JP2002279280A - Coupon issuance system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a coupon issuance system that can acquire accurate marketing information via simple equipment and operation by means of a portable information terminal. SOLUTION: A portable information terminal user 7 uses the portable information terminal 1 to access a coupon site 6 via the Internet 2 and acquire coupon information from a coupon data storage server 3. Password information entered by a coupon using store 8 is authenticated by an authentication server 5 also via the Internet 2, and simultaneously, use information is stored in a coupon management server 4, before coupon acquisition completion information is transmitted to the portable information terminal 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0101]

The present invention relates to a coupon issuing system and method using a portable information terminal.

[0092]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, issuance of a coupon using a portable information terminal involves a user reading coupon information from a server, displaying it on the portable information terminal, and obtaining a coupon.

However, in this case, it is not possible to specify who or who obtained the coupon from the server. Also, it is difficult to understand what they are interested in. In addition, it is impossible to know when, where, and how many times it has been used. Therefore, there has been a problem that it is difficult for the coupon user to perform accurate marketing.

By distributing a barcode or the like for the purpose of solving the above-mentioned problem from a server or the like and displaying the barcode on a screen, the user can display the barcode on the coupon provider (store franchise) side. Present and coupon supplier (store side)
There is a system in which a user reads marketing information using a system such as a barcode reader to obtain marketing information of the user.

[0056]

According to the barcode distribution method described above, marketing information of a user can be obtained, but a barcode reader or the like for reading is required (expensive), and the operation method is required. Learning to acquire,
There is a problem that a time delay of store operation occurs and a store bureau burden increases due to a mechanical reading error / operation error.

For example, in a small or medium-sized store (low funding), even if a coupon using a portable terminal is desired to be issued, investment in a new device, investment in human resources for learning how to acquire an operation method, In many cases, coupons using mobile information terminals cannot be used due to problems such as not wanting to cause new problems for customers. The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and allows users to obtain marketing without adding new equipment,
An object of the present invention is to provide a coupon issuing system and a method using a portable information terminal on the premise that a coupon issuing system is widely used.

007

According to the present invention, in a system in which a server is connected to a portable information terminal via the Internet, a user of the portable information terminal acquires coupon information. Coupon information receiving means, use confirmation input means for confirming use based on the coupon information received by the previous term coupon information receiving means, transmission means for transmitting the contents of the previous term use confirmation input means, and data transmitted by the previous term transmission means Data authentication means for authenticating the user, coupon counting means for counting coupon usage points of the user authenticated by the previous term usage data authentication means, and completion transmission for transmitting information completed by the previous term coupon counting means to the user terminal Means.

[0098]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A coupon issuing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a coupon issuing system according to the present invention. This system includes a portable information terminal 1, a portable information terminal user 7, a coupon using store 8, and a coupon site 6. The portable information terminal 1 and the coupon site 6 are connected via the Internet 2.

The portable information terminal 1 comprises a portable telephone, a PDA terminal, a notebook / book type personal computer terminal and the like. Note that the portable information terminal 1 will be described below using a mobile phone as shown in FIG. 3 as an example. The portable information terminal 1 is shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the display 13 and the numeric keypad 14 are included.

The display 13 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal panel, and displays not only a predetermined menu screen (character string) but also an image such as coupon information 15 transmitted from the coupon site 6, which will be described later.

The ten keys 14 are used to input instruction information from the portable information terminal user 3 and the like. For example, the numeric keypad 14
When connecting from the portable information terminal 1 to the coupon site 6,
According to the operation of the portable information terminal user 3, the user inputs a password or selects an item.

As shown in FIG. 1, the coupon site 6 includes the coupon data storage server 3, the coupon management server 4, and the authentication server 5.

The coupon data storage server 3 is, for example, an HTML composing a web page displaying coupon information.
A WEB server that stores files, compact HTML files, HDML files, XML files, JAVA (registered trademark) language, image information, etc., and is connected to the portable information terminal 1 via the authentication server 5.

The coupon data storage server 3 stores coupon data information as shown in FIG. 7 in advance in a magnetic storage device provided. The coupon data information shown in FIG. 7 is various information for specifying coupon information including a coupon issue requesting company, a coupon using store, a coupon using store address, business hours, a coupon ID, an expiration date, a coupon phrase, and the like.

The coupon management server 4 comprises, for example, a communication control device, a general-purpose workstation provided with a magnetic storage device and the like. Further, the coupon management server 4 stores in advance the point record management information as shown in FIG. 8 and the user information as shown in FIG. 9 in the magnetic storage device provided. The point result management information shown in FIG. 8 includes a coupon issue requesting company, a coupon using store, a use date, a coupon I
D, user ID, various information for specifying the point record including the weather, etc., and the user information shown in FIG.
It is various information for specifying a user including a user ID, a user name, an address, a point number, and the like.

The authentication server 5 is composed of, for example, a general-purpose workstation provided with a communication control device and a magnetic storage device, and is connected to the portable information terminal 1 via the Internet 2. In addition, the authentication server 5 stores in advance the coupon-use-store-specific information as shown in FIG. 10 in the magnetic storage device provided. The coupon using store specific information shown in FIG. 10 includes a coupon issuing requesting company, a coupon using store,
It is various information for specifying a coupon using store, such as a password, the total number of points used, and the number of times of use.

Returning to FIG. 1, the coupon store 8 is a store such as a family restaurant, a fast food store, a convenience store, a supermarket, a beauty salon, etc., which has a contract with the coupon site 6 in advance. No special equipment is required.

A coupon issuing system according to this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG.
It is a flowchart for demonstrating a coupon issuing system.

The coupon issuing system shown in FIG. 6 is started when the portable information terminal user 7 operates the portable information terminal 1 to access the coupon site 6 via the Internet 2. (S1)

The coupon management server 4 uses the user DB 11 to access the portable information terminal user 7
Recognize who they are. (S2)

The information obtained by the portable information terminal user 7 searching for the desired coupon 15 is stored in the coupon data storage server 3.
Outputs the coupon using the coupon data information DB 9 and displays the coupon as shown in FIG.
(S3)

In the contents displayed on the display 13,
There are a coupon 15, a password input area 16, other input items 17, and a transmission button 18. The portable information terminal user 7 hands over the terminal to the clerk of the store 8 using the coupon, and the clerk inputs the password and other items 18. After that, the transmission button 19 is used to perform a transmission operation. (S4)

The authentication server 5 stores the coupon authentication data DB1
2 is used to authenticate the contents entered in the password input area 16, and if it is correct, a request is made to the coupon data storage server 3 for return data, and to S6, if not correct,
The user is prompted to input S4 again. (S5)

Upon receiving a request for reply data from the authentication server 5,
The coupon data storage server 3 distributes the reply information 19 of FIG. 5 to the display 13 of the portable information terminal 1. (S
6)

The coupon management server 4 which has received the reply information from the coupon data storage server 3 determines the item contents of FIG.
The date and time of use, coupon ID, user ID, weather, and the like are stored using the point record management DB 10. (S7)

As a result, the coupon issue requesting company (store)
Who, when, at what store, what coupon,
What kind of weather day did you use? Also, who is the best,
Is coupon usage high? Which stores receive the most coupons? And the like can be accurately collected.

In the above coupon system, the password information from the coupon use store 8 is authenticated by the authentication server 5 via the Internet 2 once, but the authentication software is put in the portable information terminal. In this way, authentication is determined once without going through the Internet 2, and later,
A method of acquiring information such as the coupon usage history content stored in the portable information terminal from the server side may be used.

[0290]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A coupon issuance system that can be used for small and medium-sized stores as well as small and medium-sized stores, because it is possible to use only portable information terminals and grasp the user identification and usage results without special equipment on the storefront side. It becomes possible to use it.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of the entire coupon issuing system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing one example of a server side of the coupon issuing system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an external view of an example of the portable information terminal of the present invention as viewed from the front.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of coupon information displayed on a display of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of reply coupon information displayed on the display of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the processing of the coupon issuing system of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an example of coupon data information stored in a coupon data storage server of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an example of point achievement management information stored in a coupon management server of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of user information stored in the coupon management server of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an example of coupon-use-store-specific information stored in the authentication server of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Portable information terminal 2 Internet 3 Coupon accumulation server 4 Coupon management server 5 Authentication server 6 Coupon site 7 Portable information terminal user 8 Coupon use store 舖 9 Coupon data information DB 10 Point result management DB 11 User DB 12 Coupon authentication data DB 13 Display 14 Numeric keypad 15 Coupon information 16 Password input area 17 Other input items 18 Send button 19 Reply information

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 17/60 ZEC G06F 17/60 ZEC

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a system in which a server is connected to a portable information terminal via the Internet, a coupon information receiving means for a user of the portable information terminal to acquire coupon information, and a coupon received by the coupon information receiving means in the previous term. Use confirmation input means for confirming use based on information, transmission means for transmitting the content of the previous term use confirmation input means, use data authentication means for authenticating data transmitted by the previous term transmission means, and use data authentication means for the previous term A coupon issuing system comprising: a coupon totaling unit for totalizing coupon usage points of a user who has been authenticated by the above; and a completion transmitting unit for transmitting information completed by the previous period coupon totaling unit to the user terminal. .