JP7617797B2 - Split payment system - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to a bill splitting system.

Patent Document 1 discloses a payment management system that splits payments made using credit cards. One of users A, B, and C (user A) pays the product purchase amount (9,000 yen) using user A's credit card. The split purchase amount (3,000 yen) is then paid using the credit cards of users B and C. User A's payment amount is then corrected from the product purchase amount (9,000 yen) to the split purchase amount (3,000 yen).

JP 2016-151785 A

When dining with a group of friends, sometimes the friends order food and drink to share, and sometimes each person orders food and drink that they like. In situations where the friends want to split the bill for the food and drink they want to share and pay individually for their own food and drink, the payment management system described in Patent Document 1 is difficult to use.

The purpose of this invention is to make it easier to make payments, even when split payments and individual payments are mixed.

The split payment system according to the first invention includes a code creation means for creating a code representing the credit card numbers of credit cards owned by each of a plurality of users. Preferably, the system further includes an association means for associating the payment amounts of each of the plurality of users with each of the plurality of credit card numbers represented by the code created by the code creation means.

The split payment system according to the second invention includes a code creation means for creating a code that represents a combination of the credit card number of a credit card owned by each of a plurality of users and the payment amount of each of the plurality of users. The combination of credit card number and payment amount is unique to each user, and multiple combinations corresponding to multiple users are represented by a single code.

The code created may be a one-dimensional code such as a barcode, or a two-dimensional code, which is generally rectangular in shape.

According to the first invention, a single code is created that represents the credit card numbers of the credit cards owned by multiple users, and this single code can be used to easily make card payments using multiple credit cards.

According to the second invention, a single code is created that represents a combination of the credit card numbers of the credit cards owned by each of multiple users and the payment amounts of each of the multiple users, so that card payments using multiple credit cards can be easily completed using that single code.

Preferably, the payment amount of each of the multiple users is the sum of the split payment amount that each of the multiple users pays in split payments and the individual payment amount that each of the multiple users pays in individual payments.

The split payment amount may be an equal amount divided according to the number of users, or it may be a weighted amount rather than an equal amount depending on the status of multiple users.

For each credit card number, a payment amount, which is the sum of the split payment amount and the individual payment amount, is associated, or a payment amount, which is the sum of the split payment amount and the individual payment amount, is paired with a credit card number, making it easy to complete payments even when split payments and individual payments are mixed.

In one embodiment, the system includes an order reception terminal for split payment and a plurality of order reception terminals for individual payment owned by a plurality of users, and the cost of the ordered items received from the order reception terminal for split payment is split among the plurality of users, and the cost of the ordered items received from the order reception terminal for individual payment is paid individually by the user who placed the order.

For example, for products to be shared among friends, an order terminal for split payment is used to order the products, and for products to be exclusively used by an individual, an order terminal for individual payment is used to order the products. In this way, the amount to be paid for each of the multiple users is calculated so that the products to be shared among friends are split and the products to be exclusively used by an individual are paid individually. By using separate terminals for orders for split payment and orders for individual payment, it is possible to clearly distinguish between products to be split and products to be paid individually.

Preferably, each of the multiple individual payment ordering terminals is equipped with a chat program capable of group chat, and order information is entered into a group chat screen displayed on the individual payment ordering terminal in accordance with the chat program. Information entered into the group chat screen of one individual payment ordering terminal is displayed on each of the multiple individual payment ordering terminals. By using an existing group chat, multiple users can confirm the order details of each other.

The order information displayed on the group chat screen may include order information regarding the ordered items accepted from the order acceptance terminal for split payment. Multiple users can confirm that the items subject to split payment have been ordered.

In another embodiment, an order reception terminal is included that receives product orders, and the respective share of each of the multiple users is input from the order reception terminal for each ordered product, and the split payment amount and individual payment amount for each of the multiple users are specified based on the input share of each. The split payment share rate for each of the multiple users can be controlled for each ordered product. Also, by setting the share of each specific user to 100%, the ordered product can be positioned as an individual payment for that specific user.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a bill splitting system. A personal information database is shown. 1 shows a group information database. 3 shows an order database. (A) shows the group information database before entering the store, and (B) shows the group information database after entering the store. 1A shows the flow of order data when using a tablet ordering terminal, and FIG. 1B shows the flow of order data when using a user terminal 10A. A chat screen is shown.

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the split payment system.

The split-the-bill system includes user terminals 10A, 10B, and 10C, an SNS management device 20, a tablet ordering terminal 30, and a store order reception device 40, which are connected to each other via a network, for example the Internet, so that data communication is possible. Each of the user terminals 10A to 10C, the SNS management device 20, the tablet ordering terminal 30, and the store order reception device 40 is realized by a computer device equipped with a CPU, memory, a storage device, a communication device, an input device, a display device, etc.

The user terminals 10A, 10B, and 10C are typically smartphones owned by users (in this embodiment, "Yuta," "Takeshi," and "Hana"). A social networking system (SNS) application program (hereinafter, "SNS app") is installed in the user terminals 10A, 10B, and 10C in advance, and the SNS app allows users belonging to a pre-set group to chat (send and receive text messages) with each other. As will be described later, the user terminals 10A, 10B, and 10C (the SNS app installed in the user terminals 10A, 10B, and 10C) are used when ordering products (food and drink in this embodiment) at a store, and the cost of the food and drink ordered using the user terminals 10A, 10B, and 10C is subject to individual payment by the user who placed the order.

The SNS management device 20 manages information about users of the above-mentioned SNS application programs, manages the content of users' chats, and performs other processing.

The tablet ordering terminal 30 is a computer device used when ordering food and drink at a store. As described below, the cost of food and drink ordered using the tablet ordering terminal 30 is subject to splitting among multiple users belonging to a group. For ease of understanding, this embodiment describes an example in which the bill is split equally, but the split may also be an amount weighted for each user.

The store order reception device 40 receives food and drink orders using the user terminals 10A, 10B, 10C and the tablet order terminal 30, and store employees, etc., cook and serve the food according to the order details received by the store order reception device 40.

The SNS management device 20 is connected to a personal (member) information database 22 in which the names, addresses, etc. of users (registered users) who use the chat service are registered, and a group information database 23 for managing users who belong to groups who can chat with each other and for managing chat content (talk content). Details of the personal information database 22 and the group information database 23 will be described later.

An order database 31 is connected to the tablet ordering terminal 30, which stores the details and quantity of ordered dishes, the terminal from which the order was placed, etc. The order database 31 can be created in a storage device provided in the tablet ordering terminal 30, or it can be created in a separate device connected to the tablet ordering terminal 30 via a network.

Figure 2 shows an example of a personal information database 22.

The personal information database 22 stores the user ID, name, gender, address, credit card number, and other information of users of the SNS service managed by the SNS management device 20. The credit card number can be used for credit card payments at stores, etc. If a user owns multiple credit cards, multiple credit card numbers may be stored.

Figure 3 shows an example of the group information database 23.

The group information database 23 stores group IDs that identify groups made up of multiple users of the SNS service, user IDs that identify users who belong to the group identified by the group ID, and chat history (talk data) within the group.

Figure 4 shows an example of an order database 31.

Data is stored in the order database 31 by accounting unit (table unit). In this embodiment, three users (Yuta, Takeshi, and Hana) who belong to the same group of the SNS service described above come to a store together and sit at one table (see Figure 1).

A new record is registered in the order database 31 each time a food or drink order is placed.

Records registered in the order database 31 include data on the ordering terminal (which may be an ID identifying the ordering terminal), order details, number of items ordered, and distribution.

An "ordering terminal" is a terminal used to order food and drink. As described above, the three users can use their respective user terminals 10A-10C and the tablet ordering terminal 30 installed at each table to order food and drink. Either the user terminals 10A-10C or the tablet ordering terminal 30 (the terminal ID that identifies them) is recorded as an "ordering terminal." Instead of recording the terminal ID of the user terminals 10A-10C used to place the order, a user ID assigned to each user may be recorded.

"Order details" and "quantity" are the details of the food and drink ordered using the user terminals 10A to 10C or the tablet ordering terminal 30 (or the order number, etc.) and the number ordered.

In the "Pro rata" section, if an order is made using the tablet ordering terminal 30, a flag of "1" is set for each user belonging to the group, and if an order is made using user terminals 10A-10C, a flag of "1" is set for any of the users of user terminals 10A-10C used to place the order. This means that the cost of food and drink ordered using the tablet ordering terminal 30 is subject to split payment within the group, and more specifically, the order contents and quantity subject to split payment are recorded by a flag set in the order database 31. Also, as described above, the cost of food and drink ordered using user terminals 10A, 10B, 10C is subject to individual payment by the user who placed the order, and the order contents and quantity subject to individual payment are associated with the specific user among the three users who should make the individual payment by the flag recorded in the order database 31.

Figure 5 shows a part of the group information database 23 mentioned above, where Figure 5(A) shows the state before entering the store, and Figure 5(B) shows the state after entering the store.

Users who wish to use the split payment system first register with the SNS service and create a group. As described above, the group information database 23a registers a group ID that identifies the group, and the user IDs of multiple users who belong to the group identified by that group ID (Figure 5 (A)).

When multiple users enter a store and sit at a table, they use a two-dimensional code or the like printed or displayed on the table or on the tablet ordering terminal 30 installed at the table to make the table or tablet ordering terminal 30 a group participant (this can be done by one of the three users). As a result, as shown in Figure 5(B), an ID unique to the table or tablet ordering terminal 30 (hereafter referred to as a tablet ID) ("00003" in Figure 5(B)) is newly registered in the group information database 23b.

Figures 6 (A) and (B) show the flow of order data (data indicating the order details and quantity) when ordering food and drink, with Figure 6 (A) showing the flow of order data when ordering food and drink using the tablet ordering terminal 30, and Figure 6 (B) showing the flow of order data when ordering food and drink using user terminals 10A to 10C. Figure 7 shows an example of a chat screen 15. The chat screen 15 shown in Figure 7 shows the screen of user terminal 10A owned by one of the three users, in this case "Yuta."

Referring to FIG. 6(A), when food and drink are ordered using the tablet ordering terminal 30, the order data is recorded as an item subject to split payment in the order database 31 connected to the tablet ordering terminal 30 as described above, and is also transmitted from the tablet ordering terminal 30 to the SNS management device 20 and the store order reception device 40. When the store order reception device 40 receives the order data, it starts cooking the food and drink according to the order. Meanwhile, the SNS management device 20 creates a chat screen including chat data based on the order data received from the tablet ordering terminal 30, and transmits it to the user terminals 10A to 10C of the users (Yuta, Takeshi, Hana) who belong to the group.

Referring to the chat screen 15 in FIG. 7, speech bubbles 15a, 15b, and 15e are chat data that are displayed on the chat screen 15 when an order is placed using the tablet ordering terminal 30. "Table:" means that an order has been placed using the tablet ordering terminal 30, i.e., food and drink that are eligible for split payment have been ordered.

Referring to Figures 6(B) and 7, chat screen 15 is used to order food and drink using user terminals 10A to 10C. In chat screen 15 shown in Figure 7, speech bubbles 15c and 15d indicate that orders have been placed using user terminals 10A to 10C. "Yuta:" in speech bubble 15c indicates that Yuta has placed the order using user terminal 10A, and "Takeshi:" in speech bubble 15f indicates that Takeshi has placed the order using user terminal 10B.

Referring to FIG. 6B, when a user orders food and drink from the chat screen 15 using one of the user terminals 10A-10C, the order data (data indicating the order details and quantity) is sent to the SNS management device 20, and then sent from the SNS management device 20 to the user terminals 10A-10C and the tablet ordering terminal 30. The user terminals 10A-10C that receive the order data display the orderer and the order details on the chat screen 15 (speech bubbles 15c, 15d). The tablet ordering terminal 30 that receives the order data records the order data as an item to be paid individually in the order database 31 connected to the tablet ordering terminal 30. For example, if Yuta uses the user terminal 10A to place an order, the order database 31 (FIG. 4) records the user terminal 10A in the ordering terminal column and sets a flag in the pro rata column indicating that Yuta has placed the order. When the tablet ordering terminal 30 sends the order data to the store order reception device 40, the store starts cooking the food and drink according to the order.

The chat screen 15 is also used when settling the bill. When a chat message containing the word "settlement" is entered from any of the user terminals 10A-10C (Figure 7, speech bubble 15f), the tablet ordering terminal 30 calculates the payment amount individually for each user of the user terminals 10A-10C based on the order data stored in the order database 31 (Figure 7, speech bubble 15g). For orders that are subject to split payment, the product price is divided into three equal parts, and these three equal parts are added to the payment amount for each user. For orders that are subject to individual payment, the full product price is added to the payment amount for the user who placed the order.

When a chat message containing the characters "two-dimensional code" is entered on the chat screen 15 (speech bubble 15h), a two-dimensional code is created by the tablet ordering terminal 30, and the created two-dimensional code 15i is displayed on the chat screen 15 (see FIG. 7). The two-dimensional code 15i displayed on the chat screen 15 contains a set of the credit card numbers of the users who own the user terminals 10A to 10C, which are registered in the personal information database 22 (FIG. 2) described above, and the payment amount calculated for each user. In this embodiment, the sets of credit card numbers and payment amounts (three sets of data) for three people, Yuta, Takeshi, and Hana, are represented by the two-dimensional code 15i.

By having the store's cash register or tablet ordering terminal 30 read the two-dimensional code 15i, the credit card used for payment and the payment amount are communicated to the store, and the accounting process is completed.

In this way, the split payment system makes it easy to complete payments even when split payments and individual payments are mixed.

The above-mentioned two-dimensional code 15i represents a combination of credit card number and payment amount for each user, but it may also represent only the credit card number of each user. In this case, at the time of payment, the credit card number of each user represented by the two-dimensional code 15i and the payment amount of each user stored in the order database 31 are associated at the cash register terminal using the user ID, user terminal, user name, etc. as keys.

In the above embodiment, items ordered using the tablet ordering terminal 30 are treated as items to be paid on an equal basis, and items ordered using the user terminals 10A to 10C are treated as items to be paid individually. Of course, individual payment orders may also be possible using the tablet ordering terminal 30, and split payment orders may also be possible using the user terminals 10A to 10C. For example, when ordering items using the tablet ordering terminal 30, the respective share of each user's payment may also be input. By setting the share of a specific user's payment to 100%, the ordered item can be paid for individually by that specific user. Even when ordering using the user terminals 10A to 10C, the ordered item can be treated as being paid on an equal basis by inputting a statement related to splitting the bill, such as "I'd like to order wine. Takeshi and I will pay for it together."

10A, 10B, 10C User terminal
15 Chat screen
15i 2D code
20 SNS Management Device
22 Personal Information Database
23, 23a, 23b Group Information Database
30 Tablet ordering terminal
31 Order Database
40 Store order reception terminal

Claims (6)

a code generating means for generating a code representing a credit card number of each of the plurality of users ;
an association means for associating a payment amount of each of the plurality of users with each of the plurality of credit card numbers represented by the codes generated by the code generation means ;
An order acceptance terminal for split payment, and
The system comprises a plurality of order receiving terminals for individual payment each owned by a plurality of users ,
the payment amount of each of the plurality of users is a sum of an equal payment amount borne by each of the plurality of users through equal payment and an individual payment amount borne by each of the plurality of users through individual payment,
The cost of the ordered products accepted from the order acceptance terminal for split payment is paid by the multiple users on an split basis, and the cost of the ordered products accepted from the order acceptance terminal for individual payment is paid by the users who placed the orders individually.
Split payment system. a code generating means for generating a code representing a set of a credit card number of a credit card owned by each of a plurality of users and a payment amount of each of the plurality of users ;
An order acceptance terminal for split payment, and
The system comprises a plurality of order receiving terminals for individual payment each owned by a plurality of users ,
the payment amount of each of the plurality of users is a sum of an equal payment amount borne by each of the plurality of users through equal payment and an individual payment amount borne by each of the plurality of users through individual payment,
The cost of the ordered products accepted from the order acceptance terminal for split payment is paid by the multiple users on an split basis, and the cost of the ordered products accepted from the order acceptance terminal for individual payment is paid by the users who placed the orders individually.
Split payment system. Each of the plurality of individual payment ordering terminals is equipped with a chat program capable of group chat,
Order information is entered into the group chat screen displayed on the individual payment ordering terminal according to the chat program.
3. The bill splitting system according to claim 1 or 2 . An order receiving terminal for receiving orders for products,
The respective share of the users is input for each ordered item from the order reception terminal,
The split payment amount and individual payment amount of each of the multiple users are specified based on the input burden ratio.
3. The bill splitting system according to claim 1 or 2 . a code generating means for generating a code representing a credit card number of each of a plurality of users; and
a linking means for linking each of a plurality of credit card numbers represented by the codes generated by the code generating means with a payment amount of each of the plurality of users,
The charges for the ordered products received from the order reception terminal for split payment are split among the multiple users, and the charges for the ordered products received from the order reception terminals for individual payment owned by each of the multiple users are paid individually by the user who placed the order,
The payment amount of each of the plurality of users is the sum of an equal payment amount borne by each of the plurality of users through equal payment and an individual payment amount borne by each of the plurality of users through individual payment,
Split payment system. a code generating means for generating a code representing a set of a credit card number of a credit card owned by each of a plurality of users and a payment amount of each of the plurality of users;
The charges for the ordered products received from the order reception terminal for split payment are split among the multiple users, and the charges for the ordered products received from the order reception terminals for individual payment owned by each of the multiple users are paid individually by the user who placed the order,
The payment amount of each of the plurality of users is the sum of an equal payment amount borne by each of the plurality of users through equal payment and an individual payment amount borne by each of the plurality of users through individual payment,
Split payment system.

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