JPH0691589B2 - Inquiry method for multiple hosts - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Outline] A POS terminal having a communication means with a host through a network control device and a modulation / demodulation device, which enables an inquiry to a different host depending on the purpose of the inquiry.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a method of inquiring to a plurality of hosts so that when the POS terminal makes an inquiry to a host, the inquired host is automatically changed according to the content of the inquiry.

[Conventional technology]

In stores such as large-scale specialty stores scattered all over the country, it is common to connect the POS terminal of the store and the host with a public line. And generally, the POS terminal is connected only to the user's host (own host),
Send transaction data, receive reports, and inquire about customer data for your company. However, in recent years, the demand for inquiries to hosts (hosts of other companies) such as affiliated credit companies has increased as the number of transaction forms such as credits has increased. For example, in order to check whether the credit card sent by the customer is an accident card or not, and the balance status of the customer's bank account, it is necessary to inquire the issuer of the card, the host bank of the other company, or the like.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, since the conventional POS terminal is connected only to the host of the other company, the inquiry of the host of the other company is made once, and then the host of the other company inquires the host of the other company. Therefore, once connected to the own company host, the own company host makes an inquiry to the other company's host, so there are drawbacks such as it takes time to receive the response data and the communication time becomes long.

The present invention seeks to improve the above point by allowing the POS terminal to directly refer to the host of another company.

[Means for solving problems]

According to the method of inquiring to a plurality of hosts of the present invention, a POS terminal connected to a public line, a search means (30) for telephone numbers of a plurality of hosts similarly connected to the public line, and input data to the terminals. A means (32) for discriminating the destination from the created inquiry request message is provided, and the telephone number searching means (3) is used for the destination discriminated by the destination discriminating means (32).
0) to search for the corresponding telephone number, automatically dial the obtained telephone number to connect the corresponding host to the POS terminal, send an inquiry request message, and receive a response message from the corresponding host to the inquiry request message. Once stored in the memory (26) of the POS terminal, the memory is read and the response message is displayed or displayed (2) according to the print designation.
It is characterized by being displayed on 2) or printed by a printer (20).

[Action]

According to this method, the POS terminal makes inquiries directly to another company's host, so the connection time is shorter than the conventional method via the own company's host. The advantage is that it is cheap.

〔Example〕

As shown in FIG. 2, the POS terminal is provided with a line driver / receiver 12, a modulator / demodulator 14, and a network controller 16 as hardware, by which the processor (CPU) 10 communicates with the host. SD is the transmitted data and RD is the received data. In addition to the line driver / receiver 12, a keyboard 18, a printer 20, a display 22, a speaker 24, and memories 26 and 28 are connected to the bus of the processor 10, and data is input from the keyboard 18 and data is output from the printer 20 and the display 22. . Although FIG. 2 shows the hardware configuration of MPOS, SPOS has a similar configuration (however, there is no 14, 16 or the like, but instead has a connection means with MPOS).

To enable the POS terminal to communicate directly with other companies' hosts,
In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, the POS terminal is provided with means 30 for searching the telephone number of the destination and means 32 for determining the destination of the inquiry request message. In addition to the above, the POS terminal has an operation sequence control means 34 for the keyboard which performs inquiry operation and data input, a means 36 for editing a telephone number in the form of a message that can be passed to the modulator / demodulator, and a means for editing the input data in the form of an inquiry request message. 38, means for storing inquiry response message in memory 40, inquiry response data printing control means for printer
42, control means for displaying inquiry response data for display
With 44.

The POS system adopts a master-slave system consisting of a master POS terminal and a plurality of slave POS terminals connected to it, but it is the master POS terminal that has the function of communicating with the host.

In order for the master POS terminal to communicate with the host of another company through the public line, it must know the telephone number of the host of the other company.
This is entered in advance by operating the keyboard of the terminal and stored as a telephone number table.

In the present invention, the communication with the host of the self / other company is not performed by instructing that fact, but the host of the communication destination is indexed from the inquiry message. The inquiry request message destination determining means 32 and the telephone number searching means 30 are for this purpose. Next, an example of another company's host inquiry will be described with reference to FIGS.

In Figure 3, MPOS is the master POS terminal and SPOS is the slave P
It is an OS terminal. MPOS has a host line control function and a slave line control function. SPOS is a master PO
Has S line control function. In this case, there are 3 other host companies: A credit host, B bank host, and C credit host.
I am assuming one. These hosts and MPOS are modems
14, a network control device 16a capable of automatically issuing / receiving a call, and a public line. Although not shown, there is also a company host, and the POS terminal is connected in the same way.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, if the keyboard is operated by the SPOS 50 and a processing request is input, the SPOS 50 internally processes and edits the inquiry request message (this is an inquiry request message edit). Means 38) and sends it to MPOS. At the beginning (header) of this inquiry request message, there is data indicating the content (type) of the message, and MPOS knows the destination host from this content, and searches the telephone number table to obtain the telephone number of the destination host. (This is a telephone number search means 30
Will do). This telephone number is edited into a telephone number message which can be passed to the modulation / demodulation device 14, and is passed to the transmission control means 12a. The transmission control means 12a passes this to the modulation / demodulation device 14, and the modulation / demodulation device 1
4 dials through the network controller 16 according to the telephone number and calls the host of C credit in this example.
When connected to the host C, the MPOS sends the inquiry request message C sent by the SPOS 50 to the host C. The host C creates an answer to the inquiry request and uses this as the inquiry response message C in the MP
Send to OS.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the MPOS receives this, it stores it in the memory, and the connection with the host C is disconnected. Send inquiry response message of MPOS memory to SPOS50. Since the inquiry response message C from the host C is added with data indicating whether the response content is to be displayed on the display or not, SPOS50 checks this, and if it is specified to display, it is displayed on the display and must be specified. For example, a printer prints one or more of a receipt, a journal, and a slip. The data indicating which to print is also in the inquiry response message. The inquiry response may be displayed or printed, and the check as to whether the display is designated or not is repeated until all the inquiry response messages are processed. Since there is a code indicating that at the end of the message, is this the end of the process? Can judge.

Inquiries can be made directly by operating the keyboard to enter the account name and requesting balance verification.In addition to the direct reading of the customer card with a card reader, it can be automatically determined whether the card is an accident card. It may be a routine, such as when such an inquiry occurs.

〔The invention's effect〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention,
Since the POS terminal makes inquiries directly to the host of another company, the connection time is shorter than the conventional method that goes through the company's host, and the connection time is shorter, so the charge is cheaper than when going through the company's host. can get.

[Brief description of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram mainly showing software of the POS terminal, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing mainly hardware of the POS terminal, Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a host inquiry from another company, Figs. 4 and 5. 4 is a flow chart showing an inquiry procedure.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A POS terminal connected to a public line,
Similarly, means (30) for searching the telephone numbers of a plurality of hosts connected to the public line and means (32) for determining the destination from the inquiry request message created according to the input data to the terminal are provided. At the destination determined by the determination means (32), the telephone number search means (30) searches for the corresponding telephone number, and the obtained telephone number is automatically dialed to POS and the corresponding host.
The terminal is connected and the inquiry request message is transmitted, the response message from the corresponding host to the inquiry request message is received and temporarily stored in the memory (26) of the POS terminal, the memory is read and the response message is displayed or displayed. A method for inquiring to a plurality of hosts, characterized by displaying on a display (22) or printing by a printer (20) according to print designation.