JP4948368B2 - Product sales data processing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a merchandise sales data processing apparatus such as a POS terminal used in a store such as a convenience store.

  Conventionally, in various service stores such as convenience stores where a POS terminal is installed, in order to improve the customer service attitude, customer service terms such as “I welcome you” are instructed.

  Patent Document 1 describes a technique in which the number of utterances for a series of basic terms is counted for each store clerk. According to this, the store can grasp the practice state of calling.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-37170

  A customer's impression is better if the customer service term is spoken appropriately according to the situation of the transaction, rather than being done indiscriminately. Therefore, I would like to know the actual state of such calls at stores. However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 is merely to count the number of utterances of a series of customer service terms, and to know whether the utterances of the customer service terms are appropriately made according to the transaction situation. Is not something that can be done.

  An object of the present invention is to make it possible to grasp a state of practice of calling appropriately performed according to a transaction scene.

The product sales data processing apparatus of the present invention includes an information processing unit that executes information processing, an operation unit having an information input function by operation, and voice input that allows voice input and converts the input voice into a digital signal. The information processing unit determines that the voice input to the voice input unit and the digitally converted voice is a customer service term stored in advance, and the operation unit associated with the customer service term is used. When it is determined that the operation and the voice input are continuously performed, a determination process for storing the determination result in the storage area is executed, and a part of the customer service term stored in advance is a product The operation on the operation unit associated with the customer service term that is the product name is the product code input operation of the product, and the information processing unit inputs the product code by the operation unit. A journal including the product name of the product is stored in a journal file, and based on the determination result stored in the storage area and the journal stored in the journal file, the sales of the product are called for the product name. Analyzes whether or not it is due to the effect of the output, and outputs the analysis results .

  According to the present invention, when it is determined that the corresponding operation and the voice input of the customer service term are continuously performed, the determination result is stored, so that the practical state of the voice call performed according to the scene of the transaction is stored. I can grasp it.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. This embodiment is an application example to a POS terminal 101 used in a store such as a convenience store.

  FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a POS terminal 101 of the present embodiment. The POS terminal 101 is placed on the drawer 102 and can control the opening operation of the drawer 103 of the drawer 102. A keyboard 104 and an operator display 105 are arranged on the right side of the upper surface of the POS terminal 101, and a receipt printer 106 is arranged on the left side of the upper surface. The keyboard 104 includes a numeric keypad for inputting numbers, a subtotal key as a temporary closing key, a deposit / current total key as a closing key, and the like (none of which are shown). A customer display 107 is erected on the rear of the top surface of the POS terminal 101. In FIG. 1, a groove provided in the vicinity of the right side surface of the POS terminal 101 is a card reading groove 109 for scanning a card in order to read card information by the card reader / writer 108 (see FIG. 2). . The POS terminal 101 includes an HDD 151 and a CD-ROM drive 152 as storage devices (see FIG. 2). Therefore, a CD-ROM tray 110 for mounting the CD-ROM 152a is provided on the right side of the POS terminal 101 as viewed from the operator. The POS terminal 101 is connected to a barcode reader 111 that optically reads a barcode attached to a product (not shown). As with the keyboard 104, the barcode reader 111 constitutes a product code input unit for inputting a product code.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a microphone 112 is disposed between the keyboard 104 and the operator display 105. The microphone 112 is used to input the voice of an operator clerk who is a user of the POS terminal 101. The microphone 112 is arranged for the operator clerk so that it is easy to pick up the voice uttered by the operator clerk who uses the keyboard 104 or the like.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the POS terminal 101. The POS terminal 101 includes a CPU 153 as an information processing unit that executes various arithmetic processes and controls each unit. The CPU 153 is connected via a bus line 156 to a ROM 154 that stores fixed data in a fixed manner and a RAM 155 that stores variable data in a rewritable manner and is used as a work area. The aforementioned HDD 151 and CD-ROM drive 152 are also connected to the CPU 153 via the bus line 156. The drawer 102, keyboard 104, operator display 105, receipt printer 106, customer display 107, card reader / writer 108, and bar code reader 111 all have various input / output circuits (all not shown). Are connected to the CPU 153 via the bus line 156 and controlled by the CPU 153. Further, the POS terminal 101 includes a communication interface 157 for connecting to a store controller as a host device via a local communication line network 251 provided in the store. The communication interface 157 also includes a bus line 156. Via the CPU 153.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the above-described microphone 112 is also connected to the CPU 153 via the audio input circuit 158. For example, the voice input circuit 158 is formed as an integrated circuit on an extension board (not shown), and is inserted into an extension board addition slot (not shown) of the POS terminal 101. The microphone 112 is connected to such an audio input circuit 158. The microphone 112 has a structure for capturing sound such as input voice and outputting it as an analog signal. The audio input circuit 158 includes an amplifier 120 and an analog / digital converter 121. The amplifier 120 amplifies the analog signal output from the microphone 112 and inputs the amplified analog signal to the analog-digital converter 121. The analog-to-digital converter 121 can convert an acoustic signal, which is an amplified analog signal, into a digital signal and output it on the bus line 156 as a digitized acoustic signal. In another embodiment, the audio input circuit 158 can be generated by software. However, from the viewpoint of processing speed, it is preferable to configure the voice input circuit 158 by an integrated circuit. As yet another embodiment, the microphone 112 itself may incorporate the amplifier 120 and the analog-digital converter 121.

  The HDD 151 shown in FIG. 2 is installed with an operating system, a computer program for merchandise sales data processing, and a computer program for unspecified speaker voice recognition. For example, these operating systems and computer programs are stored and stored in a recording medium called a CD-ROM 152 a, read by the CD-ROM drive 152, and installed in the HDD 151. As another example, it may be downloaded from the store controller 201 via the local communication network 251 and installed in the HDD 151. Such an operating system, merchandise sales data processing program, and unspecified speaker voice recognition program are used by copying all or part of them to the RAM 155 when the POS terminal 101 is activated. In addition to a product data file (not shown) in which the product name, unit price, department, etc. are stored in association with the product code, such HDD 151 has a customer service term file F1 (see FIG. 3) described later, A journal file F2 (see FIG. 5), an operation log file F3 (see FIG. 6), and a determination log file F4 (see FIG. 8) are stored.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a data structure of the customer service term file F1. The customer service term file F1 stores an operation on the keyboard 104 or the barcode reader 111 and a customer service term in association with each other. The customer service terms are stored as digital voice waveform data with “service customer term No.” attached thereto. The customer service term file F <b> 1 includes a file that stores normal customer service terms and a file that stores the name of the cash register product displayed around the POS terminal 101. That is, the former customer service term file F1 stores, for example, the first product code input operation of one transaction by the barcode reader 111 in association with the customer service term “I welcome you” and associates it with the customer service term “Thank you”. Then, the operation of pressing the deposit / current total key on the keyboard 104 is stored. The latter customer service term file F1 stores, for example, a product code input operation for the product “oden” by the barcode reader 111 in association with the customer service term “oden” which is a product name. Here, oden has a plurality of types such as radish, hampen, chikuwa, etc., but the product code input for “oden” by the barcode reader 111 is not limited to any type as long as it is oden. The same shall apply to “Chukaman”. Furthermore, the customer service term file F1 stores, as “satisfaction condition”, a definition of how many seconds the voice input and operation of the corresponding customer service term must be executed. For example, the “establishment condition” defines that the voice input “Thank you” is required within 7 seconds after the deposit / cash key is pressed.

  Next, the merchandise sales data processing executed during one transaction at the POS terminal 101 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of merchandise sales data processing executed by the POS terminal 101. The CPU 153 of the POS terminal 101 waits for a product code input determination (step S101). The product code is input by reading the barcode with the barcode reader 111 or pressing the numeric keypad of the keyboard 104. If the product code is input (Y in step S101), the CPU 153 searches the product data file based on the input product code, acquires the corresponding product name, unit price, and the like, and the work area of the RAM 155. (Step S102). The processes in steps S101 and S102 are repeatedly executed until the subtotal key on the keyboard 104 is pressed (step S103). If the subtotal key on the keyboard 104 is pressed (Y in step S103), the CPU 153 waits for an input of the deposit amount from the customer (step S104). The deposit amount is entered by pressing a numeric key on the keyboard 104. If the deposit amount is input (Y in step S104) and the deposit / current total key on the keyboard 104 is pressed (Y in step S105), the CPU 153 controls the drawer 102 to open the drawer 103. The receipt printer 106 is driven to issue a receipt (step S106). Then, the CPU 153 creates a journal and stores the created journal in the journal file F2 (step S107).

  FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the data structure of the journal file F2 for storing journals. As shown in FIG. 5, the journal file F2 stores “year / month / day” and “hour / minute / second” in which “product code” is input as a journal for each transaction. Further, “product name” and “unit price” acquired from the product data file by executing the product sales data processing are also stored in association with the “product code”. Since “year / month / day” and “hour / minute / second” are stored as journals, the POS terminal 101 of the present embodiment has a clocking function. The timekeeping function is realized by a real time clock which is a timekeeping chip mounted on the board of the POS terminal 101. The real-time clock operates by receiving power from an internal battery (not shown) while the POS terminal 101 is turned off, and is supplied from an external power source while the power is on. The operating system obtains “year / month / day” and “hour / minute / second” from the real-time clock at the time of startup, and thereafter, the operating system performs its own time measurement.

  If the deposit / current total key on the keyboard 104 is pressed in step S105 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 4 (Y in step S105), the CPU 153 of the POS terminal 101 of this embodiment determines the deposit / current total key. An operation log indicating that a tightening operation by pressing is executed is stored in the operation log file F3.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a data structure of an operation log file F3 that stores an operation log. The operation log file F3 stores, as an operation log, “year / month / day” and “hour / minute / second” when the deposit / current total key of the keyboard 104 is pressed, that is, the closing operation is performed. Normally, the closing operation is an operation that is performed only once during one transaction, so the number of operation logs indirectly indicates the number of transactions or the number of customers who have made transactions.

  In parallel with the execution of the merchandise sales data processing described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4, the determination processing shown in FIGS. 7, 9, and 10 is executed in the POS terminal 101 of the present embodiment. Here, a case will be described in which an operator clerk urges a customer to purchase oden by saying "How about oden?"

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the determination process. First of all, the operator clerk speaks to the customer who brought the desired purchase item to the cash register. The voice “I welcome you” is input to the microphone 112 arranged in front of the operator display 105. The CPU 153 performs voice recognition on the voice input to the microphone 112 and digitally converted by the voice input circuit 158, and determines whether or not the customer service term file F1 includes a customer service term stored as digital voice waveform data. To do. Here, the unspecified speaker voice recognition program installed in the HDD 151 is executed. Since unspecified speaker voice recognition is a well-known technique, the description of the processing content is omitted. If the CPU 153 determines that the voice “I welcome you” is input to the microphone 112 (step S201), the barcode reader 111 refers to the customer service term file F1 and inputs any product code within 5 seconds. Waiting to be done (step S202). If the product code is not input within 5 seconds (N in step S202), the process is terminated, but if any product code is input within 5 seconds (Y in step S202), the determination log file The determination log is stored in F4 (see FIG. 8) (step S203).

  FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a data configuration of the determination log file F4. The determination log file F4 stores a determination log as a determination result when it is determined that the corresponding operation and voice input of the customer service term are continuously performed by executing the determination process. The determination log stores the “service term No.”. Further, the determination log storage time is stored as “year / month / day” and “hour / minute / second”. Further, the CPU 153 also stores the “voice volume” of the service term input to the microphone 112 as a determination log. The “sound volume” is determined based on a digitally converted sound waveform or the like. The “sound volume” may be an absolute value or a relative value based on some reference value.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating another example of the determination process. Next, during one transaction, the operator clerk says to the customer, "How about oden?" The uttered voice “How is Oden?” Is input to the microphone 112 arranged in front of the operator display 105. If the CPU 153 determines that the voice “Oden” has been input to the microphone 112 based on the voice (step S301), the CPU 153 refers to the customer service term file F1 and reads “Oden” by the barcode reader 111 within 20 seconds. It waits for the product code input for to be made (step S302). If the product code for "oden" is not entered within 20 seconds (N in step S302), the process is terminated, but if the product code for "oden" is entered within 20 seconds (step In S302, the determination log is stored in the determination log file F4 (see FIG. 8) (Step S303).

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating still another example of the determination process. At the end of one transaction, the deposit / cash key on the keyboard 104 is pressed by the operator clerk. If the CPU 153 determines that the deposit / cash key has been pressed (Y in step S401), referring to the customer service term file F1, a voice saying “Thank you” is input to the microphone 112 within 7 seconds. (Step S402). If the voice “Thank you” is not input to the microphone 112 within 7 seconds (N in step S402), the process ends, but if it is determined that the voice “Thank you” is input within 7 seconds. (Yes in Step S402), the determination log is stored in the determination log file F4 (see FIG. 8) (Step S403).

  Then, by comparing the data contents of the determination log file F4 shown in FIG. 8 for each store clerk, for example, it is possible to grasp for each store clerk the practical state of the call made according to the transaction scene. At this time, it is possible to grasp whether the voice is clearly spoken to the extent that the customer can hear it or whether it is being performed lightly by looking at the “sound volume”.

  Further, by comparing the data content of the determination log file F4 shown in FIG. 8 with the data content of the operation log file F3 shown in FIG. 6, the number of operation logs stored in the operation log file F3 as described above is obtained. Since the number of transactions is indirectly shown, it is possible to grasp the rate at which a call according to the scene of the transaction is made with respect to the actual number of transactions.

  Furthermore, based on the judgment log file F4 shown in FIG. 8 and the journal file F2 shown in FIG. 5, is the sales of cash register products (oden, Chinese bun, American dog) due to the effect of the voice call? You can analyze whether or not. For such analysis, sales analysis processing is executed in the POS terminal 101 of the present embodiment. The sales analysis process extracts the determination log (No. 11, No. 12, No. 13,...) For the product name from the determination log file F4 for the specified time zone, and develops it in time series in the RAM 155 work area Further, for the same time period, the journal for the cash register horizontal product is extracted from the journal file F2 and expanded in the work area of the RAM 155 in time series, and the comparison between the expanded determination log and the journal is executed. By doing so, it is a process of determining whether or not the sales of the cash register horizontal product are due to the call for the product name. For example, if a judgment log and a journal are stored at the same time (only hour and minute, regardless of second) for the same cash register product, the product was purchased by the customer due to the effect of calling It is said. On the other hand, when only the journal of the cash register product is stored at a certain time and the determination log is not stored, the product is not considered to be purchased by the customer due to the effect of calling out. In this case, it is assumed that the product is purchased based on the idea of the customer alone. The results of such sales analysis processing are displayed and output on the operator display 105 as analysis results. Note that the data may be transmitted and output to the store controller 201 via the communication interface 157 and the local communication network 251.

  Next, warning processing executed by the POS terminal 101 of this embodiment will be described based on FIG. The warning process is a process executed when the determination log is not stored in the determination log file F4 for a certain period of time.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of warning processing. The CPU 153 monitors the determination log file F4. Then, if it is determined that the determination log is not stored in the determination log file F4 for a predetermined time (for example, 90 minutes) or longer by not performing the corresponding operation and voice input continuously (in step S501) Y) Next, it is confirmed that the time when the determination log is not stored is not a midnight time zone (for example, from 23:00 to 4:00) (step S502). This is because it is not unnatural even if the customer does not come to the store during the midnight time zone, and no voice is input to the microphone 112 of the customer service term. If it is the midnight time zone (N in step S502), the processing is finished as it is, but if it is not the midnight time zone (Y in step S502), the CPU 153 generates image data of a predetermined warning display, and A warning display based on the image data is displayed on the operator display 105 (step S503). The warning display includes, for example, a character string “Please call out”. Further, the CPU 153 transmits and outputs a report indicating that the corresponding operation and calling are not continuously performed for a certain period of time to the store controller 201 via the communication interface 157 and the local communication network 251. . The store controller 201 accumulates this report. As a result, the store can grasp the customer service state in more detail.

It is an external appearance perspective view which shows the POS terminal of this Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of a POS terminal. It is a schematic diagram which shows the data structure of a customer service term file. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the merchandise sales data process performed with a POS terminal. It is a schematic diagram which shows the data structure of the journal file which memorize | stores a journal. It is a schematic diagram which shows the data structure of the operation log file which memorize | stores an operation log. It is a flowchart which shows an example of a determination process. It is a schematic diagram which shows the data structure of a determination log file. It is a flowchart which shows another example of a determination process. It is a flowchart which shows another example of a determination process. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a warning process.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... POS terminal (product sales data processing apparatus), 104 ... Keyboard (operation part), 111 ... Bar code reader (operation part), 112 ... Microphone (voice input part), 153 ... CPU (information processing part), 158 ... Voice input circuit (voice input unit)

Claims (5)

An information processing unit for executing information processing;
An operation unit having an information input function by operation;
An audio input unit that allows audio input and converts the input audio into a digital signal;
The information processing unit determines that the digitally converted voice input to the voice input unit is a pre-stored customer service term, and the operation on the operation unit associated with the customer service term and the voice If it is determined that the input has been made continuously, means for executing a determination process for storing the determination result in the storage area;
With
A part of the pre-stored customer service terms is a product name,
The operation on the operation unit associated with the customer service term that is the product name is a product code input operation of the product,
The information processing unit stores a journal including a product name of a product for which a product code is input by the operation unit in a journal file,
Based on the determination result stored in the storage area and the journal stored in the journal file, it is analyzed whether the sales of the product are due to the effect of calling the product name, and the analysis result is output. , commodity sales data processing apparatus. The information processing unit stores a determination log indicating the determination result in the storage area, and stores a time point at which the determination log is stored in the storage area,
The information processing unit stores the time when the product code is input by the operation unit in the journal file,
2. In the analysis, the sales of the product in which the storage of the journal in the journal file and the storage of the determination log in the storage area are performed at the same time point are due to the effect of the voice call. The product sales data processing apparatus described. The information processing unit stores the stamp constant log indicating the determination result comprises speech size of data input to the voice input unit to the storage area,
Claim 1 Symbol placement of merchandise sales data processing apparatus. The information processing unit includes means for outputting predetermined warning information when a determination result stored by the execution of the determination process is not stored for a certain period of time;
The information processing unit is configured not to output the warning information when the determination result is not stored for a certain period of time in a predetermined time period.
The merchandise sales data processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The information processing unit includes means for storing an operation log indicating that a predetermined operation has been performed on the operation unit in a storage area.
The merchandise sales data processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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