the consumables according to the level of the remaining amount of consumables used in a general household. Patent Document 3 discloses a concept of predicting an optimal order quantity in consideration of weather conditions and social trends when placing an order automatically because consumables have decreased. Further, in Patent Document 3, the expiration date of the consumables currently owned is also managed, and by presenting a plan for using up the articles whose expiration date is approaching, A device that is not wasted is also disclosed.

To summarize the above, the conventional technology shown above is the following two article management tasks that the user tends to forget in article management, namely,
・ Replenishment of necessary items ・ It can be said that the purpose is to support consumption of expired items.

JP 2000-296904 A JP 2002-117298 A JP 2003-030421 A

  By the way, one of the other big problems we have in daily life is related to many unnecessary items. The unnecessary items referred to here are items that are rarely used or not used at all, and are different from items that are held as so-called hobbies or collections. The presence of such unnecessary items in addition to the necessities results in an increase in the total number of items in the home, resulting in problems of living space such as being troublesome to clean up and tightly arranging the items to be cleaned up. In addition, according to a survey, the average amount of food that expires in a year in a household is an average of 150,000 yen, which is a major problem in terms of cost.

  Therefore, technical development for reducing or eliminating unnecessary products is a major issue. However, among the prior arts shown above, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 are not described with respect to the above-mentioned problem awareness. No countermeasures for the above problem are disclosed.

  On the other hand, Patent Document 3 discloses an example of a countermeasure for solving the problem afterwards. Subsequent measures are measures to reduce unnecessary items by consuming or disposing of unnecessary items that have already been obtained. Specifically, Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for promoting consumption of an expired article. If the food subject to promotion of consumption is a food that is always eaten, it is often the case that the consumption pace is slightly slowed down due to something and the use is not completed even when the expiration date is approaching. In such a case, the technology seems to be useful in that it warns that the consumption is completed quickly. However, if the food that is the subject of consumption promotion is something that you usually don't eat very much, you will feel like you are being threatened to eat something you don't want to eat. Will suffer from pain. Furthermore, there is a problem that when it is actually eaten, there is a restriction that the menu needs to use such food. As another post-measure plan, it is possible to reuse unnecessary items. However, the problem is that the user has to take the action of searching for a take-off item of unnecessary items.

  Another effective measure for solving this problem is a proactive measure, that is, a measure that is taken in advance so as not to obtain unnecessary items. To that end, it is necessary to consider why unnecessary items increase.

  It is normal to think that it is impossible to obtain unnecessary items if keeping calm when obtaining the goods. Nonetheless, there are many possible causes for a situation where many unnecessary items are accumulated if you notice it, but one of the typical causes is impulse purchase. The act of purchasing goods in an impulsive manner, attracted by prices, is a property that many people have, albeit to varying degrees. For example, if you go to a store or browse a shopping site on the Internet, many people have experienced once or twice because they are sold as bargains because they are cheap. Seems to be.

  From these considerations, it is effective to prevent user's impulse purchase as one of the precautions to prevent unnecessary items from being brought into the home. In order to prevent such impulse purchases, it is necessary to know the unnecessary items in some way in advance. In addition, there is a need for a technology that can warn the user not to purchase the unnecessary items when the situation in which the user wants to obtain them can be detected.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problem, and to provide an unnecessary product determination method capable of automatically detecting an unnecessary product, and further to use the unnecessary product determination method to further improve the user. It is an object of the present invention to provide an article management system that can immediately warn a user not to purchase unnecessary items when trying to obtain unnecessary items.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is configured as follows.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a remaining effective period detecting step of detecting a remaining effective period of an article;
A remaining article measuring step for measuring the remaining quantity of the article;
Determining the degree of unnecessaryness of the article stored in the article database, the remaining validity period of the article detected in the remaining validity period detecting step and the remaining amount of the article detected in the remaining article quantity measuring step There is provided an unnecessary item determination method comprising: an article unnecessary degree determination step of determining or predicting an unnecessary degree of the article based on a result of each in comparison with a reference.

  According to the unnecessary product determination method of the present invention, criteria for determining the degree of necessity of an item are stored in advance in the item database. First, the remaining effective period detecting step detects how much the effective period of the article remains. For example, if it is found that the expiration date of the article has expired, the remaining amount of the article is subsequently measured. If the remaining amount at this time is larger than the determination criterion, it is determined that the article has been used little or not before the expiration date, and the article is determined as an unnecessary item. If it is found that the item has not expired, it is assumed that the item is a necessary item. However, even in this case, the remaining amount of the item may be subsequently measured. .

  Further, according to the method for determining an unnecessary item of the present invention, the item database may be stored in advance with the criteria for determining the function of the item and the degree of necessity of the item. The article function similarity calculation step may calculate a similarity of how much the function is similar to the article presented by the user for each of the articles registered in the database. If the calculated similarity is less than or equal to the criterion, it is determined that there is already an article that replaces the function of the user-presented article, and the user-presented article is determined as an unnecessary item. Good.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an article database storing at least an unnecessary degree of articles;
An article acquisition detector for detecting the user's article acquisition act or the user's intention to acquire the article;
A warning unit that warns the user according to the unnecessary degree of the article;
The article acquisition detection unit receives the information that the user's article acquisition act or the user's intention to acquire the article is detected, and acquires the unnecessary degree of the article that the user is trying to acquire with reference to the article database. And a control unit that controls the warning unit to warn the user according to the acquired degree of unnecessaryness.

  According to the article management system of the present invention, the unnecessary degree of articles is stored in advance in the article database. First, the article acquisition detection unit detects an action of a user trying to acquire an article. When the user is trying to obtain an article, the warning unit checks whether the article is unnecessary for the user by referring to the degree of unnecessaryness in the article database. If it is found that the article is unnecessary, it immediately informs the user and prompts the user to stop obtaining the article.

  Unnecessary items can be automatically detected by the method for judging unnecessary items of the present invention, and the product management system of the present invention detects that the user is trying to obtain unnecessary items and does not purchase unnecessary items. You can be alerted immediately. By combining these two inventions, when shopping at a store, or when trying to buy a mail-order product using a personal computer and the Internet, the judgment result of whether or not the goods to be obtained are really necessary is at an appropriate timing. Can warn. With this warning, the user can have a feeling of calmly rethinking whether or not it is an impulsive purchase according to the price, and as a result, the willingness to obtain unnecessary items can be suppressed. As a result, the user can save unnecessary expenses due to the acquisition of unnecessary items and can afford to save money.

  Before describing embodiments of the present invention in detail based on the drawings, various aspects of the present invention will be described below.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a remaining effective period detecting step of detecting a remaining effective period of the article;
A remaining article measuring step for measuring the remaining quantity of the article;
Determining the degree of unnecessaryness of the article stored in the article database, the remaining validity period of the article detected in the remaining validity period detecting step and the remaining amount of the article detected in the remaining article quantity measuring step There is provided an unnecessary item determination method comprising: an article unnecessary degree determination step of determining or predicting an unnecessary degree of the article based on a result of each in comparison with a reference.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the apparatus further comprises an article operation detection step of detecting an article operation of the user on the article.
The unnecessary item according to the first aspect, wherein the remaining effective period detecting step detects the remaining effective period of the article according to the article operation of the user detected in the article operation detecting step. Provide a judgment method.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the article is based on the remaining validity period of the article detected in the remaining validity period detection step and the remaining amount of the article detected in the article remaining amount measurement step. The unnecessary item determination method according to the first aspect, further comprising an article optimum amount calculation step of calculating an optimum amount of the article stored in a database.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the similarity between the different articles is obtained by comparing the respective functions of the different articles stored in the article database that accumulates at least the functions of the articles and the judgment criteria of the unnecessary degree. Article function similarity calculation process to calculate,
Judging or predicting the degree of unnecessaryness of the article by comparing the degree of similarity of the article calculated in the article function similarity calculation step with the criteria for judging the degree of unnecessaryness of the article stored in the article database. There is provided an unnecessary item determination method characterized by comprising an article unnecessary degree determination step.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, an article database storing at least an unnecessary degree of articles;
An article acquisition detector for detecting the user's article acquisition act or the user's intention to acquire the article;
A warning unit that warns the user according to the unnecessary degree of the article;
The article acquisition detection unit receives the information that the user's article acquisition act or the user's intention to acquire the article is detected, and acquires the unnecessary degree of the article that the user is trying to acquire with reference to the article database. And a control unit that controls the warning unit to warn the user according to the acquired degree of unnecessaryness.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the structure is configured to temporarily store the article, and includes a temporary storage unit that distinguishes between the fact that the article has been stored and the type of the article,
The article acquisition detection unit considers that the temporary storage unit detects the storage of the article as having detected the user's article acquisition act or the user's intention to acquire the article, An article management system according to an aspect is provided.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the apparatus includes an article acquisition reservation unit that performs an operation to reserve acquisition of an article.
The article acquisition detecting unit detects the article acquisition act of the user or the user's intention to acquire the article when the article acquisition reservation unit that performs an operation for reserving the acquisition of the article has detected a reservation operation for acquiring the article. The article management system according to the fifth aspect is provided.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, the article acquisition detection unit is provided in an area where the user obtains the article and has information indicating that the user obtains the article, and the tag When the user enters the area where the article is obtained by carrying the article acquisition area detection device, the article acquisition area detection device can read the information. The article management system according to the fifth aspect is provided, wherein the article acquisition act of the user or the user's intention to acquire the article is detected by reading the information of the tag.

  Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

  First, the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, a method for determining an unnecessary item will be described first, and then the user uses the unnecessary item determination result to determine an unnecessary item. The article management system that suppresses the action to be obtained will be described in detail.

<First Embodiment>
The concept of the method for determining an unnecessary product according to the first embodiment of the present invention is very simple. When the target product expires, if the product is used little or not, it is considered an unnecessary product. . In accordance with this concept, the unnecessary item determination method according to the first embodiment of the present invention determines whether or not the expiration date of the target article has expired, and how long the expiration date remains if the expiration date has not been reached. The remaining effective period detecting step for detecting the remaining amount of goods, the remaining amount measuring step for measuring the remaining amount of the article so as to determine that the article is hardly or not used by the remaining amount of the article, and the remaining effective period detecting Article unnecessary degree judgment step of judging or predicting the unnecessary degree of the article by comparing the remaining effective period of the article detected in the process and the remaining quantity of the article detected in the article residual quantity measuring step with a judgment criterion. And the structure including.

  FIG. 1A shows a method for judging an unnecessary product by these three steps in the form of a flowchart. The correspondence between the three steps and each process in the flowchart of FIG. 1A is as follows.

The remaining effective period detecting step is step S101,
-The article remaining amount measuring step is step S103,
The article unnecessary degree determining step is step S102, step S104 to step S109.
It is.

  FIG. 1B is a block diagram showing the configuration of the unnecessary product determination apparatus for performing each process in the flowchart of FIG. 1A. In FIG. 1B, the unnecessary product determination device includes an input device 55 such as a keyboard and a mouse that allows the user to input information such as unnecessary degree and similarity or correction of the information as necessary, and unnecessary degree and similarity. An output device 54 such as a display capable of outputting information such as information, an article database 803 storing various pieces of article information such as attribute information indicating details of each article, and a weight for detecting the weight of the article Information is input from the sensor W (W1 to W6, W10, etc.), the tag reader R (R1 to R6, R10, etc.) that automatically reads the tag T attached to the article, and the weight sensor W ( W1 to W6, W10, etc.) and the weight information of the articles detected by the tag reader R (R1 to R6, R10, etc.), respectively, and the information of the tags T of the articles detected by the tag reader R (R1 When necessary, information stored in the article database 803 is searched and extracted, necessary calculations and comparison operations are performed, information is output to the output device 54, and necessary information is stored in the article database 803. And a control unit 50 that performs control so as to be stored. The control unit 50 can function as a remaining amount ratio calculation unit, a remaining effective period detection unit, and the like.

  Hereinafter, the processing procedure of the unnecessary item determination method will be described with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B.

  First, in step S101, for an article for which it is desired to determine whether or not it is an unnecessary article (target article), control that functions as a remaining validity period detection unit whether or not the validity period of the article has expired in the remaining validity period detection step. Detected by the unit 50. That is, first, the expiration date of the article is detected by the control unit 50 functioning as a remaining lifetime detection unit. Based on the detection information, based on the validity period information of the article stored in the article database 803, the control unit 50 determines whether or not the validity period of the article has expired. The detection method will be described later.

  Next, in step S102, if the expiration date has not expired, it is determined that the article is necessary because the possibility of use still remains, and the process proceeds to step S109. On the other hand, if the expiration date has expired, the process proceeds to step S103 in order to determine whether the article is hardly or not used at all.

  Next, in step S <b> 103, the controller 50 acquires the weight of the target article when it is new from the article database 803, and measures the current remaining amount by the weight sensor W.

  Next, in step S104, the criterion for determining the degree of unnecessaryness of the target article is acquired from the article database 803 by the control unit 50, and the control unit 50 determines the relationship between the new weight and the remaining amount of the target article as the criterion for determining the degree of unnecessaryness. The control unit 50 determines the unnecessary degree of the article. Specifically, the ratio of the remaining amount to the new weight is calculated by the control unit 50 functioning as a remaining amount ratio calculating unit, and the value of the remaining amount ratio is determined in advance for each article. It is determined by the control unit 50 whether or not the above value is exceeded. If it is determined by the control unit 50 that the ratio value of the remaining amount exceeds the value of the unnecessary degree, it is determined unnecessary, and if it is determined by the control unit 50 that it does not exceed the value, it is not unnecessary. The determination is made by the control unit 50.

  Next, in step S105, the control unit 50 determines whether the target article is an unnecessary item by the above-described determination method. If the control unit 50 determines that it is unnecessary, the process proceeds to step S106, and if it is determined that it is not unnecessary, the process proceeds to step S107.

  Next, in step S106, since it is found that the target article is an unnecessary item, the control unit 50 does not need the target article in the article database 803 in order to use the information in the article management system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Add that it is a product and end the process. However, if it is already written that the target article is an unnecessary article, this step is omitted and the process proceeds to the next step. This is because the controller 50 detects whether or not the target article is written as an unnecessary item in the article database 803 before the controller 50 adds that the target article is an unnecessary item to the article database 803. That's fine.

  Next, in step S107, the control unit 50 determines whether or not the remaining amount of the target article is sufficiently small. Specifically, the control unit 50 acquires from the article database 803 a value of a reference remaining amount that serves as a reference for determining that the remaining amount of the target article is sufficiently small, and the acquired reference remaining amount and the remaining amount of the target article Are compared by the control unit 50. If the control unit 50 determines that the remaining amount of the target article is less than the acquired reference remaining amount, the process proceeds to step S109; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S108. This branching step is performed in order to accumulate in the article database 803 information that advises whether or not it is necessary as much as the amount currently owned when the same article is obtained next time. Therefore, the branch result information is stored in the article database 803 by the control unit 50.

  Next, in step S108, the target article is a necessary item, but it is not necessary to have the same amount as the amount currently owned. Therefore, as the optimum amount for the user, a value obtained by subtracting the remaining amount from the new weight of the target article is used. Write to the database 803 and end the step.

  Next, in step S109, the fact that the target article is a necessary article is added to the article database 803, and the step ends. However, if it is already written that the target article is a necessary item, this step is omitted. This is because the control unit 50 detects whether the target article is written as the necessary item in the article database 803 before the control unit 50 writes that the target item is the necessary item in the article database 803. That's fine.

  The outline of the processing procedure of the unnecessary item determination method has been described above.

  In the following, step S104 and step S108 of this flowchart will be supplementarily explained. Prior to that, an outline of the article database 803 storing information necessary for executing these two steps, and attributes of each article included in the database An information acquisition method will be described, followed by a detailed description of the two steps.

FIG. 2A is a table showing a configuration example of the article database 803 according to the unnecessary item determination method of the first embodiment of the present invention. The table in FIG. 2A has a configuration in which managed articles are arranged in each column, and attribute information representing details of each article is stored in each row. In this configuration example, as the detailed attribute information,
・ ID (ID number)
・ Product name ・ Current position ・ Production date ・ Validity period ・ Weight at the time of new article ・ Standard remaining amount at the time of expiry ・ Consideration criteria for necessity ・ Unnecessary degree is included. Of these, the attribute information necessary for determining whether or not the expiration date has expired is the date of manufacture and the validity period, and the attribute information necessary for the criteria for determining whether or not the product is used at all is The weight, the reference remaining amount at the time of expiration, and the determination criteria that are not necessary (details will be described later). Then, using these, step S104 is performed, and the unnecessary degree of each article calculated as a result is written in the unnecessary degree that is attribute information of the database 803. In the article management system according to the first embodiment of the present invention, by storing the determination result of the unnecessary degree of the article in the database 803, when the control unit 50 determines whether the target article is unnecessary, the unnecessary article. This saves the trouble of calling and executing an unnecessary product determination program that implements the determination method, and allows the system to be constructed with a simple configuration. Details will be described later.

  Further, as other attribute information described in the article database 803 in FIG. 2A, three items of ID, product name, and current position are included. Each of the IDs is information for distinguishing the article from other articles, the article name is a name representing the article, and the current position is a place where the article is stored. These three pieces of information of ID, product name, and current position are general attribute information used for managing articles in real space, and are not attribute information directly related to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  Next, an example of how to acquire such item attribute information will be described.

  First, invariant attribute information will be described first, followed by variable attribute information.

  The invariant attribute information is attribute information whose value does not change among the attribute information of the article itself. In the attribute information prepared in the article database 803 in FIG. 2A, the ID, the article name, and the manufacturing date are used. The validity period, the weight at the time of a new article, and the criteria for determining necessity are equivalent. Regarding the effective period, the effective period may vary depending on the situation, or the effective period may be unknown or not determined. However, for the sake of convenience, the effective period is assumed to be unchanged attribute information in the first embodiment.

  One effective method for importing invariant attribute information into the article database 803 is a method using a tag system. Considering the situation where verification experiments for operational efficiency such as tagging products and omitting inventory management are being carried out here and there, the situation where products are tagged and sold is not a distant future. It has become realistic. If such a situation is assumed, the attribute information of the article is described in the tag T attached to the article, while the article bringing-in part in the space for managing the article (for example, in the case of food) Refrigerator, food storage rack, microwave oven, oven, trash can, etc. ), The tag reader R automatically installs the tag T attached to the brought-in article when the article is brought in, so that the attribute information of the carried-in article can be automatically and easily Can be imported. At this time, as a method of holding the attribute information to the tag T attached to the article, a type storing a memory for writing information inside the tag, and only a number for distinguishing from other tags inside the tag There are two types, that is, a type in which information on the tag is obtained indirectly by storing information relating to the number elsewhere, but either of them may be used.

  FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of equipment for taking invariant attribute information of an article using a tag T. FIG. In the example of FIG. 3, the example of the refrigerator 30 is shown as an example of a space for managing articles. In this example, the storage location of the refrigerator 30 (that is, the upper shelf 30a of the refrigerator compartment, the middle shelf) so that the invariant attribute information of the article can be taken into the article database 803 by using the article in the refrigerator 30 as a trigger. IC tag for articles placed in the refrigerator 30 in the shelf 30b, the lower shelf 30c, the upper pocket 30d inside the door 30g, the middle pocket 30e inside the door 30g, the lower pocket 30f inside the door 30g, etc. Tag readers R1 to R6 capable of reading T are provided. If the tag readers R1 to R6 are always operated, the power consumption increases. Therefore, the tag readers R1 to R6 may be operated only when the door 30g of the refrigerator 30 is closed.

  The variable attribute information is attribute information whose value changes when used among the attributes of the article itself. In the attribute information prepared in the article database 803 in FIG. The remaining amount and the unnecessary degree correspond to it.

  Since each variable attribute information requires its own information acquisition means, the details will be described below. Among these, the current position is not necessary information for the first embodiment of the present invention. Is omitted. The unnecessary degree is attribute information for storing the processing result of step S106, step S108 or step S109 in the flowchart of FIG.

  Therefore, here, only the method for acquiring the remaining amount of articles including when the expiration date has expired will be described. The simplest method for measuring the remaining amount of an article is to measure the weight of the article. For this purpose, it is necessary to install weight sensors W1 to W6 for measuring the weight of the article in a place where the article is stored or discarded. In the example of the refrigerator 30 of FIG. 3 described above, in addition to the tag readers R1 to R6 that can read the tag T attached to the article in order to capture the invariant attribute information of the article, the weight sensor for measuring the remaining amount of the article Each of the storage locations of the refrigerator 30 (that is, the bottom surface of the upper shelf 30a, the bottom surface of the middle shelf 30b, the bottom surface of the lower shelf 30c, the bottom surface of the upper pocket 30d inside the door 30g, and the door 30g The bottom surface of the inner middle pocket 30e, the bottom surface of the lower pocket 30f inside the door 30g, etc.). Thereby, the remaining amount of each article can be measured finely.

  As described above, the method for automatically acquiring the attribute information of the article in the article database 803 as much as possible has been introduced. Needless to say, the method introduced here is merely an example, and other methods may be used. Also, depending on the environment, acquisition of these attribute information may not be performed automatically. In such a case, this is an orthodox and time-consuming method. However, manual input using an input device 55 such as a keyboard or a mouse is required. But of course it does n’t matter.

  Next, step S104 and step S108 in the flowchart of FIG. 1A will be described.

Step S104 corresponds to an article unnecessary degree determination step that performs the most important process in the unnecessary item determination method according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Again, the unnecessary items mentioned here are items that are hardly or not used except for items that are held as hobbies or collections. The problem in this case is that
1) criteria for judging little or no use,
2) a method of measuring a situation that is rarely or not used at all;
These are two.

  First, the method for determining the criterion for determining the degree of unnecessaryness is naturally, but various methods can be conceived. Of these, one method is described here. It is based on the ratio of the amount of the article when it is new (that is, at the time of purchase) and the remaining amount when the expiration date of the article expires. If the remaining ratio is greater than a predetermined value, it is determined as an unnecessary product, and if it is equal to or less than the predetermined value, it is determined as a required product.

  The predetermined value may be the same value for all articles, or may be set separately for each article. Also, depending on the article, the effective period and usage may vary depending on the environmental conditions such as the season, so it is of course possible to set them separately for each environmental condition. In the article database 803 of FIG. 2A, two examples are shown as judgment criteria that are not necessary. First, the soy sauce with ID number 00323 and the soybean plate soy with 000425 are the simplest example, and the remaining amount of 80% is used as a judgment criterion that is unnecessary regardless of the time. Next, for the milk with ID number 00555 and 000558, the judgment criteria that are not necessary are divided according to the time. In both cases, the remaining amount is 60% in October to April and the remaining amount is 70% in May to September. Unnecessary judgment criteria. This reflects the intent of sweetening the criteria that are not needed because warm summers rot quickly.

  Here are two ways to determine whether an item has expired. First of all, if the validity period is defined as the attribute information manufacturing date plus the attribute information validity period, whether the validity period calculated by the above definition is after the current date or not is expired. Can be easily determined. For example, assuming that the current date is June 17, 2004, the expiration dates of the four articles registered in the table of FIG. 2A are as follows. It can be judged.

-Milk: Since June 10, 2004 (production date) is 10 days after the date of manufacture (effective period), the expiration date is June 19, 2004.
-Eggplant: Since June 15, 2004 (manufacturing date) is five days after the date of manufacture (validity period), the expiration date is June 19, 2004.
Soy sauce: Since June 1, 2004 (manufacturing date) is 30 days after the date of manufacture (effective period), the expiry date is June 30, 2004.
・ Same plate soy: The expiration date is November 30, 2004 because it is six months (effective period) after the date of manufacture on May 1, 2004 (manufacturing date).

  Another method is when the expiration date is not specified or when it is specified but it is difficult to import it into the article database 803. In this case, an article operation detection step of detecting an article operation of the user by detecting a tag T of the article to be operated by the user with a tag reader R provided at a location to be operated, the article operation detection is provided. It may be detected that the remaining effective period of the article has disappeared (that is, the expiration date has expired) in accordance with the user's article operation detected in the process. More specifically, the user's article operation is a disposal operation of the article, and it is determined that the expiration date has expired by detecting the article disposal operation. In this method, how to detect the disposal of the article is a problem, but one method is to devise tag technology and disposal location (for example, tag reader R provided in the disposal location garbage bin to the waste bin). It can be realized by detecting that an article has been put in.

  FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a trash box as an example of a well-developed article disposal place. In the example of FIG. 4, a tag reader R10 and a weight sensor W10 are attached to the trash box 31 as the device. If the tag T is attached to the article, when the article is discarded in the trash box 31, the tag T attached to the article is read by the tag reader R <b> 10 to know what is discarded. Furthermore, since the weight of the discarded article can be measured by the weight sensor W10, the remaining amount can be calculated accordingly. Of course, the example shown here is an example of a method for detecting article disposal, and of course, other methods may be used. For example, as another method of article detection, a camera that can observe the disposal location may be installed, and when the article is discarded at the disposal location, the article discarded by the camera may be identified.

  Step S108 calculates the optimum amount to be used by the user in this step when the currently owned item is a necessary item but the actual amount actually used is smaller than the owned amount. It is for advice when you next buy. For example, in the food example, consider the case of purchasing a seasoning that is rarely used to make a special dish. As an example of how to buy the seasoning, it is assumed that “it may be used in another dish someday”, and a seasoning having a capacity when new is more than the amount necessary for the dish is selected. However, the assumption is not satisfied as a result, and the seasoning expires and is discarded without being used for anything other than the dish. This is a typical pattern that eventually buys more than necessary and throws it away without being used up. In retrospect, the number of foods that have expired is 15 years a year. This is supported by the example of going up to 10,000 yen.

  This step S108 is a very useful function to eliminate waste by recommending to the user a product with a content that matches the actual performance of the next use when the same product is purchased next time. It is. In order to realize this function, in the first embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 50 determines the optimum amount of the article based on the remaining effective period of the article and the remaining quantity of the article stored in the article database 803. An article optimal amount calculation step for calculating is provided, and information on the attribute information “appropriate amount judgment criterion” of the article is newly added to the article database 803.

  FIG. 2B shows an article database 803 to which an appropriate amount judgment criterion is added as article attribute information in a table format. In the article database 803 of FIG. 2B, an appropriate amount determination criterion of 50% is set only for the soy sauce with ID number 042525. In other words, this indicates that the criterion for determining that the remaining amount is 50% is a criterion for determining that the product is not used as an essential item although it cannot be said to be an unnecessary item. That is, if the remaining amount ratio at the expiration of the expiration date exceeds 50%, which is an appropriate amount determination criterion, and is less than 80%, which is a necessity determination criterion, the optimal amount is determined by this step S108. Is calculated by The calculation of the optimum amount can be easily performed by, for example, using a value obtained by subtracting the remaining amount from the weight at the time of a new article. The optimal amount calculated in this way may be written by the control unit 50 in the unnecessary degree of the article database 803 and used.

According to the flowchart of FIG. 1A, since only one of step S106, step S108, and step S109 is executed, the item of unnecessary degree in the article database 803 includes
If step S106 is executed, "unnecessary item"
If step S108 is executed, the optimum amount is
If step S109 is executed, “necessities”
Each is written by the control unit 50.

  Of course, such steps may not be performed, and the articles may be simply classified into two types that are necessary or unnecessary. In that case, as a change of the flowchart of FIG. 1A, step S107 and step S108 may be removed, and the branch destination in the case of No in step S105 may be changed to step S109.

  The method for determining whether an article is unnecessary after the expiration date of the article has been described above. However, when obtaining an article, it is naturally considered that there is a need to determine whether it is an unnecessary article even if the article is currently owned and the expiration date has not expired. In such a case, what is necessary is just to judge whether it is an unnecessary item or a necessity by the present consumption pace of the said goods. For this purpose, data representing the relationship between the consumption of articles before the expiration date and the criteria for determining whether or not the article is necessary is stored in advance.

FIG. 5 shows the data in the form of a graph. In the graph of FIG. 5, the plane with the freshness on the horizontal axis and the remaining amount of the article on the axis as the axes, a part where the article can become an unnecessary item (area A indicated by hatching) and a part where it does not (area B). It is divided into two areas. And as the freshness of the article at the moment,
(Current-date of manufacture) / (expiration date-date of manufacture)
By plotting the values obtained by the calculation in the graph and seeing in which area of A and B, it is determined whether an article whose expiration date has not expired is an unnecessary article or a necessary article. For example, in the example of FIG. 5, it may be determined that the article A will be an unnecessary item in the future, and the article B will be a necessity in the future. The freshness on the horizontal axis means that the freshness decreases as time elapses from the date of manufacture to the right side. The remaining amount of goods on the vertical axis means that the remaining amount (for example, weight) of the unused item is maximized, and the remaining amount decreases as it goes downward. As an execution form of the unnecessary product judgment method according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the invariant attribute information (ID, product name, date of manufacture, validity period, weight at the time of a new product, need judgment criteria) has already been described. The program stored in the secondary storage device (not shown) and implemented with the flowchart of FIG. 1A is executed by the CPU (not shown) on the main storage device (not shown) on the assumption that the method can be obtained when the article is obtained. It is the simplest and simplest form that is read by a CPU (not shown) and the program is continuously operated by the CPU. The said program is mounted in each place (For example, the memory | storage part of the refrigerating operation control apparatus of the refrigerator 30 of FIG. 3) etc. which manage articles | goods. However, there is a problem in that energy is wasted if the program is always executed. In this regard, since it is possible to predict in advance from the date of manufacture and the validity period described in the article database 803 that the expiration date of the article is about to expire, the program is executed only at that time, and the expiration date is not indicated. For an article, the program may be executed when an article disposal act is detected.

  The details of the unnecessary item determination method according to the first embodiment of the present invention have been described above.

  According to the unnecessary item determination method of the first embodiment of the present invention, the criterion for determining the degree of unnecessaryness of items is stored in advance in the item database 803. First, how long the effective period of an item is determined by the remaining effective period detection step. Detect if it remains. If it is found that the expiration date of the article has expired, the remaining amount of the article is subsequently measured. If the remaining amount at this time is larger than the determination criterion, it is determined that the article has been used little or not before the expiration date, and the article is determined as an unnecessary item. In this way, unnecessary items can be automatically detected.

  Note that the above-described unnecessary item determination method is an effective means for an article having an expiration date such as a best-before date and having a property that the amount decreases with each use. Typical examples of the article include foods, seasonings, beverages, and the like. Of course, other articles than food-related articles may be used.

Second Embodiment
Next, an unnecessary item determination method according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The concept of the method for judging the unnecessary items of the second embodiment is also very simple. When an article having the same or equivalent function as that article already exists when the article is obtained, the article to be obtained is regarded as an unnecessary article. To do. In accordance with this concept, the unnecessary product determination method according to the second embodiment includes an article database 803 that stores at least the judgment function of the function and the unnecessary degree of the article, and the function of the article is compared by the control unit 50 to compare between the articles. The article function similarity calculation step of calculating the similarity of the article by the control unit 50, the similarity of the article calculated by the control unit 50 in the article function similarity calculation step, and the judgment criteria, An article unnecessary degree determining step of determining or predicting the degree of necessity by the control unit 50.

  In order to calculate the similarity between articles by comparing the functions of the articles in the article function similarity calculation step, the functions of the articles are described in the article database 803, and the similarity is calculated using the described functions. A mechanism to do this is required.

  Therefore, first, a configuration example of the article database 803 for realizing the unnecessary product determination method according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described, and a calculation method of the similarity of articles will be shown using the article database, and finally, The flow of processing by the unnecessary item determination method of the second embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B are diagrams showing a configuration example of the article database 803 by the unnecessary item determination method according to the second embodiment of the present invention in a table format, and FIG. 6A is a reference for calculating the similarity of the function of the article. FIG. 6B shows a table in which criteria for determining the function code and the degree of similarity of the product are stored for each product.

  In the following, first, a code for organizing the article function shown in the example of FIG. 6A will be described, and the article function similarity calculation step according to the second embodiment of the present invention will calculate the function similarity using the code. The method will be described and then the details of FIG. 6B will be described.

The article function code table of FIG. 6A is roughly divided into two parts. One is a part for organizing functions, and the other is a part for assigning codes specific to the systematized functions. Regarding the systematization of the functions, in this example, various functions are expressed in a hierarchical manner. The left side represents a higher concept and the right side represents a lower concept. In the following, the concept function of each hierarchy is referred to as the leftmost concept as the first-stage concept function, and as it goes to the right, the number of stages as in the second-stage concept function and the third-stage concept function I will raise it. Thus, for example, in the example of FIG.
・ Concept function of the first stage: "grab", "cook"
Second-stage concept function: Subordinate concept of “cooking” of the first-stage concept function, that is, “bubble”, “cut”, and “flavor” as the second-stage concept function
・ 3rd stage concept function: Subordinate concept of “cut” of the 2nd stage concept function, ie, “chopped” and “chopped” as 3rd stage concept functions
・ 3rd stage concept function: Subordinate concept of “seasoning” of the 2nd stage concept function, that is, “soy sauce” and “miso” as 3rd stage concept functions
-4th stage conceptual function: Subordinate concept of "Miso" of the 3rd stage conceptual function, that is, as the 4th stage conceptual function, "red dashi", "white dashi", "hot pepper"
It can be seen that is described.

  Subsequently, it is necessary to assign codes specific to these hierarchized functions. Here, the codes are expressed numerically. The method of determining the numerical value is that each layer corresponds to each digit of the numerical value, and the difference in function in each layer is distinguished by the difference in each numerical value in the digit. Then, the distinction of the lowest layer is represented by 1 and the rank is increased by 1 every time it goes up to the upper layer. For example, the code of the function of “grab” is 1000, the code of the function of “cooking” is 2000, the code of the function of “foaming” is 2010, the code of the function of “cut” is 2020, and the code of the function of “chopped” Is 2021, the code for the function of “Chopping” is 2022, the code for the function of “Seasoning” is 2700, the code of the function of “Soy sauce” is 2710, the code of the function of “Miso” is 2720, the function of “Red soup” The code of the code is 2721, the code of the function of “white soup” is 2722, and the code of the function of “red pepper” is 2723. Here, the numerical values used for each layer do not have to be arithmetic numbers. This is because when arithmetic numbers are used, it is not possible to distinguish more than 10 functions. Therefore, numerical values may be combined with alphabets as long as the difference can express a difference, or other methods may be used.

  The function codes in FIG. 6A described above are allocated based on this concept, and the following can be said, for example, when the similarity of each function is calculated using this function code.

Since “gripping” and “cooking” are conceptual functions in the first stage, the two similarities (that is, the absolute value of the difference between the function codes) are 1000 and 2000, so the absolute value of the difference is | 1000-2000 | = 1000 is small. Since “red soup” and “white soup” are conceptual functions in the fourth stage, the two similarities (that is, the absolute value of the difference between the function codes) is 2721. Since it is 2722, the absolute value of the difference is as large as | 2721−2722 | = 1 ・ “Chopped” and “Miso” are conceptual functions in the third stage, but the upper level functions are different. Since these two similarities (that is, the absolute value of the difference between the function codes) are 2021 and 2720, the absolute value of the difference is as small as | 2021-2720 | = 699.

By expressing the function code numerically in such a manner, it is possible to easily calculate the function similarity in the article function similarity calculation step according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Because by subtraction calculation of these numbers,
・ The difference between functions with the same upper layer is small, and the difference between functions with different upper layers is large.
・ The magnitude of the difference between functions becomes smaller as the function becomes more concrete,
This is because the result is obtained. In order to perform the calculation, a rule to be obtained by subtracting the difference between a numerical value representing a certain function code and a numerical value representing another function code is determined in advance. If the function code is determined only by the arithmetic numbers, normal subtraction may be performed. If another character is added to the arithmetic numerals, the subtraction method including the characters may be determined.

  The specific processing example in the article function similarity calculation step has been described based on the method of coding the function of the article. Of course, this is only an example, and the similarity of the function of the article may be calculated by other methods.

  FIG. 6B shows a table storing three pieces of information for each article: the function code of the article, a criterion for judging the degree of similarity of the function, and whether or not the article is owned. For example, in the whisk, since 2010 is described as the function code, it can be understood that the whisk has a “foaming” function (function code 2010) by referring to FIG. 6A. In addition, since the present whisk is written as ± 10 as a necessity determination criterion, it can be understood that the whisk can be judged as an unnecessary product if an article having a similarity with the whisk is 10 or less. In the article unnecessary degree determination step according to the second embodiment of the present invention using this necessity determination criterion, a method for determining whether a certain article is necessary or not will be described in detail later. Furthermore, since there is no description in the part showing the presence or absence of possession of this whisk, it turns out that it does not have the whisk. In this ownership column (portion indicating presence / absence), it is indicated that the item described as ◯ in the portion is owned, and if it is not described, it is not owned.

  The above-described article function code table in FIG. 6A and the article database 803 in FIG. 6B desirably have data for all articles, but of course, only necessary portions may be prepared.

  Next, the flow of processing for determining an unnecessary item by the method for determining an unnecessary item according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the article database 803 described with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B, and a method of judging an unnecessary item by the article function similarity calculation step and the article unnecessary degree judgment step. The correspondence between the two steps and the processes in the flowchart of FIG. 7 is as follows.

Article function similarity calculation step: Step S701, Step S702
-Article unnecessary degree determination step: Steps S703 to S706

  Hereinafter, the processing procedure will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in step S701, an article for which it is determined whether or not it is an unnecessary item in the article function similarity calculation step is input from the input device 55 to the control unit 50, for example. As the article input method, an article acquisition detection unit 801 in an article management system described later may be used.

  Next, in the article function similarity calculation step in step S702, first, the control unit 50 searches the article database 803 for the function of the target article that is input in step S701 and that is to be determined whether it is an unnecessary article. Specifically, for example, the function of the target article is searched by the control unit 50 from the article database 803 based on the ID of the target article. Next, the control unit 50 retrieves the already owned article from the article database 803 and reads out the function, and the control unit 50 calculates the similarity between the input function of the target article and the function of the owned article. . As an example, when determining the article to be compared from the articles already owned, the similarity to the functions of all the articles already owned is calculated and the article to be compared is detected. Can do.

  At this time, if a certain possessed article has a plurality of functions and the function similarity between the article and another article is calculated, the control unit 50 calculates the similarity for each of the plurality of functions. The maximum value (the minimum value as the calculation result value) may be set as the similarity by the control unit 50. For example, in the example of FIG. 6B, when the control unit 50 calculates the degree of knife similarity for a chopper having two function codes 2021 and 2022, the function code 2020 of the knife for each of the two function codes 2021 and 2022 Are respectively calculated by the control unit 50. The result is 1 (= | 2021-2020 |) and 2 (= | 2022-2020 |), respectively, but the control unit 50 sets the smaller value of 1 to the similarity between the chopper and the kitchen knife. Degree. Similarly, if the article to be compared and the article to be compared have a plurality of functions, the control unit 50 calculates the similarity for all the combinations of the functions, and as a result, the minimum value, in other words, the similarity is the maximum. The article may be selected by the control unit 50.

  Next, in step S703, among the similarities between the function of the input article calculated in step S702 and the function of the possessed article, the controller 50 extracts the one with the maximum similarity, and the controller 50 extracts the article database. From 803, the necessity determination criterion for the possessed article is acquired.

  Next, in step S704, the control unit 50 determines whether the maximum similarity value is equal to or higher than the necessity determination criterion. If it is equal to or greater than the criterion, the process proceeds to step S705, and if not, the process proceeds to step S706.

  Next, in step S705, the control unit 50 determines that the target article is a necessary item based on the determination in step S704, and the control unit 50 indicates the result (that is, the target item is a required item). To finish the step.

  Next, in step S706, since the control unit 50 determines that the target article is an unnecessary item according to the determination in step S704, the control unit 50 indicates the result (that is, the target item is an unnecessary item). Write to the database 803 to end the process.

  The details of the unnecessary item determination method according to the second embodiment of the present invention have been described above.

  Note that the above-described unnecessary item determination method is effective in determining whether or not an article is necessary in the case where the article has a certain function. For example, if an attempt is made to obtain a whisk, chopsticks are detected as another article having a similarity of 0 to the whisk function “foaming” in step S702, and the necessity of the whisk is detected in step S703. Since the unnecessary determination criterion ± 10 is acquired and it is determined in step S704 that the similarity is within the reference, the process proceeds to step S706, and the whisk can be determined as an unnecessary item. Here, as an example of how to assign a function code to each article, in the case of the function code system as described here, it is configured to classify from a conceptual function to a embodied function. The difference is automatically increased as the functions differ. As a more specific example, it is desirable to make a difference of at least 10 or more between articles having greatly different functions. In addition, as an example of how to determine the width of the necessity determination criterion, the width may be at least ± 10 for an article that may be an unnecessary item, and the width should be at least ± 2 for an item that is a necessary item. desirable.

  As a typical example of the article, there is a tool such as a cooking utensil.

  Further, as in the example described above, the function need not be limited to a function for performing some work. For example, by considering seasoning as one of the functions, it becomes possible to eliminate waste by becoming able to know that there is a similar seasoning even without a certain seasoning. More specifically, for example, when making a dish using soy sauce, by using the article database 803 described in FIGS. 6A and 6B and this article function similarity calculation step, As an already owned item, Gochujang has the same function code 2723 as Soybean sauce, so it can be seen that it is an alternative, and it is not necessary to newly obtain Soybean sauce.

<Third Embodiment>
Next, an article management system according to a third embodiment of the present invention, which has been invented for the purpose of suppressing an act of trying to obtain unnecessary items by a user, will be described. The article management system can use an article management system that automatically detects unnecessary items, and can immediately warn the user not to purchase unnecessary items when the user is trying to obtain unnecessary items. This is an application system using the method for determining an unnecessary item according to the first or second embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the article management system according to the third embodiment of the present invention detects an article database 803 that stores the degree of need for articles, a user's article acquisition act or a user's intention to acquire articles, and the user's An article acquisition detection unit 801 for acquiring article detection information such as attribute information of an article to be acquired, a warning unit 802 for warning the user when an article to be acquired is unnecessary, and the article acquisition detection unit 801 receives the information that the user's article acquisition act or the user's intention to acquire the article is received (the article detection information and the article acquisition detection information from the article acquisition detection unit 801 are input), and the input article detection information and the article Based on the acquisition detection information, the unnecessary degree of the article that the user is trying to obtain is obtained by referring to (searching for) the article database 803, and is detected. Based on the result, the warning unit 802 is controlled so as to warn the user according to the acquired degree of unnecessaryness, and the user is prevented from trying to obtain unnecessary items, and the article acquisition detection is performed as necessary. And a control unit 50 that controls to store information and the like in the article database 803. Here, as shown in FIG. 1B, the degree of unnecessaryness or similarity is similar to the input device 55 such as a keyboard or a mouse that allows the user to input information such as the degree of unnecessaryness or the degree of similarity or correction of the information as necessary. An output device 54 such as a display capable of outputting information such as the degree may be further provided. When the output device 54 is necessary, when the warning unit 802 is a display that displays a warning, the output device 54 may be caused to function, or the output device 54 may be provided separately from the display. Good.

  Accordingly, when the article acquisition detecting unit 801 detects the user's article acquisition act or the user's intention to acquire the article, the control unit 50 based on the article detection information and the article acquisition detection information of the article detected by the article acquisition detection unit 801, The unnecessary degree of the article that the user is trying to obtain is acquired with reference to the article database 803. Next, the control unit 50 warns the user that the article to be obtained is unnecessary by the warning unit 802 according to the acquired degree of unnecessaryness, so that the user tries to obtain an unnecessary article. Action can be suppressed.

  FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration example of the article management system according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, each means which comprises the said article | item management system is demonstrated using FIG.

  Since the structure of the article database 803 has already been described, the description is omitted here. In addition, in the article database 803 of this article management system, by executing the processing of the flowchart of FIG. 1A or FIG. 7, the unnecessary degree that is one of the variable attribute information of each article is stored in advance. Assume.

  The article acquisition detection unit 801 detects an action of a user trying to acquire an article. Here, how to detect the acquisition of the article is a problem. In the third embodiment of the present invention, two methods are disclosed depending on the scene.

  The first article acquisition detection method relates to the third embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, the real world has a structure for temporarily storing an article, and includes a temporary storage unit 804 including an article storage detection sensor 804A that distinguishes between the fact that the article is stored and the type of the article. Thus, the article storage detection sensor 804A of the temporary storage unit 804 detects the situation in which the user is trying to obtain the article.

  FIG. 9A is a block diagram showing one configuration example of the article management system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 9A, the article management system includes the article storage detection sensor 804 </ b> A of the temporary storage unit 804, the article acquisition detection unit 801, the article database 803, the warning unit 802, and the control unit 50. .

  The article storage detection sensor 804A of the temporary storage unit 804 detects that an article has been stored and outputs article detection information including attribute information such as the ID of the article.

  The article acquisition detection unit 801 determines that the user is trying to acquire an article because the article detection information from the article storage detection sensor 804A is input and the article detection information is input, and the article detection information and the article are detected. Outputs acquisition detection information.

  The control unit 50 receives the article detection information and the article acquisition detection information from the article acquisition detection unit 801 and searches the article database 803 for an article obtained based on the input article detection information and the article acquisition detection information. And controlling the operation of the warning unit 802 on the basis of the unnecessary degree of the article as a search result to suppress the user's act of obtaining an unnecessary article, and the article acquisition detection information and the like as necessary. Control is performed so as to be stored in the article database 803.

  Therefore, according to the above configuration, the article detection information indicating that the article is stored in the temporary storage unit 804 and the type of the stored article is detected by the article storage detection sensor 804A of the temporary storage unit 804. The information is output to the article acquisition detection unit 801. Next, when article detection information is input from the article storage detection sensor 804A to the article acquisition detection unit 801, the article acquisition detection unit 801 determines that the user is trying to acquire an article and detects the acquisition of the article together with the article detection information. Output information. Next, when the article detection information and the article acquisition detection information are input from the article acquisition detection unit 801 to the control unit 50, the control unit 50 determines the acquired article based on the input article detection information and the article acquisition detection information. The unnecessary degree is retrieved from the article database 803 and acquired. Next, according to the acquired degree of unnecessaryness (in other words, if the article to be obtained is unnecessary), the warning section 802 does not require the article to be obtained to the user by the control unit 50. By giving a warning that there is, it is possible to suppress the act of the user trying to obtain unnecessary items.

  FIG. 9B is a conceptual diagram showing an implementation form of the temporary storage unit 804 in the configuration example of the article management system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. As an example of the temporary storage unit 804, this configuration example assumes that an article sold at a store has a tag T, and detects the moment when an attempt is made to purchase the article 69 with the tag T. The cart 804C includes a tag reader 804R as an example of an article storage detection sensor 804A. Then, when the article 69 with the tag T is put in the cart 804C, the tag reader 804R reads the information of the tag T and acquires all or part of the attribute information related to the article 69 from the tag T. Further, the cart 804C is provided with a data transmission unit 804T having a data transmission function for transmitting the acquired attribute information to the article acquisition detection unit 801 wirelessly. That is, the article management system of FIG. 9B includes a tag reader 804R, a data transmission unit 804T, an article acquisition detection unit 801, the article database 803, the warning unit 802, and the control unit 50.

  The tag reader 804R detects that the article 69 has been stored, and outputs article detection information including attribute information such as an ID of the article 69.

  The data transmission unit 804T is connected to the tag reader 804R, receives article detection information from the tag reader 804R, and transmits the article detection information wirelessly.

  The article acquisition detection unit 801 can be connected to the data transmission unit 804T wirelessly or the like, and the article detection information from the tag reader 804R is input via the data transmission unit 804T, and the article detection information is input, so that the user Determines that it is trying to obtain an article, and outputs article detection information and article acquisition detection information.

  The control unit 50 receives the article detection information and the article acquisition detection information from the article acquisition detection unit 801 and searches the article database 803 for an article 69 obtained based on the input article detection information and the article acquisition detection information. And the operation of the warning unit 802 is controlled based on the unnecessary degree of the article 69 as a search result to suppress the user's act of obtaining an unnecessary article, and the article acquisition detection information as necessary. Is stored in the article database 803.

  Therefore, according to the above configuration, when the article 69 with the tag T is put in the cart 804C, the tag reader 804R reads the information of the tag T, and all or part of the attribute information about the article 69 is detected as an article. Obtained from the tag T as information. Next, when article detection information such as the attribute information acquired from the tag reader 804R is input to the data transmission unit 804T provided in the cart 804C, the data transmission unit 804T transmits the article detection information to the article acquisition detection unit. Send to 801 wirelessly. Next, when the article detection information from the tag reader 804R is input to the article acquisition detection unit 801 wirelessly from the data transmission unit 804T, the article acquisition detection unit 801 determines that the user is trying to acquire the article, The article acquisition detection information is output together with the detection information. Next, when article detection information and article acquisition detection information are input from the article acquisition detection unit 801 to the control unit 50, the control unit 50 acquires the acquired article 69 based on the input article detection information and article acquisition detection information. Is retrieved from the article database 803 and acquired. Next, according to the acquired degree of unnecessaryness (in other words, if the article to be obtained is unnecessary), the warning unit 802 does not require the article 69 to be obtained to the user. By warning that this is the case, it is possible to prevent the user from trying to obtain unnecessary items.

  FIG. 9C and FIG. 9E are block diagrams showing a first typical mounting configuration example of the article management system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 9C, the article database 803 is stored in the storage unit 60a of the mobile terminal 60 (see FIG. 9B) owned by the user, and the article acquisition detection unit 801 and the warning unit 802 are implemented as software in the storage unit 60a. The configuration in which the CPU 60b of the mobile terminal 60 executes the software stored in the storage unit 60a as necessary to perform the respective operations is shown. This configuration is applied when the storage capacity of the storage unit 60a of the mobile terminal 60 owned by the user is sufficient and the article database 803 can be stored within the storage capacity of the storage unit, or when the capacity of the article database 803 itself is sufficiently small. Is possible. That is, the article management system of FIG. 9C is provided in the tag reader 804R, the data transmission unit 804T, the article acquisition detection unit 801 provided in the storage unit 60a of the portable terminal 60, and the storage unit 60a of the portable terminal 60. The article database 803, the warning unit 802 provided in the storage unit 60 a of the portable terminal 60, and the control unit 50 provided in the storage unit 60 a of the portable terminal 60 are configured.

  The tag reader 804R detects that the article 69 has been stored, and outputs article detection information including attribute information such as an ID of the article 69.

  The data transmission unit 804T is connected to the tag reader 804R, receives article detection information from the tag reader 804R, and transmits the article detection information wirelessly.

  The article acquisition detection unit 801 is provided in the storage unit 60a of the portable terminal 60, and is a tag reader that is wirelessly transmitted from the data transmission unit 804T on the temporary storage unit 804 side and received by the communication unit 60c on the portable terminal 60 side. The article detection information from 804R is input, and since the article detection information is input, it is determined that the user is trying to acquire the article, and the article detection information and the article acquisition detection information are output.

  The warning unit 802 is provided in the storage unit 60a of the portable terminal 60 and performs a warning operation such as displaying a warning on the display screen of the portable terminal 60 or generating a warning sound or a warning vibration.

  The control unit 50 is provided in the storage unit 60a of the portable terminal 60, and the article detection information and the article acquisition detection information from the article acquisition detection unit 801 are input and based on the input article detection information and the article acquisition detection information. Control is performed so that the acquired article 69 is searched from the article database 803, and a warning is displayed on the display screen of the portable terminal 60 or a warning sound or warning vibration is generated based on the unnecessary degree of the article 69 as a search result. The operation of the warning unit 802 that performs a warning operation such as the control of the user is controlled to suppress the user's attempt to obtain unnecessary items, and the item acquisition detection information and the like are stored in the item database 803 as necessary. To control.

  Therefore, according to the above configuration, when the article 69 with the tag T is put in the cart 804C, the tag reader 804R reads the information of the tag T, and all or part of the attribute information about the article 69 is detected as an article. Obtained from the tag T as information. Next, when article detection information such as the attribute information acquired from the tag reader 804R is input to the data transmission unit 804T provided in the cart 804C, the data transmission unit 804T transmits the article detection information to the mobile terminal 60. It transmits to the communication part 60c by radio. Next, when the article detection information transmitted from the tag reader 804R to the portable terminal 60 wirelessly via the data transmission unit 804T is input to the article acquisition detection unit 801, the article acquisition detection unit 801 tries to acquire the article. The article acquisition detection information is output together with the article detection information. Next, when article detection information and article acquisition detection information are input from the article acquisition detection unit 801 to the control unit 50, the control unit 50 acquires the acquired article 69 based on the input article detection information and article acquisition detection information. Is retrieved from the article database 803 and acquired. Next, according to the acquired unnecessary degree (in other words, if the article to be obtained is unnecessary), the warning unit 802 displays a warning on the display screen of the portable terminal 60 or gives a warning. By performing a warning operation such as generating a sound or a vibration for warning, the user is warned that the article 69 to be obtained is unnecessary, thereby suppressing the user's attempt to obtain unnecessary goods. can do.

  9D and 9E are block diagrams showing a second typical mounting configuration example of the article management system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 9D, an article database 803 that is likely to require a large storage area in the storage unit is placed in another server 61, and only the article acquisition detection unit 801 and the warning unit 802 are stored in the storage unit 60a of the portable terminal 60. Is implemented as software, and the CPU 60b of the portable terminal 60 causes the software stored in the storage unit 60a to be executed as necessary to perform the respective operations. The portable terminal 60 and the server 61 are accessed via the network 62. The configuration is shown as possible. In this configuration, access from the portable terminal 60 to the data in the article database 803 may be performed via the network 62 via the communication unit 60 c included in the portable terminal 60. That is, the article management system in FIG. 9D includes a tag reader 804R, a data transmission unit 804T, an article acquisition detection unit 801 provided in the storage unit 60a of the portable terminal 60, and a communication unit 60c provided in the portable terminal 60. The article database 803 stored in the server 61 connectable via the network 62, the warning unit 802 provided in the storage unit 60a of the portable terminal 60, and the control unit 50 provided in the storage unit 60a of the portable terminal 60. And is made up of.

  The tag reader 804R detects that the article 69 has been stored, and outputs article detection information including attribute information such as an ID of the article 69.

  The data transmission unit 804T is connected to the tag reader 804R, receives article detection information from the tag reader 804R, and transmits the article detection information wirelessly.

  The article acquisition detection unit 801 is provided in the storage unit 60a of the portable terminal 60, and is a tag reader that is wirelessly transmitted from the data transmission unit 804T on the temporary storage unit 804 side and received by the communication unit 60c on the portable terminal 60 side. The article detection information from 804R is input, and since the article detection information is input, it is determined that the user is trying to acquire the article, and the article detection information and the article acquisition detection information are output.

  The article database 803 is stored in the server 61 connected to the network 62, and information can be input or output by connecting to the network 62 via the communication unit 60 c included in the mobile terminal 60. ing.

  The warning unit 802 is provided in the storage unit 60a of the portable terminal 60 and performs a warning operation such as displaying a warning on the display screen of the portable terminal 60 or generating a warning sound or a warning vibration.

  The control unit 50 is provided in the storage unit 60a of the portable terminal 60, and the article detection information and the article acquisition detection information from the article acquisition detection unit 801 are input and based on the input article detection information and the article acquisition detection information. Control is performed so as to search for the acquired article from the article database 803, and a warning is displayed on the display screen of the portable terminal 60 or a warning sound or vibration for warning is generated based on the unnecessary degree of the article as a search result. The warning unit 802 that performs the warning operation is controlled so that the user is prevented from trying to obtain unnecessary items, and the article acquisition detection information is stored in the article database 803 as necessary. It is comprised from the control part 50. FIG.

  Therefore, according to the above configuration, when an article with a tag T is put in the cart 804C, the tag reader 804R reads the information of the tag T, and all or part of the attribute information about the article is used as article detection information. Obtain from tag T. Next, when article detection information such as the attribute information acquired from the tag reader 804R is input to the data transmission unit 804T provided in the cart 804C, the data transmission unit 804T transmits the article detection information to the portable terminal 60. Send by radio. Next, when the article detection information transmitted from the tag reader 804R to the portable terminal 60 wirelessly via the data transmission unit 804T is input to the article acquisition detection unit 801, the article acquisition detection unit 801 tries to acquire the article. The article acquisition detection information is output together with the article detection information. Next, when article detection information and article acquisition detection information are input from the article acquisition detection unit 801 to the control unit 50, the control unit 50 is connected to the server 61 via the network 62 by the communication unit 60 c of the mobile terminal 60. Then, the article database 803 is searched based on the inputted article detection information and article acquisition detection information, and the unnecessary degree of the acquired article is acquired. Next, according to the acquired unnecessary degree (in other words, if the article to be obtained is unnecessary), the warning unit 802 displays a warning on the display screen of the portable terminal 60 or gives a warning. By performing a warning operation such as generating a sound or a vibration for warning, it is possible to suppress an action of the user trying to obtain unnecessary items.

  The frequency of sending the attribute information to the article acquisition detection unit 801 may be performed each time one article is stored in the cart 804C. Because the unnecessary degree of the article is determined at the moment when the article is stored in the cart 804C, if it is found unnecessary, the article can be returned to the original merchandise shelf on the spot. It is.

  The second article acquisition detection method relates to a modification of the third embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, by providing an article acquisition reservation unit 805 that performs an operation for reserving the acquisition of an article, the article acquisition reservation unit 805 detects a situation in which a user intends to acquire an article in the virtual world. FIG. 10A is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an article management system according to a modification of the third embodiment of the present invention.

  FIG. 10B is a conceptual diagram illustrating an implementation form of the article acquisition reservation unit 805. In this example, in order to detect a situation where a user is trying to obtain an article at an internet shopping site using a personal computer, for example, a shopping reservation button “Add to Cart” 805A as an example of the article acquisition reservation unit 805 is set. The example is incorporated in the display screen 70 of a personal computer or portable terminal. Then, after the user checks the desired article (gochujang, jam, banana, and milk are checked on the display screen 70 in FIG. 10A), when the user clicks the shopping reservation button 805A, the attribute of the article reserved for shopping is clicked. Information is sent to the article acquisition detection unit 801. Note that when an article is purchased using a personal computer or a portable terminal as in this example, an article database 803, an article acquisition detection unit 801, and a warning unit 802 are connected to a device such as a personal computer or a portable terminal that performs article purchase processing. And a control unit 50 for controlling these operations, and of course, as shown in FIG. 9D, if the capacity of the article database 803 is large, the article database 803 may be placed in another server 61. Absent.

  Here, two cases are shown as examples of article acquisition detection, but of course, other methods may be used for detection.

  For example, in the case where the cart 804C with the tag reader 804R shown as an example is used, it is difficult to realize unless the cart 804C with the tag reader 804R is actually spread. Therefore, as another example in which the acquisition of the article can be detected until the cart 804C with the tag reader 804R and the article 69 with the tag T are spread, a method of indirectly detecting that the article is going to be obtained and warning the user is used. May be. “Indirectly detecting the acquisition of goods” means, for example, detecting that a user has entered a supermarket or a department store as a place where the goods can be obtained. Various methods are conceivable as this implementation, but typically a GPS, an IC card, or the like may be used. For example, in a method using GPS, a location where an item can be obtained and position information of the location are paired and registered in a portable terminal with GPS (not shown) owned by the user in advance as a product acquisition location database. On the other hand, the portable terminal acquires position information by GPS at a predetermined time interval, and checks whether there is a place that substantially matches the acquired position information with reference to the article acquisition place database. If there is a matching place, the user is assumed to be at a place where the article can be obtained, and a list of unnecessary articles may be displayed on the portable terminal. The portable terminal with GPS may be replaced with a car navigation system. Furthermore, in that case, when the destination is designated as one of the locations registered in the article acquisition location database using the route search function of the car navigation system, the destination arrives from that point. A list of unnecessary articles may be displayed on the screen of the car navigation system at an appropriate time.

  Another example is a method using an IC card.

  For example, it is assumed that the user owns an IC card issued by a place where an article can be obtained and an IC card reader as another example of the article acquisition detection unit is provided at the entrance of the place. In this case, when the user enters the place, the article management system provided with the article acquisition detection unit connected to the IC card reader by reading the IC card by the IC card reader is a place where the user can obtain the article. By detecting that the user has entered, the user's article acquisition act or the user's intention to acquire the article is detected. And, if the system has a function of sending some information (for example, bargain information) to the user visiting the store, the user can obtain the article indirectly by receiving the information with a portable terminal or the like. You can know that you entered.

  Conversely, the user may have an article acquisition area detection device such as a card reader or a tag reader. In this case, a tag that can be read by the card reader and stores information specifying the location or area is installed at the entrance of the article acquisition location or area, and the user owns the tag when entering the location or area. By reading the tag with the card reader, it is possible to detect the user's article acquisition act or the user's intention to acquire the article by detecting that the user has entered the article acquisition place or area.

  In the above, several methods for indirectly knowing that a user is trying to obtain an article have been introduced. However, in order to realize the above-described method, it may take time to disseminate necessary technologies and infrastructure. This can be dealt with as a simplest method by adding a function that allows the user to read the list manually on a terminal capable of displaying a list of unnecessary articles.

  Here, in the various examples described above, the article acquisition detection unit 801 receives the ID information sent from the temporary storage unit 804 or the article acquisition reservation unit 805, and the user's article acquisition act or the user's intention to acquire the article. The article list that the user intends to obtain is sent to the control unit 50 together with the attribute information of the article.

  The control unit 50 receives the list of articles that the user is trying to obtain sent from the article acquisition detection unit 801, acquires the unnecessary degree of articles for each of the articles with reference to the article database 803, and The warning unit 802 warns the user according to the acquired unnecessary degree. “According to the degree of unnecessaryness” specifically means that an article that is completely unnecessary is unnecessary, and if an article that is necessary but is about to be obtained is more than the necessary amount, an appropriate amount is set. This means that the control unit 50 warns the user by the warning unit 802. As a warning method by the warning unit 802, it may be properly used depending on a device in which the warning unit 802 is mounted. For example, a terminal with a screen may be displayed on the screen, or a terminal with a speaker may be warned by voice.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a basic flow of processing in the article management system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the basic flow of processing will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in step S1101, the article acquisition detection unit 801 detects an action or intention of a user trying to acquire an article, acquires attribute information of the article that is to be acquired and used, and sends it to the control unit 50.

  Next, in step S1102, the control unit 50 acquires the unnecessary degree of each of the articles sent from the article acquisition detection unit 801 in step S1101 from the article database 803.

  In step S1103, the control unit 50 determines whether each of the articles sent from the article acquisition detection unit 801 is unnecessary for the user by referring to the degree of unnecessaryness. The specific contents of the determination method are as described above. If the control unit 50 determines that the article is unnecessary, the process proceeds to step S1104. If the control unit 50 determines that the article is not necessary, the process proceeds to step S1105.

  Next, in step S1104, since the control unit 50 determines in step S1103 that the article is unnecessary, the control unit 50 immediately informs the user by the warning unit 802 that the article to be obtained is unnecessary. The processing is terminated after prompting the user to stop obtaining the article.

  Next, in step S1105, the control unit 50 determines whether or not the target article has an appropriate amount with reference to the unnecessary degree in the article database 803. The specific contents of the determination method are as described above. If the control unit 50 determines that the amount is appropriate, the process is terminated. If the controller 50 determines that the amount is not appropriate, the process proceeds to step S1106.

  Next, in step S1106, the target article is a necessary item, but it is not necessary to have the same amount as that currently owned. Therefore, the optimal amount for the user is acquired from the article database 803 by the control unit 50, and the control unit 50, the user is notified through the display screen of the portable terminal, voice output, etc., and the process is terminated.

  The article management system described in the third embodiment of the present invention has been described above. In the third embodiment, two methods for detecting that an unnecessary item is being obtained in the article management system have been disclosed. However, when each method is actually implemented, how should the system be configured? Whether it is good or not is described with reference to the examples of FIGS. 9C and 9D. However, the gist of the article management system according to the third embodiment of the present invention is to warn the user not to purchase the unnecessary items at the timing when the user tries to purchase the unnecessary items. It is needless to say that the form does not have to take either one of FIG. 9C or FIG. 9D and may be configured optimally according to the situation.

  According to the article management system of the third embodiment, the unnecessary degree determination method and apparatus of the first or second embodiment detects that the user is trying to obtain unnecessary items and does not purchase unnecessary items. If you are shopping at a store or trying to buy a mail order product using a computer and the Internet, you can use the appropriate judgment to determine whether or not you really need the goods you want to get. You can warn at the timing. With this warning, the user can have a feeling of calmly rethinking whether or not it is an impulsive purchase according to the price, and as a result, the willingness to obtain unnecessary items can be suppressed. As a result, the user can save unnecessary expenses due to the acquisition of unnecessary items and can afford to save money.

  It is to be noted that, by appropriately combining arbitrary embodiments of the various embodiments described above, the effects possessed by them can be produced.

  The unnecessary product determination method according to the present invention includes an article database that accumulates at least a criterion for judging the degree of unnecessary articles, and a remaining effective period of the article detected in the remaining effective period detection step of detecting the remaining effective period of the article; An article unnecessary degree determination step for determining or predicting the unnecessary degree of the article by comparing the remaining quantity of the article measured in the article residual quantity measuring step for measuring the remaining quantity of the article with the above judgment criteria. In addition, it is possible to automatically determine whether the article is unnecessary from the remaining amount when the article expires.

  By applying this unnecessary product judgment processing result for each item owned by the user and extracting the unnecessary product in advance, when the user obtains an unnecessary product for some reason, the user is warned about this and the unnecessary product is acquired. It is possible to suppress the will to obtain the product, and it is possible to suppress unnecessary expenses due to the acquisition of unnecessary items.

It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the unnecessary item determination method in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the unnecessary item determination apparatus for enforcing the unnecessary item determination method in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the articles | goods database by the unnecessary-materials determination method in 1st Embodiment of this invention in a table format. It is a figure which shows the other structural example of the articles | goods database by the unnecessary article determination method in 1st Embodiment of this invention in a table format. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the example of a refrigerator as an example of the article storage place used in the unnecessary-materials determination method in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the example of a trash box as an example of the article disposal place used in the unnecessary-materials determination method in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure showing the judgment criteria of necessity of goods in the form of a graph. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the articles | goods database by the unnecessary-materials determination method of 2nd Embodiment of this invention in a table format. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the articles | goods database by the unnecessary-materials determination method of 2nd Embodiment of this invention in a table format. It is the flowchart which showed the flow of the process of the unnecessary article determination method in 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the article | item management system by 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows one structural example of the article | item management system by 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows one implementation example of the temporary storage part in the said structural example of the article | item management system by 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows one implementation structural example of the article | item management system by 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows another example of a mounting structure of the article | item management system by 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the mounting structural example of the portable terminal of the article | item management system by 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the article | item management system by the modification of 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the implementation example of the goods acquisition reservation part in the goods management system by the modification of 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the flow of the process of the article | item management system in 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

30 Refrigerator 31 Trash Can 50 Control Unit 60 Portable Terminal 60a Storage Unit 60b CPU
60c Communication unit 61 Server 62 Network 69 Item 70 Display screen 801 Item acquisition detection unit 802 Warning unit 803 Item database 804 Temporary storage unit 804A Item storage detection sensor 804C Cart 804T Data transmission unit 805 Item acquisition reservation unit 805A Shopping reservation button CR IC card Reader T tag R, R1 to R6, R10 Tag reader W, W1 to W6, W10 Weight sensor

Claims (8)

A remaining effective period detecting step for detecting the remaining effective period of the article;
A remaining article measuring step for measuring the remaining quantity of the article;
Determining the degree of unnecessaryness of the article stored in the article database, the remaining validity period of the article detected in the remaining validity period detecting step and the remaining amount of the article detected in the remaining article quantity measuring step An unnecessary article determination method comprising: an article unnecessary degree determination step of determining or predicting an unnecessary degree of the article based on a result obtained by comparing each with a reference. An article operation detecting step of detecting an article operation of the user with respect to the article;
The said remaining effective period detection process detects the said remaining effective period of the said article according to the said article operation of the said user detected by the said article operation detection process, The unnecessary article determination of Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. Method.   Based on the remaining effective period of the article detected in the remaining effective period detection step and the remaining amount of the article detected in the remaining amount measurement step, the optimum amount of the article accumulated in the article database The unnecessary item determination method according to claim 1, further comprising an article optimum amount calculation step of calculating the item. An article function similarity calculation step of calculating a similarity between the different articles by comparing each function of the different articles stored in an article database storing at least the function of the article and a criterion of unnecessaryness;
Judging or predicting the degree of unnecessaryness of the article by comparing the degree of similarity of the article calculated in the article function similarity calculation step with the criteria for judging the degree of unnecessaryness of the article stored in the article database. An unnecessary article determination method comprising: an article unnecessary degree determination step. An article database storing at least an unnecessary degree of articles;
An article acquisition detector for detecting the user's article acquisition act or the user's intention to acquire the article;
A warning unit that warns the user according to the unnecessary degree of the article;
The article acquisition detection unit receives the information that the user's article acquisition act or the user's intention to acquire the article is detected, and acquires the unnecessary degree of the article that the user is trying to acquire with reference to the article database. And a control unit that controls the warning unit to warn the user in accordance with the acquired degree of unnecessaryness. The structure is configured to temporarily store the article, and includes a temporary storage unit that distinguishes the type of the article from the fact that the article is stored,
The article acquisition detection unit considers that the temporary storage unit detects the storage of the article as having detected the user's article acquisition act or the user's intention to acquire the article. Item management system described in 1. It has an article acquisition reservation section that performs operations to reserve acquisition of articles,
The article acquisition detecting unit detects the article acquisition act of the user or the user's intention to acquire the article when the article acquisition reservation unit that performs an operation for reserving the acquisition of the article has detected a reservation operation for acquiring the article. The article management system according to claim 5, wherein the article management system is regarded as a thing. The article acquisition detection unit is provided in an area where the user obtains the article and has a tag indicating information indicating that the article is an area for obtaining the article, and an article acquisition area from which the information of the tag can be read. By comprising the detection device, when the user carries the article acquisition area detection device and enters the area where the article is acquired, by reading the information of the tag by the article acquisition area detection device, The article management system according to claim 5, wherein the article acquisition act of the user or the user's intention to acquire the article is detected.

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