JP2000353281A - Credit card system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a discount system capable of imparting a clear incentive to a card user in order to promote the card use frequency. SOLUTION: This credit card system is provided with a card 12 having a rewrite area 14 in which visible information can be rewritten and a cooperative store terminal 34 for writing information including an interval up to the next time of use and discount contents corresponding to the interval on the rewrite area when the card is used in a cooperative store. The cooperative store terminal is provided with a use date recording part 36 for recording a card use data history, a user interval certifying part 37 for certifying the long and short levels of the user date interval based on the data of the use data recording part, and a discount deciding part 38 for deciding discount contents based on the certified result of the use interval certifying part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a credit card system, and more particularly to a discount system for a usage amount according to a card usage degree.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are various systems for discounting the amount of money used in a credit card system according to the degree of card use. For example, the discount rate of the card usage amount is determined in accordance with the number of card uses within a predetermined period such as one month, half year, and one year, that is, the usage frequency, or the discount of the usage amount is determined in accordance with the card usage amount in a predetermined period. What determines the rate is well known. Also, as for the discount rate, it is often practiced to divide the use frequency or usage amount into a plurality of stages and set a discount rate for each stage.

[0003] Such a discount system according to the degree of use of the card ensures the stability of the credit card system and promotes new subscriptions by improving the card operation rate of the existing credit card subscribers. To expand the credit card system.

[0004]

However, in the discount system of the card usage amount based only on the frequency of use or the amount of use, there is also a shopping mode or a service mode in which it is substantially difficult to receive a discount privilege or to realize the privilege. Exists.

[0005] For example, it is considered that many people generally use a beauty salon regularly in a cycle of one month to several months, and on average, many people use the same amount of money every time. However, in this case, even if the discount privilege of the usage amount is set according to the usage frequency and usage amount within the predetermined period, it is difficult to motivate to increase the usage frequency and the usage amount of the beauty salon each time. Since many people use the beauty salon as needed, for example, it is unlikely that a person who used once a month was enough will use it twice for a discount privilege.

In another example, shopping for daily necessities, such as in supermarkets and home improvement stores, is considered to be used relatively frequently, such as several times a week. In such a case, Since the frequency of use is high and the amount of money used varies widely, it is extremely difficult for the user to easily grasp the relationship between the current frequency of use and the amount of usage and the discount privilege. The details of the card usage history are often known only a few months later, when they are sent together with the statement, unless recorded by the card user himself. Therefore, even if there is a discount privilege, the card user usually does shopping without being aware of the discount privilege, and the discount privilege is not directly motivated to improve the card usage. It is the current situation.

[0007] In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to improve the operating rate of credit cards by providing a discount system that can provide a clear motivation to promote card usage by card users. .

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following credit card system.

(1) A credit card having a rewrite area in which visible information can be rewritten, and, when the credit card is used at a partner store, an interval until the next use on the rewrite area and the corresponding time. A partner store terminal for writing information including the discount content, the partner store terminal further comprising: a use date recording unit for recording the use date history of the credit card; and A credit card system comprising: a use interval certifying unit that certifies the length of the interval between a previous use date and a current use date; and a discount deciding unit that determines discount content based on the result of certification by the use interval certifying unit. .

(2) A credit card having a rewrite area in which visible information can be rewritten and an IC chip, and, when the credit card is used at an affiliated store, an interval until the next use on the rewrite area. A partner store terminal that writes information including the corresponding discount content, stores card usage date information in the IC chip, and reads card usage date information from within the IC chip;
The partner store terminal further certifies a use interval certifying section that certifies the length of the interval between the previous use date and the current use date based on the card use date information read from inside the IC chip, and a certification by the use interval certifying section. A credit card system having a discount determining unit that determines discount content based on a result.

(3) A credit card and a partner store terminal for issuing a receipt displaying information including an interval until the next use and the corresponding discount content when the credit card is used at the partner store. Then, the partner store terminal further records a use date recording unit that records the use date history of the credit card, and determines the length of the interval between the previous use date and the current use date based on the data of the use date recording unit. A credit card system having a use interval certifying unit for certification and a discount determining unit for deciding discount content based on the result of certification by the use interval certifying unit.

(4) Issue a receipt displaying information including a credit card equipped with an IC chip and, when the credit card is used at a partner store, an interval until the next use and a corresponding discount content; A partner store terminal for storing card use date information in the IC chip and reading the card use date information from within the IC chip, wherein the partner store terminal further stores the card use date information read from the IC chip. A credit card system having a use interval certifying section for certifying the length of the interval between the last use date and the present use date based on the previous use date, and a discount deciding section for deciding the discount content based on the result of certification by the use interval certifying section It is.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a discount system for a credit card according to the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a first embodiment according to the present invention.

The credit card 12 owned by the card user is provided with a rewrite area 14. The rewrite area 14 is a rewritable visible information display area. The rewriting to the rewriting area 14 is performed, for example, by
When shopping or using a service at the credit card partner store 32, the credit card 12
Is executed by deleting previous display information and writing new display information.

The partner store terminal 34 is a management computer installed in the credit card partner store 32. If the affiliated store 34 is one of the chain stores, the terminal 34 of each store
By mutually configuring a network, they mutually transmit information and share data and the like. Information regarding the credit card settlement is passed from the partner store terminal 34 to the POS terminal 24 (arrow 45). The POS terminal 24 is connected online to the host computer 22 of the credit card company, and transmits the card payment related information of the card usage information at the affiliated store 32 to the host computer 22 (arrow 46). The information processing performed between the POS terminal 24 and the host computer 22 is the same as in a normal credit card system. In addition, partner store terminal 3
4 and the POS terminal 24 can also be integrated.
The arrows in FIG. 1 indicate the flow of information in the system according to the present invention.

First, a card user at a partner store 32 where the credit card 12 can be used, for example,
It is assumed that shopping or the like is performed using a card on the day (arrow 42). At this time, when the credit card 12 is inserted into the affiliated store terminal 34, the period up to the next use date and the discount rate corresponding thereto are written in the rewrite area 14 of the credit card 12 (arrow 44). In the example shown,
"Until February 12 ... 20% off" and "Until March 12 ... 10% off". By looking at the rewrite area 14, the card user can easily recognize when the card can be reused to receive a 20% or 10% discount privilege. This gives a strong motivation to the card user to shorten the interval until the next use date as much as possible. That is, the card user will try to reuse as much as possible by February 12 instead of after February 13.

On the other hand, the card use information on January 12 by the card user is recorded and managed in the affiliated shop terminal 34. When the affiliated store is one of the chain stores, the terminals 34 of all the stores are connected to each other via a network, and the records in the other terminals are shared with each other. The card use information includes credit card user identification information, partner shop identification information, use date, use item, use amount, and the like. Information necessary for the final credit card settlement is sent to the host computer 22 via the POS terminal 24. FIG. 1 schematically shows only a part related to the system of the present invention in the recording unit of the affiliated store terminal 34.

At the affiliated store terminal 34, the history of the card use date by the card user is recorded in the card use date recording section 36. Then, when the card user uses the card at the credit card affiliated store 32 next time, the information is similarly recorded in the affiliated store terminal 34 (of course, at this time, the rewrite area 14 of the credit card 12 is The new display is rewritten). Although only one credit card affiliated store 32 is shown in FIG. 1 for convenience, in the case of a chain store or the like, the present system is effectively applied regardless of which store is used.

Next, the use interval recognition unit 37 calculates the interval between these use days based on the last use date and the current use date recorded in the card use date recording unit 36, and determines the length of the use interval. The stage is determined. For example, in the illustrated example, it is assumed that the card user uses the card again at the credit card affiliated store 32 on February 1, that is, by February 12. Then, the use interval recognition unit 37 recognizes that the use interval is within one month.

Further, the result of certification by the use interval certification unit 37 is passed to the discount determination unit 38. The discount determining unit 38 determines a preset discount rate according to the result of the certification, that is, the length of the use interval. For example, 1
Within a month, the discount rate is 20% of the usage amount.

Finally, after applying the discount rate determined by the discount determining unit 38, the card usage amount is transferred to the POS terminal 24.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the system according to the present invention. In FIG. 2,
Elements common to those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals.
In FIG. 2A, first, the card user performs shopping or the like using the credit card 12 in the credit card affiliated store 32 (arrow 42). At this time, the partner store terminal 34 performs a normal card process and issues a sales receipt 15. On the sales receipt 15, in addition to normal receipt information such as an item and a price, information 16 relating to an interval until the next use and a discount corresponding thereto is described. FIG. 2B is an enlarged view of a portion surrounded by a circle a in FIG. Regarding the relationship between the interval until the next use and the discount rate, "Within 2 days ... 3%", "Within 7 days ... 2%", "Within 14 days ... 1.5%", "It Since then ... 1% "is displayed. Since the sales receipt always includes a date, the card user can easily see how many days the card can be used by reusing the card by looking at the sales receipt. it can. The display of the discount information on the receipt gives a strong motivation to shorten the interval until the card user reuses the card.

As in the example of FIG. 1, in the example of FIG. 2, the usage information of the card user is recorded and managed by the partner store terminal 34 of the credit card partner store 32. When the card user is reused, similarly, the use interval is calculated by the use interval recognition unit 37 based on the data of the use date recording unit 36, and the length of the use interval is recognized. Thus, the discount rate is determined in the discount determining unit 38. The usage amount to which the discount rate is applied is passed to the POS terminal 24.

As another embodiment, the credit card 12 in FIG. 2 may be an IC card, and the date of use of the card may be stored in a storage unit in the IC chip 13. In that case,
As far as the system of the present invention is concerned, the use date recording unit 36 in the affiliated store terminal 34 becomes unnecessary. Then, when the credit card 12 is inserted into the partner store terminal 24, the records of the last use date and the present use date in the IC chip 13 are read and sent to the use interval recognition unit 37 in the partner store terminal 34. Becomes Incidentally, such an IC card is also applicable to the example shown in FIG.

The method of displaying the discount information on the rewrite area or the receipt is not limited to the examples shown in FIGS. As for the display of the expiration date of the next use date, there are a method shown by a specific date as shown in FIG. 1, a method shown by a period until the next time as shown in FIG. 2, and a method showing the last use date together. Further, regarding the details of the discount, there may be various methods other than directly discounting the next usage amount, such as a method of adding a cashback point to the next usage amount. Therefore, regarding the display of discount contents,
In addition to the discount rate for the usage amount, it may be indicated by the number of cashback points or other privilege points.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, a system for clearly displaying information indicating a relationship between an interval until the next card use and a discount privilege and easily recognizing the card user is provided. As a result, the card user always becomes aware of the relationship between the card usage and the discount, and can give the card user a strong motivation to promote the card use. As a result, the credit card operating rate is improved, and the stability and expansion of the entire credit card system can be achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a first embodiment of a credit card system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a second embodiment of the credit card system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 Credit Card 13 IC Chip 14 Rewrite Area 15 Sales Receipt 16 Discount Information Display Section 22 Credit Card Company (Host Computer) 24 POS Terminal 32 Credit Card Affiliated Store 34 Affiliated Store Terminal 36 Usage Date Recording Section 37 Usage Interval Certification Section 38 Discount Decision unit 39 Host computer payment processing unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3E042 BA18 CC02 CC03 CC06 CD04 CD08 CD10 CE04 EA01 3E044 BA05 CA06 5B049 BB11 BB46 CC31 CC39 DD04 EE01 EE28 FF02 FF03 FF04 FF08 GG01 GG04 GG07 5B058 CA40 JJ08 GG08 GG08 KK60

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A credit card system, comprising: a credit card having a rewrite area in which visible information can be rewritten; and when the credit card is used at a partner store, the credit card is rewritten on the rewrite area until the next use. A partner store terminal for writing information including an interval and a corresponding discount content, the partner store terminal further comprising: a use date recording unit for recording a use date history of the credit card; and the use date recording unit. A use interval certifying unit that certifies the length of the interval between the previous use date and the current use date based on the data of the previous use date, and a discount deciding unit that determines the discount content based on the result of certification by the use interval certifying unit. Credit card system characterized by the following. 2. A credit card system, comprising: a credit card having a rewrite area capable of rewriting visible information and an IC chip; and when the credit card is used at a partner store, the credit card is re-written on the rewrite area. A partner store terminal that writes information including an interval until use and a corresponding discount content, stores card use date information in the IC chip, and reads card use date information from within the IC chip; The partner store terminal further includes: a use interval certifying unit that certifies the length of the interval between the last use date and the current use date based on the card use date information read from inside the IC chip; A credit card system comprising: a discount deciding unit that decides a discount content based on a discount. 3. A credit card system, wherein a credit card and a receipt for displaying information including an interval until next use and a corresponding discount content when the credit card is used at a partner store are displayed. A store terminal, the partner store terminal further comprising: a use date recording unit for recording a use date history of the credit card; and an interval between a previous use date and a current use date based on data of the use date recording unit. A credit card system comprising: a use interval certifying unit that certifies the long and short stages; and a discount determining unit that determines discount content based on the result of certification by the use interval certifying unit. 4. In a credit card system, information including a credit card having an IC chip and an interval until next use when the credit card is used at a partner store and corresponding discount contents are displayed. A partner store terminal for issuing a receipt, storing card use date information in the IC chip, and reading card use date information from within the IC chip, wherein the partner store terminal further reads from the IC chip. A use interval certifying unit that certifies the length of the interval between the previous use date and the current use date based on the card use date information, and a discount deciding unit that determines the discount content based on the result of certification by the use interval certifying unit. A credit card system comprising: