JP4916876B2 - POS system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a POS system, and more particularly, to a POS system in which a POS terminal is placed in each store of a chain store and a server that communicates with these POS terminals is placed in the headquarters of the chain store.

Patent Document 1 discloses a POS system in which a POS terminal is placed in each store of a chain store, and a server that communicates with the POS terminal is placed at the headquarters of the chain store or a data center of an ASP (application service provider) company. Is known.
According to Patent Literature 1, information on the opening / closing status is transmitted from a POS terminal of each store such as a restaurant to an electronic bulletin board via a network, and the opening / closing status of each store is displayed on a display corresponding to each store. Are collectively displayed.
JP-A-8-101865

  By the way, in the business condition of a chain store with few clerk at each store like a cleaning store, when the clerk cannot come to the store before the opening time for some reason, the situation that the store could not open at the opening time sometimes occurred. . And in such a case, the customer who came to the store at the opening time waits until the store clerk opens the store, or the customer flows to other stores, and as a result, the trust in the store is lost. There was a problem such as.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points. The purpose of the present invention is to prevent a clerk from attending a store at a predetermined date and time in a POS system in which a POS terminal is placed in each store of a chain store and communicates with a server. This is to make it possible to open a store with certainty.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems. In a POS system including a POS terminal placed in each store of a chain store and a server that performs data management by communicating with the POS terminal of each store, Store opening information transmitting means for transmitting opening information indicating that to the server when an operation for opening a store is performed on the POS terminal, and storage means for storing at least scheduled opening time information for each store; And a notifying unit for notifying a predetermined communication terminal corresponding to a store where the store opening information is not received based on the scheduled opening time information stored in the storage unit.

  In this invention, when a predetermined operation for opening a store is performed on a POS terminal placed in each store of the chain store, store opening information indicating that the store has been opened is placed in the chain store headquarters or the like. Sent to the specified server. The server manages the scheduled opening time for each store, determines the opening status of each store based on the scheduled opening time based on the opening information transmitted from the store, and notifies the store that has not opened. Do. By receiving this notification at a predetermined communication terminal, the store side can grasp the situation that the store should be opened but has not yet been opened. Here, the operation for opening a store for the POS terminal includes an operation for turning on the power of the POS terminal and an operation performed by the store clerk according to the content displayed on the display screen of the POS terminal.

  In the POS system, the communication terminal is a telephone terminal.

  In this invention, a notification notifying that the store is not opened is transmitted to a telephone terminal (a fixed telephone installed in the store or a store clerk's house, a mobile phone terminal carried by a store clerk, etc.). The phone notification can immediately notify the recipient (such as a store clerk or store manager) that the notification has been received, so start preparations for opening the store early and make the store open in time. be able to. In addition, the telephone is a communication means that has already been widely used, and can reduce the cost of system construction.

  In the POS system, the server transmits store opening data of each store based on the store opening information received from the POS terminal to the POS terminal, and the POS terminal displays the opening of each store on the screen. An operation for displaying the status and displaying the store opening status corresponding to the POS terminal so as to be inputable, and opening the store is an operation for inputting the store opening status.

  In this invention, the POS terminal has a browser function for displaying information distributed by the server, and the server distributes the store opening information collected from each store to the POS terminal of each store, and on the screen of the POS terminal. The display is made in a state where the store opening status can be input. Then, when the store clerk inputs the store opening status on this browser screen, the store opening information from the store is transmitted to the server. As described above, the opening information can be transmitted by a simple operation using the browser screen. Further, the POS terminal only needs to have a browser function, and the server only needs to generate and distribute store opening data of each store. Therefore, it is not necessary to use a dedicated POS terminal or server, and the system can be easily introduced.

  Further, in the POS system, the notifying unit performs the notification at a time earlier than a scheduled opening time indicated by the scheduled opening time information by a predetermined time required for opening preparation.

  According to the present invention, the store can be opened reliably at the scheduled opening time.

  Further, in the POS system, the notification means performs the notification to the predetermined communication terminal that differs depending on the time until the scheduled opening time indicated by the scheduled opening time information.

  According to the present invention, since notification is made to a plurality of communication terminals (store clerk and chain store manager, etc.), the manager of the chain store can be surely contacted with, for example, the store clerk. Can be opened at the scheduled opening time. As an example, if there is still time until the scheduled opening time, the store clerk will be notified, and if the store does not open after that time, the chain store manager will be notified. Conceivable.

  According to the present invention, in a POS system in which a POS terminal is placed in each store of a chain store and communicates with a server, the store can be surely opened even when the store clerk does not go to the store at a predetermined date and time.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a POS system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a user 1 has a store 1 to a store M, and one or several store clerks are assigned to each store to perform daily operations. Each store is provided with a POS terminal 10 and a mobile phone terminal 20. Moreover, although illustration is abbreviate | omitted, the user 2-the user N similarly have several stores, and each store is equipped with the POS terminal and the mobile telephone terminal. Here, the user in the present embodiment is a corporate user who develops a chain of cleaning shops, for example.

  As will be described later, the POS terminal 10 is a device for executing processing such as registration of a deposit from a customer and return of a deposit after cleaning, sales performance management, customer information management, and the like, and is connected to the Internet 40. A communication function and a browser function for displaying information acquired from the Internet 40 are provided. The POS terminal 10 transmits information indicating that the store is opened to the server 30 via the Internet 40 as store opening information when a predetermined operation is performed by the store clerk. The predetermined operation refers to an operation for opening a store, for example, starting the POS terminal 10. The store opening information includes, for example, the time when the predetermined operation is performed, the store number (see FIG. 2), and the like. Furthermore, the POS terminal 10 receives information indicating the opening status of each store (whether the store has been opened or has not been opened) transmitted from the server 30 and displays the opening status of each store on the screen. To do. Of the store opening status, the store opening status of the store is displayed so that input from the POS terminal 10 is possible. When the store clerk performs this input, the store opening information may be transmitted to the server 30.

  The mobile phone terminal 20 is a communication terminal for receiving a notification message transmitted from the server 30 when the corresponding store is not opened correctly as scheduled, and has a function of transmitting and receiving e-mails in addition to voice calls. Is also provided. The notification message is transmitted by electronic mail, but may be transmitted as a voice (automatic voice or the like) message. The mobile phone terminal 20 is possessed by the store clerk of each store, and when the notification message is transmitted from the server 30, the store clerk who is the owner can immediately know that the notification message has been received. For each store, the mobile phone terminals 20 corresponding to the number of store staff are prepared and given to each store staff, or the mobile phone terminals 20 set to receive the above notification messages addressed to all stores 1 to M are connected to the chain store headquarters. You may make it give an administrator a preliminary.

  The server 30 is a computer that manages the business of each user, and is operated and operated by, for example, an ASP operating company. The server 30 stores and manages a product file 31, a performance file 32, and a store file 33 for each user, and exchanges various data by communicating with the POS terminal 10 of each user via the Internet 40. To do. Further, the server 30 includes a mobile phone communication device 34 and can communicate with the mobile phone terminal 20 of each user via the mobile phone communication network 50.

  The product file 31 is a database that stores product information (such as a charge for each item in the case of a cleaning store chain) according to each user's business, and the server 30 stores necessary product information in response to a request from the POS terminal 10. The product file 31 is taken out and transmitted to the POS terminal 10. The record file 32 is a database that stores record information such as sales of each user. The server 30 receives the sales data transmitted from the POS terminal 10 and stores the received data in the record file 32 as record information. To do.

The store file 33 is used to check whether or not each user's store has been correctly opened as scheduled, and to transmit a notification message to the mobile phone terminal 20 on the store side when the store has not been correctly opened as scheduled. It is a database used when executing.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the store file 33. In the figure, the store file 33 includes items of store number, POS terminal address, scheduled opening time, opening time, contact 1, contact 2, and status for each user store.

The store number is an identification number for identifying each store of the user. For example, store 1 is information such as store number “1” and store M is store number “M”.
The POS terminal address is identification information for identifying the POS terminal 10 of each store on the network. For example, an IP (Internet Protocol) address is used.

  The scheduled opening time indicates the time at which the store should open and is set in advance. The server 30 checks this scheduled opening time item at any time, and determines whether or not to send a notification message to the mobile phone terminal 20 based on the set scheduled opening time information. Specifically, the server 30 compares the scheduled opening time with the current time, and makes the above determination at a timing that is a predetermined time before the scheduled opening time. If the next store opening time information is not yet stored at that timing, it is determined that the notification message is transmitted because the store has not yet been opened. The timing before the predetermined time is preferably, for example, a timing earlier than the scheduled opening time by a predetermined time required for opening preparation.

  The opening time indicates the time when the store actually opened. This store opening time information is transmitted from the POS terminal 10 when an operation for opening the store is performed on the POS terminal 10 of each store, and the server 30 receives this and stores it in the store file 33. To do. At this time, it is assumed that the POS terminal 10 that transmitted the information on the opening time is identified using the POS terminal address described above. The server 30 also aggregates information on the opening times for each store within one user, and creates data indicating the opening status of each store. As specific data values, stores whose store time information is already stored in the store file 33 are “open” (indicating that the store has been opened), and stores that are not yet stored are “closed” (not yet opened). Represents the value). The data indicating the store opening status is created in a data format that can be displayed by each POS terminal 10, for example, an HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) format, and is distributed to each POS terminal 10.

  The contact 1 and the contact 2 are communication control information for the server 30 to communicate with the mobile phone terminal 20 via the mobile phone communication network 50. For example, a phone number or a mail address for data communication is used. The server 30 transmits the notification message to the mobile phone terminals 20 of the contact 1 and the contact 2. Contact 1 and contact 2 are set with different priorities (urgent levels). For example, if there is still enough time before the scheduled opening time, contact 1 will be close to the scheduled opening time. A notification message is transmitted to the contact 2.

  The status is information indicating whether or not a notification message has been transmitted to the mobile phone terminal 20. The status value is “0” in the initial state, “1” when a notification message is transmitted to the contact 1, and “2” when a notification message is transmitted to the contact 2.

Next, operations of the POS terminal 10 and the server 30 in the POS system will be described.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the POS terminal 10.

  When the clerk performs a power-on operation, the POS terminal 10 is activated and starts processing. After startup, the POS terminal 10 first communicates with the server 30 to receive store opening status data. In the data on the store opening status, the store opening status of the store is still “closed”, and the store opening status of other stores is “open” or “depending on the information of the store opening time in the store file 33 of the server 30. Closed ". The POS terminal 10 displays the received store opening status data on the browser screen. On the browser screen, as described above, only the opening status of the store is displayed so that it can be input. When the store clerk performs the input, the POS terminal 10 notifies the server 30 that the store has opened. Information (opening time information, store number, etc.) is transmitted to the server 30 (step S11). FIG. 5 shows an example of the browser screen.

Thereafter, when the store clerk inputs the operator (store clerk) number, the POS terminal 10 performs a predetermined store opening process (step S12), and further receives the input from the store clerk and performs the business process from step S13.
In the registration process of the consigned items (clothes to be cleaned, etc.), the POS terminal 10 stores the inputted consigned item data (order received items, customer information and charges) in the internal memory (steps S13 and S14).

  In the return processing of returned items (return of cleaned clothes, etc.), the POS terminal 10 receives the input of the store clerk and sets the corresponding stored item data in the internal memory to “completed” (steps S15 and S16).

In the closing process, the POS terminal 10 transmits the consignment data for one day in the internal memory to the server 30, and then ends the operation (step S17, step S19).
The POS terminal 10 also performs various setting processes and maintenance processes as other processes (step S18).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the server 30.
The server 30 appropriately receives information on the opening time from each store, updates the store file 33, and creates data indicating the opening status of each store from the opening time information of each store in the store file 33. And it distributes to the POS terminal 10 of each store (step S21). For example, when store opening time information is received from the POS terminal 10 of a store whose store opening status is “closed”, the store opening status data updated to “open” is created, and each POS terminal 10 Delivered to. At this time, the status of the corresponding store in the store file 33 is set to “0”.

  Next, the server 30 determines whether or not the opening of the store is delayed based on the information on the scheduled opening time and the opening time in the store file 33 and the current time (step S22). This determination may be executed at the time indicated by the scheduled opening time, or may be executed at a predetermined time, for example, a time earlier than the time indicated by the scheduled opening time, for example, the time required for opening the store. In the former case, it is determined whether the store opening is actually delayed, and in the latter case, it is determined whether there is a possibility that the store opening is delayed.

  When it is determined that the opening of the store is delayed, the server 30 determines whether or not it is a significant delay (step S23). Here, a large delay is a time set appropriately. For example, when the time required for opening a store is 1 hour, it is set to be a large delay when 30 minutes before the scheduled opening time. It is possible to do.

  If it is not a significant delay, the server 30 determines whether “1” is set in the status of the store file 33 (step S24). Here, since the status value is “0” in the initial state, the server 30 transmits a notification message by e-mail to the mobile phone terminal 20 of the contact 1 (step S25). The notification message transmitted at this time has a content such as “one hour before the scheduled opening time, but store X has not yet opened”. Then, the status is set to “1” (step S26).

  Thereafter, if the information on the opening time is not received from the POS terminal 10, the status is “1”, so that Steps S22 to S24 are repeated. When the information on the opening time is received, other processing (Step S30). Is executed.

  In the repetitive processing of step S22 to step S24, if it is determined that the time has elapsed and there is a significant delay, the server 10 determines whether or not “2” is set in the status of the store file 33. (Step S27). Here, since the status value is “1”, the server 30 transmits a notification message by e-mail to the mobile phone terminal 20 of the contact 2 (step S28). The notification message transmitted at this time has a content such as “30 minutes before the scheduled opening time, but store X has not yet opened. Then, the status is set to “2” (step S29).

  After that, if the information on the opening time is not received from the POS terminal 10, the status is “2”, so steps S22 to S23 and steps S27 to S29 are repeated. (Step S30) is executed, and the status in the store file 33 is set to “0”.

As described above, the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to the above, and various design changes and the like can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. It is possible to
For example, transmission of store opening information from the POS terminal 10 may be performed when the power of the POS terminal 10 is turned on, for example, without operating the browser screen by the store clerk.

Further, it is preferable to set the contact 2 as a higher-order administrator than the contact 1.
Further, the server 30 may be placed at the headquarters of the chain store instead of the ASP operating company.
In addition, a store opening preparation time (time required for opening a store) is set in the store file 33 for each store, and a determination as to whether or not the store has been opened is made earlier than the scheduled opening time by this opening preparation time. You may make it perform.

1 is a system configuration diagram of a POS system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the figure which showed an example of the store file. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of a POS terminal. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of a server. It is an example of the browser screen displayed at the time of starting of a POS terminal.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... POS terminal 20 ... Mobile phone terminal 30 ... Server 31 ... Product file 32 ... Results file 33 ... Store file 34 ... Mobile phone communication apparatus 40 ... Internet 50 ... Mobile phone communication network

Claims (5)

In a POS system including a POS terminal placed in each store of a chain store and a server for managing data by communicating with the POS terminal of each store,
A store opening information transmitting means for transmitting, to the server, store opening information indicating that when an operation for opening a store is performed on the POS terminal;
Storage means for storing at least scheduled opening time information for each store;
Notification means for notifying a predetermined communication terminal corresponding to a store where the store opening information has not been received, based on the scheduled opening time information stored in the storage means;
A POS system comprising:   The POS system according to claim 1, wherein the communication terminal is a telephone terminal. The server transmits data on the store opening status of each store based on the store opening information received from the POS terminal to the POS terminal,
The POS terminal displays the opening status of each store on the screen and displays the opening status of the store corresponding to the POS terminal so as to be input,
The POS system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the operation for opening the store is an input operation of the store opening status.   The said notification means performs the notification at a time earlier by a predetermined time required for opening preparation than the scheduled opening time indicated by the scheduled opening time information. The POS system described in 1.   The said notification means performs the said notification to the said predetermined | prescribed communication terminal which changes according to the time to the scheduled opening time shown by the said opening scheduled time information, The Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. The POS system described in 1.

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