JPH06290196A - Credit processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically decide a proper inquiry route by inquiring the credit settlement acknowledgement to the external computer for inquiry destination identification information and making the settlement effective when an approval acceptance response is received. CONSTITUTION:When the both of the method for payment and the frequency of payments coincide with each other, inquiry identification information acquired from a payment condition table is discriminated. When the inquiry destination is the identification information indicating a host computer 12 of a developer, the 1st communication control section is controlled to send the credit settlement approval inquiry information to the host computer 12 of the developer. When the identification information indicates a host computer 13 of a head office, the 2nd communication control section is controlled to send the credit settlement inquiry information to the host computer 13 of the head office. Then, when an approval acceptance response approving the settlement by the credit is received from the host computer, a printer is controlled to print out a credit slip.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a credit processing device used at a store or the like opened in a shopping center.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art First, a general credit contract mechanism will be described with reference to FIG.

A membership contract has been established between the credit company 1 and the customer 2 (FIG. 8, A), and the customer 2 owns the credit card 3 issued by the credit company 1.
Then, when the price of the purchased product is settled by the credit at the retail store 4 (FIG. 8, B), the member store contract is established between the credit company 1 and the retail store 4 (FIG. 8). , C), when the customer 2 wants to settle by credit, the retailer 4 side informs the credit company 1 of the information of the credit card 3 owned by the customer 2 and the desired payment condition, and approves the settlement by credit. Queries the judgment.
If the credit settlement is approved, the credit settlement business is processed.

Next, the mechanism of the credit contract at the store 4 that has joined the shopping center will be described with reference to FIG. The same parts as those in FIG. 8 are designated by the same reference numerals. That is, a membership contract has been established between the credit company 1 and the customer 2 (FIG. 9, A), and the customer 2 owns the credit card 3 issued by the credit company 1 at the time of the contract. Then, it is presented when the price of the purchased product is settled by the credit at the store 4 (FIG. 9, B).

On the other hand, member store contracts have been established between the developer 5 who is the headquarters of the shopping center and the credit company 1, and between the store headquarters 6 managed by the store 4 and the credit company 1. (FIGS. 9D and E), when the customer 2 wants to settle by credit, the store 4 side has a credit card 3 owned by the customer 2.
Information and desired payment conditions are notified to the credit company 1 via either the developer 5 or the store headquarters 6 to inquire about approval determination of credit settlement.
If the credit settlement is approved, the credit settlement business is processed.

Here, a member store contract D between the credit company 1 and the developer 5, the credit company 1, and the store headquarters 6
Does not necessarily coincide with the member store contract E with the member store contract, and the payment condition invalid in one member store contract may be valid in the other member store contract.

For example, a credit company 1 and a developer 5
It is assumed that the member store contract D with the credit card 1 is valid only for the one-time bonus payment, whereas the member store contract E between the credit company 1 and the store headquarters 6 is valid for the two-time bonus payment. Under this condition, when the customer 2 offers payment by credit for the bonus payment twice, when the retailer 4 side inquires via the developer 5 about the approval decision of the payment by credit, it is not approved, but via the retailer headquarters 6. It will be approved only after inquiring about the approval decision of the payment by credit.

Therefore, at this type of store 4, an inquiry about credit settlement approval determination is made via the developer 5 or via the store headquarters 6 depending on the payment conditions of the customer 2 who the store clerk offered to settle by credit. However, it is difficult for the clerk to make a decision because many credit companies have contracts in reality and the contract conditions are various.

Therefore, in general, the operation of making an inquiry via the developer 5 and making an inquiry via the store headquarters 6 only when not approved is generally taken.

[0010]

However, the credit processing device used in the conventional store 4 of this type is as follows.
In addition to reading the information on the credit card, receiving data input such as payment conditions, inquiring about credit settlement approval decision, processing according to the response (in the case of approval approval response issuance of credit voucher, in case of approval approval response If the transaction is not approved by the inquiry via the developer 5, the same operation is performed to make an inquiry via the dealer's headquarters 6 because it is configured to finish the work once. It was inefficient because the credit content had to be input again.

Therefore, the present invention can automatically determine an appropriate inquiry route according to credit payment conditions and make an inquiry about credit settlement approval determination, which can reduce the burden on the operator and process settlement processing by credit. An object of the present invention is to provide a credit processing device that can improve efficiency.

[0012]

The present invention has a data input means for inputting payment condition data of a credit, and a credit comprising a plurality of external computers connected by a communication line for making an approval decision of credit settlement. In the processing device, a storage unit that stores inquiry destination identification information that identifies an external computer that is an inquiry destination for credit settlement approval, corresponding to various payment condition data.
When the credit payment condition data is input by the data input means, the stored information in the storage means is searched, and the inquiry destination acquisition means for acquiring the inquiry destination identification information corresponding to the input payment condition data, and the acquisition means are acquired. Inquiry selection means for inquiring credit settlement approval to the external computer of the inquiry identification information thus obtained through a communication line, and credit processing means for effectively processing settlement by credit if an approval approval response is obtained as a result of the inquiry by this selection means. It is equipped with and.

[0013]

According to the present invention having such a configuration, the inquiry destination identification information for identifying the external computer as the inquiry destination for the credit settlement approval is stored in advance in the storage means in correspondence with various payment condition data.

When the credit payment condition data is input by the data input means, the inquiry destination identification information corresponding to the payment condition data is obtained from the storage information of the storage means. Then, an inquiry about credit settlement approval is issued to the external computer corresponding to the inquiry destination identification information. As a result, when there is an approval permission response, credit settlement is effectively processed.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the credit terminal installed in the store 4 of the credit contract system shown in FIG. 9 will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the entire system of this embodiment. As shown in the figure, host computers 10a, ...
0b, the host computer 11 installed in the developer who is the headquarters of the shopping center SS, and the host computer 12 installed in the store headquarters are connected by a network system 13 dedicated to credit processing.

In the shopping center SS, the developer host computer 12 and the credit terminals 15a and 15b installed in each store are connected to each other.
It is connected by an inline line 16 such as an AN (local area network).

Further, the credit terminal 15a of the store 4 and the host computer 13 of the store headquarters according to the present invention.
Are connected to each other by an online line 17 such as a telephone line.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main structure of the credit terminal 15a. This credit terminal 15a
Is stored in the main control unit 21 including a CPU and the like, and the storage unit 2
Two or two types of communication control units 23 and 24 and a data input / output control unit 25 are connected by a bus line 26.

Here, one communication control unit 23 controls transmission / reception of data performed with the host computer 12 of the developer through the in-line line 16 according to a predetermined transmission procedure, and the other communication control unit 24 controls the online line 17 Through this, transmission / reception of data performed in accordance with a predetermined transmission procedure with the host computer 13 of the store headquarters is controlled.

The data input / output control unit 25 has a keyboard 27 for inputting a credit payment method, the number of payments, etc., and a display for displaying key input information from the keyboard 27 and various message information. Two
8. I / O such as a printer 29 as a slip issuing means for printing and issuing a credit slip, a magnetic card reader 30 for reading card information magnetically recorded on a credit card, etc.
Credit devices are realized by connecting O devices respectively.

As shown in FIG. 3, the keyboard 27 includes ten keys K1, a clear key K2, a credit sales key K3, a # key K4, an amount key K5, and an end / execute key K.
In addition to various function keys such as 6, "lump sum payment",
A payment method key K7 is provided for inputting a credit payment method such as "revolving payment", "payment payment", "bonus payment", "bonus combination payment".

By the way, when the processing of payment by credit is started, the credit sales key K3 is pressed. Further, the credit transaction amount is input by pressing the amount key K5 after entering the amount with the ten key K1, the payment method is input by pressing the corresponding payment method key K7, and the number of payments is the ten key. After inputting the number of payments in K1, it is input by pressing the # key K4.

Further, the credit terminal 15a has a company-specific table 40 specifically shown in FIG. 4 and a payment condition table 50 specifically shown in FIG.

The company-by-company table 40 is a table in which payment condition link codes C1 to Cn are preset for each credit company code set in each credit company A, ..., B.

The payment condition table 50 is a table in which the payment method of credits, the number of payments, and inquiry destination identification information are preset corresponding to a series of payment condition codes.
It constitutes a storage means.

Here, the inquiry destination identification information in the payment condition table 50 is information for identifying whether the inquiry destination for the credit settlement approval is the host computer 12 of the developer or the host computer 13 of the sales office. Is.

The payment condition link codes C1 to Cn in the company-specific table 40 correspond to the payment condition table 5 described above.
Corresponds to a payment condition code of 0, and if not set, "00
It becomes "0".

Therefore, the main control section 21 is programmed to execute the processing shown in FIG. 6 in response to the key input of the credit sales key K3.

That is, when the key input of the credit sales key K3 is detected, the main control section 21 first reads the card information of the credit card attached to the magnetic card reader 30 in ST (step) 1. Since information such as a credit company code, a member number, and an expiration date is recorded on this credit card, the company code is acquired from the card information in ST2 and the company code table 40 is used as a search key. Search for.

Here, when the company code corresponding to the company-specific table 40 is not set, both the developer of the shopping center SS in which this store is open and the store headquarters which manages this store. Since it is not possible to make a payment because there is no member store contract with the credit company that issued the credit card, a message indicating that the card cannot be used is displayed on the display 8 in ST3, and this processing ends.

When the company code corresponding to the company-specific table 40 is set, the credit is provided by at least one of the developer of the shopping center SS in which this store is opened and the store headquarters which manages this store. Since it is possible to make a payment by contracting with the credit company that issued the card, a message prompting the user to enter payment conditions is displayed on the display 8 at ST4. Further, in ST5, the counter i incorporated in the main control unit 21 is reset to "0".

Next, in ST6, the system waits for the payment condition data such as the transaction amount, the payment method and the number of payments to be input by the key input of the keyboard 27. If these payment conditions are keyed, the counter i is updated by "+1" in ST7 to "1", and the counter i is updated in ST8.
After confirming that is less than the payment condition link code settable number n of the company-specific table 40, the payment condition link code Ci corresponding to the corresponding company code of the company-specific table 40, that is, data of C1 is acquired in ST9. . Then, if this data is not “000” indicating that the data has not been set, the payment condition determination process specifically shown in FIG. 7 is executed.

That is, the payment condition table 50 is searched to acquire the payment method, payment frequency, and inquiry destination identification information of the payment condition code that matches the data of the link code C1 acquired in ST9. Then, in ST6, it is determined whether or not the payment condition key-input and the payment condition acquired this time match. If at least one of the payment method and the number of payments does not match, ST
Returning to the counter i updating process of No. 7.

Therefore, when at least one of the payment method and the number of payments does not match, the data of the payment condition link code C2 corresponding to the company code of the company-specific table 40 is acquired, and the payment condition table 50 is searched again. , The same payment condition check will be performed.

On the other hand, when both the payment method and the number of payments match, the inquiry identification information acquired from the payment condition table 50 is determined (inquiry destination acquisition means).

Then, in the case of the identification information indicating that the inquiry destination is the developer's host computer 12, the first communication control unit 23 is controlled to send the credit settlement approval inquiry information to the developer's host computer 12. In the case of the identification information indicating that it is the host computer 13 of the headquarters, the second communication control unit 24 is controlled to transmit the credit settlement approval inquiry information to the host computer 13 of the headquarters (inquiry destination selecting means).

The credit settlement approval inquiry information is composed of card information read from a credit card and payment condition data keyed in.

Thereafter, when there is an approval permission response from the inquiring host computer for approving the payment by credit, the printer 29 is controlled to print and issue a predetermined credit slip (credit processing means).

If there is an approval disapproval response that does not approve the payment by credit, a message indicating that the payment by credit is not possible is displayed on the display unit 28, and this process is terminated.

When the counter i exceeds the set number n in ST8 of FIG. 6 or the link code Ci obtained in ST9 is "000", the payment by the key cannot be used for payment, so that the payment by credit cannot be performed. Display 2
Display the message prompting you to re-enter the payment terms in 8
Return to the counter reset process of ST5.

Therefore, the above process is repeated based on the re-entered payment conditions.

In the present embodiment having such a configuration, the store opened at the shopping center SS has a member store contract between each credit company and the developer and a member store contract between each credit company and the store headquarters. Based on the company-specific table 40 in the storage unit 22 of the credit terminal 15a,
And the payment condition table 50 are created.

For example, now, in a member store contract between a credit company and a developer, the bonus single payment is enabled,
The bonus twice payment is valid in the member store contract between the credit company and the store headquarters.

Then, in the payment condition table 50, data of the payment method "bonus", the number of payments "1 time", and the inquiry destination "developer" are stored in the payment condition code "00", for example.
3) and set the payment method "bonus",
The data of the number of payments “2 times” and the inquiry destination “headquarters” are set in correspondence with the payment condition code “004”, for example.

In the company-specific table 40, "003" is set as the payment condition link code C1 in correspondence with the company code of the credit company (for example, "00001").
2 is set to "004". (C1 and C2
Under these conditions, if a customer who owns the credit card of this credit company offers to settle with a bonus single payment credit card, the salesclerk of the store must first use the credit card of the customer. Is attached to the magnetic card reader 30 to read card information and the credit sales key K3 is operated. Next, the transaction amount, the payment method “bonus”, and the number of payments “one time” are keyed in according to the display on the display 29.

Then, first, the link code C1 corresponding to the company code "00001" is displayed from the company-specific table 40.
The data “003” is read. Next, the payment method “bonus” corresponding to the payment condition code “003”, the number of payments “1 time”, and the inquiry destination identification information “developer” are read from the payment condition table 50 and compared with the payment conditions keyed in. It

In this case, since both payment conditions are the same, the host computer 12 of the developer is selected as the inquiry destination of the credit settlement approval, and the credit settlement corresponding to the host computer 12 is selected via the first communication control unit 24. The approval inquiry information is transmitted. At this time, since the payment condition of the customer satisfies the member store contract between the credit company and the developer, whether or not to approve the payment by credit is determined by the membership contract between the customer and the credit company.

On the other hand, when the customer offers to pay with the bonus credit card, the clerk operates in the same manner. Then, the data “003” of the link code C1 corresponding to the company code “00001” is also read from the company-specific table 40, and the payment method “bonus” and the payment corresponding to the payment condition code “003” are read from the payment condition table 50. Number of times "1 time", contact "Developer"
Is read and compared to the keyed-in payment terms.

In this case, however, since both payment conditions do not match, the data "004" of the link code C2 corresponding to the company code "00001" is read from the company-specific table 40 and the payment condition table 50 is read. The payment method “bonus” corresponding to the payment condition code “004”, the number of payments “2 times”, and the inquiry “headquarters” are read out and compared with the keyed payment conditions.

At this time, since both payment conditions match, the host computer 13 of the store headquarters is selected as the inquiry destination for credit settlement approval, and corresponds to the host computer 13 via the second communication control unit 25. Credit settlement approval inquiry information is transmitted. At this time,
Since the customer's payment condition satisfies the credit member store contract between the credit company and the store headquarters, whether or not to approve credit settlement is determined by the membership contract between the customer and the credit company.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the customer simply inputs the desired payment conditions for credit, and automatically determines the credit settlement approval inquiry route that matches the payment conditions, and the corresponding host. Since an inquiry is made to the computer, there is no problem that an inquiry is made to a route that is not approved even if the inquiry is made on a different route. As a result, there is no need to re-enter the payment conditions, which has occurred in the past, so that the burden on the store clerk can be reduced and the credit settlement business can be performed efficiently.

In the operation of the above-described embodiment, one credit company has been described, but for other credit companies, the company-specific table 40 and the payment conditions are based on the member store contract with the developer and the member store contract with the distributor headquarters. It goes without saying that the same action and effect can be obtained by creating the table 50.

Further, it goes without saying that this embodiment can also be applied to a credit company that has a member store contract only with a developer and a credit company that has a member store contract only with a store headquarters.

[0055]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a table for storing inquiry destination identification information for identifying an external computer as an inquiry destination for credit settlement approval is provided corresponding to various payment condition data, and a keyboard is provided. When payment condition data of credit is input from the etc., the stored information in the above table is searched, and if the inquiry destination identification information corresponding to the input payment condition data is acquired, the inquiry destination identification information is communicated to the external computer. Credit payment approval is inquired through the line, and as a result, if there is an approval permission response, credit payment is effectively processed, so an appropriate inquiry route is automatically determined according to the credit payment conditions etc. It is possible to inquire about the approval decision, reduce the burden on the operator and use credits. It is possible to provide a credit processing apparatus for obtaining achieving processing efficiency improvement of that settlement operations.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an entire system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a credit terminal according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a keyboard of the credit terminal.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a company-specific table formed in a storage unit of the credit terminal.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a payment condition table formed in a storage unit of the credit terminal.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a main process executed by a main control unit of the credit terminal.

7 is a flowchart specifically showing the payment condition determination process of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a general credit contract mechanism.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the mechanism of a credit contract in a shopping center.

[Explanation of symbols]

11a, 11b ... Credit company host computer, 12 ... Developer host computer, 13 ... Store headquarters host computer, 15a, 15b ... Credit terminal, 21 ... Main control unit, 23, 24 ... First and second communication Control unit, 27 ... Keyboard, 28 ... Display device, 29 ... Printer, 30 ... Magnetic card reader, 40 ... Company-specific table, 50 ... Payment condition table.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A credit processing device comprising a data input means for inputting credit payment condition data and connecting a plurality of external computers for making a credit settlement approval decision by a communication line. Storage means for storing inquiry destination identification information for identifying an external computer as a credit settlement approval inquiry destination corresponding to each data, and storage information of the storage means when credit payment condition data is input by the data input means. Inquiry of credit settlement approval is made through the communication line to an inquiry destination acquisition means for acquiring inquiry destination identification information corresponding to the retrieved and entered payment condition data and an external computer of the inquiry destination identification information obtained by this acquisition means. Inquiry destination selection means and the result of the inquiry by this selection means Credit processing apparatus characterized by comprising when there is approval acceptance reply and credit processing means for effectively processing a payment by credit, the.