JP2002215994A - Common point providing apparatus and common point providing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make various points in common to be managed. SOLUTION: The number of points of individual point systems used by a user is displayed on a piece display screen 10, and converted to the common unit of 'piece' to be displayed. By this common unit of 'piece', the points are converted or exchanged. The user can gather the points by conversion, and exchange the same to use the obtained points without waste.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention provides a common unit for distributing various points obtained when shopping or using a service. In particular, the present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for providing a common point where various points can be transferred or exchanged.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a credit card is used,
The points are automatically accumulated according to the used amount, and can be exchanged for goods or premiums prepared by a credit card company according to the number of points obtained.

[0003] Further, when using an airline airplane, points are added according to the distance used, and travel services, other services and prizes from the airline are added according to the added number of points. Can be exchanged with. In addition, when paying for a purchase at a department store or a meal at a restaurant, a point system is introduced to attract customers to the department store or restaurant.

Further, in a virtual mall using the Internet, electronic money that can be used in a plurality of shops participating in the mall is distributed.

[0005]

The above-mentioned point system is a point system dependent on each company. The point unit is different, the value of one point is different, and points cannot be exchanged. In addition, electronic money used in a virtual mall or the like can be used only in the virtual mall. In addition, points accumulate in each company and it is difficult to accumulate points for one company. In addition, the points accumulated in each company cannot be effectively used.

An object of the present invention is to provide a system in which the points of the individual point systems as described above can be used freely with each other.

[0007]

A conversion table storage unit storing a conversion table storing conversion values for converting a plurality of types of individual points used by a plurality of point providing devices into common points using a common unit. The point acquisition unit that acquires the number of points acquired by the user from the point account of the point providing device, and the number of points acquired by the point acquisition unit using a common unit using the conversion value of the conversion table in the conversion table storage unit. It is characterized by comprising a common point conversion unit for converting the number of common points into points, and a common point display unit for displaying the number of points of the common points converted by the common point conversion unit.

[0008] The common point providing apparatus further includes a transfer unit for instructing transfer of individual points between point accounts of the same user of the plurality of point providing apparatuses using the common points.

The transfer unit includes a transfer application receiving unit that receives an application for transferring common points between a plurality of point providing devices within a range of the number of common points displayed by the common point display unit; The number of common points for which the transfer application was accepted
Using the conversion value of the conversion table in the conversion table storage unit,
A transfer point conversion unit that converts the number of individual points used by the point providing device that provides individual points subject to transfer, and each point provided by the number of individual points converted by the transfer point conversion unit A transfer update instructing unit for instructing the apparatus to update the number of points.

[0010] The common point providing apparatus further includes an exchange unit for instructing exchange of individual points between point accounts of different users of the plurality of point providing apparatuses using the common points.

The exchange unit includes an exchange accepting unit for accepting an application for exchanging points with another person's point account within a range of the number of common points displayed by the common point display unit, and an exchange accepting unit for accepting the exchange received by the exchange accepting unit. An exchange market unit that posts an application to the market to establish an exchange with another person's point account, and, if an exchange is established by the exchange market unit, the number of common points that have been exchanged is stored in the conversion table storage unit. Using the conversion value of the conversion table, the exchange point conversion unit that converts the number of individual points used in the point providing device that provides the individual points to be exchanged, and the exchange point conversion unit An exchange update instruction unit for instructing each point providing apparatus to update the number of points by the number of individual points And it features.

The point providing device registers the point account of the present system as a system account, and the common point providing device further sets an exchange ratio so that the exchange ratio is more advantageous for the system account. And a discount unit for exchanging individual points between the point account and the system account.

According to the common point providing method of the present invention, a conversion value for converting a plurality of types of individual points used by a plurality of point providing devices into a common point using a common unit is stored in a conversion table, and the point providing device is provided. Get the number of points earned by the user from the point account of
Convert the acquired number of points to the number of common points using the common unit using the conversion value of the conversion table,
The number of converted common points is displayed.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram. The common point providing server 51 is an example of the common point providing device of the present invention. The common point providing server 51 is connected to the Internet 53.
A personal computer (PC) 54, a PC 55, and a PC 56 are connected to the Internet 53. A mobile terminal may be connected to the Internet 53 instead of a PC. In addition, the Internet 53 includes A airline 6
3, B credit company 64, C restaurant chain 6
5, computer systems of a D convenience store 66, an X mall 67, and a Y mall 68 are connected. The user is PC5
4, the user can access each company or each electronic mall to purchase a product or purchase a service.
In addition, the user can actually shop at a restaurant or a convenience store, and as a result, can browse the points accumulated by the POS (point of sales) system via the Internet 53. Further, the user can obtain from the common point providing server 51 all the current statuses of the point system to which the user subscribes.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the common point providing server 51. The common point providing server 51 includes an OS (Operating System) 81, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 83, and an FXD (fixed disk) 91.
The FXD 91 stores a common point providing program 84. The common point providing program 84
The program is read from the XD 91 and executed by the OS 81 and the CPU 83. The FXD 91 may be another recording medium such as an optical disk or a compact disk.
The common point providing program 84 displays the number of points of the point system to which the user belongs to the user using the PC 54, transfers points between the companies, and performs other uses. Is a program for exchanging points with other people.

The point obtaining unit 85 of the common point providing program 84 obtains the number of points of the point system to which the user belongs from each company and displays the number of points to the user. FIG. 3 shows a point acquisition unit 85.
FIG. FIG. 4 is a piece display screen 1 displayed by the point acquisition unit 85 on the display screen of the PC 54.
FIG. Here, the “piece” refers to a common unit after converting various points into common points. “Peace” is described as “Pce”. FIG.
9 is a diagram showing a conversion table 93 stored in the FXD 91. FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, when Yamada accesses the common point providing server 51 from the PC 54, the common point providing server 51 refers to the member file 94 of the FXD 91 and determines the point system to which Yamada belongs. Browse companies. In FIG. 3, Yamada assigns IDs to A airline, B credit company, D convenience store, and Y mall, respectively.
It is assumed that the subscriber has an account number of 1, ID2, ID3, and ID4. The registration in the member file 94 is to be performed in advance.

In S1, the point acquiring section 85 determines that I
The point of Yamada is acquired from the A airline 63 using D1. In S2, the number of Yamada points is acquired from the B credit company 64 using ID2. Similarly,
A point is acquired from the D convenience store using ID3. Further, the number of points is acquired from the X mall 67 using ID4. Then, in S5, the common point conversion unit 8
No. 6 converts the acquired four points into a common point number using a unit called a piece (Pce). The number of points is calculated using a conversion value described in a conversion table 93 as shown in FIG. The conversion table 93 includes “organization” 73, “type” 74, and “points per piece” 75. The “number of points per piece” 75 indicates a conversion value for converting various types of points provided by each organization into common points. In S6, the common point display unit 87 displays the piece display screen 10 shown in FIG.

On the piece display screen 10, a commodity market button 13, an exchange market button 14, a transfer history button 15, and an exchange history button 16 are displayed. Further, on the piece display screen 10, "No" 17, "Organization" 18, and "Type" are displayed.
19, “points” 21, “pieces” 23, and “use” 24 are displayed. The “organization” 18 is displayed from the “organization” 73 of the conversion table 93. "Type" 1
9 is displayed from the “type” 74 of the conversion table 93. As the “point number” 21, various point numbers obtained from the organizations of the A airline, the B credit company, the D convenience store, and the Y mall are displayed as they are. "Number of pieces" 2
In 3, a value obtained by converting the number of points displayed in the “number of points” 21 into a common point using the conversion value indicated in the “number of points per piece” 75 is displayed. That is, “number of pieces” 23 = “number of points” 21 ÷ “number of points per piece” 75. “Use” 24 is used as a column for inputting the number of points to be used when the point is used.
Finally, a total of the “piece number” 23 is displayed in the “total” 25. Further, on the piece display screen 10, a transfer application 26, an exchange application 27, and a discount application 28 can be designated.

Next, when the commodity market button 13 is pressed on the piece display screen 10 of FIG. 4, a commodity market screen 30 as shown in FIG. 6 is displayed. On the product market screen 30, exchangeable products provided by the A airline 63 and the B credit company 64 are displayed. FIG.
As shown in the figure, since the sum of Yamada is 46 pieces (Pce), an x mark indicating that exchange is not possible for exchangeable products having a larger number of points than 46 pieces (Pce) is displayed. Other products have 46 pieces (Pce) or less, which indicates that they can be exchanged. Here, for example, if Yamada wants to obtain the first product of the A airline 63, a score of 30 pieces (Pce) is required. As shown in FIG. 4, the point number of the A airline 63 in Yamada is 20 pieces (Pce), and is still 1 point.
0 pieces (Pce) is not enough.

Then, Yamada checks the transfer application 26 on the piece display screen 10 shown in FIG. And
Ask the Airline A to transfer the points of another company. In this example, it is assumed that ten pieces (Pce) of the B credit company are to be transferred to the A airline, and the transmission button 29 is pressed. As a result, the transfer unit 31 shown in FIG. 2 operates.

FIG. 7 shows the operation of the transfer unit 31.
In S1, when Yamada makes a transfer application from PC54,
The common point providing server 51 receives a transfer application by the transfer application receiving unit 33. Next, the transfer point conversion unit 34 uses the conversion table 93 to calculate how many pieces of 10 pieces (Pce) are actually obtained by individual points. 10 pieces (Pce) is 1 for A airline
00 points, 40 for B credit company
Is the point. Next, the transfer update instruction unit 35 performs S2,
In S3, the A airline 63 is instructed to update by plus 100 points. Further, the transfer update instructing unit 35 makes the B credit company 64 minus 4 in S4.
An instruction to update 0 points is issued. In this way, in the A airline 63, the point of Yamada is changed from 200 points to 300 points. Further, in the B credit company 64, Yamada's points are changed from 52 points to 12 points. Common point providing server 51 receiving the update results from A airline 63 and B credit company 64
Stores the transfer history in the transfer history file 95 in S5.
To record. Finally, the transfer unit 31 displays the update result on the PC 54 in S6. FIG. 8 shows the piece display screen 10.
Shows a case in which the update result is displayed.

In this manner, Yamada can set the points of the A airline 63 to 30 pieces (Pce). Then, Yamada selects the commodity market button 13 again, displays the commodity market screen 30 of FIG. 6, declares that the first commodity is to be obtained, and returns to the piece display screen 10 again. No. 1 in FIG.
Enter 30 in "Use" 24 of the A airline 63. In this way, Yamada can acquire the first product from the A airline 63. By pressing the transfer history button 15 on the piece display screen 10, past transfer histories can be referred to.

In the above-described example, a case has been described in which points are transferred between point accounts of the same user of a plurality of point providing apparatuses such as the airline company 63 and the credit company 64. By transferring points between different companies in this way, the user can use the obtained points without waste. In other words, the user can collect points, and can obtain large points even when small points are obtained from many companies.

In the above-described example, a case where points are transferred between a plurality of companies (between a plurality of point devices) has been described. You may want to ban.
For example, the A airline 63 may want to exchange goods or exchange services using points issued only by the use of the A airline 63. In such a case, the transfer system described above cannot be used. For example, if Yamada wants to acquire the fifth product using “18 pieces” of the B credit company 64 shown in FIG. 6, five pieces (Pce) are not enough with the number of pieces “13” shown in FIG. . Then, Yamada searches the point exchange market to see if the point number of the other B credit company 64 can be exchanged for the point number of the other company that he has. For that, piece display screen 1
Press the 0 exchange market button 14. When the exchange market button 14 is pressed, an exchange market screen 80 shown in FIG. 9 is displayed. On the exchange market screen 80, applications from others who can exchange Yamada are displayed. "No" is displayed on the exchange market screen 80.
76, "Number of pieces" 77, "I will give you" 78, and "Please give me" 79 are displayed. Exchange Market Screen 8
In 0, applications for which Yamada cannot be exchanged are not displayed. In the case shown in FIG. 9, there is no application that can obtain the B credit company 64 that Yamada wants to acquire more than 5 pieces (Pce).
Therefore, returning to the piece display screen 10, the exchange application 27
Check and enter your own exchange application. As shown in FIG. 10, Yamada stated that “No.
I will give you a piece, so please give me 5 pieces to No.2 B credit company. " When the transmission button 29 is pressed, the exchange unit 3
6 operates.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the operation of the exchange unit 36. When an exchange application is made in S1, the common point providing server 51 accepts an exchange application by the exchange application receiving unit 37, and in S2, the exchange market unit 38 registers the application in the exchange market file 96. In such a state, the application of Yamada can be browsed from another user. S3
Assume that Suzuki has accessed the exchange market using PC55. FIG. 12 is a list in which Suzuki displayed in Suzuki is exchangeable. Here, it is assumed that Suzuki has selected No. 4. No. 4 is displayed by an exchange application from Yamada. When Suzuki inputs No. 4 in FIG. 12 and presses the send button 29, the exchange is established as shown in S4 of FIG. In S5, the exchange market unit 38 of the common point providing server 51 registers the establishment of this exchange in S5. Next, the exchange point conversion section 39 converts the conversion table 9
Using 3, the points for which the exchange has been completed are converted into points of each company. Next, the exchange update instruction unit 40 issues an instruction to update the points to the B credit company 64 in S7. In S8, the exchange update instruction unit 40 issues a point update instruction to the D convenience store 66. As a result, the B credit company 64 updates 20 points for Yamada and -20 points for Suzuki. The D convenience store 66 updates Yamada by minus 5 points and Suzuki by plus 5 points. The update result is returned to the common point providing server 51. The common point providing server 51
At 9, the exchange history is recorded in the exchange history file 97. The exchange history can be referred to from Yamada and Suzuki by pressing the exchange history button 16.

In the case described above, the exchange is established between Yamada and Suzuki, but the exchange may not be established.
In that case, the system itself can be the exchange partner. However, if the system is the exchange partner, the exchange ratio of points is not one-to-one but an exchange ratio that makes the system more advantageous. That is, when applying for an exchange ratio to the system, the exchange is performed after being discounted. When the system responds to the exchange as described above, an account of the system is registered in advance as a system account in each company. Then, for example, 10,000 points are given to the system account as an initial value.

FIG. 13 shows a case where Yamada checks the discount application 28 and applies for a discount exchange. This application is for 5 pieces (Pce) of B credit company 64, D
It is an application to exchange for 6 pieces (Pce) (5 × 1.2 = 6) of the convenience store 66. When this application is made, the exchange unit 36 calculates the number of exchange pieces using the exchange ratio of 1.2 times by the discount unit 41 without using the exchange market unit 38. Then, the exchange point conversion unit 39
Calculates the individual points of 5 pieces of the B credit company 64 and the individual points of 6 pieces (Pce) of the D convenience store 66. Other operations are the same as those of the above-described exchange unit 36.

As described above, when the system is the exchange partner, the system is operated under advantageous exchange conditions. As a result, points are added to the system account, and the more the system is exchanged, the more system points are increased.

By enabling the exchange with the system as described above, it becomes possible to exchange one's own point at any time.

The feature of the embodiment described above is that each company can subscribe to this system while maintaining the point service and the point system of each company.
If the point providing device already used by each company can have an interface for exchanging data with the common point providing server 51, the point providing device of each company can use the server common point providing server 5
1 and can participate in this system.
That is, the present system is a flexible system that can be incorporated into the present system based on a slight change (change of interface) of the system of each company that provides an existing unique point system. This system does not assume that common points are used in advance by each company. This system is an unprecedented flexible system that allows each company's unique points to continue to be used as it is, and allows individual companies to transfer and exchange individual points using common points. It is.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of types of points provided by each company or each organization are converted into a common point of a unified common unit called "Peace (Pce)". Since the points are displayed, points can be transferred and exchanged, and the utility value of the individually operated point system increases.

Further, since the number of points using a piece (Pce), which is a common unit, is used as a unit in the case of merchandise exchange, the common unit has the same value as a currency. Then, by using the piece (Pce) which is the common unit, it is possible to buy and sell goods and exchange goods. Furthermore, by changing the conversion value of the conversion table in real time so that the value of the common unit, the piece (Pce), matches the value of the above-mentioned monetary unit, the dollar or the yen, the piece (Pce) becomes And the same value as a dollar or a yen, which is a currency unit of the above, and a transaction using the unit of this piece (Pce) can be performed across the border and via the Internet.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a system.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a common point providing server 51.

FIG. 3 is a point acquisition unit 85 and a common point conversion unit 8
6 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the common point display section 87 with FIG.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a piece display screen 10;

FIG. 5 is a view showing a conversion table 93;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a product market screen 30.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the operation of the transfer unit 31.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a piece display screen 10;

9 is a diagram showing an exchange market screen 80. FIG.

FIG. 10 is a view showing a piece display screen 10;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an operation of the exchange unit 36.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an exchange market screen 80.

FIG. 13 is a view showing a piece display screen 10;

[Explanation of symbols]

10 piece display screen, 13 product market button, 14
Exchange market button, 15 transfer history button, 16 exchange history button, 17 “No”, 18 “organization”, 19 “type”, 21 “points”, 23 “pieces”, 2
4 "Use", 25 "Total", 26 Transfer application, 27
Exchange application, 28 discount application, 29 send button, 30
Commodity market screen, 31 transfer section, 33 transfer application receiving section,
34 transfer point conversion unit, 35 transfer update instruction unit, 36
Exchange Department, 37 Exchange Application Acceptance Department, 38 Exchange Market Department,
39 exchange point conversion unit, 40 exchange update instruction unit, 4
1 Discount section, 51 Common point providing server, 53 Internet, 54PC, 55PC, 56PC, 6
3 A airline, 64 B credit company, 65 C restaurant chain, 66 D convenience store, 67 X mall, 68 Y mall, 73 “Organization”, 74 “Type”, 75 “Points per piece”, 76
"No", 77 "Number of pieces", 78 "I'll give you", 79 "Please give me", 80 Exchange market screen, 8
1 OS, 83 CPU, 84 common point providing program, 85 point acquisition section, 86 common point conversion section, 87 common point display section, 91 FXD, 93
Conversion table, 94 member file, 95 transfer history file, 96 exchange market file, 97 exchange history file.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A conversion table storage unit that stores a conversion table that stores conversion values for converting a plurality of types of individual points used by a plurality of point providing devices into common points using a common unit, and a point providing device. A point acquisition unit that acquires the number of points acquired by the user from the point account of the point, and a point of the common point using a common unit using the conversion value of the conversion table in the conversion table of the point number obtained by the point acquisition unit. A common point providing device, comprising: a common point conversion unit for converting to a number; and a common point display unit for displaying the number of common points converted by the common point conversion unit. 2. The common point providing device according to claim 1, further comprising a transfer unit for instructing transfer of individual points between point accounts of the same user of the plurality of point providing devices using the common points. The common point providing device according to claim 1. 3. The transfer unit includes: a transfer application receiving unit that receives an application for transfer of a common point among a plurality of point providing devices within a range of the number of common points displayed by the common point display unit; The point number of the common points for which the transfer application has been accepted by the department is used by the point providing device which provides the individual points to be transferred using the conversion value of the conversion table in the conversion table storage unit. Transfer point conversion unit for converting the number of individual points into points, and a transfer update instruction unit for instructing each point providing device to update the number of points by the number of individual points converted by the transfer point conversion unit. Claim 2
Described common point providing device. 4. The common point providing apparatus further comprises an exchange unit for instructing exchange of individual points between point accounts of different users of the plurality of point providing apparatuses using the common points. The common point providing device according to claim 1. 5. The exchange unit, wherein the exchange unit accepts an application for exchanging points with another person's point account within the range of the number of common points displayed by the common point display unit; An exchange market department that posts an exchange application to the market and establishes an exchange with another person's point account. An exchange point conversion unit that converts the number of individual points used by the point providing device that provides individual points that have been exchanged using the conversion value of the conversion table An exchange update instruction unit for instructing each point providing device to update the number of points by the number of converted individual points. Claim 4, wherein the door
Described common point providing device. 6. The point providing device registers a point account of the present system as a system account, and the common point providing device further sets an exchange ratio such that the system account has a more advantageous exchange ratio. 5. The common point providing device according to claim 4, further comprising a discount unit for setting and exchanging individual points between the point account and the system account. 7. A conversion value for converting a plurality of types of individual points used by a plurality of point providing devices into a common point using a common unit is stored in a conversion table, and the user acquires from a point account of the point providing device. The acquired number of points is converted to the number of common points using a common unit using the conversion value of the conversion table, and the converted number of common points is displayed. How to provide common points.