JP2006293704A - Information providing apparatus and information providing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide discount information according to a position and date / time to a mobile device.
SOLUTION: A discount providing apparatus 10 includes a discount condition table 12 in which discount information is stored in association with conditions of application place and application date and time, and a mobile device to be transmitted. When receiving the location information transmitted from the mobile device 20, the discount providing device 10 determines whether or not the mobile device 20 satisfies the above condition based on the location information and the date and time of reception. When the mobile device 20 satisfies the above conditions, discount information corresponding to the conditions is transmitted to the mobile device 20.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for providing a service to a user of a mobile device.

In recent years, with the development of information communication technology, a technology for realizing a predetermined service by distributing information desired by the user to a plurality of communication terminals has been put into practical use. For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a method of providing the same right value as a service ticket or coupon that can be used by a user as electronic discount information. By providing the mobile phone with high portability as the discount information providing target as in this method, the user can always carry the discount information and can enjoy a wide range of services.
JP 2003-271860 A

  However, in the above-described conventional technology, the mobile device can obtain discount information, but the information does not correspond to the location and date / time of the mobile device, and thus has the following problems. . That is, when the user of the mobile device uses the obtained discount information, the current position of the mobile device is within an area where the discount information can be used, or the date and time when the user can use the discount information is available. It was not possible to quickly and easily grasp whether or not. The usage area and usage period can also be notified in conjunction with the discount information, but in this case, the user searches for the applicable conditions himself even though the discount information has been acquired once. It is not preferable from the viewpoint.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to be able to provide discount information according to the position and date / time to a mobile device.

  In the information providing apparatus according to the present invention, the discount information is associated with the conditions of the application location and the application date and time, and the storage means stored for each mobile device and the location information transmitted from the mobile device are received. Based on the reception means, the position information and the date and time of reception, the determination means for determining whether or not the mobile device satisfies the condition, and when the mobile device satisfies the condition, Transmitting means for transmitting corresponding discount information to the mobile device.

  In the information providing method according to the present invention, the information providing apparatus including the storage unit in which the discount information is associated with the conditions of the application location and the application date and stored for each mobile device is transmitted from the mobile device. Receiving the location information; determining whether the mobile device satisfies the condition based on the location information and the date and time of the reception; and if the mobile device satisfies the condition, Transmitting discount information corresponding to the conditions to the mobile device.

  Here, the discount information includes at least information indicating whether or not real-time discount is possible, and preferably includes the degree of discount (for example, discount rate, discount amount).

  According to these inventions, when the information providing apparatus receives the position information, the current position of the mobile device that is the transmission source and the reception date and time meet the ratio condition set in advance for the mobile device. It is determined whether or not. If it matches, information corresponding to the condition, that is, discount information corresponding to the position and date is returned to the transmission source mobile device. As a result, the user of the mobile device can determine that the discount information can be used immediately at the acquired location by receiving the discount information from the mobile device. That is, real-time discount information can be provided to the user.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, discount information according to a position and a date can be provided with respect to a mobile device.

Hereinafter, a discount providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of a discount providing system to which the present invention is applied. As shown in FIG. 1, the discount providing system 1 according to the present embodiment includes at least a discount providing device 10 (corresponding to an information providing device) and a mobile device 20. The discount providing device 10 and the mobile device 20 are connected to each other via the mobile communication network N and the radio base station B so that signals can be transmitted and received.

  The discount providing device 10 includes a position information receiving unit 11 (corresponding to the receiving unit), a discount condition table 12 (corresponding to the storing unit), a discount availability determining unit 13 (corresponding to the determining unit), and a discount information transmitting unit 14 ( Corresponding to the transmission means). These components are connected to each other through a bus so that signals can be input and output.

Hereinafter, each component will be described in detail.
The location information receiving unit 11 receives location information transmitted from mobile devices including the mobile device 20.
In the discount condition table 12, conditions that each mobile device including the mobile device 20 should satisfy in order to obtain discount information are set. An example of data storage in the discount condition table 12 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the discount condition table 12 includes a mobile device ID storage area 121, a condition storage area 122, and a discount degree storage area 123.

  The mobile device ID storage area 121 stores telephone numbers (for example, “090-1111-1111”, “090-2222-2222”,...) As information for identifying the destination of discount information. .

  In the condition storage area 122, conditions (discount conditions) for transmitting discount information to the corresponding mobile device are set. The conditions are set for each area, month, day of the week, and time zone. For example, when “places A and B” are set as the area, “Sunday” as the day of the week, and “8:00 to 20:00” as the time zone, respectively, “090-1111-1111” is set. The identified mobile device will receive the discount information only if it is located in location A or B from 8:00 to 20:00 on Sunday.

  In the discount degree storage area 123, information indicating the degree of discount such as “10 yen”, “20%”, and “5%” is stored as “discount information”. As discount information, in addition to the degree of discount, information indicating whether discounts are possible, names of products and services to be discounted, or prices and charges before and after the discount can be stored. Additional information such as advertisement information and features of products / services may be added to the discount information.

When receiving the input of the location information transmitted from the mobile device, the discount availability determination unit 13 grasps the reception date and time by the time management function. Then, based on the position information and the reception date and time, it is determined whether or not the mobile device that is the transmission source satisfies the discount condition.
When receiving a positive determination result from the discount availability determination unit 13, the discount information transmission unit 14 transmits the discount information corresponding to the condition and the mobile device to the mobile device that satisfies the discount condition.

  The mobile device 20 is a mobile phone terminal, for example, but may be a PC (Personal Computer) or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance) as long as it has a communication function. The mobile device 20 has at least a function for transmitting position information and a function for receiving discount information.

  Subsequently, the operation of the discount providing system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 3, and each step constituting the information providing method according to the present invention will be described.

First, in S <b> 1, the mobile device 20 estimates the current location of its own device, and transmits the estimation result as location information to the discount providing device 10.
As the current position estimation method, a well-known and commonly used positioning technique can be applied, and thus detailed description and illustration thereof are omitted. For example, a GPS (Global Positioning System) function of the mobile device 20 itself is used. There are a method and a method using the nearest base station ID.

The location information transmitted in S1 reaches the discount providing device 10 via the base station B and the mobile communication network N.
When the location information receiving unit 11 receives the location information, the discount providing device 10 inputs the discount information to the discount availability determination unit 13.

  The discount availability determination unit 13 determines the suitability of the location information and the reception date and time with respect to the discount condition using the input time of the location information as the reception date and time (S2). That is, the discount availability determination unit 13 determines, based on the position information and the reception date and time, whether or not the mobile device 20 that is the transmission source satisfies the discount condition set for the mobile device. . This determination process is executed with reference to the discount condition table 12 and is premised on a complete match.

  For example, it is assumed that the mobile device 20 is a mobile phone terminal to which the telephone number “090-2222-2222” is assigned. Referring again to FIG. 2, “location C”, “August 1”, and “18: 0 to 21:00” are set in the mobile device 20 as discount conditions. For this reason, the discount availability determination unit 13 only applies when the position indicated by the received position information is in “place C” and the reception date and time is “from 18:00 on August 1 to 21 before 21”. To obtain a determination result of “satisfying discount condition”. On the other hand, when at least one of the discount conditions is not satisfied, such as when the position indicated by the position information is “place A” or when the reception date is “15:00 on August 1” The discount availability determination unit 13 obtains a determination result “does not satisfy the discount condition”.

Returning to FIG. 3, the determination result in S2 is output from the discount availability determination unit 13 to the discount information transmission unit 14 (S3).
Receiving the determination result, the discount information transmitting unit 14 executes processing according to the determination result described above. That is, when the determination result is “satisfying the discount condition”, a reply is sent to the mobile device 20 that is the location information transmission source, with the corresponding discount level as discount information (S4).
When receiving the discount information transmitted in S4, the mobile device 20 displays it and presents it to the user (S5).

  On the other hand, when the determination result is “does not satisfy the discount condition”, the discount information transmission unit 14 may notify the mobile device 20 that the discount is not possible (S6). . Thereby, the user of the mobile device 20 can easily and quickly determine that the discount information is not available at the present time based on the notification.

  As described above, according to the discount providing system 1 according to the present embodiment, the discount providing device 10 includes the discount condition table in which the discount condition having the area and date / time as elements and the discount degree are set for each mobile device. Is held in advance. When receiving the location information from the mobile device 20, the discount providing device 10 determines whether or not the current location and the reception date / time satisfy the discount condition, and if so, the discount degree is used as discount information for the mobile device 20. Send to. Thereby, the discount providing device 10 can easily provide discount information that can be used simultaneously with acquisition to a user who meets the conditions to which the discount service should be applied. For this reason, the user who acquired the discount information can use the discount information immediately at the acquisition location. As a result, the real-time property of discount information is improved.

The aspect described in the present embodiment is a preferred example of the discount providing system according to the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to such an aspect.
For example, in the above embodiment, as a method for providing a discount service to a user of a mobile device, the mobile device that satisfies the condition is targeted, and discount information as an electronic value is transmitted. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the discount providing apparatus 10 may reduce the communication charge (call charge or packet charge) of the mobile device that satisfies the discount condition. In this aspect, the discount providing apparatus 10 includes a separate component for performing the charging process based on the discount determination result, or the server apparatus separate from the discount providing apparatus 10 performs the charging process based on the determination result. Realized. Even in this case, while the discount service is applied, the discount providing apparatus 10 notifies the user of the fact by using discount information, so that the same effect can be obtained.

It is a figure which shows the functional structure of the discount provision system in one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of data storage in a discount condition table. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of a discount provision system.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Discount provision system, 10 ... Discount provision apparatus, 11 ... Location information receiving part, 12 ... Discount condition table, 121 ... Mobile device ID area | region, 122 ... Condition area | region, 123 ... Discount degree area | region, 13 ... Discount availability determination part, 14 ... Discount information transmission unit, B ... Wireless base station, N ... Mobile communication network, 20 ... Mobile device

Claims (2)

Storage means in which discount information is associated with the conditions of the application location and application date and stored for each mobile device;
Receiving means for receiving location information transmitted from the mobile device;
Determining means for determining whether or not the mobile device satisfies the condition based on the position information and the date and time of the reception;
An information providing apparatus comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit discount information corresponding to the condition to the mobile device when the mobile device satisfies the condition. An information providing apparatus including a storage unit that stores discount information corresponding to the conditions of the application location and the application date and time and stored for each mobile device,
Receiving location information transmitted from the mobile device;
Determining whether the mobile device satisfies the condition based on the location information and the date and time of the reception;
A step of transmitting discount information corresponding to the condition to the mobile device when the mobile device satisfies the condition.

Images