JP2003233742A - Point management method, point management system, point management device and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a point management system capable of reducing a management load of a customer for point information issued by each store without impairing identity of a point card system issued by each store. <P>SOLUTION: A store side computer 1 registers point information including points issued by purchase, accumulated points or expiration dates of the points in a point database in coordination with customer information, and it imparts an attribute shared between a plurality of stores to the registered point information and store information. The point information and store information imparted with the attribute are sent to a customer side computer 2 by referring to the registered customer information. The customer side computer 2 registers the point information and store information imparted with the attribute sent from each store side computer 1, and it outputs point information of each store by referring to the registered point information and stored information imparted with the attribute. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer on the store side that manages points issued due to a customer's purchasing act and a computer on the customer side that receives the points issued, connected via a communication network. In addition, a point management method for managing a plurality of types of points issued at a plurality of stores by a computer on the customer side, a point management system, a point management device configuring the point management system, and a computer for the point management device And a computer program for causing it to function as.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an increasing number of stores have introduced a point system for awarding points according to the purchase amount for the purpose of promoting sales to customers. This means that when a customer purchases a product, a few% of the product price is issued as points, and this point is used as currency only at the purchase store or stores related to the purchase store (for example, between chain stores). It was made possible. The issued points are recorded on a recording medium such as a magnetic card or an IC card.

If points have already been issued several times, the points are accumulated in the recording medium as accumulating points. In addition to such issuing points and accumulating points, point information such as customer information (member No., name, etc.), point expiration date, last use date, etc. is recorded on the recording medium. Since such a point card system has a very high sales promotion effect, it has been introduced by many stores, and each store has its own unique point return rate, point expiration date, special points, etc. A wide variety of point card systems are in widespread use.

[0004]

However, for the customer, the burden of managing a large number of point cards is increasing, and the number of points that are lost is increased due to the expiration date of the points. On the other hand, there is a movement to standardize the points issued by each store,
It is difficult to adjust the interests of each store, and it is extremely difficult to realize it, especially when each store is unique in its point card. In other words, there has been a strong demand for a system that allows customers to collectively manage the points issued at each store and the expiration date of the points without deteriorating the uniqueness of the point card system issued by each store.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to give point information and store information issued at each store a common attribute between the stores and By providing the point information given with to the customer, it is possible to reduce the management burden of the customer on the point information issued at each store without damaging the uniqueness of the point card system issued by each store. A point management method, a point management system, a point management device that constitutes the point management system, and a computer program for causing a computer to function as the point management device.

[0006]

A point management method according to a first aspect of the present invention is a method in which a computer on a store side that manages issued points and a computer on a customer side that has received the points are connected via a communication network. It is a point management method that manages multiple types of points issued at multiple stores on the customer's computer, and the issued points, accumulated points, or points are validated by the store computer. A step of registering point information including a deadline in a point database in association with customer information; and a step of giving a common attribute among a plurality of stores to the registered point information and store information by a computer on the store side. , The point information and the store information after the attributes are assigned, referring to the customer information, the store computer From the store computer to the customer's computer, registering the attribute-added point information and store information transmitted from each store-side computer to the customer's computer, and the registered attribute-added point information and store Referring to the information, and outputting the point information of each store by the computer on the customer side.

A point management system according to the second invention is
The computer on the store side that manages the issued points and the computer on the customer side that received the points are connected via a communication network, and the computer on the customer side can store multiple types of points issued at multiple stores. In the point management system, the store-side computer registers point information including issued points, accumulated points, or expiration date of points in the point database in association with customer information. A point-and-store information after registering the point information and the store information after the attribute is added to the registered point information and the store information; And means for sending to
The computer on the customer side refers to the means for registering the point information and the store information after the attribute addition transmitted from the computer for each store, and the registered point information after the attribute addition and the store information for each store, And an output unit for outputting the point information.

A point management system according to the third invention is
In the second invention, the adding unit uses XML,
The output unit is configured to add an attribute for each element of the point information and the store information, and the output unit stores the point information and the store information of each store for which the attribute is added to the HTML prepared in advance using XML. Is incorporated to output point information for each store.

A point management device according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is a point management device for managing a plurality of types of points issued at a plurality of stores, respectively, and is issued with attributes common to a plurality of stores. Points, including accumulated points, accumulated points, or expiration date of points,
And, the point information of each store by referring to the means for receiving the store information from the outside, the means for registering the received point information after the attribute addition and the store information, and the registered point information after the attribute addition and the store information And an output means for outputting.

A computer program according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is a computer program for managing a plurality of types of points issued at a plurality of stores, and the computer has a common attribute assigned to the plurality of stores. , Issued points, accumulated points, or point information including the expiration date of the points, and the step of registering the received point information and the shop information after the attribute addition when the shop information is received from the outside, A computer program that causes a computer to perform an output step of outputting point information of each store by referring to the registered point information and store information after the attribute is added.

According to the present invention, the computer on the store side associates the point information including the points issued by the purchase, the accumulated points, or the expiration date of the points with the customer information when the product is purchased. Register in the point database. Then, in order to ensure compatibility between stores that use different types of point systems before notifying customers of point information, registered point information and store information are common attributes among multiple stores. Is given. This is, for example, XML (Extensible Markup La
nguage) to assign common attributes to each element of the point information and each tag of the store information.

The point information and the store information after the attributes are added are transmitted to the customer computer by referring to the registered customer information. On the other hand, the computer on the customer side registers the point information after the attribute addition and the store information transmitted from the computer on each store side, and refers to the registered point information after the attribute addition and the store information, and points of each store Output information. For output of the point information, for example, an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) to which a basic XSL (Extensible Style Language) is added is prepared in advance, and the point information and the store described in the XML of each store transmitted to this are stored. The information is incorporated, and the HTML in which the XML is incorporated is displayed by a browser and output. With this configuration, it is possible for the customer to reduce the management burden of the point information issued at each store without deteriorating the uniqueness of the point card system issued by each store.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings showing an embodiment. Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of a point management system. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a store-side computer (hereinafter referred to as store computer) that manages points issued at each store, which is connected to a group of POS (Point of Sales) terminal devices 10 and is output from the POS terminal device 10. It manages the point information given. The store computers 1, 1, 1 ... Are connected to customer-side computers (hereinafter referred to as point management devices) 2, 2, 2 ... Owned by the customer via a communication network N such as the Internet.
As the point management device 2, a personal computer, a mobile phone, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), or the like is used.

Point information such as issued points, accumulated points and expiration dates of points is transmitted to the point management device 2, and the point management device 2 shows a plurality of types of points issued at different stores. Are collectively managed and output on a browser, for example.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the store computer 1 and the point management device 2.
As shown in FIG.
M12, a storage unit 15 such as a hard disk, a communication unit 16 such as a gateway for transmitting and receiving information to and from the POS terminal device 10 and the point management device 2, a clock unit 18 for outputting date and time information, a display unit 14 such as a liquid crystal display, and An input unit 13 such as a keyboard and a mouse is connected. RAM1
2 stores a control program 12P for controlling the storage unit 15, the display unit 14, the input unit 13, and the like.

The storage unit 15 is provided with a point database (hereinafter referred to as a point DB) 151 in which the point information output from the POS terminal device 10 is registered. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a record layout of the point DB 151. Point DB 151 as shown
Is a relational database structure, and CPU1
1 uses SQL (Structured Query Language) to execute processing such as registration and search of point information in the point DB 151.

The point DB 151 registers point information such as issuance points, accumulated points, point expiration date, point previous issue date, point issue store number, etc. in association with customer information such as member ID and name. The issue point indicates the point issued when the customer purchases the product this time, and the accumulated point is the sum of the points accumulated before the customer purchased the product last time and the issued point issued this time. The point expiry date is information about the expiry date when the accumulated points can be used in the store, and may be set within, for example, one year from the date of the last purchase of the product. Issuing points, accumulating points,
And the point expiration date calculation process is performed by the POS terminal device 10.
Alternatively, the store computer 1 may calculate the issuing points, the accumulating points, and the point expiration date based on the purchase amount data output from the POS terminal device 10.

On the other hand, the customer point management device 2 has the same structure as a known computer, and the CPU 21
A RAM 22, a storage unit 25 such as a hard disk, a communication unit 26 such as a LAN (Local Area Network) card for transmitting and receiving information to and from the store computers 1, 1, 1 ... , And an input unit 23 such as a keyboard and a mouse are connected. RAM
22 stores a control program 22P for controlling the storage unit 25, the display unit 24, the input unit 23, and the like, as well as an application such as a browser.

The processing procedure of the point issuing system having the above configuration will be described. 4 and 5 are flowcharts showing the processing procedure of the point issuing system. First, the store computer 1 determines whether or not the point information is output from the POS terminal device 10 (step S4).
1). If the point information is not output (NO in step S41), this process is repeated until the point information is output. On the other hand, if the point information is output from the POS terminal device 10 (YES in step S41).
S), customer information is registered in the point DB 151 together with the output point information (step S42). As a registration item, as shown in FIG. 3, a member ID as customer information
And name, as well as issuing points that are point information,
Accumulated points and point expiration date correspond.

The registered point information and store information are described below in order to unify the data from each store to the customer at appropriate timing (for example, every time a product is purchased, once a month, etc.). Process. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the source code of the XML file. The store computer 1 reads out the point information items (issue points, accumulated points, point expiration date, etc.) of the specific member shown in FIG. 3 and gives attributes to each element of the point information (step S43). Specifically, a common tag that is uniformly assigned to each store is assigned to each element. For example, when transmitting to the member ID “1001”, the issue point “170” is described as <issue point> 170 </ issue point>, and the accumulation point “2496” is <accumulation point> 2496 </ accumulation point> It is described as.

In addition to this, sale information as point information,
URL of store homepage (Uniform Resource Locate
r) or the message of the store may be included, and in this case, a common tag is used between the stores as shown in FIG.
Also, because information from multiple stores is sent to customers,
With respect to store information, a process of giving a common attribute between stores is performed (step S43). As store information, a store code and store name unique to each store computer 1 are stored in the storage unit 15 in advance, and the CPU 11 reads out the store code and store name as store information and adds an attribute. For example, when the store code is “00010” and the store name is “◯ × electric machine”, the tags <store code> 00010 </ store code> and <store name> ◯ × electric machine </ store name> are given. In this way, the metadata uniquely set in each store can be handled as common metadata by the common XML that is unified in advance.

The store computer 1 sends the store information and the point information after the attributes are added to the point management device 2 of the customer (member "1001") via the communication network N in the XML file format (step S44). In addition, this XML
The file may be attached to an e-mail showing the guide of the store and transmitted. Although not shown in FIG. 3, the point DB 151 stores the email address or IP address of each customer (member) as customer information, and when the CPU 11 transmits point information and store information, The destination is determined by referring to the electronic mail address or IP address registered in the DB 151.

When the store information and the point information are received, the CPU 21 searches the storage unit 25 and determines whether at least one store information is stored (step S45). If no store information is stored (NO in step S45), this customer is the first to receive the service, and therefore, the HTML and the transmission to which the XSL for displaying the point information of each store is added and transmitted. A request is made to the store computer 1 (step S4)
6). This HTML file is displayed on the browser of the point management device 2 at the display position of the point information of all stores,
The conventions regarding fonts etc. are described. In addition, the XSL added to the HTML describes an agreement regarding the arrangement of store information and point information of each store described in XML.

In response to this reception request, the store computer 1 transmits the HTML file added with XSL to the point management device 2 (step S47). H sent
The TML file is stored in the storage unit 25. If at least one store information is already stored (step S
(YES at 45), the HTML file for display is unnecessary, and therefore the processes of steps S46 and S47 are skipped.

The point management device 2 determines whether or not the same store information as the transmitted store information and the store information already stored exists (step S51). When the same store information does not exist (NO in step S51), since the point information is transmitted from this store for the first time, the transmitted store information and point information are registered in a new area of the storage unit 25. (Step S53). On the other hand, when the same store information as the transmitted store information already exists (YES in step S51), the point information related to the store stored in the storage unit 25 is changed to the point information related to the store transmitted. Update registration is performed (step S52).

The point management device 2 reads out the store information and the point information of each store stored in the storage unit 25 (step S55). In addition to the read XML file, the stored HTML file is also read. CPU
21 is HT according to the description of XSL added to HTML.
The read XML file is added to the ML file, that is, the store information and the point information of each store to which the attribute is added are incorporated (step S56). Finally, the point information for each store incorporated in the browser is developed (output) (step S57).

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an image of the output point information. As shown in the figure, the point information of each store is displayed on the browser in accordance with the description of the HTML to which XSL is added and the store information and the point information to which the attribute in XML is added. In this way, the points issued at each store are collectively displayed by giving a unified and common attribute, so that customers can use the points card system issued by each store without sacrificing their originality. It is possible to reduce the management burden of the issued point information.

Embodiment 2 Generally, the points of each store become invalid after the point expiration date, so the following processing may be executed to call attention to the point expiration date. . FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for transmitting the warning information. First, the CPU 11 of the store computer 1 acquires date and time data from the clock unit 18 (step S81), compares the point expiration date and time data of each member stored in the point DB 151, and the period until the point expiration date is predetermined. It is determined whether it is within the period (for example, 3 months) (step S82). If it is not within the predetermined period (NO in step S82), the above process is repeated. The date / time data acquisition process (step S81) may be performed once a day, and an appropriate value is stored in advance in the storage unit 15 for a predetermined period.

On the other hand, if the period until the expiration date is within the predetermined period (YES in step S82), the customer information (e-mail address or IP address) of the corresponding member.
Is read, and the warning information stored in advance in the storage unit 15 is read (step S83). It should be noted that the warning information may be prepared in an appropriate text from the input unit 13 at each store, such as, for example, a text format such as "Points are valid for 3 months. Please come to the store early."

The CPU 11 gives the warning information a common attribute among the stores as in the processing described in step S43 (step S84). For example, the tag <in XML format
Warning information> Points are valid for 3 months. Please come to the store as soon as possible. </ Warning information> and the like may be described. Then, similarly to step S44, the warning information is transmitted together with the point information (step S85).

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an image of the point information output in the second embodiment. A description regarding warning information is added to the XSL added to the HTML, and tags <warning information> as XML data <...
/ Warning information> is added, warning information is displayed on the browser as in "XX sports" in FIG. With this configuration, it is possible to avoid a situation in which points related to a store that are not frequently used are lost due to an expiration date.

The second embodiment is configured as described above, and the other configurations and operations are similar to those of the first embodiment. Therefore, corresponding parts are designated by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be given. Omit it.

Third Embodiment FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the store computer 1 and the point management device 2 according to the third embodiment. The computer program for causing the point management device 2 according to the first embodiment described above to be pre-installed and provided in the point management device 2 as in the third embodiment, or a CD-ROM, MO, etc. It is also possible to provide it with a portable recording medium. further,
It is also possible to propagate and provide the computer program as a carrier wave via a line. The contents will be described below.

A recording medium 2a (CD-ROM, MO, or MO recording a program for registering point information and store information, incorporating the point information and store information into the point management device 2 shown in FIG. D
VD-ROM, etc.) is installed in the storage unit 25 of the point management device 2. Alternatively, such a program is downloaded from an external computer such as the store computer 1 via the communication unit 26 and installed in the storage unit 25. Such a program is loaded into the RAM 22 of the point management device 2 and executed. This allows
It functions as the point management device 2 of the present invention as described above.

The third embodiment is configured as described above, and since the other configurations and operations are the same as those of the first and second embodiments, the same reference numerals are given to corresponding parts. Detailed description thereof will be omitted. (Supplementary Note 1) A computer on the store side that manages the issued points and a computer on the customer side that received the points are connected via a communication network, and a plurality of types of points issued at a plurality of stores A point management method that is managed by a customer's computer, in which a point computer including issued points, accumulated points, or expiration dates of points is associated with customer information in a point database by a computer on the store side. The step of registering, the step of giving a common attribute among a plurality of stores to the registered point information and the store information by the computer of the store, and the point information and the store information after the attribute addition are the customer information. To send from the store's computer to the customer's computer by referring to The point information of each store is referred to by referring to the step of registering the point information and the store information after the attribute addition, which is transmitted from the computer on the side of the customer to the computer of the customer side, and the registered point information and the store information after the attribute is added. And a step of outputting by a side computer. (Supplementary Note 2) A computer on the store side that manages the issued points and a computer on the customer side that received the points are connected via a communication network, and a plurality of types of points issued at each of the plurality of stores can be stored. A point management system that is managed by a computer on the customer side, wherein the computer on the store side associates point information including issued points, accumulated points, or expiration date of points with customer information To the registered point information and the store information, the assigning means for assigning a common attribute among a plurality of stores, and the point information and the store information after the attribute assignment, referring to the customer information. Means for transmitting to a computer on the customer side, wherein the computer on the customer side is transmitted from the computer on each store side. It is characterized by comprising means for registering the point information and the shop information after the trusted attribute addition, and an output means for referring to the registered point information after the attribute addition and the shop information for outputting the point information of each shop. And point management system. (Supplementary Note 3) The adding unit is configured to add an attribute for each element of the point information and shop information using XML, and the output unit uses XML for HTML prepared in advance. The point management system according to appendix 2, wherein the point information of each store and the store information to which the attributes have been added are incorporated to output the point information of each store. (Supplementary Note 4) The computer on the store side includes a clock unit,
A means for comparing the expiration date of the registered points with the date and time data output from the clock unit to determine whether the period until the expiration date is within the predetermined period, and the period until the expiration date is within the predetermined period And a means for transmitting the warning information to which the common attribute is added to the customer's computer with reference to the customer information, when the determination is made as follows. Management system. (Supplementary note 5) The point information is sale information,
5. The point management system according to any one of appendices 2 to 4, wherein the point management system includes a homepage URL of the store. (Supplementary Note 6) A point management device that manages a plurality of types of points issued respectively at a plurality of stores, wherein issued points, accumulated points, or attributes to which a common attribute is given to a plurality of stores, or The point information including the expiration date of the points, a means for receiving the store information from the outside, a means for registering the received point information and the store information after the attribute assignment, and the registered point information and the store information after the attribute assignment. A point management device, comprising: an output unit that outputs point information of each store. (Supplementary Note 7) A computer program for managing a plurality of types of points issued respectively at a plurality of stores, in which the issued points to which a common attribute is given to a plurality of stores are stored in a computer. Points
Or point information including the expiration date of points, and
When the store information is received from the outside, the step of registering the received point information and the store information after the attribute assignment and the computer, referring to the registered point information after the attribute assignment and the store information, A computer program characterized by executing an output step of outputting point information. (Supplementary Note 8) The attribute is given to each element of the point information and the store information using XML, and the output step is to each HTML-prepared store where the attribute is given using XML. 8. The computer program according to appendix 7, characterized by including the step of incorporating the point information and the store information of 1. and the step of developing the incorporated point information for each store in a browser. (Supplementary Note 9) A recording medium in which a computer program for managing a plurality of types of points issued at a plurality of stores is recorded, and the computer has a common attribute assigned to the plurality of stores. Points,
When the point information including the accumulated points or the expiration date of the points and the shop information are received from the outside, the step of registering the received point information and the shop information after the attribute is added, and the information is registered in the computer. A computer-readable recording medium characterized by recording a computer program for executing an output step of outputting point information of each store by referring to the point information and the store information after the attribute is given.

[0036]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
When a product is purchased, the computer on the store side registers the point information including the points issued by the purchase, the accumulated points, or the expiration date of the points in the point database in association with the customer information. And
Prior to notifying customers of point information, different points systems are adopted. To ensure compatibility between stores, register points information and store information with common attributes among multiple stores. To do.

The point information and the store information after the attributes are assigned are transmitted to the customer computer by referring to the registered customer information. On the other hand, the computer on the customer side registers the point information after the attribute addition and the store information transmitted from the computer on each store side, and refers to the registered point information after the attribute addition and the store information, and points of each store Output information. With this configuration, the present invention is excellent in that the customer can reduce the management burden of the point information issued at each store without compromising the uniqueness of the point card system issued by each store. It can produce the effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of a point management system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a store computer and a point management device.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a record layout of a point DB.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a point issuing system.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a point issuing system.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a source code of an XML file.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an image of the output point information.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for transmitting warning information.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an image of point information output in the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a store computer and a point management device according to a third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Store computer (store computer) 13 Input section 14 Display 18 clock 15 memory 151 points DB 2 point management device (customer computer) 2a recording medium 23 Input section 24 Display 25 memory N communication network 10 POS terminal

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A store-side computer that manages issued points and a customer-side computer that receives the issued points are connected through a communication network, and a plurality of types of points issued at a plurality of stores, respectively. Is a point management method for managing points on a customer's computer, in which point information including issued points, accumulated points, or expiration date of points is associated with customer information by a store computer Registering the point information and store information to the registered point information and store information by a computer on the store side, and adding the attribute information and the point information after the attribute assignment to the customer. Transmitting the information from the store computer to the customer computer by referring to the information, By referring to the step of registering the point information and the store information after the attribute addition, which is transmitted from the store side computer to the customer side computer, and referring to the registered point information after the attribute addition and the store information, the point information of each store is obtained. And a step of outputting by a computer on the customer side. 2. A computer on the store side that manages the issued points and a computer on the customer side that receives the issued points are connected via a communication network, and a plurality of types of points issued at a plurality of stores, respectively. Is a point management system for managing points on a customer side computer, wherein the store side computer associates point information including issued points, accumulated points, or expiration date of points with customer information. Refer to the customer information for the means for registering in the database, the assigning means for assigning a common attribute among a plurality of stores to the registered point information and the store information, and the point information and store information after the attribute is assigned. And a means for transmitting to a computer on the customer side, the computer on the customer side is a computer on each store side. Means for registering the point information and the store information after the attribute addition transmitted from the device, and an output means for outputting the point information of each store with reference to the registered point information after the attribute addition and the store information. A characteristic point management system. 3. The adding means is configured to add an attribute for each element of the point information and store information using XML, and the output means adds XML to the HTML prepared in advance. 3. The point management system according to claim 2, wherein the point information of each store and the store information to which the attributes are added are incorporated to output the point information for each store. 4. A point management device for managing a plurality of types of points issued respectively at a plurality of stores, wherein issued points, accumulated points, to which attributes common to a plurality of stores are added, Or point information including the expiration date of points, and means for receiving store information from the outside, means for registering the received point information and store information after attribute assignment, and point information after store attribute assignment and store information And an output unit that outputs the point information of each store. 5. A computer program for managing a plurality of types of points issued respectively at a plurality of stores, the issued points and accumulations having a common attribute assigned to the plurality of stores on the computer. When the point information including the registered points or the expiration date of the points and the shop information are received from the outside, the step of registering the received point information and the shop information after the attribute is added, and the attribute registered by the computer A computer program characterized by executing an output step of outputting the point information of each store with reference to the added point information and the store information.