KR20020028398A - Card reader apparatus and Method for providing bonus automatically - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A card reader and method for offering the bonus automatically are provided for the efficient bonus service by automatically accumulating the pre-calculated bonus amount to a card of a user. CONSTITUTION: A microcomputer(201) reads the card, and checks and displays the amount and the shop ID stored to the card. When a coin is inserted, the microcomputer reads a coin signal through a coin signal input unit(207) and impresses the coin signal on a game machine through a coin signal output unit(208). A card reader and writer(205) sends the data stored to the card to the microcomputer or stores the bonus amount calculated by a bonus auto-generator(200) to the card. A display(203) represents both the data and the bonus amount. The bonus auto-generator calculates the bonus amount by multiplying the used amount by bonus rates. In conclusion, the card reader automatically accumulates the pre-calculated bonus amount to the user card.

Description

Card reader apparatus and method for providing bonus automatically}

The present invention relates to a card reader and a method of providing a bonus using the card reader, in particular, to calculate the bonus amount by applying a preset bonus ratio to the user's amount of use, the calculated bonus amount of the user's card The present invention relates to a card reader for automatically providing a bonus, and a method for automatically providing a bonus, and a computer-readable recording medium recording a program for realizing the method.

1 is a block diagram of a conventional card reader.

Conventional card readers include a microcomputer 101, a ROM (ROM) 102, a display unit 103, a display selector 104, a card read unit 105, a reset circuit unit 106, a coin signal input unit 107, And a coin signal output unit 108, a game machine main body connecting unit 109, and a reader power supply unit 110.

The microcomputer 101 reads the card, confirms the amount of money and the store ID stored in the card, and displays the amount of money and the store ID as a result of the confirmation through the display unit 103. Then, the coin signal is read through the coin signal input unit 107, and the coin signal is processed and applied to the main body of the game machine through the coin signal output unit 108.

The card reading unit 105 reads the data stored in the connected IC (Integrated Circuit) card and transmits the data to the microcomputer 101.

The display unit 103 displays data (for example, an amount of money) stored in the card, and the display unit selector 104 determines the number of digits displayed by the display unit 103 through a microcomputer.

The coin signal input unit 107 receives a coin signal by a coin from an existing coin machine and transmits a coin signal to the microcomputer 101.

The coin signal output unit 108 transmits a coin signal output from the microcomputer 101 to the game machine through the game console main body connection unit 109 when a coin signal based on a card amount or a coin signal based on a coin is received.

The ROM 102 stores data through an interface with a micro, and the game machine body connecting unit 109 is a portion where the card reader and the game machine body are connected.

The coin machine used in the youth game room is a method of applying a coin signal to the main body of the game machine while operating a switch that sends a ground signal installed in the coin machine when a coin is inserted.

Therefore, in order to use a game machine using such a coin machine, it is only possible to have a coin set in the coin machine, so there is a hassle in the store that has to change the coin to the customers of the store, and the customer also needs to exchange the coin. There was an inconvenience.

The present card reader came out to solve the above inconvenience, which is simply to solve the inconvenience of coin exchange and the calculation of sales by simply charging the amount of money in the card chip as a substitute for coins.

In other words, since the conventional card reader is a simple form in which a charger is installed at a counter managed by a game owner to charge an amount of money in the card chip, and the card is inserted into a card reader attached to the game machine body, the game market market changes. There is a problem in that it is vulnerable to providing additional services in the situation of fierce competition among businesses.

For example, as a way to attract customers, an employer must check the amount of money spent by the owner when trying to add a bonus amount to the card chip at a certain rate.

In addition, when there are game machines with many users and game machines with few users, the bonus ratio is applied to each game machine differentially (for example, a method of applying a higher bonus rate to a game machine with fewer users), and a guest of a game machine with few users. Even when attempting to attract, there was a problem in that the calculation was performed for each user in order to calculate the bonus ratio for each game machine.

In addition, in order to solve the above problems, some businesses charge a certain amount of bonus money uniformly before recharging the card, but this method is inherently inefficient in terms of operation and inferior in competitiveness. .

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, a card reader for calculating a bonus amount by applying a preset bonus ratio with respect to the user's use amount, and filling the user's card with the calculated bonus amount; It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for automatically providing a bonus and a computer-readable recording medium recording a program for realizing the method.

1 is a block diagram of a conventional card reader.

2 is an embodiment configuration of a card reader for automatically providing a bonus according to the present invention.

Figure 3 is an embodiment flow diagram for a method for automatically providing a bonus according to the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawing *

200: automatic bonus generator 201: microcomputer

202: ROM 203: Display

204: display selector 205: card read / write section

206: reset circuit section 207: coin signal input section

208: coin signal output unit 209: game machine body connection unit

210: reader power supply

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a card reader for reading a card and driving a product / service providing system according to the amount of money stored in the card, comprising: storage means for storing a predetermined bonus ratio; First automatic bonus generating means for calculating a bonus amount by applying a predetermined bonus ratio stored in the storage means to a card amount used by the user in the product / service providing system; And first control means for transferring a predetermined bonus ratio stored from the storage means to the first automatic bonus generating means, or for storing the bonus amount calculated in the first automatic bonus generating means in the inserted user card. do.

In addition, the present invention, if the value display means other than the card is used in the product / service providing system according to the user's selection, the amount information corresponding to the used value display means is transmitted to the second automatic bonus generating means Or if the user's card is inserted and the user's card is inserted, the bonus amount calculated by the second automatic bonus generating means is stored in the inserted user card, and if the user's card is not inserted, Second control means for driving the product / service providing system according to the bonus amount calculated by the second automatic bonus generating means; And second automatic bonus generating means for calculating a bonus amount by applying a predetermined bonus ratio to the use amount when the amount of money information transmitted by the second control means reaches a predetermined reference value.

Meanwhile, the present invention provides an automatic bonus providing method applied to a card reader that reads a card and drives a product / service providing system according to the amount stored in the card, wherein the amount of the card used by the user in the product / service providing system Calculating a bonus amount by applying a predetermined bonus ratio to the first step; And a second step of storing the bonus amount calculated in the first step in the user's card.

In addition, the present invention, if the amount corresponding to the value display means other than the card, used in the product / service providing system according to the user's selection reaches a predetermined reference value, a predetermined bonus ratio to the use amount A third step of confirming whether the user's card is inserted after calculating the bonus amount by applying; A fourth step of storing the bonus amount calculated in the third step in the inserted user card if the card of the user is inserted as a result of the checking in the third step: and as a result of the checking in the third step, the user If the card is not inserted, the bonus amount calculated in the third step is stored, and according to the user's selection, the driving signal of the product / service provision system corresponding to the bonus amount is generated to generate the product / service provision system. Further comprising a fifth step of delivering to.

On the other hand, the present invention provides a card reader system with a processor to read a card, to drive a product / service providing system according to the amount stored in the card, and to provide a bonus according to the amount used. A first function of calculating a bonus amount by applying a predetermined bonus ratio to the card amount used in the product / service providing system; And a computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for realizing a second function of storing the bonus amount calculated in the first function on the user's card.

In addition, the present invention, if the amount corresponding to the value display means other than the card used in the product / service providing system according to the user's selection reaches a predetermined reference value, a predetermined bonus ratio is applied to the use amount A third function of checking whether the user's card is inserted after calculating the bonus amount; A fourth function of storing, in the inserted user card, the bonus amount calculated in the third function if the card of the user is inserted as a result of the checking of the third function: and as a result of the checking of the third function, the user If the card is not inserted, the bonus amount calculated by the third function is stored, and then the drive signal of the product / service providing system corresponding to the bonus amount is generated according to a user's selection to generate the product / service providing system. Provided is a computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for further realizing a fifth function of transferring to a computer.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a card reader for automatically providing a bonus according to the present invention.

The bonus auto-providing card reader has an automatic bonus generator 200, microcomputer 201, ROM 202, display unit 203, display selector 204, card read / write unit 205, reset circuit unit 206, coin signal input unit 207, coin signal output unit 208, game console main body connection unit 209, and reader power supply unit 210, except for the automatic bonus generation unit 200, Same as the card reader (Fig. 1).

The microcomputer 201 reads the card, confirms the amount of money and the store ID stored in the card, and displays the amount of money and the store ID as a result of the confirmation through the display unit 203. When a coin is inserted, the coin signal is read through the coin signal input unit 207, and the coin signal is processed and applied to the game machine body through the coin signal output unit 208. Then, the amount of information stored in the card read through the card read / write unit 205 or the amount of information (coin signal) for the coin used by the user put into the game machine receives, and delivers to the automatic bonus generation unit 200, Alternatively, the bonus amount calculated by the automatic bonus generation unit 200 is stored in the user's card through the card read / write unit 205, and if the user's card is not inserted into the ROM 102 After saving in. If a user's request is generated, a coin signal (drive signal) capable of driving the game machine as much as a bonus amount is generated and transmitted to the game machine through the coin signal output unit 208 and the game machine main body connecting unit 209.

Here, the card is used as a generic term for a storage medium that stores money information such as an IC (Integrated Circuit) card and a magnetic card.

The card diary / writing unit 205 reads the data stored in the connected card and transmits the data to the microcomputer 201, or when the bonus amount calculated by the automatic bonus generation unit 200 is transmitted through the microcomputer 201, To your card.

The display unit 203 displays the data stored in the card (for example, the amount of money) and the calculated bonus amount, and the display unit selector 204 determines the number of digits displayed by the display unit 203 through the microcomputer.

The coin signal input unit 207 receives a coin signal by a coin from an existing coin machine and transmits a coin signal to the microcomputer 201.

The coin signal output unit 208 transfers the coin signal output from the microcomputer 201 to the game machine through the game console main body connection unit 209 when a coin signal based on a card amount or a coin signal based on a coin is received.

The ROM 202 stores a bonus ratio, a calculated bonus amount, and a used amount when a coin is used, and the game machine main body connecting part 209 is a portion where the card reader and the game machine main body are connected.

The automatic bonus generation unit 200 calculates the bonus amount by applying the bonus ratio which is set and stored in the ROM 202 to the amount used by the user in the game (the amount used in the game through a card or a coin). do. That is, in the case of using a card, whenever the amount of the card used by the user reaches a certain threshold (amount), the bonus amount is calculated by applying a bonus ratio to the used amount, or the amount stored in the user's card is When all are used, the bonus amount is calculated by applying a predetermined bonus ratio to the total amount used. In the case of using a coin, whenever a coin use amount corresponds to a certain reference value (amount), a bonus amount is calculated by applying a bonus ratio to the use amount.

Automatic Bonus Offer The card reader automatically calculates the amount used by the customer at the store (entertainment room) according to the bonus rate set in advance in the card reader and automatically charges the user with the bonus amount.

Therefore, the owner does not need to calculate the bonus amount by following the customer one by one, and also sets the bonus ratio differentially to the game machine with many users and the game machine with relatively few users.

Also, when using a game machine with a coin, the user will be charged a bonus amount of money at a certain bonus rate according to the amount used. In the case of using a game machine with a coin like this, if the user's card is inserted into the reader, the coin is used. The bonus amount calculated for the amount is automatically charged to the card. If the user's card is not inserted, the bonus amount calculated for the amount used is stored in the ROM 202. The coin signal that can drive the game machine is generated.

The automatic bonus card reader is not only applied to game machines (entertainment machines) in youth game rooms (so-called game rooms).

For example, even in the vending machine, if the vending machine using a debit card or the like becomes possible in the future, it is possible to apply the bonus providing method. For example, in the case of using a vending machine of a vending machine operator that has a contract with a financial institution, the bonus amount data is applied to the debit card by applying a bonus amount equal to the amount used for the debit card. In addition to using the debit card amount as well as using a vending machine with coins or other cash, if the debit card is inserted into the vending machine, a bonus amount for the used amount is provided to the card.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for automatically providing a bonus according to the present invention.

The automatic bonus offer card reader (see Fig. 2) checks if the user's card is inserted in the card reader (301), and if the card is not inserted, a game must be entered before use (302), and if the card is inserted Check again whether the card is charged (303).

As a result of the check of "303", if there is no amount charged in the card, the game is started using coins with the card inserted in the card reader (304), and 5 coins used (the number of coins can be arbitrarily adjusted. If five were used (305), the bonus amount set in the card reader was applied to the amount used (equivalent to five coins), and then the bonus amount was calculated. The card is automatically charged (307). The same applies to the case where other value indicating means such as banknotes other than coins is used.

If the check result of "303" indicates that the card has a charged amount, the user can use the switch of the card reader to play the game with the charged amount of the card (308, 309). ) The card reader calculates a bonus amount by applying a preset bonus ratio to the amount used so far, and automatically charges the calculated amount to the card so that the user can add more games by the amount of the charge (311). . Here, in addition to generating a bonus amount when there is no charge amount, it is also possible to continuously check the amount used during the game and charge the bonus amount whenever a certain amount is used.

On the other hand, even if the amount of money in the card, the user can play the game with a coin, in this case "304 to 307" process is performed (308, 304).

In the above description, the bonus amount calculated on the inserted card is stored under the assumption that the user's card is inserted into the card reader. However, if the user's card is not inserted, the user stores the bonus amount in the ROM 202 and then stores the bonus amount. If necessary, drive the game machine by the amount of bonus.

In addition, in the above description, for convenience, a game machine is described as an example. However, the present invention can be applied to a system (simply, a product / service providing system) that automatically provides a product or a service such as a vending machine.

The present invention described above is capable of various substitutions, modifications, and changes without departing from the spirit of the present invention for those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains, and the above-described embodiments and accompanying It is not limited by the drawings.

In the present invention as described above, by calculating the bonus amount automatically according to the bonus ratio is set in advance with respect to the user's use amount to charge the user's card, the owner calculates the bonus amount by checking the use amount for each user By doing so, it is possible to solve the inconvenience and inefficiency of charging the bonus amount.

In addition, the present invention has an effect of differentially setting the bonus ratio of the game machine according to the number of users, thereby increasing customer attraction to the game machine with low usage rate.

Claims (10)

In the card reader for reading the card and running the goods / service providing system according to the amount stored in the card, Storage means for storing a predetermined bonus ratio; First automatic bonus generating means for calculating a bonus amount by applying a predetermined bonus ratio stored in the storage means to a card amount used by the user in the product / service providing system; And First control means for transferring a predetermined bonus ratio stored from the storage means to the first automatic bonus generating means, or for storing the bonus amount calculated in the first automatic bonus generating means in the inserted user card; A card reader that automatically provides a bonus that includes. The method of claim 1, The bonus amount calculation process of the first automatic bonus generating means, Whenever the amount of money used by the user reaches a predetermined reference value, the card reader automatically provides a bonus, characterized in that for calculating the bonus amount by applying a predetermined bonus ratio to the use amount. The method of claim 1, The bonus amount calculation process of the first automatic bonus generating means, If the amount stored in the user's card is used up, the card reader automatically provides a bonus, characterized in that the bonus amount is calculated by applying a predetermined bonus ratio to the total (total) used amount. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, If a value display means other than a card is used in the product / service providing system according to the user's selection, the amount information corresponding to the used value display means is transmitted to a second automatic bonus generating means or the user's card is inserted. Confirming, if the user's card is inserted, the bonus amount calculated by the second automatic bonus generating means is stored in the inserted user card, and if the user's card is not inserted, the second automatic bonus generating means Second control means for driving the product / service providing system according to the bonus amount calculated in the following description; And Second automatic bonus generating means for calculating a bonus amount by applying a predetermined bonus ratio to the use amount when the amount of money information transmitted by the second control means reaches a predetermined reference value; A card reader that automatically provides bonuses that include more. In the automatic bonus providing method applied to the card reader that reads the card and runs the product / service providing system according to the amount stored in the card, A first step of calculating a bonus amount by applying a predetermined bonus ratio to a card amount used in the product / service providing system by a user; And A second step of storing the bonus amount calculated in the first step in the user's card Bonus automatic offer method that includes. The method of claim 5, The bonus amount calculation process of the first step, Every time the amount of money used by the user reaches a predetermined threshold value, the bonus amount is automatically calculated by applying a predetermined bonus ratio to the amount of money used. The method of claim 5, The bonus amount calculation process of the first step, When the amount of money stored in the user's card is used up, the bonus amount is automatically provided by applying a predetermined bonus ratio to the total (total) use amount. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, If the amount corresponding to the value display means other than the card used in the product / service providing system according to the user's selection reaches a predetermined threshold value, the bonus amount is calculated by applying a predetermined bonus ratio to the use amount. A third step of checking whether the user's card is inserted; A fourth step of storing the bonus amount calculated in the third step in the inserted user card if the card of the user is inserted as a result of the checking in the third step; and As a result of the checking in the third step, if the user's card is not inserted, the bonus amount calculated in the third step is stored, and according to the user's selection, the product / service providing system corresponding to the bonus amount is driven. The fifth step of generating a signal and delivering it to the product / service providing system Bonus automatic offer method that includes more. In a card reader system with a processor to read a card, to drive a product / service provision system according to the amount stored in the card and to provide a bonus according to the amount used by the user, A first function of calculating a bonus amount by applying a predetermined bonus ratio to a card amount used in the product / service providing system by a user; And A second function of storing the bonus amount calculated in the first function in the user's card A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for realizing this. The method of claim 9, When the amount corresponding to the value display means other than the card used in the product / service providing system reaches a predetermined reference value according to the user's selection, after calculating a bonus amount by applying a predetermined bonus ratio to the use amount A third function of checking whether the user's card is inserted; A fourth function of storing the bonus amount calculated in the third function in the inserted user card when the card of the user is inserted as a result of the checking of the third function: and As a result of confirming the third function, if the user's card is not inserted, the bonus amount calculated in the third function is stored, and according to the user's selection, the product / service providing system is driven. A fifth function of generating a signal and delivering the signal to the product / service providing system A computer-readable recording medium that records a program for further realization.