JPH0750493B2 - Prepaid card settlement processor - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a payment processing device for a prepaid card,
In particular, the premium (p
The present invention relates to an improved prepaid card settlement processing device having a function of calculating a "remium" at the time of use.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, prepaid cards, which should be called third cards after credit cards and cash cards,
Cards have become widespread. A prepaid card is a prepaid card that has been purchased in advance with cash, etc., and when you purchase a product or service, you can use that card instead of cash to make payments, and the card itself It is magnetically stored and is represented by a telephone card. For the card issuer, while interest in profits can be expected due to the time lag between the time when the card is received and the time when the card is actually used, the risk of prepayment for the cost will be borne by the user, but it is compensated for In that sense, it is common to attach a premium to give merit.
Thus, prepaid cards have become extremely popular and are rapidly expanding their markets because they have the advantages of not having to carry coins, requiring short accounting times, and having a premium. Recently, it has been widely introduced to public works, transportation, distribution, and small businesses such as convenience stores.

The premium of such a prepaid card is
Although the rate may change depending on the issue amount, it is always fixed at the time of card issuance, and the device that processes settlement with that card simply subtracts the usage amount from the card balance and stores the new balance on the card. It was something that caused it.

[0004]

However, as described above, if the premium of the prepaid card is fixed and issued at the time of issuance, a problem arises because the premium can be used immediately. For example, when shopping at a store or the like, it is possible to purchase a prepaid card when it is determined that the purchase amount will reach the amount of one prepaid card and immediately purchase the product with the prepaid card. Yes, it does not meet the original purpose of issuing the prepaid card, which is disadvantageous for the issuer and discriminatory for the user. Therefore, JP-A-61-2869
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 94, the number of times the card has been used
Is a fixed premium, unless
There is also a device proposed to prevent
ing. However, with this device, you simply add a premium
Only the conditions were taken into consideration,
A device that has deeply studied the calculation conditions and means
Did not exist.

In view of such circumstances, an object of the present invention is not to fix the premium of a prepaid card at the time of issuance, but to show the elapsed time from the time of prepaid to the time of actually receiving a product or service using the card. By providing a prepaid card settlement processing device that allows consideration and calculation of a corresponding premium at the time of use and settlement processing using it, prepaid card that makes sense for both issuer and user It is possible to use the card.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, the prepaid card settlement processing device has the following configuration. (A) A card reader / writer that reads and writes a card that stores the card balance and the registration time of the card balance, (b) a usage amount input means for inputting the usage amount at this time, (c) current usage Clock mechanism for recognizing the time point,
(D) premium calculation reference storage means for storing a premium calculation reference; and (e) means for calculating an elapsed time by taking a difference between the present use time and the card balance registration time, the elapsed time and the card balance Means for calculating a premium according to the premium calculation standard based on the above, means for adding the premium to the balance to calculate a new balance, means for subtracting the usage amount from the new balance to calculate a final balance, An arithmetic processing unit comprising a means for storing the final balance and the present use time in the card via the card reader / writer.

Alternatively, in the above arrangement, the card is
The card processing unit stores the card balance and the card issuance time, and the arithmetic processing unit calculates the elapsed time by calculating the difference between the current use time and the card issuance time, based on the elapsed time and the card balance. Means for calculating a premium according to the premium calculation standard, means for adding the premium to the balance to calculate a new balance, means for subtracting the usage amount from the new balance to calculate a final balance, and a final balance. Means for storing in the card via the card reader / writer.

[0008]

[Operation] With the prepaid card settlement processing device configured as described above, the balance and the prepayment elapsed time (the difference between the current use time and the card balance registration time or the difference between the current use time and the card issuance time) It is possible to calculate a premium according to the above when using.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the basic configuration of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 10 is a well-known card reader / writer for reading and writing information stored in a card 1 such as a magnetic card, and 2
Reference numeral 0 denotes a usage amount input means for inputting a usage amount by a prepaid card, which includes a keyboard and the like. Reference numeral 30 is a clock mechanism for recognizing the time point of using the prepaid card this time, and 40 is means for storing a reference for calculating a premium according to the elapsed time from the time of prepaid time to the time point of the current use. . The unit indicating the elapsed time may be a monthly unit, a daily unit, or an hour unit. Further, the prepayment time point, which is a reference for calculating the elapsed time, may be the previous time of use or the time of issuing the card. And 50 is a card reader / writer 1
Means for calculating an elapsed time from the card information read at 0 and information indicated by the clock mechanism 30, a means for searching a premium calculation reference by using the elapsed time as a key, and calculating a premium for a card balance accordingly, the premium Via the card reader / writer 10; a means for adding a value to the card balance to calculate a new balance, a means for subtracting the usage amount input from the usage amount input means 20 from the new balance, and a final balance. It is an arithmetic processing device including each means such as a means for storing necessary information such as the final balance and the time of use this time in a card.

FIG. 2 shows the present invention as a microcomputer.
It is a schematic block diagram which shows one Example at the time of comprising as a system. In this case, the arithmetic processing unit 5 in FIG.
0 is a CPU 51, a ROM 52, a RAM 53 and an I / O
The RAM 54 includes the port 54, and the premium calculation reference storage unit 40 is included in the RAM 53. Further, the usage amount input means 20 is composed of a keyboard 21 and a display unit 22. The ROM 52 stores programs necessary for controlling the CPU. RAM53 is a premium calculation standard 4
1 is stored, and is also used as a storage location of data in the arithmetic processing process of the CPU 51. CPU51
I / O port 54 for I / O
The reader / writer 10, the keyboard 21, the display unit 22, and the clock mechanism 30 are connected. The card reader / writer 10 reads and writes information stored in a card by a magnetic method. The keyboard 21 is provided with a ten-key pad or the like for inputting a usage amount, and the display unit 22 is provided with an LED or the like for displaying a usage amount, a message or the like input from the keyboard 21. Also,
The clock mechanism 30 is composed of a circuit driven by a crystal oscillator and a battery, and is capable of timing even when the power supply of the device is off.

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart showing an embodiment of the program control of the CPU in the configuration of FIG. When the program starts, first, step 100
Wait for the card to be entered at. When a card is input, the card information is read in step 105 and the contents are stored in the RAM 53. Step 1
In 10, a message is output to the display unit 22 to input the usage amount, and the usage amount input from the keyboard 21 is read into the RAM 53. Then step 11
5, it is checked whether or not there is an error in the card information stored in the RAM 53 and whether or not the balance is 0. If it is determined that the card is defective, the process proceeds to step 120 and a predetermined error process is performed. And then exit. If there is no error in the card, the process proceeds to step 125, the today's date is read from the clock mechanism 30, and the RAM 5
Store in 3. In this embodiment, the unit of the prepaid elapsed time is a unit of day, and the prepaid time, which is the basis for calculating the elapsed time, is the previous use time, and the prepaid card 1 has the balance 2 and the final payment as shown in FIG. The balance update date 3 is held as information. The last balance update date 3 is recorded when the card is issued.

Next, at step 130, the number of days between today's date and the last balance update date, that is, the number of days elapsed from the previous use date is calculated. Then, in step 135, the look-up table (LUT) as shown in FIG. 5 stored in the RAM 53 as a premium calculation reference is referred to, and the rate is searched using the number of elapsed days previously obtained as a key. In step 140, the premium is calculated by multiplying the rate by the balance, the premium is added to the balance to calculate a new balance, and the usage amount is subtracted from the new balance to calculate the final balance.

Further, in step 145, it is checked whether the obtained final balance is negative, and if negative, that is, insufficient, a predetermined process of inserting a new card or requesting additional payment of cash is performed in step 150. Proceed to.
If not insufficient, the process proceeds to step 155, and the card information is updated via the card reader / writer 10 in order to replace the balance 2 and the last balance update date 3 in the card 1 with the balance after this use and today's date. And finally, step 1
At 60, the card is ejected and the process returns to the card input waiting state of step 100.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the reference of the elapsed time up to this time of use is the time of previous use (at the time of registering the card balance). However, in other embodiments, the time of issuing the card is determined according to the purpose and purpose of the card. Alternatively, the elapsed time may be calculated with reference always to. In that case, the prepaid card stores the card issuance date 3'instead of the final balance update date 3 in FIG. 4, as shown in FIG.
Only updated. The unit of elapsed time does not have to be days, and may be months or hours.

As a premium calculation standard, a tabular look-up table is used in the above-mentioned embodiment, but in another embodiment, for example, P = 0.01 × Z × K where P: premium [ Yen] Z: Balance [Yen] K: Elapsed time [Month] may be provided. Further, the premium calculation standard may be stored in the ROM or may be incorporated in the program without any problem.

Further, in the above embodiment, the usage amount input means is a keyboard for manual input,
It may be automatically read from an external register.

[0018]

As described above, since the prepaid card settlement processing device according to the present invention has a function of calculating a premium according to the balance and the prepayment elapsed time at the time of use, it can also be used by the issuer. It also has the effect of enabling prepaid cards to be used reasonably by the user.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a basic configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment when the present invention is configured as a microcomputer system.

FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart showing an example of program control of a CPU in the configuration of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of card information stored in a prepaid card.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a lookup table as a premium calculation standard.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another example of card information stored in a prepaid card.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Prepaid card 10 ... Card reader / writer 20 ... Usage amount input means 21 ... Keyboard 22 ... Display unit 30 ... Clock mechanism 40 ... Premium calculation reference storage means 41 ... Premium calculation reference 50 ... Calculation processing device 51 ... CPU 52 ... ROM 53 ... RAM 54 ... I / O port

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location G07F 7/08 G07F 7/08 R

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A prepaid card settlement processing device capable of paying in place of cash when purchasing a product or service by prepayment of a fee,
(A) A card reader / writer (10) that reads and writes the card (1) that stores the card balance and the registration time of the card balance, and (b) Enter the usage amount for entering the usage amount at this time A means (20), (c) a clock mechanism (30) for recognizing the time of use this time, (d) a premium calculation reference storage means (40) for storing a premium calculation reference (41), and (e) the above A means for calculating an elapsed time by taking a difference between the time of use this time and the time of registration of the card balance, a means for calculating a premium according to the premium calculation standard based on the elapsed time and the card balance, and setting the premium to the balance. A means for adding to calculate a new balance, a means for calculating the final balance by subtracting the usage amount from the new balance, the final balance and the present use time point through the card reader / writer. Prepaid card settlement processing device comprising comprising means for storing in the card, the processing unit comprising (50) a. 2. A payment processing device for a prepaid card, which is capable of paying in lieu of cash when purchasing a product or service by prepayment of a charge,
(A) A card reader / writer (10) that reads and writes the card (1) that stores the card balance and the card issuance time, and (b) a usage amount input means (20) that inputs the usage amount at this time ), (C) a clock mechanism (30) for recognizing the time of use this time, and (d) a premium calculation reference storage means (4) for storing a premium calculation reference (41).
0) and (e) means for calculating an elapsed time by taking a difference between the present use time and the card issuance time, and means for calculating a premium according to the premium calculation reference based on the elapsed time and the card balance. , Means for calculating the new balance by adding the premium to the balance, means for calculating the final balance by subtracting the usage amount from the new balance, the final balance by the card reader / writer And a processing unit (50) including means for storing the prepaid card payment processing unit. 3. The prepaid card according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the premium calculation standard (41) is represented by a look-up table showing a relationship between the elapsed time and a premium rate for the card balance. Settlement processing device. 4. The premium calculation reference (41) is represented by a mathematical expression showing a relationship between the elapsed time and a premium rate for the card balance.
Prepaid card settlement processing device described.