KR20010102820A - Method for processing coupons automatically by bar-code - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, when a manufacturer or a coupon distributor registers a discount coupon through the Internet, the server of the coupon distributor stores it on a website with a bar coded coupon and the user prints it or the coupon distributor stores a newspaper, magazine, etc. When posting, the user obtains it and uses it in the affiliated store. The present invention relates to a method of automatically processing a discount coupon by barcode scanning. To this end, the coupon retailer server establishes a database for managing coupons, and the merchant (POS) system of the merchant stores information about the coupon as the manufacturer, advertising agency, or coupon distributor registers the coupon for the product. The retailer distributes the coupon via the Internet or the ground. Coupon consumers present coupons obtained on the ground or on the Internet with the purchase of goods at the merchant, and the coupon read by the barcode scanner of the merchant is settled according to the information of the coupon stored in the database of the POS system. The settled coupon information is transmitted to the distribution server after a certain time by the POS system.

Description

How to process coupons automatically by barcode {Method for processing coupons automatically by bar-code}

The present invention relates to a method for automatically processing a coupon by a barcode. More specifically, when a coupon retailer that has been entrusted by a manufacturer, an advertising agency, or a manufacturer registers a discount coupon through the Internet, the server of the coupon distributor stores the coupon as a coupon having a barcode. It provides a method for automatically processing discount coupons when a user uses a discount coupon at a merchant by posting it on a newspaper, magazine, or web site and transmitting the corresponding information to the merchant.

In general, a discount coupon is a mark indicating a requirement for a product to be discounted. In other words, if a manufacturer or an advertising agency distributes a large amount of coupons through the Internet, daily newspaper, magazine, or store beach for the purpose of inducing the purchase motivation of the product, the consumer obtains the coupon that he / she needs and the corresponding product at the discount coupon merchant. Presenting this while purchasing it, you will be able to get a discount on a certain amount described in the discount coupon.

The purpose of distributing these discount coupons by manufacturers or advertising agencies is to increase the advertising effect and sales for the product. Therefore, discount coupons are distributed in large quantities, and many consumers use them.

For this reason, the discount coupon issuer has a disadvantage in that it takes a lot of time and money to issue a discount coupon and distribute it to consumers, and recover it again.

In addition, for the discount coupon distributors, a lot of manpower and time was consumed to request the discount coupon, produce and distribute the discount coupon, and notify the merchant of the fact.

In addition, from the point of view of the merchant, it is necessary to check the discount coupon and check whether it meets the discount condition, and calculate the product by discounting the product value by the corresponding discount amount, thereby reducing the productivity of the cashier and increasing consumer dissatisfaction accordingly. Moreover, since the cashier checks the discount coupon with the naked eye, there are cases where the product is irrelevant to the coupon.

In order to solve this disadvantage, a method of using a barcode in a coupon has been introduced, but there is a disadvantage in that information about a discount coupon must be input to a POS terminal.

The present invention, manufacturers or advertising agencies, coupon distributors to register discount coupons on the Internet so that manufacturers can easily issue discount coupons, and consumers can easily obtain or provide discount coupons on the Internet or offline have.

It is also an object of the present invention to transmit information about a discount coupon registered through the Internet to the POS system of each affiliated store through a communication network, so that users can use the discount coupon at the same time as the issuance of the discount coupon, the merchant in the discount coupon There is no need to enter any information.

It is also an object of the present invention to use the information on the discount coupon received through the communication network when using the discount coupon to automatically determine whether the discount conditions are met and to calculate the discount amount automatically.

1 is a view showing a process of issuing and using a discount coupon according to the present invention.

2 is a diagram illustrating a network configuration according to the present invention.

3a is a flowchart illustrating a process of processing a discount coupon according to the present invention.

FIG. 3b is a flowchart illustrating a process of using the discount coupon of FIG. 3a in more detail.

4A to 4C are examples of creating a database for constructing a database according to the present invention.

Figure 5 is an embodiment showing a screen for a user to use the present invention to register as a member.

6 is an embodiment showing a screen for registering a coupon registration according to the present invention on the Internet.

7 is an embodiment showing a screen for managing a registered coupon according to the present invention.

8 is an embodiment showing a screen for modifying a registered coupon according to the present invention.

9 is an embodiment showing the issued coupon according to the present invention.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention, when the manufacturer, advertising agency, or coupon distributor registers via the Internet, the server of the coupon distribution store transmits the corresponding information to the POS system of the merchant through a communication network, and also provides a coupon with a barcode It provides a method of automatically processing a discount coupon by scanning a barcode as it is posted on a newspaper, a magazine or a web site and used by a user at a merchant.

To this end, the coupon retailer server establishes a database for managing coupons, and when the manufacturer or advertising agency registers the coupon for the product, the coupon information is sent to the merchant's point of sale system and the retailer Distributes the coupon through the Internet or the ground.

Coupon consumers present coupons obtained on the ground or on the Internet with the purchase of goods at the merchant, and the coupon read by the barcode scanner of the merchant is settled according to the information of the coupon stored in the database of the POS system. The settled coupon information is transmitted to the distribution server after a certain time by the POS system.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a view showing a process of issuing and using a discount coupon according to the present invention.

The coupon distribution store 100 may provide coupon information about a standard, a purchase quantity, an expiration date, a discount amount, etc. of a product related to a discount coupon from a manufacturer or an advertising agency (hereinafter, referred to as a 'coupon issuer'). The coupon is provided through the communication network to create the coupon engraved. Of course, in addition to the coupon issuance request from the manufacturer or advertising agency in the offline rather than online, the coupon distributor 100 may register the coupon directly.

The coupon distribution store 100 receives a membership registration from the affiliated store 200 to deal with the discount coupon, and provides the affiliated store 200 with information about the generated discount coupon.

Subsequently, the coupon distribution store 100 stores the coupon of the product requested by the manufacturer or the advertising agency 300 in the affiliate store 200 or distributes it to consumers through the paper or newspaper, magazines, etc., and the consumers obtain it. When the merchant 200 purchases a product corresponding to a discount coupon (hereinafter, referred to as a “discount coupon product”), the discount coupon is presented to receive a predetermined amount specified in the discount coupon when the discount condition of the discount coupon is satisfied. do.

When the discount coupon payment is made in the affiliate store 200, the coupon distribution store 100 provides the manufacturer or the advertising agency 300 with the aggregate amount of discount coupons used by consumers for a certain period of time.

2 is a diagram illustrating a network configuration according to the present invention.

The coupon distributor 100 for managing and issuing coupons is composed of a distributor server 110 and a distributor database 120. The distributor server 110 is a POS system 250a to 250n and a manufacturer computer 300a to 300m through a network. Are interconnected.

When the manufacturers 300a to 300m access the website to register the member information and the coupon information, the distribution server 110 stores the information in a database and stores it in the distribution database 120.

Of course, at this time, the coupon information is automatically provided with a barcode number as a database and posted on the Internet website for distribution or printing by consumers on the Internet, or distributed through a print media offline.

As the manufacturer 300a to 300m registers the coupon information, the retailer server 110 transmits the coupon information to which the barcode is assigned to the merchant POS system 250a to 250n every certain period (for example, once per month). do. The POS systems 250a to 250n are, of course, provided with respective POS databases 251a to 251n to store coupon information and discount coupon product information transmitted from a distribution server. In addition, the POS system is equipped with a barcode scanner that can read barcodes.

Therefore, when a consumer who obtains a discount coupon presents a discount coupon while purchasing a discount coupon product at a merchant, the salesperson of the merchant reads the barcode specified in the discount coupon and the discount coupon product with a barcode scanner.

Accordingly, the POS system extracts the information of the discount coupon and the discount coupon product from the POS databases 251a to 251n, and subtracts the corresponding discount amount of the coupon presented by the consumer from the price of the discount coupon product when the discount coupon satisfies the conditions of use. To the consumer and record the coupon usage in the POS database.

The POS system associated with the retailer server transmits the coupon use record to the retailer server 110 in real time or after a predetermined time, and records information about the coupon use in the retailer database 120. Therefore, the distribution store database 120 classifies and stores the amount of discount coupons transmitted from various POS systems 250a to 250n by discount coupon products.

3a is a flowchart illustrating a process of processing a discount coupon according to the present invention.

If a manufacturer or advertising agency (coupon issuing client) who wants to register a discount coupon is a non-member by accessing the website of the coupon distribution store 100, the corresponding field, name, business name, business registration number, e-mail, etc. Fill in your personal information and register as a member. Of course, optionally, the coupon issuing request from the manufacturer or advertising agency, not on-line rather than on-line, the distribution store server 110 manager of the coupon distribution store 100 may directly enter the coupon information to register.

The membership is the same in the coupon user, merchants, etc.

In order to register a discount coupon, a manufacturer or an advertising agency registered as a member registers information about various products related to the coupon, namely, a brand name, a company name, a coupon image, etc. (step S310). Accordingly, the distribution server 110 generates a bar code corresponding to the corresponding coupon and stores the barcode in the distribution database 120 with various coupon information.

Examples illustrating such database construction are described in FIGS. 4A-4D, which will be described later.

When the discount coupon is registered, a bar coded coupon is created as shown in FIG. 9, and the coupon distribution store 100 displays it on the beach of each affiliated store so that consumers can easily obtain it, or on the ground or online of newspapers and daily newspapers. Disseminated. In addition, if the consumer is a member of the distribution server server, you can also receive a discount coupon by email regularly.

The distribution store server 110 transmits the discount coupon information stored in the distribution store database 120 to the POS systems 250a to 250n of each affiliated store in real time or at a predetermined time (step S320). The POS system stores discount coupon information downloaded from a distribution server server in its POS databases 251a to 251n.

When the consumer who obtains the distributed discount coupon purchases the discount coupon product using the discount coupon at the merchant and presents the discount coupon (step S330), the merchant POS system processes it and stores it in the POS database. The amount and information of the discount coupon settled is transmitted to the distribution server. The retailer server calculates the data collected from each of the affiliated stores and stores the data in the retailer database and provides the calculated result to the corresponding manufacturer or the advertising agency 300a to 300m.

FIG. 3b is a flowchart illustrating a process of using the discount coupon of FIG. 3a in more detail.

As the coupon user presents the discount coupon together with the discount coupon product, the cashier of the merchant first reads the barcode of the discount coupon product with a barcode scanner, and then scans the barcode 900 of the discount coupon (step S331). Of course, the information of the discount coupon product, that is, a record of the quantity, product name, etc. is stored in the POS database.

The POS system compares the scanned information of the scanned discount coupon with the corresponding discount coupon information in its POS database. First, it is determined whether the scanned discount coupon is a barcode of a registered discount coupon (step S332). . If it is not a barcode of the registered discount coupon, the POS system outputs an error message to the terminal of the POS system (step S350).

On the contrary, if the bar code of the registered discount coupon is checked, the information containing the conditions for the discount coupon is checked one by one. When the presence or absence of the bar code of the discount coupon is confirmed according to these steps, it is checked whether the discount coupon is within the valid period (step S333). If the expiration date has passed, the POS system outputs an error message to the terminal of the POS system (step S350).

Next, it is detected whether there is a discount coupon product corresponding to the bar code of the discount coupon (step S334). If the corresponding discount coupon product does not exist, the POS system outputs an error message to the terminal of the POS system (step S350).

As a final procedure, when the above verification process is satisfied, it is determined whether the consumer has purchased the quantity specified in the discount coupon information. In this case, when the bar code scanning process of the discount coupon product is performed, the purchase quantity of the discount coupon product is stored in the POS databases 251a to 251n. Based on this, the POS system calculates the discount condition quantity and the consumer of the discount coupon. Compare the purchase quantity of the discount coupon product of (step S335).

For example, if the discount coupon information is a 100 won discount when purchasing three ramen, the number of discount coupon products purchased by the consumer is calculated.

At this time, when the consumer purchases less than the quantity corresponding to the discount coupon, the POS system outputs an error message to the terminal of the POS system (step S350).

On the contrary, when the consumer purchases more than the quantity corresponding to the discount coupon, the POS system calculates by subtracting the discount amount from the price of the discount coupon product and settles the coupon (step S336). That is, if the ramen purchased 300 pieces per 300 won per formula is calculated as follows.

Amount to be paid by consumer = 300 * 3-100

The settled coupon is automatically counted and stored in the POS database and the POS system transmits it to the distribution server (step S337). Accordingly, the distributor server updates the distributor database 120 with the information obtained from the POS system.

4A to 4C are abbreviated descriptions as examples of creating a database for constructing a database according to the present invention. Configuring a real database is a much more complicated process.

4A is a master table for coupon registration of a distribution store database, in which a manufacturer or an advertising agency registers a coupon and generates data according to the coupon table. Therefore, data such as coupon code, coupon name, quantity, discount amount and period are entered into this table.

Table creation SQL (Structured query language) to form such a table is as follows.

create table mmcmsm (

cms_code varchar2 (12) not null,

cms_name varchar2 (20) not null,

cms_cnt number (8) not null,

cms_unit number (8) not null,

cms_fdate varchar2 (8) not null,

cms_tdate varchar2 (8) not null,

create unique index mmcmsm_00 on mmcmsm (

cms_code asc

);

Where varchar represents a character variable and not null means not to allow empty strings or numbers. In addition, the second parenthesis is a line for creating a unique index, which is a coupon code, i.e., it is represented as a barcode number in 12 digits and is identical to the number appearing in the column of the CMS coupon code in FIG. 7. While assigning a unique number.

4B is a layout for creating a table for collecting the sales quantity of coupons from each POS affiliated store. Accordingly, data such as a coupon code, a POS number, a transaction number, a coupon sales quantity, and a coupon sales amount are entered into this table.

The table creation SQL to achieve such a layout is as follows.

create table mscmsh (

sal_date char (8) not null,

pos_code char (3) not null,

trxn_num char (6) not null,

seq_num char (3) not null,

cms_code char (12) not null,

sal_cnt number (5) null,

sal_cmt number (10) null

);

create unique index mscmsh_00 on mscmsh (

sal_date asc,

pos_code asc,

trxn_num asc,

seq_num asc,

);

Where char represents a character constant, not null means not to allow an empty string. Also, the second parenthesis is a row that creates a unique index, which means that inputs such as sal_date (coupon sales date), pos_code (POS number), trxn_num (transaction number), seq_num (SEQ), etc. are incremented without being duplicated. .

4C is a layout of a coupon master to be transferred to the POS system for ftp (file transfer protocol). The coupon master for ftp has a layout like this and is generated in a file format of "* .dat" and downloaded from the distribution store server 110 of the coupon distribution store 100 to the POS system. Of course, the file is generated by the file generation 700 of FIG. 7 which is a coupon management screen of the distribution server.

The file is stored in a directory of the POS system, for example, in a specific directory as follows.

"C: \ posapi \ posmater \ cms.dat"

7 is an embodiment showing a screen for managing a registered coupon according to the present invention.

5A shows a management screen using a database configured based on the table of FIG. 5A, in which a manager of a retailer server can perform various operations such as viewing, modifying, adding, and deleting registered coupon information of a manufacturer or an advertising agency. Can be. Of course, on the screen, detailed information such as a coupon code, a coupon name, a quantity, and a discount amount is shown to explain the coupon information.

The administrator of the retailer server can add or modify a coupon by clicking on a modification (710) or an addition (720). In order to do this, the screen of FIG. 8 moves to a coupon code, a coupon name, a quantity, a discount amount, and the like. Key in the relevant column and modify it.

In this way, a file is generated to transmit the created coupon information to the POS system. When the file generation 700 is clicked, a file to be transmitted is generated.

As described above, the present invention has been described with reference to the drawings and embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments, and those skilled in the art can make many modifications without departing from the scope of the present invention. It will be appreciated that variations are possible.

In addition, the protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the appended claims.

According to the present invention, when a bar code of a discount coupon is scanned at a merchant through a POS system, the standard, purchase, quantity, expiration date, etc. of a purchased product associated with the discount coupon are automatically obtained through a POS database connected to the merchant POS system. Since it is read, the cashier at the merchant does not have to check the corresponding conditions of the discount coupon.

In addition, as coupons are scanned and coupon discounts are accurately deducted, there is no need for time-saving and troublesome labor to calculate and enter the price of the product at the merchant, thereby improving work efficiency and reducing inconvenience due to rapid settlement. There is.

In addition, manufacturers or advertising agencies can easily register the coupon online, and you can easily check the data on the coupon usage and discount amount.

Claims (5)

A coupon distributor storing the coupon registration information in a database of a retailer server as the coupon issuing client or a coupon retailer requested by the coupon issuing client connects to a retailer server and fills in registration information on a coupon registration screen. step; A second step of the POS system storing the coupon registration information in a database of the POS system as the coupon registration information is downloaded and transmitted to the POS system connected to the affiliate store of the distribution server; As the coupon user obtains the bar coded coupon and presents it to the affiliated store, the POS system calculates the scanned coupon and stores the calculated coupon information in a database of the POS system; As the POS system transmits the coupon information settled and stored in the database of the POS system to the distribution server, the distribution server collects the quantity and discount amount of the discount coupon used and stores the coupon information in the distribution database. 4 steps, The distribution server server provides a fifth step of providing information on the quantity and discount amount of the collected discount coupons to the manufacturer or an advertising agency. Coupon automatic processing method by a barcode comprising a. The method of claim 1, In the first step, as a coupon is registered, a distribution point server assigns a unique barcode number to the coupon and stores the coupon in a database. The method of claim 1, The coupon registration method of the first step includes a discount amount and the target amount of coupons, characterized in that the automatic coupon processing method. The method of claim 1, After the second step, the distribution server server further comprises the step of providing the coupon to the coupon user as an e-mail coupon processing method characterized in that it further comprises. The method of claim 1, The third step is Step 3-1 in which the POS system inputs data by scanning the barcode 900 of the discount coupon; Step 3-2 of the POS system determining whether the scanned discount coupon is a barcode of a registered discount coupon; If it is not a barcode of the discount coupon registered in step 3-2, the POS system outputs an error message to the terminal of the POS system, and if it is a barcode of the registered discount coupon, checks whether the discount coupon is a barcode within an expiration date. -3 steps, In step 3-3, if the bar code has expired, the POS system outputs an error message to the terminal of the POS system. If the bar code is within the bar code, the POS system detects whether a discount coupon product corresponding to the bar code of the discount coupon exists. Step 3-4, If the discount coupon product does not exist in step 3-4, the POS system outputs an error message to the terminal of the POS system, and conversely, if the discount coupon product exists, it is determined whether the coupon user purchases the quantity specified in the discount coupon information. 3rd to 5th step, If the coupon user purchases less than the quantity corresponding to the discount coupon in step 3-5, the POS system outputs an error message to the terminal of the POS system, and conversely, if the quantity is purchased more than the third, the discount amount is settled. Coupon automatic processing method by a barcode comprising a -6 step.