JP3387361B2 - Point system and terminal device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a point system in which points generated by transactions are cumulatively managed by a host device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, point services are provided as one of customer services in shopping centers and department stores. This point service cumulatively gives points according to the transaction amount to a customer who has made a transaction when a transaction is made at any store in a shopping center or a department store, and the accumulated points are predetermined. It is a service that provides free gifts and discount tickets to a large number of customers.

The purpose of providing this service by a shopping center or department store is to promote the customer's willingness to purchase and to improve sales, and to manage the points to manage the customer at the shopping center or department store. .

[0004]

However, in the conventional point service, since the point management for each customer is the entire shopping center or department store, only the customer management at the group level such as the shopping center or department store can be performed. That is, there is a problem that customer management cannot be performed at the level of a shopping center or a store in a department store.

Further, even if a plurality of groups such as shopping centers jointly try to implement the point service, the point management for each customer is performed for each group.
There was a problem that it took a lot of time to collect points between the joint groups.

An object of the present invention is to provide a point system capable of managing points at a plurality of levels such as a store level and a group level such as a shopping center or a department store to which the store is affiliated, and a terminal device applied to this point system. To provide.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a point system in which a point service in which a plurality of groups are combined can be easily implemented, and a terminal device applied to this point system.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of terminal devices are connected to a host device, and the host device manages points generated for transactions processed by any terminal device. In the point system, the host device stores a plurality of blocks corresponding to the terminal device, a first storage unit storing a hierarchical structure indicating a link relationship between these blocks and other blocks, and each block. A second storage unit that stores points, and when points are generated for a transaction processed in an arbitrary terminal device, the points of the corresponding block of the terminal device are updated in the second storage unit, And a control unit that also updates the points of blocks linked to the block.

In this configuration, when a transaction is processed in any terminal device and points are generated, the points of the corresponding block of the terminal device and other blocks linked to this block are updated. Therefore, if the block corresponding to the terminal device is set as the store block and this block is linked to the block corresponding to the member organization of the store such as the shopping center or department store, point management at the store level and shopping center or department store You can manage points at the group level. Therefore, the point service at the store level and the point service at the group level can be easily implemented. Further, not only the customer management of the entire shopping center or department store, but also the customer management at the store level can be performed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the hierarchical structure of the blocks is such that the lowest layer in which the block corresponding to the terminal device is arranged and the highest layer in which the block corresponding to the host device is arranged. It is characterized by comprising a hierarchy and one or more intermediate layers in which blocks corresponding to groups and the like to which stores provided with terminal devices are attached are arranged.

With this configuration, customer management can be performed individually for the shops that conduct transactions, the organizations to which the shops are members, and the whole.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when the point is generated for an arbitrary block for the first time, the control section generates an area for storing the point of the block in the second storage section. Characterize.

In this structure, for the block having no points to be managed, the area for storing the points is not provided in the second storage unit from the beginning, and when the points are first generated in the block, the points of the block are Is stored in the second storage unit. Therefore, the second
The storage capacity of the storage unit can be saved.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the control unit causes the second storage unit to store points for each block in units of a group of one person or a plurality of persons.

With this configuration, the points for each block can be aggregated even in a group of a plurality of people.
For example, you can manage the total points of the whole family.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the host apparatus stores a point grant rate used for calculating the number of points to be generated for a transaction for each block.
It is characterized by having a storage unit of.

In this configuration, since the point-giving rate is stored for each block, a group such as a store, a shopping center or a department store can set the point-giving rate independently.

The invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that the third storage unit also stores a point granting rate for a designated period which is valid only for a designated period.

With this configuration, since the point award rate of the designated period can be stored in the third storage unit, the point service in which the point award rate is changed for a specific period can be easily implemented.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the control unit includes a plurality of blocks of the same hierarchy in the second storage unit.
It is characterized by storing points as one block.

In this structure, since points are stored as blocks in the same layer as one block, management of points related to point services jointly implemented by a plurality of shopping centers and the like is the point of this block. Can be stored. Therefore, even if a plurality of organizations jointly implement the point service, it does not take time to collect the points.

The invention described in claim 8 is defined by claims 1 to 7.
It is a configuration of a terminal device applied to the point system according to any one of 1.

[0023]

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a point system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the point system of this embodiment, a plurality of terminal devices 2 (CAT terminal devices or the like) that process transactions are connected to a host device 1 that manages points. In the figure, A group is a group of terminal devices 2 installed in each store in the shopping center A, B group is a group of terminal devices 2 installed in each store in the department store B, and C group is a shopping group. A group of terminal devices 2 installed in each store of the center C, and a D group is a group of terminal devices 2 installed in each store of the shopping center D. It should be noted that the host device 1 is also connected to the terminal devices 2 of groups other than the groups A to D described above. Also,
Each store in the shopping center A is affiliated with the shopping center A, which is an organization. Similarly, Group B stores are affiliated with the department store B, Group C stores are affiliated with the group Shopping Center C, and group D stores are affiliated with the Group Shopping Center D. There is.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the host device. In the figure, reference numeral 11 is a control unit for performing point management control. Reference numeral 12 denotes a first block which stores a plurality of blocks corresponding to the connected terminal device 2 and a link relationship between these blocks and other blocks (a block corresponding to the host device 1 or a shopping center or a department store as a group). It is a storage unit. A second storage unit 13 stores the points generated for each block. Reference numeral 14 is a third storage unit that stores the point award rate for each block. A fourth storage unit 15 stores a customer master in which customer information is registered for each customer. Reference numeral 16 is an input unit provided with a keyboard for performing input operations. 17 is
A communication unit that communicates transaction data and the like with the terminal device 2. The first storage unit 12, the second storage unit 13, the third storage unit 14, and the fourth storage unit 15 are stored on one storage medium (hard disk, CD-ROM, etc.). The area may be provided, or the storage area may be provided on a plurality of storage media. For example, the first storage unit 12
The storage areas of the second storage section 13 and the second storage section 13 may be provided on one storage medium, and the storage areas of the third storage section 14 and the fourth storage section 15 may be provided on different storage media.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a hierarchical structure showing a link relation of blocks stored in the first storage unit. In this embodiment, the hierarchical structure of blocks is three layers. In the figure, the lowest level (third level) is the store level,
The middle hierarchy (second hierarchy) is the hierarchy of groups such as shopping centers and department stores to which stores are affiliated, and the highest hierarchy (first hierarchy) is the overall hierarchy to which these organizations are affiliated. . In the third layer, the terminal device 2 is installed and blocks corresponding to stores where transactions are actually conducted with customers are arranged. Terminal device 2 provided in each store
Corresponds to the corresponding block of the own store. Also, the second
Stores on the third level (stores corresponding to blocks)
The blocks corresponding to the organizations that are affiliated with are arranged. For example, blocks corresponding to groups such as shopping center A, department store B, shopping center C, and shopping center D are arranged. In addition, the block of the affiliated organization of the stores arranged in the second layer and the block of the affiliated shop of this organization are linked. For example, in the block of the shopping center A shown in FIG.
Corresponding blocks of the stores of the group are linked, blocks of the department store B are linked to the blocks of stores of the B group, and blocks of shopping center C are linked to the blocks of stores of the C group. ,
The blocks of the shopping center D are linked to the corresponding blocks of the stores of the D group. It should be noted that the block of the organization arranged in the second hierarchy and the block of the store which is not a member of this organization are not linked. further,
Blocks (entire blocks) corresponding to the host device 1 are arranged in the first hierarchy. This whole block is linked to all the blocks arranged in the second hierarchy and the third hierarchy. Therefore, each corresponding block of the stores in the group A shown in FIG. 3 is linked to the block corresponding to the shopping center A and the whole block. Similarly, each block corresponding to the store of the B group is linked to the block corresponding to the department store B and the whole block, and each block corresponding to the store of the C group is linked to the block corresponding to the shopping center C and the whole block. However, each block corresponding to the stores of the D group is linked to the block corresponding to the shopping center D and the entire block. The first storage unit 12 stores a hierarchical structure showing the above-mentioned link relationship between blocks.

The second storage unit 13 stores the point management information 20 in which a totaling box 21 for totaling points for each block is registered (see FIG. 4). Tally box 2
1 is a group code for identifying a group, a store code for identifying a store, a member number for identifying a customer, the number of stored points stored, the cumulative number of points including used points, and the date when the last point occurred The latest visit date indicating, the first use date indicating the date when this total box 21 was created,
Information such as the presence or absence of association indicating whether or not a plurality of blocks in the second layer are associated is stored. Details of the federation will be described later. There is no information stored in the part indicated by-in the figure.

One point management information 20 is generated for one customer (or a group of a plurality of people).
Therefore, the second storage unit 13 stores a plurality of point management information 20 for each customer (or a group of a plurality of people). Further, in the point management information 20 generated for a group of a plurality of people, the points generated for the transactions performed by each person of this group are totaled as the points of this group. For example, when the family of four is one group, four points management information 20 is set for each person.
Instead of storing one, one point management information 20 is stored for this group. Then, the point management information 20 is used to manage points for four family members. Therefore, a single point management information 20 can manage a plurality of customers, and the storage capacity of the second storage unit 13 can be saved.

When the customer makes a transaction using the card for the first time, the point management information 20 for the customer (or group) is generated in the second storage unit 13. At this time, in the point management information 20, the total box 21 of the blocks in which points are generated is generated. That is,
In the point management information 20, the totaling box 21 of the blocks for which points have not occurred is not generated. If the total box 21 corresponding to the block in which points are generated does not exist in the point management information 20, the point management information 2
A totaling box 21 for the block is generated at 0.
Therefore, it is not necessary to register the totaling box 21 for the block having no points to be managed in the point management information 20. Thereby, the storage capacity of the second storage unit 13 can be saved.

The third storage unit 14 stores the point giving information in which the point giving rate in the normal time or the designated period is set for each block shown in FIG. 3 (see FIG. 5). Therefore, points to be generated for the transaction amount can be freely set for each block. In addition, in the figure, -indicates that the designated period and the point-giving rate in the designated period are not set. The points generated for an arbitrary block are: generated points = transaction amount × point reward rate of the block. If the points are generated within the designated period, the points to be generated are calculated using the point grant rate of the designated period.

As described above, since the point-giving rate can be set for each block, the point service unique to the store can be easily implemented. In addition, since the point-giving rate for the designated period can be set, it is possible to easily change the point-giving rate only during a specific period such as a bargain sale.

The fourth storage unit 15 stores a customer master 30 in which customer information such as an address and a name is registered for each customer (see FIG. 6). When this customer master 30 is registered, a card in which a membership number or the like is stored is issued to the customer. Then, when a customer makes a transaction at any store using this card, points are generated for any of the blocks.

The management control of points in the point system of this embodiment will be described below. At the store, the terminal device 2 that processes transactions is caused to read information such as a member number stored in a card owned by the customer, and inputs transaction details. The terminal device 2 transmits the transaction information shown in FIG. 7 to the host device 1 based on this input. This transaction information includes the transaction number that identifies the transaction,
A store code for identifying a store, a group code for identifying a group to which the store is a member, a member number of a customer, a transaction amount, a classification code of a product to be transacted, and the like are included.

Upon receiving the transaction information transmitted from the terminal device 2, the host device 1 executes the processing shown in FIG. The host device 1 determines whether or not it is a customer whose customer master 30 is registered in the fourth storage unit 15 by using the member number included in the received transaction information as a key (n1). Here, if the corresponding customer master 30 is not registered, the card used in the store is regarded as an invalid card and the process ends. Therefore, points will not be erroneously earned for transactions in which an invalid card is used. On the other hand, if the customer master 30 is registered, the block in which points are generated in this transaction is extracted (n2). In this embodiment, points are earned for the block corresponding to the shop where the transaction was made and the block linked to this block shown in FIG. For example, in the case where a transaction is made at store A1 in FIG.
Points are generated for the three blocks of the store A1, the shopping center A, and the whole. Then the second
It is determined whether or not the point management information 20 for the customer who made the transaction exists in the storage unit 13 (n3).
Here, if the corresponding point management information 20 does not exist, the point management information 20 in which the totaling box 21 for the block extracted in n2 is registered is generated (n
4). For example, the point management information 20 in which the three total boxes 21 for the store A1, the shopping center A, and the entire block are registered is generated in the second storage unit 14. Here, the storage point number and accumulated point number columns of the created totalization box 21 are zero. In addition, the member number included in the transaction information is stored in the member number column,
Today's date is stored in the column of latest visit date and first use date. In the store code / group code column, store code / group code included in the transaction information is stored.

If the corresponding point management information 20 exists in the second storage unit 13, this point management information 20
Total box 21 for each block extracted in n2
Is present (n5). here,
If the point management information 20 includes a block for which the totaling box 21 does not exist, the totaling box 21 for the block is generated in the point management information 20 (n
6). For example, when the point management information 20 has a total box for blocks of the whole, department store B, and store B1, and the block extracted in n2 is three blocks of store A1, shopping center A, and whole, A total box 21 for the store A1 and the shopping center A is generated in the point management information 20.

As described above, when a point is first generated in an arbitrary block, the total box 21 of this block is generated in the point management information 20. Therefore, the point management information 20 does not have the totaling box 21 for the blocks having no points to manage. Therefore, the storage capacity of the second storage unit 13 can be saved.

Then, the points generated by the transaction are calculated for each block extracted in n2 (n7). The point generated for each block is a value obtained by multiplying the transaction amount by the point grant rate of the block. As described above, the point grant rate of each block is determined by the third storage unit 14
Remembered in. If it is within the designated period, the points to be generated are calculated using the point grant rate of the designated period. Then, the totalization box 21 is updated for the block extracted in n2 (n8). Here, the information in the storage box number, the cumulative point number, and the three columns of the latest visit date of the total box 21 is updated. The storage point number and cumulative point number columns are updated to the point number obtained by adding the point number calculated in n7 to the current point number. Update the column of the latest visit date to today's date.

In this way, in the second storage unit 13,
As I manage points for each block,
Points for each store, each group, and the whole will be managed independently. Therefore, customer management can be performed at the store level, the group level, and the overall level. Moreover, since the latest visit date is stored in the total box 21, it is possible to easily know the latest date when points are generated for each block (the latest date when a transaction is performed). As a result, at the store, it is possible to easily know the customer who has not been conducting a transaction for a long period (for example, one year or more). In addition, since the total number of points is stored in the total box 21, it is possible to easily know how many transactions have been made with each customer. Further, since the management can be performed at the store level for each customer, it is possible to know the trend of the customer in the shopping center or department store. Further, if the number of transactions is cumulatively stored in the totaling box 21, the number of transactions made can be managed for each customer. Further, with respect to the terminal device 2 provided in each store, the host device 1 except for the contents of the total box 21 for the block of the store and the contents of the total box 21 for the block of the organization to which the store belongs. Do not download. Therefore, each store can perform customer management in its own store without being known to other stores.

The host device 1 stores the transaction information transmitted from the terminal device 2 as log information. Therefore, point processing of a layer (for example, the entire layer) that does not require real-time processing may be performed by night batch processing or the like.

Next, the association described in this embodiment will be described. For example, when the shopping center C and the shopping center D jointly carry out the point service as shown in FIG. 9, the federation is registered in the host device 1. The host device 1 handles a plurality of blocks to be associated as one associated block. Further, when treated as a combined block, points are generated for the combined block, and points are not generated for blocks of each group that has been combined. It should be noted that the point giving rate in this combined block can be set in the third storage unit 14. Furthermore, the block of the store linked to the federation block is a block linked to the block of any of the organizations included in the federation block. For example, when the shopping centers C and D are associated with each other, blocks corresponding to stores in the C group and the D group are linked. Therefore, when a transaction is made at the store C1 of the C group, points are generated for the block of the store C1, the combined block, and the whole block, and no point is generated for the block of the shopping center C. Also,
In the point management information 20, a totaling box 21 (see FIG. 10) for the federated block is generated, and the points for the federated block are managed here. The point management control in the host device 1 is the same as the point management control for the non-coordinated group described above.

As described above, when a plurality of groups carry out the point service jointly, a totaling box 21 for the combined block is generated, and the points are managed in the totaling box 21. Therefore, it does not take time and effort to collect points among the joint organizations. Therefore, it is possible to easily implement a point service in which a plurality of groups are combined. In addition,
In the above-described embodiment, the case where two groups are combined has been shown, but three or more groups may be combined to perform the point service.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, a group of affiliated stores nationwide is targeted. The difference between this embodiment and the above-described embodiment is that the hierarchical structure of blocks is four layers as shown in FIG. The lowest layer is a layer in which blocks corresponding to stores where transactions are actually performed are arranged as in the above-described embodiment. Further, the uppermost layer is also the entire layer in which the blocks corresponding to the host device 1 are arranged as in the above-described embodiment. The second layer is
The store is a hierarchy of organizations to which the store belongs, and the third hierarchy is a hierarchy for each area of each organization. In this embodiment, for example, the store X
When the transaction is processed in, points are generated for the four blocks of the store X1, the Tokyo area X, the toy chain X, and the whole. Note that the management of points in the host device 1 is the same as that in the above-described embodiment, so a description thereof will be omitted here.

In this embodiment, for example, the Tokyo area X and the Yokohama area X can jointly carry out the point service. Further, the toy chain X and the children's clothing chain Y can be jointly provided to perform the point service.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a transaction is processed in any terminal device and points are generated, the corresponding block of the terminal device and other blocks linked to this block are Update points. Therefore, if the block corresponding to the terminal device is set as the store block and this block is linked to the block corresponding to the member organization of the store such as the shopping center or department store, point management at the store level and shopping center or department store You can manage points at the group level. Therefore, the point service at the store level and the point service at the group level can be easily implemented. Further, not only the customer management of the entire shopping center or department store, but also the customer management at the store level can be performed.

Further, for the block having no points to be managed, the area for storing the points is not provided in the second storage section. Therefore, the storage capacity of the second storage unit can be saved.

Further, since the points for each block can be aggregated even in the group unit of a plurality of people, for example, the total points of the whole family can be managed.

Further, since the point-giving rate is stored for each block, a group such as a store, a shopping center, or a department store can set the point-giving rate independently.

Further, since the point award ratio of the designated period can be stored in the third storage unit, it is possible to easily implement the point service in which the point award ratio is changed only for a specific period.

Further, since the blocks of the same hierarchy are stored as one block, the points are stored.
For example, management of points related to a point service carried out jointly by a plurality of shopping centers and the like can be stored as points of this block. Therefore, even if a plurality of organizations jointly implement the point service, it does not take time to collect the points.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a point system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a host device of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a hierarchical structure stored in a first storage unit in this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing point management information stored in a second storage unit of the same embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing point award rate information stored in a third storage unit of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a customer master stored in a fourth storage unit of the same embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing transaction information transmitted from a terminal device.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process of a host device according to this embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the association in another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a totaling box created for a federation block.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a hierarchical structure between blocks according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1-host device 2-Terminal device 11-control unit 12-First storage unit 13-Second storage unit 14-Third storage unit 20-Point management information 21-Total box

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takashi Endo 10 Ouron Co., Ltd. 10 Hanazono Todocho, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture (56) References JP-A-5-143866 (JP, A) JP-A-9- 128656 (JP, A) (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G07G 1/00-1/14 G06F 17/60

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. A point system, wherein a plurality of terminal devices are connected to a host device, and the host device manages points generated for transactions processed by any terminal device, wherein the host device is the terminal device. A first storage unit that stores a plurality of blocks that correspond to each other and a hierarchical structure that indicates a link relationship between these blocks and other blocks; a second storage unit that stores points for each block; When points are generated for the transaction processed in the terminal device, the control unit that updates the points of the corresponding block of the terminal device in the second storage unit and also updates the points of the blocks linked to the block And a point system characterized by having. 2. The hierarchical structure of the blocks includes: a lowermost layer in which a block corresponding to the terminal device is arranged, an uppermost layer in which a block corresponding to the host device is arranged, and a terminal device. 2. The point system according to claim 1, wherein the provided store is composed of one or more intermediate layers in which blocks are arranged corresponding to groups to which the stores belong. 3. The control unit, when a point is generated for an arbitrary block for the first time, generates an area for storing the point of the block in the second storage unit. Point system described in 2. 4. The point system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit causes the second storage unit to store points for each block in units of a group of one person or a plurality of persons. . 5. The third storage unit, wherein the host device is provided with a third storage unit that stores a point-giving rate used when calculating the number of points to be generated for a transaction, for each block. 4. The point system according to any one of 4. 6. The point system according to claim 5, wherein the third storage unit also stores a point-giving rate for a designated period that is valid only for a designated period. 7. The point system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit stores points in the second storage unit with a plurality of blocks in the same hierarchy as one block. . 8. A terminal device applied to point system according to any one of claims 1 to 7 terminal apparatus comprising the transaction information input means for inputting according to the transaction information .