JPH0363789B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an electronic cash register that can eliminate the need to prepare change in units of less than a predetermined unit.
More specifically, the present invention relates to an electronic cash register that uses a card as well as cash as a payment medium, and eliminates the need to prepare change by recording the payment amount less than the predetermined unit on the card.

[Prior art]

At retail stores and supermarkets that sell food, daily necessities, etc., unit prices are often set in increments of 1 to 10 yen. For this reason, it is necessary to prepare change of 1 yen, 5 yen, 10 yen, and 50 yen, and it is necessary to take in and out 3 to 5 digit change for each transaction, but these tasks are tedious and easy to make mistakes. easy. In addition, there are problems such as the total amount of change reserves in supermarkets and the like, requiring a large amount of operating funds.

Furthermore, recently, it has become common to pay for products and the like using cards. In this case, not only change but also the exchange of cash itself becomes unnecessary. However, in the case of a method in which a credit amount is set on the card and payments are made based on this credit amount (such as JP-A-51-15346 and JP-A-51-39099), this credit amount is equivalent to, for example, one month's worth of products. Because the card is set at a relatively high price, exceeding the purchase price, strict credit checks must be carried out when creating the card, the identity of the cardholder when using the card, whether the card is valid or invalid, and the credit balance. I can't bear the hassle of using it, especially for small payments. In addition, a method of using a card instead of cash by recording the difference between the prepaid cash and the payment amount on the card (for example,
145196), the payer must prepay cash equal to or greater than the payment amount, and must also prepare cash for payment at places other than where the card can be used. No. For this reason, the reserve fund for payment increases compared to the case where only cash is available, and the burden on the payer increases. For these reasons, at present, daily payments are often made in cash rather than by card.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and eliminates the need to prepare change when making cash payments at retail stores, supermarkets, etc., thereby reducing the amount of reserve funds and reducing the cashier's work. The purpose is to

[Means to solve the problem]

To achieve this objective, the electronic cash register of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5, includes a card reader 1 that reads the store code and the carryover amount from a card on which the store code and the carryover amount are recorded; A determining means 2 determines whether or not this store code matches a predetermined code, and based on the matching determination by the determining means, a predetermined sum of the total amount calculated by normal product registration and the carryover amount is determined. a first calculation means 3 that settles the calculation for each adjustment unit and calculates the amount less than the adjustment unit as a new carryover amount; and a second calculation means 3 that calculates the difference between the total amount and the new carryover amount as a billed amount. , and a card writer 5 for recording the new carryover amount on the card.

This electronic cash register is used to conduct cash transactions between the card owner and a specific store determined for each card.

[Effect]

This electronic cash register uses a card such as a magnetic card. This card has a store code column and a carryover amount column in which the previous overdraft amount or change (overdraft amount) is recorded.

When a card is inserted into the electronic cash register of the present invention, the card reader 1 reads the store code and carryover amount recorded on the inserted card. The determining means 2 compares the read store code with the store code set in this register. When the determining means 2 determines that there is a match, the first calculating means 3 calculates the sum of the total amount calculated by the normal product registration operation as a cash register and the carryover amount for each predetermined adjustment unit. After settlement, the amount less than the adjustment unit will be calculated as a new carryover amount. The second calculation means 4 calculates the difference between the total amount and the new carryover amount as the amount to be billed to the customer. The card writer 5 records the new carryover amount on the recorded card.

In other words, in this electronic cash register, in order to eliminate fractional change in cash transactions with a specific store determined by each cardholder, the electronic cash register is able to communicate with the cardholder and the specific store regarding the fractional change. In addition to recording the amount of loans and loans during the period, the system performs payment processing based on the lending and borrowing data recorded on the card and the transaction amount for each transaction, calculates new fractional data, and records it on the card.

As a result, although cash transactions are the standard, fractions less than 100 yen or 50 yen will be eliminated, and each transaction will be settled in cash for an amount greater than or equal to the adjustment unit, excluding fractions of change. Become.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the general structure of an electronic cash register (hereinafter referred to as ECR) according to an embodiment of the present invention. The ECR shown in FIG. 1 includes a central control unit (CPU) 1, a card reader 2, a card writer 3, a keyboard 4, a memory 5, a display 6, a printer 7, and the like.

The CPU 1 controls input/output devices such as the card reader 2, card writer 3, keyboard 4, display 6, and printer 7 according to the processing program stored in the memory 5, and monitors operating procedures and transfers, processes, and processes data. Perform various calculations.

Card reader 2 is for reading magnetic card information,
The card writer 3 is for recording onto a magnetic card.
It is preferable that the card reader and card writer 3 be integrally formed so that data can be read from the card and data written to the card continuously. It may be used by connecting by means. Further, although a magnetic card is used as the card in this embodiment, other cards such as an IC card may be used as long as data can be erased and written to. This card records the carryover amount resulting from the settlement of each transaction. This card further records a store code, customer code, expiration date, and adjustment unit as described below, as necessary.

As shown in FIG. 2, the keyboard 4 includes a numeric keypad 41 consisting of keys and numeric keys 0 to 9, a clear (CL) key 42 for clearing amounts, quantities, etc. entered with the numeric keypad 41, and a department code DP1. It is equipped with a department key 43 for inputting ~DP8, a subtotal key 44 for printing the transaction total, and a cash key 45 for inputting the payment amount.

The memory 5 is composed of a read-only memory (ROM) for a program that determines the operation of the CPU 1, and a random access memory (RAM) for various work areas, buffers, etc. here
Buffer areas for the total amount, adjustment amount, and billing amount are provided in the RAM. Note that among the data recorded on the magnetic card described above, the expiration date, adjustment unit, etc. may be stored in the memory 5.

The display 6 displays numerical values entered using the numeric keypad 41, the total amount, change, etc. printer 7
is used for product registration and printing of payment amount.

Next, the operation shown in FIG. 1 will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 3, first, normal product registration is performed, and when the subtotal key 44 is pressed, the total amount is displayed on the display section 6. When the magnetic card is inserted, the card update process described later is performed, the billed amount is displayed, and the printer 7
Print this invoice amount. Next, when the deposited amount is input and the cash key 45 is pressed, the billed amount and the deposited amount are compared, and if the deposited amount is insufficient, the system waits for additional input of the deposited amount. When the deposited amount is equal to or greater than the billed amount, change is displayed, and after the deposited amount and change are printed, the operation ends.

Next, the card update processing operation in the ECR of FIG. 1 will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4. When a card is inserted after normal product registration operations and subtotal key presses, this
The ECR performs the card update process shown in the flowchart of FIG. First, data such as the store code, expiry date, and carryover amount recorded on the card is read. Next, it is determined whether or not the store codes match and whether or not the expiration date has passed. If the store codes do not match or the expiration date has passed, error processing such as issuing an error warning is performed. If it is determined in the above judgment that the store code matches and the card is within the expiration date, the adjustment amount set in the memory 5 is added by adding the carryover amount read from the card to the total amount in the product registration mentioned above. Store in area.
For example, if the total amount is 1013 yen and the carryover amount is 25 yen, the adjustment amount will be 1038 yen. Subsequently, the remainder obtained by dividing the adjustment amount by the absolute value of the adjustment unit is stored in the carryover amount area in the memory 5. In the above example, if the absolute value of the adjustment unit is 100 yen, the quotient is 10 and the remainder is 38 yen, and this remainder of 38 yen becomes the new carryover amount. Further, the adjustment unit is given a positive or negative sign, and when the store lends the carry-over amount to the customer, the adjustment unit is positive, and conversely, when the store borrows from the customer, the adjustment unit is negative. Next, determine whether the adjustment unit is positive or negative, and if it is positive, leave it as is; if it is negative, the sum of the adjustment unit (-100 yen in the above example) and the new carryover amount (+38 yen) is further updated. The carryover amount (-62 yen) is stored in the carryover amount area in the memory 5 and the process proceeds to the next step. Next, the adjustment amount (1038
Deduct the carryover amount (+38 yen or -62 yen) from the amount (+38 yen or -62 yen) and store it in the billed amount area in the memory 5, write the carried forward amount on the card with the card writer 3, and display the billed amount (1000 yen or 1100 yen). 6, and the card update process is completed.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, cash is disbursed in units of adjustment or more, and fractional change is recorded on the card, thereby reducing the cashier's change work and reducing mistakes. Further, change may be prepared for denominations of more than the above-mentioned adjustment unit. Furthermore, if the amount borrowed from the customer is recorded on the card, the customer will indirectly pay a portion of the change reserve, and the store operating funds will be reduced by that amount. In addition, the amount recorded on the card is less than the adjustment unit, so even if there is an accident such as falling over, it will not be a problem compared to the effort and expense of preparing change and cashing the card. It is easy to issue and use without any special effort. In particular, as mentioned above, if the amount borrowed from the customer is written on the card, there is no need to worry about accidents such as tripping over the card, and since the amount borrowed is small, the burden on the customer is reduced. It is much smaller than the prepaid cards described in No. 145196, etc.

In order to encourage customers to use such cards, or to prevent missteps when borrowing money from stores, magnetic cards are distributed to customers, and customers who bring the card are given discounts, parking facilities, etc. It would be a good idea to have them become members on the condition that you receive the following benefits.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an ECR according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the keyboard in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are operations of the ECR in FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the present invention. 1...CPU, 2...Card reader, 3...Card writer, 4...Keyboard, 5...Memory,
6...display unit, 7...printer.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. For product registration when carrying out a transaction between the owner of this card and a store specified by the store code using a card on which a store code and carryover amount are recorded together with cash. The electronic cash register used includes: a card reader for reading the store code and carryover amount from the card; a determining means for determining whether the store code matches a predetermined code; and the determining means. Based on the match determination, the sum of the total amount calculated by the product registration and the carryover amount is settled for each predetermined adjustment unit, and the amount less than the adjustment unit is calculated as a new carryover amount. The present invention is characterized by comprising a calculation means, a second calculation means for calculating the difference between the total amount and the new carryover amount as a billed amount, and a card writer for recording the new carryover amount on a card. Electronic cash register.