JP3338595B2 - Point service system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention also relates to the point service system to support the customer service business. In various retail businesses such as shopping streets, small and medium-sized supermarkets, and individual shops, as a customer service for acquiring fixed customers, issuance of stamp tickets, etc., in which a privilege is obtained by collecting a certain number of tickets. In recent years, with the spread of POS systems and customer management techniques for issuing identification cards to specific customers (members), transaction contents are converted into points and recorded for each customer, and gift certificates are issued and discounted according to accumulated points. Point services that return profits, such as, are spreading.

On the other hand, in the credit card industry, a service for donating accumulated points has been implemented.
Instead of receiving prizes, customers can get satisfaction that contributes to the global environment and social welfare. There is also a service form in which a customer can select a donation destination from a plurality of groups.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art A POS system adapted to a point service has a customer management file for associating a customer code with a cumulative point for each customer, and is configured to calculate points for each transaction and update the cumulative points. ing. Usually, the customer management file is provided in the management device. Also,
The customer code is notified from the cash register, which is a terminal device, to the management device at each transaction.

Conventionally, a receipt issued by a cash register for each transaction is printed with information indicating the total status of points together with the transaction details. For example, JP-A-6-13
The system disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 1562 issues a receipt on which the difference between a target point set by the store and a total point is printed.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-259658 discloses a system for accessing a computer of a bank to transfer an amount corresponding to points to a customer's bank account.

[0006]

Heretofore, there has been a problem that it is not possible to report a donation corresponding to points for each customer. Although it is possible to present the total donation at the store, it is not preferable in terms of privacy to present the customer name and the donation. This is practically impossible when the number of customers is large. Reporting by direct mail increases service costs. Not only donations,
A similar problem occurs when the amount of money equivalent to the points is transferred to an account other than the customer's name (an account in the name of another person designated by the customer).

[0007] It is an object of the present invention to realize reporting of profits corresponding to points for each customer and to improve the quality of customer service.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a terminal device for reading an identification code of a customer in a commodity transaction, and a management device for performing data communication with the terminal device and an external financial online system. In the point service system, wherein the management device requests the financial online system to perform a procedure of transferring an amount corresponding to the point of the commodity transaction to a payee account designated by the customer. to, the
A customer file for managing report information indicating the status of the transfer of the money amount to the recipient's account in association with the identification code, and a file updating means for registering the report information in the customer file after requesting the procedure And file search means for transferring the report information to the terminal device in response to input of the transaction data including the identification code from the terminal device, wherein the terminal device transfers the report information to the terminal device. A print control unit for issuing a receipt in which the report information is printed together with the details of the transaction is provided.

[0009] The system of the invention of claim 2, wherein the terminal device
Is different from the amount corresponding to the point of the commodity transaction
Special designated amount offered by the customer as a special donation during the transaction
The management device having a function of generating transaction data including
Will transfer the special designated amount contained in the transaction data to the account
Or the special donation destination designated with the above-mentioned special designated amount
The procedure to transfer the credit to the financial online system
It has the function of making a request .

[0010] In the system according to the third aspect of the present invention, the report information is information indicating a status of donation of the money .

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a point service system 1 according to the present invention. The point service system 1 is a network system in which a host (management device) 2 installed in the secretariat of a service management business entity (for example, a shopping mall association) and a cash register 3 installed in each store are connected by a communication line. Yes, used for sales management and point services. The point service converts the contents of a transaction into points and makes donations equivalent to points. However, the actual remittance (transfer processing) of the donation is performed not in each transaction but in a batch processing format, for example, every six months.

The host 2 is a computer system having an external storage device such as a hard disk unit.
It has a function of accessing the external bank network system 9. The host 2 includes a customer file F1, a file update unit 201, and a file search unit 202. The file update unit 201 registers various data including the report content RE indicating the utilization status of points in the customer file F1 in association with the customer code CC. In response to the input of the transaction data D3 including the customer code CC from the cash register 3, the file search unit 202 transfers the report content RE corresponding to the input customer code CC to the cash register 3.

On the other hand, each cash register 3 is an electronic register and has a function of reading a customer code CC from an identification card 4 issued to each customer, in addition to a cash registering function as a basic function, and a receipt. It has a function to issue RP. The identification card 4 has a customer code C
It is a magnetic card or an IC card on which C is recorded.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data structure of a main part of the customer file F1. The customer file F1 contains the identification card 4
Is a collection of data about the customer who issued the (registered customer), along with personal information (not shown) such as the customer name and address,
This is a file for storing information relating to the point service and information relating to the special donation in association with the customer code CC assigned to each customer.

The information relating to the point service includes:
A recipient QA indicating a recipient (an organization such as a fund or an association) of a donation selected from a plurality of options by a customer, a cumulative point TP updated for each transaction, and a report content R indicating a donation status.
There is E. The recipient of the donation is selected when applying for a card issuance. The case where the report content RE is substantially blank means that actual donation (transfer processing) has not been performed.

A special donation is one in which a customer provides cash (mainly change) or a gift certificate at the time of a transaction, in addition to the point service donation. For example, it is recruited as a donation in the event of a disaster. The customer can also make a special donation to the same recipient as the point service donation destination. The information related to the special donation includes a special donation SC indicating the amount of the donation, and a special donation destination QB indicating the recipient of the special donation (a local government in the affected area).

The donation QA and the special donation QB are
Is an identification code of the recipient, the recipient's name, account number of the recipient's name, address, etc. are managed by the hand over table file (not shown).

FIG. 3 is an external view of the cash register 3. The cash register 3 includes a controller unit 10 including a microcomputer, a drawer unit 20 for storing money, a keyboard 30 on which various keys are arranged, a CRT display 40 for an operator, a display 50 for a customer, and a receipt. And a card reader 80 for reading information from the identification card 4.

The thermal printer 60 can print an arbitrary image such as a character and a logo mark on receipt paper (roll paper) having a predetermined width by combining dots. The barcode reader 70 optically reads a barcode given to a product or the like, and outputs bit data according to the code.

An operator (casher) of the cash register 3 performs a series of operations for inputting a product code when the customer brings the product he / she wants to purchase, depositing the identification card 4 from the customer, and inserting the identification card 4 into the card insertion slot.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the cash register 3. In FIG. 4, the cash register 3
It has a money registration processing unit 11, a point calculation unit 12, a print control unit 15, and a display control unit 17. These units are realized by hardware centering on a microprocessor unit and software represented by a program.

The cash registering section 11 is a data processing means having a basic function of the cash register 3, which determines the output of an input device (keyboard 30, barcode reader 70, card reader 80) and outputs the contents according to the transaction. Register your money. For example, a bar code reader 7
0 or when a product code is input from the keyboard 30,
A journal that is transaction record data is created with reference to a product management file (price table) not shown.
The registration status of the product information (item, price, quantity, etc.) is sequentially displayed by the display control unit 17. Money registration processing unit 11
The transaction data DJ indicating the contents of the transaction is
Transferred to Further, the cash registration processing unit 11 has a point information inquiry unit 112 and a special donation processing unit 113 as functional elements unique to the present invention.

The point information inquiring unit 112 reads the customer code C read by the card reader 80 in each transaction.
Notify C to the host 2 and refer to the registered report contents RE. Then, the report content RE notified from the file search unit 202 of the host 2 is sent to the print control unit 15.

The special donation processing unit 113, when the customer offers a special donation, the special donation SC and the special donation destination QB
To the host 2. In response, the file update unit 201 of the host 2 stores the customer code C in the customer file F1.
The special donation SC and the special donation destination QB are registered in association with C. At this time, if the special donation SC has already been registered, the data content of the special donation SC is updated to the sum of the registered amount and the newly specified amount.

The point calculation unit 12 calculates a point VP for each transaction based on the transaction contents notified from the money registration processing unit 11 after completion of the money registration, and transfers it to the print control unit 15. The point VP is a numerical value indicating the degree of contribution of the customer, and is calculated by integrating the price of the product, the type, the transaction time, and the like.

The print control unit 15 creates predetermined text print data based on the transaction content data DJ sent from the cash registration processing unit 11, the report content RE obtained by the above inquiry, and the points VP. . And receipt R
Instruct the thermal printer 60 to issue P. Point service information is printed on the receipt RP following the details of the transaction. The point service information includes a point VP of the current transaction and a report of donations actually made up to the current transaction.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of receipt printing.
In the receipt RPa of FIG. 5A, a message Z1 notifying that the amount corresponding to the point VP of the current transaction will be donated at a later date, that is, that the store has deposited the point VP, is printed following the statement Y of the transaction. Have been. FIG.
In the receipt RPb of (B), a message Z2 indicating that the designated amount (5,000 yen in the example) has been deposited as a special donation is printed together with the message Z1. In the receipt RPc of FIG.
A message Z3 indicating that the donation has been completed
Is printed. The customer, by message Z3,
You can confirm that your transaction has contributed to the activities of the recipient.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the transfer process executed by the host 2, and FIG. 7 is a view showing an example of the total file F10. For example, on the date of every six months, the host 2 reads the accumulated points TP and the special donation SC from the customer file F1.
7 is read out, and the aggregated file F10 of FIG. 7 showing the donations by recipient (for each value of the destination QA and the special destination QB)
Is created (# 11). At this time, if the donation is made in units of 100 points, the target of the donation (donation point PC) is calculated by focusing on the total points TP having a value of 100 or more. For example, when the value of the total point TP is “236”
If “7”, the value of the donation point PC is “2300”. One point is equivalent to one yen.

When the counting is completed, the external bank network system 9 is requested to donate to each recipient (# 1).
2). In response to this, the bank network system 9 executes the transfer (fund transfer) of the donation from the deposit account a0 of the service management entity to the deposit accounts a1 and a2 of each recipient.

When the transfer completion notification is received from the bank network system 9, the report contents R of the customer file F1 are sent to the present donor while referring to the tally file F10.
E is updated (# 13). In other words, donation points PP,
The necessary information such as the special donation SC is written in the customer file F1.

Then, for the present donor, the total points TP are reduced by the amount of the donation points PP,
The special donation SC is initialized (# 14, # 15). When making a donation in units of one point, the accumulated points TP are also initialized at this point.

In the above embodiment, a cash card issued by a bank can be used as the identification card 4. In this case, the cash register 3 directly accesses the bank network 9 at the time of the transaction, and requests the settlement processing of the sales price between the deposit accounts of both the customer and the store.
Various credit cards can be used as the identification card 4. In this case, the host 2 updates the data of the total points TP and the special donation SC after confirming the settlement of the price.

It is easy to add a function for creating various forms to the host 2. The form includes a cumulative donation table and a list of donors. The donor list can be sent online or offline to the recipient. When the donor receives an award for a large donor or an offer to issue a receipt to the applicant, this may be written in the report content RE and the customer may be contacted via the receipt RP. In addition, there are modifications such as a form in which the host 2 calculates the point VP and notifies the cash register 3 and a form in which the accumulated points TP are printed on the receipt RP.

The present invention is also applicable to a service form in which an amount equivalent to points is transferred to an arbitrary deposit account (not limited to the name of the customer) designated by the customer instead of the donation.

[0035]

According to the first to third aspects of the present invention,
It is possible to realize customer-specific reporting of profit return equivalent to points and improve the quality of customer service.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the point service, a service of transferring an arbitrary amount to an account designated by a customer at the time of a transaction can be realized, and the customer service can be enhanced. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a point service system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data configuration of a main part of a customer file.

FIG. 3 is an external view of a cash register.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a cash register.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a print example of a receipt.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a transfer process executed by a host.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an aggregation file.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 point service system 2 host (management device) 3 cash register (terminal device) 9 bank network system (external financial online system) 15 print control unit (print control unit) 201 file update unit 202 file search unit a1, a2 deposit account (Account) CC Customer Code (Identification Code) F1 Customer File DJ Transaction Data PC Donation Points (Points) QA Donation Destination (Recipient) RE Report Contents (Report Information) RP Receipt SC Special Donation (Special Designated Amount)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Katsuhito Matsukawa 2-7-7 Shiromi, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Inside Fujitsu Kansai System Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Nasa Fujiwara Osaka-shi, Osaka 2-7-2 Kujo, Kutsu Fujitsu Kansai System Engineering Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-6-259658 (JP, A) JP-A-1-304596 (JP, A) JP-A-5-46869 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G07G 1/00-5/00 G06F 17/60 G07D 9/00

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] A terminal device for reading an identification code of a customer in a product transaction; and a management device for performing data communication with the terminal device and an external financial online system. A point service system configured so that the management device requests a procedure for transferring an amount corresponding to points to a payee's account designated by the customer, wherein the management device performs the transfer to the payee's account. A customer file for managing report information indicating the status of the amount transfer in association with the identification code; a file updating unit for registering the report information in the customer file after requesting the procedure; and the terminal device. In response to the input of the transaction data including the identification code from the PC, a file search for transferring the report information to the terminal device is performed. A point service system, comprising: a search unit; and a print control unit that issues a receipt in which the report information transferred from the management device is printed together with a transaction statement. 2. The point of the merchandise transaction.
In addition to the amount equivalent to
The management device has a function of generating transaction data including the special designated amount requested in the transaction , and the management device includes a special designated amount included in the transaction data together with the account or the special designated amount designated.
2. The point service system according to claim 1, wherein the point service system has a function of requesting the financial online system to perform a transfer to another donation account. 3. The point service system according to claim 1, wherein said report information is information indicating a status of donation of said amount.