TWI691922B - Electronic voucher and method for automatic processing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

An electronic voucher and a method for automatic processing the same are provided. The electronic voucher includes a medium and a set of machine-readable codes recorded in the medium. For example, the set of machine-readable codes is recorded in the medium in the form of 2-dimensional barcodes. Meanwhile, the set of machine-readable codes is created by a voucher issuer according to a voucher ID, data of clearing amount, data of item to be exchanged, and the user’s telephone number.

Description

Electronic exchange voucher and method for automatically processing electronic exchange voucher

The present invention relates to electronic exchange coupons and a method for automatically processing electronic exchange coupons, in particular to electronic exchange coupons that use a trust account of a financial institution as a performance guarantee and its automatic processing method.

For the conventional technology of electronic exchange coupons (also known as electronic gift certificates, electronic vouchers, or electronic coupons), the following patent documents can be referred to: Chinese Patent CN100383817C and Chinese Patent Publication Nos. CN1542664A, CN101739766A, CN101840560A, CN102289763A, CN101996373A.

The above-mentioned conventional technology mentions electronic vouchers at the same time, but it still cannot meet the actual needs, and it still needs to be improved.

When issuing coupons, such as coupons, in order to win the trust of consumers or to comply with regulatory requirements (such as the Consumer Protection Law of Taiwan), the issuer of coupons will provide performance guarantees. The general practice is that the issuer of the exchange certificate opens a dedicated account in the financial trust institution, and deposits enough money to guarantee the ticket. Until the user has used the ticket, the money can not leave the proprietary account or be used for other purposes. If the consumer fails to perform the contract when exercising the exchange voucher in the future, he can hold the exchange voucher to the financial trust institution and claim for the money in the exclusive account. This exchange certificate can be called "full trust ticket".

In view of this, on the one hand, an embodiment of the present invention proposes a new electronic exchange coupon and a method for automatically processing the electronic exchange coupon for the above-mentioned "trust ticket" usage environment.

One of the technical problems to be solved by the present invention is that the "full trust ticket" method in the prior art, whether it is an electronic exchange certificate or a paper exchange certificate, lacks a reliable mechanism for confirming the guarantee amount.

In the prior art, there is no available technical means to "prevent" the issuer of the exchange certificate from issuing the exchange certificate intentionally or negligently (exceeding the guarantee amount). With the embodiment of the present invention, when the issuer of an electronic exchange certificate wants to issue an electronic exchange certificate, the payment amount data can be electronically obtained in real time, and the financial trust institution is required to confirm whether the corresponding guarantee amount exists in the exclusive account, and Only when the financial trust institution confirms that the exclusive account has the corresponding guarantee amount, the financial trust institution will provide the electronic exchange voucher identification code required by the electronic exchange voucher issuer to make the electronic exchange voucher through electronic means. Without this electronic exchange coupon identification code, the issuer of the electronic exchange coupon cannot issue an electronic exchange coupon.

In other words, the technical means used in the embodiments of the present invention is that each electronic exchange coupon identification code (for an electronic exchange coupon) is generated by the financial trust institution individually as needed, instead of the exchange coupon as in the prior art The identification code is provided to the issuer of the redemption voucher in large quantities or batches in advance, thus causing a problem that the issuer of the redemption voucher cannot be controlled in excess.

On the other hand, one of the technical problems to be solved by the present invention is that, in the prior art, the "full trust ticket" method, whether it is an electronic exchange certificate or a paper exchange certificate, when the user uses the exchange certificate or for other reasons After canceling the issued exchange voucher, the guarantee amount of the exclusive account cannot be adjusted or restored immediately.

In this regard, the technical means used in the embodiments of the present invention are that the electronic exchange coupon identification code is generated individually by the financial trust institution as needed, and the use status of this identification code is marked as "valid", and when After the user uses the electronic exchange voucher, the machine can read the code on the electronic exchange voucher, and the financial trust institution can also electronically cancel the electronic exchange voucher identification code generated by the electronic voucher in real time, and apply the identification code The use status of the product is changed from "valid" to "invalid", to avoid the repeated use of this electronic exchange coupon, and the corresponding guarantee amount in the exclusive account can be restored immediately.

It can be seen from the above two aspects that the issuance and cancellation of the electronic exchange coupons of the present invention are carried out under the supervision of the financial trust institution, and can be opened for public inquiry, so it is also possible to avoid the forgery of electronic exchange coupons or excessive issuance or It is a condition of repeated use, which greatly improves safety.

On the other hand, one of the technical problems to be solved by the present invention is that the traditional redemption vouchers need to be produced in large quantities in advance, which results in a large amount of funds must be deposited in advance in the trust proprietary account, resulting in the waste of idle funds and the issuance of redemptions The cost of the voucher increases, and the settlement amount set for each exchange voucher must also be determined in advance (because it must meet the preset guarantee amount), and cannot be adjusted afterwards.

The electronic exchange certificate (especially the identification code of the exchange certificate of a financial trust institution) of the present invention can be "produced on demand", and through the electronic method, the settlement amount that can be arbitrarily set at the time when the exchange certificate is issued , Requires financial institutions to immediately confirm whether there is a corresponding guarantee amount in the exclusive account. In addition to the settlement amount can be set freely, the amount in the trust exclusive account can also be designed by the issuer of the exchange certificate to "deposit on demand (depose on demand)".

In addition, since the electronic exchange certificate of the present invention can be cancelled by the financial trust institution immediately after use, the above-mentioned trust limit can be replied immediately. This design makes it unnecessary for the trust exclusive account to have too much idle funds and cause waste.

On the other hand, one of the technical problems to be solved by the present invention is that the traditional redemption coupons cannot be directly marked with the user's identification data (that is, the registered redemption coupons cannot be made) during the production, and the electronic redemption coupon identification code of the present invention is May contain the user's identification data (such as a phone number) as a registered coupon.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method for automatically processing electronic coupons includes the following steps, but it should be understood that the following steps need not be performed continuously, but can be performed in stages: ■ In response to a user’s request, the issuer of electronic coupons instantly passes the electronic In order to settle the amount of data, the financial trust institution requests a voucher identification code; ■ After the financial trust institution approves the request, a voucher identification code is generated, and the use status of the voucher identification code is marked as "valid"; ■ electronic The issuer of the exchange voucher receives the identification code of the exchange voucher electronically from the financial trust institution; ■ The issuer of the electronic exchange voucher creates a set of machine-readable codes based on the identification code of the exchange voucher, the amount of settlement amount, and the data of the exchange item; ■ The issuer of the electronic exchange coupon electronically transmits the set of machine-readable codes to the user terminal; ■ The user terminal records the set of machine-readable codes on a medium (for example, an optically readable medium) As an electronic exchange voucher, it is optional to record the set of machine-readable codes on the medium in the form of a 2D bar code; The device can read the codes of the set of machines to obtain the exchange coupon identification code, the exchange item information, and the settlement amount data; ■ The exchange item provider electronically sends the exchange coupon identification code to the financial trust institution, thereby The financial trust institution changed the use status of the exchange voucher identification code from "valid" to "invalid"; ■The exchange item provider electronically transmits the exchange item information and settlement amount data to the electronic exchange voucher issuer for verification Sales and requisition operations; or optionally, the exchange item provider electronically transmits the settlement amount data to the financial trust institution for requisition operations. These features and advantages of the present invention can be more clearly understood by referring to the following description and the accompanying patent application scope or using the embodiments of the present invention as mentioned below.

10‧‧‧Electronic voucher processing system

100‧‧‧ Issuer of electronic vouchers

200‧‧‧Financial Trust

300‧‧‧ Redemption project provider

400‧‧‧User terminal

EV1, EV2‧‧‧Electronic Exchange Voucher

In order to immediately understand the advantages of the present invention, please refer to the specific embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings to explain in detail the present invention briefly described above. Understand that these drawings depict only typical specific embodiments of the present invention and therefore are not to be considered as limiting the scope of the present invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings to illustrate the present invention with additional clarity and detail, in the drawings: FIG. 1 It is a schematic diagram of an electronic coupon processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an automated processing of electronic coupons according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIGS. 3A-3B show an embodiment of the present invention Electronic voucher.

First of all, the "electronic exchange certificate issuer", "financial trust institution", and "exchange item provider" referred to in this article include hardware and software corresponding to the purpose of implementing automated process steps in the present invention. (Including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.), or a combination thereof.

Computer program code for performing the operations of the present invention can be written using a combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages (such as Java, Smalltalk, C++, or the like) and traditional programming languages (such as C programming language or Other similar programming languages).

The following description of the present invention will be described with reference to flowcharts and/or block diagrams of systems, devices, methods, and computer program products according to specific embodiments of the present invention. When it is understood that each block in each flowchart and/or block diagram and any combination of blocks in the flowchart and/or block diagram can be implemented using computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be executed by a general purpose computer or special computer processor or other programmable data processing device, and the instructions are processed by the computer or other programmable data processing device to implement the flowchart and/or The function or operation described in the block diagram.

These computer program instructions can also be stored on a computer readable medium to instruct the computer or other programmable data processing device to perform specific functions, and these instructions stored on the computer readable medium constitute a finished product, The instructions included therein may implement the functions or operations illustrated in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams.

Computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device to facilitate a system operation step on the computer or other programmable device, and execute the instructions on the computer or other programmable device A computer-implemented program is generated to achieve the functions or operations described in the flowchart and/or block diagram.

Next, please refer to FIGS. 1 to 2, which show flowcharts and block diagrams of architectures, functions, and operations that can be implemented by systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. Therefore, each block in the flowchart or block diagram may represent a module, section, or part of program code, which contains one or more executable instructions to implement a specified logical function. Also note that in some other embodiments, the functions described in the blocks may not be performed in the order shown in the figure. For example, the blocks connected by the two illustrations can actually be executed at the same time, or in some cases, the functions involved can also be executed in the reverse order of the illustrations. It should also be noted that the blocks of each block diagram and/or flowchart, and the combination of blocks in the block diagram and/or flowchart, can be implemented by a system based on special purpose hardware, or by special purpose hardware Combination of computer and computer instructions to perform specific functions or operations.

<electronic coupon processing system>

As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic voucher processing system 10 includes an electronic voucher issuer 100, a financial trust institution 200, and a redemption item provider (e.g., restaurant or airline or department store) 300. The issuer 100 of electronic coupons, the financial trust institution 200, and the provider 300 of exchange items can be connected to each other to ensure transaction security, but can also be through the public Internet, but the data transmission between them is better Additional encryption is required, this part can refer to the existing electronic transaction system, the present invention is not intended to be limited.

It should be noted that, for a single electronic voucher issuer 100, multiple financial trust institutions 200 and multiple exchange item providers 300 (ie, multiple restaurants or airlines or department stores) can be used to implement the present invention. Those skilled in the art should understand that FIG. 1 is simplified for the purpose of illustrating the present invention and should not be used to limit the present invention. In addition, the present invention does not limit the electronic exchange voucher issuer 100 and the exchange item provider 300 to be independent of each other. In other words, in some embodiments, the electronic exchange voucher issuer 100 and a certain exchange item provider 300 can be integrated into one , That is, it can provide the issuance of electronic coupons and provide redemption items at the same time.

However, preferably, the electronic exchange certificate issuer 100 and the exchange item provider 300 are independent of each other, especially the electronic exchange certificate issuer 100 is used as an electronic exchange certificate issue platform (platform), that is, different exchange item providers 300 The electronic vouchers can be issued by the same electronic voucher issuer 100.

However, if it is for the purpose of "trust tickets", the financial trust institution 200 should be independent of the electronic exchange certificate issuer 100/exchange item provider 300.

FIG. 1 additionally shows a user terminal 400 (for example, a mobile phone with a display screen or a personal computer with a printing device) that can communicate electronically with the electronic voucher issuer 100, and the electronic voucher issuer 100 and the user terminal 400 can communicate via mobile phone network or other network.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a method for automatically processing electronic coupons using the electronic coupon processing system 10.

<order>

Step 210: In this embodiment, the user may request the electronic exchange coupon issuer 100 to order the electronic exchange coupon through the user terminal 400 or through other electronic (such as a website) or non-electronic channel (such as a counter). Prior to this, users can know through advertisements or other instructions that the selling price of electronic vouchers and redemption items (such as specific goods or services), but the price of electronic vouchers can also be confirmed at a later stage After the availability of the exchange item, the user will be quoted.

In one embodiment, when the electronic voucher issuer 100 requests an electronic voucher order, the user may prompt the electronic voucher issuer 100 for user identification data, for example, the electronic voucher issuer 100 pre-specifies the user's membership number Or the email address and/or phone number provided by the user.

Regarding the availability of redemption items and other redemption item information (such as redemption item identification codes), in one embodiment, before a user orders an electronic redemption voucher, the redemption voucher issuer 100 has previously confirmed with the redemption item provider 300 The availability of redemption items and obtaining the redemption item identification code (for example, in the case where the redemption certificate issuer 100 is the exclusive distributor of the redemption item provider 300), and avoid the occurrence of redemption items after selling the electronic redemption certificate to the user The exchange item that the provider 300 can provide has been sold out.

In another embodiment, after receiving the user's order request, the redemption coupon issuer 100 instantly confirms the availability of the redemption item to the redemption item provider 300 electronically and obtains the redemption item identification code, If the redemption item provider 300 replies that the redemption item cannot be provided (for example, it is already full or cancelled due to weather or force majeure factors), the redemption coupon issuer 100 rejects the user's order request. In addition, in this embodiment, if the quotation has not been submitted to the user in advance, the redemption coupon issuer 100 can also request the selling item data from the redemption item provider 300 through electronic means in this step. After 300 replies, the quotation will be given to the user in real time.

After obtaining the selling price information and the redemption item information (such as the redemption item identification code), the electronic voucher issuer 100 will accept the user's order and pay according to the selling price data, and enter the issuance operation of the electronic voucher (or (Called invoicing operation), see step 212 below.

<issue/invoice>

Step 212: The electronic exchange certificate issuer 100 uses the price data of the electronic exchange certificate (that is, the user's payment amount) as the settlement amount data, and requests the exchange certificate identification from the financial trust institution 200 for the settlement amount data through electronic means code. The electronic voucher in this embodiment is designed as a "full trust ticket", so the financial trust institution 200 confirms whether there is a sufficient amount in the trust exclusive account as a guarantee for the user's payment amount, if the financial trust institution If the confirmation is passed in 200, a valid coupon identification code is provided, which is sent back to the issuer 100 of the electronic coupon by electronic means. In addition, the financial trust institution 200 also notes the use status of the redemption coupon identification code as "valid" at its own end, and it can be opened for public inquiry.

Step 214: After the electronic voucher issuer 100 receives the voucher identification code electronically from the financial trust institution 200, the electronic voucher issuer 100 can create a set based on the voucher identification code, settlement amount data, and redemption item data The machine can read the code. In another embodiment, the electronic voucher issuer 100 can make the machine readable based on the voucher identification code, settlement amount data, exchange item data, and user identification data (such as a phone number) provided by the user code. One of the advantages of adding user identification data to the machine-readable code is to provide "name", so that the group of machine-readable codes can be tracked and controlled in use in the future.

Optionally, the electronic exchange coupon issuer 100 may encrypt or process other data of the set of machine-readable codes according to a preset method, but this is not necessary for the present invention. In a preferred embodiment, the electronic voucher issuer 100 may use user identification data (such as a phone number) as a password to encrypt the machine-readable code. For the details of this encryption, please refer to the existing methods such as creating encrypted PDF files or MICROSOFT WORD files, which will not be repeated here. One of the advantages of encrypting with user identification data can further ensure that the set of machine-readable codes can only be obtained by the user or the person authorized by the user, thereby reducing the risk of misappropriation. And because only users can know their user identification data, when the user decrypts the encrypted readable code of the group of machines with their user identification data, it can be used as the electronic coupon issuer 100 to have the group of machines The basis for delivery of the readable code to the user. However, in other embodiments, the electronic voucher issuer 100 may randomly generate a random number as a password to encrypt the set of machine-readable codes, and the method of decryption will be described in the subsequent step 216.

Step 216: The electronic exchange coupon issuer 100 electronically transmits the set of machine-readable codes to the user terminal 400, whereby the user terminal 400 records the set of machine-readable codes on the medium as electronic Exchange vouchers, and here the electronic exchange voucher issuer 100 completes the issuance of electronic exchange vouchers.

In the case where the user provides an email address or phone number as user identification data, the electronic coupon issuer 100 can send the set of machine-readable codes to the user terminal according to the email address or phone number 400. One of the advantages of this approach can further ensure that the machine readable codes are sent to the address specified by the user.

In the embodiment in which the electronic voucher issuer 100 encrypts the set of machine-readable codes with a random number as the password, the electronic voucher issuer 100 preferably uses the electronic address based on the e-mail address provided by the user. Send the machine-readable code to the user terminal 400 by mail. The email contains an electronic file (such as a PDF file or a WORD file) generated by encrypting the machine-readable code. In addition, the text of the email can be There is an activation link (URL) that points to the electronic coupon issuer 100. Therefore, when the user clicks this activation link, the electronic coupon issuer 100 will be triggered to decrypt the password required by the machine-readable code. Send to the user through a channel other than e-mail and agreed with the user in advance (for example, through the Short Message Service (SMS) of the mobile phone), so that the user can use this password to decrypt the machine-readable code. In this way, once the machine-readable code is successfully decrypted with the password sent by the electronic voucher issuer 100, the electronic voucher issuer 100 has delivered the set of machine-readable code to the user in accordance with.

It should be noted here that the media does not need to be part of the user terminal 400, but can be independent of the user terminal 400, and the media can be implemented as various types of computer memory, magnetically readable media, optically Read media, even paper or other print media. Preferably, the medium in the present invention enables the set of machine-readable codes recorded on it to be read by the reader in a non-contact manner.

Preferably, the electronic coupon of the present invention is a portable electronic coupon. In one embodiment, the user terminal 400 is a personal computer with a printing device. After receiving the machine-readable code transmitted by the electronic exchange coupon issuer 100, it can be printed on the paper in the form of a 2D barcode The electronic exchange coupon EV1 formed in paper form can be read in a non-contact manner through a conventional 2D barcode reader (not shown) as shown in FIG. 3A.

In another embodiment of the portable electronic voucher, the user terminal 400 is a mobile phone or other portable electronic device with a display screen, which can be read by the machine transmitted by the issuer 100 after receiving the electronic voucher After the code, the image of the 2D barcode can be displayed on the display screen of the mobile phone to form a non-physical form of electronic voucher EV2, as shown in FIG. 3B, or through a conventional 2D barcode reader (not shown) ) Read in a non-contact manner. In this regard, the user terminal 400 may need to install a specific application program to display a 2D barcode image, but this should be known to those skilled in the art, and will not be repeated here.

<Logout and settlement>

Step 218: When in use, the user prompts the electronic voucher as described above (which may be a paper or non-physical form of electronic voucher), and the redemption item provider 300 reads the electronic voucher with a reader (not shown) The set of machines on the above can read the code to obtain the redemption coupon identification code, redemption item information and settlement amount data.

Step 220: The exchange item provider 300 electronically transmits the exchange coupon identification code to the financial trust institution 200, requesting to confirm whether the exchange coupon identification code is valid, and if it is valid, further requesting the financial trust institution 200 to use the exchange coupon identification code Change the note from "valid" to "invalid", that is, cancel the electronic voucher to avoid repeated use. The redeemed voucher identification code can also be opened for public inquiry to protect transaction security.

Step 222: On the other hand, if the financial trust institution 200 confirms that the redemption certificate identification code is valid and cancels it, the redemption project provider 300 may further electronically transfer the redemption project information and settlement amount data to the electronic redemption coupon issuer 100 For verification and requisition operations; or alternatively, the exchange item provider 300 transmits the settlement amount information to the financial trust institution 200 through electronic means to perform the requisition operation, whereby the financial trust institution 200 can be scheduled from The account (or the aforementioned exclusive account as a guarantee) is allocated to the redemption project provider 300 and/or the electronic voucher issuer 100.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the present invention. Each aspect of the specific embodiments should be considered illustrative only and not limiting. Therefore, the scope of the present invention is shown in the scope of the accompanying patent application rather than the foregoing description. All changes within the equivalent meaning and scope of the scope of patent application shall be deemed to fall within the scope of patent application.

Claims (1)

A method for automatically processing electronic coupons includes: (a) An issuer of electronic coupons receives an exchange coupon identification code electronically from a financial trust institution, wherein the exchange coupon identification code corresponds to a settlement amount data; (b) The issuer of the electronic voucher creates a set of machine-readable codes based on the voucher identification code; (c) The issuer of the electronic voucher electronically transmits the set of machine-readable codes to a user Terminal, by which the user terminal records the set of machine-readable codes on a medium as an electronic coupon.

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