KR100385453B1 - Portable electronic medium for collective maintenancing of royalty service and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a portable electronic medium and a method for allowing a user to use and accumulate loyalty scores according to a user's intention by individually managing or integrating various loyalty services without a central computer of companies providing each royal blood service. An interface unit for transmitting and receiving data with an external device; A memory unit for storing and updating information about a royalty service; And a central processing unit which integrates and manages the loyalty service when the user uses the loyalty service on the basis of the information stored in the memory unit, and provides various loyalty services or partnerships provided by one company. When users use the royalty services provided by the companies in the relationship, the integrated loyalty points can be used together with the loyalty points, and in the case of individual management, the loyalty points can be used separately. By processing in a smart card, it is safer in security than the central computer via the Internet and can reduce the processing cost.

Description

Portable electronic medium for collective operation of royalty services and its method

The present invention relates to a portable electronic medium and method for integrating and managing various royalty services.

Recently, credit card companies and other companies that provide various services use royalties (the same meaning as "points") to provide users with a certain rate of points when purchasing goods or using their services. Providing. However, there is a need to form an alliance between the companies providing such a royalty service or to integrate and manage various royalty services provided by the same company. Therefore, although a method of integrating and managing these loyalty services is proposed, the exchange of information between the central computers of each company should be the basis of the loyalty service managed by each company through the computer communication network. In addition, there is a problem that the central computer must be processed when maintaining and managing various loyalty services provided by one company rather than between companies.

As such, integrated management through a computer communication network may have information leakage through hacking, etc., and there is an uncomfortable problem that communication between each central computer should be the basis.

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is that when a user uses one or more loyalty services provided by a company or a royalty service provided by affiliated companies, the user does not have to centrally manage the loyalty service at the central computer. The present invention provides a method and apparatus for constructing a database related thereto in a portable electronic medium to be used in the portable electronic medium.

1 is a block diagram of a smart card, which is one of portable electronic media according to the present invention.

2 is a diagram showing the structure of a database for integrated management of a royalty service which is an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flow chart showing the flow of one embodiment of the present invention.

4A is a diagram illustrating an example of configuring an attribute table when a royalty service is integratedly managed.

4B is a diagram illustrating an example of configuring an attribute table when a royalty service is individually managed.

4C illustrates an example of configuring an attribute table for royalty management services that are individually managed or integratedly managed.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, a portable electronic medium for integrating and operating a royalty service according to the present invention includes an interface unit for transmitting and receiving data with an external device; A memory unit for storing and updating information about a royalty service; And a central processing unit for integrated management of the loyalty service while adding or subtracting a loyalty score when the user uses the loyalty service based on the information stored in the memory unit.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, the integrated operating method of the royalty service using a portable electronic medium according to the present invention comprises the steps of generating and storing a sub-royalty information file for storing the characteristics of each royalty service; Generating and storing a royalty information file that stores information including an item of royalty services; Generating and storing an integrated royalty file for storing integrated information including an integrated point sum of the respective royalty scores; Using a royalty service by a user; If integrated management is performed according to the integrated management of the royalty service, adding or subtracting an integrated point to the integrated royalty file, and adding or subtracting a royalty score according to the royalty service to store the result in the sub royalty information file; And if the royalty service is individually managed, adding and subtracting only the royalty score and storing the result in the sub royalty file.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The portable electronic medium is composed of a central processing unit capable of storing various data therein and executing a program using the data, and an interface unit for exchanging data with an external device such as a card reader. It is used for various purposes such as paying electronically. A specific example is a smart card. Therefore, hereinafter, a smart card as one of portable electronic media will be described.

First, the terms to be used below are defined.

Integrated management means that the loyalty scores (or point scores) owned by the various loyalty services operated in the smart card are integrated and maintained, so that the loyalty scores accumulated when one of the loyalty services is used are added to the integrated royalties. Managed to allow users to use integrated royalties or individual royalty scores.

Individual management means that, unlike the integrated management above, the loyalty points are not added together and are managed by royalty services. Therefore, the user may not use the sum of the loyalty points and may utilize only the loyalty points provided by the loyalty service to be used.

1 is a block diagram of a smart card, which is one of portable electronic media according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a database for integrated management of a royalty service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

After describing the device configuration and the contents of the database, explain how the contents of the database are used in association with the case where the royalty score is added and the accumulated royalty score is used.

First, the interface unit 101 is connected to the memory unit 103 and the central processing unit 105, and under the control of the central processing unit 105, what kind of royalty service the user wants to use when using a smart card and accumulated royalty scores. This function receives information such as whether to make a payment and exchanges the processing result with an external device. On the other hand, the memory unit 103 is a block that stores a variety of data for managing a royalty service using a smart card, a detailed description will be described with reference to FIG. The structure of the database of FIG. 2 shows an example implemented in the memory unit 103.

The master file 201 is an operation system software necessary for operating a smart card and stores other application programs in addition to files for operating a royalty service in its substructure. The other application 205 stores a file for management and maintenance in addition to operating a royalty service according to the present invention in a smart card, and thus description thereof will be omitted. The royalty-only information file 203 is generated in the master file 201 when the royalty service is applied, and contains sub-royalty information files 210-1 to 210-n that contain information on various royalties operated in the smart card. , Where n is a natural number) and stores the name or ID of the smart card to inform the user of which loyalty service the smart card will access at the start of the loyalty service. Meanwhile, the royalty integrated management file 207 manages the integrated royalty file 209 and the royalty information file 211 so that the royalty-only information file 203 accesses one of the sub-royalty information files 210-1 to 210-n. When doing so, refer to whether the loyalty service is integrated or individually managed.

The integrated loyalty file 209 stores loyalty points that add up the loyalty scores provided by the loyalty services that are managed and integrated loyalty information, which shows what loyalty services are integrated and the nature of the integrated loyalty. . Therefore, when a user uses a certain loyalty service, the user can know whether the service is subject to integrated management by referring to the integrated loyalty file 209. In the case of the integrated management, if the royalties are added, that is, if the goods provided by the royalty service are purchased, the royalties are added according to a predetermined rate (for example, 1% of the purchase amount). Will be added. Otherwise, consolidated royalties remain unchanged if they are found to be subject to individual management.

On the other hand, the loyalty information file 211 includes items of loyalty services managed in the smart card, royalty characteristics indicating the characteristics of the royalties, royalty rates indicating how much of the royalty scores are to be added, and location information of the corresponding royalties (for example, The location of the sub-royalty information file, etc.), and information indicating whether it is integratedly managed or individually managed.

The sub-royalty information file 213 exists as many as the number of loyalty services managed in the smart card. That is, in the sub-royalty information file 213, blocks indicated by 210-n to 210-n have characteristics of each royalty service, and n are formed as many as the number of royalty services. The sub-royalty information file 213 includes a royalty score 217 after being accumulated or deducted when the royalty service is used, a user's usage record 219, various information 215 and recent information 221 of the royalty service. It contains. Therefore, when a user uses a royalty service regardless of whether or not integrated management, the royalty score 217 is added and when the royalty score 217 is used as a payment method, a value deducted by the amount used is recorded.

It will be described with an example in which the loyalty score is added or subtracted while having the above structure. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 4a is an example of configuring the attribute table when all of the loyalty services managed in the smart card is integrated management target, Figure 4b is a loyalty service managed in the smart card 4A shows an example in which an attribute table is configured when a combination of integrated management or individual-managed royalty services is configured.

First, referring to FIG. 4A, the attribute table in the case where all loyalty services are collectively managed will be described. The loyalty managed loyalty services are shown here as two loyalty A and loyalty B, but they can be expanded to the limit allowed by the capacity of memory. have. Currently, the accumulated royalty score is 20000 won for royalty A, 30,000 won for royalty B, and the integrated royalty is 50000 won because they are integrated. The rate applied to each royalty service is 1% for royalty A (i.e. 1% of purchase price of goods, etc.), 1.5% for royalty B, and the order of royalty is the combined royalty (that is, the total royalty score). This is to indicate which priority is added when obtaining, which is a standard to which the user's credit score will be deducted when the accumulated integrated royalty is used as a payment method instead of cash or credit card payment. In other words, when it is necessary to pay 30,000 won, if the user pays using the integrated royalty, the integrated royalty will be 20,000 won by subtracting 30,000 from the integrated royalty, and the royalty score of royalty B will be 0. Becomes

Next, an example of the configuration table in the case of individual management is FIG. 4B, in which case the description of the rate is the same as in the case of integrated management. However, integrated royalties do not need to be organized because they are managed separately. Therefore, it is only necessary to manage the royalty scores for each royalty C and D in the individual items, and the order of royalty additions is unnecessary.

The attribute table in the case where the above two cases are combined is Fig. 4C. This example will be described by dividing the case where the royalty score is added and the case where the accumulated royalty score is subtracted while referring to the flow of FIG. 3.

First, a sub-royalty file 209 having characteristics for each royalty service managed in the smart card is stored (step 301). As mentioned in the above description of the database, when applying the loyalty service managed by the smart card, the loyalty-only information file 203 is created in the master file 201 of the smart card and contains information on the loyalty service. The royalty file 209 can be accessed (step 305). Next, when the smart card is used, it is necessary to determine whether the royalty form is accumulated by purchasing goods, or whether the user wants to pay the accumulated royalty score (step 305).

If there is a purchase activity and the royalty score is added, the property of the royalty service should be grasped according to which royalty service the purchase act applies. This can be seen with reference to the royalty information file 211 and the integrated royalty file 209 (step 307). That is, at this time, it is determined whether the royalty service is a loyalty service (step 309). Referring to FIG. 4C, it can be seen that loyalty services E, F, and G are integrated management services. It can be seen that the integrated royalties are W60,000, and the order in which the consolidated royalties are added is royalty F first, royalty G second, and royalty E third. In addition, each royalty score is 20000 won, royalty F is 30,000 won, royalty G is 10000 won, and royalty H is a separately managed royalty. Under these conditions, for example, let's say you paid 500,000 won by using a purchase or service dealing with Loyalty Service A. In this case, the royalty score is 1% of royalty A, so the royalty score of royalty service A is 20500 won (step 313), and the integrated royalty is 60500 won (step 311).

See the case of individual management like royalty H. For example, when a product of 500,000 won is purchased at a place that handles royalty service A, the rate is 2%, so the royalty score is 51,000 won, and since it is individually managed, integrated royalties remain unchanged (step 313).

Now, let's take a look at the case of using the accumulated royalty score as a payment method, rather than adding the royalty score. If it is determined that the royalty score is used as a payment method in step 315, the attribute of the royalty must be grasped as in the case where the royalty score is added. Therefore, this can be known by referring to the royalty information file 211 and the integrated royalty file 209 (step 317). That is, at this time, it is determined whether the royalty service is a loyalty service that is integrated management (step 319). Referring again to FIG. Assume that various loyalty points and integration points are accumulated as shown in FIG. 4C. In this case, the integrated management loyalty service tells the user how many points can be used in the integration point. If the user agrees with the suggested contents, the following process proceeds. It is determined whether the royalty service to be used is integrated management (319). Let's say you bought 500,000 won of items using the integrated point. First of all, 500,000 won is deducted from the integrated royalty (step 321). As a result, consolidated royalties amount to 10,000 won. We also need to deduct from the royalty score that constitutes integrated royalties. In this case, deductions should be made in the order in which consolidated royalties are added. That is, in the order of addition in Fig. 4c, royalty F is 1st, royalty G is 2nd, and royalty E is 3rd, so 10000 won, and subtracts 10,000 won from the royalty G, and the result is stored in the sub-royalty information file 213 again with the usage record (step 323).

On the other hand, an example of a case where a user purchases an item of 30,000 won from an affiliated store dealing with a royalty service, that is, royalty H, is managed separately. In this case, since the integrated point is not changed and the royalty score is accumulated 20000 won, the amount of the royalty is subtracted from 20000 won, and the result is the royalty score of 0, and the remaining 10,000 won can be settled by other payment means, such as cash or credit card.

Finally, if the loyalty score is not used in the smart card, payment is made by other means of instruction, and the loyalty score according to the use is added in the order described above (step 325).

Therefore, using the configuration and method according to the present invention can be used together with the scores according to the various royalty services provided by any one company or can be used individually. In this example, you can operate the royalty service provided by each company in the same way among several companies with which you have a partnership.

As described above, according to the method and apparatus for operating a loyalty service integrated with a smart card according to the present invention, a user can use a variety of loyalty services provided by one company or loyalty services provided by various companies in partnership. When the integrated loyalty points can be used, the loyalty points can be used, and in the case of individual management, the loyalty points can be used by the central computer through the Internet to manage the management within the smart card. It is safer than security and can reduce the processing cost.

In addition, when using the integrated point services, the score can be increased or jointly increased for each point, thereby increasing user convenience.

Claims (8)

delete An interface unit for transmitting and receiving data with an external device; A memory unit in which an information file for a royalty service is stored; And And a central processing unit for integrated management of the loyalty service when the user uses the loyalty service based on the information file stored in the memory unit. The information file, A plurality of sub-royalty information files for recording royalty scores and usage records for each of the royalty services; And And a rate information file in which items of the royalty services managed in the sub royalty information file and a rate applied when the royalty score is added or subtracted when using the royalty service are recorded. The central processing unit adds a royalty score recorded in the sub royalty information file corresponding to the royalty service when the user uses the royalty service, and is recorded in the service royalty file when the user uses the royalty score. A portable electronic medium for operating a royalty service, characterized in that the deduction of the royalty score. The method of claim 2, The information file further includes an integrated royalty file that stores the integrated points that add up each royalty score and adds or subtracts the integrated points when using the royalty service, and records the result of the integrated royalty file. Portable electronic media. delete (a) generating and storing a sub-royalty information file for storing the characteristics of each royalty service; (b) creating and storing a royalty information file that stores information including an item of royalty services; (c) generating and storing an integrated royalty file for storing integrated information including integrated points including the sum of the respective royalty scores; (d) a user using the royalty service; (e) In the case of integrated management according to the integrated management of the loyalty service, adding and subtracting the integrated point to the integrated royalty file, adding and subtracting the loyalty score according to the royalty service, and storing the result in the sub royalty information file. step; (f) if the royalty service is individually managed, adding and subtracting only the royalty score and storing the result in the sub royalty file. The method of claim 5, Step (e) is when the user uses the royalty score, Accessing a sub-royalty information file containing information on a corresponding royalty service by referring to the royalty-only information file; Determining whether the loyalty service is integrated management by referring to the loyalty information file and the integrated royalty file; And And storing the result by subtracting the integrated royalty and the point when the loyalty service is integratedly managed according to the information and the determination result, and storing the result by subtracting only the point when the loyalty service is individually managed. Point service operation method using a portable electronic media characterized in that. The method of claim 5, Step (f) is to add a royalty score, Obtaining a characteristic of the royalty service by accessing a sub-royalty information file containing information about a royalty service to which the royalty score is to be added, by referring to the royalty-only information file; Determining whether the loyalty service is integrated management by referring to the loyalty information file and the integrated royalty file; And If the loyalty service is integrated management according to the characteristics of the loyalty service and the result of the determination, the integrated royalties and the loyalty score are added to store the result, and in the case of individual management, only the loyalty score is added to store the result. A method of operating a royalty service using a portable electronic medium, comprising the step. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the steps of claim 5 on a computer.