FR3087562A1 - METHOD FOR TRANSMITTING AND STORING INVOICES OR CASH TICKETS AND CASE FOR IMPLEMENTING THE SAME - Google Patents

Abstract

A process for transmitting and storing invoices, which comprises the following steps: - opening of a communication between a cash register and a box external to said cash register, during which the external box emulates a printer at the cash register, - triggering of payment, by the fund, - transmission, by the cashier, of at least one piece of data representative of the payment to be printed, - storage of each data representative of the payment transmitted, by the external box, - opening of a near-field communication between the external box and a mobile terminal, - transmission, by the external box, of each data representative of the payment to the mobile terminal, - opening of a communication between the mobile terminal and a server, - transmission, by the mobile terminal, of each data representative of the payment to the server, - conversion by the server of payment data into a digital document representative of an invoice and - storage, by the remote server, of the digital document.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method of transmitting and storing invoices or cash receipts and a box for implementing it.

It applies, in particular to the field of IT for shops and services.

STATE OF THE ART Currently, at each checkout of a customer, a receipt or an invoice is either physically printed and manually delivered to the customer, or sent by email to this customer.

This ticket or invoice serves to keep proof of purchase, to document accounts or to set a departure date for a warranty, right of return or exchange.

However, over time, the ticket gets lost or deteriorates and the customer loses his proof of purchase which can allow him to assert his rights (guarantee, exchange, for example).

In addition, printing a ticket or sending an email causes costs in labor time or money.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention aims to remedy all or part of these drawbacks.

To this end, according to a first aspect, the present invention relates to a method for transmitting and storing invoices or cash receipts, which comprises: a step of opening a communication link between a cash register and a cash register. box external to said cash register, during which the external box emulates a printer at the cash register, - a step of triggering payment, by the cash register, - a step of transmission, by the cash register, of at least one piece of data representative of the payment to be printed, - a step of storing each piece of data representative of the payment transmitted to be printed, by the external box, 2 a step of opening a near-field communication session between the external box and a communicating mobile terminal, - a step of transmission, by the external box, of each piece of data representative of the payment to be printed to the communicating mobile terminal, - a step of st storage of representative data received from the payment by the communicating mobile terminal, a step of opening a communication session between the communicating mobile terminal and a remote server, - a step of transmission, by the communicating mobile terminal, of each representative data payment to the remote server, - a step of converting, by the remote server, each piece of data representative of the payment into a digital document representative of an invoice or of the payment representing at least one piece of data representative of the payment and - a storage step, by the remote server, of the digital document representative of an invoice or of the payment representing at least one piece of data representative of the payment.

The implementation of the present invention has the advantage of being able to virtually print the receipt or the invoice, which represents a saving of time and money for the merchant and, for the customer, of being able to keep it in a safe. communicating mobile terminal, which reduces the risk of loss and damage.

Moreover, since the conversion of the data representative of the payment into a tamper-proof digital document representative of an invoice is carried out by a remote server, the data transmitted to the communicating portable terminal are of low weight, the transmission is therefore faster.

Also, no alteration of the data representative of the payment on the communicating portable terminal can take place.

Also, the user can have access, by a connection to the remote server, to all the documents generated.

In some embodiments, the method comprises a step of transmitting the digital document by the remote server to the communicating mobile terminal.

3 Thanks to arrangements, the user of the communicating portable terminal can have access at any time to the digital document representing the invoice directly on his communicating mobile terminal.

In some embodiments, the method comprises, prior to the step of transmission by the external box, of at least one piece of data representative of the payment to be printed on the communicating mobile terminal, a step of installing an application on the device. communicating mobile terminal, said application giving access to the digital document transmitted by the remote server when the application is active.

With this application, the user can organize and easily access receipts and 10 invoices.

In some embodiments, the method comprises, after reception of the digital document by the application of the communicating mobile terminal, a step of transmission, by the communicating mobile terminal, to a remote server, of information representative of a profile of user of the communicating mobile terminal.

15 Thanks to this communication, the merchant can access statistics concerning his sales, for example, hours, amounts, and statistics concerning his customer base, such as ages, sexes, regularity of purchase, main customers, types of products purchased. by these main customers, ...

In some embodiments, the method comprises a step, in the application of the communicating mobile terminal, of capturing images and a step of organizing joint access to the captured images and to the digital documents received from the remote server.

Thanks to these arrangements, the user can take photos of other tickets or invoices, for example older tickets, and manage all of these documents, real or virtual.

In embodiments, the cash register is a personal computer with cash register software.

In some embodiments, the opening of the communication link between the cash register and the external box is achieved by wired connection.

In some embodiments, the opening of the communication link between the cash register and the external box is achieved by connection to a local network.

In some embodiments, the near-field communication session between the external box and a communicating mobile terminal implements the NFC 4 protocol (acronym for c <Near Field Communication "for" near-field communication ").

In some embodiments, the digital document transmitted by the remote server has a PDF format (acronym for "portable document format" for portable document format).

These different embodiments have the advantage of using techniques, protocols and formats widely used in the computing field, in particular in mobile telephony computing.

In some embodiments, the method comprises: a step of encryption of each piece of data representative of the payment by the external box before the step of transmission, by the external box, of each piece of data representative of the payment to be printed to the communicating mobile terminal and a step of decryption of each piece of data representative of the payment by the remote server before the step of converting, by the remote server, each piece of data representative of the payment into a digital document representative of an invoice illustrating each piece of data representative of the payment.

Thanks to these provisions, the data representing the payment are protected from digital attacks by third parties and cannot be altered until a document representing the invoice is generated by the remote server.

According to a second aspect, the present invention relates to a box for transmitting and storing invoices or cash receipts, characterized in that it comprises: a means of opening a communication link with a cash register, by emulating a printer from the cash register, - a means of receiving, from the cash register, at least one piece of data representative of a payment to be printed, a means of keeping each piece of data representative of the payment to be printed, 30 a means for opening a near-field communication session with a communicating mobile terminal and - a means of transmitting each piece of data representative of the payment to be printed to the communicating mobile terminal.

The advantages, aims and particular characteristics of this housing being similar to those of the method which is the subject of the invention, they are not repeated here.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES Other advantages, objects and characteristics of the present invention will emerge from the description which follows, given, for the purpose of explanation and in no way limiting, with reference to the appended drawings, in which: FIG. 1 represents, schematically, a particular embodiment of the box which is the subject of the invention, FIG. 2 represents, in the form of a flowchart, the steps of a particular embodiment of the method which is the subject of the invention, implemented between a cash register , a box which is the subject of the invention and a communicating mobile terminal and FIGS. 3 and 4 represent, in the form of a logic diagram, steps 15 of a particular embodiment of the method which is the subject of the invention, implemented by a box which is the subject of the invention, a communicating mobile terminal and at least one remote server.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION It will now be noted that the figures are not to scale.

FIG. 1 shows a box 10 connected to a cash register 11 and in communication with a communicating portable terminal 12, the communicating portable terminal itself being in communication with a remote server.

The cash register 11 is either a device specifically dedicated to this function, or a computer provided with software performing the functions of a cash register.

The communicating portable terminal 12 is, for example, a computer software (in English “smartphone”), a mobile telephone or a tablet.

The main functions of the box 10, object of the present invention are to emulate a printer, vis-à-vis the cash register 11, to receive therefrom data representative of a payment, and to transmit these data to the portable terminal. communicating 12, via a near-field wireless link.

The data representative of a payment include, for example, at least one identification of at least one item, at least one quantity, at least one unit or total price, at least one application of tax, such as value tax added (acronym 6 "VAT"), at least one amount excluding tax or all taxes included, at least one identification of an establishment and / or a payment terminal, at least one time stamp.

The housing 10 constitutes, vis-à-vis the cash register 11, a virtual printer 5.

The box 10 comprises: a means 13 for opening a communication link with the cash register 11, by emulating a printer at the cash register, a means 14 for receiving, from the cash register 11, data 10 representative of 'a payment to be printed, - a means 15 for storing each piece of data representative of the payment to be printed, - a means 16 for opening a near-field communication session with the communicating mobile terminal 12 and 15 - a means 17 for transmission of each data representative of the payment to be printed to the communicating mobile terminal 12.

The means 13 for opening a communication link with the cash register 11 emulates a printer at the cash register 11.

The communication link can be wired, for example by means of a connector 20 implementing the USB protocol (acronym for “Universal Serial Bus” for universal serial bus), or wireless, for example by means of a network implementing the WiFi protocol (registered trademark).

When the opening means are declared at the cash register 11, it is identified as a printer, of which the cash register 11 uses the driver, or because it is identical to the driver of the machine. one of the main printers for cash registers used, or because the cash register 11 will search, for example on the Internet, for this driver associated with the virtual printer consisting of the box 10.

The means 14 for receiving, from the cash register, at least one piece of data representative of the payment to be printed is, for example, a microprocessor.

The means 15 for storing each piece of data representative of the payment to be printed is a random access memory.

The means 16 for opening a near-field communication session with a communicating mobile terminal 12 and the means 17 for transmitting each piece of data representative of the payment to be printed to the communicating mobile terminal 12 7 preferably implement the NFC protocol (acronym of "Near Field Communication" for "near field communication").

In the case where the box 10 is connected to the cash register 11, preferably, it is supplied with electrical energy by the cash register 5 11.

We note, in this regard, that the USB protocol allows the power supply of peripherals.

For example, the box 10 is based on an Arduino board (registered trademark), for example Mega 256 and an NFC reader, for example Shield Adafruit PN532 (registered trademarks) NFC.

Communication between the two cards is, for example, ensured by the SPI protocol (acronym for “Serial Peripheral Interface”).

The box 10 is provided with light-emitting diodes in order to display, by means of colors, the state of the program (waiting for data, in transmission, finished transmission, error).

In some embodiments, the box 10 comprises a means of encryption of each piece of data representative of the payment.

In some embodiments, the cash register 11 includes means for encrypting each piece of data representative of the payment.

For example, NFC communication is carried out according to the following standards: - P2P communication mode (acronym for "Peer to Peer" for "peer to 20 pair) which allows two NFC readers to communicate directly without NFC badge between them, - Messages in NDEF format (acronym for “NFC Data Exchange Format” for NFC data exchange format).

The data representative of the payment are, for example, a string of 25 characters or numbers, binary for example.

However, NFC technology restricts the volume of data in transit, transferring a digital document, for example in PDF format, would take longer.

In particular, the transmission, by NFC, of the data representative of the payment is of a duration of less than one second while the transmission of a tamper-proof document representing the data representative of payment, such as a document in PDF format, is of several seconds. .

The communicating portable terminal 12 comprises a means of communication with the remote server 18 used to transmit to the remote server the data representing the payment which is unreadable by the user at this stage.

Communication 8 can be carried out over a mobile telephone network or by means of a network implementing the WiFi protocol (registered trademark) or any other mode of wired communication or not known to those skilled in the art.

The remote server 18 comprises means for storing and indexing each piece of data representing a payment received, for example in the form of a database.

The remote server 18 also includes an application server making it possible to transform the data representative of payment received into a digital document representative of receipts, invoices or receipts showing the data representative of the payment.

The digital documents 10 representative of receipts are then accessible by means of an application on the communicating portable terminal 12 by the user or on another communicating portable terminal.

Access to the digital document can give rise to a temporary or permanent downloading of said digital document on a storage means of the communicating portable terminal 12.

The application server of the remote server 18 can implement the following steps: exporting the digital documents relating to at least one user to previously authorized third-party software, such as accounting management software, for example, 20 - formatting of the digital document according to parameters and / or information previously defined by the merchant to whom the payment was made, - management of user and merchant profiles, - creation of statistics, 25 - synchronization, - user authentication, - reception and indexing of digital documents from electronic commerce or e-commerce for access to the digital document by the user, updating of at least one driver of at least one box 11, and decryption of data representative of a payment.

FIG. 2 shows the successive steps carried out by the cash register 11, shown on the left, the box 10, shown on the right of the cash register 11, the communicating mobile terminal 12, shown on the right of the box 9 10 and the remote server 18, shown at the far right in Figure 2.

The passage of time is shown from top to bottom.

The arrows shown between the verticals corresponding to the three devices 10, 11 and 12 illustrate messages exchanged between these devices 10, 11 and 12.

The service 5 and synchronization messages which allow message exchanges are not shown.

During the first connection, wired or not, between the cash register 11 and the box 10, the box 10 sends an identification message 20 to the cash register 11.

This identification message 20 identifies the box 10 as a real printer.

During a payment by a customer, by implementing the driver of the printer 10 emulated by the box 10, the cash register 11 sends a receipt or an invoice to be printed to the box 10, in the form of a message. 21.

Then, when the customer brings his communicating portable terminal 12 to the box 10, the box 10 and the terminal 12 exchange pairing messages 22 and 23, for example according to the NFC protocol.

Once the pairing has been carried out, the box 10 sends, optionally in the form of a succession of packets, the data representing the payment 24 to the terminal 12.

Then, during a connection to a mobile network, or by a wired connection, the data representative of the payment is sent in the form of a communication 25 to the remote server 18 which converts them into a digital document representative of an invoice.

In some embodiments, the digital document 26 can then be retransmitted to the communicating portable terminal 12 and / or the terminal 12 can access the remote server 18 to view the digital document 26.

In some embodiments, the remote server 18 transmits the digital document to a third party communicating terminal different from the communicating mobile terminal 12.

In FIG. 3, we can see the steps carried out by the box 10, by the terminal 12 and by the remote server 18.

During a step 30, the user of the mobile terminal 12 installs an application dedicated to the implementation of the invention on the terminal 12.

30 Then, this user answers questions allowing him to be defined, for example age, sex, postal code of residence, nationality, last name, first name, full address, etc.

During a step 31, the box 10 receives data representative of a payment (cash register receipt or invoice) to be printed from the cash register 11, as explained with regard to the message 21 in FIG. 2.

During a step 32, the box 10 encrypts the data representative of the payment to be printed according to an encryption method known to those skilled in the art, for example with a symmetric or asymmetric key.

During a step 33, the user starts the operation of the application 5 installed on the terminal 12.

The box 10 and the terminal 12 are paired, for example according to the NFC protocol, as explained with regard to the messages 22 and 23 of FIG. 2.

During a step 34, the box 10 transmits the data representative of the encrypted payment to the terminal 12, as explained with regard to the message 24 of FIG. 2.

Preferably, at the end of step 34, the box 10 signals, for example by means of colored light-emitting diodes, the success of the transmission.

Then the box 10 erases from its memory the data representative of the payment.

The terminal 12 does not have the key or keys for decrypting the data representative of the payment.

As the data representative of the payment is encrypted, any attempt at alteration will render the data uninterpretable.

During step 34, the representative data received from the payment by the communicating mobile terminal are stored on the communicating mobile terminal 12 while awaiting the establishment of a communication between the communicating mobile terminal 12 and the remote server 18.

During step 35, the communicating portable terminal 12 connects to the remote server 18, for example by means of a mobile communication network, a wired connection, or wireless. Of WiFi type (registered trademark) by example.

During step 36, the communicating portable terminal 12 transmits to the remote server 18 all of the data representative of payment received.

The data representative of the payment are deleted from the storage means of the communicating mobile terminal once the transmission to the remote server has been completed.

In some embodiments, if data representative of several payments has been received between two connections to the remote server 18, the set is transmitted to the remote server 18.

The remote server 18 decrypts the data representative of payment received during step 37, by a decryption method corresponding to the encryption method known to those skilled in the art.

The remote server 18 proceeds to the conversion, during step 38, of data representative of a payment into a digital document representative of an invoice, receipt or receipt into a file in non-display format. editable, for example in PDF format.

During a step 39, the remote server 18 performs an automatic indexing of the document file, that is to say the endowment of attributes linked to the date and, where appropriate, to the data representative of the payment.

During an optional step 39, the remote server 18 reads the data received in order to extract therefrom a store name, a product or service name purchased, a global amount, an amount of recoverable taxes (for example the tax on added value, in Europe) and / or an indication of the warranty period.

Then, the digital document is stored on the server saying 18, in step 40.

In some embodiments, the digital document is transmitted to the communicating portable terminal 12.

During a step 41, the application installed on the terminal 12 asks the user to obtain a product name, a trade name, the professional or private nature of the expenditure, the existence of a guarantee and , where applicable, the duration of the guarantee.

The application provides the digital document file with attributes representative of the user's responses.

During a step 42, the server stores the digital document file in a directory linked to at least one of the following data: the date (supplied automatically by the mobile terminal to the application), - the professional nature or deprived of the expense, the name of the business, the name of the product, - the existence of a guarantee, 25 the duration of the guarantee.

During a step 43, if the user requests it from the application installed on the terminal 12, the terminal 12 captures images, by actuating a camera integrated into the terminal 12.

For example, these are invoices or receipts printed on paper.

During a step 51, the application associates attributes with the image file, as explained with regard to steps 35 and 37.

During a step 52, the application stores the image file, with the associated attributes, in a directory chosen similarly to what is explained with regard to step 38.

12 During a step 53, the application transmits to the remote server 18 dedicated to the implementation of the applications implementing the present invention, data representative of a user profile: the name of the user, the postal code. user's residence, age, sex, nationality and / or full address of the user.

In step 53, the captured images and assigned attributes can be transmitted to the server saying 18.

Optionally, during step 53, for expenses of a professional nature, the application automatically transmits a copy of the digital document file and, optionally, the date, the trade name, the product name, the global amount. , the amount of taxes, the name of the user, to an email address or to a software for managing expense reports or accounting, for example by means of a communicating terminal.

The user can access the stored data and, optionally, the stored digital documents and images at any time, by implementing an automatic search, according to criteria associated with the attributes of the files or by following the tree structure of the storage directories of the files. files.

Optionally, a step 54 of receiving and archiving the data received from the applications installed on the users' terminals 12 is performed by the expense report or accounting management software.

During an optional step 55, the application server aggregates the data received, for example as a function of dates, times, ages, sexes, postal codes, trade names, nationalities, names. users, so that a merchant can learn about the automated processing of this data.

During an optional step 56, the merchant accesses the aggregated data relating to his customers.

Thus, by implementing the present invention,

Claims (12)

CLAIMS 1. A method of transmitting and storing invoices or cash receipts, characterized in that it comprises: - a step of opening a communication link between a cash register and a box external to said cash register, during in which the external box emulates a printer at the cash register, - a step of triggering payment, by the cash register, - a step of transmission, by the cash register, of at least one piece of data representative of the payment to be printed, - a step of storing each data representative of the payment transmitted to be printed, by the external box, - a step of opening a near-field communication session between the external box and a communicating mobile terminal, - a transmission step, by the external box, of each piece of data representative of the payment to be printed on the communicating mobile terminal, - a step of storing the representative data received from the payment by the communicating mobile terminal, - a step of opening a communication session between the communicating mobile terminal and a remote server, - a step of transmission, by the communicating mobile terminal, of each piece of data representative of the payment to the remote server, - a step of converting, by the remote server, each piece of data representative of the payment into a digital document representative of an invoice or of the payment representing at least one piece of data representative of the payment and - a step of storage, by the remote server, of the document digital representative of an invoice or of the payment representing at least one piece of data representative of the payment. 2. Method according to claim 1, which comprises a step of transmitting the digital document by the remote server to the communicating mobile terminal. 14 3. Method according to claim 2, which comprises, prior to the step of transmitting by the external box, at least one piece of data representative of the payment to be printed on the communicating mobile terminal, a step of installing an application on the device. communicating mobile terminal, said application giving access to the document transmitted by the remote server when the application is active. 4. Method according to one of claims 2 or 3, which comprises, after receipt of the document by the application of the communicating mobile terminal, a step of transmission, by the communicating mobile terminal, to a remote server, of representative information. a user profile of the communicating mobile terminal. 5. Method according to one of claims 3 or 4, which comprises a step, in the application of the communicating mobile terminal, of capturing images and a step of organizing joint access to the images captured and to the documents received from the device. 15 remote server. 6. Method according to one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the cash register is a personal computer provided with cash register software. 20 7. Method according to one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the opening of the communication link between the cash register and the external box is performed by wire connection. 8. Method according to one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the opening of the communication link between the cash register and the external box is carried out by connection to a local network. 9. Method according to one of claims 1 to 8, in which the near-field communication session between the external box and a communicating mobile terminal uses the NFC protocol (acronym for “Near Field Communication” for “communication in near field ”). 15 10. Method according to one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the digital document transmitted by the remote server has a PDF format (acronym for “portable document format” for portable document format). 5 11. Method according to one of claims 1 to 10, which comprises: - a step of encryption of each data representative of the payment by the external box before the step of transmission, by the external box, of each data representative of the payment to. print to the communicating mobile terminal and - a step of decryption of each data representative of the payment 10 by the remote server before the conversion step, by the remote server of each data representative of the payment into a digital document representative of an invoice illustrating each data representative of the payment. 12. Box for transmission and conservation of invoices or cash receipts, characterized in that it comprises: means for opening a communication link with a cash register, by emulating a printer at the cash register. , a means of receiving, from the cash register, at least one piece of data representative of a payment to be printed, a means of storing each piece of data representative of the payment to be printed, - means of opening a session of near-field communication with a communicating mobile terminal and a means of transmitting each piece of data representative of the payment to be printed to the communicating mobile terminal.