JPS63311474A - Coupon information processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To read an OCR character-string, even if ordinary paper is used as a coupon ticket, and also, even if the coupon tickets are irregular, by constituting the titled system so that the OCR character-string printed on the coupon ticket and a bar-code hold a position relation which has been determined in advance. CONSTITUTION:A coupon ticket 11 which has been printed so that a bar-code 11a for showing the merchandise information and an OCR character-string 11b for showing the additional information offered for collecting the customer trend information hold a position relation which has been determined is used. This coupon ticket 11 is collected at every retail store in exchange for a discount sale to a customer, and offered for a read input by a coupon reading means. That is, the coupon reading means 14 executes read of the bar-code 11a against the coupon ticket 11 which has been collected at every retail store, and also, discriminates the surface and the reverse side, and the direction of the corresponding coupon ticket 11, based on said bar-code as a reference, and detects a printing position of the OCR character-string. In such a way, read of this OCR character-string 11b is also executed, and a data processing means 15 generates a account-settlement information and customer trend information at every coupon planning enterprise, based on a result of read of the coupon reading means 14.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Purpose of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) This invention relates to a system using ``Pon'' coupons that can be used as coupons to purchase products, and in particular to coupons collected at retail stores. The present invention relates to a coupon information processing system that provides end-stick information, etc. to a company planning a same-pon coupon based on the coupon.

(Prior art) Conventionally, in order to generate this type of payment information, coupons collected for each retail store are manually arranged for each planning company and discount amount, and then the number of coupons is counted. It was common practice to count and calculate the settlement amount (the amount that the planning company should pay to the relevant retailer). However, this method has the problems of being prone to errors and requiring high input costs because it is done manually. In addition, it was difficult to gather a large number of workers on a regular basis, and security was also difficult to manage.

Therefore, in order to solve the above problem, OCR characters (characters for optical character reading) indicating product information are printed on OCR.
A system is being considered in which a CR paper is used as a coupon and the amount to be paid is calculated by reading it with an OCR (optical character reader). However, with this system, only OCR paper can be used for coupons, and it is necessary to input the paper (in OCR) after arranging the paper.
There was an R title.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) As mentioned above, coupons collected at each retail store are
Conventional systems that generate payment information by reading them with CR can only use OCR paper for coupons, and it is necessary to input the paper after arranging it (into OCR), so it lacks flexibility and is not very versatile. There was a problem that made it impossible to build a coupon system.

This invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a coupon that can be made of general paper as a coupon, and that allows the input work for optical reading of coupon information to be performed without having to manually align the coupons. Our goal is to provide information processing systems.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a coupon information processing system that can generate customer trend information that is useful for coupon planning companies in terms of product planning strategy, together with payment information.

[Structure of the invention] (Means for solving the problem) In this invention,
By using coupons on which a bar code indicating product information and an OCR character string (character string for optical character reading) indicating additional information used for collecting customer trend information are printed in a predetermined positional relationship. There is. These coupons are collected at each retail store in exchange for discount sales to customers, and are read and input by a coupon reading means. That is, the coupon reading means reads the barcodes of the coupons collected for each retail store, and also determines the front and back sides and orientation of the corresponding coupon based on the barcode, and determines the printing position of the OCR character string. By detecting this, this OCR character string is also read. The data processing means generates payment information and customer trend information for each coupon planning company based on the reading result of the coupon reading means.

(Operation) According to the above configuration, since the OCR character string printed on the coupon and the barcode maintain a predetermined positional relationship, the printing position of the OCR character string is determined by the barcode when the barcode is detected. It can be determined from the code position, so even if ordinary paper is used as the coupon and the coupon is irregular, the OCR character string can be read. In addition, OCR character strings indicate additional information for collecting customer trend information, so by collecting and processing this information together with product information indicated by barcodes, effective information for coupon planning companies is generated. It becomes possible to do so.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1(a) shows a coupon information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and 11 is a coupon.

This coupon 11 is printed on a newspaper, magazine, etc., as shown in FIG. 1(b). The coupon 11 not only prints the amount of the coupon (discount amount, 50 yen in the figure), the name of the company (manufacturer) planning the coupon, etc., but also includes product information ( For example, a barcode 11a indicating a manufacturer code, product code, etc.), and additional information used to collect customer trend information (for example, the name of the newspaper/magazine in which the coupon 11 is printed, and if it is a newspaper, the distribution area An additional information character string (additional information OCR character string) 11b is also printed, which indicates the user's name, etc.) using OCR characters (for example, 0CR-B printed characters). Barcode Ila and additional information string 1
1b, a predetermined positional relationship is maintained. Various types of coupon tickets 11 are prepared for each specified product and further for each coupon planning manufacturer.

Now, in order to use the coupon 11 printed on a newspaper, magazine, etc., it is first necessary to cut out the coupon 11 from the newspaper, magazine, etc. A general customer goes to a target retail store with a coupon 11 cut out from a newspaper, magazine, etc., and submits it to the retail store when purchasing a specified product. This allows the customer to purchase the designated product at a price that is the selling price minus the amount indicated by the coupon 11.

Various coupons 11 used by customers when purchasing products are
Collected at each retail store. The coupons 11 collected for each retail store are sent to a coupon information processing center with a header sheet 12 containing the number, total amount (charged amount), store name, etc. of the coupons.

A worker at the coupon information processing center sets the coupons 11 collected for each retail store in the coupon information processing device 13. This device 13 includes a character/barcode reading means 14 that reads the additional information character string 11b (OCR character string) and barcode 11a printed on the coupon 11, and a , data processing means 1 that generates payment information for each retail store provided by coupon planning manufacturer and customer trend information;
5 and has both functional means.

A specific configuration of the coupon information processing device 13 is shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, 21 is the main element that realizes the character/barcode reading means 14 shown in FIG. 11a is a coupon reader, and 22 is a data processor (DP, CPU) which is also a main element realizing the data processing means 15.

23 is a hand scanner type character/barcode reader which is an auxiliary means to the coupon reader 21, and 24 is a kanji serial printer used for recording system information, reading status, etc. 25 is a keyboard (KB), and 26 is a CRT monitor with keyboard 25 attached. 27 is a magnetic disk device used for storing programs and data files, etc. 28 is a system backup (and data medium)
29 is a system bus.

Now, the coupon tickets 11 collected for each retail store are set in the coupon reader 21 shown in FIG. 2 with their front and back sides and orientations (up, down, left and right) being irregular. At this time, the operator operates the keyboard 25, and the information written on the header sheet 12 attached to the set coupon 11 is input from the keyboard 25 to the data processor 22. Also, the size of the coupon 11, the barcode 11
Type of a, OC used in additional information character string 11b
Type of R character.

Parameters such as the character pitch, the maximum number of characters in the additional information character string 11b, and the relative position between the barcode 11a and the additional information character string 11t) can also be set on the keyboard 25 as necessary.
is inputted to the data processor 22 from.

Upon receiving the parameters entered from the keyboard 25, the data processor 22 notifies the coupon reader 21 of the parameters. As a result, the coupon reader 21
Character/barcode reading can be performed according to the parameters notified from the data processor 22.

The coupon 11 set in the coupon reader 21 is
The sheets are automatically transported one by one to the reading mechanism section in the reader 21. In this state, the coupon reader 21 first reads coupon 1.
The barcode 11a printed on the coupon 11 is optically detected, and the front and back of the coupon 11 and the orientation (up, down, left, and right) of the coupon 11 are determined based on the detection results. If the coupon 11 to be read is not turned upside down, the barcode 1ia is optically read regardless of its orientation. Further, the printing position of the additional information character string 11b is determined from the detected position of the barcode 11a, and the additional information character string 11b is optically read at the determined position. That is, in this embodiment, focusing on the fact that the barcode 11a can be read even if its position is not fixed, the position of the barcode 11a is first detected, and additional information characters are written based on the detection result. The position of column 11b is detected. Incidentally, the upside-down coupon 11 is ejected from the reading mechanism as it is, and the operator is required to reset it. Of course,
It is also possible to automatically reverse the front and back of the coupon 11 in the reading mechanism section and read characters/barcodes as is.

Now, in the above-mentioned reading by the coupon reader 21, some coupons 11 may be determined to be unreadable due to some factors (for example, the coupons 11 are cut improperly and the size is outside a predetermined range). be. This unreadable coupon 11 is read by the coupon reader 21.
and is read by a hand scanner type character/barcode reader 23. In this case, the worker holds the character/barcode reader 23 and the coupon reader 2.
The barcode 11a and additional information character string 1ib printed on the coupon 11 which cannot be read by the coupon 11 are scanned and read manually. This manual reading is also performed for coupons 11 that cannot be transported by the coupon reader 21.

The contents of the barcode 11a and additional information character string 11b of the coupon 11 read by the coupon reader 21 or hand scanner type character/barcode reader 23 are as follows.
The data processor 22 is notified via the system bus 29. The data processor 22 is a coupon reader 21
Based on the reading results, the coupon planning maker calculates the amount to be paid to each retailer (settlement amount) for each manufacturer, and generates settlement information. At this time, if necessary, an error check may be performed by comparing the number of coupons 11 counted by the coupon reader 21 with the information written on the header sheet 12 (input from the keyboard 25). It is possible. The nIl information generated by the data processor 22 is displayed on the CRT monitor 26, and is also stored in the magnetic disk drive 27 as a manufacturer-specific file.

The data processor 22 further generates customer trend information indicating the sales status of each product of each manufacturer, for example, for each retail store based on the reading results from the coupon reader 21. The format of this customer trend information is not limited to this, but may be one that shows the above sales status by newspaper/magazine that the coupon user is illuminating, or by region, and includes the barcode 11a and additional information. By modifying the contents of the character string 11b, it is also possible to generate more detailed customer trend information.

The customer trend information generated by the data processor 22 is displayed on the CRT monitor 26, stored in the magnetic disk drive 27, and printed out from the Kanji serial printer 24 as needed. Further, the customer trend information, together with the payment information, is transmitted to the coupon planner maker via a line, for example. This customer trend information transmitted (or mailed) to the coupon planning manufacturer is extremely reliable as it accurately reflects the customer's product purchasing trends, unlike information collected through surveys etc. It can be effectively used for planning strategies.

In addition, although the said Example demonstrated the case where the coupon ticket 11 was printed on a newspaper, a magazine, etc., it is not limited to this, For example, it may be prepared separately from the beginning. Further, in the above embodiment, the information written on the header sheet 12 is input from the keyboard 25, but by using OCR paper for the header sheet 12, it is also possible to automatically read and input the information from the coupon reader 21. It is possible.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be achieved.

(2) Since the position of the OCR character string printed on the coupon can be determined from the barcode position when the barcode is detected, general paper can be used for the coupon instead of OCR paper. As a result, coupons can be printed and used on newspapers, magazines, etc., and the scope of coupon use can be expanded.

■ Since the position of the OCR character string can be detected based on the barcode, input can be made without having to prepare coupons, which saves labor.

■ The OCR character string indicates additional information for collecting customer trend information, so by collecting and processing this information together with the product information indicated by the barcode, it is possible to collect not only payment information but also coupon planning companies. It becomes possible to provide information that is effective for product planning strategies.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1(a) is a diagram showing a coupon information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1(b) is a diagram showing an example of the format of the coupon 11 shown in FIG. 1(a), and FIG. FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the coupon information processing device 13 shown in FIG. 1(a). 11... Coupon, 11a... Barcode, 11
b...Additional information string (OCR string), 13...
Coupon information processing device, 21... Coupon reader, 2
2...Data processor (DP), 23...Hand scanner type character/barcode reader. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Payment

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A barcode that is used to purchase a specified product at a specified discount, and a predetermined positional relationship between a barcode that indicates product information and a character string for optical character reading that indicates additional information that is used to collect customer trend information. The above barcode is read for coupons that are printed with a certain value and that are collected from each retail store in exchange for discount sales to customers, and the corresponding coupons are printed based on the same barcode. A coupon reading means reads the character string by determining the front and back sides and orientation of the ticket and detecting the printed position of the character string for optical character reading, and based on the reading result of this coupon reading means, the corresponding 1. A coupon information processing system comprising: data processing means for generating customer trend information and settlement information including amount information indicating the amount to be paid from a coupon planning company to a corresponding retail store. (2) The coupon information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the coupon is cut out from a newspaper, magazine, or the like.