JP2009110328A - Point awarding service system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem that in conventional point post-awarding processing, a receipt should be brought to a store or a register again, and thereby much labor is required for a user or a line of users is formed along the register. <P>SOLUTION: A technique capable of awarding points to a user even if the user does not visit a store (does not carry a receipt) is provided. Namely, even when the user forgets to bring a membership card in shopping, points can be awarded by using a PC or the like at his home except a POS terminal (register) in the store. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing technique for realizing a service such as a so-called mileage service that gives a user points. In particular, the present invention relates to a technique for using a membership card or the like to give points according to the purchase of the member.

  Conventionally, when a point grant service is realized, a card such as a membership card (or a credit card or the like) is often given to a user. And the point provided to the user was memorize | stored in the card | curd.

  In such a case, the user may forget to bring the card to a store or the like that provides the service. As a technique for solving this problem, Patent Document 1 is proposed. According to Patent Document 1, even if the cumulative privilege point recording card is forgotten, it can be easily added at the next visit without invalidating the privilege points generated at the time of shopping. It is aimed. In order to achieve this purpose, a point bar code representing the benefits points of this time (forgetting to bring) is printed on the receipt, and when this point bar code is read by the scanner at the next visit, the point bar code The privilege points represented are added to the accumulated privilege point data of the card, the addition result is recorded on the card, and the accumulated privilege point data is updated.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-182639

  The technique described in Patent Document 1 has the following problems. That is, (1) In order to give a point at a later date, it is necessary to bring a receipt on which a membership card and a point barcode are written to the store and present it to the store staff. (2) Granting points requires a certain amount of work for the store clerk, and the work time is almost the same as the receipt of money, which is the original work. There is. (3) An operator providing a point service needs to install a medium communication device such as a card as a matter of course for each store and for each cash register, and the system maintenance cost is increasing. (4) If you bring a receipt at a later date, you may have to give points even if you are not the person who did the shopping (for example, the person who picked up the receipt).

  An object of the present invention is to provide a technique for retrofitting points that solve the above-described problems. The above problem is caused by (again) bringing a receipt to a store (registry), so in the present invention, points can be given without visiting the store (without bringing a receipt). Technology. That is, in the present invention, even if the membership card is forgotten at the time of purchase, points can be given using a point other than a POS terminal (register) at a store such as a home PC.

More specifically,
Prepare a point system that stores user information including points for users and numerical information about the users,
When purchasing from the store terminal (or transaction terminal) to the point system, the purchase information including the purchase amount of the user and the numerical information about the user are transmitted,
In the point system, purchase information and numerical information are associated with each other and stored as point grant candidate information.
When accessing the point system from the user terminal used by the user, the point system identifies the accessed user using an input request, and identifies the identified user's numerical information from the user information. And
In the point system, it is searched whether there is numerical information that matches the specified numerical information in the point grant candidate information, and instruction information for instructing a display that prompts input for enabling point grant according to the search result Send to the user terminal.

In addition, the purchase information transmitted to the point system includes identification information for identifying the purchase information,
In the point system, as the instruction information, the instruction information for instructing the user terminal to input the identification information is transmitted,
The user terminal sends the identification information input by the user to the point system,
In the point system, the transmitted identification information is compared with the identification information included in the searched point grant candidate information, and if they match, information processing is performed to give the user points according to the purchase price. This is also included in the present invention.

  Further, when storing the point grant candidate information, whether or not the numerical information corresponding to the transmitted numerical information is included in the user information stored in advance is searched, You may comprise so that it may register.

  Here, as information processing to give points, add the points determined according to the purchase amount etc. to the stored points, overwrite this number and register, or depending on the purchase amount etc. It includes calculating a predetermined point and registering the calculated point in a form that distinguishes the user.

  The instruction information may be transmitted regardless of whether the access request from the user terminal is a request for adding a point. That is, even when the user forgets to give points and accesses the point system, the points can be given. For this reason, the transmission of the instruction information may be such that the number (or the purchase date and time) of the point grant candidate information with which the numerical information matches is displayed together.

  The numerical information includes the user's birthday. Furthermore, in the point system, a search may be performed as to whether the numerical information is in the point grant candidate information by using an added value obtained by adding the numerical value of each digit of the numerical information. That is, a search is first performed with the addition value, and when there is a corresponding addition value as a result of the search, the numerical information is searched from among them.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, when the membership card is forgotten in the store, the above processing is performed. When the membership card is brought, information processing for giving points is performed using the member identification information recorded on the membership card. It may be configured.

  According to the present invention, points can be given to a user without specifying the user at the time of purchase.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of the present embodiment, and FIGS. 2, 3 and 8 are process flowcharts of the present embodiment. 4 to 7 are data tables in the present embodiment.

  First, the configuration of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. This configuration includes a cash register device 2 that is used by a store clerk 15 when a member 1 purchases a product or service. The cash register apparatus 2 includes a so-called POS terminal, and can input information (member identification information) about a member from a purchase amount accompanying the operation of the store clerk 15 and a membership card 4. In addition, when the membership card is a magnetic card or an IC card, the membership card 4 may be configured to read the information registered in the membership card 4 or the barcode printed on the membership card 4 may be input. It may be configured to read, or the number (symbol etc.) printed on the membership card 4 may be viewed and input by the store clerk 15.

  The cash register apparatus 2 can issue a receipt 3. At this time, the cash register apparatus 2 also prints a transaction number for identifying the transaction (purchase) on the receipt 3. Note that the cash register apparatus 2 may be configured to print a transaction number when no information related to a member based on the membership card 4 is input. Further, the transaction number may be printed by printing a barcode or embedding a small IC tag (a transaction number (or something similar) stored in the IC tag).

  The cash register apparatus 2 is connected to a sales / point system 7. This point system 7 is functionally composed of a sales history / registration processing unit 8, a sales history file 12, a sales history / search processing unit 9, a sales history / update processing unit 10, a point grant processing unit 11, a point file 13, and a member. It has an information file 14. The sales history / registration processing unit 8, the sales history / search processing unit 9, the sales history / update processing unit 10, and the point grant processing unit 11 are executed by a so-called program and a processing unit (CPU) that executes processing in accordance with this program. It is realized. Although details of these processes will be described later, information about members and calculation / storage of points are performed. Further, the sales history file 12, the point file 13, and the member information file 14 are configured by tables as shown in FIGS. Furthermore, in this embodiment, it also has a point grant candidate file 16 shown in FIG. 4-7, only one set of data is described, but a plurality of data is registered for each membership number (FIGS. 5-7) and for each sales unit (FIG. 4).

  The sales / point system 7 is connected to the PC 5 or the mobile phone 6 used by the user via the Internet or the like. From this PC 5 or the like, a user, for example, a member 1) can access the sales / point system 7 to realize a point grant service. In particular, points can be given even if the membership card 4 is forgotten (or not presented) at the time of purchase (or when receiving service).

  The above-described devices (the cash register device 2, the PC 5, the mobile phone, and the sales / point system 7 are each realized by a so-called computer, and each processing device (CPU) executes each process according to a program stored in itself. It is.

  According to this embodiment described below, the member can avoid the disadvantage that the point service cannot be enjoyed, and also the point service provider can reduce the cost such as the reduction of the point retrofitting work and the reduction of the medium communication device such as the card for each register. Is possible.

Next, the flow of processing at the time of purchase shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2 will be described.
First, as a premise of FIG. 2, the member 1 is subscribed as a member of the point grant service, and the membership card 4 is issued. The member 1 information is stored in the member information file 14 shown in FIG. At least a member number (not necessarily a number) and date of birth (numerical information) that can identify the member are registered as member information. In addition, a password may be used instead of or in combination with the date of birth. The illustrated date of birth addition value may be calculated whenever necessary without being registered. On this basis, it is assumed that the member 1 forgot to bring the membership card 4 and made a purchase at the store of the store clerk 15.

  First, the cash register apparatus 2 accepts input of purchase information by the operation of the store clerk 15. A so-called POS terminal bar code reader is used to accept inputs such as the amount of money and product identification information.

  In step 301, the cash register apparatus 2 determines whether or not the membership card 4 has been presented from the member 1. In this example, determination is made based on whether or not an input of the birth date button has been received from the store clerk 15 (or member 1). Instead, it may be determined based on whether or not the membership card 4 has been read (when reading is not detected, processing is performed in the same manner as when the button is input).

  If it is determined in step 301 that the cashier apparatus 2 has not input a button, the process proceeds to step 308. In step 308, the following processing is executed as normal point grant processing. First, the cash register apparatus 2 reads the membership number from the membership card 4 using an attached reader. The register device 2 transmits the transaction number and member number including the read member number, the sales date entered beforehand, the sales contents (product identification information), the sales amount, and the transaction number to the sales / point system 7 To do. The transaction data may be limited to information necessary for point calculation, such as only sales (transaction) amount. The sales / point system 7 calculates points to be given based on the received information. This calculation is proportional to the purchase price, or the ratio is changed by the member, regardless of the method. However, the point calculation rule for doing this is stored in the sales / point system 7 and is calculated using the received information. Then, the calculated points are overwritten and registered by adding the number of points stored in the point file 13 shown in FIG. Of course, this overwrite registration point number column searches for the member number corresponding to the member number transmitted from the cash register apparatus 2 and writes it in the corresponding point number column. Further, the sales date, the store number, the transaction number, the sales amount, the membership number, and the information that has been received so far in the sales history file 12 shown in FIG. 4 and the calculated information may be stored.

  Next, when the cashier apparatus 2 detects that the birth date input button has been pressed in step 301, the process proceeds to step 302.

  In step 302, the cash register apparatus 2 displays a guidance for inputting the date of birth, and accepts the input of the date of birth. For example, when the guidance is displayed, the clerk 15 asks the member 1 about the date of birth, and the clerk 15 inputs the date of birth notified to the cashier apparatus 2. This input may be made by the member 1 himself. In this example, the cash register apparatus 2 accepts an input of “19800101”.

  In step 303, the cash register apparatus 2 accepts the pressing of the transmission button, and the sales / point system 7 uses the sales date, sales details, sales price, transaction number, date of birth, etc., input so far as transaction data. Send to.

  Further, in step 304, the cash register apparatus 2 prints the receipt 3 on which the sales date, the sales contents, the sales amount, and the transaction number are printed out of order as in step 303. In step 308, the cash register apparatus 2 prints the receipt, but the transaction number may be omitted at this time.

  Next, the sales / point system 7 executes a sales history registration process 8 (steps 305 to 307). As described above, in the sales / point system 7, a CPU (not shown) executes the following processing according to a sales history registration program (not shown).

  First, in step 305, an item having a result of adding each digit of the date of birth added to the transaction data transmitted from the cash register apparatus 2 is added to the sales history file 12. In this example, 1 + 9 + 8 + 0 + 0 + 1 + 0 + 1 = 20 is added to the transaction data, and the data of FIG. 4 is written as a result. Here, the point grant 0 indicates that the member number is not actually associated with the points in the transaction.

  In step 306, the sales / point system 7 performs the retrofitting process efficiently, and the date of birth of the transaction data written in the sales history file 12 and the registered member information of the member information file 14. Search for items with the same date of birth.

  If member information having the same date of birth is searched, the process proceeds to step 307, and in order to shorten the search time for the corresponding transaction data when adding points, points are not granted. At least a transaction number included in the transmitted transaction data is registered in the point granting candidate file 16 as transaction data having a certain number. In this example, each item shown in FIG. 7 is registered. As a more specific example, the member information file 14 of FIG. 5 is searched for the date of birth “19800101” in the data table of FIG. 4, and member information having the same date of birth exists. The data table of the point granting candidate file 16 of FIG. 7 is added with the membership number, date of birth, transaction number of the sales history file 12, and date of birth addition as items.

  If it is determined in step 306 that there is no corresponding member information, that is, if there is no member information having the same date of birth, writing to the point granting candidate file 16 is assumed as there is no possibility of retrofitting. It may be omitted.

  Next, the point retrofit processing shown in FIGS. 3 and 8 will be described. These processes are executed by the CPU according to the program as the respective processes of the point grant processing unit 11, the sales history update processing unit 9, and the sales chiller search processing unit 9 in the sales / point system 7 (hereinafter, referred to as “programming”). Describes each process in an expression that each processing unit processes). Also, as a premise, the member 1 returns home and requests the point retrofit using his / her PC 5.

  First, in step 309, the sales / point system 7 receives an access request from the PC 5 via the Internet. That is, the member number and password entered by the member 1 are received from the PC 5. Then, the member is authenticated with these member number and password. This authentication is executed by searching the member information file 14 and confirming whether or not the input member number and password are the same in the member information file 14.

  Next, the sales history search processing unit 9 of the sales / point system 7 searches the point granting candidate file 16 using the member information file 14 of the member authenticated in step 309. This search is performed in steps 310 and 311 as follows.

  In step 310, in this example, first, each digit of the date of birth of the member information file 14 in FIG. 5 is added to calculate an added value. In this example, 1 + 9 + 8 + 0 + 0 + 1 + 0 + 1 = 20 is the added value. Next, the point granting candidate file 16 having a birth date added value of 20 is searched (step 310). As a result, if a corresponding item is searched, the process proceeds to step 311; otherwise, the process ends.

  Next, in step 311, the corresponding point granting candidate file 16 is searched for the same date of birth in the member information file 14 and the date of birth of the point granting candidate file 16. If it has been found, the process proceeds to step 312, and if not, the process ends.

  In step 312, the sales / point system 7 displays on the PC 5 information indicating that there is something that can be given points, and allowing the transaction number to be input. Accordingly, the PC 5 displays the information and accepts the information.

  In step 313, the sales history search processing 9 of the sales / point system 7 determines whether the input transaction number is the same as the transaction number of the point grant candidate file 16 searched in step 311. If they are the same transaction number, the process proceeds to step 315, and if they are different, the process ends.

  Next, in step 315, the point assignment processing unit 11 adds points to the data of the corresponding member number in the point file 13 and writes it in the point file 13. This point calculation is performed by the method as executed in step 308.

  In addition, the sales history update process 10 sets and updates a member number indicating that points have been given to the corresponding sales history file 12. In this example, 123456789 which is a corresponding member number is set to the item member number of the data table of FIG. Alternatively, the point grant “0” may be rewritten to the calculated point.

  Then, the sales / point system 8 deletes the corresponding transaction data existing in the point grant candidate file 16. That is, the corresponding transaction number record is deleted.

According to the above embodiment, the following effects are obtained.
1) Previously, it was necessary to bring a point card issued by each business operator, but it is no longer necessary to bring a terminal such as a home PC or mobile phone that can perform Web communications.
Therefore, it is possible to avoid the disadvantages of members such as when points are not awarded or when the store is revisited at a later date.
2) The point service provider can reduce or abolish the number of media communication devices such as cards for each store and cash register with the expansion of service users via the Web.
Therefore, it is possible to reduce the cost and maintenance cost of the communication device itself, and the cost required when the system itself is changed later.
3) As a third effect of providing the screen necessary for giving points on the Web, it is possible to advertise stores and products by generating / increasing the number of visitors to the company's site (collecting customers). In addition, revenues can be increased by pasting Web advertisements on the site.
4) Points can be given to members who have made a purchase.

The system block diagram in one embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the flow of the process in the case of the purchase in one embodiment of this invention. The flowchart (the 1) of the retrofit process in one embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the sales file 12 in one embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the member information file 14 in one embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the point file 15 in one embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the point provision candidate file 16 in one embodiment of this invention. The flowchart (the 2) of the retrofit process in one embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Member 2 Cash register 3 Receipt 4 Membership card 5 PC
6 Mobile phone 7 Sales / point system 8 Sales history registration processing 9 Sales history search processing 10 Sales history update processing 11 Point grant processing 12 Sales history file 13 Point file 14 Member information file 15 Clerk 16 Point grant candidate file

Claims (3)

A point grant service system for granting points to a user according to a transaction, a transaction terminal used at the time of the transaction, a point system for managing the point, and a user terminal used by the user In the point grant service system consisting of
The point system has a storage device that stores user information including points for the user and numerical information about the user,
When purchasing from the transaction terminal to the point system, purchase information including the purchase amount of the user and numerical information about the user are transmitted,
In the point system, the purchase information and the numerical information are associated with each other and stored as point grant candidate information in the storage device,
When accessing the point system from the user terminal, the point system identifies the accessing user by using an input request, and the numerical information of the identified user is stored in the storage device. Identified from the information,
The point system searches the point grant candidate information for numerical information that matches the specified numerical information, and indicates instruction information for instructing a display that allows input of points according to the search result Is transmitted to the user terminal. In the point grant service system according to claim 1,
The purchase information transmitted to the point system includes identification information for identifying the purchase information,
In the point system, as the instruction information, the instruction information that instructs the user terminal to input identification information is transmitted,
The user terminal transmits identification information input from the user to the point system,
In the point system, the transmitted identification information is compared with the identification information included in the searched point grant candidate information, and if they match, information processing for giving the user a point according to the purchase price Point grant service system characterized by In the point grant service system according to claim 1 or 2,
The storage of the point grant candidate information is retrieved from the storage device if the numerical information corresponding to the transmitted numerical information is included in the user information stored in advance, and if it is detected that it is included And registering the point granting candidate information.

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