JP2002279499A - Prize application system and method therefor, and commodity information management system and method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a prize application system and a prize application method, enabling a user to automatically apply for a prize added to a commodity by utilizing the transaction information when buying the commodity from a vending machine with electronic money which improves convenience in handling for the user and a seller, by dispensing with the troubles in making an application and totaling the applications. SOLUTION: The user buys a commodity 13 by loading an IC card 11 which includes electronic money information on the vending machine 12. Here, personal information of the IC card 11 and the transaction information relating to the sale of the commodity 13 are inputted to a host computer 16 of the seller, and the database is constituted. When the sold commodity 13 is the object of the prize, the application of the prize is automatically set to the state as applied on the data base.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine capable of handling electronic money, and more particularly to a prize application system and a prize application method when a user purchases a prize target product and applies for a prize. And a merchandise information management system and a merchandise information management method for managing merchandise purchased including the prize target merchandise.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, in recent years, in addition to cash,
Vending machines capable of purchasing products using electronic money have been developed. This vending machine is disclosed in, for example, Patent
As shown in Japanese Patent No. 23006, an IC (Integrated Circuit) card in which electronic money information is stored is mounted, and a desired product selection button is operated to supply a product and rewrite the electronic money information. It is.

[0003] This kind of vending machine easily obtains various kinds of transaction information related to product sales, such as the type, number, and sales amount of sold products, in addition to personal information of users. Since it can be managed, it fully includes the possibility of realizing a new and efficient merchandise management function that could not be achieved with the conventional cash-only vending machine.

[0004]

However, a vending machine using such electronic money is still in the stage of development, and even if it is put to practical use, it is experimentally used in a specific area. At present, it is strongly desired to develop a new, organic and practical product management function that could not be achieved with conventional vending machines. ing.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and automatically applies for a prize attached to a product by using transaction information when the product is purchased from a vending machine with electronic money. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an extremely good prize application system and an excellent prize application method that make it easy to handle by eliminating the trouble of separately applying for the user and the seller, and the trouble of totalizing the application. I do.

In addition, the present invention enables a user to easily view the application status such as the number of points for a product to be given a prize, and a discount from a seller to a specific user. It is an object of the present invention to provide a very good product information management system and a product information management method which can control services such as free and free provision by a vending machine.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A prize application system according to the present invention reads personal information and electronic money information from a portable storage medium in which personal information and electronic money information are respectively stored, and based on the electronic money information. A vending machine that controls the sale of goods and generates transaction information related to the sale of goods, and a database in which personal information and transaction information are supplied from the vending machine so that personal information and transaction information are associated with each other. If the transaction information stored on the database composed of the product information management device and the database composed of the product information management device is related to the sale of the prize target product, the user automatically applied for the prize on the database. Application means for setting the state.

[0008] A prize application method according to the present invention is directed to a vending machine for controlling sales of a product based on electronic money information read from a portable storage medium in which personal information and electronic money information are stored. The present invention is directed to a method including a product information management device main body for managing vending machine sales.

Then, the vending machine reads the personal information and the electronic money information from the portable storage medium, controls the sales of the goods based on the electronic money information, generates the transaction information on the sales of the goods, and outputs the personal information. A first step of supplying the merchandise information management device and the transaction information to the merchandise information management device, and the merchandise information management device selling the prize target product based on the personal information and the transaction information supplied from the vending machine. If it is about
And a second step of automatically setting a prize on the database.

According to the above system and method,
Automatically apply for the prize given to the product using the transaction information when purchasing the product with electronic money from the vending machine, so the user and the seller need to take the separate application procedure and application. It is possible to simplify the handling by eliminating the trouble of counting.

[0011] In addition, the product information management system according to the present invention is a product information management system in which personal information, transaction information relating to a sold product, and application point information attached to a target product of the transaction information are stored in a corresponding manner. A management device main body, a terminal device connected to the product information management device main body via a network, and a portable storage medium mounted on the terminal device and storing personal information, wherein the terminal device has a portable storage medium. The terminal device reads out the application point information corresponding to the personal information stored in the portable storage medium from the main body of the merchandise information management device, and displays the application point information in a state in which is attached.

Further, a product information management system according to the present invention is connected to a product information management device main body in which personal information and transaction information on sold products are stored, and to the product information management device main body via a network. A terminal device, comprising a portable storage medium mounted on the terminal device and storing personal information, wherein the terminal device equipped with the portable storage medium is communicably connected to the product information management device main body, Discount information generated from the product information management device body based on the transaction information is transmitted to and stored in a portable storage medium via a terminal device.

[0013] Further, in the product information management method according to the present invention, the main body of the product information management device associates personal information, transaction information relating to the sold product, and application point information attached to the target product of the transaction information. A first step of connecting the terminal device to the main body of the product information management device over a network, and the terminal device transmits the application point information corresponding to the personal information of the portable storage medium in which the personal information is stored, to the product A second step of reading out from the information management apparatus main body and displaying the read out information.

Further, according to the product information management method of the present invention, the personal information and the transaction information on the sold product are stored in the product information management device main body, and the terminal device is connected to the product information management device main body via a network. Step 1, and in a state where the terminal device is communicably connected to the product information management device main body, the discount information generated from the product information management device main body based on the transaction information is transmitted to the personal information via the terminal device. And transmitting the stored data to a portable storage medium.

According to the above system and method,
Using the terminal device, the user can easily view the application status such as the number of application points for the products that are eligible for the prize, and at the same time, from the seller, the specific user who satisfies the discount conditions On the other hand, it is possible to realize a management form in which services such as discounting of goods can be performed by a vending machine.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an outline of a merchandise sales system described in this embodiment. First, the user A mounts the IC card 11, which is a portable storage medium owned by the user A, on the vending machine 12, and operates a selection button of a desired product. In this case, the IC card 11 has electronic money information,
Personal information and discount information are stored.

Then, the vending machine 12 has the attached I
When the information stored in the C card 11 is read by a reader / writer unit (not shown), the authentication processing is performed, and the IC card 11 is recognized as a valid IC card 11, the information is selected in consideration of electronic money information, discount information, and the like. After supplying goods 13,
The information of the IC card 11 is rewritten and returned to the user, and the merchandise is sold to the user by electronic money.

In this case, the vending machine 12 stores the personal information read from the IC card 11 and the information on the sold product 13 in a built-in storage device (not shown) in association with each other. Then, the vending machine 12 transmits the information stored in the storage device to the mobile phone 14 at regular intervals.
Through the telephone line 15 to the host computer 16 which is the main body of the merchandise information management device of the seller.

Means for periodically supplying the information stored in the storage device of the vending machine 12 to the host computer 16 include, for example, the maintenance and maintenance of the vending machine 12.
The traveling worker (routeman) B who performs inspections and the like may collect information stored in the storage device of the vending machine 12 using the portable terminal 17 and input the information to the host computer 16. is there.

In the host computer 16, the information supplied from the vending machine 12 is stored in the information storage section 18 as a customer database. Thereby, the seller can easily obtain various information related to merchandise management, such as which user has purchased which merchandise and how much, based on the customer database stored in the information storage unit 18. Can be.

Further, when the prize target product is purchased, the host computer 16 automatically sets the purchased user to a state of applying for the prize on the customer database. In this case, if the prize is a type of prize in which a prize is given according to the cumulative number of application points attached to the product, each time the same user purchases the product, the application points of that user are accumulated on the customer database. You.

FIG. 2 shows details of the IC card 11. The IC card 11 has a CPU (Central Processi
ng Unit) 11a, a non-volatile data memory 11b with erasable storage contents, a working memory 11c, and a contact portion for making electrical contact with a reader / writer of the vending machine 12 and an IC chip 11e including a program memory 11d. 11f and integrated IC module,
It is embedded in the card body.

The data memory 11b is used for storing various data. As shown in FIG. 3, an area A where card type confirmation information is stored, for example, a card I,
An area B in which personal information such as D (Identify) is stored, an area C in which discount information is stored, and an area D in which electronic money balance information is stored.
ectrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Mem
ory) is used.

The working memory 11c stores C
The PU 11a is used for temporarily storing processing data when the PU 11a performs data processing.
(Random Access Memory) or the like is used. Further, the program memory 11d stores a program to be executed by the CPU 11a.
(Read Only Memory) or the like is used.

FIG. 4 shows details of the vending machine 12. The vending machine 12 includes a main controller 12a that controls the overall operation.

The main controller 12a has a cash collecting unit 12b which receives the input cash, performs a predetermined process, and stores the received cash.
An information storage unit 12c for storing various kinds of transaction information relating to product sales, such as the amount of sales, a reader / writer unit 12d for reading and writing information to and from the IC card 11, and a transport for transporting the product 13 to an outlet; The mechanism 12e is connected to a display unit 12f for displaying purchase information to the user and sales information such as "sold out".

Here, the selling operation of the product 13 using the electronic money in the vending machine 12 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, when started (step S11),
The main controller 12a determines in step S12 that the IC card 1
When the IC card 11 is mounted, the authentication process is performed on the mounted IC card 11 in step S13, and the authorized IC card 1
It is determined whether it is 1 or not.

If it is determined that the IC card 11 is not valid as a result of the authentication processing (NO), the main controller 1
2a is the IC card 11 inserted in step S14.
Is returned.

If it is determined in step S13 that the IC card 11 is valid (YES), the main controller 1
2a reads out the electronic money balance information and the discount information from the IC card 11 in step S15, and proceeds to step S16.
Then, it is in a state of waiting for the operation of the product selection button.

When one of the product selection buttons is operated, the main controller 12a determines in step S17 whether or not discount information has been set in the IC card 11.
If it is determined that it has not been set (NO), the purchase price of the product 13 is set to the standard price in step S18.

If it is determined in step S17 that the discount information has been set (YES), the main controller 12a determines in step S19 that the desired product 13 has been set.
Is determined to be a discount target product, and if it is determined that the product is not a discount target product (NO), the process proceeds to step S18.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S19 that the product 13 desired to be purchased is a discount target product (YE
S) In step S20, the main controller 12a performs a discount according to the discount information from the standard price of the product 13 desired to be purchased, and sets the selling price of the product 13.

Then, step S18 or step S
After step 20, the main controller 12a subtracts the purchase amount from the electronic money balance information in step S21, and overwrites the D area of the data memory 11b of the IC card 11 with the subtracted electronic money balance information, and Return the card 11.

Thereafter, main controller 12a executes step S
At 22, the product 13 is provided, and at step S23, the personal information and the transaction information generated as a result of the sale are stored in the above-mentioned storage device, and the process is terminated (step S24).

Then, as described above, the vending machine 12
The information stored in the storage device is supplied to the host computer 16 of the seller. In this case, as shown in FIG. 6, a mobile phone 14 installed in the vending machine 12 automatically sets a route to be automatically input to the seller's host computer 16 via the telephone line 15 at predetermined time intervals. A route is taken in which a traveling worker (routeman) who performs maintenance and inspection of the vending machine 12 collects information of the storage device using the portable terminal 17 and inputs the information to the host computer 16.

Here, the host computer 16 totals the information supplied from each vending machine 12 and stores it in the information storage unit 18 as a customer database. The customer database includes personal information (card ID), sales amount, purchase quantity for each product, application points, and the like.

Next, FIG. 7 shows a case where a user confirms his / her own application points, or a specific user whose merchandise has purchased, for example, a certain number of goods 13 or a certain amount or more.
1 shows an outline of a management system for performing services such as discounts in a vending machine 12.

That is, this management system includes the user A
For example, a terminal device 19 such as a personal computer owned by the company and a host computer 16 of the seller are connected by the Internet 20.
Note that a card reader / writer 19a capable of reading and writing data from and to the IC card 11 is also added to the terminal device 19 of the user A.

FIG. 8 illustrates an operation for the user to check his / her application point number and the like via the terminal device 19. First, the terminal device 19 executes an application for connecting to the host computer 16 via the Internet 20, and then waits for the mounting of the IC card 11.

When the IC card 11 is mounted on the card reader / writer 19a, the terminal device 19 executes connection to the host computer 16. Then, the host computer 16 sets an encryption key (also a decryption key) for encrypting the communication data with the terminal device 19 thereafter.
Is transmitted to the terminal device 19, so that all subsequent data communication between the terminal device 19 and the host computer 16 is encrypted.

After that, the terminal device 19 executes the authentication processing of the host computer 16, the internal authentication processing for the IC card 11, and the external authentication processing for the host computer 16 by the challenge and response method, thereby establishing the connection with the IC card 11. Mutual authentication with the host computer 16 is performed.

If the authentication result is not OK,
The terminal device 19 determines that the IC card 11 is an unauthorized IC card 11 and interrupts the process. If the authentication result is OK, the terminal device 19 requests the personal information from the IC card 11 and, as a result, transmits the personal information supplied from the IC card 11 to the host computer 16, Request accumulated information for the user.

Then, the host computer 16 compares the screen information prepared in advance for displaying information such as the number of applied points on the monitor screen of the terminal device 19 and the applied point information for the user with the terminal device 19. The number of application points of the user is displayed on the terminal device 19 on the screen.

In this case, on the monitor screen, as shown in FIG. 9, in addition to the current number of application points, information on the application deadline, application course, course content, application status, electronic money replenishment, and discount conditions ( In the example shown in FIG.
Contents such as 10 points discount at the time of card purchase at 00 points), return, etc. are displayed.

Note that on the monitor screen shown in FIG.
When winning or losing is determined immediately by the host computer 16 when applying for the A course or the B course, the terminal device 19 receives the winning information from the host computer 16 and displays the winning result on a monitor screen. be able to.

Next, FIG. 10 illustrates an operation for a vending machine 12 to provide a discount service for a specific user to a specific user. First, in a state where the screen display as shown in FIG. 9 is performed on the monitor screen of the terminal device 19, when the user requests a discount by clicking the display area of the information regarding the discount condition, the terminal device 19 It requests the host computer 16 for a card discount command.

Then, the host computer 16 determines whether or not the user satisfies the discount condition, that is, in this example, whether or not the number of applied points has reached a total of 100 points. If it is determined that there is, a card discount command is transmitted to the terminal device 19.

Upon receiving the card discount command from the host computer 16, the terminal device 19 decodes the card discount command and supplies the processed discount information to the IC card 11.

In this case, the terminal device 19 is set so that the contents of the card discount command and the discount information cannot be accessed at least within the range of the keyboard operation. This prevents the discount information from being illegally exploited and written into the IC card 11.

In the IC card 11, the discount information supplied from the terminal device 19 is written in the area C of the data memory 11b, where the discount information is set in the IC card 11.

Then, the IC card 11 sends a response to the effect that the discount information has been set to the terminal device 19, and in response to this, the terminal device 19 has normally set the discount information in the host computer 16. Is transmitted, and upon receipt of confirmation information from the host computer 16, the processing is terminated.

In FIG. 10, a description has been given of the case where the discount service of the product 13 is provided by the vending machine 12.
The service to the user is not limited to the discount, and for example, the product 13 can be provided free of charge.

According to the above-described embodiment, first, using the transaction information when purchasing the commodity 13 from the vending machine 12 with electronic money, the applicant automatically applies for the prize given to the commodity 13, Since the application points can be automatically accumulated, it is possible to simplify the handling for users and sellers without having to separately perform application procedures and totaling the number of applications.

Further, regarding the commodity 13 to be a prize object,
The user can easily browse the application status such as the number of application points of the user using the terminal device 19,
From the seller side, it is possible to realize a management form in which services such as discounting and free provision of the product 13 can be performed by the vending machine 12 for a specific user who satisfies the discount condition.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0057]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
Using the transaction information when purchasing a product with electronic money from a vending machine, it is possible to automatically apply for the sweepstakes attached to the product, and the labor for the user and the seller to separately apply It is possible to provide an extremely good prize application system and a prize application method in which the handling of the application is omitted and the handling of the application is simplified.

Further, according to the present invention, the user can easily browse the application status such as the number of points for the product to be given a prize, and the seller can provide the product to a specific user. It is possible to provide a very good product information management system and a product information management method which can control services such as discounting and free provision by a vending machine.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing an embodiment of the present invention and schematically illustrating a product sales system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the IC card according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary view for explaining various kinds of information stored in the IC card according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the vending machine according to the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary flowchart for explaining a vending machine selling operation using electronic money according to the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary view for explaining means for transferring information accumulated in the vending machine to the host computer of the seller and a customer database according to the embodiment;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary view for explaining the outline of a management system according to the embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a view for explaining an operation in which the user checks his / her application point number and the like in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a view for explaining display contents of a monitor screen in the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary view for explaining an operation of the embodiment to enable a seller to provide a discount service to a specific user by a vending machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11: IC card, 12: Vending machine, 13: Product, 14: Mobile phone, 15: Telephone line, 16: Host computer, 17: Mobile terminal, 18: Information storage unit, 19: Terminal device, 20: Internet.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 17/60 332 G06F 17/60 332 410 410E 420 420 432 432 432A 506 506 G06K 17/00 G06K 17/00 L G07F 7/08 G07F 7/08 Z

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. The method according to claim 1, wherein the personal information and the electronic money information are respectively read from a portable storage medium in which the personal information and the electronic money information are stored, and the sales of the goods are controlled based on the electronic money information. A vending machine for generating transaction information relating to the product information management, wherein the personal information and the transaction information are supplied from the vending machine to form a database in which the personal information and the transaction information are associated with each other. If the transaction information stored on the database constituted by the device main body and the product information management device main body is related to the sale of the prize target product, the application for setting the prize to be automatically applied on the database. And a means for applying for a prize. 2. The prize application system according to claim 1, wherein the application means accumulates the number of application points given to the prize target product on the database. 3. A vending machine for controlling sales of a product based on the electronic money information read from a portable storage medium in which personal information and electronic money information are stored, respectively.
In the prize application method including a merchandise information management device main body that manages sales of the vending machine, the vending machine reads the personal information and the electronic money information from the portable storage medium, respectively, A first step of controlling the sale of the product based on the information, generating transaction information on the sale of the product, and supplying the personal information and the transaction information to the product information management device main body; When the main body is based on the personal information and the transaction information supplied from the vending machine, and the transaction information is related to the sale of the prize target product, the database is automatically applied to the prize on the database. A prize application method, comprising: setting a second step. 4. The prize application method according to claim 3, wherein in the second step, the number of application points given to the prize target product is accumulated on the database. 5. A merchandise sales system comprising: a vending machine for controlling sales of merchandise based on the electronic money information read from a portable storage medium in which electronic money information is stored; Means for storing discount information, and means for controlling a selling price of a product based on the discount information read from the portable storage medium by the vending machine. . 6. The vending machine according to claim 5, wherein the vending machine does not control the selling price based on the discount information read from the portable storage medium for a product other than the discount target product. Product sales system. 7. A merchandise selling method comprising: a vending machine for controlling sales of merchandise based on the electronic money information read from a portable storage medium in which electronic money information is stored; Wherein the vending machine controls a selling price of a product based on the discount information read from the portable storage medium. 8. The vending machine according to claim 7, wherein the vending machine does not control the selling price based on the discount information read from the portable storage medium for products other than the discount target product. Product sales method. 9. A merchandise information management device main body in which personal information, transaction information on sold merchandise, and application point information attached to a target merchandise of the transaction information are stored in correspondence with each other; A terminal device connected to the main body via a network, and a portable storage medium mounted on the terminal device and storing personal information, with the portable storage medium mounted on the terminal device,
A product information management system, wherein the terminal device reads application point information corresponding to personal information stored in the portable storage medium from the product information management device main body and displays the application point information. 10. A product information management device main body in which personal information and transaction information on sold products are stored, a terminal device connected to the product information management device main body via a network, and a terminal device attached to the terminal device. A portable storage medium storing personal information, wherein the terminal device equipped with the portable storage medium is communicably connected to the product information management device main body, and the product information management device main body. A discount information generated based on the transaction information is transmitted to and stored in the portable storage medium via the terminal device. 11. The merchandise information management apparatus main body stores personal information, transaction information on the sold merchandise, and application point information attached to the merchandise targeted for the transaction information in a corresponding manner. A first step of network-connecting a terminal device to the device main body, wherein the terminal device reads application point information corresponding to personal information of a portable storage medium storing personal information from the product information management device main body, And a second step for displaying. 12. A first step of storing personal information and transaction information on a sold product in a main body of the product information management device, and connecting a terminal device to the main body of the product information management device via a network; In a state in which the personal information is stored via the terminal device, the discount information generated based on the transaction information from the product information management device main body while being communicably connected to the product information management device main body. And transmitting the information to a storage medium for storage.