JPH10269287A - Commodity managing data collecting system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To collect information on a commodity, in which a customer is interested at a store, in spite of not buying at last. SOLUTION: At ID tag 20 for holding a memory including commodity discrimination information is provided for each commodity. A small terminal 30 for collecting data is delivered when the customer comes to the store. The terminal 30 is provided with the ID Tag 20 and a reader/writer 32 for a tag for data transmission. Thereby, when the customer with the terminal 30 takes a commodity by hand, the ID tag 20 of the merchandise enters the communication area of the reader/writer 32. Then commodity discrimination information of the ID tag 20 is read to collect data the customer is interested in.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a merchandise management data collection system used in a store or the like for collecting data for merchandise management.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, POS systems are used in retail stores and the like for product management and sales planning. In the POS system, when a product that has been sold at the time of sale is input using a cash register or the like, the sales information is totaled as sales information, and the needs and sales status of the product are grasped and reflected in a sales plan.

[0003]

However, in the conventional POS system, since the sales plan is made based on the sales information, the sales of the product have not been completed. could not. Conventionally, to obtain such information, the clerk must observe the customer's behavior in the store, conduct a questionnaire or interview, and rely largely on the efforts of the clerk and salesperson, and efficiently collect the information. There was a drawback that there was no way to collect.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and is a product that has not been sold in a retail store, but is capable of automatically collecting data of a product that is of interest to customers. The purpose is to provide a management data collection system.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a memory for holding merchandise information including merchandise identification information, a memory control unit for writing and reading information to and from the memory, and a non-contact transmission. A data transmission means for receiving data and transmitting the data read from the memory control unit, for an ID tag attached to each product, and a tag for transmitting data without contact between the ID tag and the ID tag Reader / writer,
A memory having a merchandise information table area, and when reaching a predetermined communication area, the I / O via the tag reader / writer;
It has a product information table updating means for reading the product information of the D tag and updating the product information table in the memory, and has a data collection terminal device lent to a customer in a store.

[0006] In the invention of claim 2 of the present application, the memory of the ID tag includes, in addition to the product identification information, a customer layer information table holding customer layer information of a customer who is interested in the product. The collection terminal device further includes a user information input unit that inputs user information, and a customer layer information updating unit that updates a customer layer information table of product information read from the ID tag based on the user information and writes the updated information in the ID tag. It is characterized by having.

[0007] In the invention of claim 3 of the present application, the memory of the ID tag contains merchandise advertisement information of the attached merchandise, and the data collection terminal device transmits the information via the tag reader / writer. It is characterized by further comprising a product advertisement information output means for displaying the product advertisement information to the customer based on the product advertisement information read from the ID tag.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the user information input means of the data collection terminal device is a user card reading means for reading information from a user card including personal information distributed to a customer. Things.

[0009] The invention according to claim 5 of the present application is characterized by further comprising a product information management terminal device for collecting information of a product information table held in the data collection terminal device.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a memory for holding product information including product identification information, a memory control unit for writing and reading information to and from the memory, and receiving data transmitted in a non-contact manner, A user card having data transmission means for transmitting data read from the memory control unit, having an ID tag attached to each product, a personal information area and a product information table area, distributed to a customer; A tag reader / writer for transmitting data to / from a tag in a non-contact manner, a card reader / writer for reading information of the user card, a memory having a product information table area, and a tag reader when a predetermined communication area is reached; A merchandise information table updating means for reading merchandise information of the ID tag via a writer and updating a merchandise information table of the user card; A data collection terminal apparatus lend to the customer, it is characterized in that it has a, a product information management terminal device that collects information of the product information table stored in the user card.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the present embodiment, a user card 10 having a memory area in which identification information and personal information, for example, age, gender, etc. of customers who frequently use the store are stored in advance. The user card 10 may use a card-shaped data carrier having a non-contact data communication function, and may be a magnetic card, a contact IC card, or the like. In the following embodiments, the user card 10 will be described as a data carrier.

Each product in the store is provided with a tag-like data carrier (hereinafter referred to as an ID tag 20) for identifying each product. The memory of the ID tag 20 holds the following information as product information. Product advertising information Product identification information Customer demographic information table

The product advertisement information in the ID tag 20 includes:
This is information such as advertisements and explanations of the product, and these are information using characters, images, or sounds. For example, when the product is software such as a compact disk or a movie, the highlight portion is extracted as music data or video data. The product identification information in the ID tag is information for identifying the product, such as a product code. Further, the customer segment information table is a table showing the total number of customer segments who are interested in the product, and is a table in which, for example, the product name and the age and gender of the customer interested in the product.

The user card 10 and the ID tag 20 are both data carriers having a data communication function in a non-contact manner and have the same structure. Therefore, the ID tag 20 will be described below. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ID tag 20. As shown in the figure, the ID tag 20 includes a resonance circuit 21 including a coil and a capacitor, and a power generation unit 2 that supplies a signal obtained by the resonance circuit 21 to each unit as a power supply.
2. It has a demodulation unit 23, a modulation unit 24, a memory control unit 25, and a memory 26 connected to the resonance circuit. The memory control unit 25 writes or reads information to or from the memory 26. The demodulation unit 23 and the modulation unit 24 constitute data transmission means for receiving transmitted data and transmitting the data read from the memory control unit. doing. The above-mentioned product information is stored in the memory 26. The user card 10 has the same configuration, and stores user identification information and personal information in its memory. The data carrier may have a built-in battery instead of the power generation unit 22.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a small terminal which is a data collection terminal device used only in a store. Small terminal 3
Reference numeral 0 denotes a card reader / writer 31 for performing data communication with the above-mentioned user card 10 and reading personal information, a tag reader / writer 32 for performing data communication with an ID tag 20 attached to a product, characters and images. And a sound reproduction unit 34 having a sound reproduction function. The character / image display unit 33 is configured by a liquid crystal panel or the like, and the audio reproduction unit 34 is configured to connect headphones lent to customers. The character / image display unit 33 and the sound reproduction unit 34 constitute a product advertisement information output unit that outputs product advertisement information and information for explaining this system to customers. It has a control unit 35 for performing these controls, a memory 36, and an input / output interface 37 for inputting and outputting data to and from a product information management terminal device described later. The memory 36 of the small terminal 30 has, in addition to the work area, a product information table 36a that the customer is interested in as described later. In addition, the memory 36 has an area for holding a method of using the product management data collection system, advertisement of a store, new product information, and the like. Then, the control unit 35 controls the
Product information updating means 3 for updating the product information table in 6
5a and a customer layer information updating means 35b for updating the customer layer information table in the ID tag 20.

Since the card reader / writer 31 and the tag reader / writer 32 have the same configuration, the tag reader / writer 32 will be described. The tag reader / writer 32 includes a transmitting antenna coil 32 as shown in FIG.
The transmission unit 32b is connected to a, the reception unit 32d is connected to the reception antenna coil 32c, and the read / write (R / W) control unit 32e is connected to the transmission / reception units 32b and 32d to control transmission / reception. The transmitting antenna coil 3
2a and the receiving antenna coil 32b may be configured as a common coil. The card reader / writer 31 has the same configuration. Tag reader / writer 32
Sets the communicable area to, for example, a radius of 20 to 30 cm so that the customer enters the communication area when the customer picks up the product. When the user card 10 is a magnetic card or a contact type IC card, an existing card reader for reading the information is used as a card reader.

FIG. 3A is a block diagram showing a system configuration of the merchandise management data collection system according to the present embodiment. In the figure, a product information management terminal 40 is connected to the input / output interface 37 of the small terminal 30. The cash register 50 at the store is connected to the product information management terminal 40. The cash register 50 at the store sends out sales information to the product information management terminal 40, and the small terminal 30 stores product information of interest obtained when a customer moves to a store and considers a product to be purchased. What you enter.

Next, the operation of the merchandise management data collection system according to this embodiment will be described with reference to the schematic flowchart of the data collection system shown in FIG. A user card 10 in which personal information of the customer, for example, age, gender, name, and the like are recorded is distributed to the customer of the store in advance. Then, when the customer comes to the store, he or she is asked to bring the user card 10 and hand the small terminal 30 to the customer when entering the store. As shown in FIG. 4, the small terminal 30 reads customer layer information from the user card 10 via the card reader / writer 31 in step S1. And step S2
To poll the ID tag 20. As shown in FIG. 5, when a customer moves in the store and stands in front of a product of interest and picks up the product, as shown in FIG.
The D tag 20 reaches an area where communication with the tag reader / writer 32 is possible. Therefore, the tag reader / writer 32 of the small terminal 30 polls the ID tag in step S2,
If there is a response, the product information is read from the ID tag. At this time, there is a possibility that a plurality of products may reach the communication area of the tag reader / writer 32 at the same time. In this case, the information of the ID tag which has entered the communication area first is read. Then, the process proceeds to step S4, where the product information table 36 in the small terminal 30 is set.
a is updated, and the customer layer information table in the ID tag 20 is updated. Then, the process proceeds to step S5 to confirm the return of the product, and returns to step S2 to perform the same processing. Thus, the product information of the ID tag that has entered the communication area is read.

Next, this operation will be described in more detail. First, in the reading process of the customer demographic information in step S1, FIG.
The presence or absence of the user card 10 is determined as shown in step S11. And if there is a user card 10,
In step S12, customer layer information is read from the user card 10. The customer segment information is personal information such as age and gender held in the user card as described above, and this information is read and held in the product information table 36a of the memory 36. Then, the process proceeds to step S21 to poll the ID tag 20. As shown in FIG. 5, the customer does not enter the communication area just by approaching the product on the product shelf, but enters the communication area when the customer looks at the product of interest. Therefore, the process proceeds to step S22, and as a result of polling the ID tag,
It is determined whether or not there is a response, and if there is no response, the prepared character, image, and voice information is provided (step S23). The characters, images, and voice information prepared at this time are information previously stored in the memory 36 of the small terminal 30, such as a method of using the product management data collection system, advertisement of a store, and new product information. Such information is displayed on the display unit of the small terminal by the character / image display unit 33, and is further presented to the customer through headphones or the like via the audio display unit 34 connected to the small terminal.

When the customer picks up the product as shown in FIG. 5, a response is obtained from the ID tag 20 to enter the communication area of the reader / writer 32. Then, the process proceeds to step S33 to read the product information of the ID tag 20. Since the product advertisement information of the product information of the ID tag is information indicating the advertisement information of the product or the method of using the product, step S3
In step 4, the product information is read, and the advertisement information is displayed and reproduced. Next, the process proceeds to step S41, where the product identification information among the product information is checked, and it is determined whether or not the same product information is recorded in the product information table 36a in the small terminal 30 (step S42). If there is no identical product, the process proceeds to step S43 to update the product information table 36a. As shown in the example of FIG. 7, the product information table 36a sequentially records the age, gender, and product name of the customer who currently owns the small terminal 30. The product information table is updated by adding a new product name based on the obtained product identification information. For example, in the product information table of FIG.
A 5-year-old man with an interested product name of ****,
△△△△△, ○○○○○ The process further proceeds to step S44 to update the customer layer information table read from the ID tag 20. FIG. 8 shows an example of the customer layer information table. For example, if the customer is a 25-year-old man, the area is incremented and written to the ID tag 20. Further, the process proceeds to step S51, where polling of the ID tag 20 is performed, and it is determined whether the ID tags 20 are the same. If the ID tag is the same, polling is repeated (step S
51, S52), if they are not the same tag, the flow proceeds to step S53, confirms the return of the product, ends the process, and proceeds to step S2.
Return to 1. Then, the processing of steps S21, S22, and S23 is repeated until the ID tag with another product enters the update area.

In this way, each time the customer moves in the store and sequentially examines the products of interest, the product information table 36a is sequentially updated, and the ID assigned to each product is updated.
The information of the customer who is interested in the product is updated in the customer information table of the tag 20. In this way, the customer who moves in the store and has the product to be purchased comes to the cash register and purchases the product. In this way, the sales information can be obtained from the cash register 50, and the product information management terminal 4
0 is input with sales information. At this time, the small terminal 30 kept at the customer is collected at the same time. Then, the product information table is input to the product information management terminal 40 via the interface of the small terminal 30. In this way, a sales / interest information table is formed by the merchandise information management terminal 40, as shown in FIG. In this way, the store can recognize the customer group for each product, and thereby can consider ordering and replenishment of the product, changing the price, and the like.

In this embodiment, the product information table updated in step S43 is stored in the memory 36 of the small terminal 30, and is input from the small terminal 30 to the product information management terminal 40 when leaving the store. However, a product information table may be provided on the user card 10. In this case, the product information table is once written in the user card 10 in step S43. And FIG.
When the customer leaves the store as shown in FIG.
By applying 0 to the card reader 60 once, the product information table is taken into the product information management terminal 40 and collected in the sales / interest information table.

In this embodiment, the user data is input to the data collection terminal device using the user card. However, only the product data of interest to the customer is collected without collecting the customer demographic information. In this case, a memory for holding the product identification information or the product identification information and the product advertisement information may be provided in the ID tag, and the data collection device lent to the customer may collect the data of the product of interest.

[0024]

As described above in detail, according to the first aspect of the present invention, an ID tag is provided for each product, and the product identification information is held in the ID tag, so that the customer can be interested. The data of the ID tag of the product taken by hand is taken into the data collection terminal device. Therefore, by collecting the product information table stored in the data collection terminal device when leaving the store, it is possible to collect information on products that the customer is interested in without actually purchasing. Further, according to the second and fourth aspects of the present invention, the customer layer information table is provided in the memory in the ID tag, and the customer layer information table of the ID tag can be updated based on the user data taken into the data collection terminal device. According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above, by holding the product advertisement information in the ID tag, it is possible to present the product advertisement information when the customer considers the purchase of the product, and to show the customer's willingness to purchase. Can be improved. Such an effect is particularly effective when the product is audio and video software. In the invention according to claim 5, by collecting the product information table stored in the data collection terminal device when going out to the store, an information table indicating the degree of interest in the product that the customer is interested in for each product is created. And the effect can be reflected in the sales plan and the like. In the invention of claim 6, the same effect can be obtained by updating the product information table of interest to the customer using the user card.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a small terminal distributed to a customer when visiting a store.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an ID tag and a reader / writer for a tag according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a management system for managing product information according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a schematic operation of the merchandise management data collection system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a product shelf on which products are arranged and a customer;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a detailed operation of the merchandise management data collection system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a product information table stored in a small terminal.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a customer layer information table held in an ID tag.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a product sales / interest information table formed in a product information management terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 User card 20 ID tag 21 Resonance circuit 22 Power generation part 23 Demodulation part 24 Modulation part 25 Memory control part 26, 36 Memory 30 Small terminal 31, 60 Card reader / writer 32 Tag reader / writer 33 Character / image display part 34 Voice Reproduction unit 35 Control unit 35a Product information updating means 35b Customer layer information updating means 36a Product information table 37 Input / output interface 40 Product information management terminal 50 Cash register

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A memory for holding product information including product identification information, a memory control unit for writing and reading information to and from the memory, and a non-contact transmitted data received from the memory control unit. An ID tag having data transmission means for transmitting data, an ID tag attached to each product, a tag reader / writer for performing data transmission between the ID tag in a non-contact manner, a memory having a product information table area,
A merchandise information table updating means for reading merchandise information of the ID tag via the tag reader / writer when a predetermined communication area is reached, and updating a merchandise information table in the memory; And a data collection terminal device. 2. The memory of the ID tag includes a customer layer information table holding customer layer information of a customer who is interested in the product in addition to the product identification information. User information input means for inputting
2. The merchandise management data collection system according to claim 1, further comprising a customer layer information updating unit that updates a customer layer information table of the product information read from the D tag based on the user information and writes the updated information into the ID tag. 3. The memory of the ID tag contains merchandise advertisement information of the attached merchandise, and the data collection terminal device reads the merchandise read from the ID tag via the tag reader / writer. The merchandise management data collection system according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a merchandise advertisement information output unit that displays merchandise advertisement information to a customer based on the advertisement information. 4. The product management according to claim 2, wherein the user information input means of the data collection terminal device is a user card reading means for reading information from a user card including personal information distributed to a customer. Data collection system. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a product information management terminal device for collecting information of a product information table held in said data collection terminal device.
5. The product management data collection system according to any one of items 4 to 4. 6. A memory for holding product information including product identification information, a memory control unit for writing and reading information to and from the memory, and a non-contactly transmitted data received and read from the memory control unit. It has data transmission means for transmitting data, has an ID tag attached to each product, has a personal information area and a product information table area, and has no contact between the user card distributed to the customer and the ID tag. A tag reader / writer for performing data transmission with the card, a card reader / writer for reading the information of the user card, a memory having a product information table area, and the ID tag via the tag reader / writer when a predetermined communication area is reached. Product information table updating means for reading the product information of the user card and updating the product information table of the user card. Product management data acquisition system comprising: the terminal device, and a product information management terminal device that collects information of the product information table stored in the user card.