JP7803175B2 - Sales support device, sales support method, and sales support program - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to technology that supports sales at hospital kiosks.

Patent Document 1 describes a sales support system consisting of a terminal device that transmits product purchase orders from patients and a server device that accepts product purchase orders. The sales support system in Patent Document 1 identifies the patient operating the terminal device and restricts the patient from purchasing contraindicated items.

Patent Document 2 describes an in-hospital service system in which a patient's bedside terminal device connects to a server to purchase products. The in-hospital service system in Patent Document 2 enables appropriate health management based on the patient's medical information and product nutritional information.

JP 2012-113654 A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-141375

However, hospital stores are used not only by patients but also by hospital staff.

One example of the objectives of the present disclosure is to provide a method for supporting sales at hospital stores in accordance with the characteristics of each of the hospital staff and patients who use the stores.

In one aspect of the present disclosure, the sales support device includes a determination means for determining whether a user's attribute is a hospital employee or a patient, a product extraction means for extracting products that the user can purchase based on the user's attribute determined by the determination means, an order acceptance means for accepting an order for a product purchased by the user from among the extracted products, and a delivery management means for determining a delivery destination for the purchased product of the user based on the user's attribute determined by the determination means.

A sales support method according to one aspect of the present disclosure determines whether a user's attribute is a hospital worker or a patient, extracts products that can be purchased by the user based on the determined user attribute, accepts an order for a product purchased by the user from among the extracted products, and determines a delivery address for the purchased product by the user based on the determined user attribute.

In one aspect of the present disclosure, a sales support program causes a computer to perform the following processes: determining whether a user's attribute is a hospital employee or a patient; extracting products that the user can purchase based on the determined user's attribute; accepting an order for a product purchased by the user from among the extracted products; and determining a delivery address for the purchased product by the user based on the determined user's attribute.

One example of the effect of this disclosure is that it can support sales at hospital stores in accordance with the individual characteristics of the hospital staff and patients who use the stores.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a sales support device according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example in the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example in the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example in the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example in the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example in the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example in the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example in the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example in the first embodiment. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the sales support device in the first embodiment. FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a sales support device according to a second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display example in the second embodiment. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the sales support device in the second embodiment. 1 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration in which a sales support device according to the present disclosure is realized by a computer device and its peripheral devices.

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In the following embodiments, a hospital kiosk is a store that sells goods within a hospital or on the hospital grounds. In the following embodiments, patients may also include visitors such as family members of patients. Hospital staff are people who work at a hospital. Hospital staff may include medical staff and non-medical staff such as security guards and cleaners who work at the hospital. Medical staff include, for example, doctors, dentists, midwives, nurses, pharmacists, clinical technologists, radiologists, and physical therapists. Users are users who use the hospital kiosk. Users include patients and hospital staff. While users may include people other than patients or hospital staff, the following embodiments primarily target patients and hospital staff as users.

The product support device described below may be realized as a server or cloud service. Alternatively, the product support device may be realized as a terminal device. The product support device may be realized by distributing each component of the product support device across a server and a terminal device. The terminal device may be a terminal device owned by the user or a terminal device installed in the hospital. A terminal device installed in the hospital may be a terminal device installed in a hospital bed, a patient room, a break room, a delivery locker (described below), etc.

[First embodiment]
1 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a sales support device 100 according to the first embodiment. Referring to FIG. 1, the sales support device 100 includes a determination unit 101, a product extraction unit 102, an order reception unit 103, and a delivery management unit 104.

Next, the configuration of the sales support device 100 in the first embodiment will be described in detail.

In FIG. 1, the determination unit 101 is an example of a determination means for determining whether a user's attribute is a hospital employee or a patient. The user's attribute is either a hospital employee or a patient.

In a first example of a method for determining a user's attributes, the determination unit 101 determines whether the user is a hospital employee or a patient based on the user's identification information. The user's identification information is information that individually identifies the user.

The terminal device has a display unit (not shown) that displays an input screen and an operation unit for inputting identification information. The terminal device accepts input of the user's identification information by the user. When the terminal device is connected to the sales support device 100, the terminal device transmits the user's identification information to the sales support device 100. As a result, the sales support device 100 receives the identification information from the terminal device and inputs the identification information to the determination unit 101. On the other hand, when the terminal device is the sales support device 100, the determination unit 101 accepts the identification information input by operation by the user.

Figure 2 shows an example of a screen displayed on a terminal device for inputting user identification information. In Figure 2, the user identification information is the user's name. The user identification information may be, for example, a name, date of birth, email address, telephone number, a number assigned to identify a patient or hospital staff member, or an arbitrarily set character string. If the user is an inpatient, the user identification information may also be information identifying the room or a room and bed. The user identification information may also be a combination of multiple of these. For example, the user identification information may also be the user's biometric authentication information. The biometric authentication information may be an image used for biometric authentication or information extracted from the image and necessary for an authentication unit (not shown) to perform biometric authentication.

First, in one example of a method for determining a user's attributes, the determination unit 101 determines the attributes stored in association with the user's identification information as the user's attributes. The user's identification information and attributes are stored in a storage unit (not shown). The user's identification information and attributes may be registered in a storage unit (not shown) through a registration operation by the user or hospital staff, etc. Alternatively, the determination unit 101 may determine the user's attributes associated with the user's identification information by searching a hospital database. If a patient database and a hospital employee database are available, the determination unit 101 may determine the user's attributes based on which database contains the user's identification information. The patient database and hospital employee database may be provided within the sales support device 100. Alternatively, the patient database and hospital employee database may be provided externally to the sales support device 100 and communicatively connected to them. Specifically, the patient database stores patient information for each patient. The hospital employee database stores information related to each hospital employee. When the determination unit 101 detects user identification information from the patient database, it determines that the user's attribute is a patient. Furthermore, when the determination unit 101 detects user identification information from the hospital employee database, it determines that the user's attribute is a hospital employee.

In another example of a method for determining a user's attributes, the determination unit 101 selects whether the user is a hospital employee or a patient based on the user's operation of the terminal device. Figure 3 shows an example of a user attribute selection screen displayed on the terminal device. The terminal device accepts the user's selection of hospital employee or patient. The determination unit 101 determines the attribute selected by the selection operation as the user's attribute. In a second example of a method for determining a user's attributes, after the user selects an attribute, an acquisition unit (not shown) acquires the user's identification information. For example, when the determination unit 101 determines that the user's attribute is a patient, the acquisition unit acquires the user's identification information from the patient database. When the determination unit 101 determines that the user's attribute is a hospital employee, the acquisition unit acquires the user's identification information from the hospital employee database. The user's identification information and the method for acquiring the user's identification information are not limited. The acquisition unit may be included in the determination unit 101 or the product extraction unit 102 (described later). In the second embodiment described below, an example will be described in which the acquisition unit that acquires user identification information is included in the product extraction unit 102.

In yet another example of a method for determining a user's attributes, when a user uses a built-in terminal, the determination unit 101 determines the user's attributes based on the identification information or connection information of the terminal device. Built-in terminal devices used by users are divided into terminal devices used by patients and terminal devices used by hospital staff. Specifically, the determination unit 101 can determine whether the user's attribute is patient or hospital staff based on the identification information or connection information of the terminal device. For example, the determination unit 101 determines the user's attribute by referencing a database that associates the identification information or connection information of the terminal device with the installation location or target user. For example, a terminal used by a patient is a terminal device installed at the patient's bedside. Also, for example, a terminal used by hospital staff is a terminal device installed in a delivery locker, which will be described later.

Note that the methods for determining a user's attributes are not limited to these. The determination unit 101 may determine whether the user's attribute is a hospital employee or a patient based on appropriate information that may represent the user's attributes.

The product extraction unit 102 is an example of a product extraction means that extracts products that can be purchased by a user according to the user's attributes determined by the determination means. The product extraction unit 102 displays the extracted products on the display unit of the terminal device. The user selects the products they wish to order from the products that can be purchased based on the display on the display unit of the terminal device. There are no limitations on the process of displaying the extracted products on the terminal device and the process of having the user select the products to purchase from the extracted products on the terminal device. These processes may be executed by the product extraction unit 102 or the order reception unit 103, which will be described later.

Next, we will explain how to extract products that can be purchased based on the results of determining a user's attributes.

First, if the user's attribute is determined to be a patient, the product extraction unit 102 extracts products that the user can purchase based on the patient information. For example, the patient information is stored in association with the user's identification information. The patient information is information for restricting product purchases by patients for the purpose of managing the patient's health. The patient information includes at least one of allergies, medications, and dietary restrictions. The medication information is information indicating the type of medication the patient is taking, a medication history indicating the types of medications taken by the patient, or information indicating contraindications due to the medications taken by the patient or medication history. Note that the patient information may also include other information. The product extraction unit 102 may also extract products that can be purchased based on patient information other than allergies, medications, and dietary restrictions.

The product extraction unit 102 may also extract products that the user can purchase in response to changes in patient information. Patient information is changed, for example, by a doctor. Patient information changed by a doctor may always be reflected in the patient information accessible to the product extraction unit 102. For example, when patient information is changed, the product extraction unit 102 identifies products that the patient cannot purchase. The product extraction unit 102 extracts products that the patient user can purchase from a product information database sold at the hospital store, excluding products that cannot be purchased based on the patient information. Alternatively, the product extraction unit 102 may associate purchase restriction information with products that cannot be purchased based on the patient information from the product information database sold at the hospital store. In this case, the product extraction unit 102 displays the products that cannot be purchased and are associated with purchase restriction information on the display unit of the terminal device, as well as the products that can be purchased. The purchase restriction information is, for example, information that prevents the user from selecting a product with purchase restriction. Alternatively, the purchase restriction information is information that displays a warning indicating that purchase is restricted when a product with purchase restriction is selected by a user.

When unavailable products associated with purchase restriction information are displayed, the unavailable products may be displayed separately from available products. For example, unavailable products may be displayed with a different background or text color from available products. Figure 4 shows an example of a display where unavailable products are displayed separately due to product purchase restrictions. In the display example of Figure 4, the orange juice with a purchase restriction is displayed in gray. Alternatively, the fact that it is a purchase restriction may be displayed using text or symbols. Furthermore, in the display example of Figure 4, the orange juice with a purchase restriction may be set so that it cannot be selected by the user.

The product extraction unit 102 may also limit the purchase quantity of a product based on patient information. The product extraction unit 102 associates purchase limit information with products for which purchase quantities are limited based on patient information, among products extracted from the product information database sold at the hospital store. For example, the product extraction unit 102 associates purchase limit information that prevents order processing from proceeding if a user enters an order that exceeds the purchase quantity limit during order reception processing by the order reception unit 103, which will be described later. Alternatively, the product extraction unit 102 may associate purchase limit information that displays a warning indicating that the purchase quantity limit has been exceeded if a user enters an order that exceeds the purchase quantity limit. Purchase limit information is not limited to this. For example, Figure 5 is an example of a display when the purchase quantity of a product is limited. In the display example of Figure 5, the available purchase quantity is displayed for coffee, for which the purchase quantity is limited. In this way, the product extraction unit 102 may associate information that displays the purchase quantity limit on the display of the terminal device with a product for which the purchase quantity is limited,

The product information database includes the names and prices of products sold at the hospital. If the product is a food product, the product information database also includes information indicating ingredients and allergens. The product information database may be provided inside the sales support device 100. Alternatively, the product information database may be provided externally to the sales support device 100 and be capable of communicating with it. The product information database only needs to be readable by the product extraction unit 102.

Second, if the user's attribute is determined to be a hospital employee, the product extraction unit 102 extracts purchasable products based on the hospital employee's work information or purchase history. The purchase history may be data stored in the purchase history storage unit 206 in the second embodiment, which will be described later.

First, work information is information that includes the work location or rest area of the hospital employee. The work location or rest area is information that the delivery management unit 104 uses to determine the delivery destination. Work information may also include the work schedule of the hospital employee. The work schedule includes the work days and work hours. Work hours may be information that indicates the work style, such as day shift or night shift. Work hours may include the arrival time, break time, departure time, and a predetermined work schedule. Work hours may also include the actual arrival time, break time, and departure time. The work schedule is the schedule for the hours during which the employee is working. Examples of work schedules include times for surgery, meetings, and patient care. In addition to these, the work schedule may also indicate times when the employee is less likely to receive goods.

For example, if, based on work information, the user arrives at work when the hospital store is closed, the product extraction unit 102 extracts products placed in the delivery box as available for purchase. Details of the delivery box will be described later. The products placed in the delivery box may be products extracted by the product extraction unit 102 that have a high probability of purchase. Alternatively, the products placed in the delivery box may be products extracted by the product extraction unit 102 that are close to their expiration date or best-before date. Furthermore, the products placed in the delivery box may be products selected by a hospital store employee. The products extracted or selected in this way are placed in the delivery box before the hospital store closes. The products placed in the delivery box are registered in the product information database. Then, if the user arrives at work when the hospital store is closed, the product extraction unit 102 extracts the products placed in the delivery box as available for purchase.

Even when the hospital store is open, the product extraction unit 102 may extract products that have been placed in the delivery box in advance as recommended products. This allows users to order recommended products and receive them immediately during their limited break time. Recommended products may be displayed on the display unit of the terminal device, as in the display example of Figure 6. In this case, it is also advisable to indicate that the product is recommended or that the user can receive it immediately.

Furthermore, if the user's attribute is determined to be a hospital employee, the product extraction unit 102 may extract all in-stock products as available for purchase. Even if the user comes to work when the hospital store is closed based on work information, the product extraction unit 102 may extract all in-stock products as available for purchase if the user accesses the sales support device 100 when the hospital store is open. This allows the user to order products in advance. Furthermore, the user can receive products that have been delivered in advance even after closing time.

The product extraction unit 102 may also extract recommended products or products with a high likelihood of purchase based on purchase history. The purchase history may be at least one of the user's purchase history, the overall purchase history for the same time period, or the overall purchase history for the most recent specified number of days. Recommended products may be displayed on the display unit of the terminal device, as in the display example of Figure 6.

Furthermore, for example, the product extraction unit 102 may extract recommended products or products with a high likelihood of purchase based on a purchase history including work information. For example, when the product extraction unit 102 extracts recommended products after a night shift, the product extraction unit 102 may extract recommended products based on the purchase history of the user, hospital workers with similar purchasing tendencies to the user, or all hospital workers after the night shift. In this way, the product extraction unit 102 may extract recommended products using work information such as before a night shift, after a night shift, a break during a daytime shift, or long consecutive shifts, and the purchase history for those cases.

The order receiving unit 103 is an example of an order receiving means that receives an order from a user for a purchased item from among the extracted items. The order receiving unit 103 receives an order entered by the user on a terminal device. Upon receiving the order, the order receiving unit 103 may initiate processing to deliver the purchased item. Furthermore, if a patient pays for the ordered item in addition to paying for hospitalization or treatment fees, or if a hospital employee has the payment deducted from their salary, the order receiving unit 103 may associate the amount to be paid by the user with the user's identification information.

The delivery management unit 104 is an example of a delivery management means that determines the delivery destination of a user's purchased items based on the user's attributes determined by the determination means.

If the user's attribute is determined to be a hospital employee, the delivery management unit 104 determines that the delivery destination of the purchased items will be a delivery locker corresponding to the workplace of the hospital employee who ordered the purchased items. A delivery locker is a storage unit used for delivering items. For example, a delivery person delivers the items to the delivery locker and then locks it. The user then unlocks the delivery locker to receive the delivered items. The delivery locker's key may be mechanical or electronic. Alternatively, the user may be able to unlock the delivery locker using facial recognition using a camera that is installed on or near the delivery locker and can be connected to it. The delivery locker may be installed, for example, in a hospital employee's changing room, break room, or back room. By using delivery lockers to sell products at the hospital store, users who are hospital employees can receive their items at a time that suits them, even if they have an urgent job to do.

Alternatively, if the user's attribute is determined to be a hospital employee, the delivery management unit 104 may determine that the delivery destination of the purchased items is the workplace or rest area of the hospital employee who ordered the purchased items.

Furthermore, if the user's attribute is determined to be a patient, the delivery management unit 104 determines the delivery destination of the purchased items to be the location of the patient who ordered the purchased items. The patient's location may be, for example, the patient's bed. The patient's location may also be determined in real time using a surveillance camera or a beacon that communicates with a terminal device carried by the patient.

The delivery management unit 104 may display delivery destinations according to these user attributes on the display unit of the terminal device as part of the options available for the user to select a delivery destination.

The delivery management unit 104 may also determine a delivery time for the items purchased by the user, depending on the user's attributes determined by the determination means. Determining the delivery time may include determining options for the user to select a delivery time, depending on the user's attributes. In this case, the delivery management unit 104 may display the delivery time according to the user's attributes on the display unit of the terminal device as part of the options for the user to select a delivery time.

For example, if the user's attribute is determined to be a hospital employee, the delivery management unit 104 may determine the delivery time according to the working hours of the hospital employee who purchased the product. For example, the delivery management unit 104 may determine the break time as the delivery time by referencing the working hours, including break times, of the hospital employee user. If the product is to be delivered to a delivery box, the purchased product only needs to be delivered by the user's break time. For example, the delivery management unit 104 generates a delivery instruction so that the product will be delivered by the user's break time. The delivery instruction is an instruction to the delivery person who will make the delivery. The delivery instruction may be sent to a terminal device at the hospital store or a terminal device carried by the delivery person who will make the delivery. Furthermore, if the delivery is made by a delivery robot, the delivery instruction may be sent to the delivery robot or a device that controls the delivery robot.

Figure 7 shows an example of a delivery confirmation screen that is displayed on the display unit of a terminal device when a scheduled break time is set as delivery time. The delivery confirmation screen is a screen on which the user can confirm information related to delivery. After the order reception unit 103 receives an order, the delivery management unit 104 may display a confirmation screen for the delivery time and delivery destination determined by the delivery management unit 104 on the display unit of the terminal device, as in the example of Figure 7. Furthermore, as in the example of Figure 7, the delivery confirmation screen may include an operation button that allows changes to the determined delivery time and delivery destination. Changes to the delivery time and delivery destination may be made by the user selecting from options based on the work information described above.

Furthermore, for example, the delivery management unit 104 may refer to the working hours, including the work schedule of the user who is a hospital employee, to determine a delivery time that avoids the work schedule. Furthermore, the delivery management unit 104 may display the time that avoids the work schedule as part of the delivery time options on the display unit of the terminal device.

Furthermore, for example, if the user's attribute is determined to be a patient, the delivery management unit 104 may determine the delivery time in accordance with the patient's schedule. The patient's schedule may be, for example, scheduled times for consultations, examinations, surgery, rehabilitation, etc. The patient's schedule may also include, for example, times for dietary or activity restrictions for examinations. In addition to treatment-related schedules, the patient's schedule may also be set based on the patient's convenience, such as visitors or outings. The patient's schedule may be stored in a memory unit (not shown), for example, in association with the patient's identification information. The patient's schedule may also be obtained from the patient's medical record, hospital facility reservations, etc. Here, hospital facilities include testing equipment or examination rooms, rehabilitation rooms, operating rooms, etc. In other words, it is desirable for the patient's schedule to identify times when the patient is unable to receive the product. The delivery management unit 104 determines the delivery time to avoid such patient schedules.

If there are multiple delivery times available that avoid the patient's schedule, the delivery management unit 104 may, for example, determine the earliest delivery time. After the delivery time is determined, the delivery management unit 104 may display a confirmation screen, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, on the display unit of the terminal device. The confirmation screen in FIG. 8 includes the patient's name, purchased items, total amount, delivery destination, and delivery time. In this case, the confirmation screen may include a change delivery information button to change the delivery destination or delivery time, as shown in FIG. 8.

Furthermore, even if it is determined based on the patient's schedule that the patient will not be in their hospital room, if the patient specifies otherwise, or if the room they are using is a private room, it may be possible to select a time when the patient is not in their hospital room as the delivery time.

Figure 9 is an example display that displays options for desired delivery times that avoid the patient's schedule when there are multiple available delivery times. As such, it is highly likely that the product will not be available to receive during rehabilitation or medical appointments. For this reason, rehabilitation or medical appointments should be displayed separately from times when there are no scheduled appointments, so that they cannot be selected. For example, times when there is a scheduled appointment and it is highly likely that the product will not be available to receive may be displayed in a different color from other times. For example, as in the display example of Figure 9, rehabilitation or medical appointments may be displayed with a gray background. Furthermore, in the display example of Figure 9, time periods when there are scheduled appointments may be set so that the user cannot select them.

In addition to this, for patients waiting for examinations, tests, etc., the delivery management unit 104 may determine the delivery time depending on the number of people waiting before the patient. For example, the delivery management unit 104 may recognize the number of people waiting before the patient from images taken by a camera in the hospital's waiting room. The delivery management unit 104 may then set the delivery time so that a delivery person or a hospital shop clerk will begin preparing for delivery when the number of people waiting before the patient reaches a predetermined number. The predetermined number may be set using the time required for tests, etc. per patient, the time it takes for the patient to return to their hospital room after the test, and the time required for delivery so that the product is delivered at an appropriate time. An appropriate time may be, for example, when the patient returns to their hospital room.

The operation of the sales support device 100 configured as described above will be explained with reference to the flowchart in Figure 10.

Figure 10 is a flowchart showing an overview of the operation of the sales support device 100 in the first embodiment. Note that the processing according to this flowchart may be executed based on program control by a processor.

As shown in Figure 10, first, the determination unit 101 determines whether the user's attribute is a hospital employee or a patient (step S101).

Next, the product extraction unit 102 extracts purchasable products according to the determined user attributes (step S102). If the user's identification information has not been acquired in step S101, the product extraction unit 102 may acquire the user's identification information for product extraction.

Next, the order receiving unit 103 receives an order for a product to be purchased by the user from among the extracted products (step S103).

The delivery management unit 104 then determines the delivery destination of the purchased items based on the determined user attributes (step S104). The delivery management unit 104 may also determine the delivery time.

This completes the series of operations of the sales support device 100.

The sales support device in the above-described embodiment comprises a determination unit, a product extraction unit, an order reception unit, and a delivery management unit. The determination unit determines whether a user's attribute is a hospital worker or a patient. The product extraction unit extracts products that the user can purchase based on the determined user's attribute. The order reception unit receives an order for a product purchased by the user from among the extracted products. The delivery management unit determines the delivery destination of the product purchased by the user based on the determined user's attribute.

As a result, the sales support device in this embodiment can support sales in accordance with the characteristics of the hospital staff and patients who use the hospital's convenience store.

[Second embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Below, the description of the second embodiment will be omitted to the extent that it does not become unclear.

Figure 11 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a sales support device according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. In addition to the configuration of the first embodiment, the sales support device 200 of the second embodiment includes a payment unit 205 and a purchase history storage unit 206.

The payment unit 205 makes payment for the purchased items accepted by the order acceptance unit 103. The payment unit 205 may perform facial authentication to make payment using payment information associated with the user's identification information. For example, the payment unit 205 displays a screen as shown in FIG. 12 that prompts the user to operate the camera of the terminal device for facial authentication. The payment unit 205 then confirms payment for the purchased items by authenticating the user using the captured facial image. Payment information is, for example, information on registered credit cards, electronic money, or code payment. By making payments without using cash, patients do not need to take their wallets out of the safe when using the hospital store. Furthermore, by making payments without using cash, hospital staff do not need to carry or retrieve their wallets when using the hospital store.

The purchase history storage unit 206 stores the purchase history of each user. The purchase history storage unit 206 may be implemented as a configuration having the function of storing the purchase history in the storage unit of an external device communicatively connected to the sales support device 200. By storing the purchase history, for example, the product extraction unit 102 can extract recommended products as described in the first embodiment in a way that better suits the user's preferences.

The purchase history storage unit 206 may store a patient's purchase history in association with the patient's medical record. For example, the purchase history storage unit 206 may write the purchase history to the patient's electronic medical record in the electronic medical record database. Alternatively, the purchase history storage unit 206 may write reference information such as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for referencing the purchase history from the electronic medical record database. If the purchase history is updated, the purchase history storage unit 206 may display in the electronic medical record that the purchase history has been updated. By associating the purchase history with the electronic medical record, doctors can obtain information related to the patient's health management.

The purchase history storage unit 206 may also associate the purchase history with the electronic medical record when instructed by the patient or doctor. The purchase history storage unit 206 may also associate the purchase history with the electronic medical record according to the patient's medical department or disease name.

The operation of the sales support device 200 configured as described above will be explained with reference to the flowchart in Figure 5.

Figure 13 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the sales support device 200 in the second embodiment. The flowchart in Figure 13 explains the operation of the flowchart in Figure 10 in the first embodiment included in the second embodiment, when the acquisition unit included in the product extraction unit 102 acquires user identification information. Note that the processing according to this flowchart may be executed based on program control by a processor.

As shown in FIG. 13, first, the determination unit 101 determines whether the user's attribute is a patient or a hospital employee (step S201).

First, we will explain what happens when the user's attribute is determined to be a patient in step S201.

If the user's attribute is determined to be a patient in step S201 and the determination unit 101 has not acquired the user's identification information, the product extraction unit 102 acquires patient information (step S202).

Next, the product extraction unit 102 extracts products that are available for purchase based on the patient information (step S203).

Then, the order receiving unit 103 receives an order from the user for a product to be purchased from among the products extracted in step S203 (step S204).

Next, the delivery management unit 104 determines the delivery time based on the patient information (step S205).

Next, the delivery management unit 104 determines the delivery destination based on the patient information (step S206).

Next, the payment unit 205 processes the payment for the user's purchased items (step S207).

The purchase history storage unit 206 then stores the purchase history and associates the purchase history with the user's medical record (step S208).

This completes the series of operations performed by the sales support device 200 for the patient.

Next, we will explain what happens when the user's attribute is determined to be a hospital employee in step S201.

If the user's attribute is determined to be a hospital employee in step S201 and the determination unit 101 has not acquired the user's identification information, the product extraction unit 102 acquires the hospital employee's work information (step S211).

Next, the product extraction unit 102 extracts products that are available for purchase based on the work information of hospital employees (step S212).

Then, the order receiving unit 103 receives an order from the user for a product to be purchased from among the products extracted in step S212 (step S213).

Next, the delivery management unit 104 determines the delivery time based on the work information of hospital staff (step S214).

Next, the delivery management unit 104 determines the delivery destination based on the work information of the hospital staff (step S215).

Next, the delivery management unit 104 sets the delivery box at the delivery destination so that the user can unlock it (step S216).

Next, the payment unit 205 processes the payment for the user's purchased items (step S217).

Then, the purchase history storage unit 206 stores the purchase history (step S218).

This completes the series of operations of the sales support device 200. Note that this flowchart is an example of the operation of the sales support device 200, and the steps may be executed in a different order, or some steps may be executed in parallel. For example, steps S205 and S206 may be executed simultaneously.

The sales support device 200 in the above-described embodiment includes a determination unit, a product extraction unit, an order reception unit, a delivery management unit, a payment unit, and a purchase history storage unit. The determination unit determines whether the user's attribute is a hospital employee or a patient. The product extraction unit extracts products that the user can purchase based on the determined user's attribute. The order reception unit receives orders for products purchased by the user from the extracted products. The delivery management unit determines a delivery destination for the user's purchased products based on the determined user's attribute. The payment unit performs payment for the purchased products. The purchase history storage unit stores purchase history. If the user's attribute is a patient, the purchase history storage unit may associate the user's purchase history with the patient's electronic medical record.

As a result, the sales support device in this embodiment can support sales in accordance with the characteristics of the hospital staff and patients who use the hospital's convenience store.

[Hardware configuration]
Some or all of the components of the devices or systems in the embodiments of the present disclosure described above are realized by any combination of an information processing device 1000 and a program, for example, as shown in Fig. 14. The information processing device 1000 includes, as an example, the following configuration.

・CPU (Central Processing Unit) 1001
・ROM (Read Only Memory) 1002
・RAM (Random Access Memory) 1003
Program 1004 loaded into RAM 13
A storage device 1005 for storing the program 14
A drive device 1007 that reads and writes data from and to the recording medium 1006
A communication I/F 1008 that connects to a communication network 1009
Input/output I/F 1010 for inputting and outputting data
A bus 1011 that connects the components
It should be noted that I/F is an abbreviation for Interface.

Each component of each device or system in each embodiment is realized by the CPU 1001 acquiring and executing a program that realizes those functions. The program that realizes the function of each component of each device is stored in advance in, for example, the storage device 1005 or RAM 1003, and is read by the CPU 1001 as needed. The program 1004 may be supplied to the CPU 1001 via a communications network, or may be stored in advance on the recording medium 1006, with the drive device 1007 reading the program and supplying it to the CPU 1001.

There are various variations in how each device can be realized. For example, each device or system may be realized by any combination of a separate information processing device 1000 and a program for each component. Furthermore, multiple components included in each device may be realized by any combination of a single information processing device 1000 and a program.

Furthermore, some or all of the components of each device or system may be realized by general-purpose or dedicated circuits (circuitry) including a processor, etc., or a combination of these. These may be configured by a single chip, or by multiple chips connected via a bus. Some or all of the components of each device may be realized by a combination of the above-mentioned circuits, etc., and a program.

When some or all of the components of each device or system are realized using multiple information processing devices, circuits, etc., the multiple information processing devices, circuits, etc. may be centrally located or distributed. For example, the information processing devices, circuits, etc. may be realized as a client-server system, cloud computing system, etc., in which each device is connected via a communications network.

The present invention has been described above with reference to various embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Various modifications to the configuration and details of the present invention that are understandable to those skilled in the art can be made within the scope of the present invention.

For example, the sales support device may be modified so that the sales support device 100 of the first embodiment includes a payment unit 205 or a purchase history storage unit 206.

Furthermore, although multiple operations are described in order in the form of a flowchart, the order of description does not limit the order in which the multiple operations are performed. Therefore, when implementing each embodiment, the order of the multiple operations may be changed as long as it does not interfere with the content.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 Sales support device 101 Determination unit 102 Product extraction unit 103 Order reception unit 104 Delivery management unit 200 Sales support device 205 Settlement unit 206 Purchase history storage unit 1000 Information processing device 1001 CPU
1002 ROM
1003 RAM
1004 Program 1005 Storage device 1006 Recording medium 1007 Drive device 1008 Communication I/F
1009 Communication network 1010 Input/output I/F
1011 Bus

Claims (15)

A determination means for determining whether the user's attribute is a hospital employee or a patient;
a product extraction means for extracting products that can be purchased by the user according to the user attributes determined by the determination means;
an order receiving means for receiving an order for a purchase product from the user among the extracted products;
a delivery management means for determining a delivery destination of the purchased product of the user in accordance with the attribute of the user determined by the determination means;
A sales support device for a hospital shop. 2. The sales support device for a hospital shop according to claim 1, wherein the delivery management means, when it is determined that the user's attribute is a hospital employee, determines the delivery destination of the purchased items to be a delivery box corresponding to the workplace of the hospital employee who ordered the purchased items, and when it is determined that the user's attribute is a patient, determines the delivery destination of the purchased items to be the location of the patient who ordered the purchased items. 3. The sales support device for a hospital shop according to claim 2, wherein when the determination means determines that the user's attribute is that of the hospital employee, the delivery management means sets the delivery box to which the purchased item is delivered to be unlocked by facial recognition of the hospital employee who purchased the item. The sales support device for a hospital shop according to claim 2 or 3, wherein when the determination means determines that the user's attribute is that of a hospital employee, the product extraction means extracts products placed in the delivery box as recommended products. The sales support device for a hospital shop according to claim 2 , wherein the location of the patient is the patient's bed. 6. A sales support device for a hospital shop as described in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein when the determination means determines that the user's attribute is that of the hospital employee, the product extraction means extracts purchasable products based on the work information or purchase history of the hospital employee. 7. The sales support device for a hospital shop according to claim 1, wherein when the determination means determines that the user's attribute is that of the patient, the product extraction means extracts products that can be purchased by the user based on patient information of the patient, which includes at least one of allergies, medications, and dietary restrictions. The sales support device for a hospital shop according to claim 7, wherein when the determination means determines that the user's attribute is the patient, the product extraction means extracts products that can be purchased by the user in accordance with changes in the patient information. The sales support device for a hospital shop according to claim 1 , wherein the delivery management means determines a delivery time according to attributes of the user. The sales support device for a hospital shop according to claim 9, wherein when the determination means determines that the user's attribute is that of the hospital employee, the delivery management means determines a delivery time according to the working hours of the hospital employee who purchased the product. The sales support device for a hospital shop according to claim 9 or 10, wherein when the determining means determines that the attribute of the user is the patient, the delivery management means determines a delivery time according to the schedule of the patient. The system further comprises a purchase history storage means for storing the purchase history of the user,
The sales support device for a hospital shop according to claim 1 , wherein the purchase history storage means stores the purchase history of the patient in association with a medical record. The sales support device for a hospital shop according to claim 1 , further comprising a payment means for making a payment for the purchased product accepted by the order acceptance means based on face authentication of the user. The computer
determining whether the user is a hospital worker or a patient;
extracting products that can be purchased by the user according to the determined attributes of the user;
Accepting an order for a purchase item from the user among the extracted items;
A sales support method for a hospital shop, the method comprising: determining a delivery destination of the purchased product of the user according to the determined attributes of the user. A process of determining whether the user's attribute is a hospital worker or a patient;
A process of extracting products that can be purchased by the user according to the determined attributes of the user;
A process of accepting an order for a purchase product from the user among the extracted products;
A process of determining a delivery destination of the purchased product of the user according to the determined attributes of the user;
A sales support program for hospital stores that runs on a computer.