JP2002015125A - System and method for supporting shopping - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently support shopping. SOLUTION: When a user purchases merchandise at a store 14, and the data of the purchased merchandise is recorded in a PDA terminal 10 and transmitted to a user's home server 12a from the terminal 10. The data of purchased merchandise are stored in the home server 12a. When the user later performs shopping at the store 14, the user accesses the home server 12a by operating the PDA terminal 10 and displays the merchandise data on the terminal 10. The user can decide what merchandise to be purchased by checking displayed items.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a shopping support system and method, and more particularly, to a technique capable of confirming data of goods purchased in the past in a timely manner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When purchasing fresh foods, books, CDs, etc. at a store, and then purchasing foods, books, etc. again at a later date,
Sometimes you may want to check if you have already purchased the same or similar item. In such a case, in reality, it is necessary to rely on the user's record or memorization.

[0003]

[0005] However, especially when a certain number of days have passed since the purchase, the user may have forgotten what product he / she purchased, and cannot purchase what is originally necessary. Or double buying.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the related art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a system and a method for efficiently shopping.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a recording means for recording merchandise data purchased at a store, a recording means connected to the recording means via a communication network, and A portable terminal device for receiving and outputting the transmitted product data. Record the product data purchased at the store in the recording means,
By transmitting and outputting the product data to the mobile terminal device as needed when necessary, the user can accurately and quickly determine what has already been purchased and what has not been purchased without relying on his own records. It is possible to grasp and efficient shopping becomes possible.

[0006] In one embodiment of the present invention, the product data is recorded on the portable terminal device at the store, and further transmitted from the portable terminal device to the recording means. The recording on the portable terminal device can be performed by the store or the user himself. However, in order to save the trouble of inputting, it is preferable that merchandise data is simultaneously input to the portable terminal device when the merchandise data is input to the register or the like, so that the user's labor can be saved.

[0007] In one embodiment of the present invention, the product data is recorded on a recording medium at the store, and further transmitted from the recording medium to the recording means. The form of the recording medium is arbitrary, and a magnetic card, an IC card, an optical card, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, or the like can be used. The recording medium preferably has a settlement function, so that the user can record the purchased commodity data on the recording medium when providing the recording medium to the store side to pay for the purchased commodity. It becomes possible, and the user does not need to be conscious of recording the product data on the recording medium.

[0008] In one embodiment of the present invention, the product data is transmitted from the store to the recording means. As a result, when the user purchases a product at the store, the product data is automatically recorded in the recording means, thereby further reducing the user's labor.

[0009] In the present invention, it is preferable that an update means for updating the product data in accordance with consumption of the product when the product data is data relating to consumables. Thus, the user can always obtain the latest product data. The consumable is, for example, a fresh food, and the commodity data can be updated by adding consumption data in addition to the remaining number (or remaining amount) of the fresh food. For the update, the user may manually input the consumption amount. However, it is preferable that the system detects the consumption amount and automatically updates the consumption amount.

[0010] In the present invention, it is preferable that the apparatus further comprises processing means for transmitting shopping data to the portable terminal device in accordance with the product data recorded in the recording means and data supplied from a store. is there. The shopping data is data considered to be more useful to the user, and is created from merchandise data, that is, data of merchandise purchased in the past and data of stores. As a preferred example, if there is data on a certain foodstuff as product data and price data on a foodstuff compatible with the foodstuff (suitable for combination) exists from a store, the two data are combined and specified. For example, to create data on the menu.

[0011] The recording means of the present invention can be installed inside a house, and can also be installed inside a house and outside a house. When installed in a house, not only product data but also various data (including image data) in the house can be recorded, and the product data and these image data can be appropriately combined. When installed in a house or outside a house, the same product data can be recorded in both recording means, and can be recorded in only one recording means. Further, recording means for recording may be divided based on the attribute of the product data. Of course, it is within the scope of the present invention to install the recording means only outside the house.

The present invention also provides a shopping support method. In this method, when a user purchases a product at a store, the product data is recorded on a recording device in the user's house, and when the user requests, the product data is transmitted from the recording device to a user terminal. Features.

[0013] Also, the shopping support method of the present invention is characterized in that when a user purchases a product at a store, data on the user and product data are recorded on a recording device, and when the user requests, data on the user is stored. And authenticating the user by using the communication device, and transmitting the product data from the recording device to the user terminal.

In the method, it is preferable that shopping data is transmitted to the user terminal in accordance with the product data recorded in the recording device and data supplied from a store. As a result, it is possible to not only provide the user with data on the already purchased merchandise but also provide more useful data and assist the user in shopping.

[0015] In one embodiment of the method, the product data is transmitted to the user terminal at the store, and further transmitted from the user terminal to the recording device. Further, the product data may be recorded on a recording medium at the store, and further transmitted from the recording medium to the recording device, or transmitted from the store to the recording device via a network.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a system conceptual diagram of the present embodiment. The user carries the PDA terminal 10 and performs shopping using the PDA terminal 10. In the user's home 12, a home server 12a, a refrigerator 12b,
A camera 12c, a home appliance 12d such as a microwave oven, and a television (for example, a digital television) 12e are provided, and product data purchased by a user at a store in the past is recorded on the home server 12a. Product data is recorded as follows. That is, when the user purchases a product at the store 14,
Data such as the name of the product, the date of purchase, and the expiration date in the case of fresh food are transmitted to the PDA terminal 10 of the user. Transmission may be wired or wireless. When the user carries the PDA terminal 10 on which the product data is recorded and returns to the home 12, the product data is transmitted from the PDA terminal 10 to the home server 12a. This transmission may be wired or wireless. When transmitting the product data to the home server 12a, the user may operate the PDA terminal, or the data may be automatically transmitted from the PDA terminal 10 by disposing the PDA terminal 10 at a predetermined position. You may comprise. Further, the recording may be performed on the home server 12a by using a removable recording medium and operating the recording medium by a user. The home server 12a and the store 14 may be connected to each other via a network such as the Internet, and the home server 12a can appropriately receive information from the store 14 and record the information. Also, home server 1
The 2a and the refrigerator 12b, the camera 12c, and the like are connected to each other via a LAN. For example, images obtained by the camera 12c are sequentially stored in the home server 12a. The image obtained by the camera 12c can be used to check the consumption status of the product. For example, when a product is taken out from the refrigerator 12b or when cooking ingredients in a kitchen or the like, it is possible to know which product has been consumed by analyzing these images. Can be updated at any time.

When the user makes a purchase at another store or the same store at a later date, the user operates the PDA terminal 10 to access the home server 12a via the Internet or another communication line. Then, the product data recorded in the home server 12a, that is, data of a product purchased in the past (in the case of consumables, data updated as needed).
Is received and displayed on the display device. As a result, the user can purchase a truly necessary product without relying on his or her own record or memory, and can prevent the purchase of an unnecessary product.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the system shown in FIG. The PDA terminal 10 includes a product data display device 10a, a data transmission / reception device 10b, and a recording medium 10
c. The recording medium 10c is configured to be detachable from the PDA terminal 10, and has merchandise data written in the store 14 (data of merchandise purchased by the store itself).
Record The product data recorded on the recording medium 10c can be supplied to the home server 12a by connecting the recording medium 10c to the home server 12a. The data transmitting / receiving device 10b transmits a request signal for requesting product data to the home server 12a in accordance with a user request, receives the product data transmitted from the home server 12a, and outputs the received product data to the product data display device 10a. The product data display device 10a is configured by, for example, a liquid crystal display, and displays product data transmitted from the home server 12a.

On the other hand, the configuration of the store 14 includes a product data reading device 14a for reading data of a product purchased by a user (for example, a bar code attached to the product).
And a product data writing device 14b for writing the read product data to the recording medium 10c. The merchandise data reading device 14a and the merchandise data writing device 14b may function as a store register or a part of a POS system. Of course, a dedicated system for reading / writing product data may be used.

The configuration of the home server 12a provided in the user's home 12 is as follows.
a, data storage device 120b, data search device 120c
And a data transmission / reception device 120d. The data reading device 120a reads the product data recorded on the recording medium 10c and supplies the data to the data storage device 120b for recording. The data transmitting / receiving device 120d is an interface for communicating with the PDA terminal 10, and the PDA terminal
And outputs the request signal to the data search device 120c. The content of the request signal is, for example, "What are the vegetables at home?" The data search device 120c searches the data storage device 120b based on the request signal, searches for the requested product data, and supplies it to the data transmission / reception device 120d.
20d transmits the search result to the PDA terminal 10. For efficient search, it is preferable to store data by category or hierarchically when storing product data in the data storage device 120b. For example, if it is a perishable food, it is meat, vegetables, fruits, etc. For example, in response to the above request, carrot (purchase date: xx month, date of purchase: xx store, expiration date: △ month) △ day), celery (purchase date: ○ month ○ day, purchase place: xx store, expiration date △ month △)
The search results can be returned in a list format such as day).

As described above, by operating the PDA terminal 10, the user can easily know what has been purchased in the past and what is present at home, so that unnecessary shopping can be avoided. .

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a system according to another embodiment. The difference from FIG. 1 is that the PDA terminal 1
0 is that the merchandise data is recorded in the home server 12a via the recording medium 15 which exists separately and independently.

When a user purchases a product at the store 14,
The user provides the store 14 with the recording medium 15. This recording medium 15 is a writable recording medium, and preferably has a settlement function. This is because the product data can be written simultaneously with the settlement. Recording medium 15
Can be, for example, a magnetic card or an IC card,
It may have a credit function or a debit function. The store 14 writes the product data purchased by the user on the user's recording medium 15 and returns the data to the user. The user holds the recording medium 15 and returns to the home 12, and the home server 12
The content of the recording medium 15 is recorded in a.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this embodiment. The product data is written to the recording medium 15 by the product data writing device 14b of the store 14. The product data written on the recording medium 15 is read by the data reading device 120a at the user's home 12, and is stored in the data storage device 120b.
Will be recorded. If the user is shopping at a store,
The user operates the PDA terminal 10 to access the home server 12a and transmits a request signal. Home server 12a
The data transmission / reception device 120d receives the request signal, and the data search device 120c searches for product data from the data storage device 120b in response to the request. The search result is transmitted from the data transmitting / receiving device 120d to the PDA terminal 10, and the product data display device 10a of the PDA terminal 10
Will be displayed.

Also in the present embodiment, the user can easily grasp the data of the products that have been purchased so far and are at home simply by operating the PDA terminal 10, and can make efficient shopping. For example, when a user wants to purchase ingredients for a specific dish, the user can easily know which ingredients are missing by operating the PDA terminal 10.

Further, when the recording medium 15 having the settlement function is used, the commodity data can be recorded at the same time as the settlement, so that the user does not need to pay special attention to the recording of the commodity data, so that the commodity data can be easily obtained. To the home server 12a
Can be accumulated.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram of a system according to another embodiment. In FIG. 3, the product data is recorded on the recording medium 15, but in the present embodiment, the product data is transmitted directly from the store 14 (without passing through the user) to the home server 12a and recorded. In the figure, when the user purchases a product, the recording medium 15 is provided to the store 14.
This recording medium 15 preferably has a settlement function. The recording medium 15 records user's own information such as the user's name and address, the address of the home server 12a, and the like. The store 14 reads the user data recorded on the recording medium 15. Then, the product data purchased by the user is transmitted to the address of the home server 12a included in the user data.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this embodiment. The user data recorded on the recording medium 15 is read by the user data reading device 14c of the store 14. The user data reader 14c has a register or P
It may function as a part of the OS system. On the other hand, the product data reading device 14a reads the data of the product purchased by the user. The user data and the product data are supplied to the product data transmitting device 14b. Commodity data transmission device 14
b is connected to the home server 12a via a communication network, for example, the Internet, and transmits product data to the home server 12a specified by the user data. In the home server 12a, the product data receiving device 12
At 0e, the product data transmitted from the store 14 is received and recorded in the data storage device 120b.

Also in the present embodiment, the product data purchased by the user is automatically recorded on the home server 12a, so that the user does not have to input the product data and record it on the home server 12a.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram of a system according to another embodiment. In the above-described embodiment, the data of the product purchased by the user is recorded in the home server 12a in the user's house. In the present embodiment, the data of the product purchased in the user is recorded in the server 16 installed outside the user's house separately from the home server 12a. You. When the user purchases a product at the store 14, the storage medium 15 on which the user's information is recorded is provided to the store 14. In the store 14, the user data is read from the recording medium 15 and transmitted to the server 16 together with the product data. The server 16 records product data for each user data. If the user wants to know about the purchased product, PDA
The terminal 10 is operated to access the server 16. In this case, the user sends his / her data (ID) to the server 16. The server 16 authenticates the user based on the user ID, reads out the product data recorded for each user,
Reply to A terminal 10. The server 16 may transmit part or all of the product data to the home server 12a as appropriate.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this embodiment. The store 14 includes a product data reading device, a user data reading device 14c, and a transmitting device 14b that transmits the read user data and product data to the server 16. On the other hand, the server 16 outside the user's home includes the user and product data receiving device 160a, the data storage device 160
b, user data authentication device 160c, data search device 1
60d and a data transmitting / receiving device 160e. The user and product data receiving device 160a receives the user data and the product data transmitted from the transmitting device 14b of the store 14, and records the product data for each user in the data storage device 160b.

When shopping at a store, the user operates the PDA terminal 10 to access the server 16 if he or she wants to know the products purchased in the past that are currently at home. When accessing, the server 16
Send to Data transmission / reception device 160e of server 16
Receives the request from the user and the user ID, supplies the user ID to the user data authentication device 160c. The user data authentication device 160c checks whether or not the user data recorded in the data storage device 160b matches the received user ID (authentication). If the user IDs match, the access to the data storage device 160b is determined. To give permission. Subsequent processing is the same as in the above-described embodiment, and the data search device 160d searches for the product data of the user from the data storage device 160b in response to the user's request.
The data transmitting / receiving device 160e transmits the search result to the PDA terminal 10. The PDA terminal 10 displays the received search result on the product data display device 10a.

In this embodiment, the home server 12
Since the product data is recorded on the server 16 provided separately from the server a, the load on the home server 12a can be reduced. In the present embodiment, it is also possible to record the product data in a distributed manner, such as recording part of the product data on the server 16 and recording other product data on the home server 12a. For example, product data on food products is recorded on the home server 12a, and product data on non-food products such as CDs, books, and clothes are stored on the home server 12a.
And so on. It is also preferable to record the data of the purchased product on the server 16 and record the consumption data of the purchased product on the home server 12a. When transmitting the product data to the PDA terminal 10, the server 16 first transmits the product data to the home server 12a, and then transmits the home server 12a
Can be transmitted to the PDA terminal 10.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram of a system according to another embodiment. The configuration is almost the same as FIG.
The difference is that the server 16 not only transmits product data recorded in response to a request from the PDA terminal 10 to the PDA terminal 10 but also transmits other data to the PDA terminal 10.

That is, the server 16 in the present embodiment
, Not only the data of the product purchased by the user from the store 14 is supplied, but also the data on the product sale is supplied from the store 14 at any time. The server 16 combines the recorded product data with the data on the product sale supplied from the store 14, generates data considered useful for the user, and transmits the data to the PDA terminal 10. For example, there are carrots and potatoes as product data,
If there is data indicating that a beef sale is being performed at the XX store as product sale data, a combination of both data is proposed to transmit a specific menu to the PDA terminal 10, or the like. As a form of the proposal, "Currently, there are carrots and potatoes. We are selling beef at XX stores. Is it like curry rice or meat potatoes?" In addition, when the number of a specific product is reduced from the consumption data of the product and there is special sale data on the product, “△△ is reduced. How is it? " For each product, the relationship between the number of remaining products and the reference price for promoting purchase is determined in advance, and the product data and the product sale data, and a proposal for prompting the purchase by the server 16 based on the relationship are PD.
Automatic transmission to the A terminal 10 is also possible. Further, for example, when the user purchases furniture, the server 16 acquires data on the size of the home, and can purchase furniture of what size from the size of the furniture purchased in the past and existing at home. Calculate whether you can do it, PDA terminal 10
Can also be sent to Of course, the user may input the size of the furniture desired to be purchased from the PDA terminal 10, determine whether the furniture enters the house at the server 16, and transmit the answer to the PDA terminal 10.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications are possible. For example, the PDA terminal may function as a mobile phone, and may use any electronic device having a transmitting / receiving device, a data processing device, and a data input / output device.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to prevent the user from forgetting to purchase necessary items or to purchase unnecessary items, and to carry out efficient shopping.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a system according to another embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration block diagram of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram of a system according to another embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram of a system according to another embodiment.

8 is a configuration block diagram of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram of a system according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 PDA terminals, 12a home server, 14 shops, 16 servers.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3E042 BA17 CB03 CD04 EA01 EA06 EA08 5B049 AA06 BB11 BB13 BB15 DD05 EE05 FF04 FF09 GG01 GG06

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A recording device for recording product data purchased at a store, a portable terminal device connected to the recording device via a communication network, and receiving and outputting the product data transmitted from the recording device. A shopping support system comprising: 2. The shopping support system according to claim 1, wherein the merchandise data is recorded on the portable terminal device at the store, and further transmitted from the portable terminal device to the recording means. . 3. The shopping support system according to claim 1, wherein the product data is recorded on a recording medium at the store, and further transmitted from the recording medium to the recording means. 4. The shopping support system according to claim 1, wherein the merchandise data is transmitted from the store to the recording unit. 5. The system according to claim 1, wherein when the product data is data on consumables,
An updating means for updating the product data according to consumption of the product. 6. The system according to claim 1, further comprising: processing means for transmitting shopping data to the portable terminal device according to the commodity data recorded in the recording means and data supplied from a store. A shopping support system characterized by having. 7. The shopping support system according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit is installed in a house. 8. The shopping support system according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit is installed inside and outside the house. 9. A shopping support method, wherein when a user purchases a product at a store, the product data is recorded on a recording device in the user's home, and when the user requests, the product data is recorded on the recording device. From a user to a user terminal. 10. A shopping support method, wherein when a user purchases a product at a store, data on the user and product data are recorded on a recording device, and when the user requests, the data on the user is stored. A shopping support method comprising: authenticating a user by using the storage device; and transmitting the product data from the recording device to a user terminal. 11. The method according to claim 9, wherein shopping data is transmitted to the user terminal according to the product data recorded on the recording device and data supplied from a store. A shopping support method characterized by the following. 12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the product data is transmitted to the user terminal at the store, and further transmitted from the user terminal to the recording device. How to support shopping. 13. The method according to claim 9, wherein the product data is recorded on a recording medium at the store, and further transmitted from the recording medium to the recording device. Shopping support method. 14. The method according to claim 9, wherein the merchandise data is transmitted from the shop to the recording device via a network.