Provision device, provision method and provision program

Abstract

To provide a provision device making it easy for customers to purchase expensive terminals.SOLUTION: A provision device includes: a setting part for setting an exemption period, the period for exempting payment of at least part of a terminal price, out of a prescribed period during which the terminal price, the price of the terminal, is paid in installments based on the terminal price, the price as an original value of the terminal, and an upper limit discount amount, the upper limit amount to which the terminal price is discounted; and a provision part for providing an installment plan, the plan for exempting the payment of at least part of the terminal price during the exemption period set by the setting part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a providing device, a providing method, and a providing program. [Background technology]

[0002] There are various fee plans for purchasing terminals such as smartphones, and campaigns and discount systems allow customers to purchase terminals at a good price. Here, when purchasing an automobile or the like, there is a technology that provides an installment payment plan such as a residual value loan in which, when installments are made up to a certain point for the automobile or the like, payment of at least a part of the automobile price, which is the price of the automobile or the like, is waived (for example, see Patent Document 1). Similarly to the conventional technology that provides an installment payment plan when purchasing an automobile or the like, there is a technology that provides an installment payment plan in which, when installments are made up to a certain point for the purchase of an expensive terminal, payment of at least a part of the terminal price, which is the price of the terminal, is waived (for example, see Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2004-005238 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, in the conventional technology, it may not be easy to make customers purchase expensive terminals. For example, while terminal prices have been rising in recent years, there are restrictions on the amount of discounts that can be given to customers, so it may not be easy to make customers purchase expensive terminals. For this reason, there is a demand for ideas to make it easier for customers to purchase terminals. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] A provision device according to one embodiment of the present invention has a setting unit that sets an exemption period, which is a period during which at least a portion of the terminal price is exempt from payment during a specified period during which the terminal price, which is the price of the terminal, is paid in installments, based on a terminal price, which is the price of the terminal as its intrinsic value, and a discount limit amount, which is the maximum amount by which the terminal price can be discounted, and a provision unit that offers an installment payment plan, which is a plan during which at least a portion of the terminal price is exempt from payment during the exemption period set by the setting unit. Effect of the Invention

[0006] According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to encourage customers to purchase expensive terminals. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a configuration of a provision system. [Diagram 2] FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining an example of setting an exemption period. [Diagram 3] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing flow of the provision system. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of a provision system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the following embodiment. In addition, in the description of the drawings, the same parts are given the same reference numerals, and duplicated explanations are omitted, and explanations of members having similar functions and similar processes are also omitted.

[0009] (1. EMBODIMENT) (Example of summary) The provision system 1 according to the present embodiment sets an exemption period based on the terminal price and the upper discount limit amount by the provision device 10, and provides an installment payment plan based on the exemption period.

[0010] Here, the terminal price refers to the price of the terminal as its original value. The maximum discount amount refers to the maximum amount by which the terminal price is discounted. For example, the maximum discount amount refers to the maximum amount of the discount. The discount amount refers to the amount by which the terminal price is discounted. For example, the discount amount refers to the amount by which the terminal price is substantially discounted from the terminal price for the installment payment plan provider, which is the amount obtained by subtracting the purchase price, which is the purchase value at which a terminal, etc., returned from a customer to the installment payment plan provider is purchased by a second-hand dealer, from the terminal price. The exemption period refers to a period during which at least a portion of the terminal price is exempt from payment during a specified period during which the terminal price, which is the price of the terminal, is paid in installments. The terminal price refers to, for example, the monthly amount or total amount, etc., paid by a customer for the terminal during the period corresponding to the exemption period when at least a portion of the terminal price is not exempt from payment. The installment payment plan refers to a plan in which at least a portion of the terminal price is exempt from payment during the exemption period.

[0011] For example, in the prior art, if the discount amount is limited to a predetermined upper discount limit, such as within 40,000 yen, and the discount amount for an installment payment plan, in which the device is paid for in installments, is 76,000 yen, the discount amount will exceed this limit and the installment payment plan cannot be offered, making it difficult to encourage customers to purchase expensive devices.

[0012] In response to this, the provision system 1 according to the present embodiment provides an installment payment plan in which at least a portion of the payment of the terminal price is exempted during the exemption period by setting the start of the exemption period so that the purchase price is higher than the amount obtained by subtracting a predetermined upper limit of discount from the terminal price, using the provision device 10. As an example, the provision system 1 provides an installment payment plan in which, when the terminal price is paid in installments up to the first 12 months of the 48 months during which the installments are originally paid in installments and the terminal is returned in the 13th month, the terminal price is exempt from the installment payment during the last 36 months of the exemption period from the 13th month, so that the secondary sales price when the terminal is collected by the provision device 10 is higher than the amount obtained by subtracting a predetermined upper limit of discount from the terminal price.

[0013] As a result, for example, the purchase price increases from 50,000, which is reduced to 40% of the terminal price of 126,000 after 24 months of use by the customer, to 88,000, which is reduced to 70% of the terminal price of 126,000 after 12 months of use by the customer. Therefore, even if the provision device 10 limits the discount amount to a predetermined upper discount amount such as 40,000, the provision system 1 can keep the discount amount to 38,000, making it easier for the customer to purchase a high-priced terminal.

[0014] (An example of the system configuration) An example of the configuration of a provision system 1 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a provision system. In the example shown in Fig. 1, the provision system 1 includes a provision device 10.

[0015] (Example of the configuration of the providing device) The providing device 10 sets an exemption period based on the terminal price and the discount upper limit, and provides an installment payment plan based on the exemption period. The providing device 10 is realized by a terminal such as a computer. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the providing device 10 has a collecting unit 11, a control unit 12, an output unit 13, and a storage unit 14.

[0016] (Collection Department) The collection unit 11 collects the purchase price based on the market where the terminal is collected. As an example, the collection unit 11 collects the purchase price by referring to information on second-hand dealers from which the terminal is collected. As another example, the collection unit 11 collects the purchase price by referring to the market price of terminals in the market, such as the purchase price decreasing to 70% of the terminal price after 12 months of use by a customer. The collection unit 11 may further collect the terminal price and the upper discount limit.

[0017] (Control unit) The control unit 12 controls the entire providing device 10. For example, the control unit 12 is configured with one or more processors having programs in which various processing procedures are defined and internal memory in which control information is stored, and the processor executes each process using the programs and internal memory. The control unit 12 is realized by, for example, electronic circuits such as a central processing unit (CPU), a micro processing unit (MPU), and a graphics processing unit (GPU), or integrated circuits such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and a field programmable gate array (FPGA). In the example shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 12 has a setting unit 121 and a providing unit 122.

[0018] (Settings section) The setting unit 121 sets an exemption period, which is a period during which at least a part of the payment of the terminal price is exempted during a predetermined period during which the terminal price is paid in installments, based on the terminal price, which is the price of the terminal as the original value of the terminal, and the discount upper limit, which is the upper limit of the amount by which the terminal price is discounted. For example, the setting unit 121 sets the exemption period to the latter 36 months of a predetermined period of 48 months so that the discount upper limit is 40,000 yen or less, based on the terminal price and the discount upper limit collected by the collection unit 11. The setting unit 121 may set the exemption period further based on the purchase price, which is the price at which the terminal is purchased as the purchase value. For example, the setting unit 121 sets the time when the purchase price falls so that the discount upper limit is 40,000 yen or less as the start of the exemption period. In this way, the setting unit 121 sets the exemption period according to the purchase price, which makes it easier for customers to purchase expensive terminals.

[0019] The setting unit 121 may set the exemption period so that the purchase price is higher than the amount obtained by subtracting the upper discount limit from the terminal price. For example, the setting unit 121 sets the start of the exemption period to the 13th month after the first 12 months have passed so that the purchase price of 88,000 is higher than the amount obtained by subtracting the upper discount limit of 40,000 from the terminal price of 126,000. In this way, even if the discount amount is limited to a predetermined upper discount limit, the setting unit 121 can keep the discount amount within the predetermined upper discount limit, making it easier for customers to purchase expensive terminals.

[0020] The setting unit 121 may set the start of the exemption period to the time when the discount amount, which is the amount by which the terminal price is discounted, falls within a predetermined range from the discount upper limit. An example of the setting of the exemption period by the setting unit 121 will be described below with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an example of the setting of the exemption period. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the setting unit 121 sets the start of the exemption period to the time when the discount amount of 38,000 falls within a predetermined range, such as 2,000, from the discount upper limit of 40,000. As a result, the setting unit 121 can set the exemption period so that the payment is exempted up to a discount amount close to the discount upper limit, for example. Therefore, even if the discount amount is limited to a predetermined discount upper limit, the discount amount can be kept within the discount upper limit, making it easier for the customer to purchase a high-priced terminal.

[0021] Returning to the explanation of FIG. 1, the setting unit 121 may set the exemption period based on the purchase price collected by the collection unit 11. For example, the setting unit 121 sets the start of the exemption period to a period in which the purchase price, which is based on information on second-hand dealers from which terminals are collected and market prices for terminals, such as the purchase price decreasing to 70% of the terminal price after 12 months of use by a customer, falls to within the upper discount limit of 40,000. As a result, the setting unit 121 sets the exemption period according to the purchase price based on the market from which terminals are collected, so that even if the discount amount is limited to a predetermined upper discount limit, the discount amount can be kept within the predetermined upper discount limit, making it easier for customers to purchase expensive terminals.

[0022] (Provider Department) The provision unit 122 provides an installment payment plan that is a plan in which at least a part of the payment of the terminal price is exempted during the exemption period set by the setting unit 121. For example, the provision unit 122 provides an installment payment plan in which, if installments for the terminal are made and the terminal is returned by the 13th month, which is the start of the exemption period set by the setting unit 121, the payment plan in which the payment of the remaining balance of the terminal is exempted during the latter 36-month exemption period from the 13th month onwards. In this way, even if the discount amount is limited to a predetermined upper discount limit, the provision unit 122 can keep the discount amount within the predetermined upper discount limit, making it easier for the customer to purchase an expensive terminal.

[0023] (Output section) The output unit 13 outputs various information. For example, the output unit 13 displays the installment payment plan provided by the providing unit 122 as an image or outputs it as sound. The output unit 13 is realized by, for example, a display unit such as a display, a sound output unit, or the like.

[0024] (Storage part) The storage unit 14 stores various information. For example, the storage unit 14 stores various information related to the terminal price, discount amount, discount upper limit, purchase price, exemption period, installment payment plan, OS (Operating System) and various programs executed by the providing device 10, etc. The storage unit 14 is realized by a storage device such as HDD (Hard Disk Drive), SSD (Solid State Drive), optical disk, etc., or information rewritable semiconductor memory such as RAM (Random Access Memory), flash memory, NVSRAM (Non Volatile Static Random Access Memory), etc.

[0025] (An example of processing flow) Hereinafter, an example of the flow of processing executed by the providing device 10 of the providing system 1 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of processing executed by the providing system.

[0026] In step S1, the collection unit 11 collects the purchase price based on the market in which the terminal is to be collected. For example, when the setting unit 121 has determined that an exemption period is to be set, the collection unit 11 collects the purchase price by referring to information on second-hand dealers from which the terminal is to be collected and the market price of terminals in the market, such as the purchase price being reduced to 70% of the terminal price after 12 months of use by the customer. In the example shown in Fig. 3, in step S1, when the setting unit 121 has determined that an exemption period is to be set, the collection unit 11 further collects the terminal price and the discount upper limit.

[0027] In step S2, the setting unit 121 sets an exemption period during which at least a part of the terminal price is exempt from payment during a specified period during which the terminal price is paid in installments, based on the terminal price, which is the price of the terminal as its original value, and the discount upper limit, which is the upper limit of the amount by which the terminal price is discounted. For example, based on the purchase price, terminal price, and discount upper limit collected by the collection unit 11, the setting unit 121 sets the start of the exemption period to the 13th month after the lapse of 12 months, so that the purchase price of 88,000 is higher than the amount obtained by subtracting the discount upper limit of 40,000 from the terminal price of 126,000.

[0028] In step S3, the provision unit 122 provides an installment payment plan which is a plan in which at least a part of the payment of the terminal price is exempted during the exemption period set by the setting unit 121. For example, the provision unit 122 provides an installment payment plan in which, if installment payments for the terminal are made by the 13th month, which is the start of the exemption period set by the setting unit 121, and the terminal is returned, the payment of the remaining balance of the terminal is exempted during the latter 36-month exemption period from the 13th month onwards.

[0029] (2. Hardware Configuration) 4 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of the providing device 10. A program installed in the computer 1200 functioning as the providing device 10 can cause the computer 1200 to function as one or more "parts" of the device according to the embodiment, or to execute an operation or one or more "parts" associated with the device, and can cause the computer 1200 to execute a process or a step of a process according to the embodiment. Such a program can be executed by the CPU 1212 to cause the computer 1200 to execute specific operations associated with some or all of the blocks of the flowcharts and block diagrams described herein.

[0030] The computer 1200 according to the embodiment includes a CPU 1212, a RAM 1214, and a graphic controller 1216, which are connected to each other by a host controller 1210. The computer 1200 also includes input / output units such as a communication interface 1222, a storage device 1224, a DVD drive 1226, and an IC card drive, which are connected to the host controller 1210 via an input / output controller 1220. The DVD drive 1226 may be a DVD-ROM drive, a DVD-RAM drive, or the like. The storage device 1224 may be a hard disk drive, a solid state drive, or the like. The computer 1200 also includes legacy input / output units such as a ROM 1230 and a keyboard, which are connected to the input / output controller 1220 via an input / output chip 1240.

[0031] The CPU 1212 operates according to a program stored in the ROM 1230 and the RAM 1214, thereby controlling each unit. The graphic controller 1216 retrieves image data generated by the CPU 1212 into a frame buffer or the like provided in the RAM 1214 or into itself, and causes the image data to be displayed on the display device 1218.

[0032] The communication interface 1222 communicates with other electronic devices via a network. The storage device 1224 stores programs and data used by the CPU 1212 in the computer 1200. The DVD drive 1226 reads programs or data from a DVD-ROM 1227 or the like and provides the programs or data to the storage device 1224. The IC card drive reads programs and data from an IC card and writes the programs and data to the IC card.

[0033] The ROM 1230 stores therein programs that depend on the hardware of the computer 1200, such as a boot program that is executed by the computer 1200 upon activation. The input / output chip 1240 may also connect various input / output units to the input / output controller 1220 via a USB port, a parallel port, a serial port, a keyboard port, a mouse port, and the like.

[0034] The programs are provided by a computer-readable storage medium such as a DVD-ROM 1227 or an IC card. The programs are read from the computer-readable storage medium, installed in the storage device 1224, the RAM 1214, or the ROM 1230, which are also examples of computer-readable storage media, and executed by the CPU 1212. Information processing described in these programs is read by the computer 1200, and brings about cooperation between the programs and the various types of hardware resources described above. An apparatus or method may be configured by implementing an operation or processing of information in accordance with the use of the computer 1200.

[0035] For example, when communication is performed between the computer 1200 and an external device, the CPU 1212 may execute a communication program loaded in the RAM 1214 and instruct the communication interface 1222 to perform communication processing based on the processing described in the communication program. Under the control of the CPU 1212, the communication interface 1222 reads transmission data stored in a transmission buffer area provided in the RAM 1214, the storage device 1224, the DVD-ROM 1227, or a recording medium such as an IC card, and transmits the read transmission data to the network, or writes reception data received from the network to a reception buffer area or the like provided on the recording medium.

[0036] Furthermore, the CPU 1212 may cause all or a necessary portion of a file or database stored in an external recording medium such as the storage device 1224, the DVD drive 1226 (DVD-ROM 1227), or an IC card to be read into the RAM 1214, and may perform various types of processing on the data on the RAM 1214. The CPU 1212 may then write back the processed data to the external recording medium.

[0037] Various types of information, such as various types of programs, data, tables, and databases, may be stored in the recording medium and may undergo information processing. The CPU 1212 may perform various types of processing on the data read from the RAM 1214, including various types of operations, information processing, conditional judgment, conditional branching, unconditional branching, information search, replacement, etc., as described throughout this disclosure and specified by the instruction sequence of the program, and writes back the results to the RAM 1214. The CPU 1212 may also search for information in a file, database, etc. in the recording medium. For example, when a plurality of entries each having an attribute value of a first attribute associated with an attribute value of a second attribute are stored in the recording medium, the CPU 1212 may search for an entry whose attribute value of the first attribute matches a specified condition from among the plurality of entries, read the attribute value of the second attribute stored in the entry, and thereby obtain the attribute value of the second attribute associated with the first attribute that satisfies a predetermined condition.

[0038] The above-mentioned programs or software modules may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium on the computer 1200 or in the vicinity of the computer 1200. In addition, a recording medium such as a hard disk or a RAM provided in a server system connected to a dedicated communication network or the Internet can be used as a computer-readable storage medium, thereby providing the programs to the computer 1200 via the network.

[0039] The blocks in the flowcharts and block diagrams may represent stages of a process in which operations are performed or "parts" of an apparatus responsible for performing the operations. Particular stages and "parts" may be implemented by dedicated circuitry, programmable circuitry provided with computer readable instructions stored on a computer readable storage medium, or a processor provided with computer readable instructions stored on a computer readable storage medium. Dedicated circuitry may include digital or analog hardware circuitry, and may include integrated circuits (ICs) or discrete circuits. Programmable circuitry may include reconfigurable hardware circuitry including AND, OR, XOR, NAND, NOR and other logical operations, flip-flops, registers, and memory elements, such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and programmable logic arrays (PLAs).

[0040] A computer-readable storage medium may include any tangible device capable of storing instructions that are executed by a suitable device, such that a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon has an article of manufacture that includes instructions that can be executed to create means for performing the operations specified in the flowcharts or block diagrams. Examples of computer-readable storage media include electronic storage media, magnetic storage media, optical storage media, electromagnetic storage media, semiconductor storage media, and the like. More specific examples of computer-readable storage media may include floppy disks, diskettes, hard disks, random access memories (RAMs), read-only memories (ROMs), erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs or flash memories), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), static random access memories (SRAMs), compact disk read-only memories (CD-ROMs), digital versatile disks (DVDs), Blu-ray disks, memory sticks, integrated circuit cards, and the like.

[0041] The computer readable instructions may include either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Smalltalk, JAVA, C++, and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages.

[0042] Computer readable instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, or to a programmable circuit, either locally or over a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, to cause the processor or programmable circuit to execute the computer readable instructions to generate means for performing the operations specified in the flowcharts or block diagrams. Examples of processors include computer processors, processing units, microprocessors, digital signal processors, controllers, microcontrollers, etc.

[0043] Although one aspect of the present invention has been described above using an embodiment, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiment. Various modifications or improvements can be made to the above embodiment. Furthermore, forms with such modifications or improvements can also be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

[0044] It should be noted that the order of execution of each process, such as operations, procedures, steps, and stages, in the devices, systems, programs, and methods shown in the claims, specifications, and drawings is not specifically stated as "before" or "prior to," and that the process may be performed in any order unless the output of a previous process is used in a subsequent process. Even if the operational flow in the claims, specifications, and drawings is described using "first," "next," and the like for convenience, this does not mean that the process must be performed in this order. [Explanation of symbols]

[0045] 1. Provision system 10 Providing device 11 Collection Department 12 Control section 121 Setting section 122 Provision Department 13 Output section 14 Storage section

Claims

1. a setting unit that sets an exemption period during which at least a portion of the terminal price is exempt from payment of the terminal price during a predetermined period during which the terminal price is paid in installments, based on a terminal price, which is the price of the terminal as its intrinsic value, and a discount upper limit amount, which is the upper limit of the amount by which the terminal price can be discounted; a provision unit that provides an installment payment plan that is a plan in which at least a portion of the payment of the terminal price is exempted during the exemption period set by the setting unit; A providing device comprising:

2. The providing device according to claim 1 , wherein the setting unit sets the exemption period further based on a purchase price that is a purchase value at which the terminal is purchased.

3. The providing device according to claim 2 , wherein the setting unit sets the exemption period so that the purchase price is higher than an amount obtained by subtracting the upper discount limit from the terminal price.

4. The provision device described in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the setting unit sets the time when the discount amount, which is the amount by which the terminal price is discounted, becomes within a predetermined range from the discount upper limit amount to at least one of the start of the exemption period.

5. A collection unit that collects the purchase price based on a market in which the terminal is collected, The providing device according to claim 2 , wherein the setting unit sets the exemption period based on the purchase price collected by the collection unit.

6. A providing method executed by a providing device, comprising: a setting step of setting an exemption period during which at least a part of the payment of the terminal price is exempt from payment, during a predetermined period during which the terminal price is paid in installments, based on a terminal price, which is the price of the terminal as its intrinsic value, and a discount upper limit amount, which is the upper limit of the amount by which the terminal price can be discounted; a provision step of providing an installment payment plan which is a plan in which at least a part of the payment of the terminal price is exempted during the exemption period set by the setting step; A method of providing comprising:

7. a setting step of setting an exemption period during which at least a part of the terminal price is exempt from payment of the terminal price during a predetermined period during which the terminal price is paid in installments, based on the terminal price, which is the price of the terminal as its intrinsic value, and a discount upper limit, which is the upper limit of the amount by which the terminal price can be discounted; a provision step of providing an installment payment plan which is a plan in which at least a part of the payment of the terminal price is exempted during the exemption period set by the setting step; A provided program characterized by causing a computer to execute the above.

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