JP2002041608A - Product assuring method, data processing method and device, data communication equipment and system, and information storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize product assurance without needing a certification that is easily lost by a general user. SOLUTION: The homepage of the product assurance is opened on the Internet, certification data that are equivalent to the certification are subjected to data registration, and a manufactured product is subjected to product assurance with the certification data. Because the assured contents of the manufactured product can be conformed not by the certification but by the certification data, the product assurance of the manufactured product can be utilized even when the general user loses the certification.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a product assurance method for assuring an industrial product manufactured by a manufacturer and sold to a general user, a data processing method and apparatus for opening a website for the product assurance on the Internet, and the industrial product. A data communication device comprising at least a data processing device and a user terminal device connected via the Internet, and an information storage medium storing software for a computer of the data processing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, various industrial products are manufactured by various manufacturers, and the industrial products are stocked by retailers at retail stores and then sold to general users.
As described above, a product warranty for a certain period is generally set for an industrial product sold to a general user, and a warranty is attached as a proof of the warranty.

[0003] This warranty is attached to an industrial product by a manufacturer, and contains product data such as a model number of the industrial product. When the industrial product is sold from a retail store to a general user, the store name and the date of sale are additionally written on the warranty with a stamp, a sticker, or the like by the retail store.

[0004] The warranty period of a general home electric appliance is one year, and if a failure such as a failure occurs in the industrial product during the warranty period, for example, the industrial product is sent to a retail store together with a warranty by a general user. Will be brought. At the retail store, the warranty period of the industrial product is confirmed by the warranty, and the industrial product is transferred to the manufacturer together with the warranty.
The manufacturer also confirms the warranty period of the industrial product with the warranty, and performs maintenance work such as repair and replacement of parts on the industrial product according to the warranty content.

[0005]

In the above-described method for guaranteeing a product, the product guarantee of an industrial product is executed based on the warranty, in other words, the warranty is essential for the product warranty of the industrial product. . However, in practice, the general user may lose the warranty, in which case the product warranty will not be performed on the industrial product even during the warranty period.

[0006] Some industrial products frequently have troubles, and serious failures are reported as recalls. However, if they are not serious failures, troubles that frequently occur in the industrial products are generally recalled. Not announced. For this reason,
Even if a failure occurs in the purchased industrial product, the general user cannot confirm whether the failure is caused by the individual or whether the industrial product frequently occurs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and provides a product assurance method capable of guaranteeing an industrial product without requiring a warranty, a data processing method for opening a home page for the product guarantee on the Internet, and Device, a data communication device composed of its industrial products, a data communication system in which at least the data processing device and the user terminal device are connected via the Internet, and an information storage medium storing software for a computer of the data processing device. It is intended to provide at least one.

[0008]

According to the product assurance method of the present invention, a home page for product assurance is set up on the Internet, and a manufacturer generates data for assurance when manufacturing an industrial product and registers the data on the home page. .
As a result, the warranty data is registered in the homepage for each industrial product sold to the general user, so that when the industrial product is sold to the general user, the sales date is set in the warranty data on the homepage. . Since the guarantee data of this home page is browsed from the Internet by the user terminal device of a general user, the general user can check the guarantee contents of the purchased industrial product by using the warranty data instead of the warranty.

In another form of the product assurance method of the present invention, personal data of a general user who purchases an industrial product is set in the warranty data. Confirmed by

In still another embodiment, a user password is issued for each general user, the data is set in the guarantee data, and the guarantee data corresponding to only the user terminal device which has input the user password on the homepage is presented to the personal data. Therefore, the general user can only view the personal data of the guarantee data by himself / herself.

In still another embodiment, an industrial product is sold from a manufacturer to a general user via various distribution channels, and route data indicating the distribution channel is set in the warranty data. Confirmed by the path data of the guarantee data.

In still another embodiment, an industrial product is sold to a general user from a retail store which is at least a part of a distribution channel, and store data for specifying the retail store is set in the warranty data as at least a part of the route data. Therefore, the retail store that actually sold the industrial product to the general user is confirmed by the store data of the warranty data.

In still another embodiment, paid insurance is set for an industrial product at the request of a general user, and insurance data indicating the insurance content of the paid insurance is also set in the guarantee data. Is confirmed by the insurance data of the guarantee data.

In still another embodiment, an industrial product sold to a general user is subjected to maintenance work in accordance with the data content of the warranty data, and maintenance data indicating the execution contents of the maintenance work is also set in the warranty data. Then, the content of the maintenance work performed on the industrial product is confirmed by the maintenance data of the warranty data.

In still another embodiment, statistical data is generated from a large number of warranty data registered on the product warranty homepage, and the generated statistical data is also registered on the homepage. Is confirmed by the statistical data.

In still another embodiment, the industrial product is connected to the Internet, the industrial product detects its own situation, generates situation data, and the industrial product sets the situation data in the guarantee data on the homepage. Then, various situations occurring in the industrial product are confirmed by the situation data of the guarantee data.

Note that the warranty data referred to in the present invention is for individually guaranteeing an industrial product manufactured by a manufacturer, and is equivalent to a so-called warranty written as data. The personal data means various general data of a general user useful for product warranty, and includes, for example, a name, an address, a telephone number, and the like of the general user.

The route data means various data indicating a distribution route, for example, store data for specifying a retail store. The store data means various data for specifying the retail store, and includes, for example, the name and address of the retail store.

The insurance data means various data indicating the insurance contents of the paid insurance, and includes, for example, an insurance period, a premium amount, and the like. The maintenance data means various data indicating the content of the maintenance work, for example, work date and time,
It consists of repair contents, work amount, etc.

Further, the various means referred to in the present invention may be formed so as to realize their functions. For example, dedicated hardware for generating predetermined functions, a computer provided with predetermined functions by a program , Predetermined functions realized inside the computer by the program, combinations thereof, and the like.

The information storage medium referred to in the present invention may be any hardware in which a program for causing a computer to execute various processes is stored in advance as software. Fixed ROM (Read Only Memory) or HDD (Hard
Disc Drive), CD (Compact Disc) -ROM or FD (Flo
ppy Disc).

The computer according to the present invention may be any device that can read a program consisting of software and execute the corresponding processing operation.
A PU (Central Processing Unit) is mainly used, and ROM, RAM (Random Access Memory) and I / F (Inter
face) and other devices are connected if necessary.

Note that causing the computer to execute various operations corresponding to software in the present invention allows the computer to control operations of various devices. For example, when a computer stores various data, the RA is connected to the computer in advance.
M, various kinds of data can be stored in an internal memory provided as a part of the computer, and the information storage medium of the present invention can be stored in an FD.
In such a case, it is permitted that the computer stores various data therein.

[0024]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the data communication system 10 of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG.
1, a maker terminal device 12, a store terminal device 13, a user terminal device 14, an insurance terminal device 15, a maintenance terminal device 16, and the like are connected to the Internet 17.

The data processing device 11 is composed of a network server or a host computer of a provider company, and is used for a provider business for connecting the user terminal device 14 to the Internet 17. The maker terminal device 12 includes a host computer of a manufacturer that manufactures industrial products, and is used for data management of the manufactured products.

The store terminal device 13 comprises a POS (Point Of Sales) terminal of a retail store that sells industrial products, a store server, and the like, and is used for data management of product sales. The user terminal device 14 includes a personal computer of a general user and the like, and is used for data communication on the Internet 17 and the like.

The insurance terminal device 15 is composed of a host computer of an insurance company that sets up insurance for industrial products, and is used for data management of insurance. The maintenance terminal device 16 includes a host computer of a maintenance company that performs maintenance work on industrial products, and is used for data management of maintenance work.

The data processing device 11 has a CPU 101 as hardware that is a main component of a computer.
ROM 103, RAM 104, HDD 105, FD10
FDD (FD Drive) 107, C to which 6 is exchangeably loaded
Hardware such as a CD drive 109 in which a D-ROM 108 is exchangeably mounted, a keyboard 110, a mouse 111, a display unit 112, a communication I / F 113 connected to the Internet 17, and the like are connected.

The data processing device 11 and each device 12 to
16 differs in the specification and performance of each part, but the hardware configuration is basically the same. Therefore, here, the data processing device 11 and each of the devices 12 to 16 use the same names and reference numerals, and Detailed description is omitted.

In the data processing device 11 of the present embodiment,
The hardware such as the ROM 103, the RAM 104, the HDD 105, the replaceable FD 106, and the replaceable CD-ROM 108 corresponds to an information storage medium, and at least one of them stores control programs and various data necessary for various operations as software. Have been.

For example, a control program for causing the CPU 101 to execute various processing operations includes the FD 106 and the CD-RO.
It is stored in advance in M108. Such software is installed in the HDD 105 in advance,
When the data processing device 11 is started, the data is copied to the RAM 104 and read by the CPU 101.

As described above, when the CPU 101 reads an appropriate program and executes various processing operations, the data processing apparatus 11 according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. Various means such as a registration means 22, a data setting means 23, a guarantee presentation means 24, a password request means 25, a presentation restriction means 26, an insurance setting means 27, a maintenance setting means 28, a statistics generation means 29, etc. are logically implemented as various functions. I have it.

The page opening means 21 corresponds to the control program in the RAM 104 or the like.
And a function to control the communication I / F 113 in an integrated manner.
A website for product warranty is established on the Internet 17. The home page of the product warranty presents warranty data for each of the industrial products shipped from the manufacturer, and is browsed from the Internet 17 by the user terminal device 14 of a general user.

Similarly, the CPU 101 corresponds to a function of integrally controlling the communication I / F 113 and the HDD 105 in accordance with the above-described control program. The warranty registration means 22 registers the data of the warranty data on the product warranty homepage. Accept. More specifically, in the present embodiment, the manufacturer contracts in advance with the provider company, and the home page of the product assurance established by the data processing device 11 of the provider company includes the manufacturer terminal device 12 of the manufacturer.
Is permitted to register the warranty data.

Since the model data of the warranty data prepared in a predetermined format by the provider company is provided to the manufacturer in advance, the manufacturer specifies the “model number” for each industrial product manufactured and shipped to the retail store. ,
The serial number, factory name, date of manufacture, warranty period, warranty range, etc. are set in the template data by the manufacturer terminal device 12.

As a result, assurance data for individually guaranteeing the industrial products shipped from the manufacturer is generated.
The guarantee data is transmitted from the maker terminal device 12 to the data processing device 11 of the provider company, and is registered on the product guarantee homepage.

As described above, various data such as a model number and a serial number set in the warranty data for each industrial product by the manufacturer are described in, for example, a conventional warranty attached to the manufacturer. Are also described by sticking a label or engraving a resin. However, in the present embodiment as well, a warranty card in which the above-described model number and the like are described is attached to the industrial product as in the conventional case, and the industrial product also includes the model number and the like.

The data setting means 23 sets various data received from the store terminal device 13 of the retail store as guarantee data, and the guarantee presenting means 24 is a user terminal of a general user who browses a home page from the Internet 17. The guarantee data is presented to the device 14.

More specifically, in the present embodiment, the retail store also has a contract with the provider company in advance, and the home page of the product warranty established by the data processing device 11 of the provider company has a store terminal of the retail store. Data access from the device 13 to the guarantee data is permitted.

Therefore, in a retail store where industrial products are received from a manufacturer, the warranty data for each industrial product is searched using the model number and the serial number of the warranty attached thereto as a search key. Terminal device 1
3 to "Store name, store address, arrival date, responsible person name"
Are set as the store data for specifying the sales store.

Further, at the retail store, when the received industrial product is sold over-the-counter to general users, the warranty data of the industrial product is searched using the model number or the serial number of the warranty as a search key, and the warranty data is stored in the warranty data. Terminal device 1
From 3, “sale date, person in charge” and the like are set as data.

As described above, a general user who has purchased an industrial product from a retail store can access the product warranty home page from the Internet 17 through the user terminal device 14 as desired, and also obtains the model number and serial number of the industrial product. Can be used to browse the corresponding guarantee data.

The password requesting means 25 receives data of the user password from the user terminal device 14, and the presentation restricting means 26 responds to the propriety of the user password received by the password requesting means 25 in accordance with the appropriateness of the user password.
Restricts the data range of the guarantee data presented to the user terminal device 14.

More specifically, in this embodiment, a general user can also contract with a provider company as desired, in which case the provider company provides a unique user password for each general user. Therefore, when the general user presents the user password to the retail store when purchasing an industrial product, the user password is also set in the guarantee data from the store terminal device 13 in the retail store.

In this case, a general user who has purchased an industrial product from a retail store simply inputs the user password from the user terminal device 14 to the product warranty home page, and all the warranty data for which the user password has been set are set. Can be browsed.

Further, personal data such as "name, address, telephone number" can be set in the guarantee data read out with the user password from the user terminal device 14 as desired by the general user. As described above, the entirety of the assurance data in which the user password is set is browsed when the user password is inputted, but the personal data is not browsed unless the user password is inputted.

The insurance setting unit 27 sets the insurance data received from the insurance terminal device 15 of the insurance company as specific guarantee data, and the maintenance setting unit 28 receives the data from the maintenance terminal device 16 of the maintenance company. Set maintenance data to specific assurance data.

More specifically, in this embodiment, the insurance company and the maintenance company also have a contract with the provider company in advance, and the homepage of the product warranty established by the data processing device 11 of the provider company has Data access to the warranty data from the insurance / maintenance terminal devices 15 and 16 of the maintenance company is permitted.

Therefore, when a general user sets a paid insurance of an insurance company on an industrial product purchased, the insurance company accesses the home page of the product guarantee with the insurance terminal device 15 to access the data, and the format of the industrial product for which the paid insurance is set. The warranty data is searched using the number or the serial number as a search key, and insurance data indicating the insurance contents such as “insurance number, insurance identification, insurance amount, insurance period” is set therein.

When an industrial product purchased by a general user has a failure such as failure or wear, the general user requests the maintenance company to perform maintenance work such as repair of the industrial product or replacement of parts as desired. . In this case, the maintenance company also accesses the home page of the product warranty using the maintenance terminal device 16 and searches for warranty data using the model number and the serial number of the industrial product for which the paid insurance has been set as a search key.

Then, the maintenance company calculates the warranty period by adding the warranty period of the searched warranty data to the sales date, and if the current date does not exceed the warranty period, the guarantee range of the warranty data Performs free maintenance work. On the other hand, if the current date exceeds the warranty expiration date or if the maintenance work is out of the warranty range, a paid maintenance work is executed at the request of a general user.

As described above, the maintenance company that has performed the maintenance work on the industrial product includes, in its warranty data, “failure content, maintenance content, date of receipt, date of completion, distinction between free / paid, and cost in the case of paid. , The maintenance terminal device 16 sets the maintenance data indicating the contents of the maintenance work, such as “receptionist name, worker name”.

The contents of the insurance data described above are as follows:
Although the contents of the maintenance data are the same as the contents of the conventional insurance card, and the contents of the maintenance data are the same as the contents of the conventional maintenance statement, in this embodiment, the insurance company issues the insurance card as in the conventional case. The maintenance company issues a maintenance statement and provides it to general users.

The statistic generating means 29 corresponds to the function of the CPU 101 for controlling the operation of the HDD 105 in accordance with the control program, and generates various statistical data from a large number of guarantee data registered on the product guarantee homepage. The statistical data is also registered on the homepage.

Various means as described above may be used in HD
It is realized by using hardware such as D105, and is realized mainly by the function of the CPU 101, which is hardware of a computer, corresponding to software stored in an information storage medium such as the RAM 104.

Such software can be used, for example, to open a product warranty homepage on the Internet 17 for data browsing on the user terminal device 14 of a general user, and to send the product warranty homepage to the manufacturer terminal device 12 of the manufacturer. Accepting data registration of warranty data for each industrial product by the customer, the store terminal device 1 of the retail store
(3) setting various data received from 3 as specific assurance data on a homepage, presenting the assurance data to the user terminal device 14 of a general user who browses the homepage from the Internet 17,
Data detection of a user password transmitted from the user terminal device 14 to the home page, data reception of the user password from the user terminal device 14 causes the user terminal device 14 to browse all of the guarantee data, If the data is not input, the personal data portion of the warranty data in which the user password is set is not browsed, the insurance data received from the insurance terminal device 15 of the insurance company is set to the specific guarantee data, and the maintenance is performed. The maintenance data received from the company's maintenance terminal device 16 is set to specific warranty data, and various statistical data is generated from a large number of warranty data registered on the product warranty homepage, and the data is generated on the homepage. Processing operations such as registering data The stored in RAM104 of the information storage medium as a control program to be executed by the CPU101 and the like.

A product assurance method using the data processing device 11 according to the present embodiment in the above configuration will be described below with reference to FIGS. 4 to 7 illustrate a data processing method of the data processing device 11, but in the following, operations of a manufacturer, a general user, and the like will be mainly described to simplify the description.

First, in the product guarantee method of the present embodiment,
First, as shown in FIG. 4, the provider company opens a home page for product warranty in which warranty data is registered for each industrial product on the Internet 17 by the data processing device 11 (step S1). Contract data access with manufacturers, retail stores, insurance companies and maintenance companies.

In such a state, when a manufacturer manufactures an industrial product and ships it to a retail store together with a warranty, the manufacturer generates warranty data in which a model number and a serial number are set for each industrial product. Manufacturer terminal device 12
To register data from the Internet 17 to the product warranty homepage (steps S2 and S3).

At a retail store where industrial products are received from the manufacturer, the store terminal device 13 accesses the product warranty home page from the Internet 17 via the Internet 17 and uses the model number and serial number of the received industrial product as search keys to search for the product warranty. Search for warranty data from the homepage
(Steps S4 to S6), as shown in FIG. 5, store data, such as a store name, that can specify a store to be sold is set in the guarantee data (steps S8, S9, T1, T2).

In the retail store where the store data is set in the guarantee data of the industrial products to be received and stocked in this way,
The industrial products are displayed at stores and sold to general users.
Therefore, when this retail store sells industrial products over the counter to general users, the store terminal device 13 accesses the home page of the product warranty from the Internet 17 and searches for the warranty data by the model number or the serial number (step). S4 to S6), the sales data and the like are set in the guarantee data (steps T3 and T4).

However, a general user who purchases an industrial product may have obtained a user password from a provider company, and if the general user presents the user password to a retail store when purchasing an industrial product,
At this retail store, the user password is also set in the guarantee data by the store terminal device 13 (step T5).
T6).

As described above, a general user who has purchased an industrial product from a retail store can access the product assurance home page from the Internet 17 through the user terminal device 14 as desired, and the model number and serial number of the industrial product are also available. Can be used to browse the guarantee data (steps S4 to S6).

At this time, the general user is the user terminal 1
4, the user can browse a huge amount of guarantee data registered on the homepage, but cannot view the personal data of the guarantee data for which the user password is set, and sets the personal data in the guarantee data. I can't do it.

However, if the general user is the user terminal 14
As shown in FIG. 6, when the user password is input to the product warranty homepage (step E1), the personal data set in the warranty data can be browsed (step E2). The data can be updated (steps E3 and E4).

A general user can also set a premium insurance on an industrial product purchased by contracting with an insurance company if desired. In this case, the insurance company provides a general insurance card with insurance contents such as an insurance number. Issue to user. At this time,
The insurance company uses the insurance terminal 15 to access the Internet 17
From the product warranty homepage, and search for warranty data by using the model number and serial number of the industrial product as search keys (steps S4 to S6). As shown in FIG. Insurance data equivalent to the contents of the notation is set (steps P1 and P2).

Further, when a failure such as a failure or wear occurs in an industrial product purchased by a general user, the general user requests a maintenance company for maintenance work such as repair of the industrial product or replacement of parts as desired. . In this case, the general user checks the warranty period with the warranty of the industrial product, and delivers the industrial product together with the warranty to the maintenance company if the current date does not exceed the warranty period.

If a paid insurance is set for the industrial product, the insurance period is confirmed by the insurance card, and if the current date does not exceed the insurance expiration date, the insurance card is also passed to the maintenance company. In this way, a maintenance company that receives industrial products from general users along with a warranty card and insurance card confirms the warranty contents and insurance contents based on the contents of the warranty card and insurance card, and performs maintenance work such as repair and replacement of parts in response to it. Will run.

However, there are many cases where the general user has lost the warranty card or insurance card. In such a case, the general user transfers only the industrial product to the maintenance company without attaching the warranty card or insurance card. Then, the maintenance company accesses the product warranty homepage from the Internet 17 through the maintenance terminal device 16 to access the data of the product warranty, and searches for warranty data using the model number or serial number written on the industrial product as a search key (steps S4 to S6). ). Then, the contents of the guarantee and the contents of the insurance are confirmed with the guarantee data, and maintenance work such as repair or replacement of parts is executed in response to the confirmation.

As described above, the maintenance company that has performed the maintenance work on the industrial product prepares a maintenance statement in which the contents of the maintenance work, such as the details of the failure and the maintenance, are written, and attaches the maintenance statement to generalize the industrial product. Return to the user. Further, the maintenance company searches the warranty data of the industrial product on the product warranty homepage by using the maintenance terminal device 16 (steps S4 to S4).
S6) Then, maintenance data equivalent to the contents of the maintenance description is set in the warranty data (steps P3 and P4).

In the product assurance method according to the present embodiment, the Internet 1 is provided by the data processing device 11 of the provider company.
Assurance data for each industrial product is registered in the homepage of the product warranty established in 7, and the industrial product is assured by this guarantee data. For this reason, the general user can view the warranty data from the Internet 17 using the user terminal device 14 to check the contents of the warranty without requiring the warranty, and use the product warranty even if the warranty is lost. be able to.

Similarly, when a general user sets a premium insurance of an insurance company for an industrial product as desired, insurance data indicating the insurance content is also set in the guarantee data.
By browsing the guarantee data, the general user can check the insurance contents with the insurance data without needing the insurance card, and can use the paid insurance even if the insurance card is lost.

Further, when a maintenance company performs maintenance work on an industrial product sold to a general user, maintenance data indicating the execution contents of the maintenance work is also set as warranty data.
For this reason, by browsing the warranty data, the general user can check the maintenance contents with the maintenance data without requiring the maintenance details, and even if the maintenance details are lost, the general user can execute the claim processing. it can.

Further, until the industrial product shipped from the manufacturer is sold to general users via the distribution channel, the route data such as the store data indicating the distribution channel is also set as the guarantee data. Therefore, the distribution route of the industrial product can be confirmed based on the route data of the warranty data. For example, when the industrial product sold to a general user is damaged, the cause can be traced.

That is, in the present embodiment, each time the status of the industrial product changes, various data corresponding to the status are set in the guarantee data. Therefore, various histories of the industrial product can be confirmed based on the guarantee data. . Since the homepage of the product warranty in which this warranty data is registered is open to the public, for example, a general user may view the warranty data of the industrial product to be purchased and check the frequency of failure. Can be.

Further, since the manufacturer can confirm the details of the shipped industrial product by browsing the warranty data, for example, the contents of the frequently occurring troubles can be confirmed and countermeasures can be taken for the general user. They can be contacted and used to improve the next generation of industrial products.

Further, by browsing the warranty data, it is possible to confirm the industrial product in which trouble frequently occurs and the industrial product in which trouble does not frequently occur. For example, the retail store can select the industrial product to be handled. Insurance companies can change the insurance rate for each type of industrial product.

On the other hand, the maintenance company can check the history of the industrial product up to the present by browsing the warranty data, so that, for example, the cause of the trouble that has occurred can be easily determined, and the maintenance work can be performed. It can be executed with good efficiency, and it is also possible to instruct general users on how to use it without causing any trouble.

Further, in the product guarantee method of the present embodiment,
A general user can also obtain a user password by contracting with a provider company, and can present this user password to a retail store where an industrial product is purchased to set data in the warranty data.

In this case, the general user can search for the warranty data of the industrial product purchased by himself with the user password, and can register personal data such as a name in the warranty data. Will not be viewed unless you enter the user password.

For example, when a general user requesting a maintenance company to perform an industrial product maintenance operation notifies the user password,
Since the maintenance company can check the name and address of the general user with the warranty data, the general user does not need to notify the maintenance company of this, and both operations can be simplified.

Further, in the present embodiment, the data processing device 11 of the provider company periodically generates various statistical data from a large number of warranty data registered on the product warranty home page, and the statistical data is also generated. Register data on the homepage. This statistical data, for example,
Since it consists of the monthly sales volume for each type of industrial product, the frequency of occurrence of failures for each type of industrial product, etc., the general user can view the statistical data and examine the purchase schedule of the industrial product. .

In particular, in this embodiment, since a provider company which is not involved in the manufacture and sale of industrial products has established a product assurance homepage, various types of products of a plurality of manufacturers can be fairly viewed from a third-party standpoint. Warranty and statistical data for industrial products can generally be presented.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but allows various modifications without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, a third-party provider company opened a product warranty home page and disclosed warranty data of industrial products of a plurality of manufacturers. It is also possible for a maker to open and present only warranty data of its own product, or a retail store to open and present warranty data of a handled product.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which a dedicated insurance company sets paid insurance for industrial products and sets insurance data in the warranty data. However, this can be executed by a manufacturer or a retail store. It is. Similarly, in the above embodiment, the maintenance work of the industrial product is performed by the dedicated maintenance company and the maintenance data is set in the warranty data. However, this can be performed by the manufacturer or the retail store. .

Further, in the above-described embodiment, it is assumed that the worker of the manufacturer generates the warranty data by manual operation of the manufacturer terminal device 12 and registers the data on the homepage. Since the status and shipping status are managed by the maker terminal device 12 or the like, for example, the maker terminal device 1
It is also possible to automatically generate the guarantee data and register the data on the homepage.

Similarly, in the above embodiment, it is assumed that the person in charge of the sales store searches the warranty data by manual operation of the store terminal device 13 to set the store data and the sales date. In the sales store, the state of receipt and sales of industrial products is managed by the store terminal device 13 or the like. For example, the maker terminal device 13 automatically searches the management data from the management data for store data and sales. The date can also be set as data.

Similarly, since the insurance contents and the maintenance status are also managed by the insurance / maintenance terminal devices 15 and 16 at the insurance company and the maintenance company, the insurance / maintenance terminal devices 15 and 16 are automatically transmitted from the management data. It is also possible to make the insurance data and the maintenance data be set by making the warranty data search the data.

Further, in the above embodiment, it is assumed that a general user independently contacts the maintenance company when a failure occurs in the purchased industrial product. It is also possible to set data. In this case, a general user who browses the guarantee data on the user terminal device 14 inputs the contents of the failure into the input items using text data or the like, and then “contacts”.
When an operation icon such as is input, the input data of the content of the fault is transmitted to the maintenance terminal device 16, so that the maintenance company is notified of the occurrence of the fault in the industrial product together with the content.

Further, when the input items for communication and the like are set in the guarantee data as described above, for example, an industrial product such as a personal computer connected to the Internet 17 detects its own situation and generates situation data. However, it is also possible for the industrial product to set this situation data as warranty data. In this case, various conditions such as troubles that occurred in industrial products are automatically set in the warranty data, so it is possible to notify the maintenance company of the trouble situation without requiring input operation by general users. it can.

In the above embodiment, the data processing apparatus 11 of the provider company regularly generates statistical data from a large number of assurance data registered on the homepage and publishes the data. It is also possible that the data processing device 11 generates and sells dedicated statistical data at the request of a securities company or rating company.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, it has been described only that the guarantee data is registered in the homepage. However, it is actually difficult to register a huge amount of guarantee data indefinitely. It is preferable that the data is erased by using.

For example, the data processing device 11 recognizes the guarantee term and the insurance term of the guarantee data as the erasure date and time, and
The data processing device 11 can erase the guarantee data whose current date and time has reached this erasure date and time. It is also possible for the data processing device 11 to erase the guaranteed data designated by the general user, or to erase the guaranteed data that has not been accessed for a predetermined period such as three years. is there.

In the above embodiment, the password for the general user to reach the retail store is set in the guarantee data.
The example of accessing the guarantee data with a password and setting the personal data is described as an example. For example, a password is set on a membership card or a credit card used in a retail store, and the store terminal device 13 stores the password in the store terminal device 13. It is also possible to automatically read the data and register the data in the guarantee data.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which a general user causes a password to be sent to a retail store to be set in the guarantee data, and the guarantee data is accessed with a password to set personal data. It is also possible for the data processing device 11 to automatically set personal data in the set guarantee data.

Further, in the above embodiment, it has been exemplified that various means are logically realized as various functions of the data processing device 11 by operating the CPU 101 in accordance with a control program stored as software in the RAM 104 or the like. However, it is also possible to form each of these various means as unique hardware, and it is also possible to store a part of the various means as software in the RAM 104 or the like and form a part as hardware.

In the above embodiment, the software installed in advance in the HDD 105 from the CD-ROM 108 or the like is stored in the RAM 104 when the data processing apparatus 11 is started.
It is assumed that the CPU 101 reads the software copied in the RAM 104 and thus stored in the RAM 104,
Such software can be used by the CPU 101 while being stored in the HDD 105, or can be fixedly stored in the ROM 103 in advance.

Further, software is stored in the FD 106 or the CD-ROM 108 which is an information storage medium which can be handled alone, and the FD 106 and the HDD 105
Although it is possible to install software in the AM 104, it is also possible for the CPU 101 to directly read the software from the FD 106 or the like and execute the processing operation without performing such installation.

The method of supplying the software described on the information storage medium to the CPU 101 is not limited to loading the information storage medium directly into the data processing device 11. That is, the data processing device 11 of the present invention
When the various means are realized by software, the software only needs to be in a state where the CPU 101 can read data and execute a corresponding operation.

It is also possible to form a control program for realizing the various means as described above by combining a plurality of software. In this case, the information storage medium as a single product stores the data of the present invention. Only the minimum necessary software for implementing the processing device 11 needs to be stored.

For example, the data processing device 11 on which an existing operating system is mounted has a CD-ROM
In a case where application software is provided by an information storage medium such as 108, software for implementing various units of the data processing device 11 of the present invention is implemented by a combination of application software and an operating system, and thus depends on the operating system. The software of the part to be performed can be omitted from the application software of the information storage medium.

[0102]

According to the product assurance method of the present invention, a product assurance homepage is set up on the Internet, and a manufacturer generates assurance data when manufacturing an industrial product and registers the data on the homepage. When the product is sold to the user, the sales date is set in the warranty data on the homepage, and the warranty data on the homepage is browsed from the Internet on the user terminal device of a general user, so that the warranty content of the industrial product is guaranteed. Instead of warranty data,
For example, even if a general user loses a warranty, a product warranty of an industrial product can be used.

In another form of the product assurance method of the present invention, the personal data of a general user who purchases an industrial product is set in the warranty data, so that the general user who has purchased the industrial product can be identified by the personal data of the warranty data. Since confirmation can be made by data, it is possible to omit communication of personal data, for example, when performing repair or the like on an industrial product.

Further, a user password is issued for each general user, the data is set in the guarantee data, and the guarantee data corresponding to only the user terminal device that has input the user password on the homepage is presented up to the personal data. Since the general user can only view the personal data of the guarantee data, the personal data can be kept confidential while the guarantee data is open to the public.

Further, an industrial product is sold from a manufacturer to a general user via various distribution channels, and the route data indicating the distribution channel is also set in the guarantee data. Since it can be confirmed by the route data, for example, it is possible to follow up when an industrial product sold to a general user is damaged.

[0106] In addition, an industrial product is sold to a general user from a retail store which is at least a part of a distribution channel, and store data for specifying the retail store is set in the guarantee data as at least a part of the route data. As the last part of the distribution route, the retail store that actually sold the industrial product to the general user can be confirmed by the store data of the warranty data.

[0107] In addition, paid insurance is set for an industrial product at the request of a general user, and insurance data indicating the insurance content of the paid insurance is also set in the guarantee data.
Since the insurance content of the paid insurance set by the general user can be confirmed by the insurance data of the guarantee data, the paid insurance can be used even if the general user loses the insurance card, for example.

Also, an industrial product sold to a general user is maintained according to the data content of the warranty data, and the maintenance data indicating the contents of execution of the maintenance work is also set in the warranty data. Can be confirmed by the maintenance data of the warranty data, so that, for example, a general user can confirm the frequency of occurrence of a failure in an industrial product to be purchased.

Further, statistical data is generated from a large number of assurance data registered on the product assurance homepage, and the generated statistical data is also registered as data on the homepage, thereby obtaining various statistical results of industrial products. Can be confirmed by the statistical data, so that, for example, the general user can easily confirm the frequency of occurrence of failure of the industrial product to be purchased.

Also, the industrial product is connected to the Internet, the industrial product detects its own situation, generates situation data, and the industrial product sets the situation data in the guarantee data on the homepage. Can be confirmed by the situation data of the guarantee data, and the situation data can be automatically set as the guarantee data without requiring data setting by a general user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a logical structure of a data processing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a physical structure of a data communication system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a physical structure of the data processing device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a main routine of a data processing method by the data processing device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a subroutine for setting data to the warranty data by a sales store.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a subroutine for setting data to guarantee data by a general user.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a subroutine for setting data on warranty data by an insurance company and a maintenance company.

[Description of Signs] 10 Data communication system 11 Data processing device 12 Manufacturer terminal device 13 Store terminal device 14 User terminal device 15 Insurance terminal device 16 Maintenance terminal device 17 Internet 21 Page opening means 22 Warranty registration means 23 Data setting means 24 Guarantee presentation Means 101 CPU as a main body of a computer 103 ROM as an information storage medium 104 RAM as an information storage medium HDD 106 as an information storage medium FD 108 as an information storage medium CD-ROM as an information storage medium

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A product assurance method for assuring an industrial product manufactured by a manufacturer and sold to a general user, wherein a home page of the product assurance to be browsed by a user terminal of the general user is opened on the Internet, Warranty data is generated for each industrial product manufactured by the manufacturer and registered in the homepage.When the industrial product is sold to the general user, the sales date is set in the warranty data. A product assurance method for assuring the industrial product sold to the general user by the assurance data. 2. The product guarantee method according to claim 1, wherein personal data of the general user who purchases the industrial product is set as the guarantee data. 3. A user password is issued for each of the general users, and data is set in the guarantee data. The guarantee data corresponding to only the user terminal device that has input the user password to the homepage is up to the personal data. The product guarantee method according to claim 2, wherein data is presented. 4. The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the industrial product is sold from the manufacturer to the general user via various distribution channels, and route data indicating the distribution channel is set in the guarantee data. Or the product warranty method described in one of the paragraphs. 5. The industrial product is sold from a retail store that is at least a part of the distribution channel to the general user, and store data specifying the retail store is also included in the warranty data as at least a part of the route data. The product assurance method according to claim 4, which is set. 6. An insurance product is set for the industrial product at the request of the general user, and insurance data indicating the insurance content of the insurance is also set in the guarantee data. Product warranty method described in. 7. A maintenance work is performed on the industrial product sold to the general user in accordance with the data content of the warranty data, and maintenance data indicating execution contents of the maintenance work is also set in the warranty data. Item 7. The product assurance method according to any one of Items 1 to 6. 8. The statistical data is generated from a large number of the assurance data registered on the home page of the product warranty, and the generated statistical data is also registered on the home page. Or the product warranty method described in one of the paragraphs. 9. The industrial product is connected to the Internet, the industrial product detects its own status and generates status data, and the industrial product sets the status data in the warranty data on the homepage. The product guarantee method according to any one of claims 1 to 8. 10. A homepage for product assurance, which is browsed on a user terminal device of a general user, is opened on the Internet, and data registration of assurance data for each industrial product manufactured by a manufacturer on the homepage is accepted. A data processing method of setting a date of sale of a product in the guarantee data, and presenting the guarantee data to the user terminal device that browses the home page from the Internet. 11. A page opening means for opening a home page of product assurance, which is browsed by a user terminal device of a general user, on the Internet, and registering assurance data for each industrial product manufactured by a manufacturer in said home page. Guarantee registration means for accepting, data setting means for setting the date of sale of the industrial product in the warranty data, and guarantee presentation for presenting the guarantee data to the user terminal device for browsing the home page from the Internet. Means for processing data. 12. A data communication apparatus comprising an industrial product guaranteed by the product assurance method according to claim 9, wherein the status detection means detects its own status, and the status detected by the status detection means is determined. A status setting means for setting data from the Internet to the guarantee data of the home page. 13. A data communication system comprising: the data processing device according to claim 11; a user terminal device of a general user; and the Internet to which the data processing device and the user terminal device are connected. . 14. An information storage medium in which software for a computer of a data processing device is stored, wherein a home page for product assurance, which is browsed on a user terminal device of a general user, is established on the Internet. Accepting data registration of warranty data for each industrial product manufactured on the homepage, setting data on the date of sale of the industrial product in the warranty data, the user browsing the homepage from the Internet An information storage medium storing a program for causing the computer to execute the presenting of the guarantee data to a terminal device.