JP3205729B2 - Time-limited product sales management device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for selling term-limited goods such as sports watching tickets and concert tickets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Tickets for watching various sports and event tickets such as concerts and theatres have fixed dates and times, and the number of visitors is limited, so various problems occur between the seller and the seller. I do. Usually, the organizer aims to sell out as much as possible, but if there are many visitors, it is customary to expect a certain number of cancellations and to do so-called double booking. On the other hand, a person who wishes to obtain a ticket goes directly to a sales counter or makes a reservation purchase by telephone. If you get the ticket directly at the sales counter, there is no problem in terms of reliable acquisition, but it will be unfair for those who live far away or have no time.
On the other hand, the telephone reservation purchase is fair, but can be reserved without paying money, and therefore has a high probability of being canceled for various reasons.

Conventionally, it has been extremely difficult for an organizer to make a fair and reliable ticket acquisition for those who wish to enter without double booking.

[0004] However, considering the reason why cancellation occurs from the viewpoint of the applicant for admission, the most significant reason is that there are few opportunities to pay for the ticket price. It is possible to use bank transfer or registered mail, but the business hours of the bank and post office are limited, and it may be troublesome to go to the designated deadline and enter complicated vouchers. This is because not a few.

[0005] Therefore, payment of a price using a so-called convenience store can be considered. This is because with the liberalization of finance, convenience stores have become able to receive product prices. Convenience stores are located not only in central office areas but also in residential areas, especially in urban areas such as Tokyo and Osaka, and unlike banks and post offices, they can be used late at night, so payment opportunities are overwhelmingly expanded. Very convenient in that respect.

However, there is a problem in this case as well.
This is because there are many organizers that sell various types of tickets, while convenience stores that receive payments only increase the amount of cumbersome administrative operations such as calculation of receipts and handling of commissions. This is because there is a risk of neglecting the business.

[0007] Such a problem is the same not only for term-limited products such as tickets, but also for money collection of mail-order companies. In other words, it was considered that a convenience store could collect payment for a large number of mail-order businesses nationwide, but there were many issues to be solved, such as the complexity of the agency affairs and the risks associated with contract tie-ups with each business. Therefore, the present applicant has proposed a system device that manages the totalization of office work in order to eliminate the complexity of office work on the convenience store side and to enable even small-scale mail-order companies to use the payment storage system provided by convenience stores (Japanese Patent Application No. 10-264
00).

As shown in FIG. 3, this system is based on the premise that there are a plurality of convenience stores 1 to 3 and a control device 4 at the headquarters, and a terminal device 5 of a mail order business and a control device 4 at the headquarters. A management device 6 of a third-party organization to be relayed is provided, and the management device 6 takes a form of permitting the terminal device 5 of the mail-order business to issue a slip in a predetermined format. Reference numeral 7 denotes a printer device of a mail-order business. The mail-order business receives the voucher issuance permission from the management device 6, immediately sends the voucher to the customer 8, and the customer 8 who has received the voucher together with the product stops at the nearby convenience stores 1 to 3 and pays the price. In this case, various contracts need only be concluded between each mail-order business and a third-party organization, and between the third-party organization and the headquarters, and the risk of the headquarters has been eliminated. In addition, according to such a method, the customer 8 who has purchased a product can store in the convenience store 1
3, the convenience stores 1 to 3 have the merit of increasing the opportunity to attract customers in addition to the income of commissions.

[0009]

However, such a conventional slip issuing system is not suitable for selling term-limited products such as sports watching tickets and concert tickets. This is because waiting for a slip mailed by the business operator may not be able to meet the date and time of the event, and if a cancellation occurs, the risk of the host business operator is not different from before. Unlike movable products, event tickets are meaningless if they are returned at a later date.

[0010] As the sponsoring business, when all the applicants have paid for the ticket by the date and time of the event, the sold-out ticket can be confirmed for the first time. If there is a lot of unreserved seats, we would like to quickly allocate tickets to other applicants and realize sold out. Moreover, the problem of double booking can be solved for the first time by surely collecting the money.

[0011] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a convenience store in which collection of term-limited products is performed at a convenience store, to avoid the complexity of office work, and to clarify the number of sales records that have been collected and to confirm the remaining number. The point is to make it easier.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there are provided a plurality of ordering apparatuses for transmitting sales reservation data of a term-limited product to a subsequent stage, and a plurality of ordering apparatuses transmitted from the plurality of ordering apparatuses. And a plurality of receipt devices for issuing payment slips based on the processing data sent from the main device. The ordering device includes a private ID data identifying a purchaser. And a purchase request data transmitting unit for transmitting product ID data for specifying the product to the main device.
In addition to providing an ID data input switch for specifying a purchase applicant, in accordance with the operation of the ID data input switch,
A voucher issuing device that prints and issues a payment voucher in a predetermined format based on voucher data sent through the main device, and when payment is received, payment confirmation to the main device together with data described in the payment voucher. A confirmation signal transmission switch for transmitting a signal; the main device includes a purchase request data processing unit for checking the content of the purchase request data transmitted from the ordering device; And a reception number assigning unit that assigns a unique reception number when the condition of the product ID data is satisfied, and a main memory that stores purchase request data accompanied by the unique reception number.
It has a plurality of divided memory areas, and stores the purchase request data in an individual area based on the identification ID assigned to each of the ordering devices, while the main device stores the purchase request sent from the receipt device. Checking the first purchase expiration date for the purchase request data read from the main memory based on the ID data for specifying the purchaser and the ID data for specifying the purchaser sent from the main memory based on the ID data transmitted from the main memory A time limit management timer device, and a slip data sending unit for sending predetermined slip creation data to the slip issuing device in accordance with purchase desired data read from the main memory, wherein the main device and At least one of the receiving devices,
A second time limit management timer device for checking a second purchase time limit based on the time of the ON operation of the confirmation signal sending switch; an OK signal transmitted from the second time limit management timer device and the receipt; A payment data processing unit is provided in the main device for writing and adding payment completion data to the purchase request data stored in the main memory based on the payment confirmation signal sent from the device.
From the issue time of the payment slip, switch O of the confirmation signal
N The time until the payment delivery time by the N operation
Check with the time limit management timer device and check the payment slip
Even if the issue time passes the first purchase deadline, the second
If payment is made within the purchase deadline, the payment
Even after the first delivery deadline, the main device does not
It is characterized in that payment completion data is written .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a time extension unit for setting a payment grace period of a predetermined time for the time data of the ON operation of the confirmation sending switch is provided in one of the main device and the receiving device. It is characterized by. The invention according to claim 3 is an ID for specifying the purchase applicant.
The data is one of the private ID and the reception number of the purchase applicant. The invention of claim 4 is characterized in that the purchaser's private ID data is the purchaser's telephone number.

[0014]

FIG. 2 shows the outline of the principle of the management device according to the present invention, in order to make it easy to grasp the whole. Reference numeral 10 denotes a customer who wants to purchase a product, 11 denotes an ordering device of a company that sells products with a term, 12 denotes a main device of a third-party organization, 14 denotes a group of affiliated stores including a plurality of convenience stores a to c, 15 Is the headquarters device of the affiliated store.

The term-limited product according to the present invention is not necessarily limited to an event ticket, and may be, for example, a limited time product. However, for the sake of simplicity, an event ticket will be described below as an example.

[0016] First of all, the reservation is accepted.
By telephone, Internet communication, or other communication method,
The purchase request from the customer 10 is received. The received purchase request data is temporarily stored in the ordering apparatus 11 via input means such as a keyboard or a communication document. The data required here is a private ID for identifying the customer 10
(Telephone number, name, etc.), date and time, number of sheets, and seat type of the desired ticket.

Each sales company transmits purchase request data to the main device 12 via the ordering device 11. The data may be aggregated and transmitted periodically, but it is desirable to transmit immediately for each individual purchase request data received because the payment term is limited. With the spread of mobile phones and PHS, there is a possibility that the customer 10 places a telephone order from a convenience store to a sales company, and in that case, the payment is started within several tens of seconds to several minutes.

The main unit 12 assigns a unique reception number to the incoming data and immediately returns it to the ordering unit 11. The sales company notifies the customer 10 of the receipt number as a reply. In the case of telephone reception, the operator verbally communicates.

Further, the main device stores the purchase request data together with the reception number in a separate memory area. The method of allocating the memory area is not particularly limited, but may be stored in an appropriate format in an area allocated and held for each sales company or for each event by the same sales company.

On the other hand, the purchase applicant goes to convenience stores a to c at an appropriate time zone. Convenience stores a to c are provided with a money receiving device. Purchasers,
First, the user is identified by the ID data input switch.
For the specific method, usually, the reception number may be input. However, since many customers forget the receipt number, it is desirable to be able to specify the ID by telephone number or name.

When the ID data input switch is operated, the main unit 12 reads the purchase request data of the individual (including the corporation) and checks the due date. If the due date has passed, appropriate NG message data is returned. When there is NG, the customer's purchase request is to handle cancellation.

If the payment is within the payment date, the slip data is sent to the receipt devices of the convenience stores a to c. The slip data has, for example, a barcode display format. This is because subsequent handling is easy.

The customer 10 who has input the reception number and received the barcode slip pays the required price at the payment counter (cashier). Since the payment counter can read the barcode slip with an optical reader, the payment counter may be handled in the same manner as a normal product. When the cash is received at the cash register, the staff turns on the confirmation switch immediately or at regular intervals. The reason for contacting at regular intervals is to eliminate the complexity of office work in the case of the dial-up connection method by contacting all at once.

When the confirmation switch is turned on, the main device 12 updates the data of the customer and returns it to the ordering device 11 of the sales company immediately or at a regular time or as required. Thus, the ordering device 11 can confirm the current remaining seats.

On the other hand, even if the user goes to convenience stores a to c and inputs an ID such as a reception number and receives a slip,
Some customers do not actually pay. Also, there is a case where payment cannot be made immediately even if a slip is received because the store is crowded. Since it is a product with a time limit, for example, 0 am
If you cannot go to the store at 11:55 pm when there is a payment deadline until 11:55 PM and you cannot pay by the set time due to a busy checkout, etc. Not only does it leave a sense of unfairness,
It is highly likely that a defect in the system will be pointed out.

Therefore, the apparatus according to the present invention handles the receipt time of the slip and the actual payment time separately. First, the first time limit is checked at the start time of the slip receiving operation, and at this stage, the main device 12 is accepted. When the slip is received, a predetermined time (for example, 30 to 30) is received from that stage.
60 minutes). This is the second time limit management timer device arranged in the main device or the cashier receiving device.

When the count of the second time limit management timer device exceeds a predetermined time, the customer's slip is canceled. However, as a matter of course, when the final payment time is within the original payment deadline, it is possible to issue a voucher again, and the validity of the issued voucher is not denied. The second time limit management timer device outputs NG,
This is only for customers who have received a slip just before the deadline and have passed the grace time.

The headquarters device 15 does not need to play an active role in managing term-limited products. This is because the headquarters device 15 only needs to have a check function as long as the connection between the receipt device of the affiliated store group 14 and the main device 12 is ensured. The headquarters device 15 and the main device are connected, for example, by a dedicated line, and it is easiest for the headquarters device 15 to relay the affiliated store group 14 and the main device 12. Of course, the affiliated store group 14 and the main device 12 may be directly connected without using the head office device 15. In that case, for example, a dial-up connection method through a public line can be used.

[0029]

FIG. 1 shows an example of a sales management device for term-limited products according to the present invention. 20 is a group of customers, X is a person who wants to purchase a specific ticket, 25 is a group of sellers, 26
Is an ordering device provided by a sales company, Y is an ordering device of a specific sales company, 30 is a main device, and 50 is a receipt device of a certain convenience store. Receiving device 50
A voucher issuing device 51 for issuing a voucher and a payment confirmation switch 52 for confirming receipt of the payment and transmitting the data to the main device 30 are provided. The slip issuing device 51 has an ID input unit (not shown) for inputting ID data (reception number, telephone number, etc.) for the customer to identify himself / herself.

The main device 30 includes a means for storing desired purchase data and a means for issuing a slip based on the stored desired purchase data.

The means for storing the purchase request data is as follows:
It comprises a router device 31, a purchase request data processing unit 32, a reception number assigning unit 33, and a main memory 35. The router device 31 is a route branching device for realizing transmission and reception with a plurality of ordering devices 26. The data entered into the purchase data processing unit 32 through the router device 31 is journalized for each destination sales company and subjected to subsequent processing.

The purchase request data processing unit 32 sends a customer ID (private ID; for example, a telephone number,
Name) and the details of the desired product (product ID; for example, date and time, number of sheets, seat type, amount, payment date) are sent. If the minimum data required for the subsequent processing is missing or if there is no desired seat, an NG signal is sent to the ordering device Y (26), and the process waits for data change. If there is data that can be processed, a reception number is assigned to the desired data in the reception number assigning unit 33, the data is stored in a predetermined area of the main memory 35, and the reception number is immediately returned to the ordering device Y. I do. Reference numeral 39
Is a processing data transmitting unit that transmits the processing progress and final processing data to the ordering device Y (26). Return of the receipt number,
It may be returned directly from the reception number processing unit 33,
The processing may be returned via the processing data sending unit 39.

The main memory 35 is field-divided into a plurality of areas 36 for storing various data sent from a number of sales companies. For example, in this embodiment, the sales company of the ordering apparatus Y secures two areas Z and W, and the purchase request data of the ticket sent from the ordering apparatus Y is stored in the area Z. . Therefore, in the area Z, the customer ID, the product ID (including the payment term), and the reception number are stored in a predetermined database format. The storage format such as a simple table format or a relational structure format is not particularly limited.

On the other hand, the means for issuing a slip on the basis of the stored purchase desire data further comprises means for issuing a slip and means for checking the payment deadline.

First, a means for issuing a slip includes a relay device 41 for relaying customer ID data (private ID data) sent from the receipt device 50 of the affiliated store to the main device 30, and a main device based on the received data. Reception data processing unit 42 for reading necessary data from memory 35
And a slip data sending unit 43 for adding slip issue data based on the read desired purchase data.

The relay device 41 may be the headquarters device (15), but when exchanging data directly with the collection device 50, a data relay for public line such as a terminal adapter is used. The reception data processing unit 42 reads out personal purchase request data of X based on ID data from the customer X who has visited the affiliated store. In this case, the customer X may input the reception number (or his / her telephone number if the reception number is forgotten) into the ID input section of the slip issuing device 51 located in the convenience store. The slip data sending unit 43 adds slip issuing data in a predetermined format to the read purchase request data. The form of the slip to be issued is preferably a barcode notation because it is the easiest to process, but a normal receipt format (character data format) may be used together.

In this embodiment, the receipt device 50 arranged in the convenience store is divided into two components, a slip issuing device 51 and a payment confirmation switch 52.
Of course, these may be originally configured as a single hardware.
However, if the voucher issuance and the payment confirmation are performed at the same place (cashier), the cashier counter may become congested, which may hinder normal operations. For this reason, it is desirable to separate the process by which the ticket purchaser (X) receives the payment slip from the process of actually paying the price at the cash register so as to avoid unnecessary delay in the original business. It has just been described that the issuing device 51 and the payment confirmation switch 52 are configured as separate devices and are arranged separately.

Next, means for checking the payment term includes a first term management timer device T1 for managing the time of the slip issuing operation, and the payment confirmation switch for confirming that the cashier has confirmed the payment. A second time limit management timer device T2 for managing the ON operation time of the second time limiter 52; and a payment data processing unit 4 for rewriting purchase desired data when the second time limit management timer device T2 issues an OK signal.
7 Reference numeral 46 denotes a term management unit, and 49 denotes a grace processing unit. The grace processing unit 49 that performs a grace count for a certain period of time from receipt of the slip to actual payment is a function associated with the second time limit timer device T2.
It does not necessarily need to be grasped as a separate component.
However, how to set the grace time is optional for each convenience store headquarters, and it is desirable to construct a system as a separate configuration to enable free design changes.

The first time limit management timer device T 1
Confirms the time when the customer's own customer ID is input via the slip issuing device 51, and determines whether the time has passed the payment deadline included in the product ID. If the deadline has passed, the purchase request is already canceled and the NG data is returned immediately. Even if there is an NG message, the customer X transmits the purchase request to the sales company Y again, and can obtain a ticket in the same procedure if there is a remaining seat. On the other hand, if the input operation time of the customer ID is within the payment deadline, the slip data sending unit 43
The payment voucher in a predetermined format is printed out from the voucher issuing device 51 via. Note that the processing for adding the slip issue data inside the main device 30 may be performed after the first time limit management timer device T1 is checked.

The second time limit management timer device T2
Is to check the time of actual payment. For example, the time at which the cashier at the convenience store checks the receipt of the payment and turns on the payment confirmation switch 52 is set as a reference. Even if the time limit check of the first time limit management timer device T1 is cleared, payment may not be executed for various reasons. The second time limit management timer device T2 checks when the final payment has been made and enables fair and prompt arrangement processing of the acquisition opportunity.

Incidentally, the second time limit management timer device T2 may determine the time limit based on the actual payment time. However, some of the customers who intend to meet the time limit visit the last time. It is thought that there are not many cases where a slip is received. In such a case, even if the voucher issuance time is within the contract expiration date, if the actual payment time is past the time limit, it will be too bad for the customer to cancel. Therefore, a grace time is provided by the appropriate processing means between the time of issuing the slip and the actual payment time, and within the grace time, even if the provisional expiration time is exceeded, it is treated as a valid contract act. It is desirable. For example, the grace processing unit 49 according to the present embodiment is separately provided, and a certain grace time (for example, 30 minutes) is added to the payment deadline written in a bar code or the like, so that congestion in the store and time for free shopping can be performed. And allow extra time. Even if the grace processing unit 49 is not provided, it is only necessary that the second time limit management timer device T2 has a count design that allows a certain delay. In any case, the second time limit management timer device T2 checks the payment time while allowing the predetermined grace time according to the slip issue time (or the operation start time). Perform NG processing if the time limit has passed. In the case of OK, the payment data processing unit 47 rewrites the corresponding data in the area Z of the main memory 35 to “paid”, and reports the progress to the sales company via the processing data transmission unit 39 as necessary.

Therefore, according to the sales management device for term-limited products, the purchaser X obtains a ticket in the following procedure.

First, the sales company is informed of the request by telephone or other communication means, and a reception number is obtained. Then, the user goes to a convenience store and inputs his / her ID according to the guidance procedure of the monitor device. If the operation is within the payment period, the barcode slip is automatically printed out, so the barcode slip is received, the cashier shows the barcode slip, and pays the price. Thus, all the processes are completed. If the operation time of issuing the slip or the actual payment time is past the deadline, it will be treated as canceled. In that case, apply again and secure any remaining seats. By such processing, the sponsoring company can arrange ticket sales fairly and promptly without risking double booking.

[0044]

As described above, according to the sales management system for term-limited products according to the present invention, it is possible to clearly and easily grasp the sales results for which the payment has been collected and check the remaining number without causing any complicated office work. It can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the principle of the device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional slip device proposed by the present applicant.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 20 customer group 25 seller group 26 ordering device 30 main device 31 router device 32 purchase desired data processing unit 33 reception number assigning unit 35 main memory 39 processing data transmission unit 41 relay device 42 reception data processing unit 43 slip data transmission unit 46 Time limit management unit 47 Payment data processing unit 49 Grace processing unit 50 Receipt device 51 Slip issuing device 52 Payment confirmation switch T1 First time limit management timer device T2 Second time limit management timer device X Specific purchase applicant according to this embodiment Y Specific ordering device according to the present embodiment Z Data storage area according to the present embodiment

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI G07G 1/14 G07G 1/14 (72) Inventor Keisuke Yoshimoto 4-chome Kita 2-Jo Nishi, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido Mitsui Building Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-7-244693 (JP, A) Utility model registration 3046584 (JP, Y2) Utility model registration 3050822 (JP, Y2) Nikkei Multimedia No. 34 (1998-4-15) pp. 88-93 Nikkei Multimedia No. 34 (1998-4-15) p. 144 Nikkei Multimedia No. 38 (1998-8-15) pp. 182−186 (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 17/60 G06F 19/00 G07G 1/12 G07G 1/14 JICST file (JOIS)

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of ordering devices for sending sales reservation data of a term-limited product to a subsequent stage; a main device for storing and processing sales reservation data sent from the plurality of ordering devices; A plurality of receiving devices for issuing payment slips based on the processing data, wherein the ordering device transmits private ID data for specifying a purchaser and product ID data for specifying a product to a main device; A sending unit, the receiving device includes an ID data input switch for specifying a purchaser, and a predetermined format based on the slip data sent via the main device in response to the operation of the ID data input switch. A voucher issuing device that prints and issues a payment voucher, and when the payment is received, the data described in the payment voucher is sent to the main device. And a confirmation signal transmission switch for transmitting a payment confirmation signal. The main device includes a purchase request data processing unit that checks the contents of the purchase request data sent from the ordering device. And a main memory for storing purchase request data accompanied by the unique reception number when the conditions of the private ID data and the product ID data are satisfied. And a plurality of memory areas divided into areas. The main apparatus stores the purchase request data in an individual area based on the identification ID assigned to each of the ordering apparatuses. ID data for identifying a purchase applicant sent from the main memory based on ID data for identifying the applicant A first time limit management timer device that checks a first purchase time limit for purchase desired data read from the main memory, based on the desired purchase data read from the main memory; A chit data sending unit for sending to the chit issuing device, wherein at least one of the main device and the receipt device has a second purchase deadline based on the time of the ON operation of the confirmation signal sending switch. A second time limit management timer device that performs a check of the time limit, and an OK signal transmitted from the second time limit management timer device.
And based on said payment confirmation signal sent from the receipt unit, the provided payment data processing unit for writing grant payment completion data to the purchase wish data stored in the main memory in the main unit, the payment by the slip issuing device From the issue time of the slip
Until the payment delivery time by turning on the confirmation signal switch
Is checked by the second time limit management timer device.
And the payment slip issuance time is the first purchase deadline.
After the payment has been made within the second purchase deadline.
If the payment has passed the first payment deadline,
The main unit writes the payment completion data.
Sales management device being characterized in that the Migihitsuji. 2. A time extension unit for setting a payment grace period of a predetermined time for time data of an ON operation of the confirmation sending switch is arranged in one of the main device and the receipt device. Item 2. A sales management device for term-limited products according to item 1. 3. The expiration date according to claim 1, wherein the ID data for identifying the purchaser is one of a private ID and a reception number of the purchaser. Product sales management device. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the private ID data of the purchaser is a telephone number of the purchaser.