JP4145610B2 - Point processing system and general point processing server - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a point processing system. And In particular, the general point processing server is suitable for application to a case where the points issued by each company for sales promotion are shared to promote the use of points.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, as point processing systems, card operators issue credit cards according to the usage amount of credit cards, passenger airlines issue points according to usage miles, and chain stores operate at chain stores. There are various types of systems, such as those that issue points according to the purchase amount.
[0003]
Many of such conventional point processing systems issue profits according to points in the form of cards or stickers, etc. by the business that issued the points, and consume the profits, and profits according to the points to the customer members Is generally reduced.
[0004]
However, since the point system is managed and managed for each company or for each point business operator, the user must collect points for each type of point, and the points are distributed to multiple systems, and the user There are many cases where the service based on points cannot be received, such as when the card is lost or when the card is not carried at the time of use, and the validity period often passes without being used as it is.
[0005]
In order to solve such inconvenience, it has already been proposed to exchange the points issued for each company or each point specialty business operator with a common point or a point of another system (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-2001). 250170, JP-A-2002-24724).
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The common point exchange system described above requires the exchange of each user's point managed by each company to a common point, so issuance, consumption, management, etc. of common points for each user, etc. It is desirable to efficiently perform the system processing.
[0007]
In general, each company or the like not only manages the points of each user but also collects and manages customer information related to the users. Since this customer information is personal information about the user and is highly valuable information about the user, the items required for each company differ. For example, the name and address of the user As such, every company collects similar information.
[0008]
From the standpoint of a customer member, information is entered at a member company with a common point exchange system, and entering similar information at other member companies is a duplicate information entry task. .
[0009]
For this reason, there is a central processing server that can centrally manage customer information managed by each member company, so that there is no inconsistency in the handling of information between the central processing server and each member company. There is a need for an efficient point processing system that improves operability (interoperability).
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve this problem, the point processing system of the first aspect of the present invention includes (1) a plurality of individual point processing servers that manage customer information including point information of customer members, and (2) a plurality of individual points. In addition to managing customer member point information managed by the processing server, Consists of configuration items Consult Customer situation In a point processing system including a central point processing server that also manages information, (2) the central point processing server uses (2-1) point information of each customer member and predetermined customer identification information as customer member identification information. A customer member database stored in association with each other; (2-2) A management item table showing the configuration items of customer information managed by each individual point processing server for each individual point processing server; (2-3) Refers to the customer member database and consults with each customer member. Customer situation Of the news, Registration of customer information Is missing Search the management item table for the individual point processing server that manages the configuration item of the missing customer information. Another point processing server To the ba for, Customer member Customer member identification information as well as Its lack Customer information Configuration items Information indicating Short data request means for requesting (2- 4 ) Number requested by the missing data request means Another point processing server Huh The customer member received from Customer information In the customer membership database Configuration items (1) a customer information database in which each individual point processing server stores (1-1) customer member point information and predetermined customer information in association with customer member identification information; (1-2) Customer member identification information from insufficient data request means And information indicating the configuration items of missing customer information Based on the customer information database Customer information for configuration items that have insufficient personnel Search for that Customer information Is provided with a deficient data handling means for giving to the overall point processing server.
[0012]
In addition 2 The integrated point processing server of the present invention manages a plurality of individual point processing servers that manage customer information including customer member point information, and manages customer member point information managed by the plurality of individual point processing servers. The given Consists of configuration items Consult Customer situation In a central point processing server as a component of a point processing system including a central point processing server that also manages information, (1) associating point information of each customer member and predetermined customer specifying information with customer member identification information (2) a customer member database for storing A management item table showing the configuration items of customer information managed by each individual point processing server for each individual point processing server; and (3) Refers to the customer member database and consults with each customer member. Customer situation Of the news, Registration of customer information Is missing Search the management item table for the individual point processing server that manages the configuration item of the missing customer information. Another point processing server To the ba for, Customer member Customer member identification information as well as Its lack Customer information Configuration items Information indicating Short data request means for requesting (and 4 ) Number requested by the missing data request means Another point processing server Huh The customer member received from Customer information In the customer membership database Configuration items And a registration means for registering to.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
(A) First embodiment
Hereinafter, the point processing system of the present invention And point management server This embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
[0014]
This embodiment manages point customer data as well as common points in a point processing system that can manage and operate all or a part of individual points managed by a plurality of individual point processing systems as common points. The case where it applies to the system to obtain is demonstrated.
[0015]
Here, the point is issued according to the payment amount of the product purchase etc. determined by each company etc. when the user purchases the product or receives the service provided, etc. Points can be increased (point accumulation) by repeating product purchases, etc., and exchanged for products etc. using the accumulated points (ie, consumption of points) based on a predetermined conversion formula It is also possible.
[0016]
(A-1) Configuration of the first embodiment
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the point processing system of this embodiment.
[0017]
As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system 1 of the present embodiment includes a central point server 3 and individual point servers 6 to 8 through a network 2. The individual point servers 6 to 8 are connected to the company-side networks 12 to 14, respectively, and can be connected to the shop terminals 15 to 17 operated by the company-side store clerk or the like.
[0018]
The network 2 may be a public network, a dedicated network, a mobile communication network, or the like, or a network obtained by combining a plurality of these. In the present embodiment, the Internet will be described as an example.
[0019]
The individual point servers 6 to 8 are devices that serve as interfaces between the company-side networks 12 to 14 and the communication system 1 of different operators (companies). Accordingly, each of these individual point servers 6-8 is operated by the corresponding company via the corresponding company side networks 12-14.
[0020]
For example, the individual point server 6 is operated by an amusement hall operator, the individual point server 7 is operated by a travel airline operator, and the individual point server 8 is operated by a home appliance company. Is done. Of course, FIG. 1 shows that the communication system 1 includes three individual point servers, but the number is not limited.
[0021]
The company-side networks 12 to 14 are networks constructed for each company (company). The company-side networks 12 to 14 include all or a part of networks constructed by a certain company. For example, it is a network comprising a company's head office and a plurality of branches (including overseas branches) (the head office and branches have store terminals).
[0022]
Thus, since the company side networks 12-14 are comprised from several bases, the individual point servers 6-8 enable communication from the bases of the corresponding company side networks 12-14. The individual point servers 6 to 8 cannot communicate with each other. That is, each individual point server 6-8 can communicate only with the general point server 3 through the network 2, and cannot communicate with the outside of the corresponding company side networks 12-14.
[0023]
That is, since the individual point servers 6 to 8 communicate with only the central point server 3, the logical structure of the communication system 1 has the central point server 3 as the sole parent (root) and the three individual point servers 6 to 6. It can be viewed as a hierarchical structure (tree structure or tree structure) with 8 as a child (section or leaf).
[0024]
The store terminals 15 to 17 are communication terminals that are components of the corresponding company-side networks 12 to 14, respectively. For example, a network function, a display device, an input / output device, etc., such as a cash register POS terminal and a personal computer. It is the information processing terminal device provided.
[0025]
The store terminals 15 to 17 are operated in the case of member registration to the individual point system of each company, point issuance or consumption, etc., or personal information change, deletion or addition. In general, the store terminals 15 to 17 are operated by a store clerk. For information that only the user can know, such as a user password, an input device (for example, a keyboard or a numeric keypad) is used by the user. Can be manipulated.
[0026]
The store terminals 15 to 17 have a cable (not shown) having a connector that can be connected to a mobile communication terminal possessed by the user, an infrared communication function that can communicate with the mobile communication terminal, a short-range wireless communication function, and the like. It may be possible to acquire the manufacturing number of the mobile communication terminal of the user and the telephone number of the mobile communication terminal.
[0027]
(A-1-1) Example of internal configuration of individual point server
The internal configuration of the individual point servers 6 to 8 serving as an interface between the communication system 1 and each of the inter-company networks 12 to 14 will be described in detail.
[0028]
Here, the internal configuration will be described using the individual point server 6 among the individual point servers 6 to 8 as a representative.
[0029]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration example of the individual point server. As shown in FIG. 2, the individual point server 6 includes at least a communication unit 21, a control unit 22, and a customer information database (customer information DB) 23.
[0030]
Further, the individual point server 6 receives information on certain customer member information from the general point server 3 that manages predetermined customer member information regarding all customer members registered as members in the communication system 1 of the present embodiment. A deficiency information handling unit 25 corresponding to a case where a request is made to transmit missing item data.
[0031]
Of course, the internal configuration of each individual point server 6-8 is not limited to these, and differs depending on the system construction for each company.
[0032]
The communication unit 21 enables communication with each base via the inter-company network 12 and enables communication with the central point server 3 via the network 2.
[0033]
The control unit 22 corresponds to a CPU (central processing unit) of the individual point server 6 in terms of hardware, and corresponds to an OS (operation system), a DBMS (database management system), or the like in terms of software. Therefore, the control unit 22 can control search, addition, change, and the like of information managed in the database.
[0034]
The customer information database (customer information DB) 23 is a database in which each company manages customer information of its own customers. The items of customer information managed by the customer information DB 23 may be different for each company.
[0035]
FIG. 3 shows an example of customer information items managed by the customer information DB 23 of each individual point server 6-8. FIG. 3B shows an example of customer information items managed by the individual point server 6 (in the case of an amusement hall company), and FIG. 3C shows customer information managed by the individual point server 6. An item example (when a passenger airline company is taken as an example), FIG. 3D is an example item of customer information managed by the individual point server 6 (when a home appliance sales company is taken as an example). FIG. 3A shows an example of customer member information items managed by the overall point server.
[0036]
Here, both “customer information” and “customer member information” are specific information including at least customer member point information and personal information related to the customer member. In this embodiment, each individual point server 6 The predetermined specific information managed by ˜8 is referred to as “customer information”, and the predetermined specific information managed by the overall point server 3 is referred to as “customer member information”.
[0037]
In general, each company manages the number of points of each user, collects personal information about users having high value for the company, and manages customer information including these. Accordingly, not all companies manage the same customer information item, but the necessary customer information item is always included.
[0038]
For example, taking FIG. 3B as an example, an example of customer information items managed by the individual point server 6 will be briefly described. Examples of customer information items of the individual point server 6 include “common user ID”, “password”, “name”, “address”, “e-mail address”, “number of points”, and “number of visits” And “number of jackpots”.
[0039]
This “common user ID” is a number common to the communication system 1 for identifying customer members, and can be used as a user identifier. Any method may be used for generating the “common user ID”. As an example of simply generating the “common user ID”, for example, when the user registers in the communication system 1, “User ID” given to a user by a member company (for example, a company related to an individual point server) used by a user for the first time, and “Member ID” assigned to each member company set in advance when the communication system 1 is constructed. You may make it produce | generate by combining with a company ID.
[0040]
Further, since the “common user ID” is managed as “user ID” in the individual point server 6, it is not necessarily managed as the same number in the communication system 1. Are managed as being recognizable, and when the communication system 1 is used, the corresponding customer member can be identified by the “common user ID”.
[0041]
The “password” is necessary for authenticating the customer member, and may be different for each individual point server 6-7. Further, it is not necessary to provide a “password” as an item of customer information depending on the company.
[0042]
“Name” indicates the name of the customer member, and “Address” indicates the current address of the customer member. “E-mail address” indicates an e-mail address of a customer member, and is used when a company distributes advertisements regarding products, services, etc. to customer members. This “e-mail address” can be used as a user identifier having identification that can be used even outside the corporate network 12.
[0043]
“Point number” indicates the number of points managed by the company. This "point number" includes not only information on the number of individual points acquired by customer members in the company but also information on the number of common points when all or part of the number of individual points is exchanged for common points. It may be a thing. In this embodiment, in order to simplify the description, it is assumed that all the “point numbers” are information relating to the number of common points.
[0044]
“Number of visits” is information indicating the number of times a customer member has visited the game hall, and “Number of jackpots” is information indicating the number of times the customer member has won a jackpot at the game hall. These are examples of personal information regarding customer members having high value for the company, and other companies can manage personal information different from these.
[0045]
As another example of the personal information having high value for each company, for example, a company (passenger air carrier) related to the individual point server 7 manages the “number of boarding” using the aircraft by the customer member, and the individual point server 8 (household appliance sales business) manages the “total purchase amount” of home appliances purchased by customer members.
[0046]
In addition, the cable having a connector that can be connected to the mobile communication terminal described above, the “manufacturing number of the mobile communication terminal” and the “phone number of the mobile communication terminal” acquired using the infrared communication function, the short-range wireless communication function, etc. "Can also be used as a user identifier.
[0047]
Next, the shortage information handling unit 24 included in the individual point server 6 will be described.
[0048]
When there is a request from the general point server 3 to transmit customer information about a certain customer member, the shortage information handling unit 24 searches the customer information DB 23 for customer information of the customer member corresponding to the request. The retrieved customer information is given to the central point server 3.
[0049]
The shortage information handling unit 24 receives the customer member identification information about the customer member together with the request from the general point server 3, and searches the customer information DB 23 for customer information about the corresponding customer member based on the customer member identification information. To do. Also, the shortage information handling unit 24 extracts the customer information of the searched customer member and transmits the customer information to the overall point server 3.
[0050]
Here, the customer member identification information may be anything that can be used as the above-described user identifier. For example, “common user ID” or “e-mail address” or “manufacturing number of portable terminal” or “mobile communication terminal” "Phone number" can be applied.
[0051]
In addition, the shortage information handling unit 24 may search for customer information requested from the general point server 3 and transmit all information of the customer information to the general point server 3. Not efficient when considered. Therefore, for example, the supervision point server 3 may make a request by designating only information (that is, only specific item data of a certain customer member) for an item for which information is missing in requested customer information.
[0052]
For example, FIG. 3A shows an example of customer member information managed by the central point server 3, and item numbers are assigned to predetermined items managed by the central point server 3. This item number is also assigned in common to the customer information items managed by all the individual point servers 6 to 8 constituting the communication system 1, and the general point server 3 receives this item information when requesting customer information. An item number may be added and transmitted. At this time, each of the individual point servers 6 to 8 may be configured to be able to transmit only the item data of the customer information of the specified item to the general point server 3 based on the received item number.
[0053]
(A-1-2) Internal configuration example of the general point server
Next, an internal configuration example of the overall point server 3 will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
[0054]
As shown in FIG. 4, the central point server 3 includes a communication unit 41, a control unit 42, a customer member database (customer member DB) 43, a member company database (member company DB) 44, and a shortage information request unit 45. And.
[0055]
The communication unit 41 can communicate with the communication unit 21 of each individual point server 6 to 8 via the network 2.
[0056]
The control unit 42 corresponds to the CPU of the overall point server 3 in terms of hardware, and corresponds to the OS, DBMS, or the like in terms of software.
[0057]
The customer member DB 43 is a database for centrally managing customer information including customer member point information managed by the customer information database 23 of each individual point server 6-8.
[0058]
The customer member information example managed in the customer member DB 43 is composed of items determined in advance. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, “user ID”, “common user ID”, It consists of items of “name”, “e-mail address”, “address”, “number of points”, “age”, and “profession”. Of course, the items that can be managed by the customer member DB 43 are not limited to these items.
[0059]
The central point server 3 may register any customer member information in the customer member DB 43 by any method. For example, in a company related to the individual point server 6, when a user registers as a member In addition, the user or the store clerk of the company inputs customer information required for membership registration of the company. The individual point server 6 registers and manages the input customer information in the customer information DB 23, transmits the customer information to the central point server 3, and the central point server 3 stores the customer information in the customer member DB 43. You may make it register.
[0060]
In this way, when the customer member is registered as a member, the general point server 3 may also register and manage the customer information together with the individual point server 6. At this time, the item of customer information requested from the user by the company related to the individual point server 6 does not have to be the same as the item of predetermined customer member information managed by the overall point server 3.
[0061]
For example, in FIG. 3, the individual point server 8 lists “home telephone number” as an item of customer information, and requests input when registering a user as a member. However, the overall point server 3 does not list “home phone number” as an item for management. Thus, the item of customer information managed by the general point server 3 and each individual point server 6-8 may differ.
[0062]
At the time of user member registration, each individual point server 6-8 gives the customer information of all items input to the user to the central point server 3, and the central point server 3 is the customer of all these items. The information may be managed, and the central point server 3 collects customer information of only necessary items out of all the received items, and discards customer information of other items. Also good.
[0063]
In addition, since each company collects or aggregates specific information that is highly valuable to each company, items corresponding to such specific information should be restricted from being given to the central point server 3. Can do.
[0064]
For example, the items of “number of visits” and “number of jackpots” managed by the company related to the individual point server 6 are important information of the company and are information that should not be leaked to the outside. It may not be transmitted to the point server 3.
[0065]
Further, an item number is assigned to the item of customer member information, and this item number is common to the communication system 1. For example, in the communication system 1, the item number “3” is assigned to the “name”, and the “name” is recognized as “3” in common in the central point server 3 and the individual point servers 6 to 8. Yes.
[0066]
The “user ID” is a user identifier for management by the central point server 3, and the “common user ID” is a user identifier common to the communication system 1 as described above.
[0067]
The central point server 3 receives the customer member information from each individual point server 6-8, receives the customer member identification information of a certain customer member, and based on the customer member identification information, the customer member DB 43 receives the customer member identification information. The customer member information is retrieved, and the customer member information is given to the request individual point servers 6-8.
[0068]
This is because, for example, when a customer member who has completed membership registration is a company (for example, a company related to the individual point server 7) different from the company (for example, a company related to the individual point server 6) that has registered the member, This is done when trying to become a unique member.
[0069]
In such a case, the customer member or a store clerk of another company inputs customer member identification information of the communication system 1 to the store terminal 16.
[0070]
For example, when the customer member identification information is “user ID”, the user ID of the customer member is input. The individual point server 7 gives the input “user ID” to the overall point server 3, and the overall point server 3 gives the searched customer member information to the individual point server 7 based on the “user ID”. The store terminal 16 can display the customer member information acquired by the individual point server 7, for example, “Your name is Hanako Yamada”, and based on this display, The store clerk may confirm the item data to the customer member, or the display may be directly displayed to the customer member to confirm the item data.
[0071]
Further, the company related to the individual point server 7 lists “age” as an item of customer information, and also lists “age” as an item of customer member information in the general point server 6. The item data is not inputted, and the general point server 3 gives the customer member information to the individual point server 7 without the item data of “age”.
[0072]
In this case, the store terminal 16 can ask the customer member about the “age” that is the shortage information of the customer member information, input the shortage information, and additionally register it in the customer information DB 23. At this time, the individual point server 7 transmits the added “age” deficiency information to the general point server 3, and the general point server 3 registers the added deficiency information in the customer member DB 43. Of course, the item data of the customer information can be changed in the same manner. For example, it is possible to change the “address” by moving, or to change the female “last name” by marriage.
[0073]
The member company database (member company DB) 44 is a database for the central point server 3 to manage each company that is a member of the communication system 1.
[0074]
FIG. 5 is an example of a company management table that the member company DB 44 has. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, companies A to C are managed in correspondence with “company ID” in order to uniquely identify the company in the communication system 1.
[0075]
In FIG. 5, “charge settlement status” is provided corresponding to the “company ID”. In this “fee settlement state”, information indicating the settlement state of the charges between the companies A to C related to the consumption of the common points is described.
[0076]
Each point (common point) is like a debt that each issuer company is obligated to provide money, goods, etc. to customer members, so in a different company different from the issuer company When a customer member exchanges the common points for a product, it is equivalent to a party different from the original debtor paying the debt, so the issuing company will consume the money equivalent to the product. It is necessary to pay to another company. Information on the payment status of the fee is described in the “charge adjustment status”.
[0077]
The fee can be settled according to the accounting conditions between the companies constituting the communication system 1.
[0078]
When the customer member information of a certain customer member is insufficient, the shortage information request unit 45 requests that the customer information be transmitted to the individual point servers 6 to 8 that manage the insufficient customer information. Is. When the shortage information requesting unit 45 requests the individual point servers 6 to 8, the individual point servers 6 to 8 transmit customer member identification information for identifying the customer members together with the request.
[0079]
The timing at which the deficiency information request unit 45 searches whether there is a deficiency in the data of a customer member's customer member information corresponds to, for example, when a customer member registers as a member of another company as described above. When the individual point servers 6 to 8 are requested to transmit the customer member information of the customer member, the customer member information of the customer member is confirmed.
[0080]
For example, in FIG. 3, when the general point server 3 receives “user ID” as customer member identification information from the individual point server 7 and there is a request for corresponding customer information, the shortage information requesting unit 45 Check whether there is any omission in the customer member information based on “user ID”, and in this case, the lack information request unit 45 detects that the item data of “age” and “profession” is missing in the customer member information. To do.
[0081]
As another example of the method, the general point server 3 is connected to an administrator terminal (not shown), and is performed based on the manager's voluntary confirmation of customer member information by the administrator's operation. Also good. At this time, the administrator terminal is a computer including a display device, an input / output device, and the like.
[0082]
The shortage information requesting unit 45 can apply any request method when requesting the individual point servers 6 to 8 for the item data that is lacking for the customer members. For example, the shortage information requesting unit 45 applies to all the individual point servers 6 to 8. On the other hand, all the customer information related to the customer member managed by each individual point server 6 to 8 is requested. At this time, it is possible to request the missing item data to the individual point servers 7 and 8 other than the individual point server 6 that has requested the customer member information from the initial central point server. This is because the individual point server that has requested the customer member information naturally does not manage the customer information.
[0083]
Further, for example, the shortage information request unit 45 has a management item table as shown in FIG. 6 and searches with the individual point servers 6 to 8 managing the missing items based on this management item table. The request is made to the individual point servers 6 to 8 managing the item.
[0084]
For example, in FIG. 3, for the customer member information, the missing item data are “age” and “occupation”. The deficiency information request unit 45 searches the individual point server 7 managing the item “age” based on the management item table, and makes a request to the individual point server 7. Further, the shortage information request unit 45 similarly searches the individual point servers 7 and 8 that manage “occupation” and makes requests to these individual point servers 7 and 8.
[0085]
Furthermore, the shortage information requesting unit 45 can give a priority order for requesting the management item table and make a request according to the priority order.
[0086]
For example, the priority order is set so that the management item table shown in FIG. 6 is requested in the order of the individual point server 6, the individual point server 7, and the individual point server 8. Therefore, in the above example, when the shortage information requesting unit 45 requests the item “occupation”, the shortage information requesting unit 45 has the highest priority, but does not manage the item “occupation”. 6 is not requested, but is requested to the individual point server 7 having the next highest priority. If the desired item data is acquired from the individual point server 7, the process ends. If not, the request is made to the individual point server 8 having the next highest priority.
[0087]
For example, the priority order may be set in the order of individual point servers that manage many items of customer information corresponding to the items of customer management information, or in order that reduces the burden of distributed processing. They can be provided in the order in which they are located closer to the position of the point server 3.
[0088]
When there is a request for customer information for a certain customer member from the individual point server 6 and the item data of the customer member information of the customer member is insufficient, the overall point server 3 uses the shortage information request unit 45. Item data request processing is performed to obtain desired item data, and after creating customer member information in which all item data is filled, the customer member information is transmitted to the individual point server 6.
[0089]
(A-2) Operation of the embodiment
Below, operation | movement of the point processing system of this embodiment is demonstrated.
[0090]
Here, the customer member has already registered as a member of the company related to the individual point server 6, and the customer information registered in the individual point server 6 is registered and managed as customer member information in the overall point server 3. Assuming
[0091]
When this customer member is a different company (company related to the individual point server 7) and intends to register with the point member of the different company, the individual point server 7 is notified of the customer member from the general point server 3. The operation when acquiring customer information will be described.
[0092]
The store terminal 16 connected to the company-side network 13 prompts to input “user ID” as customer member identification information of the customer member. This customer member identification information can also be applied to “e-mail address”, “mobile phone number”, “manufacturing number of mobile communication device”, etc., and determined in advance between companies using the communication system 1. It is necessary to keep.
[0093]
In response, the customer member enters his / her e-mail address. At this time, the user ID input by the customer member is the user ID input when registering the company of the individual point server 6. For example, the “user ID” is given to a member card issued by a company related to the individual point server 6, and the number assigned to this member card is input. This “user ID” can be commonly recognized in the communication system 1.
[0094]
The “user ID” input here is “01-0001”. This user ID “01-0001” is given to the individual point server 7 via the corporate network 13 and it is confirmed whether the user ID “01-0001” is managed in the customer information DB 23.
[0095]
It is ascertained whether or not there is an item corresponding to “01-0001” among the items of “user ID” among items of customer information managed by the customer information DB 23. In the case of the present embodiment, it is assumed that the individual point server 7 is not managed, and the process proceeds to the next.
[0096]
If the individual point server 7 determines that the input “01-0001” is not managed, the individual point server 7 controls the customer information of the customer member corresponding to the user ID “01-0001”. Requests to the point server 3.
[0097]
That is, the input user ID “01-0001” is given to the central point server 3 via the network 2 (S1).
[0098]
The user ID “01-0001” from the individual point server 7 corresponds to “01-0001” among the items of “user ID” among the items of customer member information included in the customer member DB 43 of the overall point server 3. It is confirmed whether there is a thing (S2).
[0099]
In the central point server 3, customer member information corresponding to “01-0001” is detected. The detected customer member information includes the name Hanada Yamada, the e-mail address AA @ BBB, and the address △△△△. It can be seen that the number of points is 1500 points. It can also be seen that the item data of “age” and “occupation” is missing among the items of customer member information (S3).
[0100]
At this time, if it is determined that all of the customer member information exists, the customer member information is transmitted to the individual point server 7 (S4), and the customer member information is stored in the customer information DB 23 of the individual point server 7. (S5).
[0101]
The deficiency information request unit 45 has a management item table, and the items “age” and “occupation” that are deficient for the user ID “01-0001” are “age” and “occupation” in the management item table. The item is referred to, and item data is requested from the individual point servers 6 to 8 having the item (S6). Of course, you may request | require with respect to all the individual point servers 6-8.
[0102]
Individual point servers that manage the item of “occupation” are the individual point servers 7 and 8. Since the individual point server 7 is an individual point server that has requested customer information, the shortage information requesting unit 45 does not request the individual point server 7 but only requests the individual point server 8.
[0103]
When the shortage information request unit 45 requests item data, the user ID “01-0001” is also added to the request individual point server 8 and transmitted. The individual point server 8 that has received the request determines whether there is customer information managed in the customer information DB 23 based on “01-0001”. Transmits the customer information to the central point server 3 (S7 and S8).
[0104]
At this time, the customer information transmitted from the individual point server 8 to the general point server 3 may be all customer information on “01-0001”. In this case, the overall point server 3 selects only the information (item data) that is deficient in desired from among all the customer information for the received “01-0001”, and discards the other information. The central point server 3 registers the missing information (item data).
[0105]
When the shortage information request unit 45 requests item data, an item number that is common to the communication system 1 may also be assigned and transmitted to the individual point server 8 that is the request destination. For example, the item number of the item “occupation” is “8”. In the individual point server 8, the item data of “occupation” corresponding to the item number “8” is retrieved from the customer information “01-0001”, and the retrieved item data of “occupation” is stored in the central point server 3. Sent. The supervision point server 3 registers only the transmitted item data of “occupation”.
[0106]
Further, the individual point server that manages the item of “age” is only the individual point server 7, but since the individual point server 7 is also a requester of the customer information, the shortage information requesting unit 45 is connected to another individual point server. No item data is required.
[0107]
In this case, the general point server 3 and the individual point server 7 are notified that there is insufficient item data, and, for example, “No age information is registered” is displayed on the store terminal 16 ( S11).
[0108]
In response to this, the store clerk of the company asks for information on "age" from the customer member, newly inputs "age" (S11), and the item data is registered in the customer information DB 23 (S12). The registered item data is further given to the general point server 3 (S13) and registered in the customer member DB 45 (S14).
[0109]
As described above, when the missing item data is found in the customer member DB 43, the missing information request unit 5 notifies the other individual point systems 6 to 8 and acquires the corresponding item data. Can do.
[0110]
(B) Other embodiments
The central point server 3 has a Web content database that holds Web content to be provided to a communication terminal via the network 2, and a customer member can access the Web content database using a home personal computer or a mobile communication terminal. It can also be applied to system configurations.
[0111]
In the case of this system form, the customer member accesses the website using a home personal computer or a mobile communication terminal without using the corporate network registered as a member, Customer member identification that can be obtained content (for example, the latest information on games, gaming machines, information on latest products, etc.), and when the customer member logs in to the website, the general point server 3 is input The customer member information is searched based on the information, and the presence / absence of missing item data is searched. At this time, similarly to the above-described embodiment, the overall point server 3 acquires and registers the missing item data.
[0112]
Moreover, in the said embodiment, although common user ID was used for the communication system 1 as customer member identification information (user identifier), it is not restricted to this, For example, the email address mentioned above, the telephone of a portable terminal, etc. The number, the manufacturing number of the portable terminal, the address of the customer member, the name of the customer member, etc. can also be used.
[0113]
If the address and name are used as user identifiers, all customer members managed by the overall point server 3 can be completely covered. Further, for example, a code or the like given for uniquely identifying a resident individual on the so-called basic resident register network system can also be used as this user identifier. If the code can be automatically transmitted using a basic resident register card (a kind of IC card), the store terminal can be associated with the basic resident register card to reduce the user's operational burden. Is possible.
[0114]
Moreover, in the said embodiment, although only the common point was made effective within the communication system 1, it is as above-mentioned that an individual point may be made effective with a common point.
[0115]
However, in that case, each individual point server 6-8 needs to be provided with the function for managing the said individual point in addition to the function for managing the common point of each customer member, It is necessary to manage the individual points and the common points separately using the portable communication terminal, the IC card, or a form such as a seal equipped with an IC.
[0116]
Naturally, individual points can be consumed only in the corporate network of the company that issued the individual points.
[0117]
As point management on the server side, the central point server 3 may manage the common points, and the individual point servers 6 to 8 may manage the individual points. In this case, when a customer member consumes common points in each company-side network, an inquiry about the common point value of the customer member is made from the individual point server to the general point server 3 and obtained as a result of the inquiry. Only within the point value range, consumption of common points by customer members is allowed. Further, after consumption, it is necessary to reduce the point value managed by the overall point server 3 in accordance with the amount of consumption of the point value.
[0118]
Moreover, when the point value of a common point is also managed by the individual point servers 6 to 8 as in the above embodiment, the individual point servers 6 to 8 need to manage not only the individual points but also the common points. However, when the common points are consumed, the necessity of sequentially inquiring to the central point server 3 is reduced, and the point management efficiency by using the system is increased. However, in this case, it is natural that the common point value of the common point needs to be synchronized between the individual point server side and the central point server side.
[0119]
Further, as in the above-described embodiment, if the points that can be used in each of the company-side networks 6 to 8 are not limited to common points, and individual points are used in the company-side network that participates in the communication system 1, There is an advantage that each company can easily maintain the service system before participation. For example, after leaving the communication system 1, the company can return to the form of using only the individual points again by using the service mechanism maintained as it is.
[0120]
In addition, in spite of the above embodiment, when a user registers as a member, the user does not register as a member of any company and registers as a member only at the general point server 3, or on the contrary, Instead of registering the membership in the central point server 3, it may be allowed to register membership only for any company. This increases the flexibility of the system and makes it possible to respond to various requests of users.
[0121]
Of course, it is up to the user to register as a member only with the general point server 3 without registering as a member with any company, or as a member only with one company without registering as a member with the general point server 3. According to this will, for example, it can be operated via a store terminal.
[0122]
It should be noted that a user who does not register as a member in the central point server 3 but who has registered as a member of only one company will lose point management efficiency due to the use of the system at the time of member registration or whenever points are consumed. You may make it collect the fee according to (it may collect in the form of the reduction of the user's point value). As a result, an increase in communication charges due to a decrease in point management efficiency can be compensated to some extent.
[0123]
Moreover, in the said embodiment, the description of the data item name which each individual point server 6-8 and the integrated point server 3 manages was demonstrated as the same description, respectively. For example, in FIG. 3, each individual point server 6 to 8 manages the data item of the e-mail address as “e-mail address”. However, considering the actual system, each company-side network is independent, so even the same data may be managed with different data item names for each individual point server. For example, the customer member's e-mail address may be managed by the data item “e-mail” in the individual point server 6, and may be managed by the data item “e-mail address” in the individual point server 7. Of course, the same can be said for the general point server 3.
[0124]
In this case, substantially the same data managed by each data item name based on the data item name conversion table in which the central point server 3 converts the data item names of the individual point servers 6 to 8 in a unified manner. It is also possible to provide a function for uniformly managing the.
[0125]
This data item name conversion table allows all data formats for different data formats in each company.
[0126]
For example, in one company, the value of the data item “name” is written in kanji, while in another company, the value of the data item “name” may be written in katakana. is there.
[0127]
Also, when the supervising point server 3 stores the missing value (missing information) by reusing from the individual point server, the data format of the missing value is supervised at the time of the storing. You may make it store after converting into the data format of the point server 3. FIG.
[0128]
Regardless of the above embodiment, when a user registers as a member in the first company, all items managed by the customer member DB 43 of the overall point server 3 are input in the first company. Good.
[0129]
In the above embodiment, the general point server 3 is not directly connected to a specific company side network. However, the general point server may be connected to the company side network.
[0130]
Further, in the above embodiment, the load related to the processing capacity tends to be concentrated on the central point server 3. Therefore, when the number of individual point servers is much larger than the above three, the central point server The load may be distributed by distributing the function 3 in each node of a tree structure similar to the tree structure.
[0131]
Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the overall point server 3 has been described as acquiring the missing information from each individual point server 6-8, but the individual point servers 6-8 participating in the communication system according to the present invention. However, the information can also be acquired from an external personal information management server or the like that can be connected to the network 2. An example of this personal information management server is a management server managed by a personal credit information agency or the like.
[0132]
In the above embodiment, the present invention is realized mainly in hardware, but the present invention can also be realized in software.
[0133]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of individual point processing servers that manage customer information including customer member point information, customer member point information managed by a plurality of individual point processing servers, and predetermined of Consists of configuration items Consult Customer situation In a point processing system comprising a central point processing server that also manages information, the central point processing server is configured to provide each customer member's point information and a predetermined number of points. Consists of configuration items Consult Customer situation A customer member database that stores information associated with customer member identification information; Management item table showing customer information configuration items managed by each individual point processing server for each individual point processing server, Refers to the customer member database and consults with each customer member. Customer situation Of the news, Registration of customer information Is missing The individual point processing server that manages the configuration item of the missing customer information is searched from the management item table, and the searched item Another point processing server To the ba for, Customer member Customer member identification information as well as Its lack Customer information Configuration items Information indicating Shortage data request means for requesting, Number requested by the missing data request means Another point processing server Huh The customer member received from Customer information In the customer membership database Configuration items A customer information database in which each individual point processing server stores the customer member's point information and predetermined customer information in association with the customer member identification information, and the customer member from the deficient data requesting means. Identification information And information indicating the configuration items of missing customer information Based on the customer information database Customer information for configuration items that have insufficient personnel Search for that Customer information By providing the shortage data handling means for giving the management point processing server the interoperability, it is possible to efficiently perform the interoperability so as not to cause inconsistency in the handling of information.
[0134]
Further, according to the present invention, since only the shortage information can be acquired from the individual point processing server, the processing capacity of the management server can be reduced, and the transmission capacity of the network can also be reduced.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a point processing system according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of an individual point server according to the embodiment.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of data items of customer member information managed by a central point server and customer information managed by each company network.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a central point server according to the embodiment.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a company management table according to the embodiment.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a management item table according to the embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the point processing system according to the embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Communication system, 2 ... Network, 3 ... General point server, 6-8 ... Individual point server, 15-17 ... Store terminal, 23 ... Customer information DB, 24 ... Shortage information corresponding part, 43 ... Customer member DB, 45 ... Insufficient information request section.

Claims (5)

A plurality of individual point processing servers for managing customer information including customer member point information;
Manages the member customer point information managed by the plurality of discrete point processing server, in the point processing system comprising a centralized point processing server also manages the顧Kyakujo paper having a predetermined configuration item,
The central point processing server
A member customer database for storing in association with顧Kyakujo report consisting point information and predetermined configuration items of each member customer to customer member identification information,
A management item table showing the configuration items of customer information managed by each individual point processing server for each individual point processing server, and
By referring to the member customer database, among the above-mentioned顧Kyakujo report of each member customer, above in the case of registration of customer information is missing, which manages the configuration item of customer information is missing the individual point processing server retrieves from the management item table, for the above individual-specific point processing server that searched, requests information indicating the configuration items of the member customer of the member customer identification information and missing customer information that The missing data request means to
Customer information missing in the customer member in which the missing data requesting unit receives the individual-specific point processing server or we that requested, and a registration means for registering the configuration item corresponding in the member customer database,
Each individual point processing server above
A customer information database for storing the customer member's point information and predetermined customer information in association with customer member identification information;
Based on the above member customer identification information and information indicating a configuration item customer missing information above from the missing data requesting unit, the customer information of the configuration items that are missing in the customer meeting membered from the customer information database A point processing system comprising: a deficient data handling means for searching and providing the customer information to the integrated point processing server. The management item table is given a priority for selecting the individual point processing server in order to request customer information of the missing configuration item from the individual point processing server. The point processing system according to claim 1 . 3. The point processing system according to claim 1, wherein the customer member identification information is a code that can uniquely identify a customer stored in an IC of each customer's IC mounting medium. The shortage data requesting means confirms the shortage of customer information corresponding to the customer member information when receiving a request for transmitting customer information corresponding to the customer member information from the individual point processing server. The point processing system according to claim 1, wherein the point processing system is characterized in that A plurality of individual point processing servers for managing customer information including customer member point information;
Manages the member customer point information managed by the plurality of discrete point processing server, as a component of point processing system comprising a centralized point processing server also manages the顧Kyakujo paper having a predetermined configuration item In the central point processing server of
A member customer database for storing in association with顧Kyakujo report consisting point information and predetermined configuration items of each member customer to customer member identification information,
A management item table showing the configuration items of customer information managed by each individual point processing server for each individual point processing server, and
By referring to the member customer database, among the above-mentioned顧Kyakujo report of each member customer, above in the case of registration of customer information is missing, which manages the configuration item of customer information is missing the individual point processing server retrieves from the management item table, for the above individual-specific point processing server that searched, requests information indicating the configuration items of the member customer of the member customer identification information and missing customer information that The missing data request means to
Further comprising a registration means for registering customer information missing in the customer member in which the missing data requesting unit receives the individual-specific point processing server or et al requested, the configuration item corresponding in the member customer database Specialized point processing server.

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