JP2008250512A - Sales management system, client, method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system by which a consumer can finish shopping efficiently in a short period of time in a store dealing with merchandise imparted with an electronic tag. <P>SOLUTION: A server 30 is provided with a merchandise master DB 33 in which the latest information of merchandises 2 imparted with the electronic tag 3 are stored. A shopping cart 10 is communicatively connected to a server 30, and provided with: a weight sensor 11 having a function as a cart for temporarily holding merchandise 2 before a user finishes settlement at a checking counter for detecting that merchandise 2 has been input by a customer 1; a sales totaling DB 21 for adding the price of the merchandise 2 in a timing when the input has been detected (preferably based on a unit price DB 22); and an electronic panel 13 for displaying the added total sum. The consumer is able to confirm the totaled sum each time the consumer inputs the merchandise 2 to the shopping cart 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sales management system, a sales management client, a sales management method, and a sales management program, and more particularly to a technology of a sales management system suitable for sales management in a supermarket, a mass retailer, or the like.

  Due to the development of information transmission technology using electronic tags, until now, supermarkets and department stores have had time to settle and to search for products. Therefore, it is desired to construct a system that enables consumers to complete shopping in a short time. Here, “electronic tag” refers to an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) RF tag that can be read / written in a non-contact manner using electromagnetic waves, such as an IC chip on which product information is recorded. Say.

Conventional sales management systems using electronic tags include, for example, conventional techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2. The prior art described in Patent Literature 1 relates to a shopping cart that performs checkout of merchandise. Patent Document 2 describes a technique for registering information stored in an electronic tag in a non-contact manner and applying the technique to a shopping cart. Patent Document 3 is a sales management system related to a POS system, not an electronic tag.
WO2003 / 054822 Special table 2004-519049 gazette JP 09-138889 A

  However, the conventional sales management system using the electronic tag has the following problems from the viewpoint of consumers. First, consumers often waste time because it often takes time to settle at a cash register. Secondly, the consumer's anxiety about the total amount of payments was not resolved until settlement at the cash register began unless detailed calculations were made. Third, information cannot be collected when a consumer visits the store without obtaining information distributed from the store.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a system that allows a consumer to finish shopping efficiently and in a short time.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 is a sales management system for a product to which an electronic tag is attached, the sales management server comprising a product master database storing information on the product, and the sales A sales management client that is connected to a management server so as to be able to perform data communication, and serves as a container for a user to temporarily hold the product before settlement, and the sales management client has received the product A weight sensor that detects the input of the product, a sales summary database that records the price of the product that is input at the timing when the input of the product is detected by the weight sensor, and the input that is recorded in the sales summary database A sales management system comprising display means for displaying a total price of a product.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the sales management system according to the first aspect, the sales management client includes a unit price database that stores a price of the product based on the product master database, and is recorded in the sales aggregation database. The price of the product is specified with reference to the unit price database.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the sales management system according to the second aspect, the unit price database is updated based on the product master database at a timing when the operation of the sales management client is started. .

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the sales management system according to any one of the first to third aspects, the sales management server includes a store information database including information on stores that the store manager desires to transmit to the user. The display means distributes information about the store based on the store information database.

  The invention according to claim 5 is a sales management client for managing the sale of a product with an electronic tag, and functions as a container for a user to temporarily hold the product before settlement, A weight sensor that detects that a product has been inserted, a sales summary database that records the price of the product that has been introduced at the timing when the weight sensor detects the introduction of the product, and a price that is recorded in the sales summary database And a display means for displaying the total price of the inserted products.

  The invention according to claim 6 is a sales management method for a product to which an electronic tag is attached, wherein a sales management client serving as a container for a user to temporarily hold the product before settlement is inserted into the product. A weight detection step for detecting that the product has been input, a recording step for recording the price of the product that has been input in the sales summary database at the timing when the input of the product is detected by the weight detection step, and a recording in the sales summary database And a display step of displaying the total amount of the product that has been input.

  The invention according to claim 7 is a sales management program for managing the sale of a product to which an electronic tag is attached, and a sales management client serving as a container for a user to temporarily hold the product before settlement. In addition, a weight detection process for detecting that the product has been inserted, and a recording process for recording the price of the product that has been input in a sales summary database at the timing at which the input of the product is detected by the weight detection step, And a display process for displaying a total amount of the introduced products that are recorded in the sales summary database.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the system which a consumer can finish shopping efficiently in a short time is provided.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of the first embodiment according to the present invention.

  The feature of the first embodiment is that the shopping cart 10 is used when the consumer 1 purchases the product 2 at the store. The shopping basket 10 is provided with an electronic panel 13, thereby providing information from the store side. In addition, by attaching the electronic tag 3 to the product 2, information on the product 2 is stored when the product 2 is put in the shopping cart 10 in the sales floor. In addition, the client 20 causes the electronic panel 13 attached to the shopping cart 10 to display the total amount of products to be purchased in advance. Therefore, the consumer 1 can grasp the total amount of the products 2 put in the shopping cart 10 very easily before settlement. Further, the total amount of the products 2 put in the shopping cart 10 is temporarily stored in the sales totalization DB 21 while the consumer 1 enjoys shopping. Furthermore, collective settlement is performed based on the memory of the sales summary DB 21 at the time of settlement. Therefore, the congestion due to the payment procedure at the cash register is eliminated.

  The configuration of the first embodiment will be described in more detail. The present embodiment includes a shopping cart 10, a client 20 assigned to the shopping cart 10, and a server 30. The shopping cart 10 is used by the consumer 1, and for example, the client 20 is mounted on the handrail. The client 20 includes an electronic tag reader 12 and an electronic panel 13. An external perspective view of the shopping cart 10 is shown in FIG.

  An electronic tag 3 is attached to all the products 2 in the store. When the product 2 is put into or taken out of the shopping cart 10, the client 20 reads the product information from the electronic tag 3 via the electronic tag reader 12, and holds the product information as data. The trigger for loading and unloading the product 2 is when the weight is detected by the weight sensor 11 mounted on the shopping cart 10.

  In addition, the server 30 includes an electronic tag reader / writer 35 that realizes a function that enables transmission / reception of information to / from the product 2 in a contactless manner, and a product master DB 33 that is a database of all product information, and information about the store (In this embodiment, it has store information DB34 which is a database of a store map, special price information, etc.). The server 30 also includes a wireless communication unit 32 that performs contactless data transmission / reception with the client 20.

  Further, the shopping cart 10 includes a sales summary DB 21 and a unit price DB 22 that are storage devices readable and writable from the client 20, and has a function for displaying information processed by the client 20 on the electronic panel 13.

  Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, when the shopping cart 10 starts moving, the client 20 is automatically activated. At that time, the client 20 initializes the sales totalization DB 21 and also updates the unit price DB 22 by downloading data related to the product unit price from the product master DB 33 of the server 30 (step S1). FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a data structure example of the product master DB 33. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the unit price DB 22. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the data in the unit price DB 22 may be part of the product master DB 33. With this configuration, the processing burden on the client 20 can be reduced.

  Next, the client 20 downloads store information from the store information DB 34 of the server 30 (step S2). This step S2 may be performed simultaneously with step S1. Next, the downloaded data is displayed on the electronic panel 13 of the client 20 (step S3). An example of the screen configuration of the electronic panel 13 on which information is displayed is shown in FIG.

  Next, since the consumer 1 may press the button of the electronic panel 13 illustrated in FIG. 7 according to the information displayed on the electronic panel 13, it is detected whether or not the button is pressed (step S4). When the button is pressed, the screen transitions to a screen for each function (step S5). At that time, data of each function is received from the server 30. Each function and outline will be described below.

  A function that can be provided to the consumer 1 in this embodiment is a “product search function”. This is a function that enables a search for a product, and a product name direct input search by genre is also possible. When a product is hit after searching, a map in the store is displayed, and the position of the product, the number of products in stock, and product information are displayed.

  Another function that the present embodiment can provide to the consumer 1 is a “special price information providing function”. This is a function that can freely flow special price information that the store wants to transmit to consumers. There is also a “store map function”. This is a function shown on the map for each product genre. There is also an “amount setting function”. This is a function that allows a consumer to set the total upper limit of the amount of goods at a single purchase opportunity. That is, it is a function for setting an upper limit of a budget used for one shopping. There is also a “product list function”. This is a function for displaying a list of products existing in the shopping cart 10.

  Next, a case where no button is pressed in step S4 will be described. In this case, when the consumer 1 selects the product 2 in the shopping cart 10 and inputs it, the weight sensor 11 detects the product input (step S6). Similarly, the weight sensor 11 also detects when removal is performed instead of insertion.

  Next, the product ID is specified by the electronic tag 3 of the product 2 and the electronic tag reader 12 included in the shopping cart 10, and the unit price of the product 2 is specified from the unit price DB 22 that has been updated in advance (step S7). Data is inserted into the sales summary DB 21 from the specified product unit price. Further, when taking out instead of inserting, similarly, the product is specified from the electronic tag and subtracted from the sales tabulation DB 21. The trigger for loading and unloading is performed by detecting an increase or decrease in weight by the weight sensor 11 mounted on the shopping cart 10. In addition, information on the product ID is transmitted from the client 20 to the server 30 at the timing when the client 20 detects the loading and unloading of the product 2.

  Upon detecting the weight increase / decrease of the weight sensor 11, the client 20 registers and deletes the product data in the sales summary DB 21. However, the consumer 1 may use the amount setting function in advance and exceed the amount of the upper limit value that has been input and set. In this case, the client 20 can display a warning or the like on the electronic panel 13 to inform the consumer 1 that the amount has been exceeded, and the consumer 1 can cancel or reset the input upper limit value. (Step S8). An example of the data structure of the sales summary DB 21 is shown in FIG.

  Next, the client 20 outputs the calculation result to the electronic panel 13 when the total shopping amount is normally registered in the sales summary DB 21 (step S9). And at the time of payment, it completes with the goods 2 put in the shopping cart 10.

  Then, for example, when the end button of the electronic panel 13 is pressed, the client 20 transmits the contents of the sales summary DB 21 to the server 30 (step S10), and initializes the sales summary DB 21 for the next consumer. (Step S11). The server 30 reflects the contents of the sales summary DB 21 received from the client 20 in the product master DB 33.

  Next, the effect of the first embodiment will be described. The first effect of the first embodiment is that a consumer can finish shopping efficiently and in a short time. The second effect is that a consumer can easily acquire store special price information. The third effect is that the store can enclose the customer when the consumer feels convenience.

  Next, a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the configuration of the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

  In the configuration of the second embodiment according to the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment, a member's card insertion slot (card reading unit 14) of each store is provided in the shopping cart 10, and the server 30 is also provided. Is provided with a customer information DB. When the consumer 1 inserts the member's card into the card reading unit 14, customer information is transmitted from the client 20 to the server 30. Note that the customer information to be transmitted only needs to include a minimum amount of information necessary for specifying the customer. For example, simple information such as only an ID number may be included.

  The server 30 that has received the customer information identifies the consumer 1 by referring to the customer information DB 36. At this time, information (for example, a cooking recipe or the like) related to the product preferred by the consumer 1 from the product 2 put in the shopping cart 10 is analyzed. Next, the server 30 transmits the analyzed information to the client 20 and displays it on the electronic panel 13. Here, when the consumer 1 uses the electronic panel 13 to select necessary information, the server 30 receives the selected information, and automatically sends an email including recommended information and special price information to the consumer 1, for example. To do.

  Since the second embodiment is configured as described above, it is possible to provide optimal information to each customer and to provide an effect that a more comfortable purchasing experience can be provided.

  In any of the first and second embodiments, an electronic tag may be attached to each of the shopping carts 10 and managed by the server 30. Not only the electronic tag 3 is attached to all the products 2 but also the electronic tag is attached to all the shopping carts 10 in the store, so that there is an effect of preventing the shopping cart 10 from being stolen.

  In any of the first and second embodiments, a sales management program for realizing the operation of the embodiment can be configured by using the hardware shown in the configuration of the embodiment. Yes, such a sales management program corresponds to an embodiment of the present invention.

It is a block diagram which shows the example of whole structure of embodiment of this invention. It is an external appearance perspective view which shows the example of the shopping cart of embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example of embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a data structure of goods master DB of embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a data structure of the unit price DB of embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a data structure of sales summary DB of embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen structure of the electronic panel of embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the example of whole structure of other embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Consumer 2 Goods 3 Electronic tag 10 Shopping basket 11 Weight sensor 12 Electronic tag reader 13 Electronic panel 14 Card reader 20 Client 21 Sales totalization DB
22 Unit price DB
30 Server 31 Control Unit 32 Wireless Communication Unit 33 Product Master DB
34 Store information DB
35 Electronic Tag Reader / Writer 36 Customer Information DB

Claims (7)

A sales management system for products to which an electronic tag is attached,
A sales management server comprising a product master database in which information on the product is stored;
A sales management client connected to the sales management server so as to be able to perform data communication, and a user serving as a container for temporarily holding the product before settlement;
The sales management client is:
A weight sensor for detecting that the product has been introduced; and
A sales summary database in which the price of the product introduced is recorded at the timing when the product sensor is detected by the weight sensor;
A sales management system comprising: a display unit configured to display a total amount of the introduced products recorded in the sales totaling database. The sales management client is:
A unit price database for storing the price of the product based on the product master database;
The price of the product recorded in the sales summary database is:
2. The sales management system according to claim 1, wherein the sales management system is specified with reference to the unit price database. The unit price database is
3. The sales management system according to claim 2, wherein the sales management system is updated based on the product master database at a timing when the operation of the sales management client is started. The sales management server includes:
A store information database containing information about stores that store managers want to communicate to users,
The display means includes
4. The sales management system according to claim 1, wherein information related to the store is distributed based on the store information database. A sales management client for managing sales of products with electronic tags,
Function as a container for the user to temporarily hold the product before settlement,
A weight sensor for detecting that the product has been introduced; and
A sales summary database in which the price of the product introduced is recorded at the timing when the product sensor is detected by the weight sensor;
A sales management client comprising: display means for displaying a total amount of the introduced products recorded in the sales summary database. A sales management method for a product to which an electronic tag is attached,
A sales management client serving as a container for the user to temporarily hold the product before settlement,
A weight detection step of detecting that the product has been introduced;
At the timing of detecting the input of the product by the weight detection step, a counting step of recording the price of the product input in a sales summary database;
And a display step of displaying a total amount of the introduced products recorded in the sales summary database. A sales management program for managing sales of products with electronic tags,
To the sales management client, which is a container for the user to temporarily hold the product before settlement,
A weight detection process for detecting that the product has been introduced;
At the timing when the input of the product is detected by the weight detection step, a recording process for recording the price of the product input in a sales summary database;
And a display process for displaying a total amount of the introduced products that are recorded in the sales summary database.

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