JP2013196556A - Shopping support system and communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a shopping support system which announces a time to purchase a commodity.SOLUTION: A shopping support system includes: a portable storage medium, specifying means, reading means, purchase date recording means, determination means, and display means. The portable storage medium stores identification information, a consumption period and purchase date of a specified commodity. The specifying means specifies identification information of a commodity purchased by a customer. The reading means reads the identification information of the specified commodity out of the portable storage medium. The purchase date recording means records a purchase date of the specified commodity in the portable recording medium when the identification information specified by the specification means and the identification information read by the reading means correspond to each other. The determination means reads, out of the portable recording medium, a consumption period of the specified commodity and the purchase date of the specified commodity, and determines whether the read date, the read consumption period of the specified commodity, and the purchase date of the specified commodity are in a prescribed relation. The display means performs display according to the determination result.

Description

  The present invention relates to a shopping support system.

  In Patent Document 1, a food material to which a tag capable of wireless communication is added is stored in the refrigerator, and what kind of food material is in the refrigerator by communicating with each tag, and the expiration date of each food material is managed. A system is disclosed.

JP 2001-243364 A

  In the system of Patent Document 1, it is possible to grasp the presence or absence of ingredients, but grasp the remaining amount of ingredients (for example, the remaining amount of ingredients in the container such as seasonings) Can not do it. Therefore, the system can grasp that it is necessary to purchase the food only when the food is gone. For this reason, in the system of patent document 1, a user cannot notify an appropriate purchase time of a foodstuff. Therefore, the present specification provides a shopping support system that can inform a user of an appropriate purchase time for food and other products.

  The shopping support system disclosed in this specification includes a portable storage medium, a specifying unit, a reading unit, a purchase date recording unit, a determination unit, and a display unit. The portable storage medium can store the identification information of the designated product, the consumption period of the designated product, and the purchase date of the designated product. The specifying means specifies identification information of a product purchased by the customer. The reading unit reads the identification information of the designated product from the portable storage medium. The purchase date recording means records the purchase date of the product as the purchase date of the designated product in the portable storage medium when the identification information specified by the specifying means corresponds to the identification information read by the reading means. The determination unit reads the consumption period of the designated product and the purchase date of the designated product from the portable storage medium, and the read date, the consumption period of the designated product and the purchase date of the designated product have a predetermined relationship. It is determined whether or not. The display means performs different display according to the determination result of the determination means.

  This shopping support system is used between a store that sells merchandise and its customers. The identification information of the designated product stored in the portable storage medium is information for specifying the product (that is, the designated product) whose purchase time is to be managed. The identification information of the designated product can be recorded on the portable storage medium by a store, a customer (that is, a user of the portable storage medium), or the like. The consumption period of the designated product is information indicating how long the customer consumes the designated product (for example, seasoning). The sales period of the designated product can be recorded on a portable storage medium by a store or a customer. A customer carries a portable storage medium and shop at a store. When a customer purchases a product, the store specifies identification information of the product by specifying means. Further, the store reads the identification information of the designated product from the portable storage medium by the reading means. When the identification information specified by the specifying means corresponds to the identification information read by the reading means, the purchase date recording means records the date of purchase of the product on the portable storage medium as the purchase date of the designated product. The determination unit reads the consumption period of the designated product and the purchase date of the designated product from the portable storage medium, and the read date, the consumption period of the designated product and the purchase date of the designated product have a predetermined relationship. It is determined whether or not. That is, it is possible to know when the designated product disappears (when it becomes empty) from the consumption period of the designated product and the purchase date of the designated product stored in the portable recording medium. Whether the determination product needs to purchase the specified product by comparing the date when the specified product is predicted to be empty and the date when the information is read from the portable storage medium (that is, the present). Can be determined. The display means performs display according to the determination result. As a result, the customer is notified whether or not the designated product needs to be purchased. Thus, according to this shopping support system, it is possible to predict the date when the designated product will be empty and notify the customer of the necessity of purchasing the designated product accordingly.

  The product identification information may be determined for each product, for each product brand, or for each product type (eg, sugar, salt, soy sauce, miso, etc.). It may be determined according to other divisions. Further, as the specifying means, a device that reads a barcode or two-dimensional code printed on a product or reads data from a wireless communication tag attached to the product can be used. The data itself read from the product by the specifying means may be product identification information, or the specifying means has a database, and based on the data read from the product, the product identification information is extracted from the database. You may specify. The portable storage medium may be any medium as long as data can be recorded and read. For example, a card-type storage medium capable of wireless communication can be used as a portable storage medium. A portable device having a display screen such as a cellular phone may be used as a portable storage medium. Moreover, the determination means and the display means can be installed in various places. For example, a determination unit may be installed at a cash register of a store, and the above determination may be performed when a customer purchases a product, and the determination result may be recorded on a portable storage medium. In this case, the customer can cause the display means installed at the cash register or other places to read the determination result and display the determination result. In addition, for example, a device in which the determination unit and the display unit are integrated is installed in a store or other place, and the customer causes the device to read information from the portable storage medium, and the device performs the above determination and display. You may make it perform. Further, the portable storage medium may be configured by a portable device (for example, a cellular phone), and the portable device may function as a determination device and a display unit.

  In addition, a communication system that communicates with the above-described portable storage medium is one of the techniques provided by this specification.

The figure which shows arrangement | positioning in the shop 10. FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an IC card 60. The figure which shows the content of the purchase management database. The block diagram which shows the structure of the cash register terminal. The figure which shows the content of the goods database 32. FIG. The block diagram which shows the structure of the purchase time display machine. The flowchart which shows the process which the cash register terminal 20 implements. The flowchart which shows the detail of a process of step S10. The flowchart which shows the detail of a process of step S14. The time chart which shows a state at the time of T + 3W <X + Y. The time chart which shows a state at the time of T <X + Y. The time chart which shows a state at the time of T + 3W <Z. The time chart which shows a state in case of T <Z. The time chart which shows a state when T> Z. The block diagram which shows the structure of the purchase time display machine 40 of Example 2. FIG. The flowchart which shows the process which the purchase time display machine 40 of Example 2 performs. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a mobile device 80 according to a third embodiment. The figure which shows the content of the purchase management database 70 in a modification.

  First, the features of the embodiments described below are listed. Note that the features listed here are all independently effective.

(Feature 1) A portable storage medium can store store visit frequency information. The determination means reads the consumption period of the designated product, the purchase date of the designated product, and the store visit frequency information from the portable storage medium, and reads the read date, the consumption period of the designated product, the purchase date of the designated product, and , It is determined whether the store visit frequency information has a predetermined relationship.

  According to the feature 1, the customer's next visit date can be predicted from the read date and the visit frequency information. Therefore, it is possible to more appropriately notify the purchase time of the designated product based on the date when the designated product is predicted to be empty and the customer's next visit date.

(Characteristic 2) The shopping support system has store visit history storage means for storing customer visit history and store visit frequency information recording means. When a customer purchases a product, the store visit history storage unit updates the customer store visit history, and the store visit frequency information recording unit records store visit frequency information based on the updated store visit history in the portable storage medium.

  According to the feature 2, the store visit frequency information stored in the portable storage medium can be updated at any time based on the customer visit history. Thereby, it is possible to notify the purchase time of the designated product more appropriately.

(Characteristic 3) The shopping support system includes a purchase history storage unit that stores a purchase history of a designated product by a customer, and a consumption period recording unit. When the identification information specified by the specifying means corresponds to the identification information read by the reading means, the purchase history storage means updates the purchase history of the designated product, and the consumption period recording means is based on the updated purchase history Record the consumption period of the specified product on a portable storage medium.

  According to the feature 3, the consumption period of the designated product stored in the portable storage medium can be updated at any time based on the purchase history of the designated product by the customer. This makes it possible to notify the purchase time of the designated product more appropriately.

(Feature 4) The shopping support system further includes determination result recording means for recording the determination result of the determination means on the portable storage medium. The display means reads the determination result from the portable storage medium and performs different display according to the determination result.

  The shopping support system according to the first embodiment includes a cash register terminal 20 and a purchase time display device 40 shown in FIG. 1 and an IC card 60 shown in FIG. FIG. 1 shows an example of the installation status of the cash register terminal 20 and the purchase time indicator 40 in the store 10. In the store 10, a plurality of cash registers 14 are installed adjacent to the product display area 12. Each cash register 14 is provided with a cash register terminal 20. Further, the purchase time indicator 40 is installed beside the doorway 16 of the store 10. The IC card 60 is owned by a customer of the store 10. The IC card 60 can wirelessly communicate with the cash register terminal 20 and the purchase time indicator 40.

  The IC card 60 is a card-type recording medium incorporating an IC. An arithmetic device 64 and a storage device 66 shown in FIG. 2 are formed in the IC. Further, the IC card 60 has a built-in antenna 62 for wireless communication. The antenna 62 is connected to the arithmetic device 64. The IC card 60 is a so-called RFID tag. When the antenna 62 receives a radio wave transmitted from the outside, the arithmetic device 64 and the storage device 66 are activated by the power supplied from the radio wave. The arithmetic device 64 performs wireless communication with an external device via the antenna 62. The arithmetic device 64 reads data from the storage device 66 and writes data to the storage device 66. The storage device 66 stores a purchase management database 70, store visit frequency information 72, amount information 74, and customer identification information 76.

  The customer identification information 76 is identification information given to each IC card 60 individually.

  The money amount information 74 is data indicating the amount of money stocked in the IC card 60. That is, the IC card 60 has a prepaid function. When the IC card 60 is charged by a charging terminal (not shown), the amount information 74 stored in the storage device 66 increases. Further, if settlement is performed using the IC card 60 when the fee is paid, the amount information 74 stored in the storage device 66 decreases.

  The store visit frequency information 72 is data indicating the frequency with which the customer who owns the IC card 60 visits the store 10. For example, when a customer visits the store 10 once every three days, data of 3 (days) is stored as the store visit frequency information 72. When the IC card 60 is newly issued, the store visit frequency information 72 is set to a predetermined value. As will be described in detail later, when the IC card 60 is repeatedly used in the store 10, the store visit frequency information 72 is updated accordingly.

  FIG. 3 shows the contents of the purchase management database 70. The purchase management database 70 is a database in which products for which purchase times are to be managed are determined. In the purchase management database 70, at least one product serial number indicating a product whose purchase time is managed is described. The product serial number is a serial number determined for each product with respect to the products sold in the store 10. As shown in FIG. 3, for each of the product serial numbers described in the purchase management database 70, a product name, a consumption period Y, a purchase date X, a purchase history, a best before date Z, a flag, Is described. The product name in FIG. 3 is a product name corresponding to the product serial number. The consumption period Y in FIG. 3 is data indicating an average period during which the corresponding product is consumed. For example, in FIG. 3, the consumption period of OO soy sauce is 60 days. This indicates that the customer who owns the IC card 60 consumes (uses) XX soy sauce in about 60 days. ing. The purchase date X in FIG. 3 indicates the most recent date when the corresponding product is purchased. The purchase history in FIG. 3 shows a history of purchase of a corresponding product by a customer who owns the IC card 60. For example, the most recent purchase date for 10 corresponding products is recorded as the purchase history. The expiration date Z in FIG. 3 is the expiration date of the corresponding product. The flag is a value indicating a determination result about the purchase time of the corresponding product. The flag will be described in detail later. In addition, the information of arbitrary goods can be added to the purchase management database 70 by a dedicated machine (not shown) installed in the store 10 or the like. That is, the customer can register any product as a product whose purchase time is to be managed in the IC card 60.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the cash register terminal 20 is connected to a storage device 30 on the network. Although a plurality of cash register terminals 20 are installed in the store 10, all the cash register terminals 20 are connected to a common storage device 30. Therefore, any storage terminal 20 can access the storage device 30. The cash register terminal 20 includes an arithmetic device 22, a barcode reader 24, and an RFID reader / writer 26. The barcode reader 24 reads a barcode attached to a product purchased by a customer. The RFID reader / writer 26 performs wireless communication with the IC card 60. The arithmetic unit 22 is composed of a CPU and a memory. The arithmetic device 22 controls the barcode reader 24 and the RFID reader / writer 26 and executes arithmetic processing based on data input from these. The storage device 30 stores a product database 32, a store visit history database 34, and today's information 36.

  The today information 36 is data indicating the current date (hereinafter referred to as today T). Today's information 36 is updated every day.

  The store visit history database 34 is a database in which store visit history is recorded for each customer who visits the store 10. For example, as the store visit history, the latest visit date (date of purchase of some product) for 10 times of the target customer is recorded.

  FIG. 5 shows the contents of the product database 32. The product database 32 is data describing bar code data, product serial numbers, product names, expiration dates Z, prices, etc. for all products sold in the store 10. The barcode data in FIG. 5 is data indicated by the barcode attached to the corresponding product. The product serial number in FIG. 5 is the serial number of the corresponding product. The product name in FIG. 5 is the product name of the corresponding product. The expiration date Z in FIG. 5 is the expiration date of the corresponding product. The price in FIG. 5 is the price of the corresponding product.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the purchase time display device 40 includes a calculation device 42, a display device 44, and an RFID reader / writer 46. The RFID reader / writer 46 performs wireless communication with the IC card 60. The arithmetic device 42 is composed of a CPU and a memory. The arithmetic device 42 controls the RFID reader / writer 46 and the display device 44. The arithmetic device 42 reads data from the IC card 60 via the RFID reader / writer 46 and causes the display device 44 to display a screen corresponding to the read data.

  Next, operations of the cash register terminal 20 and the IC card 60 when a customer purchases a product at the cash register 14 will be described. FIG. 7 shows the operation of the cashier terminal 20 when a customer purchases a product. When the customer brings the product into the cash register 14, the store clerk reads the bar code of each product brought into the cash register 14 using the bar code reader 24 of the cash register terminal 20 in step S2. When the barcode of one product is read by the barcode reader 24, the barcode data of the product is input from the barcode reader 24 to the computing device 22. Upon receiving the barcode data input from the barcode reader 24, the arithmetic device 22 accesses the product database 32 of the storage device 30, and the product information corresponding to the barcode data input from the barcode reader 24 (that is, the product data 32). The product serial number, product name, expiration date Z, and price shown in FIG. 5 are read out. The arithmetic unit 22 performs this operation every time the barcode reader 24 reads the barcode data. Therefore, information about products purchased by the customer is accumulated in the arithmetic device 22.

  When the clerk reads the barcodes of all the products purchased by the customer in step S2, the clerk presses a checkout button (not shown) of the cash register terminal 20 in step S4. Then, the computing device 22 calculates the total price of the product purchased by the customer based on the price of the product information read from the product database 32 and displays the total price on the display device (not shown) of the cash register terminal 20. . The customer pays the total amount displayed. At this time, the customer can also make payment using the prepaid function of the IC card 60. In this case, the customer holds the IC card 60 over the RFID reader / writer 26 of the cash register terminal 20. Then, the RFID reader / writer 26 and the IC card 60 communicate with each other, and the amount information 74 stored in the storage device 66 of the IC card 60 is reduced by the total amount calculated by the cash register terminal 20.

  In step S <b> 6, the arithmetic device 22 reads the purchase management database 70, store visit frequency information 72, and customer identification information 76 from the IC card 60. If the customer settles without using the IC card 60 in step S4, the customer holds the IC card 60 over the RFID reader / writer 26 in step S6. As a result, the RFID reader / writer 26 and the IC card 60 communicate with each other, and data is transmitted from the IC card 60 to the arithmetic unit 22. Further, when the settlement is performed by the IC card 60 in step S4, step S6 is automatically performed when the settlement in step S4 is completed.

  In step S8, the arithmetic unit 22 determines whether or not the product purchased by the customer includes a product whose purchase time is to be managed. In other words, in step S2, the computing device 22 reads and accumulates information on products purchased by the customer from the product database 32. In addition, the purchase management database 70 read out by the arithmetic device 22 in step S6 indicates a product whose purchase time should be managed. The computing device 22 compares the product serial number of each product stored in step S2 with the product serial number of each product described in the purchase management database 70, and determines whether there is a product serial number that matches each other. judge. Hereinafter, the products corresponding to the product serial numbers determined to match each other in step S8 are referred to as update target products. That is, the update target product is a product whose purchase time is included in the product purchased by the customer. There may be a plurality of products to be updated. If there is an update target product (that is, YES in step S8), step S10 is performed.

  In step S <b> 10, the computing device 22 rewrites data such as the purchase date of the product to be updated in the purchase management database 70 stored in the IC card 60. FIG. 8 shows processing executed by the arithmetic device 22 in step S10. FIG. 8 shows processing for one update target product. If there are a plurality of update target products in step S8, the process of FIG. 8 is repeated for each update target product.

  In step S <b> 20, the arithmetic device 22 reads today's information 36 from the storage device 30. The computing device 22 specifies (recognizes) the read today information 36 as a new purchase date of the update target product.

  In step S22, the arithmetic unit 22 calculates a new purchase history based on the new purchase date specified in step S20 and the purchase history of the product to be updated in the purchase management database 70 read in step S6. .

  In step S24, the arithmetic unit 22 calculates the consumption period based on the new purchase history calculated in step S22. For example, if the purchase history indicates that it takes 20 months to purchase the target product 10 times, approximately 60 days is calculated as the consumption period.

  In step S26, the arithmetic unit 22 specifies the expiration date of the product to be updated from the product information read from the product database 32 of the storage device 66 in step S2.

  In step S28, the arithmetic unit 22 uses the purchase date specified in step S20, the purchase history calculated in step S22, the consumption period calculated in step S24, and the expiration date specified in step S26 as the IC. Write to card 60. That is, the purchase date, purchase history, consumption period, and expiration date of the product to be updated in the purchase management database 70 stored in the IC card 60 are rewritten to the data specified in steps S20 to S26. At the same time, the arithmetic unit 22 writes “0” as the flag of the product to be updated in the purchase management database 70 stored in the IC card 60.

  As described above, when a customer purchases a product whose purchase time is to be managed, the purchase is made in the purchase management database 70 stored in the IC card 60 in step S10 (that is, the processing of FIG. 8). Information on the product (that is, the product to be updated) is rewritten with the latest information.

  As shown in FIG. 7, when step S10 is completed, step S12 is performed. Moreover, when it determines with NO in step S8, step S12 is implemented without implementing step S10. In step S12, the computing device 22 selects a customer visit history corresponding to the customer identification information 76 from the store visit history database 34 stored in the storage device 30 based on the customer identification information 76 read in step S6. Is read. Then, today's information 36 is added to the read store visit history to calculate a new store visit history. The computing device 22 calculates new store visit frequency information 72 for the customer based on the newly calculated store visit history. For example, when the store visit history indicates that it takes 30 days for the customer to visit the store 10 times, 3 days are calculated as the store visit frequency information 72. The computing device 22 overwrites the newly calculated store visit history in the store visit history database 34 of the storage device 30. Further, the arithmetic device 22 overwrites the IC card 60 with the newly calculated store visit frequency information 72.

  In step S14, the flag management process shown in FIG. 9 is performed. As described above, when a product whose purchase time is to be managed is purchased, the flag for the product is set to “0”. In the flag management process of FIG. 9, today T indicated by today's information 36, store visit frequency W indicated by store visit frequency information 72 (store visit frequency information 72 calculated in step S12), purchase date X, consumption period Y, and best taste. Based on the time limit Z, the flag of each product in the purchase management database 70 is calculated. Note that the processing in FIG. 9 shows processing for one product in the purchase management database 70. When a plurality of products are registered in the purchase management database 70, the process of FIG. 9 is repeatedly executed for each product. In addition, the flag management process may not be performed on the product whose information is updated in step S10, or the flag management process may be performed based on the updated information.

  In step S40 of FIG. 9, the arithmetic unit 22 determines whether or not the relationship of T + 3W <X + Y is satisfied. When the relationship of T + 3W <X + Y is satisfied, as shown in FIG. 10, it means that there is room until the date (X + Y) when the managed product is expected to be empty. More specifically, this means that the product to be managed is expected not to be emptied during a period in which the customer visits the store three times at a pace of the store visit frequency W thereafter. In this case (YES in step S40), the arithmetic unit 22 ends the process of FIG. 9 without doing anything. In this case, the flag of the product to be managed is maintained at “0”. Therefore, the flag “0” means that there is still a margin until the date when the managed product is expected to be empty.

  If NO in step S40, the arithmetic unit 22 determines in step S42 whether the relationship of T <X + Y is satisfied. When the relationship of T <X + Y is satisfied, as shown in FIG. 11, it means that there is not much room until the date (X + Y) when the managed product is expected to be empty. More specifically, it means that the product to be managed is expected to be empty during a period in which the customer visits the store three times at the pace of the store visit frequency W thereafter. In this case (YES in step S42), the arithmetic unit 22 writes “1” to the flag of the product to be managed in the purchase management database 70 stored in the IC card 60 in step S44.

  If “NO” in the step S42, the arithmetic unit 22 determines whether or not the relationship of T + 3W <Z is satisfied in the step S46. The fact that the relationship of T + 3W <Z is satisfied, as shown in FIG. 12, is that the date (X + Y) when the managed product is expected to be empty has already passed, but there is still room until the expiration date Z. It means that there is. More specifically, it means that the expiration date of the product to be managed does not come during the period in which the customer visits the store three times thereafter at the pace of the store visit frequency W. In this case (YES in step S46), the arithmetic unit 22 writes “1” to the flag of the product to be managed in the purchase management database 70 stored in the IC card 60 in step S48. Therefore, the flag “1” indicates the state of FIG. 11 or FIG.

  If NO in step S46, the arithmetic unit 22 determines whether or not the relationship of T <Z is satisfied in step S50. When the relationship of T <Z is satisfied, it means that there is not much room until the expiration date Z of the managed product as shown in FIG. More specifically, it means that the expiration date Z of the product to be managed comes during the period in which the customer visits the store three times thereafter at the pace of the store visit frequency W. In this case (YES in step S50), the arithmetic unit 22 writes “2” in the flag of the product to be managed in the purchase management database 70 stored in the IC card 60 in step S52. Therefore, the flag “2” indicates the state of FIG.

  Moreover, NO in step S50 means that the expiration date Z of the managed product has already passed, as shown in FIG. In this case (NO in step S50), the arithmetic unit 22 writes “3” to the flag of the product to be managed in the purchase management database 70 stored in the IC card 60 in step S54. Therefore, the flag “3” indicates the state of FIG.

  As described above, in step S14 (that is, the process of FIG. 9), a flag is set for each product registered in the purchase management database 70 (that is, each product whose purchase time is to be managed). .

  Next, the operation of the purchase time indicator 40 will be described. The customer can use the purchase time indicator 40 by holding the IC card 60 over the RFID reader / writer 46 of the purchase time indicator 40. The computing device 42 of the purchase time indicator 40 reads the purchase management database 70 from the IC card 60 via the RFID reader / writer 46. And the display apparatus 44 is controlled based on the flag of each goods. The computing device 42 causes the display device 44 to display the product name of the product with the flag “1” and a message indicating that the product should be purchased. Further, the computing device 42 causes the display device 44 to display a product name of the product with the flag “2” and a message indicating that the expiration date of the product is about to expire. Further, the computing device 42 causes the display device 44 to display the product name of the product with the flag “3” and a message such as “Is the seasoning out?”. Further, the computing device 42 does not display the product name of the product with the flag “0” on the display device 44. Therefore, the customer can know the product to be purchased by the display on the display device 44. For example, a customer may purchase a new product before the product (a product owned by the customer) disappears by purchasing the product at the stage where the message of the flag “1” is displayed. it can.

  In addition, you may enable it to set the purchase time display machine 40 for every customer. For example, when a message for the flag “3” is displayed, the customer may select whether or not to display the message from the next time. The customer can set not to display the message for the flag “3” after the next time by performing a predetermined operation on the purchase time display device 40. Further, the purchase time display device 40 may further include a printer, and the same content as the display content may be printed out.

  In some cases, a customer purchases a product whose purchase time is to be managed at a store other than the store 10 (a store where the shopping support system of the embodiment is not installed). In this case, information on products purchased at other stores (products for which purchase time should be managed) may be input to the IC card 60 at the service counter of the store 10 or the like. In this case, substantially the same processing as that performed in step S10 in FIG. 7 is performed on the IC card 60.

  In the first embodiment described above, the storage device 66 of the IC card 60 is an example of the portable recording medium of the claims, the barcode reader 24 is an example of the reading means of the claims, and the RFID reader / writer 26 is charged. The purchase date recording means of the item is an example, and today T is an example of the “read date” of the claim (that is, the date of reading the consumption period and the purchase date from the portable storage medium), and the computing device 22 is charged The purchase time indicator 40 is an example of a display means of claims.

  A shopping support system according to the second embodiment will be described. The shopping support system of the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in the configuration of the purchase time display device 40. The purchase time display device 40 according to the second embodiment includes a storage device 48 as shown in FIG. The storage device 48 stores today's information 36. Further, the purchase management database 70 stored in the IC card 60 of the second embodiment does not include flag information. Further, the operations of the cashier terminal 20 and the purchase time indicator 40 of the second embodiment are different from those of the first embodiment. For other configurations, the second embodiment is substantially the same as the first embodiment.

  The cash register terminal 20 according to the second embodiment performs steps S2 to S12 and does not perform step S14 in the process of FIG.

  The purchase time display device 40 according to the second embodiment performs the process shown in FIG. In step S 62, the computing device 42 reads the purchase management database 70 from the IC card 60 via the RFID reader / writer 46. In step S <b> 64, the computing device 42 reads today's information 36 from the storage device 48. Then, based on today's T indicated by the read today's information 36 and information W, X, Y, Z included in the purchase management database 70, a flag is set for each product to be managed. Steps S66, S70, S74, and S78 in FIG. 16 are equal to steps S40, S42, S46, and S50 in FIG. The arithmetic unit 42 sets the flag “0” in step S68, sets the flag “1” in steps S72 and S76, sets the flag “2” in step S80, and sets the flag “3” in step S82. In step S84, the screen according to the flag set for each product is displayed on the display device 44 as in the first embodiment.

  As described above, in the second embodiment, the determination regarding the purchase time is performed by the purchase time display device 40. That is, in the second embodiment, today's date T specified by the purchase time indicator 40 is an example of “read date” in the claims, and the arithmetic device 42 is an example of a determination unit in the claims.

  A shopping support system according to the third embodiment will be described. The shopping support system according to the third embodiment uses a mobile device 80 (for example, a mobile phone) shown in FIG. 17 instead of the IC card 60. In FIG. 17, parts having functions corresponding to those of the IC card 60 shown in FIG. The portable device 80 includes an antenna 62, an arithmetic device 64, a storage device 66, a display device 78, and a battery 79. The portable device 80 is operated by power from the battery 79. The storage device 66 stores today's information 36 in addition to the data of the first embodiment shown in FIG. Further, the purchase management database 70 of the third embodiment does not include flag information.

  The operation of the cashier terminal 20 according to the third embodiment is the same as that of the cashier terminal 20 according to the second embodiment. Further, when a predetermined operation is performed in the portable device 80 of the third embodiment, the arithmetic device 64 performs the processing of FIG. 16 (that is, the processing substantially the same as the purchase time display device 40 of the second embodiment). That is, the arithmetic device 64 reads the purchase management database 70 and the current day information 36 from the storage device 66 in steps S62 and S64. Next, based on the read information, the arithmetic device 64 performs flag setting processing similar to that in the second embodiment in steps S66 to S82. In step S84, the arithmetic device 64 causes the display device 78 to display a screen according to the raised flag.

  As described above, in the third embodiment, the determination and display regarding the purchase time are performed by the portable device 80. In other words, in the third embodiment, the storage device 66 of the portable device 80 is an example of the portable recording medium in the claims, and today T specified by the portable device 80 is an example of the “read date” in the claims. The computing device 64 is an example of a determination unit of claims, and the display device 78 is an example of a display unit of claims.

  In addition, in the purchase management database 70 of Examples 1-3 mentioned above, the purchase time was managed for every goods (namely, every goods name). However, the purchase time may be managed for each product type (for example, soy sauce, miso, salt, etc.). In this case, the purchase management database 70 can be constructed as shown in FIG. In FIG. 18, the type of product whose purchase time is to be managed is defined by the type serial number determined for each type of product. The type serial number is a serial number determined for a type (group) of a product such as soy sauce, miso, salt, and the like. When a customer purchases a product belonging to a type whose purchase time is to be managed, the product serial number, product name, content, purchase date, purchase history, and expiration date of the purchased product are included in the target items of the purchase management database 70. And a flag is written. The consumption speed may be a fixed value or a value that is updated based on the purchase history every time a product is purchased. Dividing the content of the product by the consumption speed gives the consumption period of the product. That is, storing the content and consumption speed of a product is equivalent to storing the consumption period of the product. When managing the purchase time according to the type of product, since the internal capacity differs for each product actually purchased, an appropriate consumption period can be applied by storing the internal capacity and the consumption speed.

  In the above embodiment, the consumption period and the store visit frequency information are updated based on the past performance, but these data may be fixed values. In the above description, the merchandise has been described mainly using the seasoning as an example, but the technology described in this specification can be used for any merchandise. For example, the techniques described herein may be used for rice, liquor, drinking water, and the like.

Specific examples of the present invention have been described in detail above, but these are merely examples and do not limit the scope of the claims. The technology described in the claims includes various modifications and changes of the specific examples illustrated above.
The technical elements described in this specification or the drawings exhibit technical usefulness alone or in various combinations, and are not limited to the combinations described in the claims at the time of filing. In addition, the technology illustrated in the present specification or the drawings achieves a plurality of objects at the same time, and has technical utility by achieving one of the objects.

10: Store 12: Product display area 14: Cash register 16: Entrance / exit 20: Cash register terminal 22: Computing device 24: Bar code reader 26: RFID reader / writer 30: Storage device 40: Purchase time display device 42: Computing device 44: Display device 46: RFID reader / writer 48: storage device 60: IC card 62: antenna 64: arithmetic device 66: storage device

Claims (7)

A portable storage medium capable of storing the identification information of the designated product, the consumption period of the designated product, and the purchase date of the designated product;
A specific means for identifying identification information of a product purchased by a customer;
Reading means for reading the identification information of the designated product from the portable storage medium;
When the identification information specified by the specifying means and the identification information read by the reading means correspond, the purchase date recording means for recording the purchase date of the product as the purchase date of the designated product in the portable storage medium;
Reads the consumption period of the designated product and the purchase date of the designated product from the portable storage medium, and whether the read date, the consumption period of the designated product and the purchase date of the designated product have a predetermined relationship Determination means for determining whether or not
Display means for performing different display according to the determination result of the determination means;
Having a shopping support system. A portable storage medium can store store visit frequency information,
The determination means reads the consumption period of the designated product, the purchase date of the designated product, and the store visit frequency information from the portable storage medium, and reads the read date, the consumption period of the designated product, the purchase date of the designated product, and , Determine whether the store visit frequency information has a predetermined relationship,
The shopping support system according to claim 1. Store visit history storage means for storing customer visit history,
It also has store frequency information recording means,
When the customer purchases a product, the store visit history storage unit updates the customer store visit history, and the store visit frequency information recording unit records store visit frequency information based on the updated store visit history in a portable storage medium. 2 shopping support system. A purchase history storage means for storing a purchase history of the designated product by the customer;
It further has a consumption period recording means,
When the identification information specified by the specifying means corresponds to the identification information read by the reading means, the purchase history storage means updates the purchase history of the designated product, and the consumption period recording means is based on the updated purchase history The shopping support system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a consumption period of the designated product is recorded on a portable storage medium. A determination result recording means for recording the determination result of the determination means in the portable storage medium;
The display means reads the determination result from the portable storage medium, and performs different display according to the determination result.
The shopping support system according to any one of claims 1 to 4. A communication system that communicates with a portable storage medium capable of storing identification information of a designated product, a consumption period of the designated product, and a purchase date of the designated product,
A specific means for identifying identification information of a product purchased by a customer;
Reading means for reading the identification information of the designated product from the portable storage medium;
When the identification information specified by the specifying means and the identification information read by the reading means correspond, the purchase date recording means for recording the purchase date of the product as the purchase date of the designated product in the portable storage medium;
Reads the consumption period of the designated product and the purchase date of the designated product from the portable storage medium, and whether the read date, the consumption period of the designated product and the purchase date of the designated product have a predetermined relationship Determination means for determining whether or not
Display means for performing different display according to the determination result of the determination means;
A communication system. A communication system that communicates with a portable storage medium capable of storing identification information of a designated product, a consumption period of the designated product, and a purchase date of the designated product,
A specific means for identifying identification information of a product purchased by a customer;
Reading means for reading the identification information of the designated product from the portable storage medium;
When the identification information specified by the specifying means and the identification information read by the reading means correspond, the purchase date recording means for recording the purchase date of the product as the purchase date of the designated product in the portable storage medium;
A communication system.

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