WO2003050737A1

WO2003050737A1 - Gift card shopping system, gift card shopping server, and computer program used therein

Info

Publication number: WO2003050737A1
Application number: PCT/JP2001/010856
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yoshinori Tsukawaki
Original assignee: Sas Japan Inc.
Priority date: 2001-12-11
Filing date: 2001-12-11
Publication date: 2003-06-19
Also published as: AU2002221121A1; JPWO2003050737A1

Abstract

A gift card is used in which a specific ID is recorded in advance. When such a gift card is sold, either the nominal amount of the gift card or the ranks of purchasable commodities are related to the ID and they are stored in a server. The gift card is sent from the sender to the recipient, or user. When the user does the shopping through the Internet, the user can purchase a commodity of a price within the nominal amount or rank stored in the server, by using the ID of the gift card. Therefore, the recipient of the present can select a commodity, and the degree of freedom of selection of commodity can be remarkably enhanced without using any printed catalogue.

Description

Specification

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a gift card shopping system, a gift card shopping server, and a computer program used therefor.

The present invention relates to a so-called online shopping system, and more particularly to a system and a server capable of performing shopping via the Internet using a novel gift card, and a computer program thereof. Conventional technology

Conventionally, various systems for purchasing products using communication means such as the Internet, such as various online shopping systems such as virtual mall, have been developed and put into practical use. In these conventional systems, there are a system in which the buyer specifies the product and the amount is deducted from the credit card, and a system in which the buyer can send the product to a third party as a gift .

However, in a conventional system, when a product is presented from a sender to a destination, it is possible to send only a specific selected product, and the destination person, that is, the recipient of the present, may select the product. could not. As a system in which the recipient of the present can select a product, there is a system similar to catalog sales. In this system, the recipient of the present selects the product from a catalog in which the product information is printed. In this method, the number of the selected product is written on a prescribed form and mailed, or the seller is notified via the Internet or the like. Therefore, select from the products listed in the catalog. And the freedom of choice was limited. Also, the mailing, storage and disposal of printed catalogs was cumbersome and expensive, and resources were wasted. Disclosure of the invention

Therefore, the present invention provides a shopping system, a server, and a computer thereof, which enable a recipient of a present to select a product, and that can greatly increase the degree of freedom in selecting a product without using a catalog of printed matter. The purpose is to provide the program.

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, a gift card in which a specific ID is recorded in advance is used, and at the time of selling the gift card, the face value of the gift card or a product that can be purchased in association with the ID. Is stored in the server, and the gift card is sent from the sender to the destination user, and when the user shopping via the Internet, the ID is stored in the server from the ID of the gift card. Products are purchased using face value or rank.

That is, according to the present invention, the gift card purchased by the sender of the gift card is stored in the server of the seller of the gift card or its associated server in association with the ID specifying the gift card. After the gift card has been sent to the destination user, when the user attempts to purchase a product via the Internet using the gift card, the terminal used by the user is sent from the gift card. The server reads the ID and transmits it to the server, and the server notifies the user of the gift card of the face value or balance of the gift card so that the user purchases a product using the face value or balance. When the purchase of a product is made, the server reads the value from the par value or the balance. A gift card shopping system is provided that is configured to reduce the price of the purchased product, maintain a new balance, and issue a shipping instruction for the product.

Further, according to the present invention, the amount of the gift card purchased by the sender of the gift card is stored in the server of the seller of the gift card or its associated server in association with the ID for specifying the gift card. When the user attempts to purchase a product via the Internet using the gift card after the gift is sent to the destination user, the terminal used by the user is The ID is read from the gift card and transmitted to the server, and the server notifies the user of the gift card of a shopping rank that can be purchased with the gift card or information of a product corresponding to the rank. The user can purchase a product using the rank or information of the product corresponding thereto, and Gift card shopping, which is configured to store the power of erasing the stored rank or the fact that a product of the rank has been purchased when the customer enters the product, and the server issues a shipping instruction of the product. A system is provided.

Further, according to the present invention, when a gift card in which an ID as information for identifying a gift card is recorded is purchased, a means for storing a face value of the gift card in association with the ID,

Means for transmitting the denomination to the user's terminal when the ID is transmitted, when the user attempts to shop via a terminal connected to the Internet using the gift card;

Means for storing, when the user has purchased a product, subtracting the amount of the product from the denomination and replacing the balance with the denomination,

A hand instructing that the product be shipped once the product has been purchased The steps and

A gift card shopping server is provided.

According to the present invention, when a gift card in which an ID as information for identifying a gift card is recorded is purchased, a rank of a product that can be purchased with the gift card is stored in association with the ID. ,

When the user attempts to shop via a terminal connected to the Internet using the gift card, and when the ID is transmitted, the information of the rank or the product corresponding to the rank is transmitted to the user. Means for transmitting to the terminal;

Means for erasing the stored rank when the user purchases a product, or storing that the product of the rank has been purchased;

Means for instructing the product to be shipped when the product is purchased,

A gift card shopping server is provided.

Further, according to the present invention, when a gift card in which an ID as information for identifying a gift card is recorded is purchased, a face value of the gift card is stored in association with the ID.

When the user wants to shop through a terminal connected to the Internet using the gift card, when the ID is transmitted, transmitting the denomination to the user terminal; When the user purchases a product, a step of reducing the amount of the product from the denomination and storing a balance instead of the denomination,

When the purchase of the product is made, a step for instructing the product to be sent out includes:

Gift card show to make a computer perform the method A computer program for a bing server is provided.

Further, according to the present invention, when a gift card in which an ID as information for identifying a gift card is recorded is purchased, the rank of a product that can be purchased with the gift card is stored in association with the ID. And when the user attempts to shop using a terminal connected to the Internet using the gift card, the ID or the information of the product corresponding to the rank is transmitted when the ID is transmitted. Transmitting to the user's terminal;

Deleting the stored rank when the user purchases a product, or storing that the product of the rank has been purchased;

A computer program for a gift card shopping server for causing a computer to execute the method having the above is provided. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The above objects and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the embodiments described in conjunction with the following drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of a gift card shopping system according to the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of data registered in the server of the shop in FIG. 1,

Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing the procedure for issuing a gift card at the shop in Fig. 1.

Figure 4 shows that the user in Figure 1 uses the terminal to connect to the shop server. Flowchart showing the procedure for selecting a product by accessing it. Fig. 5 shows the issuance of a gift card at the shop in Fig. 1 when the product rank is set according to the gift card in Fig. 1. Flip chart showing the procedure of

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a procedure in which the user in FIG. 1 accesses the shop server using the terminal and selects a product according to the rank set in FIG. 5,

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of data recorded on a gift card. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the entirety of a preferred embodiment of a gift card shopping system according to the present invention. The shop 30 may be an actual store or a virtual mall, but in the present embodiment, the shop 30 will be described as a department store. The presenter (gift) sender 10 asks to go to a department store (shop 30) (or buy it via the Internet) to purchase a gift card 40 and send it to the designated destination 20. I do. In this specification, the destination 20, that is, the recipient of the gift card 40 is referred to as a user. The gift card 40 is sent directly from the department store (shop) 30 to the destination (user) 20, but the sender 10 receives the gift card 40 and sends it to the destination (user) 20. It may be mailed to 0 or handed over. The gift card 40 is, for example, a recording medium on which business card-sized electronic data can be recorded. For example, a so-called hybrid card having a ROM portion and a recordable R portion in a plastic card is used. Can be. The ROM part stores in advance the shop's introduction, advertisement, the URL of the shop to enable Internet access, or a program that automates the procedure to connect to the Internet. Can be kept. In the R portion, an ID is recorded as information for specifying a recording medium that is the gift card. As the ID, for example, 8-bit data can be used, of which 6 bits can be used as a serial number and the other 2 bits can be used as check bits. Since the data structure of this hybrid card conforms to the basic standard of CD (Compact Disc), it has TOC (Table Contents), and if it is inserted into a CD drive during recording and playback, The TOC is read first, and the information read from it specifies the next information area to be read.

At Shop 30, when this gift card 40 is inserted into the CD drive 32A of the terminal 32 installed at the sales floor or the like, the TOC is first read out, and then specified according to the instructions of the TOC. The program recorded in the ROM area is read. However, this program is used when a user uses a gift card. At the stage of issuing the gift card in shop 30, the program is stored in advance on the hard disk of the terminal 32 or the like. The CPU (Central Processing Unit) of the terminal 32 operates according to the program. That is, the terminal 32 can control the CD drive 32A to sequentially read and write necessary information. Specifically, as will be described later, an instruction to input or select the denomination of the gift card 40 is displayed on the display screen of the terminal 32 based on the data of the amount input screen. The operator of the terminal 32 inputs (selects) the face value of the gift card 40. This input is the force of using the keyboard or displayed on the screen This is done by selecting an appropriate amount from a plurality of face values with a mouse or the like. Now, assume that a gift card of 300,000 yen has been sold. The sender, that is, the purchaser of the gift card, writes the name, address, destination name, address, etc. on the prescribed form and gives it to the clerk, so the operator can also enter the name of the purchaser it can. FIG. 2 shows a list of information input by the terminal 32 when the gift card 40 is sold in this way. This information is transmitted to the server 34 via the LAN 36 in the store. If the sales date uses the data stored in the terminal 32, it is not necessary to input the data one by one, and the ID is the one read from the R part of the gift card 40 as it is. I have to.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process in the terminal 32 in the department 30. When the power of the terminal 32 is turned on, a predetermined initialization is performed (step S1), and a screen for inputting (selecting) the amount is displayed, and it is confirmed whether the amount has been input (step S2). . When the amount is entered, the ID is read from the R portion of the gift card 40 (step S3). This ID is stored (registered) in the storage device in the server 34 together with the amount entered in step S2 (step S4). At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, it is preferable to store other information in association with the information. Next, the completion of the registration is confirmed (step S5), and the operation of issuing the gift card 40 ends.

In this way, the gift card 40 is sold and mailed from the shop 30 to the destination (user) 20. The user 20 accesses the server 34 of the department store 30 via the Internet 50 using the terminal 22 at home, for example. The server 34 has a homepage display function, and normally displays and maintains the homepage in step S11. On this homepage, there is an online shopping (catalog display request) page. If this page is selected by the user 20, step S12 becomes YES and step S13 becomes the product catalog. Are sequentially displayed. When a purchased product is selected, step S14 becomes YES, and a payment method selection screen is displayed in step S15. There are two payment methods: a normal credit card method and a gift card method. The user 20 can select either method.

If a credit card is selected, step S16 becomes NO, and the process goes to step S25, where an operation by a conventionally known charging process is performed. On the other hand, if a gift card is selected, the process goes from step S16 to step S17 to read the ID of the gift card 40, and then, in step S18, authentication of whether the card is a legitimate gift card is performed. Done. As described above, when the gift card 40 is loaded into the CD drive of the terminal 22, the TOC is read, and the program of the ROM is read by the instruction, and the R is read by the instruction of the program. The part is accessed and the ID is read. The authentication method will be described later along Fig. 5. If it is authenticated, the face value or balance of the gift card 40 is read from the ID in step S19, and then the price of the product previously selected in step S14 is read in step 20. Subtract from 40 face value or balance. The balance obtained as a result of the subtraction is registered as a new balance in step S21, and is registered in a form in which the par value or balance up to that time is updated. In step S22, it is determined whether or not there is an instruction to end the purchase. If not, the process returns to step S13 to select the next product.

If there is an instruction to end the purchase in step S22, a job end screen is displayed in step S23, and the shipping instruction for the purchased product is issued and the To The shipping instruction is based on the product code number and the destination, that is, the user

This is done by recording data including 20 addresses and names in the shipping database. Note that it is a preferable mode to record the address and name of the sender 10 and the date and time of product selection in this shipping database.

After finishing step S25, go to step S22. If the gift card 40 is not valid in step S18, a message indicating that the gift card 40 cannot be used is displayed in step S24, and the process proceeds to step S25 to perform charging processing using the credit card. Do.

In the above embodiment, the face value is stored in the server 34 corresponding to the ID of the gift card 40. However, as another embodiment, the rank of the product is stored. Is also good. For example, if you give a gift card 40 instead of giving a gift for a wedding reception to an inviting guest, for example, three ranks of pine, bamboo, plum, A, B, and C are provided, each corresponding to a predetermined amount It is set to do so. For example, "pine" is determined to be ¥ 20,000, "bamboo" power is determined to be ¥ 12,000, and "plum" is determined to be ¥ 6,000. Now, the case where the “Bamboo” rank is selected will be described. The purchaser of the gift card 40 shall apply in advance for the purchase of a gift card 40 having a rank of "bamboo" by devert 30.

In this case, the gift card 40 is issued according to the flowchart of FIG. 5 instead of the flowchart of FIG. In the flowchart of FIG. 5, step S2 in FIG. 3 is changed to step S2A, and it is determined whether or not the rank of “bamboo” is input instead of the amount. In addition, step S 4 in FIG. 3 is changed to step S 4 A, and the ID and rank “bamboo” are registered in the server 34. Other steps in the flowchart shown in Fig. 5 are the same as in Fig. 3. Therefore, the description is omitted.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for selecting a product according to the rank of the product. The user 20 accesses the server 34 of Devert 30 via the Internet 50 using, for example, a terminal 22 at home. The server 34 has a homepage display function. In step S31, the homepage is normally displayed and maintained. On this home page, there is a page of online shopping (catalog display request). If this page is selected by user 2, step S32 becomes YES and step S33 becomes YES. A screen is provided to display the product's catalog. In this screen, there is provided an icon for designating a product selection mode based on a predetermined rank, instead of arbitrarily selecting a product.

In this case, the screen of the terminal 22 of the user may indicate that the selection is based on the rank. However, in order to prevent the user from being conscious of the selection based on the rank, for example, a “drawing thing” Provide a display icon. When a purchased product is selected, the step S34 becomes YES, and the ID is read from the gift card 40 in the step S35. If NO in step S34, it is not a product selection by rank, so the process goes to step S14 in FIG. 4 and the above-described operation is performed.

After step S35, it is determined in step S36 whether the gift card is legitimate. Steps S36 and S41 are the same as steps S18 and S24 in FIG. In step S37, the rank registered in the server 34 is read based on the ID read in step S35, and then, in step S38, a catalog of the product of the rank is displayed. In other words, since the rank corresponding to this ID is "bamboo", only products with a price of ¥ 1,200 are displayed. In step S39, the product is selected Then, it indicates that the selection of the product has been completed in step S40, and the shipping instruction of the product is performed in the same manner as in step S23 of FIG.

With this method of selecting products by rank, the user 20 (the destination receiving the gift) cannot know the specific rank name (in this case, “bamboo”) or its corresponding price. Since the products of the rank are displayed together in advance, selection is easy. Also, from the viewpoint of the sender 10, it is convenient that the rank name and the amount are not known to the destination 20.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing the structure (data format) of data written in the R portion of the data recorded on the gift card 40. The ID in (1) is a code that specifies the application when this gift card 40 was manufactured. The issue serial number (card ID) power S in (2) is different for each card, that is, the ID unique to the gift card 40 concerned. Therefore, one card is identified by the combination of the ID of ① and the card of ②. In addition, a region code and version information can be entered.

Here, an authentication method for determining whether or not the card is a legitimate gift card will be described. Now, it is assumed that each of the data ① to ① in FIG. 7 has the following contents.

φ 0x0001

② 0x00000001 (Serial number first)

③ 001

④ 000001

⑤ 1.01

⑦ 2001

スペース 20 spaces In the case of, authentication is performed by performing the following calculation.

a) ① 0x00 + 0x01

② 0x00 + 0x00 + 0x00 + 0x01

③ 0x30 + 0x30 + 0x31

④ 0x30 + 0x30 + 0x30 + 0x30 + 0x30 + 0x31

⑤ 0x31 + 0x2E + 0x30 + 0x31

⑥ 0x30 + 0x30 + 0x30 + 0x30 + 0x31

⑦ 0x32 + 0x30 + 0x30 + 0x31

⑧ 0x20 + 0x20 + b) ① + ② + ③ + ④ + ⑤ + ⑥ + ⑦ + ⑧ when the result is 0x000006A8

c) The last two characters (1 Byte) of the result of b shall be CheckSum (checksum). In this case, it is # A8.

Industrial applicability

As described above, according to the present invention, a gift card in which a specific ID is recorded in advance is used, and when the gift card is sold, it can be associated with the ID and the face value of the gift card or can be purchased. The rank of the product is stored in the server, and the gift card is sent from the sender to the destination user. When the user shopping via the Internet, the amount stored in the server from the ID of the gift card Products can be purchased using face value or rank, so that the recipient of the present can select the product, and the product selection flexibility is extremely high without using the catalog of printed matter. Is possible.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. The amount of the gift card purchased by the sender of the gift card is stored in association with the ID for identifying the gift card in the seller of the gift card or a server associated therewith, and the gift card is sent to the destination. When the user tries to purchase a product via the Internet using the gift card after being sent to the user, the terminal used by the user reads the ID from the gift card and sends it to the server. Transmitting, the server notifies the user of the gift card of the face value or the balance of the gift card, so that the user can purchase the product using the face value or the balance, and when the product purchase is performed, The server subtracts the value of the purchased product from the par value or balance and holds a new balance; Gift Tokadosho Tsu Bing systems that are configured to perform the shipping instructions.

2. Store the amount of the gift card purchased by the sender of the gift card in association with the ID specifying the gift card in the seller of the gift card or a server associated therewith, and When the user tries to purchase a product via the Internet using the gift card after the user is sent to the destination user, the terminal used by the user reads the ID from the gift card. To the server, and the server notifies the user of the gift card of the shopping card that can be purchased with the gift card or information of a product corresponding to the rank, thereby allowing the user to perform the ranking or the shopping. It is possible to purchase a product using the information of the product corresponding to the product. Clear the rank Or a gift card shopping system configured to store that the product of the rank has been purchased, and the server is configured to issue a shipping instruction of the product.

3. means for storing a face value of the gift card in association with the ID when a gift card having an ID recorded thereon as information for identifying the gift card is purchased,

Means for transmitting the denomination to the user terminal when the ID is transmitted, when the user attempts to shop via a terminal connected to the Internet using the gift card; ,

Means for instructing the product to be shipped when the product is purchased,

Gift card shopping server.

4. means for, when a gift card in which an ID as information for identifying a gift card is recorded is purchased, storing the rank of a product that can be purchased with the gift card in association with the ID;

When the user intends to shop using the gift card via a terminal connected to the Internet, when the ID is transmitted, the information of the rank or the product corresponding to the rank is transmitted to the user. Means for transmitting to the terminal;

Means for erasing the stored rank when the user purchases a product, or storing that the product of the rank has been purchased; Means for instructing the product to be shipped when the product is purchased,

Gift card shopping server.

5. When a gift card in which the ID as information for identifying the gift card is recorded is purchased, a step of storing the face value of the gift card in association with the ID;

When the user attempts to shop via a terminal connected to the Internet using the gift card, when the ID is transmitted, a step of transmitting the denomination to the terminal of the user; When the user purchases a product, a step of reducing the amount of the product from the denomination and storing a balance instead of the denomination,

When the product is purchased, a step for instructing the product to be shipped is

A computer program for a gift car shopping server for causing a computer to execute the method.

6. When a gift card in which an ID as information for identifying a gift card is recorded is purchased, a rank of a product that can be purchased with the gift card is stored in association with the ID.

When the user intends to shop using the gift card via a terminal connected to the Internet, when the ID is transmitted, the information of the rank or the product corresponding to the rank is transmitted to the user. Transmitting to the terminal;

When the user purchases a product, the stored rank is deleted, or the fact that a product of the rank has been purchased is stored. Steps

A computer program for a gift card shopping server for causing a computer to execute the method.