Information processing system and information processing method

Abstract

To reduce the burden on service operators. [Solution] An information processing device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires publicly available information on a network; and a processing unit that analyzes the publicly available information to determine whether the publicly available information contains merchant code information used in electronic payments for electronic payment services, and determines the suitability of the merchant based on the result of the determination.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, a determination device that acquires credit information regarding the credit of a store and determines whether the credit information satisfies a determination condition is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] In the conventional technology, there are cases where the load on the operator who operates the service cannot be reduced.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and one of its purposes is to provide an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program that can reduce the load on the operator.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] One aspect of the present invention is an information processing apparatus including an acquisition unit that acquires public information publicly available on a network, and a processing unit that analyzes the public information to determine the possibility that code information of a franchise store used in electronic settlement of an electronic settlement service is included in the public information, and determines the suitability as the franchise store based on the result of the determination.

Effects of the Invention

[0007] According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program that can reduce the burden on operators. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] This diagram shows an example of a configuration for implementing an electronic payment service. [Figure 2] This is a sequence diagram (part 1) illustrating the general flow of electronic payments. [Figure 3] This is a sequence diagram (part 2) illustrating the general flow of electronic payments. [Figure 4] This is a diagram showing the configuration of payment server 100. [Figure 5] This figure shows an example of the contents of user information 172. [Figure 6] This figure shows an example of the contents of merchant / store information 176. [Figure 7] This is a diagram showing the configuration of the review server 200. [Figure 8] This flowchart shows an example of the processing flow performed by the review server 200. [Figure 9] This flowchart shows an example of the code information determination process performed by the review server 200. [Figure 10] This is a diagram illustrating a specific example of code information determination processing. [Figure 11] This is a diagram illustrating a specific example of code information determination processing, Part 2. [Figure 12] This flowchart shows an example of the processing flow executed by the examiner terminal device 300. [Figure 13] This flowchart shows an example of the processing flow executed by the examiner terminal device 300. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] The following describes embodiments of the information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program of the present invention with reference to the drawings. Various devices such as "servers" that appear below, which provide services to users or perform internal analysis, may be implemented by a distributed group of devices, and the operators of each device may be different. Furthermore, the owner of the hardware of the devices (the provider of the cloud server) and the operator that actually operates them may also be different. The application program and the payment server work together to provide an electronic payment service. In the following description, the application program will be referred to as a payment app. The electronic payment service is a service that supports payment for the purchase of goods and services at a store. A store is, for example, a physical store (real store) that exists in the real world, but may also include a virtual store for e-commerce. A virtual store may include one provided by an entity different from the operator of the electronic payment service. In that case, when settling a purchase at a virtual store, the user is controlled to transition to the interface screen of the electronic payment service. In the electronic payment service, a store is treated as belonging to, for example, a merchant (brand), and processing such as payment when a purchase is made at a store is mainly carried out between the user and the merchant. Alternatively, processing such as payment may be carried out between the user and the store.

[0010] [Electronic payment service] Figure 1 shows an example of the configuration of an electronic payment system that implements electronic payment services. The electronic payment service is implemented with a payment server 100 at its center. The electronic payment system that implements the electronic payment service includes, for example, one or more user terminal devices 10, one or more first store terminal devices 50, one or more second store terminal devices 70, a payment server 100, a review server 200, and a reviewer terminal device 300. These devices communicate with each other, for example, via a network NW. The network NW includes, for example, the Internet, a LAN (Local Area Network), a wireless base station, provider equipment, etc.

[0011] Some or all of the functional components included in an electronic payment system may be distributed across multiple devices in any form, or integrated into any device. For example, some or all of the functional components of the payment server 100 or the verification server 200 may be included in other devices.

[0012] [User terminal device] The user terminal device 10 is, for example, a portable terminal device such as a smartphone or tablet. The user terminal device 10 is a computer device having at least optical reading function, communication function, display function, input acceptance function, and program execution function. In the following description, the components for realizing these functions will be referred to as a camera, communication device, touch panel, CPU (Central Processing Unit), etc. In the user terminal device 10, the payment application 20 is executed by a processor such as the CPU, and it operates in cooperation with the payment server 100 to provide electronic payment services to the user. The payment application 20 is installed on the user terminal device 10 from, for example, an application store, and controls the camera, communication device, touch panel, etc. A mini-application may also run on the user terminal device 10. A mini-application is an application program that runs within the payment application 20. A mini-application is, for example, a mini-application that provides various services.

[0013] [Store Terminal Device #1] The first store terminal device 50 is installed in a store, for example. The first store terminal device 50 is a computer device having at least a product price acquisition function, an optical reading function, a program execution function, and a communication function. The first store terminal device 50 includes a so-called POS (Point of Sale) device, and the product price acquisition function and the optical reading function may be realized by the POS device. The store code image 60 is placed in the store and is a code image such as a QR code (registered trademark) or a barcode printed on a paper or plastic medium. Note that the store code image 60 may be displayed by a display placed in the store (which may be a display of a terminal device such as a smartphone). The store code image is an example of "code information". The code information is not limited to QR codes or barcodes, and may be any information used in an electronic payment service. For example, the code information may be used in the electronic payment of an electronic payment service and include information for identifying the store.

[0014] [Second Store Terminal Device] The second store terminal device 70 is used by the operator of a franchise store or the operator of a store. The second store terminal device 70 is a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a personal computer, or the like. In the second store terminal device 70, an interface 72 for franchise stores operates. The interface 72 for franchise stores may be an application for franchise stores or a browser. The interface 72 for franchise stores accepts settings of coupons by the operator of the franchise store and transmits them to the payment server 100. The second store terminal device 70, which is a smartphone, has a function of displaying a code image corresponding to the store code image or reading the code image displayed by the user terminal device 10 by executing an application for franchise stores.

[0015] [Payment Server] The payment server 100 implements electronic payment based on payment information received from the user terminal device 10 or the first store terminal device 50. The first store terminal device 50 may include a POS device and a merchant server, in which case payment information is transmitted from the POS device to the payment server 100 via the merchant server. In the following description, this distinction will not be made, and it will be assumed that payment information is transmitted from the first store terminal device 50.

[0016] Figures 2 and 3 are sequence diagrams illustrating the general flow of electronic payments. There may be two patterns for electronic payments: Pattern 1 and Pattern 2.

[0017] In the case of Pattern 1 shown in Figure 2 (hereinafter referred to as User Scan), the user terminal device 10, with the payment application 20 running, decodes the store code image 60 using its optical reading function (S1). The store code image 60 contains information about the store URL (Uniform Resource Locator). This store URL is an electronic payment service domain to which information that can identify the store has been added, and is associated with the merchant ID and store ID, etc., at the payment server 100 (described later). The payment application 20 sends the first payment information, including the store URL and account ID, to the payment server 100 (S2). The payment server 100 searches for store information (described later) from the merchant ID and store ID corresponding to the store URL, obtains the merchant name and store name information (S3), and sends it to the payment application 20 (S4). The user enters the payment amount into the user terminal device 10 on the screen where the merchant name and store name are displayed (S5). The user terminal device 10 then generates second payment information, including at least the payment amount, and sends it to the payment server 100 (S6). The payment server 100 performs electronic payment based on the received second payment information (S7). The payment server 100 then sends a payment completion notification (information for displaying the payment completion screen) to the payment application 20 (S8), and the payment application 20 displays the payment completion screen (S9). If the store code image 60 is displayed on a display placed in the store, the store code image 60 may include payment amount information as well as the store URL. In this case, the procedure for the user to enter the payment amount is omitted, and the payment amount information is included in the first payment information and sent to the payment server 100. Merchant name and store name information may be included and displayed on the payment completion screen.

[0018] In the case of Pattern 2 shown in Figure 3 (hereinafter referred to as Store Scan), when the payment app 20 is launched, when a payment operation is performed in the payment app 20, when it is time for an automatic update (for example, every minute), and at other times, the payment app 20 sends a request to the payment server 100 to issue a one-time code (S11). The payment server 100 generates a one-time code (S12) and sends it to the payment app 20 (S13). The payment app 20 displays a code image such as a QR code or barcode that was generated based on the one-time code (S14). The user holds the display surface of the user terminal device 10 over the first store terminal device 50 (presents it), and the first store terminal device 50 decodes the code image using its optical reading function and obtains the one-time code, etc. (S15). Then, the first store terminal device 50 generates payment information including the one-time code, payment amount, merchant ID, store ID, etc., and sends it to the payment server 100 (S16). The payment amount information is obtained in advance by barcode scanning or manual input. Based on the received information, the payment server 100 identifies the user corresponding to the one-time code and performs the electronic payment (S17). The payment server 100 then sends a payment completion notification to the payment app 20 (S18), and the payment app 20 displays a payment completion screen (S19).

[0019] Furthermore, electronic payment may be performed using only one of the above patterns. Also, the "account ID" explained in Figure 2 may be other information that can be used as user identification information (for example, a phone number). In addition, the issuance of a one-time code may be omitted during store scanning, and the payment app 20 may display a code image generated based on the user's account ID. In that case, the payment server 100 will identify the user corresponding to the account ID instead of identifying the user corresponding to the one-time code.

[0020] [Payment Server Functional Configuration] Figure 4 is a diagram of the configuration of the payment server 100. The payment server 100 includes, for example, a communication unit 110, a content provision unit 120, a payment processing unit 130, an information management unit 140, and a storage unit 170. Components other than the communication unit 110 and the storage unit 170 are realized, for example, by a hardware processor such as a CPU executing a program (software). Some or all of these components may be realized by hardware (including circuitry) such as LSI (Large Scale Integration), ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), and SOC (System On Chip), or by the cooperation of software and hardware. The program may be stored in advance on a storage device such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or flash memory (a storage device equipped with a non-transient storage medium), or it may be stored on a removable storage medium such as a DVD or CD-ROM (a non-transient storage medium) and installed on the storage device when the storage medium is inserted into the drive device.

[0021] The storage unit 170 can be an HDD, flash memory, RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. The storage unit 170 may also be a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device that the payment server 100 can access via the network. The storage unit 170 stores information such as user information 172, content information 174, and merchant / store information 176. Some of this information may also be stored in the storage unit of the user terminal device 10.

[0022] The communication unit 110 is a communication interface for connecting to a network NW. The communication unit 110 is, for example, a network interface card.

[0023] The content provider unit 120, for example, has the functionality of a web server and provides information (content) for displaying various screens of the electronic payment service to the user terminal device 10 or the second store terminal device 70. The content provider unit 120 reads the necessary content from the content information 174 as appropriate and provides it to the user terminal device 10. The user terminal device 10 accepts various inputs from the user with the content being played by the payment application 20 and transmits the aforementioned payment information to the payment server 100. The above content may also be generated by the payment application 20. In this case, the content provider unit 120 provides the payment application 20 with the information necessary for generating the content.

[0024] The payment processing unit 130 performs payment processing based on payment information transmitted by the user terminal device 10 or the first store terminal device 50. The payment processing unit 130 performs payment processing while referring to the user information 172.

[0025] [User information] Figure 5 shows an example of the contents of User Information 172. User Information 172 is an example of user registration information. User Information 172 includes, for example, user URL, account ID, telephone number, password, as well as information such as email address, user ID, name, address, date of birth, registration date, charge balance, credit payment settings, credit payment limit, credit payment amount, available credit payment amount, payment method settings, bank account, credit card number, charge history information, and payment history information. The user URL is used for money transfer processing between users. When registering for a new electronic payment service, registration of a telephone number and password is mandatory. The account ID is issued to the user by the payment server 100, and the user ID is an ID that the user can set at will (or does not have to set). Similarly, the email address and name, address, and date of birth are also information that the user can set at will (or does not have to set). The registration date is the date the user registered for the electronic payment service (the date the account was created). Hereafter, the user instance (electronic payment account) to which this information is associated will be referred to as an account.

[0026] The charge balance is information indicating the balance of electronic money set by the user by sending money to their account in advance. Methods of sending money include sending from an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) of a designated provider (bank) and sending from a registered bank account. The credit payment setting indicates whether or not the user has completed the settings to enable electronic payments by credit card, and is set to either "Completed" or "Not Completed". The credit payment limit is the monthly limit for credit payments, the credit payment amount is the amount already used for credit payments in the current month, and the available credit payment amount is the amount available for credit payments in the current month, calculated by subtracting the credit payment amount from the credit payment limit. While the diagram shows only one credit payment limit, in reality there are also daily limits, and the lower of these may be set as the credit payment limit. Further details on credit payments will be described later. The payment method setting indicates whether the user will use electronic payment with the charge balance or payment by credit card at that time. The bank account and credit card number information, respectively, refers to the bank account or credit card number (account number, card number) to which funds can be deposited into the electronic payment service. The charge history information is a record of when the user has previously sent money to the electronic payment service to increase the charge balance. The payment history information shows the details of each payment made by the user (date and time, store ID of the store where the purchase was made, payment amount, payment method, etc.).

[0027] [Franchise / Store Information] Figure 6 shows an example of the contents of the merchant / store information 176. The merchant / store information 176 includes, for example, a first table 176A in which the merchant ID, store ID, and merchant category are associated with the store URL; a second table 176B in which the merchant name and sales amount (as described above) are associated with the merchant ID; and a third table 176C in which the store name is associated with the store ID. In addition to this information, the merchant / store information 176 may also include information such as the merchant or store category, store location, and payment pattern.

[0028] [Electronic payment] When the payment processing unit 130 obtains payment information from the user terminal device 10 or the first store terminal device 50, it refers to the user information 172 to obtain the user's "payment method setting". For users whose "payment method setting" is set to "charge balance", the payment processing unit 130 performs electronic payment as follows: For example, the payment processing unit 130 performs electronic payment by decreasing the charge balance, which is managed in association with the user ID, and increasing the sales amount item value of the merchant (or store). The sales amount item value of the merchant is not used as electronic money itself, for example, but rather the amount corresponding to the sales amount item value is transferred to the bank account in a cycle according to the agreement between the merchant and the electronic payment service.

[0029] The payment processing unit 130 performs electronic payment as follows for users whose "settings information" is set to "credit payment". Credit payment is a payment method that is carried out in cooperation with a credit card company, which is a separate entity from the operator of the electronic payment service. The operator of the electronic payment service acts as the donor and allows electronic payment that does not depend on the charge balance within the credit payment limit. In order to use the credit payment service, it may be required to obtain a credit card provided by the operator of the electronic payment service. The amount used by credit payment is settled in a lump sum for the month on the payment date of the following month, for example, by withdrawal from a bank account. In this case, the payment processing unit 130 performs a provisional settlement by adding the settlement amount to the amount used by credit payment and subtracting the same amount from the available credit payment limit. When the closing date arrives, it processes the payment for the current month to be withdrawn on the payment date of the following month as described above, or requests the credit card company operator to perform the said process. If the settlement amount exceeds the available credit payment limit at the time of provisional settlement, an error notification is sent back to the payment application 20.

[0030] The information management unit 140 acquires information provided by other server devices and terminal devices. Based on the information acquired from the user terminal device 10 and the second store terminal device 70, the information management unit 140 manages user information 172 and affiliated store / store information 176. The information management unit 140 performs operations such as adding, editing, and deleting new records for user information 172 and affiliated store / store information 176. Furthermore, the information management unit 140 processes information provided by other server devices and terminal devices, and provides information stored in the storage unit 170 to the user terminal device 10.

[0031] [Functional Configuration of the Review Server] The screening server 200 determines whether a merchant is suitable to be a merchant for electronic payment services. Figure 7 is a diagram of the configuration of the screening server 200. The screening server 200 includes, for example, a communication unit 210, an information retrieval unit 220, a processing unit 230, and a storage unit 270. Components other than the communication unit 210 and the storage unit 270 are realized, for example, by a hardware processor such as a CPU executing a program (software). Some or all of these components may be realized by hardware (including circuitry) such as LSIs, ASICs, FPGAs, GPUs, and SOCs, or by the cooperation of software and hardware. The program may be stored in advance in a storage device such as an HDD or flash memory (a storage device equipped with a non-transient storage medium), or it may be stored in a removable storage medium such as a DVD or CD-ROM (a non-transient storage medium) and installed in the storage device when the storage medium is mounted on a drive device. The information retrieval unit 220 is an example of an "acquisition unit".

[0032] The storage unit 270 can be an HDD, flash memory, RAM, etc. The storage unit 270 may also be a NAS device accessible by the review server 200 via a network. The storage unit 270 stores information such as merchant information 272, search information 274, and judgment result information 276.

[0033] The information retrieval unit 220 crawls publicly available information on the network and stores the publicly available information as search information 274 in the storage unit 270. For example, if crawled or provided publicly available information is stored in the storage unit 270, the information retrieval unit 220 may retrieve the information stored in the storage unit 270 without crawling and provide the retrieved information to the processing unit 230.

[0034] The processing unit 230 analyzes the search information 274. For example, the processing unit 230 determines whether the search information 274 may contain code information (or whether it does contain code information). Details will be described later.

[0035] [Examiner terminal device] The examiner terminal device 300 is a terminal device used by the examiner. The examiner uses the examiner terminal device 300 to determine the suitability of a merchant as a merchant for electronic payment services. For example, the examiner uses the examiner terminal device 300 to obtain the examination results from the examination server 200 and performs the examination by referring to the obtained information.

[0036] [overview] In this embodiment, the review server 200 acquires publicly available information published on the network. The review server 200 analyzes the publicly available information to determine whether it contains merchant code information used for electronic payments in the electronic payment service, and determines the suitability of the merchant based on the result of the analysis. The specific methods of "analysis" will be described later in (Specific Example 1 of Code Information Determination Process) and (Specific Example 2 of Code Information Determination Process).

[0037] The merchants subject to the above suitability assessment are, for example, merchants that are permitted to use electronic payment services offline (physical stores) (offline merchants). These merchants are, for example, merchants that are not permitted to use electronic payment services online.

[0038] The publicly available information mentioned above includes information that is publicly available on the network, such as the merchant's webpage, webpages related to the merchant, and social networking services related to the merchant. Public access does not necessarily have to be available to everyone; it may be available to some people.

[0039] In order to conduct online electronic payments, businesses must first pass a review process to register as an online merchant from both a legal and contractual standpoint with the electronic payment service provider, obtain approval as an online merchant, and then begin conducting online electronic payments.

[0040] For example, the code information of an offline merchant may be posted on their website or in an image containing the code information. This posting may or may not be intentional, but if the code information is made public on the network, there is a possibility that it could be used to make online electronic payments. In other words, electronic payment services may be used online without the online merchant being properly screened or contracted.

[0041] To suppress or prevent such occurrences, the review server 200 automatically performs a process (code information determination process) to determine the possibility that code information is publicly available over the network, as described above. This reduces the burden on operators when determining the possibility of code information being publicly available over the network.

[0042] [Flowchart for the screening process for member stores (1)] The review server 200 performs various reviews, including the code information determination process described above, on offline merchants at predetermined intervals to determine their suitability as merchants for electronic payment services. Figure 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing flow performed by the review server 200. In this process, we will explain the process focusing on a particular merchant as an example. Similar processing is performed for other merchants.

[0043] First, the review server 200 determines whether a predetermined timing has arrived (S100). The predetermined timing is one month, six months, one year, etc., from the time this process was performed for the merchant in question. When the predetermined timing arrives, the processing unit 230 of the review server 200 performs prohibited business determination processing, reputation determination processing, and code information determination processing (S102, S104, S106). The order in which the determination processes are executed is not limited to this. Next, the review server 200 stores the results of the various determination processes as determination result information 276 in the storage unit 270 (S108). This completes the processing of one routine in this flowchart.

[0044] In addition to the judgment processes described above, various other processes may be included, such as processes to check for any abnormalities in the electronic payment process, or processes to determine whether the amount of the electronic payment exceeds the upper limit.

[0045] (Prohibited Business Determination Process) The review server 200 accesses the URLs included in the merchant information 272 and crawls the websites of those URLs. In addition to the above URLs, or if there are no URLs, the review server 200 crawls websites on the network NW that have been searched using keywords. The keywords are one or more pieces of information included in the merchant information 272, such as the trade name, address, company name, telephone number, etc., or combinations thereof.

[0046] Merchant information 272 is information that associates various pieces of information about a merchant with their identification information. These pieces of information include the merchant's trade name (company name), corporate name, address, telephone number, email address, representative, and website URL (Uniform Resource Locator).

[0047] The review server 200 analyzes the crawled information described above to determine whether the merchant is engaging in prohibited business activities. For example, if the crawled information contains words indicating prohibited business activities or words similar to such words, the review server 200 determines that the merchant may be engaging in prohibited business activities. If there is a possibility that the merchant is engaging in prohibited business activities, in the next step, the reviewer will refer to the crawled information and information searched by the reviewer to determine whether the merchant is engaging in prohibited business activities.

[0048] (Reputational damage detection process) The review server 200 crawls websites on the network using keywords. The keywords are a combination of one or more pieces of information included in the merchant information 272, such as the trade name, company name, or representative name, and one or more set words (words related to reputation).

[0049] The review server 200 analyzes the crawled information described above to determine whether the merchant meets the criteria in terms of reputation. For example, if the crawled information contains words or sentences that are presumed to not meet the criteria in terms of reputation, or words or sentences similar to these, the review server 200 will determine that the merchant may not meet the reputation criteria. If there is a possibility that the merchant does not meet the reputation criteria in this way, the reviewer will refer to the crawled information and information searched by the reviewer in the next step to determine whether the merchant meets the reputation criteria.

[0050] (Code information determination process) Figure 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the code information determination process performed by the review server 200. First, the review server 200 determines whether the URL of the target merchant's homepage is registered (S200). The review server 200 makes the above determination by referring to, for example, the merchant information 272. If the URL is not registered, the process proceeds to S210.

[0051] If a URL is registered, the review server 200 determines whether the URL of the homepage actually exists (S202). For example, the review server 200 accesses the URL of the homepage to confirm its existence. If the URL does not exist, the process proceeds to S210.

[0052] If the URL exists, the review server 200 crawls the homepage and retrieves information (public information) from the homepage (S204). The review server 200 determines whether the crawled information contains code information (S206, S208). Then it proceeds to process S210.

[0053] If no code information is included, or if code information is included, the review server 200 stores the review result as judgment result information 276 in the storage unit 270 (S210). This completes the processing of one routine in this flowchart.

[0054] In the example above, it was explained that crawling is performed using the URL submitted by the merchant (the URL included in the merchant information 272). However, in addition to this (or instead), the review server 200 may search for web pages related to the merchant using its own device, crawl the information of the searched web pages, and use this crawled information to perform the judgments in S206 and S208 above. Web pages related to the merchant are, for example, web pages searched on the search server using keywords related to the merchant. Keywords related to the merchant are, for example, combinations of one or more words from the merchant name, company name, address, telephone number, representative, etc. included in the merchant information 272, or other words related to the merchant.

[0055] As described above, the review server 200 can help determine whether the code information is being used in an inappropriate manner.

[0056] (Specific example of code information determination process 1) The review server 200 analyzes the source information to determine whether or not code information is present in the publicly available information. The review server 200 determines the presence or absence of code information based on whether or not pre-configured characteristic information (e.g., information indicating code information) is included in the source information (e.g., source code) of the publicly available information. The review server 200 determines that there is a possibility that the web page contains the merchant's code information if the source information of the merchant's web page contains characteristic information indicating code information.

[0057] Figure 10 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of code information determination processing. For example, the review server 200 refers to the source information S of the web page IM1 and determines whether or not the source information S contains feature information. Feature information includes source information that indicates code information such as a QR code, and tag information that indicates an image such as a QR code. The review server 200 may determine that code information is likely to be included not only if it matches the above-mentioned feature information, but also if it finds similar source information.

[0058] The review server 200 excludes feature information from the target feature information if the feature information indicates pre-configured exclusion target code information. Excluded code information is, for example, code information different from code information used for electronic payments. For example, this includes code information for downloading an electronic payment app or code information for directing users to a web page detailing a campaign.

[0059] The review server 200 may determine whether the feature information is feature information that indicates a pre-configured target code information. The feature information that indicates a target code information is, for example, information stored in the storage unit 270, which is the code information of a merchant used in electronic payments for the electronic payment service.

[0060] The review server 200 may determine whether a feature is the target feature based on surrounding information, such as before or after the feature in the source information of the web page. For example, if pre-configured setting information or information similar to setting information is located around the feature, such as before or after the feature, the review server 200 may determine that the feature is not the target feature. For example, if information such as "Download the electronic payment app here" is specified around the feature, and it is presumed that it contains feature information for downloading an electronic payment app rather than feature information (code information) for the merchant's electronic payment, the target feature is excluded. In addition to the above, if there is information indicating that the feature is different from the target feature, such as "Click here for campaign details," the review server 200 will determine that the feature is not the target feature.

[0061] As described above, the review server 200 can easily determine whether or not the target code information is included in the web page by using the source information. Furthermore, the review server 200 can determine with greater accuracy whether or not the target code information is included in the web page by performing the above processing.

[0062] (Specific example of code information determination process 2) The review server 200 analyzes the image to determine whether or not there is code information in the publicly available information. The review server 200 analyzes the image contained in the web page and determines that if the image contains code information, there is a possibility that the web page contains code information.

[0063] Figure 11 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of code information determination processing. For example, the review server 200 determines whether the image of the merchant's web page IM2 contains code information C. For example, the review server 200 performs the above processing by executing image recognition processing. For example, the review server 200 uses a pre-prepared image analysis algorithm to determine whether the image of the web page IM2 contains code information that matches or is similar to the code information, or whether it is likely to contain such information. For example, the review server 200 makes the above determination based on the presence or absence of regions of features that match or are similar to the features of the code information.

[0064] The review server 200 excludes code information from the target code information if the code information contained in the image is pre-configured to be excluded. Excluded code information is, for example, code information different from the code information used for electronic payments in electronic payment services. For example, this includes code information for downloading an electronic payment app or code information for directing users to a web page detailing a campaign.

[0065] The review server 200 may determine whether the image feature information is feature information that indicates pre-configured target code information. The feature information that indicates target code information is, for example, information stored in the storage unit 270, and is the code information of a merchant used in electronic payments for the electronic payment service.

[0066] The review server 200 may determine whether the code information contained in the image is the target code information based on the surrounding information. For example, if pre-configured setting information or information similar to setting information is located around the feature information (code information), such as before or after the feature information, the review server 200 may determine that the feature information is not the target feature information. For example, if setting information such as "Download the electronic payment app here" or "Click here for campaign details" is included around the feature information in the image, the review server 200 will determine that the feature information is not the target feature information. This process is performed by image recognition processing.

[0067] As described above, the review server 200 can easily determine whether or not the target code information is included in the web page by using the image. Furthermore, the review server 200 can determine with greater accuracy whether or not the target code information is included in the web page by performing the above processing.

[0068] In the above example (Specific Example 1 of Code Information Determination Process) or (Specific Example 2 of Code Information Determination Process), a trained model may be used to determine whether the code information (or feature information) is the target code information (or feature information).

[0069] In (Specific Example 1 of Code Information Judgment Processing), the following process is performed: The review server 200 inputs feature information and surrounding information from the source information into the trained model. The trained model outputs a judgment result corresponding to the input information. The judgment result indicates whether or not the feature information is the target feature information. The trained model is trained to output a judgment result associated with the input information (for example, the examiner's review result in Figure 12, which will be described later) when input information is received. For example, suppose the information "Download the electronic payment app here" is specified around the feature information. In this case, when the trained model receives the above feature information and surrounding information, it is trained to output information indicating that the feature information is not the target feature information.

[0070] Furthermore, the trained model may be trained with training data consisting of a combination of feature information and information indicating whether or not that feature information is used in electronic payments of the electronic payment service. In this case, the trained model is trained to output information indicating whether or not that feature information is used in electronic payments of the electronic payment service when feature information is input. The review server 200 inputs the feature information to the trained model and determines whether or not that feature information is the target feature information based on the information output by the trained model.

[0071] In (Specific Example 2 of Code Information Judgment Processing), the following process is performed: The review server 200 inputs images of feature information and surrounding information to the trained model. The trained model outputs a judgment result corresponding to the input images. The judgment result indicates whether or not the feature information is the target feature information. The trained model is trained to output a judgment result associated with the input information when input information is received. For example, suppose the information "Download the electronic payment app here" is defined around the feature information. In this case, when the trained model receives images of the above feature information and surrounding information, it is trained to output information indicating that the feature information is not the target feature information.

[0072] Furthermore, the trained model may be trained with training data consisting of a combination of an image containing feature information and information indicating whether or not that feature information is used for electronic payments in the electronic payment service. In this case, the trained model is trained to output information indicating whether or not the feature information is used for electronic payments in the electronic payment service when an image containing feature information is input. The review server 200 inputs an image containing feature information to the trained model and determines whether or not the feature information in the image is the target feature information based on the information output by the trained model.

[0073] As described above, the review server 200 can more easily determine whether or not the feature information is the target feature information by using a pre-trained model.

[0074] [Flowchart for the screening process for member stores (2)] The examiner uses the examiner terminal device 300 to determine whether the code information is included in the publicly available information using the judgment result information 276. Figure 12 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing flow performed by the examiner terminal device 300.

[0075] First, the examiner terminal device 300 identifies a merchant that is indicated in the judgment result information 276 to have its code information publicly available online, in response to the examiner's operation (S300). In response to the examiner's operation, the examiner terminal device 300 refers to the judgment result information 276 or the merchant information 272 corresponding to the merchant and displays the merchant's homepage on the display unit (S302).

[0076] In the above process, if it is determined that the web page may contain code information, the review server 200 may, in cooperation with the review terminal device 300, display an interface screen containing the code information on the display unit of the review terminal device 300 so that the reviewer can confirm whether the code information is code information used for electronic payments at the merchant. This will further improve the convenience for the reviewer.

[0077] Next, the examiner terminal device 300 performs a reading process to read the code information from the homepage (S304). This process may be performed, for example, by the examiner's smartphone. Next, the examiner terminal device 300 determines, based on the result of the above reading process, whether the code information is the target code information (S306). The target code information is, for example, the code information of merchants that can be used in the electronic payment service, or the code information of the merchant that is the target of the determination. For example, if the examiner reads the code information using a smartphone, the examiner makes the above determination based on the information displayed on the smartphone. In this case, the determination is made by the examiner inputting the determination result into the examiner terminal device 300. If the examiner terminal device 300 performs the reading process, the determination is made by automatically inputting the result of the reading process. The information obtained by associating this determination result by the examiner with the feature information may be used as training data for the trained model described above.

[0078] If the code information is the target code information, the examiner terminal device 300 generates an email requesting the examiner to exclude the code information from the public information or to pledge not to include the code information in the public information, and sends the email to the email address in the merchant information 272 (S308). A phone call may be made instead of sending an email. This completes the processing of one routine in this flowchart.

[0079] As described above, the review server 200 can work in conjunction with the reviewer terminal device 300 to confirm the inappropriate use of code information and take measures to further suppress such inappropriate use.

[0080] In the above process, it was explained that the examiner uses a smartphone or similar device to perform the reading process, but instead (or in addition to this), the examination server 200 may automatically perform the reading process. If the examination server 200 determines that a web page may contain code information, it may read the code information with its own device and determine whether the code information is code information used for electronic payments at a merchant that is stored in the storage unit 270. This further reduces the burden on the examiner.

[0081] In the above process, the processes shown in Figures 9 and 12 may be performed periodically, or after a few hours, a few days, or a week, for merchants who received an email in S308. This allows the review server 200 to determine whether or not the merchant has taken action in response to the email.

[0082] Furthermore, although the above example was described as being conducted by a reviewer, the results of the review by the review server 200 described above may be directly adopted as the result of the review for inappropriate use of code information. For example, if the review server 200's determination is positive, an email regarding the deletion of characteristic information may be automatically sent to the merchant in question.

[0083] [Flowchart for the screening process for member stores (3)] The review server 200 may determine, if the publicly available information includes code information, whether the code information matches the code information available for use in electronic payments of the electronic payment service stored in the memory unit.

[0084] Figure 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the processing flow performed by the examiner terminal device 300. First, the examination server 200 determines whether it is the predetermined timing (S400). If it is the predetermined timing, the examination server 200 crawls the web pages and obtains information about the web pages (S402). For example, the examination server 200 may search for web pages using information contained in the merchant information 272 of each merchant (such as the merchant name, company name, and representative name) or related information, or it may crawl all or some of the web pages that have a predetermined number of views or more. Alternatively, the crawling targets may be determined based on predetermined criteria. The examination server 200 may also prioritize crawling web pages that contain code information or images that may contain code information, such as the exterior or interior of a store.

[0085] Next, the review server 200 determines whether each of the crawled pieces of information contains feature information (code information) (S404). If none of the pieces contain feature information, the process proceeds to S408.

[0086] If any of the crawled information contains characteristic information, the review server 200 determines whether the characteristic information of each merchant stored in the storage unit 270 (or characteristic information which is code information issued by the electronic payment service) matches the characteristic information discovered in the above process (S406).

[0087] Next, the review server 200 stores the result of the determination in S406, associated with the merchant's identification information, as determination result information 276 in the storage unit 270 (S408). For example, it stores information such as whether a webpage containing characteristic information was found for a given merchant's identification information, and the URL of the webpage. The reviewer refers to the above determination result information 276, accesses the webpage containing the characteristic information, and confirms the characteristic information contained in the webpage. This completes the processing of one routine in this flowchart.

[0088] As described above, the review server 200 can use the information obtained by automatically crawling each webpage to check whether the merchant's electronic payment code information is publicly available on the network.

[0089] According to the embodiment described above, the review server 200 analyzes publicly available information on the network to determine whether the publicly available information contains merchant code information used in electronic payments for the electronic payment service, and determines the suitability of the merchant based on the result of the determination, thereby reducing the burden on the service operator (e.g., the reviewer).

[0090] Although embodiments for carrying out the present invention have been described above using examples, the present invention is not limited in any way to these embodiments, and various modifications and substitutions can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0091] 10. User terminal device 20 Payment Apps 100 Payment Servers 120 Content Provision Department 130 Payment Processing Unit 140 Information Management Department 150 Information Processing Unit 200 review servers 220 Information Retrieval Department 230 Processing Unit 300 Examiner terminal device

Claims

1. An acquisition unit that acquires publicly available information on the network, A processing unit analyzes the aforementioned publicly available information to determine the possibility that the publicly available information contains merchant code information used for electronic payments of electronic payment services, and determines the suitability of the merchant based on the result of the determination. An information processing device equipped with the following features.

2. The acquisition unit acquires the publicly available information, which is the web page of the member store. The processing unit determines whether the web page contains the code information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

3. The processing unit determines that the web page may contain the code information if the source information of the affiliated store's web page contains characteristic information indicating the code information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.

4. The processing unit, if the feature information is feature information indicating code information to be excluded as set in advance, excludes the feature information from the target feature information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3.

5. The processing unit determines whether the feature information is the target feature information based on the information surrounding the feature information in the source information of the web page. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3.

6. The processing unit analyzes the images contained in the publicly available web page and determines that if the images contain code information, there is a possibility that the web page contains the code information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.

7. The processing unit, if the code information contained in the image is code information that is subject to exclusion as set in advance, excludes the code information from the target code information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6.

8. The processing unit determines whether the code information contained in the image is the target code information based on the surrounding information of the code information contained in the image. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6.

9. If the processing unit determines that the publicly available webpage may contain code information, it will display an interface screen containing the code information on the display unit of the examiner's terminal device in order to allow the examiner to confirm whether the code information is code information used for electronic payments at the merchant. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.

10. If the processing unit determines that the publicly available web page may contain the code information, it reads the code information and determines whether the code information is code information used for electronic payments at the merchant. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.

11. The processing unit, if the publicly available information includes code information, determines whether the code information matches the code information usable for electronic payments of the electronic payment service stored in the storage unit. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.

12. Computers Obtain publicly available information on the network, The publicly available information is analyzed to determine whether it contains merchant code information used for electronic payments in electronic payment services, and the suitability of the merchant is determined based on the results of this determination. Information processing methods.

13. On the computer, By obtaining publicly available information on the network, The publicly available information is analyzed to determine the possibility that it contains merchant code information used for electronic payments in electronic payment services, and the suitability of the merchant is determined based on the result of this determination. program.

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