JP2002352174A - Device and method for settlement - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To store change by each customer with a method which is superior in convenience to a customer without having to pay for the change. SOLUTION: POS terminals 1 which are set so as to communicate with a computer 6 for managing deposit and saving accounts of a financial institution are provided with a means for specifying a deposit and saving account in the financial institution of a customer, who has bought merchandise from a financial institution card 7 read by a card reader 8 and directing the computer 6 to deposit a change amount partially or in its entirely to the deposit and saving account of the customer, when the change amount calculated from the price of the merchandise bought by the customer and an amount paid by the customer is larger than zero.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a settlement apparatus and a settlement method for processing payment for a product purchased by a customer in a retail store, a restaurant, or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a retail store, a restaurant, or the like, as a settlement apparatus for processing payment for a product purchased by a customer,
A POS (Point Of Sales: point of sale information) terminal and a cash register called an electronic cash register are provided. 2. Description of the Related Art A conventional cash registering machine is a product registration unit for registering products purchased by a customer one by one, and a price calculation unit for calculating the price of all products purchased by the customer from the sales amount of the products registered by the product registration unit. Deposit amount input means for inputting the amount paid by the customer as a deposit amount; change amount calculating means for calculating a change amount by subtracting the price calculated by the price calculating means from the deposit amount input by the deposit amount input means And a change amount display means for displaying the change amount calculated by the change amount calculation means, a clerk operating a cash register machine, a so-called cashier,
Cash corresponding to the change amount displayed by the change amount display means has been collected from the drawer and passed to the customer.

[0003] As described above, in retail stores, restaurants and the like,
If the customer pays for the purchased goods in cash, change may occur, and if change occurs, the cashier will have to prepare the change, and the customer will also have more coins, making it difficult to use cash. There was a problem of becoming. Conventionally, a card-like medium in which the balance data is rewritably recorded is issued to each customer, and a cash register is provided with a reader / writer for the card-like medium. Can be used as part of the payment, and if a change is made by cash settlement, the total amount or a fractional amount corresponding to the fraction is added to the balance data on the card-like medium owned by the customer. A system was proposed to store the change and suppress the change.

[0004]

However, as described above, in the conventional system in which the whole or a part of the change amount is stored as balance data in a card-like medium issued by a store,
The stores where the accumulated balance data can be used are limited to the store that issued the card, so the versatility is poor, it is inconvenient for customers, and it has been difficult to spread.

Accordingly, the present invention is to provide a settlement apparatus and a settlement method capable of storing change for each customer in a manner convenient for the customer without dispensing the change, and reducing the frequency of dispensing change. is there.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a settlement apparatus for calculating and displaying a change amount based on a price of a commodity purchased by a customer and a payment amount of the customer, and a method for calculating and displaying the change amount. Communication means for communicating with a computer for managing the product, an account specifying means for specifying a savings account at the financial institution of the customer who purchased the product, and a price of the product purchased by the customer and the payment amount of the customer. When the change amount is greater than zero, a change depositing means is provided for depositing a part or all of the change amount into the savings account of the customer specified by the account specifying means via the communication means.

According to the settlement apparatus of the present invention in which such means are taken, when a change occurs in a commercial transaction with a customer, the whole or a part of the change amount is directly deposited into the savings account of the customer. . Therefore, the customer can obtain the change with the same convenience as when receiving it in cash, and when depositing the entire change amount into the savings account, there is no need to receive the change, and for example, as a part of the change amount, for example, a fraction Even if you deposit, there is no need to receive small change. On the other hand, since the cashier pays out change less frequently, the work of preparing change is reduced.

[0008] The invention described in claim 2 of the present application is the above-described claim 1.
The invention described in the above is provided with a deposit amount designating means for designating the amount to be deposited into the savings account, and the change depositing means is specified by the account identifying means when the deposit amount designated by the deposit amount designating means is less than the change amount. Means to deposit the deposit amount into the customer's savings account through communication means, and by adopting such means, the customer can arbitrarily change the amount of the change amount to be deposited into the savings account. Can be specified.

[0009] The invention described in claim 3 of the present application is the above-described claim 1.
Or a receipt for printing the details of the product purchased by the customer on the receipt printed with the details of the product purchased by the customer, and the deposit amount deposited in the customer's savings account by the change depositing means and the balance after depositing in the savings account. With the provision of information printing means, the receipt issued to a customer who has deposited all or part of the change amount in a savings account will include the product purchased by that customer. In addition to the statement and the like, the deposit amount to the savings account and the account balance after the deposit are printed.

[0010] The invention described in claim 4 of the present application is a step of calculating the price of the product purchased by the customer, the step of inputting the payment amount of the customer, the step of calculating the price of the product purchased by the customer and the payment amount of the customer. And a step of, when the change amount is larger than zero, depositing a part or all of the change amount into a savings account opened by the customer at the financial institution.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention is described below with reference to P for mass retailers.
An embodiment applied to an OS (Point Of Sales) system will be described with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, a customer who has set up a savings account at a financial institution of a group associated with a company operating a mass merchandiser is managed as a member. Is paid in cash, and all or part of the change can be directly deposited and saved in the savings account of the member.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration according to the present embodiment, in which a plurality of POS terminals 1 are used at a checkout point of a store, and a store computer 2 is provided at a store management office or the like. And an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine: an automatic cash withdrawal depositing device) 3 placed at a store entrance or a sales floor, etc., are connected to a LAN (Local Area Network).
rk) 4. A router 5 is connected to the LAN 4, and each of the POS terminal 1, the store computer 2, and the ATM 3 can perform data communication with the financial institution host computer 6 via the router 5. Incidentally, the financial institution host computer 6 is a computer that manages a deposit account of each customer opened at a financial institution of a group related to the business entity that manages the mass merchandiser and controls payment and withdrawal.

Each POS terminal 1 is provided with a merchandise registration means for registering merchandise purchased by a customer one by one, and a price for calculating the price of all merchandise purchased by the customer from the sales amount of the merchandise registered by the merchandise registration means. Calculation means, deposit amount input means for inputting the amount paid by the customer as a deposit amount, change amount for calculating the change amount by subtracting the price calculated by the price calculation means from the deposit amount input by the deposit amount input means. In addition to having a calculation means and a change amount display means for displaying the change amount calculated by the change amount calculation means, in particular, a financial institution is issued by a financial institution as an account specifying means for specifying a savings account at the financial institution of the customer who purchased the product. A card reader 8 for reading card data such as a financial institution code, a branch code, and an account number recorded on a financial institution card 7 It has a function of deposit bank savings account of the financial institution identified by the financial institution card 7 all or part of the calculated change amount by change amount calculation means.

Although not shown, the store computer 2
A product master file for setting and storing product information such as a PLU code, a product name, and a price of each product, and a name, address,
It manages a customer master file for setting and storing customer information such as telephone numbers. In addition, sales data of each product registered at each POS terminal 1 is collected and totaled online, and sales, inventory, orders, and the like of the entire store are managed. Further, a pay-in / pay-out result file 9 for storing the pay-in / pay-out result record having the layout shown in FIG. 2 is provided.

The ATM 3 is a device for withdrawing or depositing cash from a financial institution of a group associated with a business entity that manages the mass retailer.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the main hardware configuration of each POS terminal. A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11 is provided as a control unit main body. RAs in which various memory areas such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12 in which programs and the like executed by the CPU 11 are stored in advance and a transaction memory in which sales data of products registered by the product registration means are stored are formed.
M (Random Access Memory) 13, a clock unit 14 for measuring the current date and time, a LAN controller 15 for controlling data communication with each unit connected via the LAN 4,
A display controller 17 for controlling data display of a front display 16 provided for a cashier, a display controller 19 for controlling data display of a customer surface display 18 provided for a customer, a keyboard interface 20,
Various input / output device interfaces such as a scanner interface 21, a printer interface 22, a card reader interface 23, a drawer interface 24, and a pin pad interface 25 are provided. And CPU
11, ROM 12, RAM 13, clock section 14, LAN
The controller 15, the display controllers 17, 19, and the input / output device interfaces 20 to 25 are connected by a bus line 26 such as an address bus and a data bus to form a control circuit.

As shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, in addition to numerical keys such as "00" and "0" to "9" for inputting numerical data such as deposit amount and deposit amount, a clear key K2, a multiplication key K3, a subtotal key A keyboard 27 having various function keys such as K4, credit key K5, debit key K6, deposit / current total key K7, cancel key K8, deposit key K9, and PLU key K10 is connected. Incidentally, the credit key K5 is a closing key for declaring that the price of the product purchased by the customer is paid by a credit card as one commercial transaction. Also,
The debit key K6 is a closing key for declaring that the same amount is to be paid by a debit card, and the deposit / current total key K7 is a closing key for declaring to pay in cash.

The scanner interface 21 is connected to a scanner 28 for optically reading a PLU code attached to a product purchased by a customer. The printer interface 22 is connected to a printer 29 for printing on receipt paper or the like. The card reader interface 23 has a credit card or a financial institution card 7.
Is connected to a card reader 8 for reading card data recorded in the. The drawer interface 24 is connected to a drawer 30 for storing cash or the like as a change reserve. A pin pad for inputting a personal identification number is connected to the pin pad interface 25 as necessary.

The POS terminal 1 having the above-described structure realizes a function of depositing all or a part of the change amount calculated by the change amount calculating means into a savings account of a financial institution specified by the financial institution card 7. In the RAM 13,
As shown in FIG. 5, a card data memory M1 for temporarily storing the card data of the financial institution card 7 read by the card reader 8, and a transaction with a member who has established a savings account at a financial institution of a mass merchandising group. A flag memory M2 of a member transaction flag which is set to "1" at a certain time, a current total amount memory M3 for storing a total current amount which is a price of all the products purchased by the customer, an amount paid by the customer in cash for the price A deposit amount memory M4 for storing a deposit amount, a change amount memory M5 for storing a change amount calculated by subtracting a price from the deposit amount, a deposit amount memory M6 for storing a deposit amount to be deposited into a member's savings account, and An account balance memory M7 for storing the balance of the savings account is formed.

The POS terminal 1 has a program so that the CPU 11 controls each unit in accordance with the procedure shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6 for a commercial transaction with one customer.

That is, when starting a commercial transaction with one customer, the CPU 11 checks the member transaction flag in the flag memory M2 as ST (step) 1 to determine whether or not the transaction is a member transaction. Initially, the member transaction flag is reset and it is determined that the transaction is not a member transaction. Next, at step ST2, the data of the financial institution card 7 issued by the financial institution of the mass merchant group is read by the card reader 8 or not. Judge. If the card data of the corresponding financial institution card 7 has been read, it is determined that the member card has been read, and the card data (financial institution code,
Branch code, account number, etc.) in the card data memory M1. In ST4, a member transaction flag is set in the flag memory M2.

Thereafter, returning to ST1, the member transaction flag in the flag memory M2 is checked again to determine whether the transaction is a member transaction. In this case, since the member transaction flag is set and it is determined that the transaction is a member transaction, the process proceeds to the sales product registration process in ST5. Also, when it is determined in ST2 that there is no card data read of the corresponding financial institution card 7, ST5 is also used.
The process proceeds to the sales merchandise registration process.

In step ST5, the PLU code attached to the customer purchase item is scanned by the scanner 28, or the numeric key K1 and the PLU key K10 of the keyboard 27 are input.
When the PLU code is key-input (product registration means), the product information such as the product name and unit price of the customer purchased product is read out with reference to the product master file of the store computer 1, and the sales price (input of the PLU code) is entered into the unit price. If a multiplier has been input by the numeric key K1 and the multiplication key K3 immediately before, the multiplier is multiplied by the multiplier, otherwise the multiplier is multiplied by 1) to calculate the sales amount. Then, the merchandise sales data including the PLU code, the sales amount, the sales points, and the like are stored in the RAM.
The registration process is performed on the transaction memory No. 13. Also,
The front display 16 and the customer display 18 display the name of the product purchased by the customer, the sales amount, and the like.

Next, in ST6, it is determined whether or not the closing keys K5, K6, K7 for declaring the end of the merchandise registration of one commercial transaction have been input. Here, when it is determined that the closing key has not been input, the process returns to ST1.

Thus, the CPU 11 sets the closing key K3
Until K4 and K5 are input, each time a product purchased by a customer is registered, the sales registration process of the product is repeatedly executed. When the member transaction flag is reset, the corresponding financial institution card 7 functioning as a member card is used.
When the card data is read, the processing for storing the card data and setting the member transaction flag is executed.

Then, in ST6, the closing keys K3, K4,
When the input of K5 is detected, it is determined in ST7 whether the transaction is a cash transaction or another transaction (credit card transaction, debit card transaction) based on the type of the closing key. Here, the closing key entered is the deposit / current total key K
If it is 5, the transaction is a cash transaction, and the process proceeds to ST8.

In ST8, first, the price of all the products purchased by the customer is calculated based on the product sales data registered in the transaction memory (price calculation means).
Then, the price data is stored in the current total amount memory M3. Next, immediately before inputting the deposit / current total key K5, the numeric key K1 is input.
Is determined as to whether or not the amount data has been input (deposit amount input means). If the amount data is equal to or more than the price, the amount data is stored as a deposit amount in the deposit amount memory M4, and if the number is not entered, the amount data in the current total amount memory M3 is stored. Is stored in the deposit amount memory as the deposit amount. After a while
The change amount is calculated by subtracting the amount data in the current total amount memory M3 from the amount data in the deposit amount memory M4 (change amount calculating means). Then, the change amount data is stored in the change amount memory M5, and displayed on the front display 16 and the customer surface display 18 as the change amount (change amount display means).

Next, the CPU 11 determines whether or not the change amount data stored in the change amount memory M5 is larger than zero, that is, whether change has occurred in the commercial transaction with the one customer in ST9. Here, if the change amount data is larger than zero, a change has occurred, and the membership transaction flag in the flag memory M2 is checked in ST10 to determine whether or not the transaction is a member transaction. Here, if the member transaction flag is set, the transaction is a member transaction, so that the change account deposit processing in ST11 is executed.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart specifically showing the change account deposit processing. That is, when starting the change account depositing process, the CPU 11 first determines whether or not the number is set by the number key K1 in ST21. When the numeral is set, the numeral data is stored in the RAM 13.
To be stored temporarily. Next, it is determined whether or not the cancel key K8 has been input in ST22. When the input of the cancel key K8 is detected, the change account deposit processing ends.

If the cancel key K8 has not been input in ST22, it is determined whether or not the deposit key K9 has been input in ST23. Then, when the input of the deposit key K9 is detected, it is determined whether or not the numeral data is stored in ST24. Here, when the numeral data is not stored, the numeral key is not inputted by the numeral key K1, that is, the deposit key K9 is inputted without designating the deposit amount. The change amount data is set in the deposit amount memory M6. On the other hand, when the deposit data is stored, the deposit key K9 is input after the deposit amount is specified, so that the deposit amount (the deposit data) is larger than zero and the change amount is set at ST26. It is determined whether or not the condition that the change amount data is equal to or less than the change amount data stored in the memory M5 is satisfied. Only when the numerical data satisfies the above condition, the numerical data is set in the deposit amount memory M6 as ST27. If the numerical data does not satisfy the above condition, return to ST21,
It waits again for the deposit data to be input.

If the data of the change amount or the set amount is set in the deposit amount memory M6 in ST25 or ST27, an account balance inquiry process is then executed in ST28. This process is a process of inquiring of the financial institution host computer 6 via the LAN 4 and the router 5 as communication means whether or not a savings account of the financial institution specified by the card data in the card data memory M1 actually exists. is there. Incidentally, when the financial institution host computer 6 receives the inquiry, it checks whether or not an account corresponding to the savings account managed by itself exists. If there is, the account balance data is returned to the inquiring POS terminal together with the normal response. If not, an error response is returned.

Therefore, the CPU 11 of the POS terminal 1
As a result of the account balance inquiry processing, if there is a response from the financial institution host computer 6 indicating that there is no corresponding savings account in ST29, the deposit memory M6 is cleared and the change account deposit processing is terminated. I do.

On the other hand, if there is a response from the financial institution host computer 6 indicating that the corresponding savings account exists, the account balance data included in the response is stored in the account balance memory M7, and then, as ST31, the deposit Memory M6
The account depositing process for depositing the deposit amount data in the account into the savings account is executed. More specifically, the financial institution host computer 6 that manages the deposit / saving account, via the LAN 4 and the router 5 serving as communication means, stores the deposit amount in the deposit / saving account specified by the card data in the card data memory M1. Data for instructing to deposit the deposit amount data in M6 is transmitted. As a result, the financial institution host computer 6 updates the account balance by adding the deposit amount data to the balance data of the savings account specified by the card data.

The CPU 11 of the POS terminal 1 operates as ST
After executing the account depositing process at 31, the deposit balance data in the deposit amount memory is added to the account balance data in the account balance memory M7 to calculate the account balance after depositing in ST32. In addition, the change amount data in the change amount memory M6 is subtracted from the change amount data in the change amount memory M5 to update the change amount data to the amount after the change, and displayed on the front display 16 and the customer display 18. Let it. Thereafter, as ST33, a deposit / withdrawal result record having the layout shown in FIG.
Is transmitted to the store computer 2 via
The change account depositing process ends.

In the layout of the deposit / withdrawal result record, the items “financial institution code”, “branch code”,
“Account number” is card data stored in the card data memory M1. “Payment / withdrawal classification” is data (for example, 1) indicating payment. "Deposit and withdrawal amount" is the deposit amount memory M6
Is the deposit amount data. “Store code” and “terminal number” are a store code and a terminal number preset in the POS terminal 1. “Transaction serial number” is a transaction identification number issued for each transaction at the POS terminal. “Transaction date” and “transaction time” are the current date and time read from the clock unit 14. "Contact person code"
Is a cashier code input at the time of sign-on of the POS terminal. The “cancellation category” is data (for example, 0) indicating non-cancellation.

Now, the CPU 11 of the POS terminal 1
When the change account depositing process is completed, the printer 29 controls the drive of the printer 29 in step ST12 to print details such as the name of the product purchased by the customer, the sales amount, the subtotal amount, and the tax amount on the receipt paper. Further, the current total amount data in the current total amount memory M3, the received amount data in the received amount memory M6, and the change amount data in the change amount memory M5 are printed on receipt paper. Furthermore, if the deposit data is greater than zero,
That is, when the change amount is fully or partially deposited in the customer's savings account, the account number included in the card data in the card data memory M1 and the current deposit amount, which is the deposited amount data in the deposited amount memory M6. And account calculation memory M7
When the balance data after the transaction is printed on the receipt paper (payment information printing means), a receipt R having a layout as shown in FIG. 8 is issued.

Thereafter, the opening of the drawer 30 is controlled in step ST13, and the flag memory M2 is set in step ST14.
If the member transaction flag is reset and the member transaction flag is reset in ST15 only when the member transaction flag is set, the commercial transaction with one customer is ended.

If the change amount data is zero and no change has occurred in ST9, or if the member transaction flag is not set in ST10, ST1
The first change account depositing process is not executed, and the process shifts to the receipt issuing process of ST12 to print and issue a receipt of a conventionally known pattern without deposit information.

The PO according to the present embodiment thus configured is
A mass merchandiser who has introduced the S system is a customer (member) who has opened a savings account at a financial institution of the group associated with the business entity that manages the merchant, and has paid for the purchase of goods in cash. Customers who wish to deposit all or part of the change they paid into their savings account,
The cashier who operates the POS terminal 1 is presented with the purchased merchandise and the financial institution card 7 for specifying his or her savings account. On the other hand, the cashier operates the scanner 28 or the keyboard 27 of the POS terminal 1 to register the customer purchased merchandise, and causes the card reader 8 to read the card data of the financial institution card 7 presented by the customer. When the registration of all the products purchased by the customer is completed, the deposit amount from the customer is entered, and the deposit / current total key K7 is input to declare the registration closing by cash transaction.

Then, in the POS terminal 1, the change amount is calculated from the deposit amount and the price of the purchased product, and displayed on the front display 16 and the customer display 18, so that the cashier asks the customer for the deposit amount. . Here, when the customer offers to deposit the entire change amount, only the deposit key K9 is input. Then, the deposit amount memory M6
Is set to the change amount. On the other hand, if the customer offers to deposit a part of the change amount, the customer enters the deposit amount and then inputs the deposit key K9. Then, the numeral amount is set in the deposit amount memory M6. Subsequently, an account balance inquiry process is executed. Then, when it is confirmed that the customer's savings account exists at the financial institution, the deposit amount in the deposit amount memory K9 is automatically deposited into the customer's savings account. In addition, the change balance after the deposit is displayed on the front display 16 and the customer display 18, and a receipt is printed in which the deposit amount and the account balance after the deposit are printed together with the details of the purchased product. When there is a change balance, the change amount is arranged and handed over to the customer together with the receipt. Thus, the settlement with one customer is completed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the customer who has paid for the purchased merchandise in cash is required to deposit and save all or part of the change in his / her own savings account when change is generated. Can be. Therefore, the customer can obtain the change with the same convenience as receiving the cash, and when the entire amount of the change is deposited in the savings account, there is no need to receive the change, and for example, a fraction of the change No need to pick up coins when you make a deposit. In addition, the received money amount and the account balance after the payment can be confirmed from the receipt. In addition, when paying for the purchased product, the store also pays the amount of cash to be added to the store in addition to the price, so you can pay for the product purchased at the store without having to go to a financial institution and at the same time You will be able to deposit money.

As described above, the settlement method according to the present embodiment is very convenient for the customer, and thus is easy to spread. Therefore, by restricting financial institutions to those belonging to a group associated with the business entity that manages the mass merchandiser, customers of the financial institutions can be acquired. In addition, since the frequency of dispensing the change is reduced for the cashier, it is possible to reduce the trouble of preparing the change, reduce the burden, and reduce the change reserve in the drawer.

In the embodiment, the card data read from the financial institution card 7 by the card reader 8 specifies the savings account at the financial institution of the customer who purchased the product. The card data of the financial institution card 7 may be registered for each customer, and when an ID number or the like for identifying the customer is input, the card data corresponding to the customer may be read to specify the savings account of the customer.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the customer specifies the deposit amount, but the entire deposit amount may be automatically deposited in the corresponding savings account. This eliminates the need for change reserves. Alternatively, the money may be automatically paid as a fraction with the amount of money equal to or less than the preset number of digits.
This eliminates the need for change as a change reserve.

[0046]

As described above in detail, according to the first to third aspects of the present invention, change can be stored for each customer in a manner convenient for the customer without paying out change. It is possible to provide a settlement apparatus that can reduce the payout frequency.

According to the invention described in claim 4 of the present application,
It is possible to provide a settlement method in which a deposit and a savings account can be deposited simultaneously with the payment of the product price.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a POS system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary view showing a layout of a deposit / withdrawal result record stored in a deposit / withdrawal result file according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the POS terminal according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view showing a keyboard of the POS terminal according to the embodiment;

FIG. 5 shows the R of the POS terminal in the embodiment.
The figure which shows the main memory area formed in AM.

FIG. 6 shows a POS terminal C in the embodiment.
The flowchart which shows the principal part of one commercial transaction process which PU performs.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart specifically showing the change account deposit processing shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a view showing one pattern of a receipt printed and issued from a POS terminal in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... POS terminal 2 ... Store computer 4 ... LAN 5 ... Router 6 ... Financial institution host computer 7 ... Financial institution code 8 ... Card reader

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G07G 1/12 321 G07G 1/12 321A 321P 1/14 1/14

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A settlement device having a function of calculating and displaying a change amount from a price of a product purchased by a customer and a payment amount of the customer, a communication means for communicating with a computer for managing a savings account of a financial institution. And an account specifying means for specifying a savings account at the financial institution of the customer who purchased the product, and the account when the change amount calculated from the price of the product purchased by the customer and the payment amount of the customer is greater than zero. A settlement apparatus comprising: a change depositing means for depositing a part or all of the change amount into a savings account of the customer specified by the specifying means via the communication means. 2. A deposit designating means for designating an amount to be deposited into a savings account, wherein the change depositing means is specified by the account identifying means when the deposit designated by the deposit designating means is equal to or less than the change amount. 2. The settlement apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the deposit amount is deposited into a customer's savings account via communication means. 3. Receiving information printing means for printing, on a receipt on which a statement or the like of a product purchased by a customer is printed, the deposit amount deposited into the deposit / saving account of the customer by the change depositing means and the balance after depositing the deposit / saving account. The settlement apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the settlement apparatus is provided. 4. The step of calculating the price of the product purchased by the customer, the step of inputting the payment amount of the customer, and the step of calculating the change amount from the price of the product purchased by the customer and the payment amount of the customer. And a step of depositing a part or all of the change amount into the savings account opened by the customer when the change amount is greater than zero.