JP2002259528A - Automated system for purchasing contracts for goods - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To improve the efficiency of the assessment work by automatically performing the assessment work by minimizing the portion that requires human intervention in the article assessment work. A dedicated terminal that is placed in an unmanned store and includes a control device and a camera for photographing articles, equipment and devices for operating the device, and a control that has a database and is supposed to be operated remotely by the dedicated terminal. Using a system consisting of a terminal, a dedicated terminal, and a communication line that connects the control terminal, select a few parts that determine the price of goods, and then take an image of that part and process the captured image, or The assessment is performed by automatically proceeding with comparing the information in the database according to the program.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a system using a computer comprising a terminal located at a remote place and a terminal connected via a line. Alternatively, the present invention relates to a system for automatically performing an article purchase contract except for a part.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, with respect to the purchase of software such as CDs, videos, games, and the like, and used goods such as personal computers, audio equipment, and used cars, an assessor of a purchaser makes an assessment to determine a purchase price and communicates with a seller. It is common practice to negotiate the price, and after the agreement, a purchase contract is concluded with the seller.

[0003] When an assessor makes an assessment, there are a portion that makes a decision based on the knowledge and experience of the assessor and a portion that makes a decision based on a certain standard. A certain standard is, for example, the contents of a data book or a database that summarizes the number of transactions of the same and similar items recently.

[0004] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-184910 discloses a system in which an evaluator judges these conditions by looking at them and calculates a price by operating a database by the evaluator himself.

[0005] On the other hand, in an industry where a certain degree of technical knowledge is required, but the number of transactions as a whole is not particularly large, dedicated terminals are placed in unmanned stores or stores without specialists, and several stores are installed. In recent years, the number of cases in which specialized operations are performed by operating the minutes with a remote control terminal via a telephone line or the like has increased. In a consumer finance company, this includes an automatic contract accepting machine that issues a membership card after screening a customer.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to improve the efficiency of the assessment work by reducing the portion that requires manual intervention in the assessment of articles and automatically assessing the possible portions. .

[0007] In the prior art, although the labor is saved by using a terminal for data search or the like, the evaluation is entirely performed manually.

[0008] Further, depending on the goods to be handled, since the total number of transactions is not particularly large, the area in which a single assessor is in charge is widened, and the time spent other than performing actual work such as moving becomes longer and efficiency is increased. bad.

[0009]

[Means for solving the problems] Even though the used articles are the same, the degrees of the used articles are all different due to factors such as the use environment, storage conditions, and care, and there are no articles in the same state. There are parts that affect the price,
It can be said that most prices are determined by a combination of these several places. For example, in the case of CDs, the price is a combination of the scratches on the disc playback surface, the scratches on the case, the presence or absence of a lyrics card, and the presence or absence of a band, plus the popularity (market). It is not unusual for a plurality of identical articles with the same price to be lined up. Even in the case of automobiles, if the price is determined by taking into account the extent of limited parts such as mileage, accident history, colors, grades, options, and vehicle inspection residuals, and popularity (market price), it will be almost the same as the market price. .

[0010] Therefore, the part to be assessed is first limited to several parts that greatly affect the price. Then, if the part is automatically assessed, the efficiency of the assessment operation can be improved. Furthermore, by installing a dedicated terminal in an unmanned store and remotely controlling it from the control terminal connected via a telephone line or the like, the staff in charge can concentrate on only the assessment work, and the number of people can be reduced.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A system for this purpose is called C
The purchase operation of D will be described as an example.

FIG. 1 shows an outline of the present system.
1 is an automatic purchasing terminal placed in an unmanned store,
A control device (general PC, etc.) 1-1 having a storage device such as a DK or a CD-ROM drive, a display device (CRT, LCD, etc.) 1-2 for displaying guidance, etc., and a sound reproducing device 1-3. A camera 1-4 connected to the control device and used for capturing images; a table 1-5 for photographing a CD brought by the customer on the camera; a CD player 1-6 for checking whether or not reproduction is possible; Sensor 1-7 for detecting,
It comprises an input device 1-8 such as a keyboard and a touch panel operated by a customer.

The storage device built in the control device 1-1 contains programs and files necessary for proceeding with the purchase business.

The control device includes a communication line 1-1 such as a telephone line.
The terminal 2 is connected to the control terminal 1-9 at another place by 2 to check the flow of the purchase operation as needed, and if necessary, remotely control the automatic purchase terminal of the unmanned store to perform an arbitrary operation. The control terminal 1-9 has, in addition to a program for remotely controlling the automatic purchase terminal 1, data necessary for assessment in a built-in storage device.

When a customer who wants to buy a CD enters an unmanned store, it is detected by the sensor 1-6 (2-1), and the automatic buying terminal 1 follows a program built in the control device 1-1.
After instructing the customer to follow the guidance from the display device 1-2 and the audio reproducing device 1-3, an assessment operation is performed according to the following flow.

First, the customer follows the guidance and places the CD 1 in the case with the jacket surface up and the table 1
Put it on -5. After placing the CD, an input to the effect that the CD has been placed on the table is made by the input device 1-8, and the camera 1-4 takes a picture in response to the input (2-2). The information of the photographed image data is sent from the control device 1-1 to the control terminal 1-9 via the line 1-8 (2-3). The control terminal 1-9 automatically determines the title of the album based on the database information and the jacket pattern recognition (2-4).

After the title is determined, the presence / absence of a band, a lyric card, and other accessories are extracted from the database of the title. In some cases, it is added to the items to be confirmed in the assessment work (2-6).

If the result of the extraction indicates that the CD has a title with a band on the jacket, it is detected here whether or not the CD is attached to the actual product, and this is determined as a + point for assessment.

A number of methods have been proposed for pattern recognition, and these are used. If the determination is impossible, the control device 1-1 is controlled to control the display device 1.
-2. Guidance is played by the audio reproducing device 1-3, and the customer inputs information such as a title and an artist name from the input device 1-8. This information is sent from the control device 1-1 to the control terminal 1-9 again, and the database is searched again. If you still cannot detect the data,
The image and the customer input data are displayed on the control terminal 1-9, and the operator 1-10 determines whether or not the item is a purchaseable item (determination of whether the item is other than a CD) (2-5). Is performed for 1-1. At this point, the control unit 1-1 transmits the purchase point data, and
Record on one side. Hereinafter, the purchase point data is transmitted to the control device 1-1 for each assessment point, and is added by the control device 1-1. Alternatively, the purchase point data is stored in the control device 1-
The information may not be transmitted to 1 but managed and added by the control terminal 1-9. Also, even if the album title can be determined, if there is no assessment value (purchase is not possible), the purchase operation is terminated at this point.

If the purchase operation can be continued, a flaw on the jacket surface is detected using the previously photographed image. As a method of detecting a flaw on a plane, a method of reading data in the form of a scanning line from the same position between comparative images and comparing and reading the data is disclosed, and these methods are used. The control terminal 1-9 determines the degree of the damage, and transmits the point data to the control device 1-1.

Next, the customer places the CD case face down on the table 1-5. Camera 1 as well as the front
In step 4, an image is captured, and the image data is transmitted to the control terminal 1-9. The control terminal 1-9 checks the scratches on the back case and the state of the jacket from the image data, and transmits the point data to the control device 1-1.

As a result of the above extraction, if there are other accessories, points are given by the same procedure (2-7, 2-8, 2-9, 2-10), and the point data is stored in the control device 1. -1.

Next, the CD itself is checked. First, ask the customer to place the CD label side up on table 1-5.
I have you put it. As in the case, an image is captured by the camera 1-4, and the image data is transmitted to the control terminal 1-9. The control terminal 1-9 determines the title of the CD by pattern recognition and confirms that the title matches the jacket. If they do not match, the purchase operation ends. Further, a flaw is detected in the same manner as the jacket surface, and the point data is transmitted to the control device 1-1.

Next, in order to determine whether the CD can be reproduced, the CD is inserted into the CD player 1-6. After insertion, the CD is played back at N times speed (N is an arbitrary number according to the performance of the device), and it is determined whether the entire data can be read.
(2-11). Here, the possibility of reproduction depends on the degree of scratches on the data recording surface of the CD and the reading performance of the CD player 1-6. Point data may be added in accordance with the number of readable CD players.

The point data so far is stored in the control device 1-
1 (2-12), and the total score is calculated by the control terminal 1-
9 The control terminal 1-9 calculates the price by adding the total points to the basic purchase price of each CD title in the database and transmits the price to the control device 1-1.
The price is displayed on the display device 1-2 (2-13), and the customer is input from the input device 1-8 whether he / she intends to sell (2-13).
-14).

If the customer does not intend to sell, the operation ends. If there is an intention to sell, the CD stored in the case is inserted into the hangar 1-11 (2-15).

Thereafter, the contact information of the customer and the pay-in transfer destination are input from the input device 1-8 (2-16), and the purchase operation is temporarily terminated (2-17).

At a later date, the CD is collected from the hangar 1-11, the final check of the condition of the article is made by the assessor, and if there is no major problem, the purchase money is transferred to the customer designated account. Collection may be carried out periodically by a collection company or the like. If there is a problem with the collected items, the customer is contacted and the response is discussed. This completes the purchase business.

[0029]

[Effects of the Invention] By following the above procedure, the assessor stays in one place, can concentrate on the assessment work only without taking time other than the assessment work by moving, etc., and a single assessor can cover a wide area. Can establish an article assessment system that can respond to customers.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a processing flowchart of a system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a processing flowchart following FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Automatic purchase terminal, 1-1 ... Control device, 1-2 ... Display device, 1-3 ... Sound reproduction device, 1-4 ... Camera, 1-5 ...
Table, 1-6 ... CD player, 1-7 ... sensor,
1-8: Input device, 1-9: Control terminal, 1-1
0 ... operator, 1-11 ... hangar, 1-12 ... communication line.

Claims (3)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A system having a dedicated terminal located in an unmanned store and a control terminal in another location, wherein the dedicated terminal and the control terminal are connected by a communication line. It is characterized in that the goods to be brought are photographed or operated with a dedicated terminal, the image processing result of the photographed data or the operation confirmation result is compared with the database on the control terminal side, and the assessment is automatically performed by performing the assessment. An automated system for contracts for purchasing goods. 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the customer who comes to the unmanned store brings a specific type of article, and captures an image with a limited number of specific parts important in determining the price of the article. An automatic system related to an article purchase contract, characterized in that information on the article is collected by comparing the data with a database on the control terminal side and the assessment is automatically performed. 3. In claim 1 or claim 2, in the course of automatically performing an assessment operation, for a part which cannot be automatically determined, data of an article under assessment collected by a dedicated terminal and information on a database. An automatic system related to purchase contracts that can be displayed on a control terminal and can continue or end the assessment work at the discretion of an operator such as an assessor.