JP4038232B1 - Customer information processing system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a mechanism for discriminating customers who come to a store by car without a card and assisting a store clerk to provide a service suitable for each customer.
The customer information including customer visit history is stored in association with the license plate information of the customer's car, and the license plate of the customer's car that has entered the store with a camera is photographed. Analyze the car number, search the customer's history information from the analyzed car number, determine whether there is an item that does not meet the service standards, and store information on the items that do not meet the service standards Will be output as service information to be proposed to customers.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention is a mechanism for assisting a clerk to provide a service to a customer who has visited a car, and in particular, the clerk knows the information of the customer who has visited the car so that the service suitable for that customer can be obtained. This technology is suitable for providing an optimal service to a customer by changing the selling price according to the rank of the customer.

In order to provide services such as discounts and service points to the customer, the store gives the customer a card, and the customer presents the card each time the customer visits, and reads the card with a card reader to provide the customer with the service. Things are being done.
In this case, the store clerk keeps the card from the customer when purchasing the product, etc., and reads the stored card with a card reader, so that the member of the store can discount or save the service It provides services such as discounting according to the amount of points.

According to the above-mentioned mechanism for holding a membership card for a customer, what kind of products and services the customer has purchased in the past until the customer presents the membership card even when the customer visits the store. There is a problem that it is impossible to determine what kind of products and services should be recommended to customers, and it is impossible to propose appropriate products and services, and it is impossible to carry out promotional activities.
For this reason, a mechanism that can provide a service to a customer without issuing a card to the customer has already been proposed.

  As an example, a garage corresponding to each guest room is provided in a hotel, a sensor that detects that a vehicle has entered the garage, and a camera that captures the vehicle in the garage are provided. A system that senses this, activates the camera, recognizes the license plate of the vehicle by the vehicle number recognition device, and sets the discount rate or assigns points according to the usage history corresponding to the vehicle data that is the recognition result It has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Further, the license plate number of each vehicle is detected when passing through a specific section, and a message to be provided to the user of the vehicle is determined in association with the detected license plate, and is notified to the vehicle. A method has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

JP2003-345913 JP 2003-346045 A

However, according to the conventional system described in Patent Document 1, it is possible to identify a customer without a card, but since the timing of photographing the camera is only recognized by the sensor, the number play is reliably photographed. I did not know whether or not, and the recognition accuracy was not always good. In particular, the license plate location differs depending on the vehicle type, such as the number plate of a car, and the height and position with the license plate are often different even in the same vehicle type. It was.
On the other hand, it is possible to shoot at a wide angle so that it can be recognized regardless of the type of vehicle and the license plate attached at any position. There is a problem that the processing for extracting and recognizing the license plate from the photographed image becomes troublesome.
Moreover, since it is necessary to attach not only a camera but also a sensor for detecting an approach to each garage, there is a problem that capital investment increases and costs increase.

  Further, according to the conventional system described in Patent Document 2, the driver can be notified when passing through a specific section, but the store clerk knows this and provides a service according to the customer's visit history, etc. Could not be provided.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and enables a customer to provide a service suitable for each customer by determining a customer who visited the store without using a medium such as a card. Provide a mechanism to support.

  A customer information processing system according to an aspect of the present invention discriminates a customer by reading a license plate number of a customer who has entered the store, and a store clerk provides a predetermined service to the customer. A customer information storage means for storing customer history information including items such as customer visit history and car inspection date in association with the customer's car number; A camera that shoots a license plate of a customer's car, an analysis processing means that analyzes and extracts a car number from an image of the license plate taken by the camera, and the customer information storage means, When it is determined that the customer is an unregistered customer as a result of the determination by searching the customer history information from the analyzed car number and determining whether or not the customer is already registered Generating the code information based on the read car number information and the slip number of the receipt to be issued, outputting a print instruction for printing the generated code on the receipt, and receiving the receipt based on the print instruction And a printer for printing and issuing.

  A customer information processing system according to another aspect of the present invention discriminates a customer by reading a license plate number of a customer who has entered the store, and a store clerk provides a predetermined service to the customer. A customer information storage means for storing customer history information including items such as customer visit history and car inspection date in association with the customer's car number; A camera that shoots a license plate of a customer's car, an analysis processing means that analyzes and extracts a car number from an image of the license plate taken by the camera, and the customer information storage means, Searching the customer's history information from the analyzed car number information, and determining means for determining whether or not the vehicle inspection information is registered, and if the vehicle inspection information is unregistered as a result of the determination, And output means for outputting a print instruction to print the column receipt to fill the number information and inspection information of the car which has been read, and having a printer for printing receipts based on the print instruction.

  The camera continuously captures images of the car at a predetermined interval, and the analysis means analyzes the number of the car from each image of the license plate that is continuously captured, and the difference between the analysis results is a predetermined value. If the number is equal to or less than the threshold value, it may be determined that the number has been correctly recognized, and the number as the analysis result may be notified to the determination unit.

  The analysis means may determine that another vehicle has entered when it is determined that the analysis result is different from the previous analysis result.

  A customer information processing method according to an aspect of the present invention is to determine a customer by reading a license plate number of a customer who has entered the store, and a store clerk provides a predetermined service to the customer. This is a method for supporting this, such as the process of photographing the license plate of the customer's car that has entered the store with the camera, and the customer's visit history, car inspection date, etc. A process in which a computer having customer information storage means for storing customer history information including items analyzes and extracts a car number from an image of a license plate taken by the camera; and the computer stores the customer information Means for searching customer history information from the analyzed car number to determine whether the customer is already registered, and the computer As a result of the determination, if it is determined that the customer is an unregistered customer, code information is generated based on the read car number information and the slip number of the issued receipt, and the generated code is printed on the receipt. And a process for outputting a print instruction to a printer and a process for the printer to print and issue a receipt based on the print instruction.

  A customer information processing method according to another aspect of the present invention is to determine a customer by reading a license plate number of a customer's car that has entered the store, and a store clerk provides a predetermined service to the customer. This is a method for supporting that, such as the process that the camera shoots the license plate of the customer's car that has entered the store, and the customer's visit history, car inspection date, etc. A process in which a computer running customer information storage means for storing customer history information including items analyzes and extracts a car number from an image of a license plate photographed by the camera; A process of searching for customer history information from the analyzed vehicle number information with reference to the storage means to determine whether vehicle inspection information is registered, and the computer However, if the vehicle inspection information is not registered as a result of the determination, a process for outputting a print instruction for printing the read car number information and the field for entering the vehicle inspection information on the receipt to the printer, and the printer And a process of printing a receipt based on the above.

  According to the present invention, without using a medium such as a card, it is possible to determine a customer who has come to the store by car and assist the store clerk to provide a service suitable for each customer.

  Further, the service can be provided to the customer after correctly recognizing the license plate and discriminating the customer (vehicle).

  In addition, the store clerk can carry around the wireless store clerk terminal so that the customer who should provide the service can be known wherever he / she is, and the service can be immediately provided.

Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a customer management system for a gas station will be described with reference to the drawings.
In FIG. 1, by analyzing a license plate image of a visitor vehicle, a customer management device 1 for notifying a store clerk of service information to be provided to a customer who has visited the store, and a photograph of a license plate of a visitor vehicle at a gas station. Camera 2, a refueling machine 3 for refueling a vehicle, an employee terminal 4 that is arranged in a staff room of a gas station, etc., and a portable terminal 5 held by each employee. Yes.

The camera 2 is a photographing device for photographing an image of a visiting vehicle.
As shown in FIG. 2, the camera 2 is attached to each lane L (L1 to L3 in the illustrated example) of the refueling machine 3, and the car 2 is stopped at the refueling machine 3. A lower number plate is attached and it is arranged at a position where the part can be photographed. In this example, the camera 2 is attached to the roof of a gas station, the front surface of a car wash machine, the wall surface of an office room, etc., and images the front part including the car license plate from the oblique upper part of the invading car.
Since the camera 2 has entered each lane L, the camera 2 can take still images continuously at a predetermined interval (for example, every 3 seconds) by the number plate of the moving vehicle by the autofocus function. ing.
Moreover, in this example, it is attached not only to the lane for refueling, but also to the upper part of the lane LC of the car wash device, and reads the license plate of the customer vehicle that performs the car wash, and identifies which vehicle performed the car wash by the license plate It can be done.
Further, the camera 2 and the customer management apparatus 1 are connected by a cable, and photographed image data is transmitted to the customer management apparatus 1 through the cable.
In addition, identification information (for example, L1 to Ln) representing each lane is stored in the camera 2, and by this, which lane identification information is sent to the customer management apparatus 1 together with the image, it is possible to identify which lane image. It is like that.
A light for illuminating the photographing range is attached to each camera 2 as necessary so that photographing can be performed at night.

The refueling machine 3 is a device for refueling a vehicle with gasoline or the like.
The fueling machine 3 is a device for refueling a vehicle by selecting an oil type such as regular gasoline, high-octane gasoline, light oil, and the amount to be refueled. This example is a so-called self-service gas station where the driver refuels himself / herself, and the refueling machine 3 is provided with a POS device 30 for calculating the sales amount according to the amount of gasoline or the like refueled.
The POS device 30 calculates a selling price from the unit price for each oil type and the amount of oil supplied, and performs a settlement process for clearing the selling price with cash or a credit card. Therefore, the POS device 30 can communicate with a credit center (not shown) via a communication line, and can be settled with a credit card.
The unit price for each oil type is determined individually according to the rank of the customer. For example, gold members are regular 120 yen, high-octane 130 yen, light oil 80 yen, silver members are regular 125 yen, high-octane 135 yen, diesel oil 85 yen, general members are regular 128 yen, high-octane 138 yen, diesel oil 88 yen It is stored in the POS device 30. This fee table is updated by a notification from the customer management apparatus 1.

The employee terminal 4 is a terminal for an employee to view customer information and perform maintenance such as registration, correction, and deletion of customer information, and is configured by a so-called personal computer.
The employee terminal 4 has input means such as a keyboard and a mouse, and output means such as a display and a speaker, and can display information from the customer management apparatus 1 on a display or the like.
And it can communicate with the customer management apparatus 1 via a network.

The portable terminal 5 is a terminal held by a store clerk.
As shown in FIG. 3, the portable terminal 5 includes a display 51, a speaker 52, a lamp 53, a confirmation button 54, and a vibration device (not shown).
The display 51 is for displaying instruction information from the customer management device 1. For example, when a customer who should recommend oil change comes to the lane L 1, the lane number “ “L1” and “oil change” messages are displayed.
The speaker 52 is for outputting the instruction information from the customer management device 1 as sound. For example, when a customer who recommends oil change comes to the lane L1, the buzzer sound is notified by the notification from the customer management device 1. Or output the lane number and “oil change” message as voice.
The lamp 53 is composed of a light emitting element such as an LED and lights up and notifies instruction information from the customer management apparatus 1. For example, a green / red / orange three-color lamp 53 is installed, and as a product / service recommended for a car customer who enters a certain lane L, green is used for oil change, red is used for vehicle inspection, If it is a car wash, an orange lamp 53 is lit.
The confirmation button 54 is a button for notifying that the store clerk has confirmed the instruction content in response to the instruction from the customer management apparatus 1. For example, when an instruction message for a customer entering a certain lane L is displayed, the lamp 53 is lit, or a buzzer sounds, the confirmation button 54 is pressed to confirm these instructions. Thus, the display on the display 51, the lamp 53 is turned off, and the buzzer and vibrate are stopped.
A unique identification number may be assigned to each portable terminal 5 in advance, and the identification number may be transmitted to the customer management apparatus 1 when the confirmation button 54 is pressed. Thereby, it is possible to manage on the customer management apparatus 1 side which store clerk responds.
The portable terminal 5 has a built-in vibration device. This vibration device can be constituted by an eccentric motor. When the motor is energized and rotated, the motor vibrates and can notify the store clerk by vibration.
The mobile terminal 5 may be a mobile phone or a pager (registered trademark) type, or may be a wrist type terminal, and its form is arbitrary.
As a wristwatch type terminal, for example, an employee can know the message by using “Silwatch (registered trademark)” manufactured by Tokyo Shintomo Co., Ltd.

The customer management device 1 is a computer for managing information of customers who have visited a gas station.
The customer management apparatus 1 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an internal memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) for storing the computer program and other data executed by the CPU, and an external device such as a hard disk drive. The functional blocks shown in FIG. 4 can be configured by the storage device.
The functional block shown in FIG. 4 includes customer information storage means including a customer attribute database (DB) 11 and a customer history database (DB) 12, a service reference table 13, a charge table 14, an analysis processing unit 15, and customer information determination. A unit 16, an output processing unit 17, a mail transmission unit 18, a customer information update unit 19, and a charge table update unit 20.

The customer attribute database 11 is a database of customer attribute information. As shown in FIG. 5, the customer attribute database 11 includes an ID for identifying a customer, personal information such as the customer's vehicle number, name and address, customer's rank, e-mail address, vehicle inspection date, oil change date, car wash date. Etc. can be memorized.
As for the number of the customer's car, for example, information on the license plate is stored as “Shinagawa A 33 1234”.
As personal information, information such as the customer's name, address, telephone number, gender, and age can be registered.
The rank represents the level at which the customer can receive service. Gold is preferential, and normal service can be received as a general member. It is arbitrary how this stage is determined.
The vehicle inspection date is information on the next vehicle inspection date of the customer's car, and the oil change and car wash date can store the date of the last oil change or car wash at the gas station.

The customer history database 12 is a database of customer (vehicle) gas station usage history information.
As shown in FIG. 6, the customer history database 12 can store data such as the customer's vehicle number, the date of visit, the usage type, and the amount of money.
The usage type represents a product or service purchased by a customer at a gas station, and can store types such as “oil supply”, “car wash”, “oil change”, and “vehicle inspection”.
Therefore, if the customer (vehicle) of the license plate information “Shinagawa a 33 1234” refuels on January 1, 2006, the license plate information “Shinagawa a 33 1234” and the date of use “2006/01” / 01 ", usage type" refueling ", and amount" 3200 "yen are stored.

The service reference table 13 is a table for storing a reference value as a reference for whether or not to recommend each service to the customer for the store clerk.
In this table, for example, if the visit frequency is more than one month since the previous visit, oil change is 6 months, car wash is 1 month, vehicle inspection is 6 months before the expiration date, If it is sales, criteria such as ranks that are subject to car purchase are stored.
As a result, an alarm output indicating that the customer exceeds the standard is output to the customer (vehicle) that exceeds the standard.
This reference value can be changed by the administrator. For example, if you want to encourage oil change this month, you can enter “0” in the oil change section to determine which customer (vehicle). Even for oil change campaigns, oil change recommendations are recommended.

  The fee table 14 is a table that stores fees for products and services sold to customers. The unit price for each oil type is individually stored in the price table 14 according to the rank of the customer. For example, a gold member is regular 120 yen, high ok 130 yen, light oil 80 yen, a silver member is regular 125 yen, high oct 135 Yen, diesel oil 85 yen, regular member regular 128 yen, high ok 138 yen, diesel oil 88 yen are stored.

The analysis processing unit 15 receives image data captured by the camera 2 and performs a process of analyzing and extracting a car number from the license plate image captured by the camera.
In this analysis processing, for example, each pixel in the image is binarized into black and white by threshold processing. When there are a plurality of objects in the image, a labeling process for labeling each object and identifying and extracting a target object is performed. Then, using a differential operation such as gradient (primary differentiation) or Laplacian (secondary differentiation), the image brightness change value is used to calculate the contour of the object and to extract the character string. The number can be analyzed by processing.
In this analysis process, for example, first, a license plate portion is detected from a captured image. Then, a standard pattern dictionary (not shown) is held in advance, and the read license plate image is analyzed by pattern matching.
Further, the analysis processing unit 15 analyzes the car number from each image of the license plate taken continuously, temporarily stores the analysis result in the memory, and from the analysis result stored in the memory When the difference between the analysis results is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the number has been correctly recognized, and processing for sending this to the customer information determination processing unit 18 is performed.
In addition, when the analysis processing unit 15 determines that the previous analysis result stored in the memory is completely different from the current analysis result, the analysis processing unit 15 determines that another vehicle has entered the lane, Processing to send the fact to the customer information discrimination processing unit 18 is performed.

The customer information discriminating unit 16 refers to the customer attribute database 11 or the customer history database 12, and from the analyzed car number, the number of visits to the customer, the last visit date, the last use information of the car wash, the previous oil change The usage information is searched to determine whether or not these satisfy a predetermined standard.
Specifically, a reference period of one month is stored for the store frequency stored in the service standard table 13, one month from the previous car wash for the car wash, and six months from the previous change for the oil change. As a reference, it is determined whether or not the number of days elapsed from the date and time when these were performed last time to the current time has passed this reference time. This makes it possible to determine whether or not it is necessary to recommend these products and services to the customer.
Similarly, the customer information discriminating unit 16 refers to the customer attribute database 11 and performs processing for discriminating whether the vehicle inspection date and car sales information are also applicable customers (vehicles). For example, if the vehicle inspection date is “January 31, 2007”, it is determined whether or not the remaining six months before that date, and if it is six months or less, it is notified that the vehicle inspection date is close.
In addition, what is necessary is just to set the time of notifying a customer according to classifications, such as oil change and a vehicle inspection, for these items.

The output processing unit 17 is a process for outputting information such as a photographed license plate image, the analyzed number, and information on services and products that the store clerk should advertise to customers from the display, speaker, etc. of the employee terminal 4 I do.
In addition, when it is determined that the customer (vehicle) who has entered the store is a customer (vehicle) that should recommend oil exchange, vehicle inspection, car sales, etc., the output processing unit 17 uses a store clerk or the like. Is instructed to notify the store clerk to the portable terminal 5 held by the.
Specifically, when a customer (vehicle) who should recommend oil change, car inspection, car sales, etc. enters the mobile terminal 5, the lane number and information such as a recommended product are displayed. Alternatively, the clerk can recognize that the customer (vehicle) to be serviced has entered the store by simply transmitting instruction information for operating a lamp or a buzzer indicating vibration or a service to be provided.

  The customer information update unit 18 performs a process of updating data stored in the customer attribute database 11. Processing for updating customer information stored in the customer information storage unit 11 is performed.

The mail transmission unit 19 refers to the customer attribute database 11, extracts the rank and mail address of the customer, extracts the sales fee of the product corresponding to the rank from the fee table 14, and extracts the extracted sales amount, Based on the customer's e-mail address, processing to send to the customer is performed.
This process may be performed periodically for each rank, or the mail transmission unit 19 refers to the customer history database 12 for customers who have passed a predetermined period (for example, 14 days or more) since the previous visit. You may send an email.

  The fee table update unit 20 receives the update of the fee table and performs a process of updating the fee in the fee table 20. Further, when the charge table 13 is updated, the charge table update unit 20 transmits the updated charge table data to the POS device 30 of each refueling machine. As a result, a process of updating the charge table held by each POS device 30 to a new charge table is performed.

Next, an example of a customer management method performed by the customer information management system configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 7, first, the camera 2 provided in each lane L of the gas station always takes an image in the lane L (S1). For example, the image in the lane L is captured at a predetermined interval such as every 3 seconds.
When the car enters the lane in this state, the camera 2 continuously captures the license plate portion of the car that has entered the lane L, for example, every 3 seconds. Thereby, the image of the license plate in each scene such as stopping at the start time of entry into the lane L, during the entry, and in the lane L is taken.
The photographed image data is transmitted from the camera 2 to the customer management apparatus 1 every time it is photographed together with the identification information of the lane (S2).

The analysis processing unit 15 analyzes the transmitted license plate image and analyzes the car number (S3). This process is performed every time photographed image data is received. For this reason, when the vehicle starts to enter the lane L, during the approach, when three stops are photographed in the lane L, the number of each scene is analyzed.
Then, it is determined whether or not the car number can be analyzed (S4).
As a result, when the number cannot be analyzed, such as when the car is not in lane L, the license plate image is not clear, or the license plate is not photographed correctly. Returns to the process of S1 again and performs photographing by the camera 2.

On the other hand, when the number can be analyzed, the customer information determination unit 16 searches the customer information and the history information of the customer by referring to the customer attribute database 11 and the customer history database 12 based on the analyzed number. Extract (S5).
If the analyzed number is “Shinagawa A 33 1234”, the customer attribute database 11 stores the customer name, customer rank, vehicle inspection date, oil change date, car wash date, etc. Search and extract data. Similarly, the number of histories associated with this number (number of visits) and the previous visit date / time are searched and extracted in the customer history database 12.

When the number can be analyzed, a settlement process for refueling or the like is started. This settlement process will be described later.
When the customer information determination unit 16 determines that the customer's car number is not registered, that is, when a car of a person whose customer information is not registered visits the store, the employee terminal 4 displays “ Information on “unregistered person” may be displayed to inform the store clerk, and at the same time, a process for automatically printing the membership application form on the employee terminal 4 may be performed.
In this case, the customer information discriminating means 16 searches the customer history information from the car number analyzed with reference to the customer information database 11 and discriminates whether or not the customer (vehicle) is already registered. As a result of the determination, if it is determined that the customer is an unregistered customer (vehicle), the output processing unit 17 performs code information based on the read vehicle number information and the slip number of the receipt of the membership application to be issued. , And a print instruction for printing the generated code on the receipt of the membership application form is output to the printer, and the printer prints and issues a receipt of the membership application form based on the print instruction. The slip number corresponds to the member ID, and may be issued when the output processing unit 17 issues the membership application form. The code information may be, for example, an enumeration of numbers or a two-dimensional barcode.
In this membership application form, in order to link with vehicle information later, the read car number is written as it is, or the output processing unit 17 converts it into a barcode and notifies the employee terminal 4. Print the notified number in letters or barcode.
When registering information such as name, address, e-mail address, etc. entered on this membership application form, you can enter the car number and name, By associating information such as an address and an e-mail address, subsequent data registration can be facilitated without making a mistake.
Further, the customer's mail address may be acquired by reading a barcode printed on a receipt or the like with a mobile phone and transmitting a blank mail. In this case, for example, homepage address information for personal information registration is put in a printed barcode. This homepage includes a program such as JavaScript (registered trademark) to start the mailer and send an email from a predetermined address. It can be generated. As a result, the barcode is read with the mobile phone of the car driver (customer) and an empty mail is sent to the designated address, whereby the registration of the mail address is automatically completed.
In addition, information (specifically, slip number of the membership application form) associated with the vehicle information is recorded in the barcode, and the mail address is automatically registered in the customer attribute database 11 by this recording.
In addition, a flyer for the customer can be printed by the automatic printing. In this case, for example, the rank of the customer can be determined, and the sales price of gasoline or the like according to the rank, vehicle inspection information or car wash information according to the store visit history can be printed for each customer.

The customer information discriminating unit 16 discriminates from the extracted customer information whether or not there is a product or service that the store clerk should recommend to the customer (S6).
In this process, the customer information discriminating unit 16 refers to the service standard table 13 and exceeds the service standard period of each item from the extracted vehicle inspection date, oil change date, car wash date, and last visit date / time. It is determined whether or not there is an item that is present, and the exceeding item is determined as a service item to be recommended to the customer.
Specifically, if a service standard period of “6 months before the vehicle inspection date” is set for the vehicle inspection date, if it is already determined that the vehicle inspection period is 5 months before the vehicle inspection date, then “vehicle inspection” is the customer It is determined that the item should be recommended. Similarly, if a service standard period of “6 months from oil change” is set for oil change, if it is determined that 7 months have passed since the previous oil change at that time, “oil change” will be sent to the customer. It is determined that the item should be recommended. In the case of a car wash, if it is determined that two months have passed since the previous car wash, “car wash” is determined as an item to be recommended to the customer.
If at least one of the plurality of items is applicable, it is determined that there is a product or service that the store clerk should recommend to the customer. If there are a plurality of items, a plurality of items are extracted.

If it is determined that there is no item to be recommended to the customer, the photographed license plate image and the analyzed number data are transmitted to the clerk terminal 4 (S7).
As a screen at this time, for example, as shown in lane 1 of FIG. 8, on the screen of the clerk terminal 4, an image of a license plate photographed as “visit vehicle” and an image of a number analyzed as “car number” Are displayed side by side, and there is no particular comment on the clerk.

If it is determined that there is an item to be recommended to the customer, the output processing unit 17 displays the instruction information extracted by the customer information determining unit 16 on the display of the clerk terminal 4 (S8).
As shown in lane 2 and lane 3 in FIG. 8, the license plate image captured as “visited vehicle” and the image of the number analyzed as “car number” are displayed side by side on the screen at this time. The store clerk not only visually confirms whether or not the vehicle is correct, but also recommends a message indicating that "the vehicle inspection date is near".
Thereby, the store clerk who has seen the display can talk to the customer (vehicle) entering the lane L2 to recommend the vehicle inspection.

When the store clerk has the portable terminal 5, the output processing unit 17 notifies each portable terminal 5 of instruction information for informing the customer of the service target customer (vehicle) (S 9).
The notification to the mobile terminal 5 may be, for example, the lane number and the content of the service to be recommended to the customer may be displayed on the display 51 of the mobile terminal 5 or the service target customer (vehicle) has entered the store by vibration. May be notified. In addition, information indicating that the lamp 53 may be turned on when the oil is changed, red when the vehicle is inspected, and orange when the car is washed may be notified, or may be notified by a vibration or a buzzer. Also good.

Next, settlement processing in the POS device 30 will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 9, when the number can be analyzed by the process of S4 described above, the customer information discriminating unit 16 refers to the customer attribute database 11 to determine the customer rank information (S11), and this is the lane in which the vehicle enters. The L POS device 30 is notified (S12).
This notification to the POS device 30 in each lane L is performed by setting an address in each POS device 30 in advance and specifying the address.

Thereby, the POS device 30 selects a charge table corresponding to the notified customer rank (S13).
When the customer selects the oil type, purchase quantity, etc. from the refueling machine 3 and performs refueling, the POS device 30 refers to the rank table of the selected customer based on the purchase information from the refueling machine 3, and The purchase price corresponding to the oil type and purchase quantity is calculated (S14).
Then, the POS device 30 performs a settlement process on the calculated purchase amount using the settlement method selected by the customer, cash, credit card, or the like (S15), and ends the process.

Next, detailed processing of the above analysis processing will be described with reference to FIG.
10, when the analysis processing unit 15 receives a captured image from the camera 2 (S31), the analysis unit 15 analyzes the number from the received captured image, associates the analyzed number with the identification number of the lane L that entered the memory, and stores the number. (S32).
In the analysis of the number from the photographed image, the customer management apparatus 1 has a standard pattern dictionary that is a basic pattern such as letters or numbers (not shown), and the analysis processing unit 15 first binarizes the license plate image. Then, the absolute value of the luminance difference of each pixel when the standard pattern dictionary and the input image are superimposed is taken, and the distance (score) is obtained by squaring the absolute value of the value. The distance is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold value, that is, the distance close to that registered in the standard pattern dictionary is identified as an analysis result, so-called pattern matching is determined and analyzed.
Further, in order for the analysis processing unit 15 to detect the position of the license plate, the license plate frame has vertical and horizontal lines (edges). Therefore, vertical and horizontal lines (edges) from the captured image. The position of the license plate is detected from the image of the car by searching for the part with the mark.
If the number is not analyzed in the process of S32, the process returns to S31 and waits until the next image is received.

The analysis processing unit 13 determines whether or not the number already stored in the memory in association with the identification number of the lane L (that is, the number at the previous analysis) is the same as the number analyzed this time (S33).
If the number is the same as a result of the determination, it is determined that the customer's vehicle is staying as it is, the received image data and analysis data are discarded, and the process returns to S31 and waits until the next image is received.
Note that when processing the same car in the processing of S33, the analysis processing unit 15 may analyze the same number because it may be analyzed as a different number depending on the angle or brightness of the image of the license plate. Until a predetermined number of times (for example, three times) or more is detected, it may not be determined that a car with a different number has entered the lane L.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that the number is different from the number already stored, it is determined that another vehicle has entered the lane L, and the number stored in association with the identification number of the lane L is analyzed this time. The number is updated and stored in the memory (S34), this is notified to the customer information discriminating unit 16, and the analysis process is terminated.

Next, a process for sending an email to a customer will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 11, the mail transmission unit 19 refers to the customer history database 12 and extracts customers who have passed a predetermined period (for example, 14 days) from the previous visit to the current visit and stores them in the memory ( S41).

  The mail transmission unit 19 refers to the customer attribute database 11 and further extracts only the customers of a predetermined rank or higher among the extracted customers (S42).

And the mail transmission part 19 transmits the mail which put the information of the sales amount according to the said rank with respect to each customer based on each customer's mail address (S43), and complete | finishes a process.
As the mail at this time, for example, as shown in FIG. 12, a sales price such as “gasoline is 1 L125 yen” or other sales information may be included.
In addition, the mail transmission part 19 extracts a bounce mail by analyzing the header of the reply mail after mail delivery, and sets a flag for the undelivered mail address in the customer attribute database 11. When the customer information determining unit 19 determines that the number of non-delivery flags exceeds a predetermined reference (for example, 3 times), the customer information determining unit 16 displays the “contents of the e-mail address” when the customer visits the store. You may make it notify the alarm of "reconfirmation" to the salesclerk terminal 4 or the portable terminal 5. FIG.

In addition, although this example explained the example which narrows down the customer who has not visited the store for a predetermined period or the customer who is higher than the predetermined rank, the mail is distributed, but not limited to this, the mail is periodically distributed to all customers. You may make it do.
Further, the customer management device 1 receives input of weather information such as weather from an administrator or the like, and transmits, for example, a re-washing coupon or the like from the mail transmission unit 19 to a customer who washed the vehicle immediately before it rained. You may do it.

  As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, it is possible to determine a customer who has come to the store by car without using a medium such as a card, and to assist the store clerk to provide a service suitable for each customer.

  Further, the service can be provided to the customer after correctly recognizing the license plate and discriminating the customer (vehicle).

  Also, the store clerk can carry the portable terminal 5 to know that the customer (vehicle) to whom the service is to be provided has come, and can immediately provide the service.

In the above-described embodiment, the system for transmitting service provision information to the clerk terminal has been described. Instead, the display device 300 is disposed in a place where the customer receives the product provision or service, that is, the fuel dispenser 3. Then, service provision information may be distributed to the customer and output to the customer.
In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 13, the display device 300 may be built in the refueling machine 3 itself, or the display device 300 is attached to the refueling machine 3 or the POS device 30 as shown in FIG. Service information may be distributed.
In this case, the customer management apparatus 1 and the display apparatus 300 are connected by a wired or wireless LAN (Local Area Network) or the like so that information can be distributed. The display device 300 displays a message such as “Vehicle inspection is imminent”, “3 months have passed since the oil change”, “Thank you for purchasing your car. It is possible to display the service information.
In addition, the display device 300 has a built-in speaker, and the service can be guided to the customer by voice through the speaker.
As a result of the advertisement to these customers, the store clerk can hear the result of the advertisement, and mail can be distributed according to the reaction of the customer who has found out.

  This makes it possible to provide necessary service information directly to the customer without using a store clerk.

As a mechanism for changing the sales price for each customer, for example, the customer information discriminating unit 16 discriminates whether conditions such as the customer rank, the number of visits and the frequency have reached predetermined conditions, and the mail transmitting unit 19 A discount coupon may be sent to the customer's terminal by e-mail according to conditions such as the customer's rank, the number of visits, and the frequency.
Specifically, the customer information discriminating unit 16 refers to the customer history database 12 and extracts customers who have not visited the store for more than one month, and the customer is given a discount coupon (for example, a 5% discount coupon). ) By email.
In this case, the customer information discriminating unit 16 records a discount barcode on the linked homepage described in the email to be transmitted or in the email text. Then, by reading the mail text or linked homepage with the reader (barcode reader) of the POS device 30, the coupon discount is applied to the sales price, and the sales price is changed to the price indicated by the coupon. And may be settled.
Alternatively, a discount price may be applied by inputting a unique character or number code (so-called encryption code) described in the e-mail from the touch display of the POS device 30 or the like.
Thereby, the development cost for linking the customer database / charge table and the POS device 30 can be reduced.

  As another embodiment, when a non-payment occurs after refueling at a gas station that performs refueling by itself, this is registered in the black list of the customer management device 1 and the customer (vehicle) visits the store again. You may make it notify a salesclerk when it does. An embodiment in this case will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 15, in this embodiment, the customer management device 1 further includes a black list 21 and a black list processing unit 22.
The black list 21 is a storage unit that stores information on customers who have not paid a fee after refueling at a gas station. In the black list 21, as shown in FIG. 16, information on the number of the car of the customer who did not pay the fee, the date and time when the non-payment occurred, the unpaid amount and the uncollected amount were collected. The collection flag shown can be stored.
The number information is number information read by the camera 2 and analyzed by the analysis processing unit 15 when visiting the store. In addition, the amount receivable is the amount that was not settled even though the customer refueled. The collection flag is information indicating that the unpaid amount has been paid when the customer visits the store again. Specifically, the data in which the flag is not stored indicates that “fee has not been received”, and the flag “1” is stored when payment is made later.

The blacklist processing unit 22 receives the notification that the customer who has visited the store from the POS terminal has not paid the fee, and performs processing for registering the identification information of the customer's car, the date of occurrence, and the accrued amount in the blacklist 22. .
The blacklist processing unit 22 also notifies the clerk terminal 4 and the mobile terminal 5 that the customer (vehicle) who has not paid the fee has entered the store when the customer who has not paid the previous fee has visited the gas station again. I do.

Next, an example of the processing method of this embodiment will be described.
First, processing for detecting an unpaid person will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 17, the above-described processing of S21 to S24 is performed on the customer's car that has entered the store, and after refueling, the POS terminal 30 determines whether or not the settlement processing has been performed by the customer (S201). ). In this process, the POS terminal 30 determines whether or not the payment for refueling has been performed in cash within a predetermined period of time, or whether or not a settlement using a credit card or electronic money has been performed.

When the settlement process is performed, the settlement process of S25 described above is performed.
If the POS terminal 30 determines that the payment process has not been performed, the customer management apparatus 1 is notified of unpaid charges (S202). This unpaid notification includes the identification information (number etc.) of the lane where the POS terminal 30 is located and the unpaid amount.

The black list processing unit 22 of the customer management device 1 stores the car number analyzed by the analysis processing unit 15 and the accrued amount notified from the POS terminal 30 in association therewith in the black list table 21 (S203). The process is terminated.
In this process, the lane identification information (number) in which the vehicle has entered and the analyzed vehicle number information are temporarily stored in the memory, and the lane identification information of the lane number and the amount of uncollected information notified from the POS terminal 30 is stored. Based on the (number), which car (number information) has not paid the fee is specified, and the number information and the accrued amount are stored in the black list table 21.

Next, the processing of the customer management device 1 when a customer (vehicle) who has not paid a fee visits the store again will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 18, when visiting the store, the same processing as S1 to S4 described above is performed, and the number analysis processing is performed.
Thereafter, the blacklist processing unit 22 determines whether or not the analyzed number is registered in the blacklist table 21 (S211).

As a result of the determination, if it is not registered in the black list table 21, the processing from S5 onward is performed.
If it is determined as a result of the determination that it is registered in the black list table 21, the black list processing unit 22 enters the clerk terminal 4 and the portable terminal 5 and the lane identification information (number etc.) that has entered and the uncollected information. The amount is notified (S212, S213).
As a result, the clerk terminal 4 and the mobile terminal 5 display the lane identification information (number etc.) of the unpaid customer (vehicle) and the unpaid amount together with the alarm display of the unpaid customer visit.
This warning display may be notified by voice instead of being displayed on the display or at the same time, or may be notified by an alarm sound or vibration.
Thereby, the store clerk who received the notification can lock the refueling (operation in the store) and reject the refueling. In addition, customers can be billed for unpaid money.
Note that the store management device 1 may directly notify the refueling device and automatically lock the refueling.

In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the store terminal 1 is provided with the black list table 21 and the black list processing unit 22 has been described. For example, the black list information of a plurality of gas stations may be shared. In this case, a server connected to the store terminals 1 of a plurality of stores is provided, the black list table 1 is provided on this server, and the server provides the black list information to the store terminals 1 in response to an inquiry request from the store terminal 1 You may comprise.
As a result, even if a person who has not paid a fee visits a store different from the previous store, he or she can refuse to refuel or collect the fee that has not been paid at another store.

One embodiment in the case of printing a membership application form or a receipt from the above employee terminal will be described.
In the example of FIG. 19, a printer is provided in the gas station so that the customer information is notified to the employee.
In FIG. 19, a printer 40 is provided in the gas station. The printer 40 is connected to the employee terminal 4 via a network such as a cable or a LAN.
For example, a receipt is printed on the printer 40 when a new customer (vehicle) visits the store or a customer (vehicle) for which vehicle inspection information is not registered, and the employee holds the printed receipt. To serve customers. As shown in FIG. 20, the receipt includes the date and time of issuance, the date of vehicle inspection, the lane number (LANE) in which the vehicle entered, the read license plate information (NP), the customer rank (Type), the customer ID, and the mail. There are fields for address and person-in-charge code.
The column of the vehicle inspection date is a column in which when the employee responds, the customer asks the vehicle inspection date or records the date when the employee checks the vehicle inspection sticker on the windshield of the vehicle.
The column for the person in charge is a column for entering the code (employee number) of the employee corresponding to the customer.

Processing for issuing a receipt will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 21, the customer management device 1 performs license plate analysis processing by the above-described processing of S1 to S3, and is the vehicle (customer) already registered in the customer attribute database 11 based on the analyzed license plate information? It is determined whether or not (S101).
If it is not registered as a result of the discrimination, it is assumed that a new customer has visited the store, and the printer 40 is instructed to print a receipt (S103).

If registered, the customer attribute database 11 and the customer history database 12 are referred to based on the license plate information, and customer information and history information are searched and extracted (S5).
And the customer information discrimination | determination part 16 discriminate | determines whether the vehicle inspection information is registered into the extracted customer information (S102). The vehicle inspection information is registered means that the vehicle inspection date is registered. In this case, when a corresponding flag (to be described later) is set in the vehicle inspection information, it is determined that the customer is a corresponding customer and a receipt is not issued.
If the vehicle inspection information is not registered as a result of the determination, a receipt issue instruction is issued to the printer 40 in order to collect the vehicle inspection information (S103).
As a result, the receipt shown in FIG. 20 is printed by the printer 40, and the employee who took the printed receipt goes to the lane written on the receipt and asks the customer for vehicle inspection information (vehicle inspection date). And put it on the receipt, and add it up at the center. At this time, the customer who refuses to obtain the vehicle inspection information or refuses the vehicle inspection recommendation is described in the receipt.
On the customer management device 1 side, the vehicle inspection information described in the collected receipt is newly registered in the customer attribute database 11 as vehicle inspection information.
For customers who refuse to obtain vehicle inspection information, or for customers who refuse to recommend vehicle inspections, “Responded” is entered in the receipt. Then, when counting is performed at the center based on the contents of the receipt, the corresponding flag is set in the column of the vehicle inspection information by instructing the vehicle inspection corresponding button from the input screen. As a result, when the customer visits the store again, a receipt is not issued and the employee does not recommend the vehicle inspection again.
By issuing a receipt in this way, it is possible to obtain vehicle inspection information of customers who have visited the store.
Moreover, it is possible to prevent the customer who refuses the solicitation of the vehicle inspection from recommending the vehicle inspection again.

  Although the above-mentioned embodiment demonstrated the example applied to the customer management system of a gas station, this invention is not limited to this, For example, it can apply also as systems, such as a restaurant.

The conceptual diagram of the whole structure of one Embodiment of the system which concerns on this invention. The top view of the gas station which concerns on this embodiment. The perspective view which showed an example of the portable terminal which concerns on this embodiment. The functional block diagram of the customer management apparatus which concerns on this embodiment. The figure which showed the item of the data memorize | stored in the customer attribute information database which concerns on this embodiment. The figure which showed the item of the data memorize | stored in the customer history database which concerns on this embodiment. The figure which showed the processing flow of the customer management apparatus which concerns on this embodiment The figure which showed the example of the display screen of the salesclerk terminal which concerns on this embodiment. The figure which showed the flow of the payment process which concerns on this embodiment. The figure which showed the flow of the detailed process of the analysis process which concerns on this embodiment. The figure which showed the flow of the mail delivery process which concerns on this embodiment. The figure which showed an example of the delivered mail which concerns on this embodiment. The figure which showed the example of the fueling machine which incorporated the display apparatus. The figure which showed the example of the fueling machine which attached the display apparatus. The functional block diagram of the customer management apparatus which showed another embodiment of this invention. The figure which showed the data item memorize | stored in the black list table which concerns on another embodiment. The processing flow which showed the process in the case of registering to the black list table which concerns on another embodiment. The processing flow which showed the flow of the process of the store management apparatus when the unpaid person concerning another embodiment visits a store again. The conceptual diagram of the whole structure of another embodiment of this invention. The figure which showed an example of the receipt. The processing flowchart which showed the process which issues a receipt.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Customer management apparatus 2 Camera 3 Refueling machine 4 Employee terminal 5 Portable terminal 11 Customer attribute database 12 Customer history database 13 Service standard table 14 Fee table 15 Analysis processing part 16 Customer information discrimination | determination part 17 Output processing part 18 Customer information update part 19 Mail transmission unit 20 Charge table update unit 21 Black list table 22 Black list processing unit 30 POS device 51 Display 52 Speaker 53 Lamp 54 Confirm button 300 Display device

Claims (4)

A system for identifying a customer by reading a license plate number of a customer's car that has entered the store, and assisting a store clerk to provide a predetermined service to the customer,
Customer information storage means for storing attribute information related to the customer including at least items such as the car inspection date of the car in association with the car number of the customer;
A camera that shoots the license plate of the customer's car
Analysis processing means for analyzing and extracting the car number from the license plate image taken with the camera,
Referencing the customer information storage means, search based on the analyzed car number , a determination means for determining whether or not the attribute information such as vehicle inspection date is an unregistered customer,
As a result of determination, when it is determined that the attribute information such as vehicle inspection date is an unregistered customer, code information including a slip number for identifying a slip and the read car number is generated, and the generated code An output means for outputting a print instruction for printing the information, the number of the read car, and a space where at least attribute information such as a car inspection date can be entered on the slip ;
Based on the printing instruction, a printer that prints and issues a slip having the generated code information, the read car number, and a space in which at least attribute information such as vehicle inspection date can be entered ;
When registering the attribute information such as the car inspection date entered in the issued slip, the car inspection year entered in the slip is related to the car number by reading the code information printed on the slip Registration means for registering attribute information such as month in the customer information storage means;
Customer information processing system characterized by having a. The customer information storage means further stores a customer ID for identifying the customer,
The slip number is composed of a customer ID,
The registration means registers the vehicle inspection information written in the slip in association with the customer ID in the customer information storage means in place of the car number.
The customer information processing system according to claim 1. The above camera continuously takes images of cars at predetermined intervals,
The analysis means analyzes the number of the car from each image of the license plate taken continuously, and determines that the number was correctly recognized when the difference between the analysis results is a predetermined threshold value or less, Notifying the discrimination means of the number as the analysis result,
The customer information processing system according to claim 1 or 2 . In a method performed by a computer having customer information storage means for storing attribute information about the customer including at least items such as the car inspection date of the car in association with the car number of the customer, and a camera and printer connected to the computer There,
The above camera shoots the license plate of the customer's car that has entered the store,
From the license plate image taken with the camera, the computer analyzes and extracts the car number;
A process in which the computer refers to the customer information storage means and searches based on the analyzed car number , and determines whether or not the attribute information such as the car inspection date of the customer is an unregistered customer;
As a result of the determination, when the attribute information such as the vehicle inspection date is determined to be an unregistered customer, the computer generates code information including the slip number and the read car number, and the generated code A process for outputting a print instruction for printing the information , the number of the read car, and a space where at least the car inspection date can be entered on the slip ;
Based on the printing instruction , the printer prints and issues a slip having the generated code information, the read car number, and a space in which at least attribute information such as vehicle inspection date can be entered. Processing to
When the computer registers the attribute information such as the car inspection date entered in the issued slip in the customer information storage means, the code information printed on the slip is read to associate with the car number. Registering attribute information such as vehicle inspection date entered in the above slip,
A customer information processing method.