Information processing apparatus and program for the same

Abstract

To provide an information processing apparatus and a program for the same that can check if a subject is in a frail state.SOLUTION: An information processing apparatus of an embodiment comprises storage means, determination means, and transmission means. The storage means acquires electronic receipt data indicating a result of a purchase at a shop made by a purchaser who uses an electronic receipt service, and stores the electronic receipt data in a database. The determination means, when acquiring the electronic receipt data of a subject designated in advance, determines whether or not the subject deviates from a prescribed field of activities, on the basis of the electronic receipt data and electronic receipt data of the subject stored in the database. The transmission means, according to a result of determination when the subject deviates from the field of activities, transmits a notification indicating the result of determination to a notification destination determined in association with the subject.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] An embodiment of the present invention relates to an information processing device and a program therefor. [Background technology]

[0002] There are various types of monitoring services for people who have elderly parents or other family members living far away, such as visiting, sensor, automatic phone / email, camera, and delivery. In the visiting monitoring service, the service provider periodically visits the target person's home to check on their safety. In the sensor monitoring service, the safety is checked by the sensor device installed in the target person's home. In the automatic phone / email monitoring service, the safety of the target person is checked through an automatically delivered phone call or e-mail. In the camera monitoring service, the service provider remotely checks the health condition of the target person through a camera installed in the target person's home. In the delivery monitoring service, a delivery person checks the health condition of the target person. These monitoring services are basically focused on checking on the target person's condition at home.

[0003] In recent years, the number of elderly people with dementia wandering around has been steadily increasing, and the current situation is that such monitoring services alone are not enough to cover the situation. In response to such a situation, attempts have been made to provide monitoring services outside the home. For example, Patent Document 1 focuses on the fact that elderly people with dementia, in addition to wandering, may engage in so-called binge buying, such as repeatedly purchasing the same product or purchasing a large amount of the same product at stores such as convenience stores, and proposes a monitoring system that notifies family members and others whether the target person is engaging in such binge buying. Patent Document 1 lists examples of notification conditions such as when the product is designated as prohibited from purchase, when the number of the same product exceeds a designated upper limit, when the number of all products exceeds a designated upper limit, when the purchase amount of all products exceeds a designated upper limit, etc.

[0004] Thus, monitoring services have been proposed for elderly people with dementia who are certified as requiring nursing care, but no monitoring services have yet been proposed that can tell whether they are in a frail state, somewhere between a healthy state and a state requiring nursing care, where physical and cognitive functions are declining. In this frail state, people tend to purchase products less frequently due to declining physical functions, and their purchasing behavior is similar to that of people with dementia due to declining cognitive functions. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2018-190319 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an information processing device and a program therefor that make it possible to confirm whether a subject is in a frail state. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The information processing device of the embodiment includes a storage means, a determination means, and a transmission means. The storage means acquires electronic receipt data indicating a purchase result at a store of a purchaser who uses an electronic receipt service, and stores the data in a database. When the determination means acquires electronic receipt data from a pre-designated subject, the determination means determines whether the subject has deviated from a pre-defined range of activity based on the electronic receipt data and the electronic receipt data of the subject stored in the database. The transmission means transmits a notification indicating the determination result to a notification destination associated with the subject, in response to the determination result that the subject has deviated from the range of activity. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main circuit configuration of an electronic receipt server as an information processing device according to the first embodiment, and a configuration of an electronic receipt system including the electronic receipt server. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of one of the data records included in the receipt database in FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of one of the data records included in the store database in FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of one of the data records contained in the member database in FIG. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of one of the data records contained in the classification database in FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an outline of the operation of the electronic receipt system of FIG. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a flowchart of information processing by the processor of the electronic receipt server in FIG. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the monitoring service process in FIG. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the configuration of one of the data records included in the member database of the electronic receipt server serving as the information processing device according to the second embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing an outline of the operation of the electronic receipt system in the second embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a flowchart of information processing by the processor of the electronic receipt server according to the second embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, an electronic receipt server having a function as an information processing device that enables a subject to check whether the subject is in a frail state will be described as an example. The function of the electronic receipt server is suitable for a person other than the subject to watch over the subject's behavior. Therefore, in the following, the subject will be referred to as a "person to be watched over." Also, a person who checks the behavior of the person to be watched over and watches over the person to be watched over will be referred to as a "watcher."

[0010] [First embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main circuit configuration of an electronic receipt server 100 as an information processing device according to the first embodiment, and a configuration of an electronic receipt system including the electronic receipt server 100.

[0011] The electronic receipt system is configured by enabling an electronic receipt server 100, a plurality of POS (Point of Sales) systems 200, and a plurality of information terminals 300 to communicate with each other via a communication network 400.

[0012] The electronic receipt server 100 performs information processing to provide a service similar to the existing electronic receipt service and a monitoring service, which will be described later, via the communication network 400. The electronic receipt service is a service that allows shoppers to view receipt data on any information terminal by replacing receipts (hereinafter referred to as "paper receipts"), which are issued at the store S after product payment is completed and given to shoppers, with necessary information printed on the receipt paper (hereinafter referred to as "paper receipts").

[0013] The multiple POS systems 200 are installed in multiple different stores S. One store S may be one actual store, or may be one company including multiple stores and a headquarters that manages their operations. The POS system 200 acquires and manages transaction data that indicates the content of transactions in the store S and payment data related to the settlement of the transactions. For example, the POS system 200 may be in a form in which a reading device that reads product information is installed in each store, and the transaction data and payment data are acquired and managed by a server that can communicate with the reading device.

[0014] The POS system 200 creates electronic receipt data for transactions with customers who are members of the electronic receipt service provided by the electronic receipt server 100. Specifically, the POS system 200 first generates print data for issuing a paper receipt based on the transaction data, the settlement data, and the format of the paper receipt. The POS system 200 then analyzes the print data to extract information to be included in the electronic receipt data, and determines an identification name indicating the type of information based on the position of the information on the paper receipt. Furthermore, the POS system 200 generates electronic receipt data as data representing the association between the extracted information and the identification name determined for that information. The electronic receipt data created in this way can include a membership code of the electronic receipt service, purchased product information which is information on the product purchased by the member, a store code, and a transaction date and time. The POS system 200 then makes a request to the electronic receipt server 100 to register the electronic receipt data along with the electronic receipt data created in this way. In this embodiment, an existing system adapted to such an electronic receipt service can be used as the POS system 200 as is. Therefore, a detailed description of the POS system 200 will be omitted.

[0015] The information terminal 300 is an arbitrary information processing device that can be used by a member of the electronic receipt service who is a purchaser at the store S, and functions as a client by accessing the electronic receipt server 100 via the communication network 400. The information terminal 300 may be connected to the communication network 400 by either wired communication or wireless communication. As the information terminal 300, various existing devices such as a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a mobile phone device, or a personal computer can be applied. Therefore, a detailed description of the information terminal 300 is omitted. The information terminal 300 includes a target terminal 301 used by the person being watched over and a watcher terminal 302 used by the watcher. As shown by the dashed line in FIG. 1, the person being watched over can receive the electronic receipt service by inputting the member code of the electronic receipt into the POS system 200 using the target terminal 301 when purchasing a product at the store S. The method of inputting the member code into the POS system 200 is not the subject of the present invention, so it is not particularly specified here.

[0016] The communication network 400 is typically a combination of a mobile communication network and the Internet, but may be any other network, such as a combination of a wireless LAN and a virtual private network (VPN).

[0017] The electronic receipt server 100 includes a processor 1, a main memory 2, an auxiliary storage device 3, a communication interface 4, and a transmission path 5. The processor 1, the main memory 2, the auxiliary storage device 3, and the communication interface 4 are connected by the transmission path 5.

[0018] In the electronic receipt server 100, a processor 1, a main memory 2, and an auxiliary storage device 3 are connected via a transmission line 5 to configure a computer that controls the electronic receipt server 100.

[0019] The processor 1 corresponds to the central part of the computer. The processor 1 controls each part to realize various functions of the electronic receipt server 100 according to an operating system and an application program. The processor 1 is, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), but is not limited to this. The processor 1 may be a multi-core / multi-threaded processor and can execute multiple processes in parallel. The processor 1 may also be a micro processing unit (MPU). Furthermore, the processor 1 may be realized in various other forms, including integrated circuits such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), a system on a chip (SoC), and a programmable logic device (PLD). The processor 1 may also be a combination of multiple of these.

[0020] The main memory 2 corresponds to the main storage portion of the computer. The main memory 2 includes a nonvolatile memory area and a volatile memory area. The main memory 2 stores an operating system and application programs in the nonvolatile memory area. The main memory 2 may also store data required for the processor 1 to execute processes for controlling each part in the nonvolatile or volatile memory area. The main memory 2 uses the volatile memory area as a work area where data is appropriately rewritten by the processor 1.

[0021] The auxiliary storage device 3 corresponds to the auxiliary storage portion of the computer. The auxiliary storage device 3 may be, for example, an EEPROM (electric erasable programmable read-only memory), a HDD (hard disk drive), an SSD (solid state drive), or any other well-known storage device. The auxiliary storage device 3 stores data used by the processor 1 in performing various processes and data generated by the processes in the processor 1. The auxiliary storage device 3 may also store application programs.

[0022] The communication interface 4 performs data communication via the communication network 400. As the communication interface 4, for example, a well-known interface configured to perform well-known processing for data communication via the Internet can be used.

[0023] The transmission path 5 includes an address bus, a data bus, and a control signal line, and transmits data and control signals exchanged between each of the connected components.

[0024] Now, part of the storage area of ​​the auxiliary storage device 3 is used as a receipt database 31, a store database 32, a member database 33, and a classification database 34. The receipt database 31 stores various information for providing the electronic receipt service to members of the electronic receipt service. The store database 32 stores various information related to each store S equipped with the POS system 200. The member database 33 stores various information related to members of the electronic receipt service. The classification database 34 stores various information related to product classification for each product.

[0025] Figure 2 is a diagram showing the structure of one of the data records contained in the receipt database 31. The receipt database 31 is a collection of transaction records 31a, which are data records as shown in Figure 2. However, the receipt database 31 does not simply contain multiple transaction records 31a as shown in Figure 2, and in fact, the data has been normalized in a well-known manner.

[0026] The transaction record 31a corresponds to each transaction made by a member of the electronic receipt service at the store S. The transaction record 31a includes fields F11, F12, F13, F14, and F15. The data in field F11 indicates a member code for identifying the member who made the corresponding transaction. The data in field F12 indicates the date, i.e., the date and time, that the corresponding transaction was made. The data in field F13 indicates a store code for identifying the store S where the corresponding transaction was made. The data in field F14 includes, for example, purchased product information such as the product code, product name, unit price, and quantity of the transacted product. In other words, the data in field F14 is transaction data that indicates the content of the corresponding transaction. The data in field F15 includes, for example, the subtotal amount, tax amount, total amount, change amount, and payment method. In other words, the data in field F15 is payment data related to the payment of the corresponding transaction. When multiple products are transacted, the transaction record 31a includes a field F14 for each product. It should be noted that the transaction record 31a may include data other than those described above.

[0027] Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of one of the data records included in the store database 32. The store database 32 is a collection of store records 32a, which are data records as shown in Fig. 3. However, the store database 32 does not simply include multiple store records 32a as shown in Fig. 3, and in fact, the store records are normalized as known in the art.

[0028] The store record 32a corresponds to each of the multiple stores S. The store record 32a includes fields F21, F22, F23, and F24. The data in field F21 represents a store code for identifying the corresponding store S. The data in field F22 represents a store name for identifying the corresponding store S. The data in field F23 represents a store address indicating the location of the corresponding store S. The data in field F24 represents store coordinates indicating the location of the relevant store S. The store coordinates are typically longitude and latitude, but may be in accordance with any other coordinate system.

[0029] Figure 4 is a diagram showing the structure of one of the data records contained in member database 33. Member database 33 is a collection of member records 33a, which are data records as shown in Figure 4. However, member database 33 does not simply contain multiple member records 33a as shown in Figure 4, and in fact has undergone well-known normalization.

[0030] The member record 33a corresponds to each of a plurality of members. The member record 33a includes fields F31, F32, F33, F34, F35, F36, F37, F38, and F39. The data in the field F31 indicates a member code for identifying the corresponding member. The data in the field F32 indicates a member name for identifying the corresponding member. The data in the field F33 indicates authentication information such as a password for authenticating the member. The data in the field F34 indicates the member code of the watcher as a watcher code when the corresponding member is a person being watched. The data in the field F34 is set as predetermined invalid data when the corresponding member is not a person being watched. The data in the field F35 indicates the member code of the person being watched as a person code when the corresponding member is a watcher. The data in the field F35 is set as predetermined invalid data when the corresponding member is not a watcher. The data in the field F36 indicates, for example, a terminal code for identifying the information terminal 300, which is the watcher terminal 302, or an email address. That is, the data in field F36 is notification destination data that indicates the notification destination for the watcher.

[0031] The data in field F37 represents notification setting data that indicates settings such as the behavior of the person being watched over that the watcher should be notified of and the notification threshold for that behavior. The notification setting data may not include a threshold. The behavior that is set is behavior that deviates from the normal range of behavior of the person being watched over. The normal range of behavior can be derived by statistically analyzing the past behavior of the person being watched over. As will be described later, the electronic receipt server 100 can obtain the normal range of behavior of the person being watched over by performing statistical processing on the past electronic receipt data of the person being watched over that is accumulated in the receipt database 31.

[0032] Specifically, the range of behavior may include a range of purchasing behavior regarding the purchase of products. The normal range of purchasing behavior indicates which products are purchased and at what frequency. In a frail state, the purchasing behavior is similar to that of a dementia subject due to the decline in cognitive function. Early symptoms of dementia include, for example, frequently purchasing the same product (buying the same product many times, buying in large quantities, etc.), purchasing a large amount of a specific product (buying a lot of unnecessary products), and eating only foods with strong flavors. The electronic receipt server 100 prepares multiple purchasing behavior ranges that are expected as such early symptoms of dementia as purchasing events in advance, and allows the watcher to select any purchasing event from among them. In addition, the threshold value for the purchasing event can also be selected. Then, the result of the selection made by the watcher is registered as data in this field F37. The threshold value can include not only a quantity threshold such as the number of products, but also a period threshold such as the number of days in the past or the number of times in the past. In addition, the period threshold can be a period from when to when the person being watched over is definitely not in a frail state.

[0033] The movement range may include the movement range related to the movement of the person being watched. The normal movement range indicates when and at which store S the product is purchased. In a frail state, the frequency of purchasing products decreases and the movement range is narrowed to the neighborhood due to a decline in physical function. Therefore, multiple movement ranges that are expected in advance, such as a decrease in frequency of going out and an increase in use of nearby stores rather than distant stores, are prepared in advance as physical frailty check items, and the watcher can select any frailty check item from among them. In addition, the threshold value for the frailty check item can also be selected. The result of the selection made by the watcher is registered as data for this field F37. The threshold value for this frailty check item may also include a quantity threshold and a period threshold.

[0034] It should be noted that the purchase events and frailty check item thresholds listed here are merely examples and are of course not limited to these.

[0035] The data in field F38 represents purchase event information indicating when and what purchase event the watcher was notified of. The data in field F39 represents frailty check information indicating when and what frailty check item the watcher was notified of the occurrence of the frailty check situation.

[0036] Fig. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of one of the data records included in the classification database 34. The classification database 34 is a collection of product classification records 34a, which are data records as shown in Fig. 5. However, the classification database 34 does not simply include multiple product classification records 34a as shown in Fig. 5, and in fact has undergone well-known normalization.

[0037] The product classification record 34a corresponds to each of the products to be traded. The product classification record 34a includes fields F41, F42, F43, F44, and F45. The data in the field F41 indicates the product code of the product. The data in the fields F42 to F45 indicate the major, medium, minor, and detailed classifications of the product, which are hierarchical classifications. For example, for a bottled beverage with the product name "XX Tea", the data in the field F42 indicates the major classification "food", the data in the field F43 indicates the medium classification "beverage", the data in the field F44 indicates the minor classification "soft drink", and the data in the field F45 indicates the detailed classification "blend tea". The product classification record 34a does not need to include all of the data of the above classifications. For example, the product classification record 34a may include only the minor classification data in the field F44 in correspondence with the classification of the product code in the field F41.

[0038] Next, each unit implemented in the processor 1 of the electronic receipt server 100 will be described. The processor 1 implements, for example, an electronic receipt processing unit 11, a membership registration control unit 12, and a monitoring service control unit 13. Each unit implemented in the processor 1 can also be referred to as each function. Each unit implemented in the processor 1 can also be referred to as being implemented in a control unit including the processor 1 and the main memory 2.

[0039] The electronic receipt processing unit 11 accumulates electronic receipt data received from the POS system 200 of the store S through the communication interface 4 in the receipt database 31. Also, in response to a login request from the information terminal 300 received through the communication interface 4, the electronic receipt processing unit 11 executes authentication processing, and in response to a request to view electronic receipt data from the information terminal 300 of an authenticated member, reads out the corresponding electronic receipt data from the receipt database 31 and transmits it to the information terminal 300 that made the request.

[0040] The member registration control unit 12 executes a well-known member registration operation in response to a member registration request for the electronic receipt service from the information terminal 300 received via the communication interface 4, and generates a member record 33a in the member database 33. In this member registration operation for the electronic receipt service, only the data in fields F31 to F33 of the member record 33a is registered. In response to a member registration request for the monitoring service from the information terminal 300 serving as the target person terminal 301 or the watcher terminal 302 received via the communication interface 4, the member registration control unit 12 registers data in fields F34 to F37 of the member record 33a according to information transmitted from the information terminal 300 along with the member registration request for the monitoring service. Specifically, the membership registration control unit 12 registers data in field F34 of the membership record 33a in response to a membership registration request for the monitoring service from the information terminal 300 which becomes the target terminal 301, and registers data in fields F35 to F37 of the membership record 33a in response to a membership registration request for the monitoring service from the information terminal 300 which becomes the watcher terminal 302.

[0041] When the monitoring service control unit 13 receives electronic receipt data via the communication interface 4, it refers to the membership database 33 to determine whether the electronic receipt data corresponds to the person being watched over. If so, it determines whether the person being watched over has deviated from a predefined range of activity based on the received electronic receipt data and the history of electronic receipt data of the person being watched over stored in the receipt database 31, as will be described in detail later, and if it determines that the person has deviated, it notifies the information terminal 300, which serves as the watcher terminal 302, via the communication interface 4.

[0042] The electronic receipt server 100 can be realized, for example, by using a general-purpose computer device for a server as hardware, and writing an application program in the main memory 2 or the auxiliary storage device 3. The application program may be stored in the main memory 2 or the auxiliary storage device 3 when the electronic receipt server 100 is transferred, or may be transferred separately from the general-purpose computer device. In the latter case, the application program is transferred by recording it on a removable recording medium such as a magnetic disk, magneto-optical disk, optical disk, or semiconductor memory, or via a network.

[0043] Next, the operation of the electronic receipt system configured as above will be described. Note that the contents of the various processes described below are merely examples, and various processes that can achieve similar results can be appropriately used.

[0044] In the monitoring service in the electronic receipt system of this embodiment, the user of the electronic receipt service is the person being watched. The person being watched is also the user of the electronic receipt service. For this reason, the member database 33 includes a member record 33a corresponding to each of the person being watched and the person being watched. In the member record 33a corresponding to the person being watched, the member code of the person being watched is described in field F34, and invalid data is described in fields F35, F36, and F37. In contrast, in the member record 33a corresponding to the person being watched, the member code of the person being watched is described in field F35, invalid data is described in field F34, and in field F36, if the person being watched desires a push notification, the terminal code of the information terminal 300 that receives the push notification is described, and if the person being watched desires an email notification, the email address to which the email for the notification is to be sent is described. Furthermore, in field F37 of the member record 33a corresponding to the person being watched, notification setting data is set that indicates settings such as the behavior of the person being watched to be notified and the notification threshold for that behavior.

[0045] It is optional which member becomes the person being watched over or the watcher. As an example, the person being watched over is an elderly person, and the watcher is the family member of the elderly person. It goes without saying that the relationship between the watcher and the person being watched over requires the agreement of both parties. The method of confirming the agreement is not the subject of the present invention, so it is not specified here.

[0046] Fig. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an outline of the operation of the electronic receipt system. As shown in Fig. 6, the information terminal 300 serving as the watcher terminal 302 of the watcher accesses the electronic receipt server 100 at any timing and cooperates with the member registration control unit 12 of the electronic receipt server 100 to perform member registration for the electronic receipt service (steps S11 and S12).

[0047] Similarly, the information terminal 300 serving as the person terminal 301 of the person being watched over also accesses the electronic receipt server 100 at any time and cooperates with the member registration control unit 12 of the electronic receipt server 100 to perform member registration for the electronic receipt service (steps S13 and S14).

[0048] Furthermore, with the agreement of both the person being watched and the watcher, the target person terminal 301 and the watcher terminal 302 cooperate with the member registration control unit 12 of the electronic receipt server 100 to register for the watching service (steps S15, S16, S17).

[0049] When the person being watched over purchases a product at the store S, the person being watched over inputs a membership code for the electronic receipt service into the POS system 200 before the transaction details are registered and the payment is completed in the POS system 200. For example, the person being watched over operates the person's terminal 301 to perform a predetermined authentication operation with the electronic receipt server 100 to obtain a membership code, and presents the membership code to an operator of the POS system 200 on a display unit of the information terminal 300 (step S18). Then, the operator who has confirmed the membership code inputs the membership code into the POS system 200 using an input device of the POS system 200. In addition, when the membership code is presented as symbol information such as a barcode, the operator or the person being watched over can input the membership code into the POS system 200 by having the code reader of the POS system 200 read the membership code. Alternatively, the membership code may be input into the POS system 200 by communicating with the short-range communication unit of the POS system 200 using a short-range communication unit of the information terminal 300.

[0050] When the POS system 200 completes the registration of transaction details and settlement for the purchaser (step S19), it checks whether a membership code has been entered to determine whether the purchaser is a member of the electronic receipt service (step S20). If the purchaser is a member of the electronic receipt service, the POS system 200 creates electronic receipt data indicating the purchase results at the store S, such as the membership code, transaction date, store code, transaction data, and settlement data (step S21), and sends a registration request for the electronic receipt data to the electronic receipt server 100 along with the electronic receipt data (step S22).

[0051] In the electronic receipt server 100, upon receiving the request to register the electronic receipt data, the electronic receipt processing unit 11 registers the electronic receipt data in the receipt database 31 (step S23). In addition, the electronic receipt processing unit 11 of the electronic receipt server 100 checks whether the member is a person to be watched over (step S24). This can be done by checking whether a watcher code is set in field F34 of the member record 33a of the member database 33 that corresponds to the member code included in the electronic receipt data.

[0052] If the person is a person being watched over, the watching service control unit 13 of the electronic receipt server 100 checks whether or not a purchase event indicated by the purchase event information set for the person being watched over has occurred (step S25). This can be determined based on the purchase event set as notification setting data in field F37 of the member record 33a of the member database 33 corresponding to the membership code set as the watching person code in the above field F34. If a purchase event has occurred, the watching service control unit 13 notifies the occurrence of the purchase event to the watching person terminal 302 set as notification destination data in field F37 of the member record 33a of the person being watched over (step S26). The information terminal 300 as the watching person terminal 302 displays this notification (step S27).

[0053] In addition, the watching service control unit 13 of the electronic receipt server 100 checks whether or not a frailty check situation indicated by the frailty check item set for the person being watched over has occurred (step S28). This can be determined based on the frailty check item set as notification setting data in field F37 of the member record 33a of the person being watched over. If a frailty check situation has occurred, the watching service control unit 13 notifies the watching person terminal 302 of the occurrence of the frailty check situation (step S29). The information terminal 300 as the watching person terminal 302 displays this notification (step S30).

[0054] Each time the person being watched over purchases a product at store S, the information terminal 300 as the person terminal 301 repeats the operations of step S18, the POS system 200 repeats the operations of steps S19 to S22, the electronic receipt server 100 repeats the operations of steps S23 to S26 and steps S28 to S29, and the information terminal 300 as the watcher terminal 302 repeats the operations of steps S27 and S30.

[0055] The operation of the electronic receipt server 100 will be described in more detail below. When the electronic receipt server 100 is in a normal operating state, the processor 1 executes information processing based on an application program stored in the main memory 2 or the auxiliary storage device 3. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of information processing by the processor 1. Note that unless otherwise specified, the processing of the processor 1 transitions to ACT(n+1) after ACTn (n is a natural number).

[0056] In ACT1, the electronic receipt processing unit 11 implemented in the processor 1 checks whether or not a request for registering electronic receipt data has been made from any of the POS systems 200. If a request for registering electronic receipt data has been made, the electronic receipt processing unit 11 judges YES and proceeds to ACT2. On the other hand, if a request for registering electronic receipt data has not been made, the electronic receipt processing unit 11 judges NO and proceeds to ACT5.

[0057] As ACT2, the electronic receipt processing unit 11 of the processor 1 updates the receipt database 31 to include a new transaction record 31a including various data notified together with the request to register the electronic receipt data. Thus, the processor 1 executes information processing based on the application program, and the computer having the processor 1 as its central part functions as a storage means for acquiring electronic receipt data indicating the purchase results at a store of a purchaser who uses the electronic receipt service, and storing the electronic receipt data in the receipt database 31.

[0058] In ACT3, the electronic receipt processing unit 11 of the processor 1 confirms whether or not the member identified by the membership code notified together with the registration request for electronic receipt data is the person being watched over. In other words, the electronic receipt processing unit 11 confirms whether or not the member who performed the transaction (hereinafter referred to as the transaction member) is the person being watched over. Specifically, the electronic receipt processing unit 11 acquires a member record (herein referred to as the target record) 33a in which the notified membership code is described in field F31 from the member database 33. Then, the electronic receipt processing unit 11 confirms whether or not a valid membership code is described as the watcher code in field F34 of the member record 33a as the target record. If the electronic receipt processing unit 11 confirms that a valid membership code is described, it judges YES in ACT3 and proceeds to ACT4. In this way, when the electronic receipt processing unit 11 receives a registration request for electronic receipt data accompanied by a notification of the membership code of the person being watched over, it detects that the person being watched over has used the store S identified by the store code notified together with the registration request. Thus, by the processor 1 executing information processing based on the application program, the computer with the processor 1 as its core functions as a detection means for detecting the use of the store S by the target person. If the electronic receipt processing unit 11 of the processor 1 confirms that a valid membership code is not written, it judges NO in ACT3 and returns to ACT1 above.

[0059] As ACT4, the monitoring service control unit 13 implemented in the processor 1 executes a monitoring service process for performing the operations of steps S24 to S26, S28, and S29 described above. The details of this monitoring service process will be described later. After the monitoring service process ends, the processor 1 returns to the above ACT1.

[0060] In ACT5, the electronic receipt processing unit 11 implemented in the processor 1 checks whether a receipt data confirmation request has been made from any of the information terminals 300. If a receipt data confirmation request has been made, the processor 1 determines YES and proceeds to ACT6. If no confirmation request has been made, the processor 1 determines NO and proceeds to ACT7.

[0061] In ACT6, the electronic receipt processing unit 11 of the processor 1 transmits the requested electronic receipt data to the requesting information terminal 300. Specifically, the electronic receipt processing unit 11 identifies the transaction record 31a indicated by the membership code and transaction date or store code notified together with the confirmation request from the receipt database 31, and creates and transmits electronic receipt data based on the contents of the transaction record 31a. After that, the processor 1 returns to the above ACT1.

[0062] As ACT7, the processor 1 executes other processes. For example, in response to a membership registration request for an electronic receipt service or a membership registration request for a monitoring service from the information terminal 300, the membership registration control unit 12 implemented in the processor 1 executes membership registration for the electronic receipt service or the monitoring service. After that, the processor 1 returns to the above ACT1.

[0063] FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the monitoring service processing in ACT4. As ACT401, the monitoring service control unit 13 of the processor 1 reads out the notification setting data set for the person being monitored. Specifically, the monitoring service control unit 13 identifies the member record (herein referred to as the watcher record) 33a in the member database 33 by the member code identified by the watcher code represented by the data in field F34 of the member record 33a as the person record. The monitoring service control unit 13 then reads out the notification setting data represented by the data in field F37 from the member record 33a as the watcher record. As described above, the notification setting data includes purchase events and frailty check items as well as their threshold values. The read out notification setting data is saved in the work area of ​​the main memory 2.

[0064] As ACT402, the monitoring service control unit 13 reads receipt data from the receipt database 31. Specifically, the monitoring service control unit 13 reads data of all transaction records 31a that correspond to the membership code of the person being monitored from the receipt database 31. In other words, the monitoring service control unit 13 reads the current electronic receipt data and the history of previous electronic receipt data. The read data is saved in the work area of ​​the main memory 2.

[0065] As ACT403, the monitoring service control unit 13 checks whether a purchase event has occurred that is within the purchasing behavior range described above. Specifically, the monitoring service control unit 13 checks whether a purchase event has occurred that deviates from the predetermined behavior range of the monitored person based on the purchase event and its threshold in the read notification setting data and the purchased product information, which is information about the product purchased by the monitored person included in the read electronic receipt data. For example, the purchase event may be 10 bottles of the same liquid dishwashing detergent purchased at once, or the same liquid dishwashing detergent purchased multiple times in a week.

[0066] If the purchase event in the notification setting data read in ACT401 is the number of simultaneous purchases of one product, and the quantity threshold is 10, the monitoring service control unit 13 can detect the occurrence of this purchase event by checking whether the number of purchases of each product in the current electronic receipt data is 10 or more. If the purchase event in the notification setting data read in ACT401 is a purchase of an average number or more, the monitoring service control unit 13 calculates the average number of each product purchased in the past electronic receipt data for each product in the current electronic receipt data. At this time, if the period threshold in the notification setting data read in ACT401 is, for example, the past one year, the monitoring service control unit 13 limits the past electronic receipt data used to calculate the average number to data from the past one year. The monitoring service control unit 13 can detect the occurrence of the latter purchase event by comparing the average number of each product calculated in this way with the current purchase number of each product. Thus, by the processor 1 executing information processing based on the application program, the computer with the processor 1 as its core functions as a determination means for determining whether the person being watched over has deviated from a predefined range of behavior, in this case, a purchasing behavior range related to purchasing products. If a purchase event has occurred, the monitoring service control unit 13 determines YES, and proceeds to ACT 404. If a purchase event has not occurred, the monitoring service control unit 13 determines NO, and proceeds to ACT 409.

[0067] In ACT404, the watching service control unit 13 reads out information regarding when and what type of purchase event was notified to the watcher, which is identified by the purchase event information represented by the data in field F38 of the membership record 33a as the watcher record.

[0068] As ACT405, the monitoring service control unit 13 determines the notification contents based on the generated purchase event and the read purchase event information. For example, when a purchase event occurs in which the same product is frequently purchased, a notification such as "10 units of kitchen and dishwashing detergent products have been purchased" is determined. Also, if there is purchase event information for which such a notification has already been performed, that is, when a purchase event occurs in which the same product is frequently purchased and this tendency continues for a predetermined period (for example, three weeks), a notification such as "A daily necessities that is usually purchased monthly has been purchased for three consecutive weeks" is set as the next stage of notification. In this way, the notification does not use a specific product name, but uses a product classification such as a minor classification from the product classification record 34a having the product code of the product stored in the classification database 34. The privacy of the monitored person is protected by making the notification including purchase behavior information representing the purchased product in the form of a product classification that cannot identify the purchased product by the monitored person.

[0069] In ACT 406, the watching service control unit 13 reads out the terminal code or email address of the information terminal 300 as the watching terminal 302 identified by the notification destination data represented by the data in field F36 of the member record 33a as the watching record. The read notification destination data is saved in the work area of ​​the main memory 2.

[0070] In ACT407, the watching service control unit 13 transmits a purchase event occurrence notification indicating the notification contents determined in ACT405 to the information terminal 300 as the watching terminal 302. Specifically, if the notification destination data is a terminal code, the watching service control unit 13 performs a push notification to the information terminal 300 as the watching terminal 302 via the communication network 400 through the communication interface 4. If the notification destination data is an email address, the watching service control unit 13 transmits the notification as an email to the email address through the communication interface 4. As described above, the notification includes purchase behavior information indicating the purchased product in the form of a product classification that cannot identify the purchased product by the person being watched. In this way, transmitting the purchase event occurrence notification to the information terminal 300 as the watching terminal 302 corresponds to transmitting a notification to the notification destination determined in association with the person being watched. In this way, the processor 1 executes information processing based on the application program, and the computer having the processor 1 as the central part functions as a transmitting means for transmitting the above notification.

[0071] In ACT408, the watching service control unit 13 updates the purchase event information represented by the data of field F38 of the member record 33a as the watcher record, based on the notification content transmitted to the information terminal 300 as the watcher terminal 302. Note that the purchase event information may include the occurring purchase event in addition to the notification content.

[0072] In ACT409, the monitoring service control unit 13 checks whether a frailty check situation has occurred. Specifically, the monitoring service control unit 13 checks whether a frailty check situation has occurred in which the person being watched over deviates from a predefined range of movement, based on the frailty check items and their thresholds in the notification setting data read in ACT401 and at least one of the location information and time information included in the electronic receipt data read in ACT402. For example, the geographical distribution of the stores used may have narrowed, the frequency of visits to the stores may have decreased, or the time of visits to the stores may have changed. The location information is included in the electronic receipt data as a store code, and the time information is included in the electronic receipt data as a transaction date and time. The monitoring service control unit 13 can acquire store coordinates represented by the data in field F24 of the store record 32a in the store database 32 based on the store code. For example, if the frailty check item read in ACT401 is the geographical distribution of stores used and the period threshold is the past one month, the monitoring service control unit 13 calculates the coordinate distribution of stores used by the monitoring target based on the store code in each electronic receipt data for that period and the coordinate distribution of stores used before that. The monitoring service control unit 13 can detect the occurrence of a frailty check situation in which the geographical distribution of stores used has narrowed by comparing the two calculated coordinate distributions. In addition, if the frailty check item read in ACT401 is the frequency of going out and the time of going out and the period threshold is the past one month, the monitoring service control unit 13 calculates the frequency of going out and the time distribution of going out for the past one month and the period before that based on the transaction date and time in the electronic receipt data. The monitoring service control unit 13 can detect the occurrence of a frailty check situation in which the frequency of going out has decreased or the time of going out has changed by comparing the frequency of going out and the time distribution of going out for the past one month and the period before that calculated in this way. These situations often arise due to physical factors such as muscle weakness, mental and psychological factors such as dementia and depression, and social factors such as living alone or financial hardship.Thus, by the processor 1 executing information processing based on the application program, the computer with the processor 1 as its core functions as a determination means for determining whether the person being watched over has deviated from a predefined movement range, here, a movement movement range related to the movement movement of the person being watched over. The watching service control unit 13 determines YES if a frailty check situation has occurred, and proceeds to ACT410. The watching service control unit 13 determines NO if a frailty check situation has not occurred, and ends the watching service processing of ACT4 shown in FIG. 8.

[0073] As ACT410, the monitoring service control unit 13 reads out information regarding when and what frail check item the watcher was notified of the occurrence of a frail check situation, identified by the frail check information represented by the data in field F39 of the member record 33a as the watcher record.

[0074] As ACT411, the monitoring service control unit 13 determines the notification contents based on the frailty check situation that has occurred and the frailty check information that has been read out. For example, when a frailty check situation occurs in which the geographical distribution of the stores used is narrowing, a notification such as "It seems that the use of nearby stores is increasing rather than distant stores" is determined. Alternatively, when a frailty check situation occurs in which the frequency of visits to the store has decreased, a notification such as "The frequency of going out has decreased" is determined. Furthermore, if there is frailty check information that has already been notified, that is, when a frailty check situation occurs in which the frequency of visits to the store has decreased and this tendency has continued for a predetermined period of time (for example, three weeks), a notification such as "The frequency of going out has decreased for three consecutive weeks" is issued as the next stage of notification. In this way, the privacy of the person being watched over is protected by making the notification include movement behavior information that represents the movement behavior of the person being watched over in a form that does not allow the specific location and activity time of the person being watched over to be identified.

[0075] In ACT412, the monitoring service control unit 13 checks whether the destination data has been read out. Specifically, the monitoring service control unit 13 checks whether the destination data is saved in the work area of ​​the main memory 2. If a purchase event has occurred, the destination data has already been acquired. However, if a purchase event has not occurred, it is necessary to read out the destination data. If the destination data has been read out, the monitoring service control unit 13 judges YES and proceeds to ACT414. If the destination data has not yet been read out, the monitoring service control unit 13 judges NO and proceeds to ACT413.

[0076] In ACT413, the monitoring service control unit 13 reads out the terminal code or email address of the information terminal 300 as the watcher terminal 302 identified by the notification destination data represented by the data in field F36 of the member record 33a as the watcher record, as described in ACT406.

[0077] In ACT414, the watching service control unit 13 transmits a notification of the occurrence of a frailty check situation, indicating the notification content determined in ACT411, to the information terminal 300 as the watching person terminal 302. The specific method is the same as the notification of the occurrence of a purchase event described in ACT407. As described above, the notification includes movement behavior information that indicates the movement behavior of the person being watched over in a form that does not allow the specific location and activity time of the person being watched over to be specified. In this way, transmitting the notification of the occurrence of a frailty check situation to the information terminal 300 as the watching person terminal 302 corresponds to transmitting a notification to a notification destination that is determined in association with the person being watched over. In this way, the processor 1 executes information processing based on the application program, and the computer with the processor 1 as the central part functions as a transmitting means for transmitting the above-mentioned notification.

[0078] In ACT415, the watching service control unit 13 updates the frailty check information represented by the data in field F39 of the member record 33a as the watcher record, based on the notification content sent to the information terminal 300 as the watcher terminal 302. Note that the frailty check information may include the frailty check status that has occurred in addition to the notification content. After that, the watching service control unit 13 ends the watching service processing of ACT4 shown in FIG. 8.

[0079] As described above, according to the electronic receipt server 100, when the person being watched over makes a transaction at a store S, it is determined whether the person being watched over has deviated from a predefined range of behavior based on the electronic receipt data of the transaction and the history of electronic receipt data of the person being watched over at multiple stores including the store S, which is stored in the receipt database 31. If the person being watched over has deviated from the range of behavior, a notification indicating this is sent to the notification destination of the person being watched over that is associated with the person being watched over. People want to know regularly whether there is something wrong with their family, but frequent visits are difficult, and frequent contact can be bothersome or a burden on the other person. Therefore, there is a demand to quietly watch over the other person while protecting their privacy. The electronic receipt server 100 notifies the person being watched over when the person being watched over is found to be in a state of deviating from a predefined range of behavior, which indicates a frail state that is different from normal, such as a decrease in the frequency of product purchases due to a decline in physical function, or a purchase behavior similar to that of a person with dementia due to a decline in cognitive function, based on the transaction information of the electronic receipt. Therefore, the person watching over can check whether the person being watched over is in a frail state.

[0080] The electronic receipt server 100 determines whether the person being watched over has deviated from the range of purchasing behavior based on the purchased product information, such as product code, product name, unit price, and quantity, of the products purchased by the person being watched over this time and in the past, which is included in the electronic receipt data. The electronic receipt server 100 grasps the average purchase frequency and the tendency of purchased products based on the past purchased product information, and notifies the person being watched over if there is unusual behavior, such as an increase in the amount or a large change in the ingredients purchased. In particular, by detecting situations such as frequent purchase of the same product (purchasing the same product many times at the store S, buying in large quantities), purchasing a large amount of a specific product (purchasing a large amount of unnecessary products), and only eating strong-tasting foods, which are early symptoms of dementia, the electronic receipt server 100 notifies the person being watched over that there is a behavioral history of concern regarding the purchasing behavior information of the person being watched over. Therefore, the person being watched over can confirm whether the person being watched over is in a frail state with a decline in cognitive function.

[0081] When the electronic receipt server 100 notifies the person being watched that there is a behavioral history of concern regarding the purchasing behavior information of the person being watched, the purchased items are displayed in the form of a product classification that does not allow the purchase of the product by the person being watched to be specified. In this way, the electronic receipt server 100 notifies the person being watched of the major and minor product categories, and not the purchased product such as the product name as it is, so that the privacy of the person being watched can be protected.

[0082] In addition, the electronic receipt server 100 determines whether the person being watched over has deviated from the purchasing behavior range based on the movement behavior range of the person being watched over, such as the stores S where the person being watched over has purchased products this time and in the past, and the dates and times included in the electronic receipt data, that is, based on at least one of the location information of the store S and the purchase time information. The electronic receipt server 100 grasps the past purchasing behavior range and detects situations such as a change in shopping time, a decrease in the number of times shopping, or a narrowing of the distribution of stores S used (only nearby stores are used), and the electronic receipt server 100 notifies the person being watched over that the person being watched over has a concerning behavior history regarding the purchasing behavior range. Therefore, the person being watched over can confirm whether the person being watched over is in a frail state with reduced physical function.

[0083] When notifying the person being watched that there is a behavioral history of concern regarding the range of purchasing behavior of the person being watched, the electronic receipt server 100 displays the movement behavior of the person being watched in a form that does not allow the specific location and time of the behavior of the person being watched to be specified. Therefore, since it does not directly notify when and which store the person being watched uses, it is possible to protect the privacy of the person being watched.

[0084] [Second embodiment] The first embodiment is an example in which both the person being watched over and the person watching over are members of an electronic receipt service. In contrast, the second embodiment is an example in which the person being watched over is not a member of the electronic receipt service.

[0085] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing one configuration of a data record included in the member database 33 of the electronic receipt server 100 as an information processing device according to the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, each member record 33a of the member database 33 includes a field F310 in addition to the fields F31 to F39 described in the first embodiment. The data in the field F310 represents target person information, which is various information related to the person being watched over. The target person information includes, for example, the name of the person being watched over, the relationship to the member, a store code indicating the store S used by the person being watched over, a member code of a store member issued by the store S to the person being watched over, and authentication information for the member code of the store member if necessary. The target person information may include a plurality of store codes and store member codes (and authentication information).

[0086] Fig. 10 is a sequence diagram showing an outline of the operation of the electronic receipt system in the second embodiment. When the person being watched over is a member of the electronic receipt service, the process is the same as that described in the first embodiment, and is therefore omitted in Fig. 10. As shown in Fig. 10, the information terminal 300 serving as the watcher terminal 302 of the watcher cooperates with the member registration control unit 12 of the electronic receipt server 100 to register the person as a member of the electronic receipt service (steps S11 and S12), as described in the first embodiment. However, in this embodiment, the person being watched over is not a member of the electronic receipt service, and therefore the person being watched over is not registered as a member of the electronic receipt service, as in the first embodiment.

[0087] Instead, in this embodiment, when registering as a member of the monitoring service from the information terminal 300 that serves as the watcher terminal 302, settings regarding the person being watched are also made in addition to the settings regarding the person being watched (step S41). Specifically, information regarding the person being watched to be registered in the above-mentioned field F310 in the member record 33a of the watcher is provided to the electronic receipt server 100. At this time, it goes without saying that the consent of the person being watched is required for the provision of information regarding the person being watched. The method of confirming the consent of the person being watched is not the subject of the present invention, so it is not specified here.

[0088] The member registration control unit 12 of the electronic receipt server 100 registers the watcher and the person being watched as members of the watching service based on the registration information for the watching service from the information terminal 300 as the watcher terminal 302 (step S42). That is, in addition to generating a member record 33a for the watcher, the member registration control unit 12 also issues a member code to the person being watched who is not a member of the electronic receipt service, and generates a member record 33a for the person being watched using the member code.

[0089] In addition, the member registration control unit 12 provides the POS system 200 of the store S used by the person being watched with the member code (and authentication information) of the store member and the member code of the electronic receipt service based on the target person information registered as data in the field F310 of the member record 33a of the watcher, thereby linking, for example, the point card of the store S with the electronic receipt in the POS system 200 (step S43). The person being watched over can carry the point card and present the member code of the store S. The method of presenting the member code may be a method of printing the member code on the point card, or a method of providing the point card as an RFID (Radio frequency identification) tag and communicating the stored member code via short-range wireless communication. The POS system 200 stores the member code of the point card of the store S in association with the member code of the electronic receipt service.

[0090] Therefore, when the person being watched over, who is a purchaser, presents the point card when purchasing a product at the store S (step S44), the POS system 200 can confirm whether the purchaser has a membership code for the electronic receipt service by the stored association. Then, when the registration of the transaction details related to the purchaser and the settlement are completed (step S19), the POS system 200 can confirm that the purchaser has a membership code for the electronic receipt service (step S20). As a result, the POS system 200 creates electronic receipt data (step S21) and makes a request to the electronic receipt server 100 to register the electronic receipt data (step S22) in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

[0091] Fig. 11 is a flowchart of information processing by a processor of an electronic receipt server according to the second embodiment. Fig. 11 shows a member registration process for a monitoring service shown as other processes in ACT7 in Fig. 7.

[0092] As ACT701, the member registration control unit 12 implemented in the processor 1 waits for a member registration request for the monitoring service from any of the information terminals 300. Then, if a member registration request for the monitoring service is made, the member registration control unit 12 judges YES and proceeds to ACT702.

[0093] As ACT702, the membership registration control unit 12 executes membership registration to the monitoring service according to information transmitted from the information terminal 300 along with the membership registration request to the monitoring service. Specifically, the membership registration control unit 12 registers notification destination data in field F36, notification setting data in field F37, and target person information in field F310 of the membership record 33a corresponding to the membership code of the electronic receipt service that has requested membership registration to the monitoring service. In addition, if the person being watched over has a membership code of the electronic receipt service, the membership registration control unit 12 also registers the target person code in field F35 of the membership record 33a.

[0094] In ACT703, the membership registration control unit 12 checks whether the person being watched over has a membership code for the electronic receipt service. Specifically, the membership registration control unit 12 checks whether target person code data is registered in field F35 of the membership record 33a. If the person being watched over has a membership code for the electronic receipt service, the target person code has already been set during the member registration in ACT702. Therefore, if the person being watched over has a membership code for the electronic receipt service, the membership registration control unit 12 judges YES and returns to ACT701. If the person being watched over does not have a membership code for the electronic receipt service, the membership registration control unit 12 judges NO and proceeds to ACT704.

[0095] In ACT704, the membership registration control unit 12 issues a membership code for the electronic receipt service to the person being watched over.

[0096] In ACT705, the member registration control unit 12 requests, via the communication interface 4, each POS system 200 of one or more stores S used by the person being watched over to link the point card with an electronic receipt. Specifically, based on the store code indicating the store S used by the person being watched over, which is registered as the target person information in field F310 of the corresponding member record 33a, the member registration control unit 12 transmits to the corresponding POS system 200 the member code (and authentication information) of the store member also registered as the target person information in field F310, and the issued membership code of the person being watched over.

[0097] In ACT 706, the member registration control unit 12 waits for a link completion notification from the POS systems 200 of all the stores S. If the member registration control unit 12 receives a link completion notification from the POS systems 200 of all the stores S, it determines YES and proceeds to ACT 707. In this way, the processor 1 executes information processing based on the application program, and the computer with the processor 1 as its core functions as a linking means for causing the POS system 200, which is a device for creating electronic receipt data, to associate and store the membership code (and authentication information) of the store member, which is the identification information of the target person at the store, with the membership code of the person being watched over, which is information identifying the target person.

[0098] In ACT707, the member registration control unit 12 updates the member record 33a. That is, the member registration control unit 12 registers the member code of the target person issued in ACT704 as data in field F35 of the member record 33a. After that, the member registration control unit 12 returns to the above ACT701.

[0099] In ACT706, it is assumed that notification of completion of linkage is awaited from the POS systems 200 of all stores S, but for example, a specified time may be set, and if no notification of completion is received within the specified time, the process may proceed to ACT707. In this case, the store S is excluded from stores used by the watcher and deleted from the target person information in field F310 of the member record 33a, and this fact is notified to the information terminal 300 serving as the watcher terminal 302. Also, it is possible to retry the linkage request after a certain time has elapsed.

[0100] As described above, according to the electronic receipt server 100 as the information processing device according to the second embodiment, the person being watched over can use the watching service even if he / she is not a member of the electronic receipt service by using the existing point card of the store S. This eliminates the need for the person being watched over to have the information terminal 300. Therefore, even people who are not good at using information processing devices, which is common among elderly people, can be watched over.

[0101] The above-described embodiments can be modified in various ways as follows.

[0102] For example, the electronic receipt server 100 acquires electronic receipt data by receiving electronic receipt data created by the POS system 200, but an intermediate server that creates electronic receipt data from transaction data may be provided, and the electronic receipt server 100 may acquire electronic receipt data by receiving, from the intermediate server, electronic receipt data that is created by the intermediate server based on the transaction data from the POS system 200.

[0103] Furthermore, by providing the electronic receipt server 100 with a function of creating electronic receipt data based on transaction data, the electronic receipt server 100 may acquire electronic receipt data by receiving electronic data from the POS system 200 and creating electronic receipt data. In short, the electronic receipt data may be generated by the electronic receipt server 100 and the POS system 200 working together.

[0104] Furthermore, the electronic receipt server 100 has been exemplified as an information processing device that provides a monitoring service, but the information processing device may be realized as a device separate from the electronic receipt server 100 that provides the above-mentioned monitoring service in cooperation with the electronic receipt server 100.

[0105] Furthermore, the flow of the information processing performed by the processor 1 described above is an example, and is not limited to this order. For example, the order of ACT401 and ACT402 in the flowchart of FIG. 8 may be reversed. Also, ACT403 to ACT408 and ACT409 to ACT415 may be performed in parallel (however, in this case, a confirmation process similar to ACT412 is added between ACT405 and ACT406). In this way, the order of the processing may be changed or multiple processes may be performed in parallel, as long as there is no discrepancy with the preceding or subsequent processing.

[0106] In addition, in the above-described embodiments, in order to protect the privacy of the person being watched over, the notification includes purchase behavior information that indicates the type of product classification that cannot identify the purchased product, or the notification includes movement behavior information that indicates the movement behavior of the person being watched over in a form that cannot identify the specific location and activity time, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the person being watched over may be able to release the privacy restriction at any time. Specifically, the person being watched over may release the privacy restriction by operating the information terminal 300 (person being watched over terminal 301), and the notification may include purchase behavior information that indicates the type of product classification that can identify the purchased product, or the notification may include movement behavior information that indicates the movement behavior of the person being watched over in a form that can identify the specific location and activity time. This allows the person being watched over to specifically recognize the behavior of the person being watched over.

[0107] In addition, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, biometric authentication may be used as a means for identifying the member code of the person being watched over instead of or in addition to using the person's terminal 301 or point card of the person being watched over. In this case, the person being watched over registers biometric information in advance in the member database 33. For example, the person being watched over registers a face, iris, fingerprint, etc. in advance in the member database 33 via the person's terminal 301 such as a smartphone, or the person being watched over registers a face, iris, fingerprint, etc. in advance in the member database 33 using a biometric authentication terminal installed in the store being used (a camera is used for the face, and a dedicated terminal is used for the fingerprint). Then, the biometric information and the electronic receipt are linked in the POS system 200 in the same manner as the linking of the point card and the electronic receipt in step S43 in the second embodiment. That is, by having the processor 1 of the electronic receipt server 100 execute information processing based on the application program, the computer with the processor 1 as its core may function as a linking means for storing the biometric information of the subject and the membership code of the subject, which is information for identifying the subject, in association with each other in the POS system 200, which is a device for creating electronic receipt data. With this mechanism, when the subject of monitoring purchases a product, the member code of the subject of monitoring linked to the biometric information can be identified by authenticating the subject with an authentication terminal or the like installed in the store, and the electronic receipt data can be stored in the electronic receipt server.

[0108] Supplementally, it is assumed that a frail subject may forget the subject terminal 301 described in the first embodiment or the point card (membership card) described in the second embodiment. In other words, by authenticating the subject to be watched over using such biometric information, the convenience of the watching service according to the present invention can be improved.

[0109] Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and spirit of the invention, and are included in the scope of the invention and its equivalents described in the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0110] 1...processor, 2...main memory, 3...auxiliary storage device, 4...communication interface, 5...transmission path, 11...electronic receipt processing unit, 12...membership registration control unit, 13...monitoring service control unit, 31...receipt database, 31a...transaction record, 32...store database, 32a...store record, 33...membership database, 33a...membership record, 34...classification database, 34a...product classification record, 100...electronic receipt server, 200...POS system, 300...information terminal, 301...target person terminal, 302...monitoring person terminal, 400...communication network 400, S...store.

Claims

1. A storage means for acquiring electronic receipt data indicating purchase results at a store of a purchaser who uses the electronic receipt service and storing the data in a database; a determination means for determining whether or not the target person has deviated from a predefined range of behavior based on the electronic receipt data and the electronic receipt data of the target person stored in the database when the electronic receipt data of the target person is acquired; a transmission means for transmitting a notification indicating the determination result that the target person has deviated from the action range to a notification destination determined in association with the target person; An information processing device comprising:

2. The behavioral range is a purchasing behavioral range regarding the purchase of a product, The determination means determines whether the target person has deviated from the purchasing behavior range based on purchased product information, which is information on products purchased by the target person and is included in the acquired electronic receipt data and the stored electronic receipt data. The information processing device according to claim 1 .

3. The notification sent to the notification destination includes purchasing behavior information representing the purchased goods in the form of a product classification that cannot identify the purchased goods by the target person. The information processing device according to claim 2 .

4. The movement range is a movement movement range related to the movement behavior of the subject, The determination means determines whether the target person has deviated from the movement range based on at least one of location information and time information included in the acquired electronic receipt data and the accumulated electronic receipt data. The information processing device according to claim 1 .

5. The notification transmitted to the notification destination includes travel behavior information representing the travel behavior of the target person in a form in which the specific location and activity time of the target person cannot be identified. The information processing device according to claim 4.

6. A linking means for storing the identification information of the subject at the store or the biometric information of the subject and information for identifying the subject in association with each other in a device that creates electronic receipt data; The information processing device according to claim 1 , further comprising:

7. A computer that controls an information processing device A storage means for acquiring electronic receipt data indicating purchase results at a store of a purchaser who uses the electronic receipt service and storing the data in a database; a determination means for determining, when the electronic receipt data of a pre-designated subject is acquired, whether or not the subject has deviated from a pre-defined range of behavior based on the electronic receipt data and the electronic receipt data of the subject stored in the database; a transmission means for transmitting a notification indicating the determination result that the target person has deviated from the action range to a notification destination determined in association with the target person; A program to function as a

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