Information processing device, information processing method, and program

Abstract

We provide an information processing device that can provide advertising information tailored to the stores that users have actually visited. [Solution] The system includes a visited store information storage unit 101 which stores one or more visited store information items having a store identifier corresponding to the menu information used by the user and the user identifier of the user; an advertisement determination unit 108 which determines advertisement information to be transmitted to the user terminal 2 corresponding to one user identifier using the visited store information corresponding to one user identifier; and an advertisement transmission unit 109 which transmits the advertisement information to the user terminal 2.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus or the like that transmits advertisement information to a user.

Background Art

[0002] As a conventional technique, a receiving unit that receives position information indicating the position of a terminal device used by a user, and based on the position information received by the receiving unit, advertisement information about products in stores located within a predetermined distance from the terminal device is obtained. An advertisement information acquisition unit that obtains first advertisement information indicating the advertisement, a partial advertisement information acquisition unit that obtains partial advertisement information corresponding to an item specified by the user from the first advertisement information obtained by the advertisement information acquisition unit, and the partial advertisement information acquisition unit. An advertisement information generation unit that synthesizes the partial advertisement information obtained by the above to generate second advertisement information, and a transmission unit that transmits the second advertisement information generated by the advertisement information generation unit to the terminal device have been known (for example, see Patent Document 1).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, conventional information processing apparatuses have had a problem in that they cannot provide a user with advertisement information corresponding to stores or the like actually used by the user.

[0005] The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and an object thereof is to provide an information processing apparatus or the like that can provide a user with advertisement information corresponding to a store actually used by the user.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The present invention provides an information processing device comprising: a visited store information storage unit that stores one or more visited store information items having a store identifier corresponding to menu information used by the user and a user identifier of the user; an advertising determination unit that determines advertising information to be transmitted to a user terminal corresponding to one user identifier using the visited store information corresponding to one user identifier; and an advertising transmission unit that transmits the advertising information to the user terminal.

[0007] This configuration allows us to provide users with advertising information tailored to the stores they have actually visited.

[0008] Furthermore, the information processing device of the present invention may further include a store information storage unit in which one or more store information items having a store identifier and one or more store attribute values ​​which are attribute values ​​of the store are stored, and the advertising decision unit may obtain one or more store identifiers corresponding to one user identifier from the visited store information storage unit, obtain one or more store attribute values ​​paired with each of the one or more store identifiers from the store information storage unit, and use the one or more store attribute values ​​to determine advertising information to be transmitted to the user terminal corresponding to one user identifier.

[0009] This configuration allows us to provide users with advertising information tailored to the store attribute values ​​of the stores they actually visited.

[0010] Furthermore, the information processing device of the present invention further comprises a location information receiving unit that receives location information from a user terminal to identify the user's location, and a user location determination unit that uses the location information to determine whether or not the user is in a predetermined store. The advertising determination unit may, if the user location determination unit determines that the user is in a predetermined store, refrain from determining advertising information that would be paired with a store identifier of a store different from the one in question.

[0011] This configuration prevents the user from being shown advertising information for stores other than the one they are currently at.

[0012] Furthermore, the information processing device of the present invention may further include an accounting information receiving unit that receives accounting information from a user terminal that identifies it as the time for payment, and the advertising decision unit may determine advertising information corresponding to the time of payment in response to the reception of accounting information.

[0013] This configuration allows for timely delivery of advertising information at the time of payment.

[0014] Furthermore, in the information processing device of the present invention, the advertising decision unit may determine the time of accounting, the day of the week of accounting, or advertising information appropriate for accounting, corresponding to the accounting information.

[0015] This configuration makes it possible to provide users with advertising information about stores that are relevant to the time of payment, the day of the week, or the payment information itself.

[0016] Furthermore, the information processing device of the present invention includes an instruction receiving unit that receives a menu item instruction from a user, which is an instruction for a menu item contained in the menu information. The system may further include a visited store information storage unit that stores visited store information in a visited store information storage unit, which includes a user identifier of the user who entered the menu item instruction received by the instruction receiving unit, and a store identifier corresponding to the menu information having the menu item corresponding to the menu item instruction.

[0017] This configuration allows for the appropriate acquisition of information indicating that a user has actually used a store.

[0018] In addition, in the information processing apparatus of the present invention, the visited store information further includes order content information regarding the order content that the user indicated by the user identifier included in the visited store information ordered using the menu information for the store indicated by the store identifier included in the visited store information. The advertisement determination unit may determine advertisement information to be transmitted to the user terminal corresponding to the one user identifier using the store identifier included in the visited store information corresponding to the one user identifier and the order content information.

[0019] With such a configuration, appropriate advertisement information can be provided to the user according to the combination of the store used by the user and the order content.

Effects of the Invention

[0020] According to the information processing apparatus and the like of the present invention, advertisement information corresponding to the store actually used by the user can be provided.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0021] [Figure 1] Block diagram of the information processing system in Embodiment 1 of the present invention [Figure 2] Flowchart for explaining the operation of the information processing apparatus 1 of the information processing system [Figure 3] Conceptual diagram of the information processing system [Figure 4] Diagram showing an example of the user location management table of the information processing apparatus of the information processing system [Figure 5] Diagram showing an example of the visited store information management table of the information processing apparatus of the information processing system (FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b)) [Figure 6] Diagram showing an example of the store information management table of the information processing apparatus of the information processing system [Figure 7] Diagram showing an example of the advertisement information management table of the information processing apparatus of the information processing system [Figure 8] Diagram showing an example of the store area management table of the information processing apparatus of the information processing system [Figure 9] Diagram showing an example of the display of the user terminal of the information processing system [Figure 10] This figure shows an example of the display on a user terminal of the information processing system. [Figure 11] This figure shows an example of the display on a user terminal of the information processing system. [Figure 12] This diagram shows an example of an order management table for the information processing device of the same information processing system. [Figure 13] Block diagram of the information processing system in Embodiment 2 of the present invention [Figure 14] Figures 14(a) and 14(b) show an example of a visitor information management table for the information processing device of the same information processing system. [Figure 15] Figures 15(a) and 15(b) show an example of an advertising information management table for the information processing device of the same information processing system. [Figure 16] This figure shows an example of the display on a user terminal of the information processing system. [Figure 17] This figure shows an example of the display on a user terminal of the information processing system. [Figure 18] This figure shows an example of the display on a user terminal of the information processing system. [Figure 19] This figure shows an example of the display on a user terminal of the information processing system. [Figure 20] Figure showing an example of the appearance of a computer system in an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 21] A diagram showing an example of the configuration of the computer system. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0022] The embodiments of the information processing device, etc., will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the embodiments, components that are denoted by the same reference numerals perform the same operation, and therefore, further explanation may be omitted.

[0023] (Embodiment 1) Figure 1 is a block diagram of the information processing system 1000 in this embodiment. The information processing system 1000 comprises an information processing device 1 and one or more user terminals 2. The information processing device 1 and the one or more user terminals 2 are connected, for example, via a wireless or wired communication line. For example, the information processing device 1 and the one or more user terminals 2 are connected via a network such as the Internet. Here, an example is given where there are three or more user terminals 2.

[0024] The information processing device 1 includes a visited store information storage unit 101, a store information storage unit 102, a location information receiving unit 103, a store area storage unit 104, a user location determination unit 105, a checkout information receiving unit 106, an advertising information storage unit 107, an advertising determination unit 108, an advertising transmission unit 109, an instruction reception unit 110, and a visited store information storage unit 111.

[0025] User terminal 2 includes a terminal receiving unit 201, a terminal display unit 202, a terminal reception unit 203, a location information acquisition unit 204, and a terminal transmission unit 205.

[0026] Information processing device 1 is typically a server device. For example, information processing device 1 may be a cloud server or an ASP (Application Service Provider). Information processing device 1 does not have to be a server device; for example, it may be an information processing terminal device. Information processing device 1 is implemented, for example, by a computer.

[0027] The visited store information storage unit 101 stores one or more visited store information entries. Each visited store information entry includes a store identifier corresponding to the menu information used by the user and the user identifier of that user.

[0028] Menu information is information related to a menu. Menu information is, for example, information used for menu output (e.g., display). Here, a menu refers to, for example, a menu used to order goods or services in a store. Here, a menu refers to, for example, a menu displayed on a monitor, etc., on a user terminal 2, etc. A menu has, for example, one or more menu items associated with goods or services, etc. Menu information used by a user refers to, for example, the menu information used by a user to order goods or services, etc. Menu information used for ordering refers to, for example, the menu information used to output the menu used for ordering. Menu information may also be, for example, information that can accept orders for goods or services corresponding to menu items in response to menu item instructions, which are instructions for one or more menu items in this menu information. Menu information is associated with, for example, at least one of a menu identifier, which is an identifier for the menu information, and a store identifier that corresponds to the menu. The identifier for menu information may hereafter be called a menu identifier. A menu identifier is a name or code assigned to the menu information. A store identifier that corresponds to the menu information is the store identifier of the store that corresponds to the menu information. A store corresponding to menu information is, for example, a store that provides the products or services indicated on the menu, or a store that accepts orders according to that menu. A store identifier is, for example, a code associated with the store, the store name, or the store's email address or phone number.

[0029] In this embodiment, the explanation will be based on the example where the store identifier refers to, for example, a restaurant, and the menu information refers to information about menus used for ordering food and services offered at the restaurant. A restaurant is, for example, a restaurant, diner, coffee shop, pub, bar, etc. However, the store is not limited to a restaurant. Similarly, the menu information is not limited to information about menus used at a restaurant.

[0030] User identifiers include, for example, a username, a code assigned to the user, a user's phone number, a user's email address, a user's SMS (Short Message Service) account, a user's SNS (Social Networking Service) account, a user's credit card number, or a user's membership number. User identifiers may also be the terminal identifier of user terminal 2 used by the user. Terminal identifiers include, for example, a code assigned to user terminal 2, or the MAC address or IP address of user terminal 2.

[0031] It is not necessary to specify how the visited store information is stored in the visited store information storage unit 101. For example, if a user displays a menu on a user terminal 2 or a menu output terminal (not shown) using menu information associated with a store identifier, enters their user identifier, and then orders goods or services offered at the store using this menu, the instruction receiving unit 110 or receiving unit (not shown) of the information processing device 1 may receive information containing the store identifier and user identifier from the user terminal 2 or menu output terminal, and the visited store information storage unit 111 may store the visited store information containing the received store identifier and user identifier in the visited store information storage unit 101. An example of the process for storing visited store information will be described later.

[0032] The visited store information may further include information indicating the date and time of the user's visit to the store. The information indicating the date and time of the visit includes at least one of the visit date and visit time.

[0033] The store visit information storage unit 101 preferably uses a non-volatile recording medium, but it can also be implemented using a volatile recording medium. The same applies to the other storage units.

[0034] The store information storage unit 102 stores one or more store information items. Each store information item has a store identifier and one or more store attribute values. Store attribute values ​​are attribute values ​​of the store. The store attribute values ​​that the store information has are, for example, one or more store location information, store type information, store rank information, store usage time information, etc. However, the store attribute values ​​may be other types of information.

[0035] Store location information is an attribute value that indicates the location of a store. Store location information may be, for example, coordinates represented by a combination of latitude and longitude that indicates the store's location, or an address, or it may be information indicating the name of the area where the store is located, such as "Ginza" or "Roppongi," or a common name for the area, or it may be the name of a nearby landmark, such as "Tokyo Station" or "National Stadium."

[0036] Store type information is an attribute value that indicates the type of store. Store type information indicates the industry, classifying stores by the type of goods or services they handle, such as "French restaurant" or "Japanese restaurant." Information indicating the industry includes, for example, the industry name or an industry code. Store type information also indicates the business format, classifying stores by the method of providing goods or services, such as "fast food restaurant" or "family restaurant." Information indicating the business format includes, for example, the business format name or an industry code. However, store type information is not limited to these examples.

[0037] Store rank information is an attribute value that indicates a store's rank. Store rank information can be expressed as numbers such as 1st place, 2nd place, Grade 1, Grade 2, strings such as A, B, C, premium, good, average, or the number of indicators representing rank such as stars or hearts. The rank indicated by store rank information may be, for example, a rank that ranks stores based on the price range of goods and services offered by the store, or the average price range of users. A rank based on price range can be considered information that represents the price range offered by the store. Alternatively, the rank indicated by store rank information may be a rank that ranks stores based on the quality or quantity of goods and services offered by the store. Furthermore, store rank information may be a rank that ranks stores based on the level of reputation among users who have used the store, or a rank that is assigned by a rating company or organization.

[0038] Store usage time information is an attribute value that indicates the preferred time period for using a store. Store usage time information is information that indicates the preferred time period for using a store, as set by the store manager or the system provider of the information processing device 1. Store usage time information may be information that represents the preferred time period for using a store with information indicating the start and end times, or it may be information that represents multiple time periods with strings or codes such as "evening," "night (first half)," "night (second half)," and "late night." Store usage time information may also be information that represents the preferred time period for using a store in terms of the order in which the store is used or the purpose of use in which the approximate time period is determined, such as "first party" and "second party." Store usage time information may also be information that represents the preferred day of the week for using a store, or it may be information that combines time periods and days of the week. Store usage time information may also be the business hours of the corresponding store, or it may be a part of the business hours of the store.

[0039] Furthermore, one or more store attribute values ​​in the store information may represent, for example, payment method information indicating the payment methods accepted at the store. Payment methods include, for example, credit card payments, electronic money payments, cash payments, direct debit payments, and cash on delivery.

[0040] Furthermore, one or more store attribute values ​​in the store information may be store business information, such as store hours, business days, and holidays.

[0041] Furthermore, one or more store attribute values ​​in the store information may indicate the names of products or services offered at the store, or the types of products or services offered.

[0042] The location information receiving unit 103 receives location information that identifies the user's location from the user's user terminal 2. The location information may be, for example, coordinates represented by a combination of latitude and longitude indicating the user's location, or an address. Alternatively, the location information may be information indicating the name of the region where the user is located, a common name for the region, or the name of a nearby landmark. The location information receiving unit 103 receives, for example, the user identifier along with the location information associated with this user identifier. The location information receiving unit 103 may store the received location information in a storage unit (not shown). For example, the location information receiving unit 103 stores the location information in association with the user identifier. The location information receiving unit 103 is implemented, for example, by wired or wireless communication means.

[0043] Alternatively, a transmission unit (not shown) may transmit information requesting location information to one or more user terminals 2 at predetermined timings, and the location information receiving unit 103 may receive location information transmitted from each user terminal 2 in response to this information.

[0044] The store area storage unit 104 stores information for one or more store areas. For example, the store area storage unit 104 stores information for one or more stores, associated with the store identifier of each store. Store area information is information that indicates the area of ​​a store. The area of ​​a store can be thought of as the area of ​​the store's premises, etc. Store area information is, for example, a set of coordinates that indicate the area of ​​a store. The coordinates here are, for example, coordinates expressed in terms of latitude and longitude. Alternatively, store area information may be one or more coordinates within the store (for example, the coordinates of the store's center). In this case, for example, the area where the distance to one or more coordinates within the store is within a predetermined distance is considered the area of ​​the store. In this case, the store area information may also have information indicating the distance from the center. Alternatively, store area information may be the address of the store. In this case, for example, the area where the distance to the location indicated by the address (for example, coordinates) is within a predetermined distance is considered the area of ​​the store indicated by the store area information. Note that store area information is not limited to the above information as long as it can indicate the area of ​​a store. Furthermore, the area indicated by the store area information may be larger or smaller than the actual store area.

[0045] Furthermore, if the store identifier and store area information stored in the store area storage unit 104, and the store location information of the aforementioned store information having the same store identifier, are shared information, then either the store area information or the store location information may be omitted by sharing them. If the store area information is omitted, the store area storage unit 104 may also be omitted.

[0046] The user location determination unit 105 uses the location information received by the location information receiving unit 103 to determine whether the user is in one or more stores. Here, the user is the user corresponding to the received location information (for example, the user indicated by the user identifier associated with the received location information). The one or more stores are, for example, one or more predetermined stores. For example, when determining whether the user is in one predetermined store, the user location determination unit 105 acquires store area information for one predetermined store, determines whether the location indicated by the location information received by the location information receiving unit 103 is included within the area indicated by the acquired store area information, and determines if the user corresponding to the location information received by the location information receiving unit 103 is in this store if it is included, and determines if the user is not in this store if it is not included.

[0047] Furthermore, when determining whether a user is in two or more predetermined stores, the user location determination unit 105, for example, acquires corresponding store area information for each of the two or more stores, and determines whether the location indicated by the location information received by the location information receiving unit 103 is located within the area indicated by each of the acquired store area information. If the location indicated by the received location information is included in the area indicated by any one of the store area information, the user location determination unit 105 may determine that the user is in one of the two or more predetermined stores, or it may determine that the user is in the store corresponding to the area that contains the location indicated by the location information. If the location indicated by the location information is not included in any of the areas, the user location determination unit 105 determines that the user is not in any of the two or more predetermined stores.

[0048] Furthermore, if the store area information is the store's address, the system may determine that the user is at the store if the address received by the location information receiving unit 103 matches the store's address indicated by the store area information, and determine that the user is not at the store if they do not match.

[0049] The user location determination unit 105, for example, reads and obtains one or more store area information to be used for the above determination from the store area storage unit 104. If the store area storage unit 104 stores store area information for one or more stores, associated with the store identifier of each store, and the user location determination unit 105 determines that the location indicated by the received location information is included in the area indicated by one of the store area information, the user location determination unit 105 may obtain the store identifier stored in association with this one store area information as the store identifier of the store where the user is located.

[0050] The accounting information receiving unit 106 receives accounting information from the user terminal 2. Accounting information is information that identifies that it is the time of accounting. For example, accounting information is information that indicates that the time of receipt of accounting information is the time of accounting. Accounting information may include, for example, a payment instruction to make a payment, a user identifier corresponding to the credit card number or electronic money used for payment, or information about the amount to be paid. Furthermore, accounting information may be information requesting the issuance of a receipt or invoice, information requesting the store to calculate the amount the user spent at the store, or information indicating that payment has been made. However, accounting information may be any information other than those mentioned above, as long as it is information that ultimately allows the user using the user terminal 2 to identify that it is the time of accounting. Information indicating that it is immediately before or after the completion of accounting may also be considered accounting information.

[0051] The accounting information receiving unit 106 may acquire information on the time of accounting and the day of the week corresponding to the accounting information. For example, the accounting information receiving unit 106 may acquire the time and day of the week on which the accounting information was received as the time and day of the week corresponding to the accounting information. The time of receipt can be obtained, for example, from a clock (not shown). The day of the week on which the receipt was received can be obtained, for example, from a calendar (not shown). The accounting information may also contain information on the time and day of the week on which the operation to transmit the accounting information was performed as the time and day of the accounting, or it may contain information on the time and day of the week on which the accounting information is transmitted as the time and day of the accounting. In this case, the accounting information receiving unit 106 may acquire information on the time and day of the week corresponding to the accounting information from the time and day of the accounting contained in the received accounting information.

[0052] The accounting information may include a store identifier for the store where the transaction takes place. The store where the transaction takes place may be considered to be the store used by the user. The accounting information may also include information indicating the contents of the goods or services purchased by the user. This information may include, for example, the names of the products or services purchased by the user, or the types of goods or services purchased by the user. The accounting information receiving unit 106 is implemented, for example, by wired or wireless communication means.

[0053] It is not relevant how the information processing device 1 handles the accounting information received by the accounting information receiving unit 106. For example, the information processing device 1 may delete the received accounting information. Alternatively, a processing unit (not shown) of the information processing device 1 may use the received accounting information to perform settlement or accounting processing. Furthermore, the information processing device 1 may output the received information (for example, by displaying it or storing it in a storage unit (not shown)).

[0054] The advertising information storage unit 107 stores one or more pieces of advertising information. Advertising information is information related to an advertisement. Advertising information is, for example, information for outputting an advertisement. Output here is, for example, at least one of display, print, and audio output. An advertisement is, for example, an advertisement for one or more stores. An advertisement for a store may be, for example, an advertisement for the store itself, or an advertisement for the goods or services offered at the store. Advertising information is, for example, an advertisement offered by a store. Note that advertising information here may or may not include information on coupons or free vouchers that can be used at one or more stores. In addition, an advertisement may be an advertisement other than an advertisement for a store. For example, it may be an advertisement for goods or services, etc., that is not associated with a specific store.

[0055] The advertising information storage unit 107 stores, for example, one or more advertising information, each associated with a store identifier. The advertising information stored in association with a store identifier is, for example, advertising information related to the store indicated by the store identifier. The advertising information storage unit 107 may also store, for example, one or more advertising information, each associated with one or more store attribute values. There may be one store attribute value associated with a single advertising information, or there may be two or more. The advertising information stored in association with a store attribute value is, for example, advertising information related to a store having the attribute indicated by the store attribute value. The advertising information stored in association with a store attribute value does not have to be, for example, advertising information related to a store having the attribute indicated by the store attribute value; for example, it may be advertising information related to products or services handled by a store having the attribute indicated by the store attribute. For example, advertising information about alcoholic beverages may be stored in association with a store attribute value indicating that it is a restaurant or bar, and advertising information about tea or coffee may be stored in association with a store attribute value indicating that it is a cafe. The advertising information storage unit 107 may store, for example, one or more advertising information items, each associated with an attribute value other than the store attribute value.

[0056] In this embodiment, the case in which the information processing device 1 has an advertising information storage unit 107 is described as an example, but a server device or information processing terminal device (not shown) that can be accessed by the information processing device 1 may also have an advertising information storage unit 107. In this case, the information processing device 1 may have a transmitting / receiving unit, etc., for accessing the advertising information storage unit 107 as needed.

[0057] The advertising decision unit 108 determines advertising information to be transmitted to user terminal 2 corresponding to a user identifier. For example, the advertising decision unit 108 determines advertising information to be transmitted using visited store information corresponding to a user identifier. Visited store information corresponding to a user identifier refers to visited store information that has the same user identifier as the user identifier. For example, the advertising decision unit 108 obtains one or more store identifiers corresponding to a user identifier from the visited store information storage unit 101, and obtains one or more store attribute values ​​that are paired with each of the obtained store identifiers from the store information storage unit 102. Then, the advertising decision unit 108 uses the obtained store attribute values ​​to determine advertising information to be transmitted to user terminal 2 corresponding to the user identifier. Determining advertising information means, for example, obtaining advertising information or identifying advertising information. User terminal 2 corresponding to a user identifier refers to user terminal 2 used by the user indicated by the user identifier.

[0058] It is not specified when and how the advertising decision unit 108 decides which advertising information to transmit. For example, a predetermined date and time determined by the system provider of the information processing device 1, or a predetermined fixed or variable timing, may be determined as the timing for determining advertising information for each user identifier stored in the visited store information storage unit 101. Alternatively, a predetermined date and time determined by the manager of the store corresponding to each store identifier stored in the visited store information storage unit 101 may be determined as the timing for determining advertising information for each user identifier stored in the visited store information storage unit 101 that is associated with each store identifier. Furthermore, the advertising decision unit 108 may determine that it is time to determine advertising information for a user identifier corresponding to a user when the user location determination unit 105 determines that the user is in a predetermined store, or when the user determines that the user is not in a predetermined store. In addition, it may determine that it is time to determine advertising information for a user identifier corresponding to a user when a user enters or leaves a store. Furthermore, when the accounting information receiving unit 106 receives accounting information associated with a user identifier, it may determine that it is time to decide on advertising information for the user identifier corresponding to that user. Also, when a receiving unit (not shown) receives an instruction from a user terminal 2 requesting the transmission of advertising information, it may determine that it is time to decide on advertising information to transmit to this user terminal 2.

[0059] The advertising decision unit 108 retrieves, for example, one or more store identifiers corresponding to a single user identifier from one or more visited store information stored in the visited store information storage unit 101 by search. The one or more store identifiers retrieved by the advertising decision unit 108 for each user identifier may be all of the store identifiers corresponding to that user identifier, or they may be some of the store identifiers. When the advertising decision unit 108 retrieves some of the store identifiers, it does not matter how it determines which store identifiers to retrieve. For example, the advertising decision unit 108 may retrieve store identifiers from one or more of the most recent, predetermined number of visited store information corresponding to a single user identifier. Alternatively, for example, the advertising decision unit 108 may retrieve store identifiers from visited store information corresponding to a single user identifier, which is associated with the date and time on the day the store identifier is retrieved, or with a predetermined period such as within one year.

[0060] The advertising decision unit 108 retrieves, for example, one or more store attribute values ​​that correspond to one or more store identifiers obtained as described above, from the store information stored in the store information storage unit 102 by searching. Hereinafter, the one or more store attribute values ​​obtained in this manner may be referred to as store attribute values ​​obtained for one user identifier, or one or more store attribute values ​​obtained for one user identifier, etc.

[0061] It is not a question how the advertising decision unit 108 determines the advertising information to send to a user terminal 2 using the store attribute values ​​obtained for a user identifier as described above.

[0062] For example, the advertising decision unit 108 retrieves advertising information associated with one or more store attribute values ​​related to one or more store attribute values ​​obtained for one user identifier from the advertising information storage unit 107. The advertising information associated with one store attribute value is, for example, the advertising information stored in the advertising information storage unit 107 that is associated with one store attribute value, if the advertising information is stored in the advertising information storage unit 107 that is associated with one store attribute value. Also, if the advertising information is stored in the advertising information storage unit 107 that is associated with a store identifier, the advertising information associated with one store attribute value is the advertising information associated with one store attribute value via the store identifier, and specifically, the advertising information stored in the advertising information storage unit 107 that is associated with a store identifier that is associated with one store attribute value by the store information stored in the store information storage unit 102. The same applies to store attribute values ​​associated with advertising information.

[0063] For example, the advertising decision unit 108 identifies or acquires advertising information in the advertising information storage unit 107 that is associated with one or more store attribute values ​​that match one or more store attribute values ​​obtained for one user identifier. Here, "matching" means, for example, matching store attribute values ​​with the same attribute. Here, matching may be an exact match or a partial match. For example, if one or more store attribute values ​​of an attribute obtained for one user identifier match one or more store attribute values ​​of the same attribute associated with this attribute in the advertising information, then it may be considered that the store attribute value of an attribute obtained for one user identifier matches the store attribute value of that attribute corresponding to the advertising information. The advertising decision unit 108 may also identify or acquire advertising information from the advertising information storage unit 107 by searching or other means that is associated with store attribute values ​​that do not match the one or more store attribute values ​​obtained. Note that two or more store attribute values ​​matching may mean that all two or more store attribute values ​​match, or that at least some of the two or more store attribute values ​​match.

[0064] Furthermore, the advertising decision unit 108 may use one or more store attribute values ​​obtained for a user identifier and one or more store attribute values ​​associated with the advertising information to determine advertising information, or candidates thereof, to be sent to a user terminal 2, using known recommendation techniques. For example, the advertising decision unit 108 may detect one or more store attribute values ​​from among the one or more store attribute values ​​associated with each piece of advertising information that are similar enough to satisfy predetermined conditions to one or more store attribute values ​​obtained for a user identifier, and determine the advertising information associated with the detected one or more store attribute values ​​to be sent to a user terminal 2, or candidates thereof. For example, it may calculate the distance between a vector constructed using one or more store attribute values ​​obtained for a user identifier and a vector constructed using one or more store attribute values ​​associated with each piece of advertising information, and if the distance is short enough to satisfy predetermined conditions, it may determine the advertising information associated with these one or more store attribute values ​​to be sent to a user terminal 2, or candidates thereof. Publicly known recommendation technologies include, for example, collaborative filtering, recommendation technologies described in Japanese Patent No. 5064063, Japanese Patent No. 5140289, etc., and technologies described in books such as "Introduction to Information Recommendation Systems - Theory and Practice - (Kyoritsu Shuppan)".

[0065] The advertising information that the advertising decision unit 108 determines and transmits to a user terminal 2 may include advertising information associated with the store identifier of the store that the user using this user terminal 2 had just visited, or it may not include advertising information associated with the store identifier of the store that the user had just visited.

[0066] The following describes an example of the process by which the advertising decision unit 108 determines advertising information using one or more store attribute values ​​obtained for a single user identifier.

[0067] For example, the advertising decision unit 108 obtains store location information as a store attribute value obtained for a single user identifier, and obtains one or more pieces of advertising information associated with store location information indicating a nearby location to the location indicated by this store location information. For example, if the store location information is coordinates indicating the location of the store, the nearby store location information here is the coordinates whose distance from the coordinates indicated by the store location information obtained for a single user identifier is less than or equal to a threshold. Also, for example, if the store location information is a place name, landmark name, or address indicating the location of the store, the nearby store location information here is the place name or address that matches the place name, landmark name, or address indicated by the store location information obtained for a single user identifier. In this case, the address match only needs to match up to a desired level of the address (for example, the city / town / ward name, street number, etc.).

[0068] Furthermore, the advertising decision unit 108 acquires store type information as a store attribute value obtained for a single user identifier, and acquires one or more advertising pieces associated with store type information that has a predetermined relationship with this store type information. For example, store type information that has a predetermined relationship is matching store type information. The match here may be an exact match or a partial match. Also, store type information that has a predetermined relationship may not be matching store type information. For example, if the store type information that is a store attribute value obtained for a single user identifier is information indicating the type of business of the store, such as "French restaurant", the advertising decision unit 108 acquires one or more advertising pieces from the advertising information storage unit 107 that are "French restaurant" and whose corresponding store attribute value is store type information that matches this. Alternatively, for example, if the store type information, which is a store attribute value obtained for a single user identifier, is information indicating the type of business of the store, such as "Chinese restaurant," the advertising decision unit 108 may obtain one or more advertising pieces from the advertising information storage unit 107 in which the corresponding store type information, which is a store attribute value, is other than "Chinese restaurant."

[0069] Furthermore, the advertising decision unit 108 may, for example, use one or more pairs of store type information, which is store attribute information having a predetermined relationship, stored in a storage unit (not shown), to detect a pair in which the store type information of the store used immediately before matches the store type information of the store used immediately before obtained for a single user identifier, and obtain one or more advertising pieces of information associated with the store identifier of the recommended store of the detected pair. For example, if a storage unit (not shown) stores a set of store type information, such as recommending a "coffee shop" next when the most recently used store was a "French restaurant," then when the store type information of the most recently used store obtained for a user identifier is a "French restaurant," the advertising decision unit 108 may detect the stored set of information using the store type information of the most recently used store, "French restaurant," and obtain advertising information from the advertising information storage unit 107 that is associated with the store type information of the recommended store, "coffee shop," contained in the detected set of information.

[0070] Furthermore, for example, the advertising decision unit 108 obtains store rank information as a store attribute value obtained for a single user identifier, and obtains one or more advertising pieces associated with store rank information that has a predetermined relationship with this store rank information. For example, store rank information that has a predetermined relationship may be matching store rank information, or it may be store rank information that indicates a rank one predetermined number of racks higher. Also, store type information that has a predetermined relationship may be store type information that does not match. For example, if the store rank information that is a store attribute value obtained for a single user identifier is "A rank", the advertising decision unit 108 obtains one or more advertising pieces from the advertising information storage unit 107 whose corresponding store attribute value is "A rank" and matches this information. Alternatively, for example, if the store rank information that is a store attribute value obtained for a single user identifier is "A rank", the advertising decision unit 108 may obtain one or more advertising pieces from the advertising information storage unit 107 whose corresponding store attribute value is "S rank", which is one rank higher than this information. For example, if the store rank information corresponding to a single user identifier detected using the visited store information is multiple different store rank information, the advertising decision unit 108 may acquire the store rank information that is detected most frequently using the visited store information, the store rank information with the highest rank, or the store rank information with the lowest rank as the store rank information corresponding to a single user identifier.

[0071] For example, the advertising decision unit 108 obtains store usage time information as a store attribute value obtained for a single user identifier, and obtains one or more advertising pieces associated with store usage time information that have a predetermined relationship with this store usage time information. For example, store usage time information that has a predetermined relationship is matching store usage time information. The match here may be an exact match or a partial match. For example, two or more store usage time information that show overlapping time periods may be considered as matching store usage time information or as non-matching store usage time information. Also, store usage time information that has a predetermined relationship may be non-matching store usage time information. For example, if the store usage time information that is one or more store attribute values ​​obtained for a single user identifier indicates the time period "7 to 9", the advertising decision unit 108 obtains one or more advertising pieces from the advertising information storage unit 107 whose time period indicated by the corresponding store attribute value, store usage time information, is "7 to 9". Alternatively, for example, if the latest usage time information, which is a store attribute value obtained for a single user identifier, is "first meeting," which represents the preferred time of day for using the store in the order in which the store is used, the advertising decision unit 108 may obtain one or more advertising pieces from the advertising information storage unit 107, where the corresponding store attribute value, which is the store usage time information, is "second meeting," which represents the next time slot in the sequence following the time slot indicated by the above usage time information.

[0072] The advertising decision unit 108 may also acquire advertising information for currently operating stores using store business information associated with advertising information.

[0073] The advertising decision unit 108 may decide to transmit to the user terminal corresponding to a user identifier advertising information that is associated with the same store identifier as the store identifier in the visited store information corresponding to a user identifier. Alternatively, the advertising decision unit 108 may decide to transmit to the user terminal corresponding to a user identifier advertising information that is associated with a store identifier different from the store identifier in the visited store information corresponding to a user identifier.

[0074] For example, information such as store attribute values ​​used by the advertising decision unit 108 when deciding which advertising information to transmit, rules for acquiring advertising information, and conditions used when acquiring advertising information may be predetermined by rule information predetermined in a storage unit (not shown). The advertising decision unit 108 may, for example, read rule information as appropriate when deciding which advertising information to transmit, and determine which advertising information to transmit according to the rules indicated by the read rule information.

[0075] Determining advertising information can be thought of as, for example, constructing a search expression to search for desired advertising information. For example, the advertising determination unit 108 may obtain store type information as a store attribute value obtained for a single user identifier, and construct a search expression to search for one or more pieces of advertising information associated with store type information that has a predetermined relationship with store attribute values ​​(for example, matching store type information).

[0076] The advertising decision unit 108 may also acquire two or more store attribute values ​​with different attributes as store attribute values ​​acquired for a single user identifier, and determine advertising information associated with two or more store attribute values ​​that have a predetermined relationship for each of these two or more store attribute values. For example, the advertising decision unit 108 may acquire "store location information," "store type information," and "store rank information" as store attribute values ​​acquired for a single user identifier, and determine the advertising information to be transmitted to be one or more pieces of advertising information associated with store location information indicating a location close to the location indicated by the acquired "store location information," which is associated with the same "store rank information" as the acquired "store rank information," and which is associated with "store type information" that is different from the acquired "store type information."

[0077] Furthermore, when the advertising decision unit 108 determines advertising information to be transmitted to a user terminal 2 associated with a user identifier, it is preferable that, if the user location determination unit 105 determines that the user indicated by this user identifier is in a predetermined store, the advertising decision unit 108 does not determine advertising information that is paired with a store identifier of a store different from the store in question to be transmitted to the user terminal 2. For example, by not transmitting advertising information that is paired with a store identifier of a store other than the store in which the user is determined to be, it is possible to avoid transmitting advertising information of other competing stores other than the store in which the user is determined to be. In this case, the advertising decision unit 108 may determine advertising information other than the advertising information that is paired with a store identifier of a store different from the store in which the user is determined to be, to be transmitted, or it may determine advertising information to be transmitted that excludes the advertising information that is paired with a store identifier of a store different from the store in which the user is determined to be, from the advertising information to be transmitted determined using one or more store attribute values ​​as described above.

[0078] Furthermore, when the advertising decision unit 108 determines advertising information to be transmitted to a user terminal 2 associated with a user identifier, if the user location determination unit 105 determines that the user indicated by this user identifier is in a predetermined store, the advertising decision unit 108 may determine advertising information paired with a store identifier of a different store to be transmitted to the user terminal 2. In this case, the advertising decision unit 108 may, for example, determine all or part of the advertising information paired with stores other than the store where the user is determined to be located to be transmitted, or it may determine to transmit only the advertising information paired with stores other than the store where the user is determined to be located, from among the advertising information to be transmitted determined using one or more store attribute values ​​as described above.

[0079] Furthermore, the advertising decision unit 108 may choose not to transmit advertising information that is paired with stores other than the store where the user is determined to be located, based on the store attribute values ​​determined using the store attribute values. This can be done as long as it ultimately avoids determining similar advertising information, and the procedure for doing so is not relevant. For example, the advertising decision unit 108 may, after selecting candidate advertising information to transmit using one or more store attribute values ​​from the visited store information having a user identifier for a single user, and one or more store attribute values ​​associated with the advertising information, choose not to transmit advertising information that is paired with store identifiers other than the store identifier of the store where the user is determined to be located, and instead choose to transmit other advertising information. Furthermore, from the advertising information stored in the advertising information storage unit 107, advertising information associated with a store identifier different from that of the store where the user is determined to be located may be excluded from the advertising information to be transmitted. From the excluded advertising information, the advertising information to be transmitted may be determined using one or more store attribute values ​​of the visited store information having a user identifier for a single user, and one or more store attribute values ​​associated with the selected advertising information. The same applies when the advertising determination unit 108 determines the advertising information to be transmitted that is paired with a store identifier of a store different from that of the store where the user is determined to be located, among the advertising information to be transmitted determined using the store attribute values.

[0080] Furthermore, the advertising decision unit 108 may determine the advertising information corresponding to the time of payment in response to the receipt of payment information. The advertising information corresponding to the time of payment is, for example, the advertising information that is sent to the user terminal 2 used by the user when the user pays the usage fee at the store or immediately afterward. Determining the advertising information in response to the receipt of payment information means that the advertising information may be determined when payment information is received, or it may be determined using the received payment information, or both. Determining the advertising information corresponding to the time of payment means, for example, determining the advertising information to be sent to the user terminal 2 as the advertising information corresponding to the time of payment.

[0081] The advertising decision unit 108 determines advertising information using, for example, one or more pieces of information from the time of accounting, the day of the week, or the accounting information itself, which correspond to the accounting information received by the accounting information receiving unit 106. For example, the advertising decision unit 108 obtains the time of accounting corresponding to the accounting information received by the accounting information receiving unit 106, and obtains one or more pieces of advertising information associated with this time and store usage time information or store business information that have a predetermined relationship. Here, store usage time information or store business information that have a predetermined relationship is, for example, store usage time information in which the time of accounting corresponding to the accounting information falls within the time period indicated by the store usage time information, or store business information in which it falls within the business hours indicated by the store business information. For example, the advertising decision unit 108 may obtain, for example, the time when the accounting information received by the accounting information receiving unit 106 was received from the accounting information receiving unit 106 as the time of accounting corresponding to the accounting information received by the accounting information receiving unit 106, or it may read the time of accounting contained in the accounting information from the accounting information. The same applies to the day of the week at the time of accounting, which corresponds to the accounting information described later.

[0082] Furthermore, for example, the advertising decision unit 108 obtains the day of the week at the time of payment corresponding to the payment information received by the payment information receiving unit 106, and obtains one or more advertising pieces of information associated with store usage time information or store business information that have a predetermined relationship with this day of the week. Here, store business information that has a predetermined relationship refers to, for example, store business information in which the day of the week at the time of payment matches one of the days of the week on which the store is open, as indicated by the store business information.

[0083] The advertising decision unit 108 may also acquire one or more pieces of advertising information associated with store usage time information or store business information that have a predetermined relationship with the combination of time and day of the week at the time of payment corresponding to the payment information.

[0084] Alternatively, for example, the advertising decision unit 108 may use the payment method information, such as the credit card number used by the user for the purchase, contained in the accounting information receiving unit 106, to determine advertising information associated with store attribute values ​​that indicate the same payment method is available.

[0085] Furthermore, for example, the advertising decision unit 108 may determine advertising information using the product name, service name, product type, and service type information contained in the accounting information received by the accounting information receiving unit 106. For example, the advertising decision unit 108 may determine advertising information to send to the user terminal 2 that is associated with store attribute values ​​that do not match this information. Alternatively, the advertising decision unit 108 may use this information and store attribute values ​​associated with the advertising information, which are information indicating the product name, service name, product type, and service type offered at the store, to determine advertising information using recommendation technology in the same manner as described above.

[0086] Furthermore, the advertising decision unit 108 may, for example, determine the corresponding advertising information at the time of payment from among the advertising information associated with store identifiers of stores other than the store where the payment was made. In other words, it may determine the advertising information of stores other than the store where the payment is made to be sent to the user terminal 2.

[0087] Furthermore, even when the advertising decision unit 108 determines the advertising information to be transmitted at the time of payment in response to the receipt of payment information, it may also obtain one or more store attribute values ​​using the visited store information, as described above, and further use the obtained store attribute values ​​to determine the advertising information to be transmitted at the time of payment.

[0088] Furthermore, the process of determining the corresponding advertising information at the time of payment in response to the receipt of payment information is not limited to the process described above.

[0089] The advertising decision unit 108 may also decide on advertising information by appropriately combining two or more processes for determining advertising information as described above. For example, the advertising decision unit 108 may decide on advertising information by appropriately combining one or more processes for determining advertising information in response to the receipt of accounting information as described above, and one or more processes for determining advertising information regardless of the receipt of accounting information as described above.

[0090] The advertising transmission unit 109 transmits advertising information to the user terminal 2. Specifically, the advertising transmission unit 109 transmits advertising information to the user terminal 2 corresponding to a user identifier determined by the advertising determination unit 108. Information specifying the user terminal 2 as the destination is obtained, for example, by searching or other means from information specifying the destination of user terminal 2 stored in association with user identifiers in a storage unit (not shown), using the user identifier corresponding to the destination user terminal 2. If the user identifier is information specifying the destination of user terminal 2, the advertising information can be transmitted using this destination information. Furthermore, when transmitting advertising information determined according to accounting information transmitted from user terminal 2, information identifying the user terminal 2 that sent the accounting information received by the accounting information receiving unit 106 (for example, the source's IP address) may be used as information specifying the destination. Information specifying the destination may include, for example, the user's email address, the user's SMS or SNS account, the user's mobile phone number, or the IP address of user terminal 2.

[0091] Furthermore, if the advertising decision unit 108 obtains advertising information by constructing an advertising information search formula as described above, the advertising transmission unit 109 may transmit this advertising information search formula to the user terminal 2 as advertising information. The advertising transmission unit 109 can be implemented, for example, by wired or wireless communication means.

[0092] The instruction receiving unit 110 receives menu item instructions from the user, which are instructions for one or more menu items contained in the menu information. For example, as will be described later, the instruction receiving unit 110 receives menu item instructions from the user via the user terminal 2. A menu item instruction is an instruction for a menu item. The receipt of a menu item instruction can be thought of as, for example, the receipt of an order for a product or service corresponding to the menu item instruction.

[0093] The instruction receiving unit 110 may also accept further information related to the menu item instruction when it receives such an instruction. For example, the information related to the menu item instruction may be the order quantity of the item corresponding to the menu item instruction. The order quantity is information that specifies the quantity of the item to be ordered (for example, the number of items, weight, volume, etc.).

[0094] When receiving a menu item instruction from the user terminal 2, it is preferable that the instruction receiving unit 110 further receives, for example, the user identifier of the user who made the instruction for the menu item. The user who made the instruction for the menu item may be considered the same as the user who entered the menu item instruction. The user identifier of the user who made the instruction for the menu item may also be the user identifier of the user using the user terminal 2. The menu identifier and store identifier received here are, for example, the menu identifier and store identifier that the user terminal 2 obtains and transmits from the menu information used for menu output. Furthermore, the user identifier here may be the user identifier that the user terminal 2 received input from the user when receiving the menu item instruction, or it may be a user identifier that is pre-stored in a storage unit (not shown) of the user terminal 2 and read when the menu item instruction is received. As mentioned above, the menu information is associated with at least one of the menu identifier and the store identifier corresponding to the menu. Furthermore, menu identifiers and store identifiers may be associated with each menu item, and in this case as well, it can be considered that at least one of the menu identifier and the store identifier corresponding to the menu is associated with the menu information.

[0095] Alternatively, instead of the user terminal 2, menu item instructions may be received via a menu output terminal (not shown) that displays menus using menu information. In this case, the menu output device may have a configuration similar to that of the user terminal 2, for example.

[0096] The reception here includes, for example, reception from an input means, reception of input signals transmitted from other devices, and reading information from a recording medium. For example, the instruction reception unit 110 receives menu item instructions from a user via the user terminal 2. For example, if the user terminal 2, which has menu information, receives an instruction from a user to specify one or more menu items for a menu that has one or more menu items to output (for example, display) using this menu information, the instruction reception unit 110 receives the menu item instructions for these one or more menu items via the user terminal 2. Receiving menu item instructions via the user terminal 2 may mean, for example, receiving information from the user terminal 2 indicating that menu item instructions for one or more menu items are being entered, receiving an order target identifier indicating the target of the order to which the menu item subject to the instruction is associated, receiving information having a menu item identifier, etc., to indicate the menu item subject to the instruction, or receiving an instruction to execute a desired process associated with the menu item (for example, an instruction to execute a process to order a desired product or service). An order item identifier is, for example, an identifier associated with the product or service being ordered. An order item identifier is a code or name assigned to the order item. The concept of an order item identifier includes, for example, the product identifier of the product being ordered, or the service identifier of the service being ordered. A product identifier is a code or product name assigned to a product. A service identifier is a code or service name assigned to a service. A menu item identifier is, for example, an identifier of a menu item associated with the product or service being ordered, and is associated with, for example, the order item identifier.

[0097] However, the reception of menu item instructions, etc., by the instruction reception unit 110 is not limited to the above-mentioned types of reception.

[0098] The instruction receiving unit 110 is implemented, for example, by communication means (not shown) that receive information transmitted from the user terminal 2 or the menu output terminal, device drivers for input means such as touch panels or keyboards, and control software for the menu screen.

[0099] The Visited Store Information Storage Unit 111 stores in the Visited Store Information Storage Unit 101 the Visited Store information, which includes the user identifier of the user who entered the menu item instruction received by the Instruction Receiving Unit 110, and the store identifier corresponding to the menu information having the menu item corresponding to this menu item instruction. For example, when the Instruction Receiving Unit 110 receives the menu item instruction along with the store identifier and user identifier from the user terminal 2, the Visited Store Information Storage Unit 111 stores in the Visited Store Information Storage Unit 101 the Visited Store information, which includes this store identifier and user identifier. Also, for example, when the Instruction Receiving Unit 110 receives the menu item instruction along with the menu identifier and user identifier from the user terminal 2, the Visited Store Information Storage Unit 111 obtains the store identifier corresponding to the received menu identifier from the information that associates the menu identifier with the store identifier of the store corresponding to this menu identifier, which is stored in a storage unit (not shown), and stores in the Visited Store Information Storage Unit 101 the Visited Store information, which includes this store identifier and the user identifier received along with the menu item instruction. However, the process by which the visited store information storage unit 111 stores visited store information is not limited to the above-described process.

[0100] It is not necessary to specify what processing the information processing device 1 performs in response to a menu item instruction when the instruction receiving unit 110 of the information processing device 1 receives the menu item instruction. For example, an order processing unit (not shown) of the information processing device 1 performs order processing for the target order corresponding to the menu item corresponding to the menu item instruction in response to the receipt of the menu item instruction by the instruction receiving unit 110. Order processing is, for example, the process of acquiring information used to place an order and outputting it to the store or the store's kitchen. Outputting information to the store or kitchen can also be thought of as outputting information to an information processing terminal (not shown) used by the store or kitchen. Output here is, for example, transmission of information for placing an order to an order receiving unit or storage unit (not shown). Order processing here can be thought of as, for example, the process of placing an order with the store or the store's kitchen, or the process of the store or the store's kitchen receiving the order, or both.

[0101] Furthermore, the billing control unit (not shown) of the information processing device 1 may perform billing processing for the charges incurred for menu item instructions received by the instruction receiving unit 110, for example. The billing processing here is, for example, the process of acquiring billing information used to charge the user. The billing processing for the user is, for example, the process of acquiring billing information for the user. The billing information is, for example, information that identifies the amount to be charged. The information that identifies the amount to be charged only needs to be information that can ultimately identify the amount to be charged, and may be, for example, information that has the unit price of the ordered item and the number of ordered items, or the amount obtained by multiplying these. The billing information is, for example, the amount to be charged.

[0102] Furthermore, the billing process may also involve outputting the billing information obtained as described above. Outputting the billing information may include, for example, storing it in a storage unit (not shown), displaying it on a monitor, printing it using a printer, or sending it to a user terminal 2 or a menu output terminal (not shown), or any combination of two or more of these.

[0103] Furthermore, the billing process may be a process of billing the user for the amount specified in the billing information, or it may be a process of settling the payment for the amount specified in the billing information with the user. The billing process may be a process of presenting the amount specified in the billing information to the user as the billed amount, or a process of issuing an invoice. The billing process may be a process of presenting the amount specified in the billing information to the user as the billed amount, or a process of issuing an invoice. The settlement process for the amount specified in the billing information may be a process of deducting the amount specified in the billing information from the user's credit card, electronic money, prepaid card, bank account, etc. Information such as the user's credit card number, electronic money identifier, and bank account number used for this settlement may be stored in advance in a storage unit (not shown) associated with a user identifier, for example, and when processing a settlement for a particular user, this information may be read out as appropriate using the user identifier of that particular user.

[0104] User terminal 2 is an information terminal device used by the user. User terminal 2 can be implemented as, for example, a computer, a multi-functional mobile phone such as a smartphone, a tablet device, or a mobile phone.

[0105] The terminal receiving unit 201 receives, for example, advertising information transmitted from the information processing device 1. This advertising information may also be a search query for advertising information. The terminal receiving unit 201 may also receive other information. For example, the terminal receiving unit 201 may receive menu information from the information processing device 1 or other server devices (not shown). It may also store the received menu information in a storage unit (not shown). The menu information may include, for example, a store identifier for the store that provides the products or services indicated by the menu. The terminal receiving unit 201 may store the received advertising information and other information in a storage unit (not shown). The terminal receiving unit 201 can be implemented using wired or wireless communication means.

[0106] The terminal display unit 202 displays advertisements on a monitor (not shown) or the like, for example, using the advertisement information received by the terminal receiving unit 201. For example, when the terminal reception unit 203, described later, receives an operation to display advertisement information, the terminal display unit 202 displays the advertisement information. Displaying advertisement information can also be considered as displaying advertisements using the advertisement information. If the advertisement information received by the terminal receiving unit 201 is an advertisement information search formula, the terminal display unit 202 may use this search formula to perform a search from a storage unit (not shown) of the user terminal 2, similar to the advertisement information storage unit 107 described above, to obtain the advertisement information, and then display the advertisement using the obtained advertisement information. Alternatively, the search formula may be sent to a server device (not shown) having a storage unit (not shown) similar to the advertisement information storage unit 107 described above to perform a search, and the advertisement information transmitted from this server device as the search result and received by the terminal receiving unit 201 may be displayed by the terminal display unit 202.

[0107] The terminal display unit 202 may also display information other than that described above. For example, a screen used as an input interface for receiving operations to transmit accounting information may be displayed using information pre-stored in a storage unit (not shown). The terminal display unit 202 may also display a menu having one or more menu items using menu information received by the terminal receiver unit 201 or menu information pre-stored in a storage unit (not shown). The advertising information and other information displayed by the terminal display unit 202 that received by the terminal receiver unit 201 may also be information received by the terminal receiver unit 201 and stored in a storage unit (not shown).

[0108] The terminal display unit 202 may or may not have a display device. The terminal display unit 202 can be implemented by driver software for a display device, or by a combination of a display device and its driver software.

[0109] The terminal reception unit 203 receives input from the user. Reception here refers to, for example, receiving input from an input means. The terminal reception unit 203 may, for example, receive an operation to display advertising information received by the terminal receiving unit 201. The terminal reception unit 203 may, for example, receive an operation to transmit payment information. An operation to transmit payment information is, for example, an operation to instruct the user to make a payment, or an operation to input and transmit the user's credit card number, etc.

[0110] Furthermore, the terminal reception unit 203 may receive instructions regarding menu items via the menu displayed by the terminal display unit 202. Instructions regarding menu items may be considered, for example, an operation to order a product or service indicated by the menu item. The terminal reception unit 203 may also receive input of a user identifier and information regarding the product to be ordered (for example, information specifying the quantity of the product). The input means for the terminal reception unit 203 can be anything, such as a touch panel, keyboard, mouse, or menu screen. The terminal reception unit 203 may or may not have input means. The terminal reception unit 203 can be implemented, for example, by a device driver for an input means such as a touch panel or keyboard, or by control software for a menu screen.

[0111] The location information acquisition unit 204 acquires the location information of the user terminal 2, which is its own device. This location information may be considered as the location information of the user using the user terminal 2. The location information acquisition unit 204 acquires the location information using, for example, GPS (Global Positioning System). The location information acquisition unit 204 may also acquire the location information using, for example, a configuration that acquires the location information of a mobile phone from the positional relationship with multiple base stations. Note that the process for acquiring location information is not limited to the above, and any processing or means that can be used in ordinary portable information processing terminals can be used.

[0112] The timing of the location information acquisition unit 204's acquisition of location information is not restricted. For example, the location information acquisition unit 204 may repeatedly acquire location information at fixed or irregular intervals, or it may acquire location information at a predetermined time. Furthermore, the terminal receiving unit 201, etc., may acquire location information when it receives an instruction from the information processing device 1, etc., requesting the transmission of location information.

[0113] The location information acquisition unit 204 is implemented using means necessary to acquire the location information described above, such as a GPS transceiver. The location information acquisition unit 204 may also have drivers and control software to control these means.

[0114] The terminal transmission unit 205 transmits the location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit 204 to the information processing device 1. For example, the terminal transmission unit 205 transmits the location information in association with the user identifier of the user using the user terminal 2. As described above, the user identifier may be the terminal identifier of the user terminal used by the user. The terminal transmission unit 205 may, for example, read a user identifier that has been pre-stored in a storage unit (not shown) as appropriate, and transmit it in association with the location information.

[0115] Furthermore, the terminal transmission unit 205 transmits accounting information to the information processing device 1 in response to an operation to transmit accounting information received by the terminal reception unit 203. For example, the terminal transmission unit 205 may transmit accounting information associated with a user identifier, similar to location information. The terminal transmission unit 205 may also transmit accounting information that includes the time and day of the week when the terminal reception unit 203 received the operation to transmit accounting information, as information indicating the time and day of the week at the time of accounting. Alternatively, the terminal transmission unit 205 may transmit accounting information that includes the time and day of the week when accounting information is to be transmitted, as information indicating the time and day of the week at the time of accounting. The time and day of the week can be obtained from, for example, a clock or calendar (not shown).

[0116] The terminal transmission unit 205 may also transmit information other than that described above. For example, when the terminal reception unit 203 receives instructions for one or more menu items, the terminal transmission unit 205 transmits information corresponding to these instructions to the information processing device 1. The information corresponding to instructions for one or more menu items may be, for example, information indicating that instructions for one or more menu items have been received, or it may be the menu item identifier of the menu item for which the instructions were received. Furthermore, when transmitting information corresponding to instructions received for one or more menu items, for example, information received from the user in relation to one menu item (for example, a user identifier, information indicating the target order quantity, or information indicating the target gift recipient) may be transmitted in association with the information indicating that the menu item instructions were received, or the menu identifier or store identifier that has (or is associated with) the menu information corresponding to the menu item for which the instructions were received may be transmitted, or the user identifier entered by the user when inputting instructions for a menu item, or the user identifier stored in a storage unit (not shown), may be transmitted in association with the information indicating that the menu item instructions were received. The user identifier may be the terminal identifier of the user terminal 2 used by the user. The terminal transmission unit 205 can be implemented by wired or wireless communication means, etc.

[0117] Next, an example of the operation of the information processing device 1 of the information processing system 1000 will be explained using the flowchart in Figure 2.

[0118] (Step S101) The location information receiving unit 103 determines whether or not it has received location information from the user terminal 2. If it has received it, the process proceeds to step S102. If it has not received it, the process proceeds to step S103.

[0119] (Step S102) The location information receiving unit 103 stores the location information received in step S101 in a storage unit (not shown) in association with the user identifier received along with the location information. If there is already location information stored in association with the same user identifier, that location information is updated with the location information received in step S101. Then, the process returns to step S101.

[0120] (Step S103) The advertising decision unit 108 determines whether or not it is time to send advertising information. The advertising decision unit 108 may determine in any way whether or not it is time to send advertising information. For example, it may determine that it is time to send when it receives an instruction to send from the system provider of the information processing device 1. Alternatively, for example, the advertising decision unit 108 may use a clock or the like to determine if the date and time for sending predetermined advertising information has arrived, and if so, it may determine that it is time to send. If it is time to send, the unit proceeds to step S104; otherwise, it proceeds to step S111.

[0121] (Step S104) The advertising decision unit 108 assigns 1 as the value of counter m.

[0122] (Step S105) The advertising decision unit 108 determines whether the visited store information having the m-th user identifier is stored in the visited store information storage unit 101. If it is stored, it obtains the user identifier of the m-th user and proceeds to step S106. If it is not stored, it returns to step S101.

[0123] (Step S106) The user location determination unit 105 determines whether the m-th user is in one or more specific stores. Specifically, the user location determination unit 105 obtains the latest location information associated with the m-th user identifier from the location information stored in a storage unit (not shown) by the location information receiving unit 103 in step S102. Then, it determines whether this location information is included in the area indicated by the store area information of each store stored in the store area storage unit 104. If it is included, it determines that the user is in a specific store, obtains the store identifier corresponding to the included store area information, and proceeds to step S107. If it is not included in the area of ​​any store, it determines that the user is not in a specific store and proceeds to step S108.

[0124] (Step S107) The advertising decision unit 108 performs a process to determine which advertising information to send to the user terminal 2 of the m-th user from among the advertising information other than the advertising information stored in the advertising information storage unit 107 that is associated with the store identifier of a store other than the store where the m-th user was determined to be located in step S106. For example, the advertising decision unit 108 may decide that the advertising information stored in the advertising information storage unit 107 that is associated with the store identifier of the store where the m-th user was determined to be located in step S106 will be sent to the user terminal 2 of the m-th user, or it may decide that it will send advertising information that is not associated with any store.

[0125] Alternatively, for example, the advertising decision unit 108 may determine advertising information to send to the user terminal 2 of the m-th user by using one or more store attribute values ​​from the visited store information having the user identifier of the m-th user and one or more store attribute values ​​associated with the advertising information, from among the advertising information stored in the advertising information storage unit 107 that is associated with the store identifier of the store where the m-th user is determined to be located in step S106. Then, the process proceeds to step S109.

[0126] (Step S108) The advertising determination unit 108 uses one or more store attribute values ​​in the visited store information having the user identifier of the m-th user to determine the advertising information to be sent to the user terminal 2 used by the user indicated by this user identifier from the advertising information stored in the advertising information storage unit 107. Here, unlike step S107, the advertising information to be sent is determined from among the advertising information associated with the store identifier of the store where the user is located and the advertising information associated with the store identifier of a store where the user is not located.

[0127] (Step S109) The advertising transmission unit 109 transmits the advertising information determined in step S107 or step S108 to the user terminal 2 used by the m-th user. If there is no advertising information determined in step S107 or step S108, the unit does not transmit advertising information and proceeds to step S110.

[0128] (Step S110) The advertising decision unit 108 increments the value of counter m by 1. Then, it returns to step S105.

[0129] (Step S111) The accounting information receiving unit 106 determines whether or not it has received accounting information. If it has received it, it proceeds to step S112; otherwise, it proceeds to step S114.

[0130] (Step S112) The advertising decision unit 108 determines the advertising information to be transmitted to the user terminal 2, which is the source of the accounting information, at the time of payment. For example, the advertising decision unit 108 may determine the advertising information to be transmitted to the user terminal 2 from among the advertising information associated with the store identifier of a store other than the store that was the subject of payment, as the advertising information to be transmitted at the time of payment. The advertising decision unit 108 may further determine the advertising information to be transmitted at the time of payment by using one or more store attribute values ​​that have a user identifier of the user using the user terminal 2, which is the source of the accounting information, and one or more store attribute values ​​associated with the advertising information.

[0131] (Step S113) The advertising transmission unit 109 transmits the advertising information determined in step S112 to the user terminal 2, which is the source of the accounting information. Then the process returns to step S101.

[0132] (Step S114) The instruction receiving unit 110 determines whether it has received the menu item instruction along with at least one of the menu identifier and store identifier, and the user identifier. If it has received them, it proceeds to step S115; otherwise, it returns to step S101.

[0133] (Step S115) The visited store information storage unit 111 stores the visited store information in the visited store information storage unit 101, which corresponds to at least one of the menu identifier and store identifier received in step S114, and the user identifier. For example, if a store identifier is received in step S114, the visited store information storage unit 111 stores the visited store information in the visited store information storage unit 101, which has this store identifier and the user identifier received above. Also, for example, if a menu identifier is received in step S114, the visited store information storage unit 111 obtains the store identifier corresponding to the received menu identifier from one or more pieces of information having a menu identifier and a store identifier that are stored in advance in a storage unit (not shown), and stores the visited store information in the visited store information storage unit 101, which has the obtained store identifier and the user identifier received above. Then, the process returns to step S101. The information processing device 1 may also perform order processing, billing processing, etc., using the menu information etc. received in step S114, but the explanation of these processes is omitted here.

[0134] In the flowchart of Figure 2, step S103, etc., determines whether it is time to send advertising information to all users, and if so, sends the advertising information to each user. However, the timing and triggers for determining whether or not to send advertising information can be set individually for each user (for example, by setting different timings and triggers individually), so that the advertising decision unit 108 determines whether it is time to send advertising information for each individual user. In this case, the advertising decision unit 108 only needs to determine the advertising information to send to users for whom it has been determined that it is time to send advertising information, and then send the determined advertising information.

[0135] Furthermore, in the flowchart of Figure 2, when the advertising transmission unit 109 receives location information from a user terminal 2, it may determine that it is time to transmit advertising information to this user terminal 2, decide which advertising information to transmit to this user terminal 2, and then transmit the determined advertising information. In this case, the user location determination unit 105 may use the received location information to determine whether the user is in a specific store. It is preferable that the advertising transmission unit 109 stores and manages information that associates the user identifier, which is the destination of the advertising information, with the transmitted advertising information in a storage unit or the like (not shown) to prevent transmitting advertising information to the same user more than once.

[0136] Furthermore, in step S107 of the flowchart in Figure 2, the advertising information to be sent to the user terminal 2 is determined from the advertising information associated with the store identifier of the store where the user is located. However, in step S107, the advertising determination unit 108 may also determine the advertising information to be sent to the user terminal 2 from the advertising information associated with the store identifiers of stores other than the store where the user is located.

[0137] In the flowchart in Figure 2, processing is terminated by power-off or processing termination interrupts.

[0138] Next, the main operations of the user terminal 2 will be briefly explained. When the terminal receiving unit 201 receives advertising information from the information processing device 1, the terminal display unit 202 displays the advertisement indicated by the received advertising information. Also, when the terminal reception unit 203 receives an operation to transmit accounting information, the terminal transmission unit 205 transmits the accounting information to the information processing device 1 in association with the user identifier, according to the received operation. In addition, when it is time to acquire location information, the location information acquisition unit 204 acquires the location information of the user terminal 2, and the terminal transmission unit 205 transmits the acquired location information to the information processing device 1 in association with the user identifier. Furthermore, the terminal display unit 202 may display menu information having one or more menu items using menu information stored in a storage unit (not shown), and the terminal reception unit 203 may receive an instruction regarding the menu items of this menu, and the terminal transmission unit 205 may transmit information indicating that an instruction regarding this menu item has been received to the information processing device 1 in association with the user identifier and at least one of the menu identifier and store identifier associated with the menu information. However, the operation of user terminal 2 is not limited to the operations described above.

[0139] The specific operation of the information processing system 1000 in this embodiment will be described below. A conceptual diagram of the information processing system 1000 is shown in Figure 3. Here, the information processing device 1 is assumed to be a server device, and the user terminal 2 is assumed to be a so-called smartphone. Furthermore, the explanation will be given using the example of a restaurant as the store.

[0140] The location information acquisition unit 204 of the user terminal 2 carried by user A acquires the location information of user terminal 2 using a GPS system or the like at predetermined intervals. Then, the terminal transmission unit 205 transmits the location information "(x101, y101)" acquired by the location information acquisition unit 204, associating it with the user identifier "U001" of user A, which is stored in a storage unit (not shown). Note that x101 is an arbitrary value representing latitude, and y101 is an arbitrary value representing longitude.

[0141] When the location information receiving unit 103 receives location information "(x101, y101)" associated with user A's user identifier "U001" from user terminal 2 used by user A, it checks the storage unit (not shown) to see if there is location information stored in association with user identifiers that matches the received user identifier "U001". If location information is found, the unit updates (overwrites, for example) the location information already stored in association with user identifier "U001" with the newly received location information "(x101, y101)". If no location information is found, the unit appends a record (row) containing the received location information and the user identifier associated with this location information.

[0142] Figure 4 shows a user location management table that manages the association between user identifiers and location information stored in a storage unit (not shown). The user location management table has attributes called "User ID," which is the user identifier, and "Location," which is the location information. The attribute value of "Location" is assumed to be coordinates. The values ​​x10², y10², etc., are assumed to be arbitrary values ​​representing latitude and longitude. Here, we assume that the latest user location management table updated with the above location information is shown.

[0143] Here, let's assume that the current date and time is one of the predetermined dates and times for sending advertising information. This date and time is pre-stored, for example, in a storage unit (not shown) of the information processing device 1.

[0144] Figure 5(a) shows the Visited Store Information Management Table, which manages the visited store information stored in the Visited Store Information Storage Unit 101. The Visited Store Information Management Table has attributes called "User ID," which is a user identifier, and "Store ID," which is the store identifier of the store that the user visited and placed an order using menu information.

[0145] Figure 6 shows a store information management table that manages the store information stored in the store information storage unit 102. The store information management table has attributes called "Store ID," which is a store identifier, and "Store Attributes," which are store attribute values. The "Store Attributes" further have attributes called "Location," which is store location information, "Type," which is store type information, "Rank," which is store rank information, and "Operating Time," which is operating time information.

[0146] Figure 7 shows an advertising information management table for managing advertising information stored in the advertising information storage unit 107. The advertising information management table has attributes such as "Store ID," which is a store identifier; "Advertisement," which is the advertising information; and "Transmit," which is a flag indicating whether or not it can be transmitted. Here, "Advertisement" is assumed to be the file name of the advertising image data. Here, "Transmit" has a value of "1" indicating that the advertising information cannot be transmitted and a value of "0" indicating that it can be transmitted. The default value of "Transmit" is assumed to be "0". The attribute value of "Transmit" is assumed to be updated from "0" to "1" by an operation performed by the system provider, etc., when the advertising information distribution period ends.

[0147] Figure 8 shows a store area management table that manages store area information stored in the store area storage unit 104. The store area management table has attributes called "Store ID," which is a store identifier, and "Area," which is store area information. Here, the attribute value of "Area" is assumed to be multiple coordinates that indicate the outline of the area. Note that x01, x02, etc. are arbitrary values ​​representing latitude, and y01, y02, etc. are arbitrary values ​​representing longitude.

[0148] The advertising decision unit 108 retrieves user identifiers, which are attribute values ​​of "User ID" in the visited store information management table shown in Figure 5(a), by performing unique processing to ensure there are no duplicates, and then obtains the value of the first "User ID" from among the retrieved user identifiers. Here, as an example, it is assumed that "U001", which is the first in the array when the retrieved user identifiers are sorted in ascending order of strings, is obtained as the first user identifier.

[0149] Next, the user location determination unit 105 detects a record (row) in the latest user location management table shown in Figure 4 where the "User ID" value is "U001", and obtains the "Location" attribute value "(x101, y101)" of the detected record as the location information of the current location of the user whose user identifier is "U001". Then, it sequentially determines whether the location indicated by this location information "(x101, y101)" is included in any of the areas indicated by the "Area" attribute value of each record (row) in the store area management table shown in Figure 8. Here, it is assumed that the location indicated by the location information "(x101, y101)" is not included in any of the areas. Therefore, the advertisement determination unit 108 determines that the user whose user identifier is "U001" is not in one or more specific stores, and performs a process to determine the advertisement information to send to the user terminal 2 used by the user whose user identifier is "U001" from the advertisement information that is not associated with the store identifier of a specific store.

[0150] Here, as an example, we will explain a case in which the advertising decision unit 108 obtains one or more store identifiers corresponding to one user identifier from the visited store information storage unit 101, obtains store attribute values ​​such as store location information, store type information, and store rank information that are paired with each of the obtained one or more store identifiers from the store information storage unit 102, and determines the advertising information associated with the store location information, store type information, and store rank information that match the obtained store attribute values ​​to be transmitted to the user terminal 2 corresponding to the above-mentioned user identifier.

[0151] Here, if the store location information obtained for a single user identifier has multiple attribute values, it is assumed that the store location information obtained for a single user identifier matches the store location information associated with the advertising information if one of those values ​​matches. The same applies to the store type information and store rank information obtained for a single user identifier. Furthermore, the store location information, store type information, and store rank information associated with the advertising information are those obtained by searching the store information storage unit 102 using the store identifier associated with the advertising information.

[0152] The advertising decision unit 108 detects a record (row) in the visited store information management table shown in Figure 5(a) where the "User ID" is "U001", and obtains the store identifier, which is the attribute value of the "Store ID" of the detected record. Here, let's assume that store identifiers "S001" and "S005" have been obtained.

[0153] Next, in the store information management table shown in Figure 6, all records whose "Store ID" matches either "S001" or "S005" are detected, and the attribute values ​​for "Location," "Type," and "Rank" are obtained from the detected records. When obtaining the data, for example, a unique processing is performed to ensure that there are no duplicate attribute values. Here, it is assumed that "Ginza" is obtained as the attribute value for "Location," "French" and "Bar" as the attribute values ​​for "Type," and "A" as the attribute value for "Rank."

[0154] Furthermore, the advertising decision unit 108 detects records (rows) in the advertising information management table shown in Figure 7 where the value of "Send" is "0," that is, where advertising information can be sent, and obtains the store identifier, which is the attribute value of the "Store ID" of the detected record. Here, let's assume that "S002," "S003," "S004," and "S005" were obtained as store identifiers.

[0155] Next, the advertising decision unit 108 checks the store information management table shown in Figure 6 and detects a record in which the value of "Store ID" matches "S002," one of the acquired "Store IDs." The unit then determines whether the "Location" attribute value "Ginza," the "Type" attribute value "French," and the "Rank" attribute value "A" of the detected record match the "Location" attribute value "Ginza," the "Type" attribute value "French" or "Bar," and the "Rank" attribute value "A," respectively, obtained above for the user identifier "U001." In this case, all attribute values ​​match, so the advertising decision unit 108 determines that the advertising information with the file name "S0020022.jpg," indicated by the "Advertisement" attribute value of the record in the advertising information management table shown in Figure 6 where the "Store ID" attribute value is "S002," will be the advertising information to be sent to the user terminal 2 used by the user indicated by the user identifier "U001."

[0156] Furthermore, the same judgment process is performed on the attribute values ​​of the remaining "Store IDs" obtained from the advertising information management table above, for which the process of determining advertising information has not yet been performed. For example, the advertising determination unit 108 detects a record in the store information management table shown in Figure 6 in which the value of "Store ID" matches "S003," which is the attribute value of a remaining "Store ID" for which the process of determining advertising information has not yet been performed. The unit then determines whether the "Location" attribute value "Roppongi," the "Type" attribute value "French," and the "Rank" attribute value "B" of the detected record match the "Location" attribute value "Ginza," the "Type" attribute value "French" or "Bar," and the "Rank" attribute value "A," respectively, obtained for the user identifier "U001" above. In this case, because the "location" and "rank" do not match, the advertising decision unit 108 does not determine that the advertising information indicated by the "Advertisement" attribute value of the record in the advertising information management table shown in Figure 6, where the "Store ID" attribute value is "S003", will be the advertising information to be sent to the user terminal 2 used by the user indicated by the user identifier "U001". Similarly, for the remaining "Store ID" attribute values ​​"S004" and "S005", since the corresponding "Type" attribute values ​​are neither "French" nor "Bar", the advertising information corresponding to these store identifiers will not be determined to be the advertising information to be sent.

[0157] The advertising transmission unit 109 then reads the advertising information, whose file name is "S0020022.jpg" as determined above, from the advertising information storage unit 107 and transmits it to the user terminal 2 used by the user indicated by the user identifier "U001". For example, it reads the address information of the user terminal 2 used by the user indicated by the user identifier "U001", which is stored in association with the user identifier "U001" in a storage unit (not shown), and uses the read address information to transmit the read advertising information.

[0158] The terminal receiving unit 201 of user terminal 2 of user A, whose user identifier is "U001", receives advertising information with the file name "S0020022.jpg" from the advertising transmission unit 109 of the information processing device 1. Then, the terminal display unit 202 uses the received advertising information to display the advertisement on the monitor 202a of user terminal 2 of user A, as shown in Figure 9.

[0159] Although this explanation describes the case where only one piece of advertising information is received, if multiple pieces of advertising information (for example, multiple pieces of advertising information associated with multiple stores) are received, the terminal display unit 202 will display the advertisement corresponding to each piece of advertising information. For example, multiple advertisements may be displayed side by side, or they may be displayed in a way that allows switching between them.

[0160] Furthermore, the advertising decision unit 108 obtains "U002," which is the second "User ID" value, from among the "User IDs" extracted from the visited store information management table shown in Figure 5(a) after performing unique processing to ensure there are no duplicates.

[0161] Next, the user location determination unit 105 detects a record (row) in the latest user location management table shown in Figure 4 where the value of "User ID" is "U002", and obtains the "Location" attribute value of the detected record, "(x102, y102)", as the location information of the current location of the user whose user identifier is "U002". Then, it sequentially determines whether the location indicated by this location information "(x102, y102)" is included in any of the areas indicated by the "Area" attribute value of each record (row) in the store area management table shown in Figure 8. Here, it is assumed that the location indicated by the location information "(x102, y102)" was included in the area indicated by the "Area" attribute value of the record where the "Store ID" is "S004". Therefore, the advertising decision unit 108 determines that the user with user identifier "U001" is at the store indicated by store identifier "S004", and refrains from acquiring advertising information associated with store identifiers other than "S004". Specifically, from the advertising information management table shown in Figure 7, excluding records (rows) where the "Store ID" is not "S004", the advertising information with the attribute value "Send" is determined to be the advertising information to be sent to the user terminal 2 used by the user with user identifier "U002" from the records where the attribute value of "Send" is "0". In this case, the advertising information with the file name "S0040018.jpg" is determined to be the advertising information to be sent to the user terminal 2 used by the user with user identifier "U002".

[0162] The advertising transmission unit 109 then reads the advertising information with the file name "S0040018.jpg" from the advertising information storage unit 107 and transmits it to the user terminal 2 used by the user indicated by the user identifier "U002".

[0163] The terminal receiving unit 201 of user terminal 2 of user A, whose user identifier is "U002", receives advertising information with the file name "S0040018.jpg" from the advertising transmission unit 109 of the information processing device 1, and the terminal display unit 202 displays the received advertising information in the same manner as described above.

[0164] The advertising decision unit 108 further processes the values ​​of the third and subsequent "User IDs" extracted from the visited store information management table shown in Figure 5(a) after performing unique processing to ensure there are no duplicates, and then retrieves and transmits advertising information as described above. The explanation of the processing for the third and subsequent "User IDs" is omitted here.

[0165] If the advertising decision unit 108 is unable to determine the advertising information to transmit, the information processing device 1 will not transmit the advertising information.

[0166] Here, let's assume that user C, whose user identifier is "U003," was using a store with the store identifier "S002," and in order to make a payment, user C displayed a payment screen on the terminal display unit 202 of the user terminal 2 used by user C, and operated the touch panel (not shown) to enter the credit card number of the credit card used by user C on this screen and entered the information necessary to make a payment. In this case, the terminal reception unit 203 receives the entered information, and the terminal transmission unit 205 transmits payment information to the information processing device 1, which is information that identifies it as the time of payment and includes the entered credit card number, the user identifier "U003" of user C pre-stored in a storage unit (not shown), and the store identifier "S002" of the store that user C used and which is the target of the payment.

[0167] When the accounting information receiving unit 106 of the information processing device 1 receives accounting information containing the user identifier "U003" and the store identifier "S002" of user C, it obtains the reception time from a clock (not shown) as the accounting time corresponding to the accounting information. For example, let's assume the time the accounting information was received was "21:15".

[0168] Since the accounting information receiving unit 106 has received accounting information, the advertising decision unit 108 performs the process of acquiring advertising information. Here, as an example, when accounting information is received, the advertising decision unit 108 acquires one or more store identifiers corresponding to the user identifier of the user who sent the accounting information from the visited store information storage unit 101, acquires store rank information which is a store attribute value paired with each of the acquired one or more store identifiers from the store information storage unit 102, acquires the time of accounting corresponding to the accounting information, the store identifier of the store that is the subject of accounting in the accounting information, and the store location information associated with this store identifier by the store information, and determines that the advertising information associated with the store rank information that matches the acquired store rank information, which includes store usage time information including the time of accounting corresponding to the acquired accounting information, store identifiers other than the acquired store identifier, and store location information that matches the acquired store location information, will be the advertising information to be sent to the user terminal 2 of the user who sent the accounting information.

[0169] The advertising decision unit 108 obtains the user identifier "U003" from the accounting information and retrieves the attribute values ​​"S001," "S002," and "S005" of the "Store ID" in the visited store information management table shown in Figure 5(a) for records where the "User ID" matches "U003." Then, from the store information management table shown in Figure 6, it retrieves the store rank information, which is the attribute value of "Rank," from the records (rows) where the "Store ID" attribute value matches the "S001," "S002," and "S005" obtained here, by performing a unique processing to ensure there are no duplicates. Here, let's assume that "A" is obtained as the store rank information. The advertising decision unit 108 also obtains the accounting time "21:15" which corresponds to the accounting information obtained by the accounting information receiving unit 106. The advertising decision unit 108 also obtains the store identifier "S002" of the store to be accounted for from the accounting information. Furthermore, the advertising decision unit 108 retrieves the store location information "Ginza," which is the attribute value of the "Location" of the record in the store information management table shown in Figure 6 where the "Store ID" matches the store identifier "S002" obtained from the accounting information. This store location information is the store location information of the store where the user who made the payment was at the time of payment.

[0170] The advertising decision unit 108 retrieves the "Store ID" attribute value from the records in the advertising information management table shown in Figure 7 where the "Send" value is "0", excluding the store identifier "S002" of the store subject to accounting obtained above. Here, it is assumed that "S003", "S004", and "S005" were obtained as store identifiers that are attribute values ​​of such "Store ID".

[0171] Next, the advertising decision unit 108 retrieves the attribute values ​​of "location," "rank," and "usage time" corresponding to the acquired store identifiers "S003," "S004," and "S005" from the store information management table shown in Figure 6. For each store identifier, it determines whether the acquired "location" matches "Ginza" acquired above, whether the acquired "rank" matches "A" acquired above, and whether the acquired "usage time" includes the time of payment "21:15" acquired above. If all conditions are met (i.e., they match or the values ​​are included), the advertising decision unit 108 acquires that store identifier. In this case, for the store identifier "S003," the corresponding "location" is "Roppongi" and not "Ginza," and the corresponding "rank" is "B" and not "A," so the advertising decision unit 108 does not acquire this store identifier "S003." Furthermore, regarding the store identifier "S004," the corresponding "location" is "Shinbashi" and not "Ginza," and the corresponding "usage time" is "19:00-21:00," which does not include the time of payment "21:15." Therefore, the advertising decision unit 108 does not acquire this store identifier "S004." On the other hand, regarding the store identifier "S005," the corresponding "location" matches "Ginza," the "rank" also matches "A," and the "usage time" is "21:00-24:00," which includes the time of payment "21:15." Therefore, the advertising decision unit 108 acquires this store identifier "S005." The advertising decision unit 108 then determines that the advertising information having the file name "S0050192.jpg," which is the attribute value of "Advertisement" for the record (row) where the "Store ID" is "S005" in the advertising information management table shown in Figure 7, will be the advertising information to be sent to the user terminal 2 used by the user whose user identifier is "U003." The advertising transmission unit 109 then reads the advertising information with the file name "S0050192.jpg" from the advertising information storage unit 107 and transmits it to the user terminal 2 used by the user whose user identifier is "U003".

[0172] The terminal receiving unit 201 of user terminal 2 of user C, whose user identifier is "U003", receives advertising information with the file name "S0050192.jpg" from the advertising transmission unit 109 of the information processing device 1, and the terminal display unit 202 displays the received advertising information on the monitor 202a as shown in Figure 10.

[0173] In this example, when accounting information is received, the advertising decision unit 108 obtains store rank information, which is a store attribute value corresponding to the user identifier in the accounting information, from the visited store information, and uses this store rank information to determine the advertising information to be sent to the user terminal 2 of the user indicated by the user identifier in the accounting information. However, the advertising decision unit 108 may choose not to use the store attribute value associated with the user identifier in the accounting information from the visited store information when determining the advertising information to be sent to the user terminal 2.

[0174] Next, we will describe an example of a process in which the information processing device 1 stores information about a user's visited stores in response to an order placed by the user using menu information.

[0175] If user A enters store F, whose store identifier is "S152", and performs an operation on user terminal 2 to display the menu using menu information associated with the store identifier "S152" of store F, which is stored in a storage unit (not shown), the terminal reception unit 203 of user terminal 2 will receive this operation, and the terminal display unit 202 will use the menu information associated with the store identifier "S152" to display the menus available for ordering at store F on monitor 202a, as shown in Figure 11.

[0176] Then, if user A presses button 150 to order "draft beer," one of the menu items, the terminal reception unit 203 receives this operation. The terminal transmission unit 205 then obtains the order target identifier "beer," which is the identifier of the order target corresponding to the menu item instructed by this operation, and transmits information to the information processing device 1 indicating that a menu item instruction for the menu item associated with this order target identifier "beer" has been received, by associating it with the store identifier "S152" associated with the menu information and the user identifier "U001" which is pre-stored in a storage unit (not shown).

[0177] The instruction receiving unit 110 of the information processing device 1 receives information from the user terminal 2 indicating that it has received an instruction regarding a menu item associated with the order target identifier "beer," as well as the store identifier "S152" and the user identifier "U001." Here, the receipt of the information indicating that it has received an instruction regarding a menu item associated with the order target identifier "beer" corresponds to the receipt of the menu item instruction.

[0178] A processing unit (not shown) stores order information in a storage unit (not shown) that includes the order target identifier "beer" corresponding to the menu item instruction received by the instruction receiving unit 110, the store identifier "S152" received above, the user identifier "U001", and the time of their reception, in order to perform order processing etc. in response to the receipt of a menu item instruction. The time of reception is obtained from a clock or the like (not shown).

[0179] Figure 12 shows an order management table that manages order information stored in a storage unit (not shown). The order management table contains a "Store ID" which is a store identifier, a "User ID" which is a user identifier, an "Order Target ID" which is an order target identifier, and a "Time" which is the time of receipt. Here, each record (row) represents order information. Processing using this order information is omitted here.

[0180] The Visited Store Information Storage Unit 111 determines whether the Visited Store Information, which has the store identifier "S152" and user identifier "U001" received by the Instruction Receiving Unit 110, is stored in the Visited Store Information Storage Unit 101. If it is not stored, it appends the Visited Store Information. Specifically, in the Visited Store Information Management Table shown in Figure 5(a), it determines whether a record is stored in which the "User ID" matches "U001" and the "Store ID" matches "S152". If it is not stored, it appends a record (row) in which the "User ID" is "U001" and the "Store ID" is "S152". If it is stored, it does not append. In this case, since no matching record is stored, the Visited Store Information record is appended. The appended Visited Store Information Management Table will look like Figure 5(b).

[0181] As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to provide advertising information tailored to the stores that the user actually used.

[0182] (Embodiment 2) In this embodiment, the visited store information further includes order details information relating to the order placed by a user identified by a user identifier in the visited store information using menu information for the store identified by the store identifier in the visited store information, and the advertising information to be transmitted to the user terminal corresponding to a user identifier is determined using the store identifier and order details information in the visited store information corresponding to a user identifier.

[0183] Figure 13 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information processing system 1001 of this embodiment. In the figure, the same reference numerals as in Figure 1 indicate the same or corresponding parts. The information processing system 1000a is the same as the information processing system 1000 described in the above embodiment, but with an information processing device 1a provided instead of the information processing device 1.

[0184] Information processing device 1a is an information processing device 1 in which a visited store information storage unit 101a is provided instead of a visited store information storage unit 101, an advertising information storage unit 107a is provided instead of an advertising information storage unit 107, an advertising decision unit 108a is provided instead of an advertising decision unit 108, and a visited store information storage unit 111a is provided instead of a visited store information storage unit 111.

[0185] The visited store information storage unit 101a stores one or more visited store information entries, each containing a store identifier corresponding to the menu information used by the user, order details information relating to the order placed by the user using this menu information, and the user identifier of the user. The order details information may be, for example, an order target identifier, which is an identifier of the product or service ordered by the user, or it may be information indicating attributes such as the type or classification, general name, brand name, or product name of the order target. The order details information may also be information such as calories, ingredients, and materials of the food or beverage ordered. The order details information contained in one visited store information entry may be order details information for one order target, or it may be order details information for multiple order targets. Furthermore, the order details information for one order target may consist of only one piece of information, or it may consist of multiple different pieces of information. The order details information may also contain information that associates the order target identifier with information indicating attributes of the order target indicated by this identifier. Furthermore, the order details information may also contain information that associates one or more attribute names and their attribute values ​​for the information that constitutes the order details information.

[0186] The advertising information storage unit 107a stores one or more advertising information, each associated with a store identifier and order details. For example, the advertising information storage unit 107a may store advertising information associated with one or more of the following: a store identifier for a restaurant, an order item identifier which is order details for food and beverages, information indicating attributes such as the type of order item, and information indicating calories. For example, the advertising information storage unit 107a may store wine advertising information associated with a store identifier for a specific restaurant that serves wine and order details indicating that the type of order item is wine. Alternatively, the advertising information storage unit 107a may store an order item identifier indicating a specific dish and a store identifier for a restaurant that serves this dish, associated with advertising information for frozen foods of this specific dish, or advertising information for ingredients such as vegetables and seasonings used in this specific area.

[0187] Furthermore, advertising information for sports gyms and fitness clubs may be stored in association with the store identifier of a specific restaurant and order details indicating calories.

[0188] Furthermore, the advertising information storage unit 107a may store one or more advertising information, each associated with store attribute information and order details information.

[0189] Furthermore, if the advertising information here is advertising information about a product, the advertising information may also be information for outputting an advertisement that contains components such as buttons for placing an order on an e-commerce site (not illustrated) for ordering the product, or an advertisement that contains a link to the order screen for the product on an e-commerce site (not illustrated) (for example, information written in a markup language such as HTML). By using such advertising information, a user who receives the advertising information can order the product indicated by the advertising information via mail order and have it delivered to their home by courier or other means. Furthermore, such advertising information may be used as the advertising information described in Embodiment 1 above.

[0190] Furthermore, if the advertising information here is for a store such as a restaurant, sports gym, or fitness center, the advertising information may also be information for outputting an advertisement that includes components such as buttons for receiving instructions to make a reservation at the store or instructions to become a member to use the store, or a link to the reservation screen of the store provided by a web server (not shown). By using such advertising information, a user who receives the advertising information can make a reservation at the store indicated by the advertising information via the advertisement. It should be noted that such advertising information may be used as the advertising information described in Embodiment 1 above.

[0191] The advertising decision unit 108a uses the store identifier and order details information contained in the visited store information corresponding to a user identifier to determine the advertising information to be transmitted to the user terminal 2 corresponding to that user identifier.

[0192] For example, the advertising decision unit 108a determines that advertising information associated with the same store identifier as a store identifier in a visited store information corresponding to a user identifier, and that advertising information associated with one or more of the order details information in this visited store information, will be transmitted to the user terminal corresponding to this user identifier. For example, the advertising decision unit 108a determines that advertising information associated with the same store identifier as a store identifier in a visited store information corresponding to a user identifier, and that advertising information associated with the same order details information as a single order detail information in this visited store information, will be transmitted to the user terminal corresponding to this user identifier.

[0193] Furthermore, for example, if the visited store information having a store identifier corresponding to a user identifier is associated with multiple order details, the advertising decision unit 108a may decide to transmit to the user terminal 2 corresponding to this user identifier the advertising information associated with the order details obtained using the multiple order details, which is associated with the aforementioned store identifier. For example, if the visited store information having a store identifier corresponding to a user identifier is associated with the calorie values ​​of food and beverages ordered by the user as multiple order details, the advertising decision unit 108a may decide to transmit to the user terminal 2 corresponding to this user identifier the advertising information associated with the range of calorie values ​​obtained by summing the multiple order details, which is associated with the aforementioned store identifier (for example, advertising information for a specific sports gym).

[0194] Furthermore, the advertising determination unit 108a may acquire store attribute values ​​corresponding to store identifiers in the visited store information corresponding to a user identifier, in the same manner as in Embodiment 1 above, and determine the advertising information to be transmitted to the user terminal 2 corresponding to this user identifier, which is associated with one or more of the acquired store attribute values ​​and is associated with one or more of the order details information in the visited store information corresponding to a user identifier.

[0195] Furthermore, the advertising decision unit 108a may determine advertising information to send to a user terminal 2 using a store attribute value corresponding to a user identifier obtained in the same manner as in Embodiment 1, and one or more order content information obtained from the visited store information corresponding to this user identifier, utilizing known recommendation techniques. For example, the advertising decision unit 108 uses the store identifier in the visited store information corresponding to a user identifier to detect one or more store attribute values ​​from among the one or more store attribute values ​​associated with each advertising information that are similar enough to satisfy predetermined conditions to one or more store attribute values ​​obtained in the same manner as in Embodiment 1, using the store identifier contained in the visited store information corresponding to a user identifier. The advertising decision unit 108 also detects one or more order content information from among the one or more order content information associated with each advertising information that are similar enough to satisfy predetermined conditions to one or more order content information obtained from the visited store information corresponding to this user identifier. Furthermore, the advertising information associated with one or more of the detected store attribute values, and the advertising information associated with one or more of the detected order details information, may be determined to be the advertising information to be sent to the user terminal 2 corresponding to this one user identifier. In this case, the order details information is preferably, for example, information indicating the attributes of the ordered item.

[0196] Furthermore, regarding the processes performed by the advertising determination unit 108a other than the process of determining advertising information using the store identifier and order details information contained in the visited store information as described above, these are the same as the processes performed by the advertising determination unit 108 in Embodiment 1, so a detailed explanation is omitted here. For example, the timing and triggers for the advertising determination unit 108a to determine advertising information may be the same as in the above embodiment. For example, as in Embodiment 1, the advertising information to be sent to the user may be determined when the user makes a payment.

[0197] Furthermore, the advertising information that the advertising decision unit 108a determines and transmits to a user terminal 2 may include advertising information associated with the store identifier of the store that the user using this user terminal 2 had just visited, or it may not include advertising information associated with the store identifier of the store that the user had just visited.

[0198] The Visited Store Information Storage Unit 111a stores in the Visited Store Information Storage Unit 101a the Visited Store Information, which includes the user identifier of the user who entered the menu item instruction received by the Instruction Receiving Unit 110, the store identifier corresponding to the menu information having the menu item corresponding to this menu item instruction, and the order details information corresponding to this menu item instruction. For example, the Visited Store Information Storage Unit 111a acquires the user identifier of the user who entered the menu item instruction received by the Instruction Receiving Unit 110, the store identifier corresponding to the menu information having the menu item corresponding to this menu item instruction, and the order details information corresponding to this menu item instruction, and stores the Visited Store Information Storage Unit 101a the Visited Store Information, which includes these. The process of acquiring the user identifier of the user who entered the menu item instruction and the store identifier corresponding to the menu information having the menu item instruction is the same as the process performed by the Visited Store Information Storage Unit 111 in the above embodiment 1, so a detailed explanation is omitted here.

[0199] For example, if the instruction receiving unit 110 receives a menu item instruction, it is the receiving of a menu item identifier (for example, a reception), the visited store information storage unit 111a may acquire this menu item identifier as order content information corresponding to the menu item instruction. If this menu item identifier is an order target identifier, the visited store information storage unit 111a may acquire the order target identifier, which is a menu item identifier, as order content information corresponding to the menu item instruction. Alternatively, the visited store information storage unit 111a may convert the menu item identifier, etc., received by the instruction receiving unit 110 into order content information using a conversion table, etc., which has a pre-prepared association between menu item identifiers stored in a storage unit, etc. (not shown) and order content information, and acquire order content information corresponding to the menu item instruction. For example, the visited store information storage unit 111a may convert the order target identifier of a dish, which is order content information, into order content information indicating the genre of cuisine, such as Chinese cuisine, Japanese cuisine, French cuisine, etc., using a pre-prepared conversion table, and store the visited store information having the converted order content information in the visited store information storage unit 101a.

[0200] Furthermore, the store visit information storage unit 111a may, for example, add new store visit information, which includes a user identifier, a store identifier, and order details acquired in response to a menu item instruction received by the instruction reception unit 110, to the store visit information storage unit 101a if store visit information in which the user identifier and store identifier match already exists. Alternatively, the store visit information storage unit 111a may update the already stored store visit information in which the user identifier and store identifier match with the new store visit information.

[0201] The operation of the information processing device 1a is the same as that of the information processing device 1 described in Embodiment 1, except that, for example, the advertising decision unit 108a uses the visited store information stored in the visited store information storage unit 101a to determine the advertising information to be transmitted to the user terminal 2 from the advertising information stored in the advertising information storage unit 107a, as described above, and the visited store information storage unit 111a stores the information in the visited store information storage unit 101a, as described above.

[0202] Next, specific examples of the operation by which the information processing device 1a of the information processing system 1001 of this embodiment 2 acquires advertising information will be described.

[0203] First, we will explain an example of a process in which the information processing device 1a stores visited store information in response to an order placed by the user using menu information.

[0204] For example, similar to the specific example in Embodiment 1 described above, suppose that in response to an operation by user A, user terminal 2 uses menu information to display on the monitor 202a of user terminal 2 the menus available for ordering at store F as shown in Figure 11. Then, if user A presses button 150 to order "draft beer," one of the menu items, the terminal transmission unit 205 transmits information to the information processing device 1a indicating that it has received a menu item instruction for the menu item associated with the order target identifier "beer," by associating it with the store identifier "S152" and the user identifier "U001" associated with the menu information.

[0205] When the instruction receiving unit 110 of the information processing device 1a receives information from the user terminal 2 indicating that it has received an instruction regarding a menu item associated with the order target identifier "beer01", along with the store identifier "S152" and the user identifier "U001", a processing unit (not shown) of the information processing device 1a stores order information containing the order target identifier "beer", the store identifier "S152", the user identifier "U001", and the reception time "February 19, 2020, 21:25" in a storage unit (not shown). The order information is managed, for example, by an order management table as shown in Figure 12.

[0206] Figure 14(a) is a visitor information management table that manages the visitor information stored in the visitor information storage unit 101a. This visitor information management table is an improved version of the visitor information management table shown in Figure 5(a), etc., which further includes attributes called "order details," which are order details, and "update date," which is the date the visitor information was updated.

[0207] The Visited Store Information Storage Unit 111 determines whether the Visited Store Information, which includes the store identifier "S152" and user identifier "U001" received by the Instruction Receiving Unit 110, is stored in the Visited Store Information Storage Unit 101a. If it is not stored, the Visited Store Information, which includes the store identifier "S152" and user identifier "U001" received by the Instruction Receiving Unit 110, the date "February 19, 2020" indicated by the above reception time, and the order target identifier "beer" received by the Instruction Receiving Unit 110, is added to the Visited Store Information Storage Unit 101a. If the store information is stored, the system determines whether the "update date" of the visited store information matches the date "February 19, 2020" indicated by the reception time. If they do not match, the system updates (overwrites, for example) the existing visited store information that has the store identifier "S152" and user identifier "U001" received by the instruction receiving unit 110, the date "February 19, 2020" indicated by the reception time, and the order target identifier "beer" received by the instruction receiving unit 110, where the "update date" does not match. This ensures that the store information for the most recent visit is stored for the same store. If the "update date" matches the date "February 19, 2020" indicated by the reception time, the system appends the order target identifier "beer" received by the instruction receiving unit 110 to the value of the "order target ID" in the visited store information. This ensures that the order target identifiers of the orders placed sequentially during the most recent visit are appended to the visited store information.

[0208] Here, the instruction receiving unit 110 receives store identifier "S152" and user identifier "U001", and since store information for visited stores, where the "update date" matches the date "February 19, 2020" indicated by the above reception time, is already stored, the attribute value "beer" is added to the "order details" of this store information. Note that if duplicate order target identifiers are stored, it is acceptable to store the duplicate order target identifiers or not, but here we will explain the case where duplicates are stored.

[0209] Figure 14(b) shows the updated store visit information management table as described above.

[0210] Figure 15(a) is an advertising information management table that manages the advertising information stored in the advertising information storage unit 107a. This advertising information management table is the same as the advertising information management table shown in Figure 7, but with the addition of an attribute called "order details," which is the order target identifier.

[0211] Next, we will explain an example of a process for determining and sending advertising information using visited store information. For example, after performing processes such as updating visited store information as described above, let's assume it's time to determine and send advertising information. The advertising decision unit 108 first detects all records (rows) in the advertising information management table shown in Figure 15(a) where "Send" is "0". Here, we assume that records up to the third row from the top of the advertising information management table shown in Figure 15 have been detected.

[0212] Next, the advertising decision unit 108 obtains the attribute value "S152" for "Store ID" and the attribute value "wine" for "Order Details" from the first row of the advertising information management table shown in Figure 15(a). In the visited store information management table shown in Figure 14, it detects a record (row) where the "Store ID" matches "S152" and the "Order Details" contains "wine," and obtains the attribute value of "Store ID" from the detected record. Assume that "wine" is the order target identifier corresponding to a wine order. Here, the "Store ID" of the third row of the visited store information management table shown in Figure 14(b) matches "S152" and the "Order Details" contains "wine," so the advertising decision unit 108 obtains the attribute value "U001" for "User ID" from this record as the user identifier of the user to whom the advertising information will be sent. Furthermore, the advertising information indicated by the attribute value "S152012" of the "Advertisement" in the first row of the advertising information management table shown in Figure 15(a), i.e., the advertising information whose file name is "S152012", is determined to be the advertising information to be sent to this user. The advertising transmission unit 109 then transmits the advertising information stored in the advertising information storage unit 107a, whose file name is "S152012", to the user terminal 2 used by user A, whose user identifier is "U001".

[0213] Assume that the terminal receiving unit 201 of user A's user terminal 2 receives advertising information with the file name "S152012", and the terminal display unit 202 displays this advertising information on the monitor 202a of user terminal 2.

[0214] Figure 16 shows an example of how user A's user terminal 2 displays advertising information with the file name "S152012". The advertisement displayed by this advertising information is for wine sold on an e-commerce site (not shown) by the owner of a store with the store identifier "S152", and this advertisement includes a wine order button 160. If the user presses this order button 160, the terminal reception unit 203 receives this operation, and the terminal transmission unit 205 sends the information to the corresponding e-commerce site (not shown) to order the wine. Then, according to this order information, the wine is delivered to user A's home or other location. Note that the process of ordering a corresponding product by pressing the order button 160, etc., is publicly known as a technology of e-commerce sites, etc., so a detailed explanation is omitted here.

[0215] Furthermore, the advertising decision unit 108 obtains the attribute value "S001" for "Store ID" and the attribute value "salad" for "Order Details" from the second row of the advertising information management table shown in Figure 15(a). In the visited store information management table shown in Figure 14, it detects records (rows) where the "Store ID" matches "S001" and the "Order Details" contain "salad," and obtains the attribute value of the "Store ID" of the detected record. Assume that "salad" is the order target identifier corresponding to an order for a vegetable salad. Here, the "Store ID" of the first row of the visited store information management table shown in Figure 14(b) matches "S001" and the "Order Details" contain "salad," so the advertising decision unit 108 obtains the attribute value "U001" for the "User ID" of this record as the user identifier of the user to whom the advertising information will be sent. Furthermore, the advertising information indicated by the attribute value "S001093" of the "Advertisement" in the second row of the advertising information management table shown in Figure 15(a), i.e., the advertising information whose file name is "S001093", is determined to be the advertising information to be sent to this user. The advertising transmission unit 109 then transmits the advertising information stored in the advertising information storage unit 107a, whose file name is "S001093", to the user terminal 2 used by user A, whose user identifier is "U001".

[0216] Assume that the terminal receiving unit 201 of user A's user terminal 2 receives advertising information with the file name "S001093", and the terminal display unit 202 displays this advertising information on the monitor 202a of user terminal 2.

[0217] Figure 17 shows an example of advertising information displayed by user A's user terminal 2, with the file name "S152012". The advertisement displayed by this advertising information is for vegetables used in a vegetable salad with the order target identifier "salad", and this advertisement includes an order button 170 for ordering from the producer who produces and sells these vegetables. If the user presses this order button 170, the terminal reception unit 203 receives this operation, and the terminal transmission unit 205 transmits the information to order the above vegetables to the corresponding producer's information processing terminal, etc. (not shown). Then, according to this order information, the above vegetables are delivered directly from the producer to user A's home, etc.

[0218] Furthermore, the advertising decision unit 108 obtains the attribute value "S005" for "Store ID" and the attribute value "pizza" for "Order Details" from the third row of the advertising information management table shown in Figure 15(a). In the visited store information management table shown in Figure 14, it detects a record (row) where the "Store ID" matches "S001" and the "Order Details" contain "pizza," and obtains the attribute value of "Store ID" from the detected record. "pizza" is assumed to be an order target identifier corresponding to a pizza order. Here, the "Store ID" of the first row of the visited store information management table shown in Figure 14(b) matches "S005" and the "Order Details" contain "pizza," so the advertising decision unit 108 obtains the attribute value "U001" for "User ID" from this record as the user identifier of the user to whom the advertising information will be sent. Furthermore, the advertising information indicated by the attribute value "S005172" of the "Advertisement" in the third row from the top of the advertising information management table shown in Figure 15(a), i.e., the advertising information whose file name is "S005172", is determined to be the advertising information to be sent to this user. The advertising transmission unit 109 then transmits the advertising information stored in the advertising information storage unit 107a, whose file name is "S005172", to the user terminal 2 used by user A, whose user identifier is "U001".

[0219] Assume that the terminal receiving unit 201 of user A's user terminal 2 receives advertising information with the file name "S005172", and the terminal display unit 202 displays this advertising information on the monitor 202a of user terminal 2.

[0220] Figure 18 shows an example of advertising information displayed by user A's user terminal 2, with the file name "S005172". The advertisement displayed by this advertising information is for a frozen pizza with the order target identifier "pizza", and this advertisement includes an order button 180 for ordering from an e-commerce site that sells this frozen pizza. If the user presses this order button 180, the terminal reception unit 203 receives this operation, and the terminal transmission unit 205 sends the information to the corresponding e-commerce site (not shown) to order the above frozen pizza. Then, according to this order information, the above frozen pizza is delivered to user A's home or other location.

[0221] Figure 15(b) shows a modified example of the advertising information management table that manages the advertising information stored in the advertising information storage unit 107a. In this advertising information management table, the attribute value of "Order Details" is set to the upper limit of calories that are preferable to consume, as in the advertising information management table shown in Figure 15(a).

[0222] Here, for example, let's assume that the advertising information stored in the advertising information storage unit 107a is managed in an advertising information management table as shown in Figure 15(b). The advertising decision unit 108 then obtains the attribute value "S152" for "Store ID" and the attribute value "700kcal" for "Order Details" from the first row of the advertising information management table shown in Figure 15(b) where "Send" is "0". In the visited store information management table shown in Figure 14, it detects records (rows) where the "Store ID" matches "S152" and the total calories corresponding to one or more order target identifiers in the "Order Details" attribute value exceed the upper limit of 700kcal, and obtains the attribute value of "Store ID" for the detected records. For example, to determine whether the sum of the calories corresponding to one or more order identifiers, which are attribute values ​​of "Order Details," exceeds 700 kcal, a calorie management table is used, for example, which associates order identifiers pre-stored in a storage unit (not shown) with the calories of the food and beverages indicated by those order identifiers. The calories corresponding to each order identifier, which is an attribute value of "Order Details," are obtained, and the determination is made based on whether the sum exceeds 700 kcal. If the attribute value of "Order Details" contains the calorie value of the ordered product, it is sufficient to determine whether the sum of these values ​​exceeds the upper limit of 700 kcal.

[0223] Here, if the "Store ID" of the third record from the top in the visited store information management table shown in Figure 14(b) matches "S152" and the total calories corresponding to one or more order target identifiers, which are attribute values ​​of "Order Details," exceed 700 kcal, the advertising decision unit 108 obtains the attribute value "U001" of the "User ID" in this record as the user identifier of the user to whom the advertising information will be sent. Also, the advertising information indicated by the attribute value "S152987" of "Advertisement" in the third record from the top in the advertising information management table shown in Figure 15(b), i.e., the advertising information with the file name "S152987," is determined to be the advertising information to be sent to this user. Then, the advertising transmission unit 109 transmits the advertising information with the file name "S152987," stored in the advertising information storage unit 107a, to the user terminal 2 used by user A, whose user identifier is "U001."

[0224] Assume that the terminal receiving unit 201 of user A's user terminal 2 receives advertising information with the file name "S152987", and the terminal display unit 202 displays this advertising information on the monitor 202a of user terminal 2.

[0225] Figure 19 shows an example of how user A's user terminal 2 displays advertising information with the filename "S152987". The advertisement displayed by this advertising information is for a sports gym, and this advertisement includes a membership button 190 for joining the sports gym. If the user presses this membership button 190, the sports gym's membership webpage will be displayed in response to this action.

[0226] As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to provide users with more appropriate advertising information depending on the combination of the store they visited and the items they ordered.

[0227] In each of the above embodiments, each process (each function) may be implemented by centralized processing by a single device (system), or by distributed processing by multiple devices.

[0228] Furthermore, in each of the above embodiments, it goes without saying that two or more communication means present in a single device (such as a location information receiving unit and an accounting information receiving unit 106) may be physically implemented in a single medium.

[0229] Furthermore, although the above embodiments were described using the example of an information processing device being a server device in a server-client system, the information processing device may also be a standalone device.

[0230] Furthermore, in each of the above embodiments, each component may be configured with dedicated hardware, or, if it is a component that can be implemented by software, it may be implemented by executing a program. For example, each component can be implemented by a program execution unit such as a CPU reading and executing a software program recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk or semiconductor memory. During execution, the program execution unit may execute the program while accessing the storage unit (for example, a recording medium such as a hard disk or memory).

[0231] The software that implements the information processing device in each of the above embodiments is, for example, the following program. In other words, this program causes a computer that can access a visited store information storage unit that stores one or more visited store information having a store identifier corresponding to the menu information used by the user and the user identifier of the user, and a store information storage unit that stores one or more store information having a store identifier and one or more store attribute values ​​which are attribute values ​​of the store, to function as an advertising determination unit that obtains one or more store identifiers corresponding to one user identifier from the visited store information storage unit, obtains one or more store attribute values ​​that are paired with each of the one or more store identifiers from the store information storage unit, and uses the one or more store attribute values ​​to determine advertising information to be sent to the user terminal corresponding to one user identifier, and an advertising transmission unit that sends the advertising information to the user terminal.

[0232] Furthermore, the functions implemented by the above program do not include any functions that can only be implemented by hardware. For example, functions that can only be implemented by hardware such as modems or interface cards in the information acquisition unit or the information output unit are not included in the functions implemented by the above program.

[0233] Furthermore, the computer running this program may be a single computer or multiple computers. In other words, it may perform centralized processing or distributed processing.

[0234] Figure 20 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the appearance of a computer that executes the above program to realize the information processing device according to the above embodiment. The above embodiment can be realized by computer hardware and a computer program executed thereon.

[0235] In Figure 20, the computer system 900 includes a computer 901 with a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) drive 905, a keyboard 902, a mouse 903, and a monitor 904.

[0236] Figure 21 shows the internal configuration of the computer system 900. In Figure 21, the computer 901 includes, in addition to the CD-ROM drive 905, an MPU (Micro Processing Unit) 911, a ROM 912 for storing programs such as boot-up programs, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 913 connected to the MPU 911 for temporarily storing instructions for application programs and providing temporary storage space, a hard disk 914 for storing application programs, system programs, and data, and a bus 915 that interconnects the MPU 911, ROM 912, etc. The computer 901 may also include a network card (not shown) that provides connectivity to a LAN.

[0237] The program that causes the computer system 900 to execute the functions of the information processing device, etc., according to the above embodiment may be stored on a CD-ROM 921, inserted into a CD-ROM drive 905, and transferred to the hard disk 914. Alternatively, the program may be transmitted to a computer 901 via a network (not shown) and stored on the hard disk 914. The program is loaded into RAM 913 when executed. The program may also be loaded directly from the CD-ROM 921 or the network.

[0238] The program does not necessarily include an operating system (OS) or third-party program that causes the computer 901 to execute the functions of the information processing device according to the above embodiment. The program may include only the instruction portion that calls appropriate functions (modules) in a controlled manner to obtain the desired result. How the computer system 900 operates is well known, so a detailed explanation is omitted.

[0239] It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications are possible, all of which are also included within the scope of the present invention. [Industrial applicability]

[0240] As described above, the information processing device, etc., according to the present invention is suitable as a device for processing advertising information, and is particularly useful as a device for distributing advertising information. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0241] 1, 1a Information Processing Device 2 User terminals 101, 101a Store visit information storage unit 102 Store Information Storage Unit 103 Location information receiving unit 104 Store Area Storage Unit 105 User Location Determination Unit 106 Accounting Information Receiving Unit 107, 107a Advertising information storage section 108, 108a Advertising Decision Department 109 Advertising Transmission Department 110 Instruction Reception Department 111, 111a Store Visit Information Storage Unit 201 Terminal receiving unit 202 Terminal display unit 202a Monitor 203 Terminal Reception Section 204 Location information acquisition unit 205 Terminal Transmission Unit 1000, 1001 Information Processing Systems

Claims

1. A visited store information storage unit stores one or more visited store information items, each having a store identifier corresponding to the menu information used by the user and the user identifier of the user. An advertising determination unit that determines advertising information to be transmitted to a user terminal corresponding to a user identifier using visited store information corresponding to a user identifier, An advertising transmission unit that transmits the aforementioned advertising information to the user terminal, The system includes a store information storage unit that stores one or more store information items having a store identifier and one or more store attribute values ​​which are attribute values ​​of the store, The one or more store attribute values ​​contained in the aforementioned store information are information indicating the product name offered at the store, the name of the service offered at the store, the type of product offered at the store, or the type of service offered at the store. The advertising determination unit obtains one or more store identifiers corresponding to one user identifier from the visited store information storage unit, obtains one or more store attribute values ​​corresponding to each of the one or more store identifiers from the store information storage unit, such as product name, service name, information indicating the type of product, or information indicating the type of service, and uses the one or more store attribute values ​​to determine advertising information to be transmitted to the user terminal corresponding to the one user identifier.

2. A location information receiving unit that receives location information from the user terminal to determine the user's location, The system further comprises a user location determination unit that uses the aforementioned location information to determine whether or not the user is in a predetermined store. The aforementioned advertising decision unit is The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein if the user location determination unit determines that the user is in a predetermined store, it does not determine advertising information to be paired with a store identifier of a store different from the store in question.

3. The system further comprises an accounting information receiving unit that receives accounting information from a user terminal to identify that it is time for payment. The aforementioned advertising decision unit is The information processing device according to claim 1 or claim 2, which determines corresponding advertising information at the time of accounting in response to the receipt of the aforementioned accounting information.

4. The aforementioned advertising decision unit is The information processing device according to claim 3, which determines advertising information using one or more pieces of information from the time of accounting, the day of the week of accounting, or the accounting information itself, which correspond to the accounting information.

5. A command receiving unit receives menu item instructions from the user, which are instructions for menu items contained in the menu information. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising: a visited store information storage unit that stores visited store information in the visited store information storage unit, the visited store information storage unit having a user identifier of a user who entered a menu item instruction received by the instruction receiving unit and a store identifier corresponding to menu information having a menu item corresponding to the menu item instruction.

6. The aforementioned visited store information further includes order details information relating to the order placed by the user identifier indicated by the visited store information using menu information at the store indicated by the store identifier in the visited store information. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the advertising determination unit determines advertising information to be transmitted to a user terminal corresponding to a user identifier, using the store identifier and order details information contained in the visited store information corresponding to a user identifier.

7. An information processing method performed using an information processing device comprising: a visited store information storage unit that stores one or more visited store information having a store identifier corresponding to menu information used by the user and the user identifier of the user; an advertisement determination unit; an advertisement transmission unit; and a store information storage unit that stores one or more store information having a store identifier and one or more store attribute values ​​which are attribute values ​​of the store, An advertising decision step in which the advertising decision unit determines advertising information to be transmitted to the user terminal corresponding to the user identifier using visited store information corresponding to a user identifier, The advertising transmission unit comprises an advertising transmission step that transmits the advertising information to the user terminal, The one or more store attribute values ​​contained in the aforementioned store information are information indicating the product name offered at the store, the name of the service offered at the store, the type of product offered at the store, or the type of service offered at the store. The advertising decision step is an information processing method which involves obtaining one or more store identifiers corresponding to one user identifier from the visited store information storage unit, obtaining one or more store attribute values ​​that are paired with each of the one or more store identifiers, such as product name, service name, information indicating the type of product, or information indicating the type of service, from the store information storage unit, and using the one or more store attribute values ​​to determine advertising information to be transmitted to the user terminal corresponding to the one user identifier.

8. A computer that can access a visited store information storage unit that stores one or more visited store information items having a store identifier corresponding to the menu information used by the user and the user identifier of the user, and a store information storage unit that stores one or more store information items having a store identifier and one or more store attribute values ​​which are attribute values ​​of the store, An advertising determination unit that determines advertising information to be transmitted to a user terminal corresponding to a user identifier using visited store information corresponding to a user identifier, This unit functions as an advertising transmission unit that transmits the aforementioned advertising information to the user terminal. The one or more store attribute values ​​contained in the aforementioned store information are information indicating the product name offered at the store, the name of the service offered at the store, the type of product offered at the store, or the type of service offered at the store. A program that causes the advertising decision unit to obtain one or more store identifiers corresponding to one user identifier from the visited store information storage unit, to obtain one or more store attribute values ​​from the store information storage unit that are paired with each of the one or more store identifiers, such as product name, service name, information indicating the type of product, or information indicating the type of service, and to determine advertising information to be transmitted to the user terminal corresponding to the one user identifier using the one or more store attribute values.

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