JP2010237897A - Service method for electronic coupon, electronic coupon service system, and coupon management server - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic coupon service system for changing content of privilege of a distributed electronic coupon as necessary without redistributing the same coupon, in an electronic coupon service for storing coupon information in an electronic medium. <P>SOLUTION: In a coupon system, a store terminal 3 reads the coupon information in a mobile phone terminal 2, and converts the content of privilege of the coupon into corresponding privilege using a coupon ID as a key. The store terminal 3 has privilege information associated with the coupon ID. When the privilege is changed, only the privilege is rewritten, so that it is possible to change the content of privilege without changing the coupon ID. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic coupon service using a mobile phone equipped with an IC card or a non-contact IC chip.

  As part of customer service at stores and the like, sales promotion techniques that distribute coupons that give special benefits such as discounts and giveaways and encourage customers to visit stores are already widely used. A typical form of the coupon service is distributed with a coupon attached to a leaflet or the like and exchanged for a privilege at a store. Recently, it is applied to a mobile phone having an IC card suitable for carrying or an IC chip capable of non-contact communication. There has also been proposed an electronic coupon system that stores coupon information, reads the coupon information at the store, and exchanges the coupon information.

  In such an electronic coupon system, a server for coupon business processing is provided separately from the coupon operation terminal placed in the store, the server and each terminal are connected by a network or a communication line, and the coupon processing of each store is performed collectively. It is customary to use a large-scale system with multiple stores.

As an electronic coupon system connected with a network using an IC card as described above, there is Patent Document 1 by the applicant of the present invention. In this example, the coupon business processing server centrally manages customer information and coupon information, It is characterized by services unique to electronic coupons, such as selecting and providing coupon services suitable for customers based on customer wishes and purchase history.
Patent Document 2 refers to a coupon service using a mobile phone terminal equipped with a non-contact IC card function.
JP 2006-252160 A JP2008-140099

  In the coupon service as described above, the content of the privilege is clearly specified in advance so that the privilege exchanged with the coupon exhibits the customer attraction effect, but on the other hand, the privilege content of the once distributed coupon is not reissued. There is a request to change as appropriate. For example, in order to compete with competing stores, upgrade the service content on a case-by-case basis, change the expiration date by looking at the coupon response, or set up a service at the discretion of each store at each store's discretion. is there.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic coupon service system capable of changing the privilege content of a coupon without redistributing the coupon distributed to the customer in order to meet the above-described request. Further, it is an object to change privilege contents not only in a lump but also in each store.

The first invention of the present application that solves the above problems is as follows.
A service method of an electronic coupon service method, in which a customer terminal possessed by a customer stores information handled as an electronic coupon as coupon identification information for specifying the contents of a privilege, and a store terminal that reads the electronic coupon includes the coupon The association table that associates the identification information with the content of the privilege is provided in a form that allows the content of the privilege in the table to be rewritten, and the coupon is reissued and re-acquired by rewriting the content information of the privilege in the table. The content of the privilege of the electronic coupon specified by the identification information can be changed.

The second invention of the present application is in addition to the first invention,
The electronic coupon issuer records the coupon identification information, the member identification information, and the issue ID added at the time of issuing the electronic coupon in order to identify the issue history when the electronic coupon is issued,
When the store terminal provides a privilege with an electronic coupon, the store terminal records information including coupon identification information and issue ID of the electronic coupon information as a usage history,
By comparing the usage history with the issue history at a predetermined timing, it is possible to obtain member information using an electronic coupon without recording member identification information at a store terminal. .

According to a third aspect of the present application, the electronic coupon further comprises three types of data of the coupon identification information, the issue ID, and a flag that takes one of binary values as one set, One electronic coupon is distinguished, and whether one electronic coupon is unused or used is distinguished by the value of the flag.

The fourth invention of the present application is:
An electronic coupon stored in a customer terminal possessed by a customer, a store terminal provided in a store, and provided with a reading means for reading coupon identification information for specifying the content of the benefit of the coupon from the electronic coupon, the coupon identification information, A coupon management server that manages privilege information indicating the content of the privilege and customer information, and a network that connects the customer terminal, the store terminal, and the coupon management server, and an electronic coupon service system comprising:
The store terminal includes an association table that associates the coupon identification information distributed from the server via the network with the privilege information in a form in which privilege information in the table can be rewritten.

In the fifth invention of the present application, the coupon management server further includes:
When the electronic coupon is distributed to the customer terminal via the network, the coupon identification information and an issue ID issued for each distribution for identification of an issue history are distributed as a set.

The sixth invention of the present application is further read when the store terminal reads the coupon identification information from the customer terminal by reading the issued ID together with the coupon identification information as a set and collating with the related table. The privilege information corresponding to the coupon identification information is specified.

Examples of the carrier for holding the electronic coupon include a non-contact IC card and a portable terminal equipped with a non-contact IC chip.
Further, the privilege information output to the store terminal is either information displayed on the display means, information added as point information to the electronic coupon, or information issuing a coupon ticket output to the printer. It is a feature.

According to the electronic coupon service system of the present invention,
The privilege information indicating the content of the privilege of the electronic coupon is placed in the store terminal in association with the coupon identification information, and the privilege information can be rewritten via the coupon management server, so that the store terminal can be reissued without reissuing the coupon. By rewriting privilege information with the operation of, it becomes possible to take into account the coupon service unique to the store.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an electronic coupon service system of the present invention.
The electronic coupon service system 1 includes an electronic coupon 20, a store terminal 3 for reading coupon information from the electronic coupon 20, a coupon management server 5, etc., and the store terminal 3 is connected to the coupon management server 5 via a network 8. The
The coupon management server 5 manages information related to the coupon service, and distributes electronic coupons to customers and distributes information to the store terminals 3 via the network 8.

  The store terminal 3 includes a reader / writer unit (hereinafter abbreviated as R / W unit) 31 having a non-contact communication function, an operation unit 32, a display unit 33, and the like. FIG. 1 shows the store terminal 3 in such a form.

  Further, the electronic coupon 20 possessed by the customer is shown in a form accommodated in a mobile phone terminal 2 equipped with an IC chip having a non-contact communication function (non-contact IC). The privilege provided by the coupon is used by holding the terminal 3 over the R / W unit 31 attached to the terminal 3. The R / W unit 31 reads the coupon information 21 from the mobile phone terminal 2 by a non-contact communication method, and the store terminal 3 executes a process corresponding to a so-called “mogiri” described later.

  The mobile phone terminal 2 can connect to the coupon management server via the mobile phone network 200 and the network 8 provided by the telephone company, and can receive distribution of electronic coupons and provision of product information.

  The electronic coupon service as described above can also be realized by using a non-contact IC card instead of a mobile phone. In that case, a PC combined with a reader / writer capable of communicating with the non-contact IC card is used in the store terminal 3. As a function.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the electronic coupon system of the present invention.
The store terminal 3 includes an R / W unit 31 that is responsible for communication with a non-contact IC, an operation unit 32 that receives input from an operator, a display unit 33 that displays operation details and coupon information, and a storage unit that stores coupon-related information. 34, a communication unit 35 that communicates with external devices via the network 5, and the like, and the control unit 36 controls the whole through the bus 39.
Stored in the storage unit 34 of the store terminal 3 is information on the benefit for each coupon provided for the coupon service and information on the usage history for grasping the coupon usage status.

The mobile phone terminal 2 includes a display unit 23 for an original mobile phone function, an operation unit 22, a communication unit 25, and the like, and further includes a non-contact IC chip 24 having a non-contact IC communication function. The control unit 26 controls the entire mobile phone terminal 2 including the non-contact IC chip 24 via the bus 29.
As described above, since the mobile phone terminal 2 has the contactless IC communication function, the store terminal 3 can read and write with the contactless IC chip 24 via the R / W unit 31, and the mobile phone terminal 2 It is also possible to acquire information from the store terminal 3 via the non-contact IC chip 24.

The coupon management server 5 includes a coupon management database 57 that manages information related to coupons and services, a usage history database 58 that manages customer information and usage history (hereinafter abbreviated as DB), and communication for connecting to the network 8. The control unit 56 controls the whole via a bus 59.
In addition, the coupon management server 5 collects and distributes information with the store terminal and the mobile phone terminal 2 via the network 8 based on the information in the coupon management DB 57 and the history information DB 58, so that the entire point service can be obtained. Execute the process.

  In the coupon management DB 57, coupon identification information (coupon ID) 51, which is information for identifying individual coupons, and privilege information 52 representing the contents of the coupon are stored in association with each other. 51 and privilege information 52 are distributed to the store terminal 3 via the network 8 and stored in the store terminal 3 as an association table 301 in which the coupon specifying information 51 and the privilege information 52 are associated with each other.

FIG. 3A shows the state of the association table 301 in the store terminal 3.
The electronic coupon service system according to the present invention is characterized in that the service contents can be easily changed by placing the association table 301 in the store terminal 3 without changing the coupon ID 51 that has already been widely distributed. That is, in order to change the content of the coupon, only the privilege information 52 (that is, the content of the privilege) in the store terminal 3 needs to be rewritten from the coupon management server 5, and it is not necessary to change the coupon ID.

By rewriting the privilege information 52 in the store terminal 3, various developments such as, for example, changing a premium to a discount, or extending if there is a time limit, can be made without redistributing coupons to customers. If the customer needs to be notified of a change in privilege content, it can be made known by sending a change guide to the e-mail address if the e-mail address is acquired at the time of member registration.
Even when each store independently changes the content of the privilege, only the privilege information 52 needs to be rewritten by operating the store terminal 3. For example, it is possible to flexibly change the contents of the privilege according to time zones or regional characteristics.

<Acquisition of electronic coupons>
In order for the customer to acquire the electronic coupon 20 for the first time, first, a predetermined procedure such as member registration is performed. At this time, the coupon management server 5 can acquire the mobile phone unique number 505 of the mobile phone terminal 2. The mobile unique number 505 is a serial number assigned to all mobile phone terminals including a manufacturer's distinction without duplication, and is always attached when the mobile phone terminal 2 accesses the coupon management server 5. Information.
Each time the coupon management server 5 communicates with the mobile phone terminal 2, the coupon management server 5 acquires the mobile unique number 505 and records it in association with the issue ID 502. The issue ID 502 is an identification code added every time the coupon management server 5 issues a coupon. The coupon management server 5 manages the mobile phone unique number 505 and the issue ID 502 together to manage the coupon acquisition history of each customer. Can be managed.
If customer identification is required, such as separately managing customer attribute information within the coupon management server 5, a member identification code such as a member ID 501 may be used in combination. In this case, the portable unique number 505 and the member ID 501 have a one-to-one correspondence.

  In order for a customer who is already a member to obtain the electronic coupon 20, the mobile phone terminal 2 connects to the coupon management server 5 via the mobile phone network 200 and acquires the desired coupon ID 51. At this time, the mobile phone terminal 2 acquires the issue ID 502 together with the coupon ID 51.

As a result, the storage unit 28 of the non-contact IC chip 24 of the mobile phone terminal 2 stores a coupon ID 51 and an issue ID 502 that identify the type of coupon service received by the customer.
FIG. 3B shows the state of the coupon ID 51 and the issue ID 502 stored in the non-contact IC chip 24 as the coupon information 21.
The storage location of the coupon information 21 in the mobile phone terminal 2 is not limited to the non-contact IC chip 24, and may be a memory unit of the mobile phone terminal 2 or an attached SIM.

<Use of electronic coupons>
FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of the mobile phone terminal 2 and the store terminal 3 when using a coupon.
(A) When a customer uses an electronic coupon, first, the mobile phone terminal 2 is held over the store terminal 3 (S11), and the coupon information 21 of the mobile phone terminal 2 is read into the store terminal 3. (S22). At this time, the shop terminal 3 is in a state where it can communicate with the mobile phone terminal 2 (S21).
(B) The store terminal 3 reads all coupon IDs 51 and issue IDs 502 from the non-contact IC chip 24 (S22), collates them with the association table 301, and displays the privilege information 52 corresponding to the coupon IDs 51 on the display unit 33 ( S23).
(C) The store manager who receives the customer or the customer's will selects the privilege to be used at the store terminal 3 (S24).
(D) When the privilege is selected, the store terminal 3 writes information indicating “used” in the coupon information in the mobile phone terminal 2 (S25, S12). Note that writing information indicating “used” includes a method of writing a flag, deleting the coupon information, and writing the number of times of use.
(E) When it is confirmed that the writing of “used” has been completed normally (S26), the customer can receive a privilege. If the writing is not completed, the coupon is not used and the store terminal 3 returns to the initial state (S27).

<History management>
When the above (a) to (e) are executed, the store terminal 3 records the coupon type, the issued ID, the use date and time, the contents of the privilege used, etc. as the use history (S28).
FIG. 3C is an example of a usage history that remains in the store terminal 3. Here, the usage, date and privilege contents are recorded together with the coupon ID 51 and the issue ID 502.
The usage history 302 stored in the store terminal 3 is collected from each store to the coupon management server 5 via the network 8 at a predetermined timing, and is managed by the usage history DB 58 of the coupon management server 5 as the usage history of the entire point service. Is done.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the entire usage history stored in the usage history DB 58. In the entire usage history 503, in addition to the items of FIG. 3C, usage or download (capture of electronic coupon 20 and abbreviated as DL). ), Store ID, member ID, privilege contents, etc. are associated and recorded.
The issue ID 502 is an identification code given each time the coupon management server 5 issues a coupon, but the issue ID 502 is associated with the member ID 501 and managed in the coupon management server 5 when the coupon is issued. Therefore, it is possible to specify a member to be used at each use point in the entire history management.
Therefore, it is not necessary to handle secret information such as the member ID 501 on the network 8 by using the issued ID instead of the member ID 501 when acquiring a coupon or using the coupon. That is, even if the third party knows the member ID 501, it is impossible to extract the member's incidental information or use the coupon illegally. Thus, according to the present invention, it is possible to operate the coupon system while ensuring high security.

  As described above, according to the electronic coupon service system of the present invention, the privilege content of the coupon can be easily changed without redistributing the coupon distributed to the customer, and an electronic coupon service having high security is provided. It becomes possible.

Configuration diagram of electronic coupon service system of the present invention Functional block diagram of the electronic coupon system of the present invention The figure which shows the storage state of coupon related information Flow chart when using coupons Diagram showing usage history management status

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electronic coupon service system 2 Mobile phone terminal 3 Store terminal 5 Coupon management server 8 Network 20 Electronic coupon 21 Coupon information 24 Non-contact IC chip 51 Coupon ID
52 privilege information 301 association table 302 usage history 501 member ID
502 Issue ID
503 Overall usage history 505 Mobile phone number

Claims (7)

Information that is handled as an electronic coupon in a customer terminal possessed by a customer is stored as coupon identification information that identifies the content of the privilege, and a store terminal that reads the electronic coupon has an association table that associates the coupon identification information with the content of the privilege, The content of the privilege of the table is provided in a rewritable form, and the content of the privilege of the electronic coupon specified by the coupon identification information without reissuing and reacquiring the electronic coupon by rewriting the content information of the privilege of the table An electronic coupon service method characterized in that it can be changed. Related table The electronic coupon issuer records the coupon identification information, the member identification information, and the issue ID added at the time of issuing the electronic coupon in order to identify the issue history when the electronic coupon is issued,
When the store terminal provides a privilege with an electronic coupon, the store terminal records information including coupon identification information and issue ID of the electronic coupon information as a usage history,
By comparing the usage history with the issue history at a predetermined timing, it is possible to obtain member information using an electronic coupon without recording member identification information at a store terminal. The electronic coupon service method according to claim 1. History The electronic coupon is composed of three types of data of the coupon identification information, the issue ID, and a flag that takes one of the binary states as one set, and distinguishes one electronic coupon by the issue ID. The service method of an electronic coupon according to claim 1 or 2, wherein one electronic coupon is discriminated whether it is unused or used by the value of the flag. flag An electronic coupon stored in a customer terminal owned by the customer;
A store terminal that is placed in a store and includes reading means for reading coupon identification information that identifies the content of the privilege of the coupon from the electronic coupon, the coupon identification information, privilege information indicating the content of the privilege, and customer information are managed. A coupon management server to
A network connecting the customer terminal, the store terminal and the coupon management server;
An electronic coupon service system comprising:
The store terminal comprises an association table associating the coupon identification information distributed from the server via the network with the privilege information in a form in which the privilege information of the table can be rewritten. system. When the server distributes the electronic coupon to the customer terminal via the network, the server distributes the coupon identification information and an issue ID issued for each distribution for identification of an issue history. The electronic coupon service system according to claim 4, wherein When the store terminal reads the coupon identification information from the customer terminal, it reads the issued ID together with the coupon identification information as a set, and collates it with the related table, whereby privilege information corresponding to the read coupon identification information is read. 5. The electronic coupon service system according to claim 4, wherein the electronic coupon service system is specified. The coupon management server in the electronic coupon service system in any one of Claim 4 or 5.

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