JP4133698B2 - Change settlement method and change settlement system for vending machines - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for dealing with a shortage of change in a vending machine in a system including a vending machine connected to a network and a sales management server thereof.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a system in which a vending machine that sells products such as beverages and tobacco and a management server are connected to a network and the vending machine is managed by the server. Vending machines usually stop selling when there is not enough change, and if the amount that matches the purchase amount is not inserted, in order to avoid the loss of sales opportunities due to such a change, Using this system, a method has been proposed in which merchandise is sold with postponed payment of the shortage change. Conventionally proposed methods include those disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 described below, for example.
JP 2002-083343 A JP 2002-083344 A

  In the above disclosed technology, a method is adopted in which the amount of money that has not been paid to the customer is settled by transferring the amount of the postpaid amount to the customer's deposit account or transferring it to a predetermined fund-raising destination. The proposal of the other method which can utilize the amount of money for a postpayment like this is calculated | required.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a change clearing method and a system for carrying out the method that can further enhance customer satisfaction when changing the change in a vending machine. And

  The change settlement method according to the present invention includes a vending machine that sells products by depositing from a customer, a sales management server that manages the sales of the vending machine, and an operator server of a service provider that the customer contracts with Is a method of liquidating the change at the time of sale of the vending machine to the customer in the system that is communicably connected, wherein the vending machine separately settles the change for the deposit from the customer. A message for inquiring the customer, and when the liquidation permission is separately obtained, the customer identification information for identifying the customer in the business server is acquired, and the acquired customer identification information is obtained from the sales management server. The sales management server selects the business server corresponding to the customer identification information from the vending machine, Qian amount and performing the payment procedure to be appropriated to the service charge of the customer.

  In addition, the change clearing system according to the present invention includes a vending machine that sells products by payment from a customer, a sales management server that manages the sales of the vending machine, and an operator of a service provider that the customer contracts with The vending machine is connected to a server so that they can communicate with each other, and the vending machine separately determines whether or not to separately settle the change for the deposit from the customer, and whether or not the settlement is separately possible. A message processing unit that informs the customer of the message to be inquired and obtains the customer's response to the message, and a customer identification for identifying the customer at the operator server when the separate liquidation determination unit determines to perform separate liquidation A customer information acquisition unit that acquires information and notifies the sales management server of the acquired customer identification information, the sales management server from the vending machine A server selection unit that selects the provider server corresponding to the customer identification information, and a payment procedure that applies the separately cleared change amount to the service usage fee of the customer for the provider server selected by the selection unit And a payment processing unit.

  According to the change clearing method according to the present invention, since the change to be paid out to the customer from the vending machine is separately settled, even if the cash for change is insufficient in the vending machine, the customer Products can be purchased separately by liquidation, and the loss of sales opportunities can be avoided on the vending machine side. In addition, since the separately settled amount is allocated to the customer's service usage fee, the customer can effectively use the change at the vending machine, thereby further increasing customer satisfaction. Furthermore, it is possible to contribute to the collection of service usage fees by service providers.

[Example]
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a system to which a change settlement method according to the present invention is applied. In the change clearing system 100 of the embodiment, a vending machine 10 that sells products by payment from a customer and a vending machine management server 20 that acquires internal information of the vending machine 10 and performs sales management are connected to the Internet 40. Via a communicable connection. The vending machine 10 is provided with an input mechanism 10a such as a product selection key or a numeric key for a customer to perform an input operation, and a display mechanism 10b for displaying a message to the customer. As the mechanism 10a and the display mechanism 10b, those provided in a conventional vending machine can be used.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a carrier server 30 of a telecommunications carrier with which a customer has a contract for a telephone communication service is connected to the Internet 40. The operator server 30 can communicate with a customer computer (not shown) that is also connected to the Internet 40.

  2 to 4 show functional configurations of the vending machine 10, the management server 20, and the business server 30. The components shown in each figure indicate functions realized by a program executed by a control mechanism (not shown) such as a CPU mounted on each device.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the vending machine 10 includes a sales processing unit 11 that performs sales processing such as payment confirmation and product delivery, and a change monitoring unit that monitors the remaining amount of change and the necessity of change at the time of sale. 12, a message processing unit 13 that obtains a message notification to the customer and a reply from the customer to the message, a separate liquidation determination unit 14 that determines whether or not a separate liquidation is described later at the time of change shortage, and for identifying the customer A customer information acquisition unit 15 that acquires the customer identification information and notifies the management server 20 of the customer identification information, and a communication processing unit 16 for communication connection to the Internet 40. In the present embodiment, as the customer identification information, a telephone number registered by the customer with the communication carrier of the carrier server 30 is used.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the management server 20 is a server that selects a business server 30 based on a communication processing unit 21 for communication connection to the Internet 40 and a telephone number that is customer identification information received from the vending machine 10. An authentication processing unit 23 that performs personal authentication of a customer between the selection unit 22 and the selected business server 30, and a payment processing unit 24 that performs payment processing related to separate settlement described later on the business server 30. Prepare.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the operator server 30 includes a communication processing unit 31 for communication connection to the Internet 40, an authentication processing unit 32 that performs personal authentication for a customer who has received an inquiry from the management server 20, and service usage A fee processing unit 33 that performs processing related to fee collection and a message notification unit 34 that notifies a customer's computer of a message are provided.

  The operation of the system 100 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to the sequence diagram shown in FIG. Here, a procedure for a customer to purchase a product when cash for change is insufficient in the vending machine 10 will be described.

  First, when the change monitoring unit 12 of the vending machine 10 detects that the amount of change cash is very small, the message processing unit 13 causes the display mechanism 10b to display a message that the change is insufficient. (Step S1). At this time, for example, when the customer inserts 500 yen to purchase a 150 yen product and presses the product selection key of the input mechanism 10a (steps S2 and S3), the change monitoring unit 12 has a change of 350 yen. However, it is determined that the payout is impossible, and a message to that effect is displayed on the display mechanism 10b by the message processing unit 13 (step S4).

  When there is a shortage of change as described above, the clearing determination unit 14 instructs the message processing unit 13 to notify the customer whether or not to separately settle the shortage of change, and the message processing unit 13 A message to that effect is displayed on the display mechanism 10b (step S5). Separate settlement in this embodiment means that the change that cannot be paid out to the customer from the vending machine 10 is applied to the service usage fee of the telecommunications carrier contracted by the customer, thereby clearing the unpaid amount. It is something to try. Here, a message is displayed on the display mechanism 10b asking whether to allocate 350 yen of change to the communication service fee, and the customer responds to the input mechanism 10a that the liquidation has been approved (step S6). ).

  If it is decided to perform separate settlement, the customer information acquisition unit 15 sends a message prompting the customer to input a telephone number in order to acquire a telephone number which is customer identification information necessary for the separate settlement process. Via the display mechanism 10b. The customer inputs the telephone number registered with the communication carrier according to the message (step S7). When the customer information acquisition unit 15 redisplays the input value on the display mechanism 10b in order to make the customer confirm the input telephone number and obtains approval from the customer (steps S8 and S9), the customer information acquisition unit 15 transmits the telephone number to the communication processing unit. 16 to the management server 20 (step S10).

  When the server selection unit 22 of the management server 20 receives the customer's telephone number via the communication processing unit 21, for example, the business server 30 handles the telephone number using a server list registered in advance for the communication business. Is selected. The authentication processing unit 23 performs personal authentication related to the customer using the telephone number with the selected business server 30 (step S11). And if the notification notification of the said customer is received from the authentication process part 32 of the provider server 30, it will be notified to the vending machine 10 via the communication process part 21 (step S12).

  When the sales processing unit 11 of the vending machine 10 recognizes that the customer is a registered customer of the business server 30 by the authentication notification from the management server 20, the sales processing unit 11 notifies the customer that the settlement has been separately received. At the same time, the product for which the purchase instruction has been received is delivered and the sale is terminated (step S13). At this time, for example, from a receipt issuing mechanism (not shown) of the vending machine 10, a memorandum regarding settlement, a borrowing card for change, etc. may be issued.

  In this way, even if there is a shortage of change to be paid out to the customer, the customer can obtain the desired product by giving an instruction to separately settle the change, and the vending machine On the 10th side, it is possible to avoid a loss of sales opportunities when there is a change shortage.

  Subsequently, the separate settlement determination unit 14 of the vending machine 10 notifies the management server 20 that the separately settled amount is 350 yen (step S14). The payment processing unit 24 of the management server 20 returns a response indicating that this notification has been received to the vending machine 10 (step S15), and then associates the customer's telephone number with the separately settled amount to the business server. 30 is notified (step S16). Thereby, it is notified that the business operator of the vending machine 10 will pay 350 yen out of the service usage fee that the customer should pay to the communication business operator. When the fee processing unit 33 of the business server 30 returns a response indicating that the proxy payment notification from the management server 20 has been received (step S17), the payment processing unit 24 of the management server 20 receives this response. Then, a payment procedure of 350 yen is performed with respect to the provider server 30 at a preset timing (step S18).

  The charge processing unit 33 of the business server 30 accumulates the amount each time it receives a proxy payment from the management server 20 by separate liquidation as described above, and applies the accumulated amount to the service usage fee for the current month ( Step S19). In other words, the customer is charged the amount obtained by subtracting the accumulated amount of clearing separately from the service usage fee for the current month. In the notification to the customer regarding the billed amount for the current month, the message notifying unit 34 also states that the accumulated amount of change separately paid is deducted from the service usage fee, which is connected to the Internet 40, for example. The customer is notified by sending it to the customer's computer or sending a message to a pre-registered answering machine (step S20).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the amount of change separately cleared in the vending machine 10 due to lack of change is used for the customer's communication service fee, the customer The change at 10 can be used effectively. Moreover, it can contribute to the collection of the service usage fee in the business entity server 30.

  In the above-described embodiment, when cash for change is insufficient in the vending machine 10, the procedure is to ask the customer whether or not the settlement is possible. Instead, for example, a separate settlement button is provided on the input mechanism 10 a. Such a selection means may be added so that the customer can separately instruct the settlement regardless of the presence or absence of change cash in the vending machine 10. Thereby, since change is not paid out from the vending machine 10, convenience for customers who are troublesome to carry change coins is improved, and a decrease in change cash in the vending machine 10 can be suppressed.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the communication service fee is applied as a separate payment destination. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various charges such as a public fee for electricity, gas, water, etc., or a credit card fee, etc. Applicable for payment. In that case, a customer number of a public bill, a credit card number, etc. can be used as customer identification information at the time of separate liquidation.

It is a block diagram regarding the system of the Example of the change settlement method which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the functional structure of the vending machine of the Example by this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the functional structure of the management server of the Example by this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the functional structure of the provider server of the Example by this invention. It is a sequence diagram for demonstrating the change settlement procedure of the Example by this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Change change system 10 Vending machine 20 Vending machine management server 30 Communication carrier server 40 Internet 10a: Input mechanism, 10b: Display mechanism 11: Sales processing part, 12: Change monitoring part, 13: Message processing part, 14: Separate liquidation determination unit, 15: customer information acquisition unit, 16: communication processing unit 21: communication processing unit, 22: server selection unit, 23: authentication processing unit, 24: payment processing unit 31: communication processing unit, 32: authentication processing Part 33: charge processing part 34: message notification part

Claims (8)

In a system in which a vending machine that sells products by payment from a customer, a sales management server that manages the sales of the vending machine, and an operator server of a service provider contracted by the customer are connected to be communicable , A method of liquidating the change at the time of sale of the vending machine to the customer,
The vending machine informs the customer of a message asking whether or not to separately change the change for the deposit from the customer, and when receiving the permission for the separate settlement, to identify the customer at the operator server Customer identification information, and notifies the sales management server of the acquired customer identification information,
The sales management server selects the business server corresponding to the customer identification information from the vending machine, and pays the business server to apply the separately cleared change amount to the service usage fee of the customer. A change settlement method characterized by performing a procedure.   2. The change clearing method according to claim 1, wherein when there is a shortage of change to be paid out to a customer, the vending machine issues a message regarding the separate clearing.   3. The change clearing method according to claim 1, wherein the operator server adds the separately cleared change relating to the customer every predetermined period and applies the service charge for the period.   4. The change clearing method according to claim 1, wherein the service usage fee is a telephone communication fee, and the customer identification information is a telephone number. A vending machine that sells products by payment from a customer, a sales management server that manages the sales of the vending machine, and an operator server of a service provider that the customer contracts are connected to be able to communicate with each other. A system comprising:
The vending machine is
A separate liquidation determination unit that determines whether or not to separately change the change for the deposit from the customer, a message processing unit that informs the customer of a message asking whether the liquidation is separately possible, and obtains the customer's response to the message; Customer identification information for identifying the customer in the operator server when the separate liquidation determination unit determines to perform separate liquidation based on the reply from the customer obtained by the message processing unit, and the acquired customer identification information A customer information acquisition unit that notifies the sales management server of,
The sales management server includes:
A server selection unit that selects the provider server corresponding to customer identification information from the vending machine, and the separately settled change amount for the service usage fee of the customer for the provider server selected by the selection unit A change clearing system comprising: a payment processing unit that performs a payment procedure to be applied. The vending machine comprises means for determining change for deposit,
6. The change clearing unit according to claim 5, wherein when the means determines that the change to be paid out to the customer is insufficient by the means, the separate liquidation determination unit instructs the message processing unit to notify the separate liquidation. system.   7. The change clearing system according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the business entity server has means for adding the separately cleared change for the customer every predetermined period and applying it to the service usage fee for the period.   8. The change clearing system according to claim 5, wherein the service use fee is a telephone communication fee, and the customer identification information is a telephone number.

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