Web automatic issue system of delivery slip, invoice, receipt, and so on

Abstract

To provide a system which allows a delivery slip, an invoice, or a receipt to be issued through operation of a purchaser with respect to a commodity sales transaction performed at an online shop.SOLUTION: An electronic document issue system includes: transaction information storage means in which transaction information is stored; URL generation means which generates a URL corresponding to a specific piece of the transaction information stored in the transaction information storage means; transaction information acquisition means which acquires the specific piece of the transaction information stored in the transaction information storage means in response to access to the URL generated by the URL generation means; and electronic document generation means which converts the transaction information acquired by the transaction information acquisition means to a prescribed document form.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a system that enables a purchaser to issue an invoice, bill, or receipt for a product purchase transaction made at an online store. [Background technology]

[0002] Commercial transactions often involve the issuance of documents such as delivery notes, invoices, and receipts for transaction confirmation and accounting purposes. Even in online transactions, these documents may be sent in paper form, either enclosed with the product or later. In this case, the seller must verify the transaction details, add any notes, and print them. Alternatively, documents may be issued electronically, which also requires the seller to perform the same tasks, except for printing.

[0003] From the buyer's perspective, if the documents are paper, when accounting work is carried out some time after receiving the goods, it can be time-consuming to search for the documents, or they may be lost and have to be reissued. In addition, it can be time-consuming to communicate the contents of any disclaimers.

[0004] Patent Document 1 discloses a document issuance system that includes an issuance request receiving means for receiving a request to issue a receipt or invoice, a storage means for storing information related to the issuance request and product order information in association with each other, a determination means for determining whether the document is available for issuance, a generation means for generating a list screen showing whether the document can be issued, and an issuance processing request receiving means for receiving a document issuance processing request. However, it is assumed that the document to be issued will be sent by a seller's worker by fax or on paper. Therefore, the system is not intended to issue documents electronically through the purchaser's operation. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 5011899 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] Commercial transactions involve the issuance of documents such as delivery notes, invoices, and receipts. In such cases, the buyer may specify the name, details of any notes, etc. Traditionally, sellers have had to confirm the transaction details, prepare documents according to the buyer's requests, and send them, which requires time and effort. Furthermore, when transactions are conducted at online stores, there can be a time lag in communication between the buyer and seller, resulting in problems such as time-consuming exchanges.

[0007] The present invention aims to provide a system that enables a purchaser to issue an invoice, bill, or receipt for a product purchase transaction made at an online store through an operation of the purchaser. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In one embodiment of the present invention, a transaction information storage means for storing transaction information; a URL generating means for generating a URL corresponding to specific transaction information stored in the transaction information storage means; a transaction information acquiring means for acquiring specific transaction information stored in the transaction information storage means in response to access to the URL generated by the URL generating means; an electronic document generation means for converting the transaction information acquired by the transaction information acquisition means into a predetermined document format; The present invention provides an electronic document issuing system, including:

[0009] In a further embodiment of the present invention, an electronic document issuing system is provided that further includes an information writing means that is capable of writing information that is not stored in the transaction information storage means into the electronic document generated by the electronic document generation means.

[0010] In another further embodiment of the present invention, a transaction information processing means for storing transaction information in a transaction information storage means in response to the occurrence of a transaction; a URL notification means for notifying the transaction parties of the URL generated by the URL generation means; The present invention provides an electronic document issuing system, further comprising:

[0011] The user of this invention notifies all product purchasers of a URL for issuing electronic documents via the purchaser's operation, regardless of whether or not the individual documents are required. By accessing the URL, product purchasers can obtain the desired documents without waiting for a response from the seller. Furthermore, purchasers can independently handle individual circumstances such as disclaimers. [Effects of the Invention]

[0012] This reduces the number of inquiries and paperwork required to issue transaction information for online store transactions, making store operations more efficient. It also eliminates response time and improves customer convenience. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an electronic document issuing system of the present invention. [Figure 2] 1 is a block diagram showing an exemplary hardware configuration of an information processing device used in the present invention; [Figure 3] 1 is a diagram showing the process of transmitting, receiving, and processing information in the electronic document issuing system of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0014] The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings, however, the present invention is defined by the claims and the embodiments described herein are not intended to unduly limit the present invention.

[0015] <System configuration> Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing an electronic document issuing system of the present invention. Transaction information for commercial transactions at online stores can be stored in information provision database 101. Transaction information may include, for example, the date and time of the transaction, the purchaser's name, the shipping address, the name of the purchased product, the transaction quantity, the product price, discount information, the consumption tax rate, and the payment method.

[0016] The information providing database 101 is connected to the information providing server 102, and is capable of sending and receiving information. The connection may be via wired or wireless communication such as the Internet or an intranet, or the information providing server 102 may have a database function and may have the information providing database 101 all or partly built in.

[0017] The information providing server 102 processes information related to storing and updating information in the information providing database 101 and issuing electronic documents. In addition, it may transmit and receive information related to online store information, product information, electronic commerce, etc. to and from the user terminal 103. The information providing server 102 processes this information through a computer program. This program includes a URL generation means 104, a transaction information acquisition means 105, and an electronic document generation means 106. This program may further include an information writing means 107, a transaction information processing means 108, and a URL notification means 109.

[0018] The user terminal 103 refers to a communication device owned by an individual or corporation who may be a purchaser, such as a PC (personal computer), smartphone, tablet, etc. The information providing server 102 and the user terminal 103 can send and receive information as needed via the Internet.

[0019] The URL generation means 104 is a means for associating information resources corresponding to a specific transaction with a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). The transaction information acquisition means 105 is a means for searching and acquiring specified transaction information from the information database 101. The electronic document generation means 106 is a means for inserting necessary items of the transaction information into a predetermined format and generating electronic documents in the form of delivery notes, invoices, receipts, etc.

[0020] The information writing means 107 is a means for adding items not included in the transaction information to the electronic document. The transaction information processing means 108 is a means for automatically storing information about a new transaction in the information providing database 101 when the transaction occurs. The URL notification means 109 is a means for notifying the parties to the transaction, i.e., the buyer or seller, or both, of the URL generated by the URL generation means 104.

[0021] 2 shows an exemplary hardware configuration of an information processing device that can be used as the information providing server 102 or the user terminal 103. The information processing device includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 201, an input device 202, a main memory device 203, an output device 204, an auxiliary memory device 205, a clock device 206, and a communication device 209.

[0022] The CPU 201 is also called a central processing unit, and includes a control unit 207 that sends instructions to each device in the system and controls their operation, and an arithmetic unit 208 that performs arithmetic processing of digital data.

[0023] The CPU 201 functions as each means of the present invention in cooperation with a program stored in the main storage device 203 or the auxiliary storage device 205. Furthermore, the CPU 201 functions as a storage means for storing information in the main storage device 203 or the auxiliary storage device 205, and an update means for updating the information stored therein.

[0024] The control device 207 reads data input from the input device 202 or procedures (e.g., programs or software) previously stored in the main memory device 203, according to the timing of the clock generated by the clock device 206. The input data and the read contents are transmitted to internal devices such as the main memory device 203, the output device 204, and the auxiliary memory device 205, as well as to external devices, under the control of the arithmetic device 208.

[0025] The input device 202 is a device for inputting various data, and examples thereof include a keyboard, a mouse, a pointing device, a touch panel, a mouse pad, a CCD camera, and a reader for various storage media.

[0026] The main memory device 203 is a device generally called a memory, and refers to the addressable storage space used to execute instructions in the processing unit and internal storage device. The main memory device 203 is mainly composed of semiconductor memory elements, and stores and holds input programs and data. In addition, this stored and held data is read, for example, into a register, according to instructions from the control unit 207. Examples of semiconductor memory elements that make up the main memory device 203 include RAM (Random Access Memory) and ROM (Read Only Memory).

[0027] The output device 204 is a device for outputting the calculation results of the calculation device 208, and corresponds to, for example, a display device for a PC, a display screen provided on a smartphone or tablet, a printing device such as a printer, an audio output device, etc.

[0028] The auxiliary storage device 205 is a device for supplementing the storage capacity of the main storage device 203, and corresponds to, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, MO, etc., which are made up of a magnetic disk device, an optical disk device, a semiconductor disk device, etc. The auxiliary storage device 205 functions as a storage means for storing data for constructing various databases.

[0029] The communication device 209 is a device for communicating with external devices, and performs appropriate data transmission and reception, digital-to-analog conversion, etc. depending on the network to which it is connected. Here, the above devices are interconnected by an address bus or a data bus.

[0030] <Information processing process for issuing electronic documents> The process of transmitting, receiving, and processing information in the electronic document issuance system of the present invention is shown in Figure 3. In step 301, the user terminal 103 performs a product purchase procedure, and transaction information is sent to the information providing server 102. In Figure 3, the user terminal 103 is depicted as sending information directly to the information providing server 102, but the information providing server 102 may also obtain the transaction information via another server, etc.

[0031] In step 302, the information providing server 102 stores the transaction information of the transaction in step 301 in the information providing database 101, which functions as the transaction information storage means, by means of the transaction information processing means 108. The transaction information stored here includes, but is not limited to, the date and time of the transaction, the purchaser's name, the delivery address, the name of the purchased product, the transaction quantity, the product price, discount information, the consumption tax rate, the payment method, and the like.

[0032] In step 303, the information providing server 102 generates a URL corresponding to the transaction and document type in step 301 using the URL generating means 104. The document type is either an invoice, a bill, or a receipt.

[0033] In step 304, the information providing server 102 notifies the user terminal 103 of the URL generated in step 303 by the URL notification means 109. Note that while FIG. 3 shows the purchaser's user terminal 103 as the party to the transaction, notification may also be sent to the seller's terminal, or instead. Notification can be sent, for example, by sending the URL together with a predetermined message to a registered email address.

[0034] In step 305, the user terminal 103 accesses the URL notified in step 304. In response to this, in step 306, the information providing server 102 searches the information providing database 101 using the transaction information acquisition means 105, and acquires transaction information related to the transaction linked to the URL.

[0035] Next, in step 307, the information providing server 102 generates an electronic document of the type corresponding to the URL using the electronic document generation means 106. The generation of the electronic document can be achieved by inserting the necessary items of the transaction information acquired in step 306 into a predetermined format.

[0036] In step 308, user terminal 103 transmits additional information to information providing server 102, and information providing server 102 can write the additional information into the electronic document generated in step 307 using information writing means 107. The additional information refers to information that is not stored in information providing database 101, such as the contents of disclaimers. This allows the purchaser to independently obtain the document with any information added, without contacting the seller.

[0037] In step 309, the information providing server 102 transmits the electronic document to the user terminal 103. The purchaser can obtain this electronic document by downloading it as a PDF or printing it out on paper, and use it to confirm the transaction details or for accounting purposes.

[0038] <Other embodiments> Needless to say, the object of the present invention can also be achieved by providing a storage medium (or recording medium) on which software program code that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is recorded to a system or device, and having a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or device read the program code stored in the storage medium. In this case, the program code read from the storage medium itself realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium on which the program code is stored constitutes the present invention. Needless to say, this also includes cases where the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized not only by a computer executing the read program code, but also by an operating system (OS) running on the computer performing some or all of the actual processing based on the instructions of the program code, thereby realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0039] Furthermore, it goes without saying that this also includes cases where the program code read from the storage medium is written into the memory of a function expansion card inserted into a computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, and then the CPU or the like of the function expansion card or function expansion unit performs some or all of the actual processing based on the instructions of the program code, and the functions of the above-mentioned embodiments are realized through this processing.

[0040] When the present invention is applied to the storage medium, the storage medium stores program code for executing the process shown in FIG. 3 described above.

[0041] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made based on the spirit of the present invention, and these modifications are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. a transaction information storage means for storing transaction information; a URL generating means for generating a URL corresponding to specific transaction information stored in the transaction information storage means; a transaction information acquiring means for acquiring specific transaction information stored in the transaction information storage means in response to access to the URL generated by the URL generating means; an electronic document generation means for converting the transaction information acquired by the transaction information acquisition means into a predetermined document format; Electronic document issuing system, including

2. 2. The electronic document issuing system according to claim 1, further comprising an information writing means capable of writing information not stored in said transaction information storage means into the electronic document generated by said electronic document generation means.

3. a transaction information processing means for storing transaction information in the transaction information storage means in response to the occurrence of a transaction; a URL notification means for notifying the transaction parties of the URL generated by the URL generation means; The electronic document issuing system according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

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