FR2845794A1 - Identification of particular items or groups of items purchased, uses automatic comparison of identification code for purchased item with list of codes that trigger discounts or rewards - Google Patents

Abstract

The identification of items uses a computer system to process product identification numbers during the transaction, comparing the product identification with a list of identifiers which are associated with a commercial advantage, such as a discount or reward. If an item, or group of items, on the list is detected the commercial advantage is immediately applied to the transaction.

Description

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METHOD AND COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFYING LOTS
DIFFERENT ARTICLES PURCHASED FROM MERCHANTS.

 A method for automatically identifying batches of different items in sets of items purchased from a merchant organization. It extends to a computer system enabling the implementation of this method, and to the applications of this method and of this computer system, in particular for the automatic allocation of commercial advantages (for immediate or deferred use) to customers according to their purchases.

 Throughout the text, the term "generic" means any product and / or service offered for sale to the unit by a merchant organization, and can therefore be purchased individually by a customer. It can be products (agri-food, clothing, leisure ...) or services (travel, subscriptions, shows, restaurants, hotels ...) or a combination of products and services (telephone and subscription, computer and Internet subscription...). Articles can be marketed in the places and / or sales sites of mass retailers intended for the general public (retail stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, shopping malls, paper catalogs and / or mail order computer site ...) or on the contrary via smaller marketing networks, for example for certain professionals.

 The identification of batches of different items in purchases made by customers from a merchant organization may be useful in various applications, and in particular: for the awarding of commercial benefits (discounts, discounts or gifts during or immediately after a purchase transaction: coupons, vouchers, loyalty points, gift vouchers ..., deferred use (that is, at a later purchase transaction) commercial messages ...); for marketing purposes or more generally for keeping purchasing statistics ...

 WO 01/40980 discloses a method and system for managing multi-item promotions awarded to a customer purchasing a combination

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 specific items to a POS terminal of a retail store. This document mentions two categories of multi-article promotion: an accumulated reduction promotion providing a deferred-use voucher when the customer purchases a plurality of articles each inducing a deferred-use discount; a purchase combination promotion providing a discount or other benefit when the customer purchases a predetermined combination of items, which is indicated by an advertisement in the store or on a coupon. This combination can be a defined combination of items, or a featured set from an enumerated list of items, for example buy 2 items from A, B and C and receive a dollar reduction. The identification of these item combinations in customer purchases is only a very particular case, and it is desirable to be able to identify other, more complex combinations. In addition, this document merely gives these general indications but does not explain how in practice this process can be implemented.

 However, the identification of batches of any different articles is not possible in practice insofar as it would involve the use of real-time computing resources very powerful and very heavy, not compatible with current technologies, especially on sites Internet or store collection facilities.

 The object of the invention is thus to propose a method and a system by which it is possible to define batches other than a predefined list of articles or a set of articles in a predefined list of articles, in a way that simple for the user (who is not usually a specialist computer), and which are compatible with current technologies and can be used in practice, including without inducing prohibitive processing times in real time with hardware commonly used.

 To do this, the invention relates to a method for automatically identifying at least one batch of different articles in a set of articles previously purchased from a merchant organization, these purchased items being recorded as data stored in means of memorizing, and comprising an article code identifying the nature of each article, wherein:

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 for each batch to be identified, data representative of logical conditions forming a batch definition are stored and adapted to make it possible to determine whether a set of purchased items satisfies these logical conditions or not, it is applied for each batch to be identified; , the corresponding batch definition on the set of purchased items, to determine whether or not this set of purchased items meets this batch definition, characterized in that the data representing each batch definition is adapted to allow defining at least one list of element (s) comprising at least one element, each element being defined by a unique numeric or alphanumeric code which can represent either an article to be present in the set of purchased articles, or a predetermined group of articles to be present in the set of purchased items, this group of articles being defined by data stored memories representing at least one property of the data representing the articles.

 Thanks to the invention, the different items of a lot are not necessarily necessarily individually identified with their individual quantity. The level of definition of elements that can represent groups of items defined logically (eg by a property of the item code or an algorithm) can increase considerably and reliably, and useful in practice, the variety of batches can to be defined. In particular, a group of articles may represent articles whose number and nature vary over time (for example, all the articles of the same supplier).

 Moreover, advantageously and according to the invention, the data representing at least one batch definition are adapted to be able to define at least one list of element (s), called distributed OR list, for which: # the items of the set Purchased items must satisfy at least one of the items in this list, # a number of items to be present in the set of items purchased to satisfy a

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 The item in this list is non-zero predetermined for each item in this list, # the total quantity of items in the set of purchased items corresponding to these items is not determined.

 In addition, advantageously and according to the invention, the data representing each batch definition are adapted to allow to define only: - one and only one list of articles, called list AND, before all be present in the set of articles purchased, with an individual quantity of items that is determined, and / or - at least one list of item (s), so-called global OR list, for which: # the items in the set of items purchased must satisfy at least one of the items in this list, # a total quantity of items to be present in the set of items purchased to satisfy that list is determined, # the number of items for each item in that list to be present in the set of items purchased to satisfy that item being predetermined non-zero, and less than or equal to said total quantity of items, and / or - at least one distributed OR list, each list of the batch definition of to be satisfied by the set of items purchased for this batch definition to be satisfied and a corresponding lot to be identified.

 The inventors have indeed found that the use of these three types of lists (AND list, OR global OR distributed list) for all batch definitions, to the exclusion of all others, makes it possible to define a very large number of lists.

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 variety of batches, thus satisfying all the practical situations and needs of the marketing organizations, but avoiding lot definitions which may be inconsistent or extremely difficult to manage. For example, a lot definition of the type: 3 items to choose from 2 items Al, 1 item A2.4 items A3 actually does not make sense. On the other hand, the inventors have determined that the use of an AND list and / or one or more OR lists (global or distributed) avoids any inconsistency and offers sufficient possibilities, easily understandable by both the merchants and the customers. themselves.

 Advantageously and according to the invention, the data representing a batch definition are adapted to allow, for at least one global OR list, to define a number of different item codes to be present in the set of items purchased and corresponding to the elements. from this list.

 Moreover, also for the same purpose of avoiding in a simple way the logical inconsistencies, advantageously and according to the invention, the data representing the different batch definitions that can be applied simultaneously on the same set of purchased items are adapted so that the same article purchased from a set of purchased items can be the subject of only one and only one batch, and, advantageously, one and only one item in one and only one list. In this way, in particular, the order of the articles in the set of articles purchased has no influence on the result of the batches.

 Advantageously and according to the invention, each element represents an article, or a group of articles chosen from: - the articles of a given supplier organization, - the articles of a predetermined family of articles from the merchant organization - Articles whose article code results from a predetermined selection algorithm.

 A family of articles of the merchant organization is for example a department, or a department of the store, or pages of a computer or printed catalog. Articles from the same organism

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 are easily identified by the first digits of the article code which in practice correspond to the supplier code.

 In addition, advantageously and according to the invention, before applying each batch definition to the set of purchased items, the set of items purchased is sorted according to a predetermined order in which each item is identified by a and only once and is associated with a quantity of this item that was purchased. The set of items purchased may correspond to a single act of purchase (a receipt or an order from the same customer) or to several acts of purchase (for example, all the purchases of a customer identified on a predetermined period, different acts of purchases of a group identified customers, all purchases of a period on a site (store or computer site) of the merchant organization ...).

 This set of previously purchased items being always sorted in the same order, even if one item is allowed to match several different batch definitions, it avoids that the identified batches depend on the order in which these items are actually purchased.

In addition, the computer processing time is accelerated.

 Advantageously and according to the invention, the data representative of the batch definitions are organized into tables in a database management system. These logical tables or files which logically define successions of records according to predetermined fields (and therefore are logical files) can be physically stored in the form of one or more physical files.

 The invention is particularly advantageously applicable for the automatic allocation of commercial benefits to customers according to their purchases for immediate or deferred use (immediate discounts, immediate discounts, coupons for deferred use, gifts ...).

 The invention thus extends to a method for automatically assigning commercial advantages according to the purchase of batches of articles by customers from a merchant organization, characterized in that the batches of articles purchased by the customers are identified. by a method according to the invention as mentioned above.

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 The invention also extends to a computer system for implementing a method according to the invention. The invention thus relates to a computer system for automatically identifying at least one batch of different articles in a set of articles previously purchased from a merchant organization, these purchased items being recorded as data, stored in storage means , and comprising an article code identifying the nature of each article, comprising: - data storage means representative of logical conditions forming a batch definition for each batch to be identified, and adapted to determine if a set of purchased items satisfied or not with these logical conditions, - computer processing means adapted to be able to apply, for each batch to identify, the corresponding definition of batch on the set of purchased items, so as to determine if this set of purchased items whether or not satisfied with that batch definition, characterized in that the data each of the batch definitions is adapted to define at least one item list (s) including at least one item, each item being defined by a unique numeric code that may represent either an item to be present in the set of items; purchased items, that is, a predetermined group of items to be present in the set of purchased items, the group of items being defined by stored data representing at least one property of the data representing the items.

 Advantageously, a computer system according to the invention is characterized in that the data representing the batch definitions are in accordance with the characteristics defined above in relation to the method according to the invention.

 Advantageously and according to the invention, the computer processing means are adapted to achieve, before applying each batch definition to the set of purchased items, a sort of the set of items purchased in a predetermined order in which each article is

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 identified one and one time and is associated with a quantity of this item that has been purchased.

 Advantageously, a system according to the invention is associated with an installation of cashing a point of sale of the merchant organization for the registration of items of a purchase during the passage of the customer to this collection facility, and / or a mail order computer site adapted to allow the recording of articles by selection in a remote sales catalog via a network (for example the Internet).

 The invention also extends to a computing device for automatically assigning commercial advantages according to the purchase of batches of articles by the customer from a merchant organization.

 The invention also relates to a method, a system and a device characterized in combination by all or some of the characteristics mentioned above or below.

 Other features, objects and advantages of the invention appear on reading the following description which refers to the appended figures in which: FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a device according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, FIG. 2 is an example of a data model for the implementation of a method according to the invention, FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example of application and realization of a method according to FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic flow diagram showing the batch identification steps in a method according to the invention.

 FIG. 1 represents an item sales facility by a merchant organization including a cashing site 1 and a device 2 for automatically granting commercial benefits, for example immediate discounts or coupons or vouchers when a purchase of one or more item (s) by a customer from that merchant organization.

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 The cashing site 1 comprises means 3,4,5,6 computer registration of articles making up the purchases of customers from the merchant organization selling these items.

 These computer recording means can take several embodiments, depending on the case. When the customers' purchases are made in a retail store, the computerized recording means may comprise one or more boxes each formed of an autonomous computer station, the various boxes 3 may or may not be networked. It may also be a set of collection terminals 4 connected in groups to one or more server (s) control 5.

In another variant, the computer recording means comprise a computer site 6 accessible remotely, for example via the Internet network 7, by client computer stations 8. This computer site 6 can be located on a computer server located in a store or not.

 The check-in boxes 3, check-in terminals 4 (commonly referred to as "POS") and their associated server 5, as well as the computer registration sites of articles are all well-known and do not have to be described in more detail. They may take any form of traditional embodiment, the choice of one or other of these embodiments being in fact not important in the context of the present invention, since these means 3,4, 5,6 computer registration allow to create for each purchase of article (s) customer, a computer ticket defining at least one list of one or more item (s) purchased (s) by a customer, identified individually with the quantity purchased. In a traditional way, and preferably, the different articles are identified in the computer ticket by a standardized article code EAN. The items available for sale are generally referenced in a table or file ARTICLES computer recording means, comprising for each article, a record with a field CODE ~ ARTICLE and the corresponding sales price.

 The device according to the invention for automatically assigning commercial advantages comprises at least one computer station 9 for managing commercial benefits. The device 2 according

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 the invention comprises, in the embodiment of FIG. 1, at least one other computer station 10 for configuring and setting up the commercial benefits management station 9. In the case of a retail store, computer stations 9,10 may be located in the same place as means 3,4, 5.6 computer registration, that is to say in the store himself; instead they can be relocated in whole or in part, and communicate with the means 3,4, 5.6 computer recording via an internal or external digital network, private or public, for example the Internet. It should also be noted that the various IT functionalities implemented in the invention can be centralized on a single computer machine, that is to say a single computer station (central unit and associated peripherals), or on the contrary in any case or part split on several computer stations located in the same place or on the contrary remote from each other and communicating via a network. The choice of the final architecture can be made in a traditional way depending on the computing power and memory required, the communication and networking possibilities offered, the working conveniences, and the consequences in terms of the cost and investment of the corresponding hardware and software. The architecture shown in Figure 1 is therefore only a particular non-limiting embodiment.

 Each computer station 9, 10 may be formed of a traditional microcomputer comprising a central unit and the associated peripherals, so as to form digital data processing means and storage means including in particular at least one mass memory such as than a hard drive.

 Thus, the computer station 9 comprises a database 11 stored in its mass memory, in which predetermined conditions of assignment of commercial advantages are memorized, and in particular predetermined conditions of attribution of commercial advantages according to batches. different items identified in customer purchases; and data representing batch definitions to be identified.

 FIG. 2 represents an example of logical organization of the data of a database 11 allowing, in particular, the definition of

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 predetermined assignment conditions of commercial advantages of the definition of the batches to be identified.

 In the traditional way, in FIG. 2, the tables are represented with a header in which the fields representing keys for the tables are indicated. The links between the tables illustrate their relative dependence with, at the level of each table, a code of two integers representing the minimum number and, respectively, the maximum number of copies of this table for the link considered.

 The predetermined attribution conditions of the commercial advantages are recorded in a table CRITERES ~ AC having for key fields the fields NO ~ CRITERE ~ AC and a field CODE ~ OPERATION ~ COMMERCIAL. This CODE ~ OPERATION ~ COMMERCIAL field makes it possible to group the various CRITERES ~ AC corresponding all to the same commercial operation, the various commercial operations being defined in a table OP ~ COMMERCIALES having as key field the field CODE COMMERCIAL OPERATION. This COMMERCIAL OP table includes a LIBELLE ~ OPERATION ~ COMMERCIAL field to define a label for each commercial operation, a field ACTIVE ~ O ~ N to define whether the commercial transaction is active or not at a given time; a NOS ~ CAISSES ~ EMISSION field to define the crates or cash terminals on which the commercial operation can be active (which allows a specific selection of some of the crates or cash terminals in a store). The fields DATE ~ START ~ TRANSMISSION, DATE ~ FIN ~ EMISSION, TIME ~ START ~ TRANSMISSION, TIME ~ END ~ EMISSION allow to define periods during which the commercial operation can be active or not.

 Each record of the CRITERES ~ AC table defines all the conditions of attribution, called AC criterion, of the same commercial advantage. The table CRITERES ~ AC includes a field LIBELLE ~ CRITERE ~ AC allowing for each criterion of commercial advantage to define a label facilitating its identification; a field

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 CODE ~ COMPANY ~ COMPENSATORY allowing to define the identity of a clearing agency assuming the financial burden of the commercial advantages attributed according to the conditions defined by the corresponding record of the table CRITERES ~ AC a field CODE ~ TYPE ~ VENTILATION and a field CODE ~ VENTILATION to define the (s) or lot (s) of articles whose presence in the purchase of the customer determines the attribution of the commercial advantage; a CODE ~ METHODE ~ CALCULATION field making it possible to identify an applicable calculation method for calculating a value of commercial advantage; and a plurality of fields for the recording of parameters necessary for the calculation method, namely in the example represented, a REDUCTION ~ AMOUNT field making it possible to define a fixed amount of reduction, and a PERCENTAGE ~ REDUCTION field making it possible to define a percentage of selling price of the item (s) concerned). These parameter fields may of course vary depending on the different calculation methods used to determine the actual amount of each business benefit awarded.

 The field CODE ~ TYPE ~ VENTILATION equal to A or L makes it possible to define the nature of the field CODE ~ VENTILATION which can be either directly a code of article EAN (value A) corresponding to the article code of the table ARTICLES having like key the CODE ~ ARTICLE field; either a lot code (L value) defined by the LOTS table whose key is the LOT CODE field and presenting a TYPE ~ LOT field making it possible to define several types of lots, for example FE corresponding to a closed lot, and types 01 , 02, 03, 04, 05 corresponding to open batches of type 1,2, 3,4, 5 respectively. Moreover, the table TYPE ~ VENTILATION includes as key the field CODE ~ TYPE ~ VENTILATION, and also the current field LIBELLE ~ TYPE ~ VENTILATION.

 The field LIBELLE ~ TYPE ~ VENTILATION makes it possible to record a label for each type of ventilation, namely for example article for a CODE TYPE VENTILATION equal to A, and lot for a CODE ~ TYPE-VENTILATION equal to L.

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 The LIST ELEMENTS and ELEMENTS-LIST tables allow the LOTS table to record batch definitions for each batch of different items to be identified in a set of items previously purchased from the merchant organization.

 The table LIST ~ ELEMENTS makes it possible to define lists of elements for a batch, and has like key the fields CODE ~ LOT and the field NO ~ LIST ~ ELEMENTS giving a number to each list of elements defining a lot. It also includes a TYPE LIST field in which one indicates whether the list is an AND list or an OR list. For an AND list, all items in the list must be present in the batch. For an OR list, at least one (one or more of the choices) from the list must be present in the batch.

 A QUANTITY ~ LIST field in the LIST ~ ELEMENTS table is used to define a total quantity of articles to be present in the set of purchased items corresponding to the elements of the list for this list to be satisfied. This field is filled in for global OR lists, but not for other lists (AND lists and distributed OU lists). A NUMBER ~ REFERENCES ~ LIST field of the LIST ELEMENTS table makes it possible to define a number of different item codes to be present in the set of purchased articles and corresponding to the elements of the list so that this list is satisfied. This field is only filled in if the QUANTITY ~ LIST field is too, ie for global OR lists.

 The table ELEMENTS ~ LIST allows to define the nature of the different elements of the same list. It has as key the fields CODE ~ LOT, NO ~ LIST ~ ELEMENTS, and a field NO-ELEMENT ~ LIST assigning a number to each element of the list. It also includes a field TYPE ~ ELEMENT making it possible to determine the type of element in question, namely in particular a definite article (TYPE ~ ELEMENT = A), or the articles coming from the same supplier (TYPE ~ ELEMENT = D), or the articles of a predetermined family of articles (TYPE ~ ELEMENT = F) with the merchant organization (department, department, page (s) catalog computer or printed ...), or articles whose article code satisfies a

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 predetermined selection algorithm (TYPE ~ ELEMENT = S). An element is either a specific article, or a group of different items determined, closed (number of items fixed) or open (number of items may vary).

 Each element is identified by a unique numerical or alphanumeric code of its own, registered in a field CODE ELEMENT of the table ELEMENTS ~ LIST. If the element is of type article, its code is the article code EAN of this article. If TYPE ELEMENT = D, the element code is that of the provider, corresponding to the first digits of the article code. If TYPE ~ ELEMENT = F, the element code is that of the corresponding family. If TYPE ~ ELEMENT = S, the element code is the one that is assigned by the selection algorithm.

 The ELEMENTS ~ LIST table also includes a QUANTITY ELEMENT field for defining the number of articles to be present in the set of purchased items to meet the definition of this item. When this field is filled in, different from 1 for an element in a list, (case of an AND list or of a distributed OR list) the QUANTITY ~ LIST field is not filled in. If the QUANTITY ~ LIST field is filled in (case of a global OR list) the QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT field is also filled in, not null for all the elements of the list. It should be noted that the highest value of QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT for the different elements of the list must be less than or equal to QUANTITY ~ LIST, otherwise the definition of the list does not make sense.

 The table ELEMENTS ~ LIST points to the ARTICLES table in order to use the item codes (CODE ~ ARTICLE) to define the CODE ~ ELEMENT from the values of the EAN item codes as indicated above.

 The table SOCIETES ~ COMPENSATRICES allows to define the different compensating organisms to be used. This table includes as key the CODE ~ COMPANY ~ COMPENSATORY field which is the same as that of the table CRITERES ~ AC. It also includes the field RAISON ~ SOCIALE in which the coordinates of the compensating company can be entered and the field

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 REFERENCE ~ COMPANY ~ COMPENSATOR in which a company code specific to the compensating organization itself (which may be different from the code CODE ~ COMPANY ~ COMPENSATOR stored in the database by the merchant organization to identify this clearing agency) can be grasped.

 The table AC ~ EMIS makes it possible to memorize various data relating to each of the commercial advantages attributed according to the conditions defined by the table CRITERES ~ AC. This AC ~ EMIS table includes an ID ~ AC field which is the key and allows to individually identify each of the commercial advantages actually attributed.

This table also includes a CODE ~ OPERATION ~ COMMERCIAL field to recall the business transaction to which the commercial advantage attributed corresponds; a NO ~ CRITERE ~ AC field allowing to recall the registration of the table CRITERES ~ AC which was used for the emission and the attribution of this commercial advantage; a DATE ~ TIME ~ EMISSION field for storing the date and time of issue of this commercial advantage; a CODE ~ TRANSACTION ~ EMISSION field for storing a code identifying the set of items purchased (including receipt code or order code) for which the business advantage has been awarded; a VALUE field in which the monetary value is memorized the commercial advantage attributed; a VAT RATE field in which the VAT rate applied to this commercial advantage is stored; a CODE ~ ARTICLE field for storing the code of each of the articles of the set of purchased items that triggered the issue of the commercial advantage considered; a QUANTITY field to memorize the quantity of each of the articles having triggered the commercial advantage as identified in the CODE ~ ARTICLE field; a NO ~ REQUEST ~ INVOICING field to indicate either that this commercial advantage has not been invoiced to the compensating organization (the field is then left blank), or to memorize a billing number to the compensating organism.

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 A INVOICING INVOICE table is used to register invoices issued to clearing organizations.

This table presents the field NO ~ REQUEST ~ INVOICING in key and also includes a field DATE ~ TIME ~ REQUEST to memorize the moment at which the compensation billing to the compensating organism is considered as realized a field CODE ~ SOCIETE ~ COMPENSATORY allowing memorize the identity of the clearing organization to which the billing is intended; and a MODIF ~ USER field for storing different data relating to the user having caused an update of this table.

 The table METHODE ~ CALCUL includes as key the field CODE ~ METHODE ~ CALCUL. It also includes the fields LIBELLE ~ METHODE ~ CALCUL to identify the method of calculation by a phrase understandable by the user; an EXAMPLE field giving a practical example of such a calculation method and making it possible to better understand the operation of this calculation method for the user; and a REF ~ TREATMENT field comprising the address of the calculation program to be executed to implement the calculation method. Each calculation method is performed by software programming according to a specific module that also uses one or more of the parameters of the table CRITERES ~ AC. These calculation programs are incorporated in a global software engine for managing and calculating the commercial benefits, adapted to realize the functionalities concerning the calculation and the attribution of these commercial advantages. This management and calculation engine is in fact loaded in several identical copies 12a, 12b, ... in the RAM of the computer device 9 so as to allow simultaneous processing. The number of copies of the management and calculation engine loaded into RAM is a parameter that can be stored in the database 11 and used at initialization. The station 9 includes a server module 13, said server 13 for managing commercial benefits, managing the allocation of commercial benefits and the operation of the different copies of the engine 12a, 12b of management and calculation. It also includes a server module 14 receiving requests for

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 calculations from the means 3.4, 5.6 computer registration and a response server module returning to the means 3.4, 5.6 computer registration data the commercial benefits determined by the server 13 of business benefits management.

 Moreover, a consolidation processing module 16 makes it possible, in real time or deferred, to update the data of the database 11 from update information generated by the means 3,4, 5, 6 computer registration.

 The configuration station 10 includes in particular a module forming a human-machine interface for entering the different records of the table CRITERES ~ AC, that is to say the entry of the different conditions of attribution of each commercial advantage. It is thus possible to define from this workstation each of the commercial operations. This configuration station 10 can therefore directly access the database 11 to perform the updates or modifications or additions desired by the user. The configuration station 10 advantageously also includes a software module 17 capable of detecting the occurrence of an event requiring the resetting of the management and calculation engines 12a, 12b in the commercial benefits management server 13. In particular, at each update of the database 11 by the user, the reset module 17 controls the server 13 so that the different engines 12a, 12b, management and calculation are reset (reloaded in RAM) from updated settings. Such a reset is necessary for example when the user modifies one of the records of the table CRITERES ~ AC, or even after each update performed by the consolidation processing module 16.

 At each reset, the commercial benefit management server 13 retrieves the various operating parameters of the motors 12a, 12b, and this via a software component 18 which extracts these parameters from the database 11 for to provide them to the server 13. In addition, the commercial benefits management server 13 receives from the database 11 the number of copies 12a, 12b of the management and calculation engine to be simultaneously active in memory.

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 FIG. 1 also shows, by way of example and illustration, a server 19 belonging to an organization supplying at least one item sold by the merchant organization, this provider server 19 being able to be connected remotely by a network , for example the Internet, at station 10 of configuration. Thus, the configuration station 10 can obtain information concerning the commercial advantages granted by said supplier organization, and the articles of this supplier concerned. Of course, many provider organizations can be remotely connected to the configuration station as needed. As a variant, this information can be supplied to the configuration station directly by a user by manual input, or by means of a removable recording medium (floppy disk, optical disk, etc.).

 Similarly, there is shown by way of illustrative example an external server 22 connected by a remote network to the station 9 commercial benefits management, and to exchange information on the compensating organisms (reference of the compensating organism , billing method ...). In general, the actual billing is not carried out by the configuration item 9, but by the general accounting system of the non-represented merchant organization Figure 1, but to which means 3.4, 5.6 computer registration and / or computer stations 9,10 can be connected.

 The invention makes it possible to identify batches of different articles of varied nature, but in a manner compatible with current industrial and commercial constraints, in a simple way and without generating impossible or incoherent batches, and this, thanks to the definition of the batches by lists of items that may be predetermined items or groups of items. In particular, the invention makes it possible to define lists of the following types: - lists AND for which all the items of the table ELEMENTS LIST must be present in the set of purchased items, with an individual quantity of articles for the QUANTITY field ~ ELEMENT; - global OR lists for which the QUANTITY ~ LIST field is filled in, the QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT field being

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 predetermined non-zero -not equal to 1- for all the elements of this list for such a list, we necessarily have Max (QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT) # QUANTITY ~ LIST; such a list is satisfied if at least one of the elements as defined by the table ELEMENTS ~ LIST is present in the set of purchased items; - OR distributed lists for which the QUANTITY ~ LIST field is not filled in; and the QUANTITY ELEMENT field is determined as non-zero; such a list is satisfied if at least one of the elements as defined by the ELEMENTS LIST table is present in the set of purchased items.

 For each batch of the LOTS table, one and only one AND list and / or one or more OR lists can be defined. In practice, it can be seen that all possible batches from the commercial point of view can be defined with this limiting combination. Indeed, the list AND defines all the articles to be present in the set of articles bought, and the list (s) OR defined (ssen) t elements which are alternatives, the batch being realized by the set of items purchased if all lists (AND list and / or list (s) of the definition of this lot are all.

 The above-mentioned definition restrictions can be made by programming the database management system associated with the tables and executed by the configuration computer station which allows the capture of the business operations and the recording of the corresponding data in the database. 11.

 The set of articles purchased can be any, since it includes a list of item codes on which the criteria defined by the LOTS, LIST ELEMENTS and ELEMENTS LIST tables can be applied. It may be a purchase of a customer at the passage of the boxes 3 or 4 terminals of a store, that is to say, a receipt. A commercial advantage such as an immediate reduction on this purchase, a discount on this purchase (ie a reduction borne by the merchanting organization, without compensation billing to a third party countervailing company can then be attributed. ), a coupon for deferred use (reimbursed for

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 the purchase of an item or batch of items in a subsequent purchase), a deferred purchase voucher, a refund of a voucher for a batch of items to be purchased , or any other commercial advantage.

 The present invention may in particular be used in combination with the method and the device described in the patent application WO 99/03051 for automatically issuing commercial benefit notes, with a table CRITERES ~ AC corresponding to a file CRITERES TICKETS of this device.

 The set of items purchased can also be a list of items corresponding to an order from a customer on a printed catalog (mail order) or on a computer catalog (sale on a website). It is also possible, as for a receipt, to attribute commercial benefits to the customer according to his purchases, depending on the lots they contain.

 The set of items purchased can also be a list of items purchased over a period of time (and not during a single purchase transaction) by the same identified customer (by a membership card or a bank code revealed by his means of payment ...), to attribute to him commercial advantages according to his behavior of purchase of lots.

 The set of items purchased may also be a list of items purchased by all customers on one or more predetermined sale site (s) (store and / or website) over a period of time; or by a selection of customers on one or more predetermined sale site (s). For example, it is possible, for example, to produce batch purchase statistics.

 To identify each batch in a set of purchased items, the item list corresponding to the set of items purchased at the definitions for each batch (BATCH CODE) is compared as given by the LOTS, LIST ~ ELEMENTS tables. ELEMENTS ~ LIST.

 The execution of this comparison can be carried out as described below with reference to FIG. 4, in the embodiment represented in FIG. 1, by the commercial benefits management computer station 9, from the lists of articles corresponding to the sets of articles

<Desc / Clms Page number 21>

 Purchased provided by the server module 14 which receives them itself means 3,4, 5, 6 computer registration.

 To make this comparison and the calculation of the commercial advantages applicable to the set of purchased items, a method as shown in FIG. 3 can be used.

 During a test step 41, it is examined whether the type of breakdown of the commercial advantage criterion being analyzed corresponds to the articles or not (value of the CODE ~ TYPE-VENTILATION field). In the affirmative, one starts at the stage 42 a loop on the various articles of LIST TICKET, that is to say on the various codes EAN1, EAN2, ... of LIST TICKET. For each of the articles, it is examined during test 43 whether its EANi code corresponds to the value of the VENTILATION CODE of the corresponding commercial advantage criterion. If not, test 44 is used to determine whether the current EANi item is the last of the TICKET LIST.

If yes, go directly to the end step 50. If not, then go back to step 42 to go to the next item in the TICKET LIST.

When the test 43 determines that an item of the LIST TICKET corresponds to the CODE ~ VENTILATION, it launches, in step 45, the method of calculating the value of commercial advantage corresponding, as referenced in the field CODE ~ METHOD ~ CALCULATION of the table CRITERES ~ AC. The engine 12a or 12b running in RAM server 13 thus performs this calculation, which ends with step 46, writing a record in a list of calculated commercial benefits, called LIST AC CALCULATIONS.

Each record in this list includes the number of the corresponding business transaction, the criterion that gave the business benefit, the corresponding EANi item code, and the number Yi of that item that was used to calculate this business benefit. and the value of this calculated business benefit. After write 46 of the record in the CALCULATED LIST AC, we return to the input of the test 44 to know if the loop 42 on the different items must be repeated or if it is the last item. When all items in the LIST TICKET are reviewed, all the benefits

<Desc / Clms Page number 22>

 The sales figures that can be calculated for these items and for this ticket are entered in the CALCULATED LIST AC, and the program is at the end step 50.

 When the initial test 41 determines that the VENTILATION TYPE CODE field is not an article code but a batch, a step 51 of batch identification is carried out on the TICKET LIST.

 Before performing this identification of the batches, the list of purchased items to be analyzed is preferably sorted in a predetermined order in a step 51. This step 51 is detailed on the flowchart of FIG. 4, so that, in the list so sorted, called LIST TICKET, each item is identified once and only once, and is associated with a total quantity of this item that has been purchased. Sorting such a computer list is a traditional function of any database management system.

A schematic example of LIST TICKET so sorted is as follows:

<Tb>
<tb> Article <SEP> Quantity
<tb> A <SEP> 7 <SEP>
<tb> B <SEP> 1
<tb> C <SEP> 1
<tb> E <SEP> 3 <SEP>
<tb> G <SEP> 2 <SEP>
<tb> D <SEP> 1
<Tb>

Furthermore, for the batch to be identified, the batch definition is known, formed by one or more list (s) and / or OR definition (s) represented by the LIST ELEMENTS and ELEMENTS ~ LIST tables. Such a batch definition can therefore be represented by the different lists AND and / or OR. A schematic example is as follows: - LIST AND: 2A, 1G - LIST OR n 1: lA, IF, F being an article supplier, including items B and C (this is a distributed OR list) - LIST OR n 2: QUANTITY ~ LIST = 2; 1 D, 1 E (this is a global OR list).

<Desc / Clms Page number 23>

In step 62, these list definitions are applied to the TICKET LIST, to develop sub-lists corresponding respectively to each AND list, and to each OR list. If the batch definition includes an AND list, the first step in step 63 is to first develop an AND sublist by assigning to that sub-list AND the items in the TICKET LIST matching the list definition. AND of the lot. In the example represented, we thus obtain a sub-list AND following:
SUB-LIST AND

<Tb>
<tb> N <SEP> line
<tb> 1 <SEP> A <SEP> 2 <SEP> G <SEP>
<tb> 2 <SEP> A <SEP> 2 <SEP> G <SEP>
<Tb>

Each line of this AND sub-list corresponds to a set of items in the TICKET LIST that satisfies the definition of the AND list. When an item is assigned in one line of a sub-list, it is no longer available for other rows or for other sub-lists. Thus, in the example, 4 articles A and 2 articles G have been assigned to the sub-list AND, so that there remain 3 articles A of the LIST TICKET available for other lists.

 In the subsequent step 64 if the definition of the batch includes one or more OR list (s), each corresponding OR sub-list is produced in the order of the OR lists or the batch definition (in the LIST ~ ELEMENTS table). ).

In the example given, a sub-list OR n 1 is thus developed starting from the definition of the list OR n 1 applied to the residual articles of the LIST TICKET. We obtain :

<Tb>
<tb> SUB-LIST <SEP> n <SEP> 1
<tb> N <SEP> line
<tb> 1 <SEP> A <SEP> 1 <SEP> 1
<tb> 2 <SEP> B <SEP> 1 <SEP> C <SEP> 1 <SEP> 1
<Tb>

In this example, the element n 1 is an article, while the element n 2 is the group of articles of the supplier F. For this second

<Desc / Clms Page number 24>

 element, the sub-list OR No. 1 thus comprises a line comprising the two items B and C of the TICKET LIST.

Again, the items assigned to this OU sub-list are no longer available for the subsequent OR sub-list. It therefore remains as available at this stage 2A, 3E, 1D. An OR sub-list 2 is then developed from the definition of the OR list 2 applied to these residual items. We obtain :

<Tb>
<tb> SUB-LIST <SEP> n <SEP> 2
<tb> N <SEP> line
<tb> 1 <SEP> E <SEP> 1 <SEP> E <SEP>
<tb> 2 <SEP> E <SEP> 1 <SEP> D <SEP> 1
<Tb>

It remains finally 2A unassigned to a sub-list. From these sub-lists, batches are extracted in step 65 by considering each line of the sub-lists. The first batch identified is therefore the union of items from the first line of all sub-lists. It is :
LOT n 1: 2A, 1G, 1A, 1E, 1E, ie 3A, 2E, 1G.

Similarly, the second batch corresponding to the second lines of the sub-lists is:
LOT NO: 2A, 1G, 1B, 1C, 1E, 1D
It should be noted that since the lists are cumulative, the number of instances of a given set of definitions that can be identified in the TICKET LIST is equal to the smallest number of rows of the sub-lists. In the example given, 2 lots corresponding to the batch definition could be identified.

 As a consequence of this rule, if it is found that one of the sub-lists to be created has no line, no lot corresponding to this definition can be identified.

 Once the batches have been identified, the process represented in FIG. 3 is continued.

 During step 52, the corresponding calculation method of the commercial advantage value is started by the engine 12a, 12b running in memory of the server 13. This calculation method allows

<Desc / Clms Page number 25>

 thus to calculate the value of each commercial advantage that can be attributed according to the VENTILATION LIST obtained in step 51. Each of these calculated commercial advantages is recorded in the CALCULATED LIST for this current criterion (step 53). ).

 Examples of batches that can be defined and identified in accordance with the invention are listed below, in a non-limiting manner, with the corresponding values for the fields of the LOTS, ELEMENT LIST, and LIST ELEMENTS tables.

Example 1: bottle of Whiskey and 2 packets of cakes.

<Tb>
<Tb>

LOTS <SEP> LISTS ~ ELEMENTS <SEP> ELEMENTS <SEP> LIST <SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ BATCH <SEP>: <SEP> 000000001 <SEP> NO ~ LIST ~ ITEM <SEP>: <SEP> 1 <SEP> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 1
<tb> TYPE ~ BATCH: <SEP> TYPE ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> AND <SEP><SEP> TYPE <SEP> ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP>
<tb> PE-LOT <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> FE <SEP><SEP> QUANTITY ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> null <SEP> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> - <SEP> Whiskey <SEP > XX
<tb> NUMBER ~ REFERENCES ~ LIST <SEP> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<tb> = <SEP> null <SEP>
<tb> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 2
<tb> TYPE <SEP> ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> packets <SEP> of
<tb> cakes
<tb> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 2
<Tb>

<Desc / Clms Page number 26>

Example 2: (3 cassettes of your choice among the following references: cassettes XXX 3h, cassettes XXX 4h, cassettes XXX 8h). This is an open batch with a global OR list.

<Tb>
<Tb>

LOTS <SEP> LISTS <SEP> ELEMENTS <SEP> ELEMENTS <SEP> LIST <SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ BATCH <SEP>: <SEP> 000000001 <SEP> NO ~ LIST ~ ITEM <SEP>: <SEP> 1 <SEP> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 1
<tb> TYPE ~ BATCH <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> 02 <SEP><SEP> TYPE ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> OR <SEP><SEP> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP>
<tb> ~ LOT <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> 02 <SEP><SEP> QUANTITY ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 3 <SEP> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> cassettes <SEP>
<tb> NUMBER ~ REFERENCES ~ LIST <SEP> XXX <SEP> 3h
<tb> = <SEP> null <SEP> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<tb> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 2
<tb> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> cassettes <SEP>
<tb> XXX <SEP> 4h
<tb> QUANTITY-ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<tb> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 3
<tb> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> cassettes <SEP>
<tb> XXX <SEP> 8h
<tb> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<Tb>

<Desc / Clms Page number 27>

Example 3: XXX VCRs and 2 cassettes to choose from among the following references (ZZZ 3h cassettes, ZZZ 4h cassettes, ZZZ 8h cassettes). This is a batch with an AND list and a global OR list.

<Tb>
<Tb>

LOTS <SEP> LISTS <SEP> ELEMENTS <SEP> ELEMENTS <SEP> LIST <SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ BATCH <SEP>: <SEP> 000000002 <SEP> NO ~ LIST ~ ARTICLE <SEP>: <SEP> 1 <SEP> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 1
<tb> TYPE <SEP> BATCH <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> 05 <SEP> TYPE ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> AND <SEP><SEP> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP><SEP>
<tb> - <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> 05 <SEP> QUANTITY <SEP> LIST <SEP> = <SEP> 1 <SEP> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> =
<tb> NUMBER ~ REFERENCES <SEP> = <SEP> null <SEP> VCR <SEP> XXX
<tb> QUANTITY <SEP> ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<tb> NO ~ LIST ~ ARTICLE <SEP>: <SEP> 2 <SEP> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 1
<tb> TYPE ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> OR <SEP><SEP> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP><SEP>
<tb> QUANTITY ~ LIST <SEP> = <SEP> 2 <SEP> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> cassettes <SEP>
<tb> NUMBER ~ REFERENCES <SEP> = <SEP> null <SEP> ZZZ <SEP> 3h
<tb> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<tb> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 2
<tb> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP><SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> cassettes <SEP>
<tb> ZZZ <SEP> 4h <SEP>
<tb> QUANTITY <SEP> ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<tb> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 3
<tb> TYPE <SEP> ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> cassettes <SEP>
<tb> ZZZ <SEP> 8h <SEP>
<tb> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT = <SEP> 1
<Tb>

<Desc / Clms Page number 28>

Example 4: 1 shampoo to choose from (...) and 1 soap to choose from (...). This is a batch with two global OUs.

<Tb>
<Tb>

LOTS <SEP> LISTS <SEP> ELEMENTS <SEP> ELEMENTS <SEP> LIST <SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ BATCH <SEP>: <SEP> 000000003 <SEP> NO ~ LIST ~ ITEM <SEP>: <SEP> 1 <SEP> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 1
<tb> TYPE <SEP> BATCH <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> 03 <SEP> TYPE ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> OR <SEP><SEP> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP><SEP>
<tb> - <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> 03 <SEP><SEP> QUANTITY ~ LIST <SEP> = <SEP> 1 <SEP> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> =
<tb> NUMBER ~ REFERENCES <SEP> = <SEP> null <SEP> shampoo <SEP> 1
<tb> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<tb> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 2
<tb> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP>
<tb> shampoo <SEP> 2
<tb> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<tb> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 3
<tb> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP>
<tb> CODE <SEP> ELEMENT <SEP> =
<tb> shampoo ...
<Tb>

QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<tb> NO ~ LIST ~ ARTICLE <SEP>: <SEP> 2 <SEP> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 1
<tb> TYPE ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> OR <SEP><SEP> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP>
<tb> QUANTITY ~ LIST <SEP> = <SEP> 1 <SEP> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> Soap <SEP> 1
<tb> NUMBER ~ REFERENCES ~ LIST <SEP> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<tb> = <SEP> null <SEP> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<tb> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 2
<tb> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP><SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> soap <SEP> 2
<tb> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<tb> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 3
<tb> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> soap <SEP> 3
<tb> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<Tb>

<Desc / Clms Page number 29>

Example 5: Different FFFF products. This is a batch with a global OR list consisting of a single item corresponding to the FFFF vendor's items.

<Tb>
<Tb>

LOTS <SEP> LISTS <SEP> ELEMENTS <SEP> ELEMENTS <SEP> LIST <SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ BATCH <SEP>: <SEP> 000000005 <SEP> NO ~ LIST ~ ITEM <SEP>: <SEP> 1 <SEP> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 1
<tb> TYPE ~ BATCH <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> TYPE ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> OR <SEP> TYPE <SEP> ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> D <September>
<tb> PE LOT <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> 01 <SEP><SEP> QUANTITY ~ LIST <SEP> = <SEP> 3 <SEP> CODE ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP> =
<tb> NUMBER ~ REFERENCES ~ LIST <SEP> = <SEP> 3 <SEP> FFFF
<tb> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<Tb>

Example 6: 3 FFFF products to choose from. It is also a batch with a single item global OR list (FFFF provider).

<Tb>
<Tb>

LOTS <SEP> LISTS <SEP> ELEMENTS <SEP> ELEMENTS <SEP> LIST <SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ BATCH <SEP>: <SEP> 000000006 <SEP> NO ~ LIST ~ ITEM <SEP>: <SEP> 1 <SEP> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 1
<tb> TYPE ~ BATCH: <SEP> TYPE-LIST: <SEP><SEP> OR <SEP> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> D <SEP>
<tb> PE LOT <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> 01 <SEP> QUANTITY ~ LIST <SEP> = <SEP> 3 <SEP> CODE ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP> =
<tb> NUMBER ~ REFERENCES ~ LIST <SEP> FFFF
<tb> = <SEP> null <SEP> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<Tb>

<Desc / Clms Page number 30>

Example 7: (A1 or 2 A2) AND (4 A3 or 2 A4 or A5). This is a batch with two OR lists distributed. The fields QUANTITY LIST and NUMBER ~ REFERENCES ~ LIST are not filled.

<Tb>
<Tb>

LOTS <SEP> LISTS <SEP> ELEMENTS <SEP> ELEMENTS <SEP> LIST <SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ BATCH <SEP>: <SEP> 000000003 <SEP> NO ~ LIST ~ ITEM <SEP>: <SEP> 1 <SEP> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 1
<tb> TYPE <SEP> BATCH <SEP>: <SEP> TYPE ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> OR <SEP><SEP> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <September>
<tb> TYPE ~ BATCH <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> 03 <SEP><SEP> QUANTITY ~ LIST <SEP> = <SEP> null <SEP> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> Al <SEP >
<tb> NUMBER ~ REFERENCES ~ LIST <SEP> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<tb> = <SEP> null <SEP>
<tb> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 2
<tb> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP><SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> A2 <SEP>
<tb> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 2
<tb> NO ~ LIST ~ ARTICLE <SEP>: <SEP> 2 <SEP> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 1
<tb> TYPE ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP><SEP> OR <SEP><SEP> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP>
<tb> QUANTITY ~ LIST <SEP> = <SEP> null <SEP> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> A3 <SEP>
<tb> NUMBER ~ REFERENCES ~ LIST <SEP> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 4
<tb> = <SEP> null <SEP>
<tb> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 2
<tb> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> A4 <SEP>
<tb> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 2
<tb> NO ~ ELEMENT ~ LIST <SEP>: <SEP> 3
<tb> TYPE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP><SEP> A <SEP>
<tb> CODE ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> A5
<tb> QUANTITY ~ ELEMENT <SEP> = <SEP> 1
<Tb>

The invention can be the subject of many other applications and embodiments with respect to the applications and embodiments and examples described above.

 The invention is more particularly applicable and advantageous in retail stores, such as supermarkets or hypermarkets. It can nevertheless also apply advantageously for mail order, for example for e-commerce via the Internet. It should be noted in this regard that the invention allows an extremely simple implementation of discounts on different batches of items during sales.

<Desc / Clms Page number 31>

 Thus, thanks to the invention, by means of light and powerful computing means and with a simple, fast real-time processing, requiring only a low occupancy in RAM and in mass memory, it is possible to identify batches different items and to attribute business benefits-including immediate reductions-without the risk of error or inconsistency.

 The method according to the invention can be implemented by simple programming with any appropriate programming language (in particular Pascal, C, C ++, Visual Basic, etc.). It can be easily implemented using a database management system having a table structure such as that shown in Figure 2 by way of non-limiting example. It can also be implemented with a file management system. The entire organization of the data can be stored physically as separate data file tables in a database management system, or in any other suitable form, for example as a single data file.

Claims (18)

1 / - A method for automatically identifying at least one batch of different articles in a set of articles previously purchased from a merchant organization, these purchased items being recorded as data stored in means (3,4, 5, 6), and comprising an article code identifying the nature of each article, in which: for each batch to be identified, data representative of logical conditions forming a batch definition and adapted to determine whether a set of data are stored; purchased items satisfies these logical conditions or not, - for each lot to be identified, the corresponding lot definition is applied to the set of items purchased, so as to determine whether or not this set of items purchased satisfies this batch definition, characterized in that the data representing each batch definition is adapted to allow at least one list to be defined. element (s) comprising at least one element, each element being defined by a unique code that can represent either an article to be present in the set of purchased items, or a predetermined group of articles to be present in the set of purchased items, this group of items being defined by stored data representing at least one property of the data representing the items.  2 / - Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the data representing at least one batch definition are adapted to be able to define at least one list of element (s), list OR distributed, for which: # the articles of the set of items purchased must satisfy at least one of the items in this list, # a number of items to be present in the set of items purchased to satisfy an item of this list is predetermined non-zero for each elements of this list, <Desc / Clms Page number 33>  # The total quantity of items in the purchased item set corresponding to these items is not determined.  3 / - Method according to claim 2, characterized in that the data representing each batch definition are adapted to allow to define only: - one and only one list of articles, called list AND, before all be present in the set of purchased items, with an individual quantity of items that is determined, and / or - at least one item list (s), OR list, for which: # items in the purchased item set must satisfy at least one of the items in this list, # a total quantity of items to be present in the set of items purchased to satisfy that list is determined, # the number of items for each item in this list to be present in the set of items purchased to satisfy that item being predetermined, non-zero, and less than or equal to said total quantity of items, and / or - at least one distributed OR list, each list of the set items The lot number to be satisfied by the set of items purchased for this lot definition to be satisfied and a corresponding lot to be identified.  4 / - Method according to claim 3, characterized in that the data representing a batch definition are adapted to allow, for at least one global OR list, to define a number of different item codes to be present in the set of purchased items and corresponding to the items in this list. <Desc / Clms Page number 34>  5 / - Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that each element represents an article, or a group of items selected from: - the articles of a given supplier organization, - the articles of a family predetermined articles from the merchant organization, - articles whose article code results from a predetermined selection algorithm.  6 / - Method according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that before applying each batch definition to the set of purchased items, is carried out a sort of the set of items purchased according to a predetermined order in which each item is identified once and only once and is associated with a quantity of that item that has been purchased.  7 / - Method according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the data representative of the batch definitions are organized into tables in a database management system.  8 / - A method for automatically assigning commercial advantages according to the purchase of batches of articles by customers from a merchant organization, characterized in that the batches of articles purchased by the customers are identified by a method according to the one of claims 1 to 7.  9 / - Computer system for automatically identifying at least one batch of different articles in a set of articles previously purchased from a merchant organization, these purchased items being recorded as data stored in means (3, 4, 5 , 6) of storage and comprising an article code identifying the nature of each article, comprising: - means (11) for storing data representative of logical conditions forming a batch definition for each batch to be identified, and adapted to determine whether a set of purchased items meets or not these logical conditions, <Desc / Clms Page number 35>  means (1, 9) of computer processing adapted to be able to apply, for each batch to be identified, the corresponding definition of the batch on the set of purchased items, so as to determine whether this set of purchased items satisfies or not to this batch definition, characterized in that the data representing each batch definition is adapted to define at least one element list (s) at least one element, each element being defined by a unique numerical code which can represent either an article to be present in the set of purchased items, ie a predetermined group of items to be present in the set of purchased items, this group of items being defined by the stored data representing at least one property of the items purchased; data representing the articles.  10 / - System according to claim 9, characterized in that the data representing at least one batch definition are adapted to be able to define at least one list of element (s), list OR distributed, for which: # the articles of the set of items purchased must satisfy at least one of the items in this list, # a number of items to be present in the set of items purchased to satisfy an item of this list is predetermined non-zero for each items in this list, # the total quantity of items in the purchased item set corresponding to these items is not determined.  11 / - The system of claim 10, characterized in that the data representing each batch definition are adapted to allow to define only: - one and only one list of articles, called list AND, to all be present in the set purchased items, with an individual quantity of items that is determined, <Desc / Clms Page number 36>  and / or - at least one list of element (s), list OR global, for which: # the articles of the set of purchased items must satisfy at least one of the elements of this list, # a quantity total of items to be included in the set of items purchased to satisfy that list is determined, # the number of items for each item in that list to be present in the set of items purchased to satisfy that item being predetermined, non-zero, and less than or equal to said total quantity of articles, and / or - at least one distributed OR list, each list of the batch definition to be satisfied by the set of purchased items for that definition batch is satisfied and a corresponding lot is identified.  12 / - The system of claim 11, characterized in that the data representing a batch definition are adapted to allow for at least a global OR list of a batch definition, to define a number of different item codes to be present in the set of items purchased and corresponding to the items in this list.  13 / - System according to one of claims 9 to 12, characterized in that each element represents an article, or a group of items selected from: - the articles of a given supplier organization, - the articles of a family predetermined articles from the merchant organization, - articles whose article code results from a predetermined selection algorithm. <Desc / Clms Page number 37>  14 / - System according to one of claims 9 to 13, characterized in that the means (1.9) of computer processing are adapted to achieve, before applying each batch definition to the set of purchased items a sort of the set of items purchased in a predetermined order in which each item is identified once and only once and is associated with a quantity of that item that has been purchased.  15 / - System according to one of claims 9 to 14, characterized in that the data representative of the batch definitions are organized into tables in a database management system.  16 / - System according to one of claims 9 to 15, characterized in that it is associated with an installation of cashing (3, 4, 5) of a place of sale of the merchant organization intended for the registration of the items of a purchase during the passage of the customer to this collection facility.  17 / - Device according to one of claims 9 to 16, characterized in that it is associated with a computer site (6) mail order adapted to allow the registration of articles by selection in a sales catalog to distance via a network.  18 / - Computer device for automatically assigning commercial benefits according to the purchase of batches of articles by customers from a merchant organization, characterized in that it comprises a computer system according to one of claims 9 to 17.