JP5573103B2 - Electronic money system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to the technical field of an electronic money system combining a contactless IC card and a mobile phone.

  Recently, mobile phones, such as Osaifu-Keitai (registered trademark) and built-in non-contact IC chips of FeliCa (registered trademark), have become widespread, and functions such as electronic money mounted on non-contact IC cards By making it ready, mobile phones can be used instead of non-contact IC cards.

  However, many users have been reluctant to use a mobile phone as a substitute for a non-contact IC card. For example, in Suica (registered trademark) that can be used as a ticket or electronic money, it is not a mobile phone but a non-contact. There is a tendency for many users to select the IC card.

  In a mobile phone having a non-contact IC card function, the balance of electronic money can be confirmed by the user by displaying the data of the non-contact IC chip on a display medium (for example, a liquid crystal display) of the mobile phone. However, when using a non-contact IC card with electronic money function, the non-contact IC card is not equipped with a display medium, and if a device such as an IC card viewer is not used, the non-contact IC card alone The user could not confirm the balance of electronic money.

  In order to solve such problems, it has been studied to provide a mobile phone with a reader / writer function for a non-contact IC card (for example, Patent Document 1), and in fact, a non-contact of FeliCa (registered trademark). In IC chips, contactless IC chips that can operate as reader / writer functions for contactless IC cards have also been developed, but they have a reader / writer function for contactless IC cards and an electronic money function. A mobile phone that functions as an IC card viewer for contactless IC cards has not been developed.

  In addition, unlike cash, electronic money can only be used at member stores, so not only the balance function of electronic money but also the stores where electronic money can be used using the Internet connection function provided for general-purpose mobile phones. Although it is desirable to be able to provide data to the user, a system that allows the user to search for a store corresponding to the use history of a contactless IC card having a function of electronic money has not been disclosed.

  For example, Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3 are disclosed as inventions for retrieving store data using a mobile phone, but the invention disclosed in Patent Document 2 groups stores by genre. A system in which channels are prepared in advance and stores that are grouped into channels corresponding to the genre selected by the user are introduced. The invention disclosed in Patent Literature 3 describes the position of a mobile phone acquired by GPS. It is a system that introduces stores in the vicinity.

Japanese Patent No. 3961990 JP 2005-258770 A JP 2008-59103 A

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a system capable of displaying a balance of electronic money stored in a non-contact IC card having an electronic money function and allowing a user to search for a store corresponding to the use history of the non-contact IC card. .

A first invention for solving the above-described problem is a mobile phone on which a reader / writer chip to which an antenna for proximity contactless communication is connected is mounted, and a contactless IC card that performs proximity contactless communication with the mobile phone. And an electronic money system comprising at least a server connected to the mobile phone via a network , wherein the contactless IC card is obtained by digitizing electronic money balance data and paper coupons. The electronic coupon and the usage history of the electronic coupon are stored, and the mobile phone can be used in common at each store where store data is registered in the server on the contactless IC card held over the antenna. Is written in the contactless IC card as the electronic coupon, and then the balance of the electronic money and the common credit are transferred from the contactless IC card. After the Pon usage history is read and the electronic money balance is displayed on the display medium, a store search request message including at least the usage history of the common coupon is transmitted to the server, and the store data received from the server is searched. A balance inquiry application for executing a process for displaying a result is provided, and the server stores a store database storing the store data of each store registered in the server, and a user possessing the mobile phone, The common coupon usage history is managed, the user's preference is analyzed by analyzing the common coupon usage history, and when the store data search request is received from the cellular phone, the cellular phone is possessed. The store data that matches the user's preference is searched from the store database, and the search result of the store data Display data for displaying an electronic money system is characterized by comprising a store search program for executing processing for transmitting to the mobile phone.

  As in the configuration of the first invention, if an application for reading the balance of electronic money stored in a non-contact IC card and displaying the balance of electronic money on a display medium is mounted on a mobile phone, the mobile phone is made electronic money. It can function as an IC card viewer.

Further, as in the configuration of the first invention, in addition to electronic money balance data, an electronic coupon in which a paper coupon is digitized and a usage history of the electronic coupon can be stored in a non-contact IC card. If the mobile phone balance inquiry application writes a common coupon that can be used in common at each store whose store data is registered on the server as an electronic coupon to the contactless IC card, The usage history can be determined, and if the server analyzes the user's preference from the usage history of the common coupon, a store that matches the user's preference can be presented to the user.

Further, in the second invention, the history data of the common coupon stored in the contactless IC card includes a store code of a store where the common coupon is used, and the store provided in the server The store data stored in the database includes a genre indicating the genre of the store in addition to the store code, and the store search program provides a counter corresponding to the genre for each user from the mobile phone. Performing a process of incrementing the value of the counter corresponding to the genre identified from the store code included in the history data of the transmitted common coupon, and analyzing the user's preference from the magnitude of the value of the counter The electronic money system according to the first aspect of the present invention.

There are various methods for analyzing the user's preference from the use history of the common coupon. However, if the second invention is configured, the user's preference can be analyzed from the value of the counter corresponding to the genre.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the balance inquiry application of the mobile phone displays at least one search condition together with the balance of the electronic money on a display medium, and then uses the common coupon and the selected search condition. When the server receives a search request for the store data from the mobile phone, the server corresponds to a search condition included in the store search request message. In addition, the electronic money system 1 according to the second invention is characterized in that a process of searching the store database for the store data that matches the preference of the user carrying the mobile phone is executed.

When the number of stores that match the user's preference is large, it is preferable to narrow down the search conditions selected by the user as in the third aspect of the invention.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the mobile phone includes means for acquiring current position data using GPS, and the balance inquiry application includes the current position data as a search condition in the store search request message. The store data stored in the store database provided in the server includes store location data, and the store search program is within a predetermined range based on the current location data received from the mobile phone. The electronic money system according to the third aspect, wherein the store data suitable for the user's preference is searched from the store data including the location data.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the mobile phone, the balance inquiry application includes the balance of the electronic money as a search condition in the store search request message and is stored in the store database provided in the server. The store data includes a minimum amount of goods / services sold in the store, and the store search program stores the store in which the minimum amount is equal to or less than the balance of the electronic money included in the store search request message. The electronic money system according to the third or fourth aspect, wherein the store data that matches the user's preference is retrieved from the data.

As a search condition to be used for narrowing down, if the current position of the mobile phone is set as the search condition as in the fourth invention, it is possible to introduce a store existing near the user's current position to the user. Further, when the balance of electronic money is used as a search condition as in the fifth invention, a store where the user can shop with electronic money at this point can be introduced to the user.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the balance of electronic money stored in the non-contact IC card having the electronic money function can be displayed, and the user can search for stores according to the use history of the non-contact IC card. Can provide.

The figure explaining the structure of the electronic money system in this embodiment. The block diagram of a mobile phone and a non-contact IC card. Block diagram of the server. The flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of an electronic money system. The figure explaining the data structure of the balance of electronic money, and the use history of a common coupon. An example of the display screen of the balance of electronic money. An example of a store search screen. The figure explaining the record structure of user DB. The figure explaining the record structure of store DB. The figure explaining the example of a display of the search result of shop data.

  From this, the embodiments of the present invention will be described to the extent that those skilled in the art of the present invention can understand the contents of the present invention and implement the present invention.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of an electronic money system 1 in the present embodiment. The electronic money system 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 analyzes the user's preference from the usage history of the non-contact IC card 2 in addition to the balance of the electronic money provided in the non-contact IC card 2, and adapts to the user's preference. A system configured to be able to present store data to a user, a non-contact IC card 2 having an electronic money function, and a mobile phone having a reader / writer function for proximity wireless communication with the non-contact IC card 2 3 and a server 4 accessible from the mobile phone 3.

  The electronic money system 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a cellular phone network 5a and the Internet 5 as a network. The server 4 is arranged on the Internet 5, and the cellular phone 3 is a server via the cellular phone network 5a. 4 can be accessed. Also, the reader / writer function provided in the mobile phone 3 allows the mobile phone 3 to access the non-contact IC card 2 by proximity non-contact communication using the 13.56 MHz band standardized by ISO / IEC14443 or the like.

  First, the mobile phone 3 and the non-contact IC card 2 constituting the electronic money system 1 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the mobile phone 3 and the non-contact IC card 2.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a wireless communication antenna 3i used for wireless communication, a wireless communication circuit 3a responsible for high-frequency processing related to wireless communication, a baseband circuit 3b responsible for various processing related to the mobile phone 3, a display Liquid crystal display (LCD) as a medium, LCD control circuit 3e for controlling the LCD 3g, keypad 3h on which a numeric keypad, a cross key, and the like are mounted, an interface circuit 3h for the keypad 3h, a relay base In addition to the circuits provided in the general-purpose mobile phone 3, such as the GPS circuit 3d (GPS: Global Positioning System) that measures the current position (latitude / longitude) of the mobile phone 3 using the intensity of radio waves received from In order for the mobile phone 3 to function as an IC card viewer for the non-contact IC card 2, the mobile phone 3 includes a reader of the non-contact IC card 2. A writer chip 3c which functions as a data reader-writer antenna 3j utilizing the proximity wireless communication is implemented.

  The baseband circuit 3b mounted on the mobile phone 3 is a circuit on which an arithmetic processor, ROM, RAM, and the like are mounted. The reader / writer chip 3c is connected to the baseband circuit 3b and operates on the baseband circuit 3b. The reader / writer chip 3c is configured to be able to cooperate with the application (in this case, the balance inquiry application), and the balance inquiry application 30 is mounted as one of the applications executed on the baseband circuit 3b.

  The reader / writer chip 3c mounted on the mobile phone 3 is 13.56 MHz using a reader / writer antenna 3j in accordance with a transmission control protocol for proximity wireless communication in the same manner as a general-purpose reader / writer for the non-contact IC card 2. A circuit for transmitting a command to the contactless IC card 2 by transmitting the number of carriers, modulating the carrier wave with a predetermined modulation degree, and decoding a response transmitted by the contactless IC card 2 by load modulation is mounted. In this embodiment, the reader / writer chip 3c transmits the command delivered from the balance inquiry application 30 to the non-contact IC card 2 and performs the operation of delivering the response received from the non-contact IC card 2 to the balance inquiry application 30. .

  As shown in FIG. As hardware, a CPU 2a (Central Processing Unit), a RAM 2c (Random Access Memory), a ROM 2b (Read # Only Memory), an RF circuit 2e to which a card antenna 2f used for proximity wireless communication is connected, electrically rewritable The EEPROM 2d, which is a non-volatile memory, is mounted. In this embodiment, electronic money balance data, an electronic coupon obtained by digitizing a coupon as a paper medium, and a store code and date of a store where the electronic coupon is used are included. The usage history of the electronic coupon is stored in the EEPROM 2d, and a command for reading and writing these data is mounted.

  The RF circuit 2e mounted on the cellular phone 3 receives a command by decoding a carrier wave received by the card antenna 2f according to a transmission control protocol for proximity wireless communication, and transmits a response by load modulation. Circuit.

  Next, the server 4 constituting the electronic money system 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the server 4.

  The server 4 illustrated in FIG. 1 is realized by a general-purpose web server. The server 4 includes a CPU 4a (CPU: Central Processing Unit) and a ROM 4b (ROM: Read-Only Memory) in which a BIOS is mounted. A RAM 4c (RAM: Random Access Memory) as a main memory of the computer, a large-capacity data storage device 4d (for example, a hard disk) as an external storage device, and an input / output interface 4e for data communication with the external device, A network interface 4f for network communication, a display 4g, a character input device 4h, a pointing device 4i, and the like are provided. A store search program 40 is stored as a computer program for operating the server 4 in the data storage device 4d. In addition, store search program 40? Shop database referenced (DB: DataBase) 41 and the user DB42 are stored.

  In FIG. 3, the data storage device is described as being mounted in the server 4, but the data storage device 4d may be configured to be connected via a network.

  From here, operation | movement of the application and computer program which were shown in FIG.2 and FIG.3 is demonstrated, explaining operation | movement of the electronic money system 1 shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the electronic money system 1 shown in FIG.

  When displaying the balance of electronic money on the LCD 3g of the mobile phone 3, the user of the mobile phone 3 operates the keypad 3h to select the balance inquiry application 30 and perform an operation to start the balance inquiry application 30. The balance inquiry application 30 installed in the mobile phone 3 is activated (S1).

  When the balance inquiry application 30 is activated, a message prompting the user to hold the contactless IC card 2 near the reader / writer antenna 3j of the mobile phone 3 is displayed on the LCD 3g, and the reader / writer chip 3c of the mobile phone 3 is displayed. When the reader / writer chip 3c detects the non-contact IC card 2 by requesting transmission of a command for detecting the non-contact IC card 2 (polling command), the balance inquiry application 30 first detects that the reader / writer chip 3c The detected contactless IC card 2 is requested to send a command to write a common coupon that can be used in common at stores where store data is registered in the server 4 as electronic coupons (S2). When the command is received. The process which writes the common coupon of the non-contact IC card 2 in EEPROM3d is performed (S3).

  Next, the balance inquiry application 30 of the mobile phone 3 requests the contactless IC card 2 detected by the reader / writer chip 3c to transmit a command for reading the balance of electronic money and the usage history of the common coupon (S4). When the non-contact IC card 2 receives the command, the non-contact IC card 2 transmits these data (S5).

  The command for reading the balance of the electronic money and the usage history of the common coupon depends on the data structure of the balance of the electronic money and the usage history of the common coupon stored in the contactless IC card 2, and In order to read the usage history, a plurality of commands are generally transmitted to the non-contact IC card 2.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the data structure of the balance of electronic money stored in the non-contact IC card 2 and the usage history of the common coupon.

  In FIG. 5, the balance of electronic money is stored in the form of a single data file, and the common coupon usage history is written to unused or oldest data so that multiple common coupon usage histories can be stored. Is stored in a cyclic file format.

  According to the example illustrated in FIG. 5, the balance inquiry application 30 activated on the mobile phone 3 transmits a command for reading the balance of electronic money and a command for reading all the usage history of the common coupon to the contactless IC card 2. Then, the balance of electronic money and the usage history of the common coupon are read from the non-contact IC card 2.

  When the balance inquiry application 30 running on the mobile phone 3 receives the electronic money balance and the common coupon usage history from the contactless IC card 2, first, an operation for displaying the electronic money balance on the LCD 3 G of the mobile phone 3. (S6).

  FIG. 6 is an example of a display screen for the balance of electronic money. In FIG. 6, in addition to the electronic money balance 3a read from the non-contact IC card 2, when the balance inquiry application 30 is downloaded to the mobile phone 3, the user member number 6b assigned on the server 4 side is displayed. A button object 6c for searching for a store where electronic money can be used is displayed on the LCD 3g of the mobile phone 3.

  FIG. 7 is an example of a store search screen, which is displayed when the user operates the keypad 3h and the button object 6c illustrated in FIG. 6 is pressed. In FIG. 7, in addition to the user membership number 6b shown in FIG. 6, a button object 7a for searching for a store suitable for the user's preference from stores in the vicinity where the user is present, and the balance of electronic money A button object 7b for searching for a store that matches the user's preference from stores available within the range, and a button object 7c for requesting transmission of a privilege program for giving a privilege to the user are mobile phones 3 Is displayed on the LCD 3g.

  When one of the button objects 7a or 7b for searching for a store is pressed by the user operating the keypad, the balance inquiry application 30 of the mobile phone 3 makes a store search request corresponding to the button object 7a or 7b. A store search is requested by transmitting a message to the server 4 (S7).

  When the button object 7a illustrated in FIG. 7 is pressed, the store search request message includes the current position data obtained from the GPS circuit 3d as a search condition in addition to the common coupon use history, and is illustrated in FIG. When the button object 7b is pressed, the store search request message includes the balance of electronic money as a search condition in addition to the use history of the common coupon.

  When the server 4 receives the store search request message from the balance inquiry application 30 of the mobile phone 3, the server 4 refers to the user DB 42 to identify the preference of the user who owns the mobile phone 3 and stores the store search request message. Store data that matches the user's preference is searched from the store DB 41 among the store data corresponding to the search conditions included in the, and the search result of the store data is transmitted to the mobile phone 3 (S8).

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the record structure of the user DB 42 provided in the server 4. In order to be able to specify the preference of the user who owns the mobile phone 3, the user DB 42 of the server 4 is provided with records 420 as many as the number of users registered in the server 4. There are provided as many fields as the number of store genres and as many fields as the number of stores.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the record structure of the store DB 41 provided in the server 4. An electronic money application implemented in the contactless IC card 2 is stored in the store DB 41 of the server 4 in order to specify the preferences of the user who owns the mobile phone 3 and to search the store DB 41 for store data that matches the user's preferences. There are as many records 410 as the number of stores that can be used, and one record 410 includes a field for storing a store code for identifying a store, a field for storing a store genre, and store location data (latitude and latitude). (Longitude), a field for storing the minimum amount of goods and services sold in the store, and a field for storing store data (store name, location, telephone number, etc.).

  When the store search program 40 of the server 4 receives the store search request message, the store search program 40 refers to the store DB 41 and corresponds to the member number included in the store search request message according to the use history of the common coupon included in the store search request message. The record of the user DB 42 to be updated is updated.

  Specifically, the store search program 40 of the server 4 targets the record 420 of the user DB 42 corresponding to the member number included in the store search request message, and is included in the common store search request message received from the mobile phone 3. For each coupon usage history, the genre counter corresponding to the store code included in the common coupon usage history is incremented.

  Then, the store search program 40 of the server 4 specifies several genres in descending order of the counter value included in the record of the user DB 42 corresponding to the member number included in the store search request message, and is included in the store search request message. Store data corresponding to the specified search condition and corresponding to the specified genre is searched from the store DB 41.

  When the search condition included in the store search request message is the current location data of the mobile phone 3, the store search program 40 of the server 4 has location data within a predetermined distance range centering on the current location data of the mobile phone 3. Store data that matches the user's preference is searched from the store data.

  Further, when the search condition included in the store search request message is the balance of electronic money, the store search program 40 of the server 4 can store the minimum amount stored in the store DB 41 from store data whose balance is equal to or less than the balance of electronic money. Search for store data that matches user preferences.

  Further, when the user's preference varies and the preference cannot be specified, that is, when the counter value stored in the user DB 42 is not biased, the store data can be searched in consideration of the advertising cost paid by the store. May be. For example, if a rank is set for advertisement expenses, a field for storing the rank of advertisement expenses is provided in the record of the store DB 41, and the user's preference varies and the preference cannot be specified, the store with the highest rank of advertisement expenses You may make it include data in the search result of store data.

  In this way, when the store search program 40 of the server 4 searches for store data that matches the user's preference, the store search program 40 of the server 4 generates display data for displaying the search result of the store data, and The display data is transmitted to the mobile phone 3.

  When the balance inquiry application 30 of the mobile phone 3 receives the display data for displaying the search result of the store data from the server 4, the balance inquiry application 30 executes a process for displaying the display data on the LCD 3G of the mobile phone 3 and displays the search result of the store data. (S9).

  FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a display example of a search result of store data. The display data for displaying the search result of the store data is described in a format (for example, a markup language for a mobile phone) that can be interpreted by the balance inquiry application 30 of the mobile phone 3, and is illustrated in FIG. In addition to the user membership number 6b, the text 8a displays a list of store data included in the store data search result on the LCD 3g. Further, when using the current position data of the mobile phone 3, as shown in FIG. 10B, in addition to the user member number 6b shown in FIG. 6, store data included in the search result of the store data Is displayed in a balloon.

  When the button object 7c shown in FIG. 7 is pressed after displaying the balance of electronic money in S6 of FIG. 4, the balance inquiry application 30 of the mobile phone 3 makes a request for sending a privilege program to the server 4. Perform (S10).

  When the store search program 40 of the server 4 receives the privilege program transmission request from the mobile phone 3, the store search program 40 transmits the privilege program to the mobile phone 3 (S <b> 11). The received privilege program is executed (S12).

  The content of the privilege program is arbitrary, and it may be a program that writes an electronic coupon that can be used only at a specific store to the non-contact IC card 2 and is different from the common coupon. It may be a program that gives.

1 Electronic Money System 2 Contactless IC Card 3 Mobile Phone 3c Reader / Writer Chip 3j Reader / Writer Antenna 30 Balance Inquiry Application 4 Server 40 Store Search Program 41 Store Database 42 User Database

Claims (5)

A mobile phone on which a reader / writer chip to which an antenna for proximity contactless communication is connected is mounted; a contactless IC card that performs proximity contactless communication with the mobile phone; and the mobile phone connected via a network. An electronic money system comprising at least a server
The contactless IC card stores electronic money balance data , an electronic coupon in which a paper-based coupon is digitized, and a usage history of the electronic coupon ,
After the mobile phone has written a common coupon that can be used in common at each store whose store data is registered in the server to the contactless IC card held over the antenna as the electronic coupon. , After reading the balance of the electronic money and the usage history of the common coupon from the contactless IC card, displaying the balance of the electronic money on a display medium, a store search request message including at least the usage history of the common coupon A balance inquiry application for executing a process of displaying the search result of the store data transmitted to the server and received from the server ;
The server manages a store database storing the store data of each store registered in the server and a use history of the common coupon for each user having the mobile phone, and uses the common coupon. The user's preference is analyzed by analyzing the history, and when the store data search request is received from the mobile phone, the store data that matches the user's preference of the mobile phone is stored in the store database. And a store search program for executing a process of transmitting display data for displaying the search result of the store data to the mobile phone,
An electronic money system characterized by that. The store data of the store where the common coupon is used is included in the history data of the common coupon stored in the contactless IC card, and the store stored in the store database provided in the server The data includes a genre indicating the genre of the store in addition to the store code, and the store search program provides a counter corresponding to the genre for each user, and the history of the common coupon transmitted from the mobile phone The process of incrementing the value of the counter corresponding to the genre identified from the store code included in the data, and executing the process of analyzing the user's preference from the value of the counter. electronic money system according to 1. The balance inquiry application of the mobile phone displays at least one search condition together with the balance of the electronic money on a display medium, and then stores a store search request message including at least the usage history of the common coupon and the selected search condition. Execute processing to send to the server,
When the server receives a search request for the store data from the mobile phone, the store data satisfies the search conditions included in the store search request message and matches the preference of the user who owns the mobile phone. Execute a process of retrieving from the store database,
The electronic money system according to claim 2 . The mobile phone includes means for acquiring current location data using GPS, and the balance inquiry application includes the current location data as a search condition in the store search request message, and the store provided in the server. The store data stored in the database includes store location data, and the store search program includes the store data including the location data within a predetermined range based on the current location data received from the mobile phone. 4. The electronic money system according to claim 3 , wherein the store data that matches the user's preference is retrieved from the data. In the mobile phone, the balance inquiry application includes the balance of the electronic money as a search condition in the store search request message, and the store data stored in the store database provided in the server includes a store. The store search program includes a minimum amount of goods and services sold, and the store search program stores the user's data from the store data that is less than or equal to the balance of the electronic money included in the store search request message. electronic money system according to claim 3 or claim 4 to search the store data conforming to the preference, and wherein the.

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