JP2014048917A - Pos terminal, money information management server, and card processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a POS terminal, money information management server, and a card processing program, capable of easily issuing a new card even when unreadability occurs at a stage that usable money remains in a prepaid card.SOLUTION: An example of a POS terminal having a function by which when an old prepaid card previously charged with money becomes difficult to read, a new prepaid card in place of the old prepaid card can be issued, includes: card balance inquiry means for inquiring a balance to a money information management server that stores at least a balance of the old prepaid card; and new card issuance means for issuing a new prepaid card on the basis of the balance replied by the money information management server in response to the inquiry the card balance inquiry means.

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to a POS terminal, a monetary information management server, and a card processing program that can write the balance of a card that can no longer be read into a newly created card.

  Gift cards that are stored in advance by magnetism and can be used for shopping are distributed. This type of card is used when a customer makes a purchase by submitting it at a cash register and deducting it from the purchase price.

  When this gift card is processed at the cash register, the balance amount may become unreadable. In such a case, conventionally, the operator of the POS terminal needs to inquire about the remaining amount of the card from the center server and perform a procedure such as newly joining a gift card, and then input it at the POS terminal. In the case of a prepaid card as well as a gift card, a complicated procedure is required as in the case where the remaining amount disappears for some reason.

  In addition, when there is no space for writing monetary data in the card-shaped storage medium and a new card-shaped storage medium is used, the amount stored in the previous storage medium is temporarily stored separately, and the subsequent storage medium There is known a card processing device for storing the data in the memory card.

JP-A-4-178898

  An object of the present invention is to provide a POS terminal, a monetary information management server, and a card processing program that can easily issue a new card even when the prepaid card becomes usable and remains unreadable. It is to be.

  In order to solve the above problems, an example of the present invention is a POS terminal having a function of issuing a new prepaid card in place of an old prepaid card when it becomes difficult to read the old prepaid card charged in advance. Card balance inquiry means for inquiring the remaining amount to the money information management server storing at least the remaining amount of the old prepaid card, and the balance returned by the money information management server in response to the inquiry from the card balance inquiry means And a new card issuing means for issuing the new prepaid card based on the POS terminal.

1 is an overall view of a system according to an embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the POS terminal of one Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the gift card inquiry process part of one Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of one Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a case of a gift card will be described as an example of a prepaid card. An example of the entire configuration including the POS terminal of this embodiment is shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 1, a plurality of, for example, three POS terminals 12a, 12b, and 12c are connected to a network 11 such as the Internet, and a central amount information management server 13 is connected. The money amount information management server 13 includes a purchase information database (hereinafter abbreviated as DB) 14, a gift card DB 15, and a timer 16. Each POS terminal 12a, 12b, and 12c performs actual product purchase and sale processing, the price of each product is inquired to the purchase information DB in the amount information management server 13, and the amount is returned to the inquired POS terminal. . The purchase information when the sale is made is sent from each POS terminal to the purchase information DB 14 of the amount information management server DB 13 and stored as purchase data. Each POS terminal also processes gift cards by making an inquiry to the money amount information management server 13.

  For example, FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the POS terminal 12a. The POS terminal 12a shown in FIG. 2 includes a receipt amount input unit 21 for inputting the amount received from the purchaser, a purchase price inquiry unit 22 for inquiring the price of the purchase to the amount information management server 13 and receiving the price. The purchase price calculation unit 23 for calculating the total price of the purchase by summing up the prices detected by the purchase price inquiry unit 22 and the central amount information management of the remaining amount of the gift card when the customer submits the gift card A gift card inquiry processing unit 24 that makes inquiries to the server 13 and performs other processing, an amount input to the received amount input unit 21, an amount calculated by the purchase amount calculation unit 23, and a payment by the gift card inquiry processing unit 24 A change calculation unit 25 for calculating the difference between the amount of money to be changed as change, and a change output unit 26 for outputting the amount of money calculated by the change calculation unit 25 Includes a display unit 27 for displaying the amount to be calculated in each section, and a server communication unit 28 which the POS terminal 12a communicates with the amount information management server via the Internet 11.

  A configuration example of the gift card inquiry processing unit 24 is shown in FIG. In creating a new gift card, the gift card inquiry processing unit 24 receives a card receiving unit 31 that receives an old gift card that has become unreadable, a card balance inquiry unit 32 that inquires the amount information management server for the balance of the old card, and A card information input unit 33 for inputting card information, a balance withdrawal transmission / reception unit 34 for requesting a balance withdrawal process from the money amount information management server 13 and receiving the result, and a balance transfer (charge) to the money amount information management server 13 Balance transfer requesting unit 35 for requesting a new card, and a new card issuing unit 36 for inputting information to a new gift card from card information input unit 33.

  The POS terminal 12a normally performs a process known as a conventional gift authorization function. That is, when a gift card is inquired, a card number (card ID) is specified, and an inquiry about the balance of the gift card received by the card receiving unit 31 is made to the money information management server 13 from the card balance inquiry unit 32. . In response to this inquiry, the balance information stored in the gift card DB of the money information management server 32 is received by the card balance inquiry unit 32, and an action such as telling the gift card holder is performed.

  When shopping with the gift card, the total amount of shopping calculated by the purchase amount calculation unit 23 shown in FIG. 2 is deducted from the balance detected by the gift card inquiry processing unit 24 and the amount received by the received amount input unit 21. The change calculation unit 25 performs a process of converting the change.

  At this time, in the gift card inquiry processing unit 24, the card balance inquiry unit 32 makes an inquiry to the money information management server 13, and the card balance inquiry unit 32 obtains the balance of the gift card with the specific number from the gift card DB 15. A part or all of this amount is added to the amount received by the received amount input unit 21 and the change calculation unit 25 calculates the change.

  When charging the gift card, the amount received by the received amount input unit 21 is added to the gift card DB 15. This is performed by notifying the gift card BD 15 of the money information management server 13 of the amount from the card balance inquiry unit 32.

  Here, the operation of each unit when the POS terminal 12a replaces an old gift card that cannot be read with a new gift card will be described.

  The card information input unit 33 is visualized on the surface of the old gift card received by the card receiving unit 31, that is, the gift card number printed or embossed is automatically input manually or by reading OCR or the like. To do. This card number is an ID for identifying a gift card, and is desirably displayed at least by printing or embossing on the card surface so that a person can read it.

  The card balance inquiry unit 32 inquires of the gift card DB 15 of the money amount information management server 13 via the server communication unit 28 about information before the card becomes unreadable, such as the balance and expiration date of the card, based on the number of the gift card. Although the balance will be described here, other information may be included. Inquiries from the card balance inquiry unit 32 to the money amount information management server 13 sometimes fail.

  When the inquiry is successful, the balance obtained as a result is sent to the card information input unit 33 and stored as card information, and the next card is switched. A new gift card to be switched is taken out from a plurality of unused gift cards prepared in advance and set as a new gift card. The number of this new gift card is transmitted to the money information management server 13, and a storage space for this number is created in the gift card DB 15.

  The balance is sent from the card balance inquiry unit 32 to the balance withdrawal transmission / reception unit 34. From here, the balance is transferred to the money amount information management server 13 via the server communication unit 28, and a withdrawal request is made from the balance of the old gift card. , Receive the result.

  In order to distinguish this withdrawal from normal gift sales, a control signal (card change control signal) indicating that a process of replacing a gift card is performed is sent. For example, a flag is set with a bit at a predetermined position of the request message as 1. When receiving the withdrawal request signal, the money amount information management server 13 instructs the withdrawal of the balance transmitted to the gift card DB 15. In the amount information management server 13, the withdrawal process of the remaining amount may fail.

  When the remaining amount withdrawal process is successful, it is predicted that a corresponding balance transfer request will come next, time measurement is started by the timer 16, and a balance transfer request signal is awaited.

  Thereafter, the balance withdrawal transceiver 34 receives the balance withdrawal processing result by the money amount information management server 13 and sends information to the card information input unit 33.

  After these processes are completed, the balance transfer request unit 36 transmits a balance transfer request signal to the money information management server 13 via the Internet 11 via the server communication unit 28.

  When this balance transfer request signal arrives at the money information management server 13 within a predetermined time (normal transfer time: time from receipt of a withdrawal request signal from the POS terminal at the server until reception of the balance transfer request signal), The information management server 13 replaces the ID of the gift card stored in the gift card DB 15 with the ID of a new gift card. The card information input unit 33 sends information to the new card issuing unit 35 and issues a new gift card.

  If the money information management server 13 does not receive the balance transfer request signal within a predetermined time from the withdrawal request signal received from the POS terminal 12a, it is reset, that is, the gift card is not switched. Various processes are performed.

  Next, the overall operation of this embodiment when a gift card is replaced will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 4, when starting, first, in step S400, for example, the POS terminal 12a declares switching of gift cards.

  Next, an unreadable gift card is received by the card receiving unit 31, and a visible card number of the gift card is manually or automatically input from the card information input unit 33 in step S401.

  In the next step S402, the card balance inquiry unit 32 inquires of the money information management server 13 about the card balance via the server communication unit 28. If the inquiry about the balance is successful, in step S403, one of the unused gift cards is set as a new gift card to be switched this time, and the balance is input in the card information input unit 33.

  On the other hand, if the balance inquiry fails in step S402, a failure receipt indicating failure has been output from the output unit (not shown) in step S404. This failure receipt contains information indicating that the switching was not successful, and a comment indicating that the switching process is to be performed again from the beginning, and is retained for the POS terminal operator to perform the switching process again later. To do.

  If the balance is input to the new gift card in step S403, the POS terminal 12a executes card switching, that is, switching from the old gift card to the new gift card in the next step S405. In this case, the card number of the new gift card is transmitted from the POS terminal 12a to the money amount information management server 13.

  In the next step S406, a balance withdrawal request signal is transmitted from the balance withdrawal transceiver 34 to the money information management server 13 via the server communication unit. If the balance withdrawal is successful in the gift card DB 15 in the money information management server 13, a signal to that effect is received by the balance withdrawal transceiver 34. In this case, it means that the balance removal was successful in step S406, and time measurement is started by the timer 16 in the next step S407. This time measurement is for checking whether there is a balance transfer request within the normal transfer time from the POS terminal that requested the balance withdrawal.

  When the balance withdrawal in step S406 fails, the process proceeds to step S404, and a failure receipt is printed out. This failure receipt also includes a comment that urges the user to perform the switching process again later because the card switching has failed.

  After the balance removal processing is successful and time measurement is started in step S407, the balance withdrawal transmission / reception unit 34 of the POS terminal 12a sends a control signal to that effect to the balance transfer request unit 36, and the balance transfer request unit 36 A balance transfer request signal is sent to the money amount information management server 13. This result is received by the balance transfer request unit 36. When the balance transfer processing is successful in the gift card DB 15 in the money amount information management server 13, a signal indicating success is received by the balance transfer request unit 36. In step S409, time measurement is started in the previous step S407, and then a predetermined value is received. Detect whether the time (normal transition time) has already passed.

  In step S408, when the balance transfer requesting unit 36 does not perform the balance transfer process on the server side, the process proceeds to step S404 and the above-described failure receipt is printed out.

  If it is detected by the time measurement of the timer 16 in step S409 that the predetermined time has already passed, the process proceeds to step S404, and a failure receipt for subsequent reprocessing by the operator is printed out. .

  On the other hand, if the predetermined time has not elapsed in step S409, a new card is output from the new card issuing unit 35, and a successful receipt is printed out in step S410. This successful receipt is a receipt indicating that the gift card switching process has been normally performed, and is usually given from the operator of the POS terminal to the customer. In this way, gift card switching is completed.

  In step S409, if the normal transition time has already passed before the balance transfer request signal is received from the POS terminal 12a, it means that the transfer to the new card has not been normally performed for some reason. The money information management server 13 cancels the transfer to the new gift card by resetting all the processes so far for transferring the balance.

  In this way, even when information such as the balance of the gift card becomes unreadable, the transfer to the new gift card is performed easily and smoothly.

  In the above embodiment, a gift card has been described as an example. However, a gift card is a card that has been charged in advance by a merchant, and a so-called prepaid card of a type that is generally charged in advance can be used as well. The present invention is equally applicable to this type of card. Here, both are called prepaid cards.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the balance of the old gift card issued previously becomes unreadable is described. However, the present invention can also be applied to cases where reading is difficult because reading is not disabled.

  According to the above-described embodiment, there is provided a POS terminal, a monetary information management server, and a card processing program that can easily issue a new card even when the prepaid card can be used at the stage where the usable amount remains. can get.

  Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Network 12a, 12b, 12c ... POS terminal 13 ... Amount information management server 14 ... Purchase information database (DB)
15 ... Gift card DB
16 .... Timer 21 ... Receipt amount input unit 22 .... Purchase price inquiry unit 23 ... Purchase amount calculation unit 24 ... Gift card inquiry processing unit 25 ... Change Calculation unit 26 ... Change output unit 27 ... Display unit 28 ... Server communication unit 31 ... Card receiving unit 32 ... Card balance inquiry unit 33 ... Card information input 34 ... Balance transfer / transmission unit 35 ... Balance transfer request unit 36 ... New card issue unit

Claims (6)

A POS terminal having a function of issuing a new prepaid card in place of the old prepaid card when the old prepaid card charged in advance becomes difficult to read,
Card balance inquiry means for inquiring the remaining amount to the money information management server storing at least the remaining amount of the old prepaid card;
New card issuing means for issuing the new prepaid card based on the remaining amount replied by the money information management server to the inquiry from the card balance inquiry means;
POS terminal with The new card issuing means is:
After a successful inquiry to the money information management server by the card balance inquiry means, a balance withdrawal request is made to the money information management server, and the request succeeds. The POS terminal according to claim 1, wherein the new prepaid card is issued after the request is made and the migration is successful.   The POS terminal according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the card balance inquiry means inquires of the money information management server about the remaining amount based on a card ID visually recorded on the old prepaid card. A money information management server connected via a network to a POS terminal having a function of issuing a new prepaid card in place of the old prepaid card when it becomes difficult to read an old prepaid card charged in advance,
A prepaid card database for storing the visible card ID and balance of the prepaid card;
Balance answering means for searching the prepaid card database and replying the corresponding prepaid card balance to the POS terminal when there is an inquiry about the balance of the old prepaid card that has become difficult to read from the POS terminal;
A transfer processing means for performing a process of transferring the balance of the old prepaid card stored in the prepaid card database to the new prepaid card when there is a balance transfer request from the POS terminal to the new prepaid card;
A money information management server.   When performing the process of replacing the old prepaid card with a new prepaid card, the money information management server receives a card change control signal transmitted from the POS terminal and requests the balance transfer within a predetermined time from this time. 5. The money information management server according to claim 4, wherein when there is no money, the money information management server stops the process of replacing the old prepaid card with a new prepaid card. A card processing program having a function of issuing a new prepaid card in place of the old prepaid card when the old prepaid card charged in advance becomes difficult to read,
The money information management server that stores at least the remaining amount of the old prepaid card is inquired about the remaining amount of the old prepaid card, and the new prepaid card is issued based on the remaining amount returned by the money information management server in response to the inquiry. Card processing program.

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