JP2002175459A - Store information management system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] There is a point giving system that gives a privilege when a certain number of points is reached based on actual use of a service or purchase of a product. However, this is not an incentive to enter the store for those who have no specific plans to purchase. SOLUTION: When a customer enters a store or a stay time in a store is detected, points based on which the customer obtains a privilege according to the number of points when a cumulative total reaches a certain number are given.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information management system using a computer in a store.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a rental shop or a store, there is known a point giving system for giving various benefits to a customer who uses a rental service or a customer who purchases a product in order to enhance the ability to attract customers. For example, by giving points to customers according to the use of services or the purchase amount of products, by collecting points of a certain amount or more, customers can obtain the privilege of being able to purchase products for free or with a discount. Obtainable. Therefore, the point giving system is an incentive for a customer to use a service or purchase a product. On the other hand, in a rental shop or a store, information such as the name of the customer is registered when the customer is registered in the point giving system, and the service used by the customer and the type of purchased product are registered when the customer is given points. Thereby, the taste of the customer can be grasped. The procurement of goods was managed based on this.

A related known example is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-628.
No. 27, "Personal information collection system using driver's license" is available. This only describes how to collect personal information without giving the customer a sense of resistance, and has nothing to do with the point provision only by entering the store.

[0004]

In the conventional point awarding system, points are awarded for actual use of a service or purchase of a product. Therefore, what is an incentive to enter a store to a customer without a specific purchase plan? It is hard to be. In addition, although the user's preference and the purchaser's preference of the service can be grasped, the preference of the customer who has entered the store but did not purchase it cannot be collected.
Sometimes customers go around the store without buying anything, but this is expected to eventually lead to actual use of services and purchase of goods. Furthermore, the customer's behavior pattern in the store cannot be known, and this behavior pattern is useful information, but is not reflected in the planning of the purchase plan.

[0005] Also, new information or the like is provided at a predetermined place in the store as an incentive for purchasing goods to the customer at the store. When a customer wants to know that information, they have to go there. Also, if you do not know the location, you have to ask the clerk or search around yourself,
The burden on each customer was heavy. Also, when the customer wants to know the location of the desired display item, he or she has to look at the information board at a predetermined place of the store or ask the clerk. These problems are more likely to occur as the sales floor area in the store is larger. To solve these problems, it is conceivable to make more information boards or information display boards or increase the number of clerks, but equipment costs and personnel Problems such as increased costs arise.

[0006]

In order to provide an incentive for entering a store, a detecting device for detecting that the customer has entered the store is provided, and points are given to the customer for entering the store. Then, a management device for managing the number of points for each customer is provided, and a privilege according to the number of points is given.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention can be applied to various stores regardless of rental and sale. The following description is directed to a rental shop for video and CD (hereinafter simply referred to as a rental shop). Will be described.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a store to which the present invention is applied. Store 1 has a product display 2 and a counter area 3
And an entrance / exit detection device 4, and a keyboard 7, a monitor 8, a printer 9, a card reader /
A point management device 6 including a writer 10 is installed. Rental shop members are issued a membership card. This membership card contains at least I
The member card that stores D and stores the ID is realized by a device having a function of reading an ID stored by some means, such as an IC card from which data is read without contact. The entrance / exit detection device 4 is a member 1 that restricts a traffic path so that a customer enters and exits a certain location.
1 and a card reader / writer 5 connected to the point management device 6.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the point management device 6 in the store information management system according to one embodiment of the present invention. The point management device 6 includes a storage device 51, a temporary storage device 52, a communication control unit 55, a control unit 53, and an input / output interface 54. This storage unit stores
D and personal information including at least points given for each ID.

[0010] The program stored in the storage device 51 is read out to the temporary storage device 52 and executed by the control unit 53. The input / output interface 54 inputs and outputs data to and from the input / output device shown in FIG. Communication control unit 55
Is connected to a network and enables personal information in the storage device 51 to be collected from a remote location. It is also used for exchanging point data when the rental shop has multiple chain stores.

Under the control of the program, the point management device 6 allows the customer with the membership card to enter and leave the store.
When the customer has passed, the customer reads or leaves the store based on the ID read by the card reader / writer 5. For an ID, the first detection is to enter the store, and the second detection is to exit. Each time a store is entered or exited, a certain point is added to the area of the storage device 51 corresponding to the ID and written. When this point reaches a certain value, a privilege is given. Benefits include the ability to rent a single video for free, or a certain amount of discount on rental fees. When the customer receives this privilege, the value of the point corresponding to the privilege is subtracted from the total number of points stored in the storage device 51. In this way, from the customer's point of view, the benefits can be obtained only by repeatedly entering the store, so that it is an incentive to enter the store even if there is no predetermined video to be borrowed at present. From the perspective of the rental shop, business opportunities will increase.

In the above example, the cumulative value of points given for entering the store is stored in the storage device 51 of the point management device 6, but the cumulative value may be stored in the membership card. At this time, the card reader / writer 5 reads out the accumulated points up to that point from the card storage unit 103 and sends it to the point management device 6. The point management device 6 updates the accumulated value of the points based on a predetermined criterion. The card reader / writer 5 writes the updated cumulative value on the card. In this case, there is an advantage that the storage device 51 does not need to have a large capacity. Furthermore, when the rental shop has a chain store, points are collected on the card, so that complicated data exchange between the point management devices 6 becomes unnecessary.

On the other hand, when the accumulated value is stored in the storage device 51, for example, even if the customer loses the membership card, the point that the customer has obtained before the loss is not lost. There is. Therefore, the privilege points can be continuously used. Further, in the rental shop, since personal information such as point value and the number of visits for each customer can be known, customer management necessary for sending direct mail to each customer can be efficiently performed.

FIG. 3 shows a case where the member card is realized by the IC card 101. It has an ID storage unit 103 for storing member IDs, an arithmetic processing unit 104 for executing programs, and a connection unit 105 for exchanging data with the card reader / writer 5. Card reader /
The writer 5 has issued an ID transmission request. When the IC card and the card reader / writer 5 are close to each other and can communicate with each other, the IC card 101 receives the ID transmission request, reads the ID from the ID storage unit 102 under the control of the arithmetic processing unit 104, and reads the ID from the card reader / writer. Send to 5. The card reader / writer 5 inputs the received ID to the point management device 6.

Here, the store is not limited to an independent building, but also refers to a partial area such as a department store, a supermarket, or a bookstore.

Next, the above embodiment will be described in more detail. FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a customer information file stored in the storage device 51. The customer information file stores personal information to be registered when joining. Each item constituting the customer information file includes, for example, ID, enrollment date, name, date of birth, address, telephone number, mobile phone number,
e-mail address, gender, company / school name, necessity of providing service information, and total points. These are not all necessary.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a privilege information file. The privilege information file is a file that stores services to be provided to customers and the number of points required for receiving the services. For example, as shown in FIG. 24, when the service 1 is provided, 5 points are required, when the service 2 is provided, 10 points are required. Here, the service as a privilege is, for example, service 1 with two discounts of rental fee, service 2 with three discounts of rental fee, and the like.

FIG. 6 shows the flow of the enrollment procedure. This is performed by the point management device 6. First, the joining date and personal information shown in FIG. This is stored in the temporary storage device 52 (201). Next, an ID is assigned, and a card on which the ID is recorded is issued (202). This is performed by writing an ID on the card by the card reader / writer 10. Next, the information and the ID stored in the temporary storage device 52 are written into the storage device 51 in a table format as shown in FIG. 22 (203).

FIG. 7 shows a flow of the point management process.
This is also performed by the point management device 6. First, it is in a standby state whether a card is read by the entrance / exit detection device 4 (251). When there is a read, I
Read D (252). Then, at least the cumulative point value is read from the customer information file of FIG. 22 to the temporary storage device 52 using the ID as a key (253). Next, the point giving condition file of FIG. 23 is read (25
4). At this time, if it is determined that one point is entered and exited once, 0.5 point is added (255). This is because the ID is read and 0.5 points are added even when leaving the store. The updated accumulated point value is written to a file in the storage device 51, and the program returns to the initial state (256). As will be described in a later embodiment, a flag for distinguishing between entering and leaving a store may be provided, and one point may be added when entering the store.

Next, the flow at the time of exercising the privilege will be described with reference to FIG. When a privilege is input (301), an ID is read from the card connected to the card reader / writer 10 (302). Using this ID as a key, at least the total points are read from the file of FIG. 22 and displayed on the monitor 8 (304). Next, the privilege information file of FIG. 24 is read and displayed on the monitor 8 (304). It is determined whether the accumulated points have reached the desired privilege points (30
5) If it has reached, judge whether to exercise the privilege (30
6), subtract a point value corresponding to the exercised privilege from the total points (307). The updated total points are written in the file shown in FIG.
8), end the process.

Another embodiment that replaces the member card will be described. 4 and 5 show another embodiment of the present invention. This is a portable terminal 151 storing ID information instead of a membership card.
Is used. FIG. 4 shows an example of the external appearance, in which an antenna 152, a display unit 153, a speaker
4. It has a microphone 155. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the internal configuration. Data input from the input unit 157 is stored in the storage device 159, and output under the control of the transceiver 156. Data input from the antenna 152 is stored in the storage device 159, and is output to the output unit 158 under the control of the transceiver 156. The ID is stored in the storage device 159. Those having such high functions can receive more advanced services as described later. These, including the membership card, are collectively referred to as a portable object whose ID is recorded in a readable manner.

In the embodiment described above with reference to FIG. 7, points are given according to the number of times of entering and leaving the store.
Further, the number of points to be given may be changed depending on the length of stay at the store. Hereinafter, other embodiments will be described. In this embodiment, the customer status file shown in FIG. 25 is formed on the storage device. FIG. 25 has information on the entry flag, entry time, and exit time for each ID. Other information is used in still another embodiment to be described later, and need not be described here.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a point management program when a customer enters or leaves a rental shop. When a customer having a portable object with an ID enters or exits a store, the ID is detected by an entrance / exit detection device provided at a predetermined location in the store (351). The ID is detected by a wireless transceiver, a card reader / writer, or the like.

The ID detected by the entrance / exit detection device is:
The customer is referred to the “entrance flag” column in the customer status file of FIG. 25 corresponding to the detected ID and transmitted to the point management device, and the customer presence status is confirmed (352). The store entry flag indicates ON when the customer is present and OFF when the customer is absent, and ON / OFF is switched by the point management device when the store / exit detector detects the mobile ID. Therefore, if the entry flag is OFF when the ID is detected, it indicates that the customer is not present before the detection, and if ON, it indicates that the customer is present before the detection. This indicates that the customer has left the store. Therefore, when the store entry flag is OFF, it is determined that the store is to be entered, and the store entry process (353 to 353) is performed.
The process proceeds to 356), and when the store entrance flag is ON, it is determined that the store is closed, and the process proceeds to the store exit process (358 to 361).

If the point management device determines that a store has been entered by the entry / exit determination processing, the point management device turns on the store entry flag in the customer status file (353).
The point management device records the customer's entry date and time in the customer status file (354), calculates the elapsed time from the previous customer's last exit date and time to the current entry date and time, and determines the predetermined time set by the store. It is determined whether or not it has passed (35)
5).

As a result, if the store has passed a predetermined time, it is determined that an entry event has occurred and the "pointing condition" in the "pointing condition" in the point-giving condition file shown in FIG. The new point number obtained by adding the corresponding point number with reference to the "store" column is recorded in the customer status file (356). On the other hand, if the predetermined time set in advance at the store has not elapsed, the point number is not added. This is to prevent a fraudulent act of trying to earn points by simply repeating entry and exit by a customer, and a predetermined interval time is provided. It's a long enough time.

Looking at the point granting condition file of FIG. 29, one point is given only for entering the store once, and according to the staying time at the store, 5 points for 10 minutes, 10 points for 20 minutes, etc. Are set differently. Points are awarded not only based on the staying time but also on the purchase amount (including the rental fee), for example, 10 points for 500 yen and 20 points for 1000 yen.

After executing the store entry processing (353 to 356), point information obtained by adding necessary information to the number of points recorded in the customer status file as shown in FIG. Or on the display unit of a portable object of the customer. This point information can be confirmed not only at the time of entering and leaving the store, but also at any time during the store, using the monitor installed in the store or the display unit of the portable object of the customer.
The information in FIG. 10 includes the number of points added, the total number of points, and the obtained benefits.

On the other hand, if the point management device determines that the customer has left the store by the entry / exit determination process, the point management device records the date and time the customer left the store in the customer status file (step G-8). The elapsed time from the customer's entry date and time to the customer's exit date and time is calculated, and it is determined whether a predetermined time has elapsed (359). As a result, when the predetermined time that has been predetermined on the store side has elapsed, the “stored time” column of “point providing condition” in the point providing condition file of FIG. Is recorded in the customer status file (360). On the other hand, if the predetermined time predetermined on the store side has not elapsed, the point number is not added. This is to give incentives to extend the time in the store by giving the customer the privilege of giving points from the viewpoint that the longer the customer stays in the store, the more likely it is to rent a product. is there.

Then, the point management device turns off the store entry flag in the customer status file (361), executes the above-mentioned store exit processing (358 to 361), and thereafter, the number of points recorded in the customer status file shown in FIG. The point information to which the necessary information is added is displayed on a display unit such as a monitor installed in the store or a portable object of the customer (357). The output screen at the time of leaving the store shows the staying time, the number of points given,
Includes the total number of points and benefits obtained.

Note that the above-mentioned store entry processing and store exit processing can be performed by a portable object having a control unit and a storage unit without going through the point management device. It is also possible to use both of the point management devices.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a program for executing processing relating to the provision of a service that can be received as a privilege. For services that rental shops provide to customers using points given to customers,
This will be described with reference to FIG.

First, a customer communicates with a point management device installed in a rental shop using a portable terminal to which an ID is given at the time of enrollment, and selects a desired service.
Depending on the type of service to be received and the type of portable items, the clerk may communicate with the point management device installed in the rental shop using a card reader / writer or a keyboard placed in the store.

The point management device installed in the rental shop receives the selected service (401),
It is determined whether the service is registered in the “privilege” column of the privilege information file of FIG. 24 (402).
If the service is registered in the "privilege" of the privilege information file, the point management device installed in the rental shop uses the "points" of the privilege information file.
From the column, the number of privilege points required to receive the service is referenced (403), and the referenced privilege points are compared with the number of privilege points held by the customer (404).

When the number of privilege points held by the customer is equal to or more than the number of privilege points required for receiving the service, the point management device installed in the rental shop changes the privilege points held by the customer from the privilege points held by the customer. The number of points described in the "point number" column of the service in the information file is subtracted (405), and the selected service is provided to the customer (406).

When the number of privilege points held by the customer is smaller than the number of privilege points required for receiving the service, the customer is notified that the service cannot be provided (407). The notification is output from a monitor or the like in the store connected to the host installed in the rental shop,
And / or by a portable terminal carried by the customer.

It should be noted that the medium to which the ID was given at the time of enrollment was I
In the case of a C card, a magnetic card, a card on which a barcode is printed, or the like, it communicates with a point management device via a card reader / writer and uses an output device such as a monitor installed in a rental shop. In addition, the same service as the mobile terminal can be provided.

FIG. 13 shows a configuration example of a store for explaining still another embodiment of the present invention. 450 represents a store.
The information processing device 451 is a storage device for storing customer information,
A communication control unit for connecting to a network located outside the store such as the Internet, an input / output interface for connecting to input / output devices such as a monitor and a keyboard, and a control unit mainly including a CPU are provided.

As a facility for providing the customer with necessary information by wireless communication via a portable terminal and for acquiring location information of the customer, wireless transceivers 462 are provided at a plurality of locations in the store.
~ 465 (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as BT in the drawings)
Is mainly embedded in the ceiling or a part of the display shelves 459 to 461. The wireless transceivers 462 to 465 and the information processing device 451 are connected by wire or wirelessly. On the information processing device 451 side, a network card corresponding to the protocol of the wireless transceiver or a communication control unit mounted in a form similar to the protocol is prepared and directly connected to the wireless transceiver, or A device for converting the information format from the wireless transceiver is provided, and this device and the input / output interface of the information processing device 451 are connected by wire, and information is transferred in a serial or parallel system.

The store manager installs the wireless transceivers 462 to 465 in an arbitrary area in the shop, and the portable terminal of the customer in the area communicates with the wireless transceiver installed there. Then, the correspondence between the identifier of the wireless transceiver and the position installed in the store is stored in the storage device in advance, and a system for specifying the position of the portable terminal in the store by referring to the information is constructed. It is desirable that the wireless transceivers 462 to 465 adjust their sensitivities and be installed so that their communicable areas do not overlap with the communicable areas of other wireless transceivers. In order to realize this, a method of dividing the areas with a plate or the like that blocks radio waves can be considered. Alternatively, if the mobile terminal of the wireless transceiver is located at a position where it can communicate with a plurality of wireless transceivers, the wireless transceiver that is receiving the strongest radio wave from the mobile terminal is specified, and the wireless transceiver is A mechanism for setting communication with the mobile terminal can be implemented by software.

While a portable terminal of a customer is communicating with a wireless transceiver installed in a specific area, the customer is present in that area. Communication between the portable terminal and the wireless transceiver may be performed by a method in which the connection is not interrupted from the start to the end of the communication, or by a method in which a connection is established each time communication is required. In the latter case, the wireless transceiver transmits a response request signal to the mobile terminal at predetermined time intervals,
The wireless transceiver receives a response signal transmitted by the mobile terminal in response to the response request signal, thereby identifying the presence of the wireless terminal within the communication range of the wireless transceiver.
At this time, the response request signal generated by the wireless transceiver may be broadcast to all mobile terminals existing in the area where the wireless transceiver can communicate, or may be transmitted to individual mobile terminals. But it is good.

By installing the above facilities in a store, a system for recognizing customer position information can be constructed. By associating this position information with the products displayed at the location, it is also possible to investigate what products the customer is interested in. This can be realized by keeping a history of the customer's position information within a certain period. Specific examples are shown below.

FIG. 14 shows an example of a process for collecting and managing positional information of customers who are in the store. In this embodiment, since communication is performed between the portable terminal of the customer and the wireless transceiver installed in the store, the information processing device 451 determines which wireless transceiver the customer is communicating with at regular intervals. , It is possible to accumulate as information how much time the customer stayed in which area in the store.

The wireless transceiver that has received the ID from the customer's portable terminal notifies the information processing device 451 of the ID, and the information processing device 451 specifies the ID of the portable terminal and the identifier of the wireless transceiver that has received the ID. (501). In the customer status file of FIG. 25 stored in the information processing device 451, an area stay time field (BT1) for storing how long each customer stays in the communication range of each wireless transceiver is stored.
Stay time, BT2 stay time, BT3 stay time, B
T4 stay time). The information processing device 451 includes a wireless terminal ID and a wireless transceiver identifier (BT1 to BT1).
A certain time, which is a time interval for updating this field, is added to the area-specific stay time field corresponding to BT4) (502). Thereafter, after a lapse of a predetermined time (503), the information processing device 451 determines whether the customer is present at the store (504) with reference to the store flag field of the customer status file of FIG. 25, and sets the store flag. If the mobile terminal is in the store, the process returns to step 501 for specifying the wireless transceiver detecting the ID of the mobile terminal again. If the entrance flag is not set and the customer is not in the store, the customer location information file shown in FIG. 26 is updated (505), and the location information management process for the customer is terminated. The customer location information file (FIG. 26) is a file having a customer stay time total field for storing a total value obtained by adding the area stay time fields of the customer status file shown in FIG. 25 for each wireless transceiver. Therefore, every time the customer leaves the store, the information processing device 451 calculates the total communication time for each wireless transceiver with reference to the area stay time field of the customer status file, and stores the calculation result in the customer stay time total field. .

FIG. 15 shows an outline of how a customer uses a rental shop information providing service using a portable terminal in a store. First, the customer makes a service menu display request to the information processing device 451 from the mobile terminal. (55
1). Next, a service menu as shown in FIG. 16, for example, is transmitted from the information processing device 451 to the portable terminal (55).
2). Here, the service to the customer is, for example, inquiry of accumulated points, provision of history information, in-store guidance, new arrival information, etc., as shown in the figure. The details of a part of the service menu will be described later.

The customer selects a desired menu from the service menu selection screen (FIG. 16) transmitted in step 552, and transmits the menu to the information processing device 451 (55).
3). The information processing device 451 transmits the menu selected by the customer, and the customer can use the service with the mobile terminal (554).

Next, details of the history information providing service are shown in FIG.
Shown in As an example of a service using the location information of the customer, a case where the system of the present invention displays the rental history information of the corner where the customer using the rental shop is currently stopping on the display of the portable terminal of the customer is described. I do.

First, the customer (mobile ID: 00001) operates the mobile terminal 466 and selects a history information providing service. This service selection is performed by selecting a desired service from the service menu displayed on the display unit of the portable terminal 466 using an operation button. Mobile terminal 4
When the 66 has a voice input processing function, the service may be selected by voice input using a microphone. When the customer selects the service, the portable terminal 466 transmits to the information processing device 451 by wireless communication that the customer with the portable ID 00001 requests the history information providing service.

The information processing device 451 having received the history information providing service request receives the service request from the portable terminal 466 and detects the identifier of the wireless transceiver transmitted to the information processing device 451 (601). Then, the mobile terminal 466 is inquired via the wireless communication as to whether the information requested to the customer is the entire history of the article borrowed in the past or the borrowing history limited to the genre of the currently visited corner (see wireless terminal). 602).

When the customer selects all the history information for the inquiry displayed on the display unit of the portable terminal 466 (6
03NO), the information processing device 451 receiving this request
The customer ID which is one of the items of the history information file shown in FIG. 27 existing in the storage device is read (606), and the ID of the customer who sent the request is compared. And the information processing device 451
Transmits the merchandise ID and the borrowed date information to the portable terminal for all the entries whose IDs match (607). The portable terminal, which has received all the history information from the host via wireless communication, completes the service by displaying this information on the display unit.

When the customer requests the borrowing history information on the product genre of the currently visited corner (603 YES), the information processing device 4 receiving this request
51 converts the identifier of the wireless transceiver into genre information of the article using the display information file shown in FIG. 28 existing in the storage device (604). The display information file shown in FIG. 28 shows the distinction between the products displayed near the wireless transceiver. Taking the video rental shop as an example, if the wireless transceiver with the identifier "BT1" is installed at the corner where Japanese movie videos are displayed, the genre item of the entry whose identifier item of the display information file is "BT1" is " The above processing can be realized by storing the information of “Japanese movie” in advance.

After specifying the genre of the article, the information processing device 451 stores the history information file stored in the storage device.
Compare the ID with the customer ID of the customer who sent the request. Then, for the entry with the matching customer ID, a part bit string of the product ID representing the genre information of the product is compared with a bit string constituting the genre information obtained from the display information file. The information processing device 451 extracts the product ID and date information of all entries where the two items match (6
05), and transmits it to the portable terminal (607). The portable terminal that has received the genre-specific borrowing history information completes the service by displaying the information on the display unit.

Next, regarding the details of the in-store guidance service,
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of an in-store guidance service for guiding a customer to a place where a product desired by the customer is displayed. This assumes a case where the customer has transmitted the in-store guidance service request to the wireless transceiver using the portable terminal 466.

When the wireless transceiver receives the in-store guidance service request transmitted by the customer using the portable terminal 466,
The information processing device 451 specifies the wireless transceiver that has received the customer's in-store guidance service request, and detects the identifier of the wireless transceiver (651). Next, the customer requests the portable terminal 466.
The genre and product name of the product for which guidance is desired is received via (652). The information processing device 451 has, in a storage device, a display information file in which an identifier of a wireless transmitter / receiver is associated with a genre or a product name of a product displayed in a communication area of the wireless transmitter / receiver. The information processing device 451 refers to the display information file and converts the genre and product name of the product received from the customer into an identifier of the wireless transceiver (653). The information processing device 4
Since 51 recognizes the location of the wireless transceiver with which the customer is communicating and the location of the wireless transceiver installed in the area where the product desired by the customer is displayed, a map related to these locations is provided. Is selected (654), and the current location of the customer and the area where the product desired by the customer is displayed on the map, and the map information is transmitted to the portable terminal 466 of the customer (655). By this processing, the customer can see on the portable terminal 466 a map as shown in FIG. 19 showing his / her current position and the area where the desired product is displayed.

Next, a merchandise display support program shown in FIG. 20 will be described as an example using the customer location information file shown in FIG. 26 obtained from FIG. First, the total customer stay time of each wireless transceiver in the customer location information file existing in the storage unit is added to calculate the total value. Then, the total customer stay time of each wireless transceiver is divided by this total value (701). This value is the attracting rate of each wireless transceiver,
It is also possible to calculate the customer attracting rate within a fixed period of time for resetting the customer location information file, for example, within one week.

Next, using the display information file, the identifier of each wireless transmission / reception device is converted into corresponding genre information (702). Through the above processing, the total stay time and the customer attracting rate for each genre are displayed on the monitor 453 as shown in FIG. 21 (703). In addition, these pieces of information may be stored in the storage unit, or may be data on paper by the printer 452. A person who operates a rental shop or the like can use this data for marketing, such as changing the method of displaying products by genre.

[0057]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a system for providing an incentive to enter a store even if the customer does not purchase or borrow.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a store in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a point management device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of an IC card used in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the appearance of a wireless terminal used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an internal configuration of a wireless terminal used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an enrollment procedure in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a process of giving points based on entering a store in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a privilege exercising process according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing another example of a process for giving points based on entering a store in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an output screen of a monitor when entering a store according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a view showing an example of an output screen of a monitor when leaving a store in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing another process of exercising a privilege in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the store in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a customer location information management process according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an information service process for a customer terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a menu screen of an information service to a customer terminal in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a history information providing service according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing processing of an in-store guidance service according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of an in-store guidance screen according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a product display support process according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing an example of a product display support screen according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of a customer information file according to the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a view showing an example of a point provision condition file according to the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a view showing an example of a privilege information file according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of a customer status file according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an example of a location information file according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27 is a view showing an example of a history information file according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 28 is a view showing an example of a display information file according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing another example of the point provision condition file according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Store, 2: Product display section, 3: Counter area, 4: Entry / exit detection device, 5: Card reader / writer, 6: Point management device, 7: Keyboard, 8:
Monitor, 9: Printer, 10: Card reader / writer, 11: Traffic restriction member, 12: Monitor

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Yukinobu Maruyama 1-280 Higashi-Koigabo, Kokubunji-shi, Tokyo Inside the Hitachi, Ltd.Design Laboratory (72) Inventor Takeshi Hoshino 1-280 Higashi-Koigabo, Kokubunji-shi, Tokyo Hitachi, Ltd. F term in the design laboratory (reference) 3E042 CC04 CD04 CE07 EA06

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A portable object storing an ID uniquely given to a customer in a readable manner when entering or leaving a store.
, A first storage unit that stores the correspondence between the ID and the accumulated point value, and receives the ID read by the detection device, and stores the accumulated point value corresponding to the ID in the storage unit. A store information management system, comprising: a processing unit for updating a predetermined number. 2. The portable device according to claim 1, wherein said ID and said accumulated point value are stored when said portable object has a storage unit for storing the accumulated point value. A detecting device for reading, receiving the ID read by the detecting device and the cumulative point value, updating the cumulative point value by a predetermined number, and writing the updated cumulative point value to the storage unit. A store information management system comprising a processing unit. 3. A portable object storing an ID uniquely given to a customer in a readable manner when entering or leaving a store.
A first storage unit storing the correspondence between the ID and the accumulated point value, and receiving the ID read by the detection device to determine the staying time of the portable object at the store. A processing unit for updating the cumulative point value corresponding to the ID in the first storage unit by a predetermined number according to the stay time. 4. A system according to claim 1, further comprising a second storage unit for storing a correspondence between the total number of points and a privilege given by said processing unit, wherein said processing unit further refers to said second storage unit in accordance with exercise of said privilege. 4. The store information management system according to claim 1, wherein a point number corresponding to the exercised privilege is subtracted from the total point value stored in the first storage unit. 5. The store information management system according to claim 1, further comprising a display device for displaying the contents of the privilege obtained by accumulating the accumulated point value and the points. 6. An I which is provided at a position different from each other in a merchandise display section of a store and uniquely given to a customer existing in the store.
A plurality of reading devices that read the ID from a portable object that stores D in a readable manner, and the reading device that receives the ID read from the reading device and reads the ID by the reading device for each reading device. A store information management system comprising: a processing unit for obtaining information corresponding to a stay time of a portable object. 7. A storage unit for storing an identifier for identifying the reading device and a product type displayed at a place where the reading device is installed, wherein the processing unit corresponds to the stay time of each of the reading devices. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an output device that converts the information to be stored into information corresponding to the staying time of the portable object for each product type by referring to the storage unit, and further outputs the converted information. 6. The store information management system described in 6. 8. A step of detecting entry / exit of a portable object which stores an ID uniquely given to a customer in a readable manner, a step of accumulating point values according to entry / exit, Subtracting the number of points corresponding to the exercised privilege from the accumulated point value in response to the privilege being exercised with the accumulation of the value. 9. A step of detecting a stay time of a portable object storing an ID uniquely assigned to a customer in a readable manner, a step of accumulating a point value according to the stay time, and a step of accumulating a point value. Subtracting the number of points commensurate with the exercised privilege from the accumulated point value in response to the privilege being exercised along with the accumulation of the information. 10. A step of reading said ID from a portable object which stores therein an ID uniquely given to a customer present in said store at a plurality of different positions on a product display section of said store, The read ID
And receiving information corresponding to the staying time of the portable object whose ID has been read at each of the plurality of positions upon receipt of the plurality of positions.