JP2002269417A - Inventory control system and inventory control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inventory control system and an inventory control method allowing a user to secure favorable commodities when the user finds them, after paying a predetermined reservation charge, and to purchase the commodities after actually confirming the commodities. SOLUTION: This inventory control system has a receiving means 24 for receiving commodity data for specifying commodities using a user terminal 10 and reservation day data showing days for reserving the commodities, a setting means 21 for setting a reservation amount corresponding to the reservation days and an accounting means 21 for accounting the reservation amount for the user terminal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an inventory management system and an inventory management method that enable a user to reserve or reserve a desired product using the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, it has been possible for a user to purchase merchandise published in magazines or the like by mail order or purchase it on the Web using the Internet. However, in any case, since the judgment is not made by looking at the actual product, when the product actually arrives at hand, the product image may be significantly different from the one originally thought. Therefore, it is conceivable to go to a store where a product published in a magazine or a product published on the web is actually sold and purchase the product after confirming the actual product. However, there is a case where a very popular product or the like is already out of stock when actually going to the store.

[0003] In some cases, products before they are released are posted on magazines and the web. Therefore, there are cases where the user continuously monitors magazines, websites, and the like in which favorite products are posted, and tries to purchase them after they are released. However, since the product is not always monitored, the sale of the product is started without knowing it, and when it is noticed, the desired product may be already sold out.

[0004]

Therefore, according to the present invention, when a favorite product is found, a predetermined reserve fee is paid, the product is secured, and after the product is actually confirmed, An object of the present invention is to provide an inventory management system and an inventory management method that enable purchase of a product.

[0005] Further, according to the present invention, when a favorite product before sale is found, a predetermined reservation fee is paid to secure the product, and after the product is actually confirmed, the product is purchased. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inventory management system and an inventory management method that make it possible.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an inventory management system according to the present invention comprises a product data for specifying a product from a user terminal and a storage period indicating the number of days for storing the product. Receiving means for receiving data;
It is characterized by having setting means for setting the amount of money to be set in accordance with the number of days of stocking, and accounting means for billing the amount of money to the user terminal. By charging the reserved amount, the user is given the right to reserve a specific product.

Further, the inventory management system according to the present invention comprises: receiving means for receiving, from a user terminal, merchandise data for specifying merchandise; First setting means for setting a first deposit amount, a second setting means for setting a second deposit amount according to the stock status of the product corresponding to the product data, And charging means for charging the user terminal for the amount of money charged to the user terminal. Considering two factors, the number of days left and inventory status,
This gives the user the right to reserve a specific product.

Further, according to the present invention, a stock management method in a server which can be accessed via a network with a user terminal according to the present invention is characterized in that merchandise data for specifying a merchandise from a user terminal and storage days data indicating the number of days for storing the merchandise. Receiving, setting a reserve fee in accordance with the data on the number of days of reserve, and charging the reserve fee to the user terminal.

Further, in the inventory management method in the server which can be accessed via the network with the user terminal according to the present invention, the product data for specifying the product from the user terminal and the storage date data indicating the number of days for storing the product are stored. Receiving and setting a first deposit amount according to the number of days of deposit,
A second reserve amount is set according to the stock status of the commodity corresponding to the commodity data, and the first or second reserve amount is charged to the user terminal.

[0010] Further, the inventory management system according to the present invention includes a receiving means for receiving product data for specifying a product from a user terminal, and a reservation amount according to the number of days until the release date of the product corresponding to the product data. It is characterized in that it has a means for determining and a charging processing means for charging the user terminal for the reservation amount. By charging the reservation amount, the user is given the right to reserve the product before the sale.

Further, according to the present invention, a stock management method in a server accessible via a network with a user terminal according to the present invention, receives product data for specifying a product from a user terminal, and releases the product corresponding to the product data. The reservation amount is set according to the number of days up to the day, and the reservation amount is charged to the user terminal.

[0012]

FIG. 1A shows an example of a portable terminal 10 provided with a bar code reading section 16. In FIG. 1A, the portable terminal 10 sets the barcode reading unit 16 on the bottom of the main body. The user inputs the contents of the barcode 101 by reading the barcode 101 representing the product A by the barcode reading unit 16 when the product A desired to be placed or purchased is listed in the magazine 100. It is configured to be able to.

FIG. 1B shows another example of the portable terminal 10 provided with the bar code reading section 16 '. In FIG. 1B, the portable terminal 10 has a barcode reading unit 1 on its side.
6 'is built in. The user wants to reserve a product B
Is published in the magazine 102, the barcode 103 representing the product B is read by the barcode reading unit 16 ', so that the contents of the barcode 103 can be input.

An outline of an inventory management system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Internet or E
A mobile terminal 10, an inventory management server 20, a plurality of store servers 31 to 33, and a card company server 40 are connected to a network 1 such as a DI (electronic data exchange) system so as to be accessible. The mobile terminal accesses the network 1 via an ISP (Internet Service Provider) 50 by a telephone company or the like. FIG.
1 shows the mobile terminal 10 and the card company server 40 one by one, but the present invention is not limited to these.

The portable terminal 10 is composed of a CPU and the like, and performs at least a processing section 11 for processing and calculating various data, an input section 12 composed of numeric keys and a keyboard, and a display and the like for displaying various data. Display unit 13, transmitting / receiving unit 1 for transmitting / receiving various data
4. It has a storage section 15 composed of a memory and the like for storing various data and a barcode reading section 16 for reading a barcode.

The inventory management server 20 is composed of a CPU and the like, and a processing unit 21 for processing and calculating at least various data, an input unit 22 composed of numeric keys and a keyboard, a display and the like, and displaying various data. A display unit 23 for performing the connection, a router 24 for connecting to the network 1, and a storage unit 25 configured to store various data including a memory and the like. Further, the storage unit 25 includes at least a program for controlling the operation of the inventory management server 20, a stocked product database 26 (hereinafter, referred to as a stocked (T) product DB), and a stocked stock database 27 (hereinafter, referred to as a stocked stock database 27). "Reserved (T) inventory DB"), reserved product database 28 (hereinafter "reserved (Y)")
Product DB) and a reserved inventory database 29 (hereinafter, referred to as a “reserved (Y) inventory DB”).

Referring to FIG. 3, the procedure for placing goods will be described. It is assumed that the procedure for placing a commodity is mainly executed by the processing unit 11 in the portable terminal 10 in accordance with an application program stored in the storage unit 15 in advance. In addition, it is assumed that the product placement procedure is mainly executed by the processing unit 21 in the inventory management server 20 according to a predetermined program stored in the storage unit 25 in advance.

First, a user finds a product A desired to be placed or purchased in a magazine 100 or the like, and reads a barcode 101 corresponding to the product A using the barcode reading unit 16 of the portable terminal 10 (step S1). 301). Next, using a product number code indicated by the read barcode, a predetermined URL (Uniform Resource Locala) is used.
tor) is automatically created (step 302).
The created URL is set in the inventory management server 20 so as to correspond to the product number code indicated by the barcode. For example, the URL to be created is “http: //
/ Www. xxxx. com / item / xxx1. h
tml ". Here, “www.xxxxxx.co”
“m” indicates the domain name of the inventory management server 20 stored in advance, and is automatically given by the application program. Also, “item / xxx1.h
"tml" indicates a file name corresponding to a product in the inventory management server 20, and is created by an application program based on the product number code read by the barcode reading unit 16.

Next, the ISP is created by using the created URL.
50 and the inventory management server 20 via the network 1
Is accessed (step 303). Next, the inventory management server 20 checks the received file name (“item / xxx
1. html ”) is stored.
And extracts from the stock inventory DB 27 to create a stock information screen and transmit it to the mobile terminal 10. The mobile terminal 10 receives the stock information screen (Step 304).

Here, an example of the stored product DB 26 is shown in FIG. The stored product DB 26 stores file name data 501,
It is composed of merchandise name data 502, fixed price data 503, correspondence data 504 of storage days and prices, correspondence data 505 of stock ratios and prices, and the like. Also, the stock inventory DB 27
FIG. 6 shows an example. The stock inventory DB 27 includes product name data 601, store name data 602, element number data 603, stock number data 604, stock number data 605, stock ratio data 606, and the like. For example, in FIG.
In store Z, there are initially 200 items A, the current number of items in stock is 100, and a placement request for 100 items has already been made, indicating that the current stock ratio is 50%. Each data of the stock inventory DB 27 is configured to be transmitted in real time from each of the store servers 31 to 33 to the stock management server 20 via the network 1 and stored in the stock inventory DB 27.

An example of a stock information screen created by the stock management server 20 is shown at 401 in FIG. Inventory information screen 401
Displays the name of a store where the product A desired by the user is currently in stock. Next, the user enters the mobile terminal 10
When a store name is selected using (step 305), data of the selected store name is transmitted to the inventory management server 20. Here, it is assumed that the user has selected store Z.

Next, the inventory management server 20 creates a selection screen, and the screen is received by the portable terminal 10 (step 306). An example of the created selection screen is shown at 402 in FIG.
Shown in On the selection screen 402, any one of “reservation request”, “purchase request”, and “quit” can be selected. Next, the user uses the selection screen to select placement, purchase, or cancellation (step 307). If the cancellation is selected, the demounting procedure ends.

In step 307, when the placement is selected, information to that effect is transmitted to the inventory management server 20, and the inventory management server 20 creates a placement setting screen, and the screen is displayed on the portable terminal 10. (Step 308). An example of the placement setting screen is shown at 403 in FIG. Here, it is assumed that the user has selected 6 days as the number of storage days. Next, the user uses the storage setting screen 403 to select the storage days (step 309), and data relating to the storage days is transmitted to the inventory management server 20.

Next, the inventory management server 20 compares the received storage days with the stored product DB 26 and selects a storage price corresponding to the selected storage days. For example, when the user selects the number of days to reserve 6 for the product A, the reserve price is 1,500 yen as shown by 504 in FIG. The inventory management server 20 creates a payment processing screen based on these data, and the screen is received by the mobile terminal 10 (Step 310). An example of the payment processing screen is shown in FIG.
04.

Next, on the payment processing screen 404, the user
The credit card number and the password are entered (step 311), and the data is transmitted to the inventory management server 20. Next, the inventory management server 20 transmits the received credit card number, personal identification number and reserve price to the affiliated card company server 40, and obtains authentication of the card company server 40. When the authentication of the card company is obtained, the inventory management server 20 performs a billing process for the reserve price, automatically assigns a reserve ID, creates a user reserve confirmation screen,
The screen is received by the mobile terminal 10 (step 31)
2). An example of the user placement confirmation screen is shown at 405 in FIG. At the same time, the inventory management server 20 creates and transmits a store placement confirmation screen to the selected store. One example of the store confirmation screen is shown at 406 in FIG.
The store reservation confirmation screen 406 includes data such as a product name, a list price, the number of days to reserve, a reserve price, a reserve ID, and a user name. Here, the user name may be separately input from the user using the mobile terminal 10, or may be obtained from a card company using a credit card number.

The user can go to the selected store and purchase the product requested to be placed within the set number of days to be placed. The reserve price is debited by the card company from the user's predetermined financial institution account and transferred to the selected store. In addition, the reserve amount may or may not be applied to the product price as a deposit for the product to be purchased. If the user does not purchase the product even after the specified number of days of storage, only the amount of the storage is collected from the user.

If "purchase request" is selected in step 307, the information to that effect is sent to the inventory management server 2.
Sent to 0. The inventory management server 20 automatically assigns the purchase ID, creates a purchase confirmation screen for the user, and the screen is received by the mobile terminal 10 (step 313). An example of the user purchase confirmation screen is shown at 407 in FIG. Also,
At the same time, the inventory management server 20 creates and transmits a store purchase confirmation screen to the selected store. An example of the store purchase confirmation screen is shown at 408 in FIG. The store purchase confirmation screen 408 includes data such as a product name, a list price, a purchase ID, and a user name. Here, the user name may be separately input from the user using the mobile terminal 10, or may be obtained from a card company using a credit card number. The user can go to the selected store and purchase a product within the set time.

In the above-mentioned example, FIG.
Days-price data 504 in the reserved product DB 22 shown in FIG.
The stock price at that point is determined from the stock inventory DB 27, and the stock price may be determined based on the stock ratio-price data 505 in the stock product DB 26. . Also, the number of storage days-price data 504
And the stock ratio-price data 505 is obtained, and the higher one can be used as the stock price. Conversely, the storage days-price data 504 and the stock ratio-price data 505 are obtained,
Any lower one may be used as the reserve price.

Referring to FIG. 7, the procedure for product reservation will be described. It is assumed that the procedure of the commodity reservation is mainly executed by the processing unit 11 in the portable terminal 10 in accordance with the application program stored in the storage unit 15 in advance. In addition, it is assumed that the product placement procedure is mainly executed by the processing unit 21 in the inventory management server 20 according to a predetermined program stored in the storage unit 25 in advance.

First, the user finds a product B desired to be reserved in the magazine 100 or the like, and reads the barcode 103 corresponding to the product B using the barcode reading unit 16 'of the portable terminal 10 (step 701). . Next, using the product number code indicated by the read barcode, a predetermined URL is used.
(Uniform Resource Locato
r) is created automatically (step 702). The created URL is set in the inventory management server 20 so as to correspond to the product number code indicated by the barcode. For example, the URL to be created is “http: // w
ww. xxxx. com / yoyaku / xxx2. h
tml ". Here, “www.xxxxxx.co”
“m” indicates the domain name of the inventory management server 20 stored in advance, and is automatically given by the application program. Also, "yoyaku / xxx
2. "html" indicates a file name corresponding to a product in the inventory management server 20, and is created by an application program based on the product number code read by the barcode reading unit 16 '.

Next, the ISP is created by using the created URL.
50 and the inventory management server 20 via the network 1
Is accessed (step 703). Next, the inventory management server 20 checks the received file name (“yoyaku / x
xx2. html ”) in the reservation product DB
28, and a reservation information screen is created and transmitted to the mobile terminal 10. The mobile terminal 10 receives the stock information screen (Step 704).

Here, FIG. 9 shows an example of the reservation commodity DB 28. The reservation product DB 28 includes file name data 901,
It is composed of product name data 902, fixed price data 903, release date data 904, data 905 corresponding to the number of days before release and price, and the like. An example of the reservation stock DB 29 is shown in FIG.
0 is shown. The reservation stock DB 29 stores the product name data 100
1, store name data 1002, original number data 1003, reservation number data 1004, remaining number data 1005, and the like. For example, in FIG. 10, store Y initially has 1000 items of product B, the current number of items remaining is 900, and
This indicates that there are 00 reservation requests. Each data of the reservation stock DB 29 is configured to be transmitted in real time from each of the store servers 31 to 33 to the stock management server 20 via the network 1 and stored in the reservation stock DB 29.

An example of a reservation information screen created by the inventory management server 20 is shown at 801 in FIG. Reservation information screen 801
Displays the name of the shop where the product B desired by the user remains at the present time based on the data in the reserved stock DB 29. In addition, based on the date of access to the inventory management server 20 and the release date data of the reserved product DB 28,
The inventory management server 20 calculates the date and time until the release date of the product B, and further extracts the reservation price based on the number of days before release-price data in the reservation product DB 28. Reservation information screen 80
For 1, it was 10 days before release, so the reservation price was 4,
It was 200 yen (see 905 in FIG. 9).

Next, when the user selects a store name using the portable terminal 10 (step 705), data of the selected store name is transmitted to the inventory management server 20. Here, it is assumed that the user has selected store Y. Next, the inventory management server 20 creates a payment processing screen based on these data, and the screen is received by the mobile terminal 10 (step 706). An example of the payment processing screen is shown in FIG.
It is shown in FIG.

Next, on the payment processing screen 802, the user
The credit card number and the password are entered (step 707), and the data is transmitted to the inventory management server 20. Next, the inventory management server 20 transmits the received credit card number, personal identification number, and reservation price to the affiliated card company server 40, and obtains authentication of the card company server 40. If the authentication of the card company is obtained, the inventory management server 20 performs a charging process for the reservation price, automatically assigns a reservation ID, creates a user reservation confirmation screen,
The screen is received by the mobile terminal 10 (step 70).
8). An example of the user reservation confirmation screen is shown at 803 in FIG. At the same time, the inventory management server 20 creates and transmits a store reservation confirmation screen to the selected store. An example of the store reservation confirmation screen is shown at 804 in FIG.
The store reservation confirmation screen 804 includes data such as a product name, a list price, a release date, the number of days until the release date, a reservation price, a reservation ID, and a user name. Here, the user name may be separately input from the user using the mobile terminal 10, or may be obtained from a card company using a credit card number.

Note that in steps 801 to 804 of FIG. 8, the user can cancel the reservation procedure at any time by selecting “stop”. The user can go to the selected store and purchase the reserved product within a predetermined date and time after the release date of the reserved product. The reservation price is deducted from the user's predetermined financial institution account by the card company and transferred to the selected store. The reservation price may or may not be applied to the product price as a deposit for the product to be purchased. If the user does not purchase the product within a predetermined date and time after the sale date of the reserved product, only the reservation price will be collected from the user.

In the above-described procedure for placing a commodity and making a reservation for a commodity, an example has been described in which a charging process is performed in cooperation with a credit card company, but the charging process is not limited to this. For example, a fee collection agent system using a mobile phone carrier or a prepaid system using a prepaid card can be used.

[0038]

According to the present invention, by paying the user a fee according to the number of days for keeping the product, it is possible to grant the right to secure the product for the period. Further, since a predetermined fee is paid to the store in accordance with the period for securing the product, a great loss is not given even if the seller sells the best selling product for a long time.

Further, the present invention makes it possible to give a user the right to secure the product by paying a fee according to the number of days until the release before the product is released. Further, since a predetermined fee is paid to the store in accordance with the number of days before the release, a large loss is not given even if the user has many reservations of the best selling products.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a mobile terminal including a barcode reading unit.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an inventory management system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a procedure for placing goods.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen displayed on a portable terminal regarding product placement.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a stored product DB.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a stocked stock DB.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a procedure for product reservation.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen displayed on a mobile terminal for product reservation.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a pre-order product DB.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a reservation stock DB.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Network 10 ... Portable terminal 16 ... Barcode reading part 20 ... Inventory management server 31, 32, 33 ... Store server 40 ... Card company server

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. An inventory management system, comprising: receiving means for receiving, from a user terminal, merchandise data for specifying a merchandise and lay-off data indicating the number of days for arranging the merchandise; An inventory management system comprising: setting means for setting an amount; and charging processing means for charging the reserved amount to a user terminal. 2. The inventory management system according to claim 1, wherein the reserve amount is set to increase as the number of reserve days increases. 3. An inventory management system, comprising: receiving means for receiving, from a user terminal, merchandise data for specifying a merchandise and lay-off data indicating the number of days for arranging the merchandise; A first setting unit for setting a reserve amount of the first item; a second setting unit for setting a second reserve amount in accordance with a stock status of the item corresponding to the item data; And a billing processing means for billing the user terminal for the amount to be settled. 4. The billing processing means according to claim 1, wherein
4. The inventory management system according to claim 3, wherein the user terminal is charged with a higher amount of the reserved amount. 5. The charging processing means according to claim 1, wherein
4. The inventory management system according to claim 3, wherein the user terminal is charged with a lower amount of the reserved amount. 6. An inventory management method in a server accessible via a network with a user terminal, comprising: receiving product data for specifying a product from the user terminal; An inventory management method, comprising: setting a reserve fee according to the reserve days data; and charging the reserve fee for the user terminal. 7. The inventory management method according to claim 6, wherein the reserve amount is set so as to increase as the number of reserve days increases. 8. An inventory management method in a server accessible via a network with a user terminal, comprising: receiving product data for specifying a product from the user terminal; Setting a first reserve amount according to the number of days of the reserve, setting a second reserve amount according to the stock status of the commodity corresponding to the commodity data, the first or the second reserve An inventory management method, wherein an amount is charged to the user terminal. 9. The inventory management method according to claim 8, wherein in the inventory management method, the user terminal is charged with a larger amount of the first or second reserve amount. 10. The inventory management method, wherein the first
9. The inventory management method according to claim 8, wherein the user terminal is charged with a lower amount of the second reserved amount. 11. In an inventory management system, a receiving unit that receives product data for specifying a product from a user terminal, and a unit that obtains a reservation amount according to the number of days until a release date of the product corresponding to the product data. And an accounting processing means for accounting the user terminal for the reservation amount. 12. The inventory management system according to claim 11, wherein the reservation amount is set to be higher as the number of days until the release date of the product corresponding to the product data is smaller. 13. An inventory management method in a server accessible via a network with a user terminal, wherein the commodity data for specifying the commodity is received from the user terminal, and the commodity data corresponding to the commodity data until a release date of the commodity is received. An inventory management method comprising: setting a reservation amount according to the number of days; and charging the reservation amount to the user terminal. 14. The inventory management method according to claim 11, wherein the reservation amount is set so as to increase as the number of days until the release date of the product corresponding to the product data decreases.