Information processing device, information processing method, and program

Abstract

The system sets reward eligibility conditions for participating merchants and grants rewards to users who meet those conditions. [Solution] The information processing device obtains the merchant ID and payment amount of the sales data for the target month associated with the card number, based on the card number of the user master obtained based on the user-specific mission data for the current month and the target month of the user-specific mission data for the current month. The device compares the obtained merchant ID and payment amount with the merchant ID and mission completion conditions of the user-specific mission data for the current month. If it determines that the mission completion conditions have been fully or partially achieved, it updates the mission completion status of the user-specific mission data for the current month. If the information processing device indicates that the mission completion status of the user-specific mission data has been fully achieved, it updates the reward information of the user data associated with the user ID of the user-specific mission data.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program for recommending recommended franchise stores to a cardholder based on some or all of the card usage status, attribute information, and questionnaire information of the cardholder, setting privilege acquisition conditions for the franchise stores, and granting privileges to cardholders who have achieved the conditions.

Background Art

[0002] For a company that issues payment cards such as credit cards, debit cards, and electronic money (such a company is referred to as an "issuer" in this specification), maintaining a continuous relationship with existing customers, that is, retention, is cited as a management issue. Conventionally, issuers have been trying to strengthen the retention of cardholders by various measures. For example, by using a system (Patent Document 1) for promoting card usage, multiple preferential information has been provided to cardholders.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, in the prior art, it is a system in which preferential information whose presentation target is specified based on the attribute information of card members designated by franchise stores and preferential information presented equally to all card members are only automatically provided to card members. For this reason, in the prior art, cardholders only obtain the preferential information presented by the system, and it is not a system in which they can obtain some privilege by satisfying the conditions set using the obtained preferential information.

[0005] Furthermore, no service was known that sets conditions for each cardholder's card usage, visualizes the status of achieving those conditions to the cardholder based on the sales data associated with that card, and grants benefits to the cardholder based on the achievement of those conditions.

[0006] For participating merchants, even if they want to increase new and repeat customers, it is difficult to provide information tailored to the individual needs of specific cardholders. Traditionally, they have either provided information to everyone or limited it to a fairly broad group of cardholders.

[0007] Issuers also wanted to encourage cardholders to use their cards at various merchants in the industries they use on a daily basis, but it was difficult to provide cardholders with personalized guidance through mass-market coupons.

[0008] The present invention was made to solve these problems and aims to provide an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program that recommend suitable merchants to cardholders based on some or all of the cardholder's card usage status, attribute information, and survey information, set conditions for earning benefits at those merchants, and grant benefits to cardholders who meet the conditions. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] To solve the above problems, an information processing apparatus comprising a control unit and a storage unit according to one aspect of the present invention, The aforementioned storage unit is A user master that stores user data associated with a user, A sales information database that stores sales data for card payments associated with the aforementioned user, A user-specific mission information database that stores user-specific mission data recommended to the aforementioned user, It is equipped with, The control unit, Based on the user-specific mission data for the current month read from the user-specific mission information DB, the card number obtained by querying the user master, and the target year and month of the user-specific mission data read from the current month, the merchant ID and payment amount of the sales data for the target year and month associated with the card number are obtained. The process involves comparing the acquired merchant ID and payment amount with the merchant ID and mission completion conditions of the user-specific mission data for the current month that were read out, and determining whether the mission completion conditions have been fully or partially achieved. The mission completion status of the user-specific mission data for the current month, which has been read, is updated on the condition that the mission completion conditions have been fully or partially achieved. Based on the user-specific mission data read from the user-specific mission information DB, it is determined whether the mission completion status has been fully achieved. Under the condition that it is determined to be fully achieved, the reward information for the identified user data is updated by querying the user master based on the user ID of the user-specific mission data, It is configured to perform the following: [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to the present invention, based on at least a portion of the cardholder's card usage status, attribute information, and survey information, it is possible to recommend suitable merchants to the cardholder, set conditions for earning rewards at those merchants, visualize the achievement status of the set conditions to the cardholder in accordance with the sales associated with the card that occur at those merchants, and grant rewards to cardholders who have met the conditions.

[0011] Since the cardholder can know the conditions set for the recommended affiliated stores, they can actively engage in consumption behavior to obtain benefits. The recommended information is provided to cardholders who meet the needs of the affiliated stores, making it easier for the affiliated stores to increase new and repeat customers.

[0012] According to the present invention, the issuer can facilitate cardholders' card usage at affiliated stores of various industries that cardholders use daily, and can provide cardholders with guidance tailored to their individual needs rather than mass-market coupons.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0013] A detailed understanding of the embodiments disclosed herein can be obtained from the following description illustrated in connection with the accompanying drawings. [Figure 1] It is a configuration diagram of the entire system including the information processing device 10. [Figure 2] It is a system configuration diagram of the information processing device 10. [Figure 3] It is a diagram for explaining an example of the data structure of the user master 106. [Figure 4] It is a diagram for explaining an example of the data structure of the representative affiliated store master 107. [Figure 5] It is a diagram for explaining an example of the data structure of the affiliated store master 108. [Figure 6] It is a diagram for explaining an example of the data structure of the sales information 109. [Figure 7] It is a diagram for explaining an example of the data structure of the mission information per user 110. [Figure 8] It is a flowchart for explaining the generation process and provision process of mission data per user. [Figure 9] It is a diagram showing an example of the mission data list screen 900 per user. [Figure 10]This is a flowchart for explaining the process of updating mission data for each user that meets the conditions based on the sales data of the user's card payment. [Figure 11] This is a diagram showing an example screen of mission achievement status 1100. [Figure 12] This is a flowchart for explaining the privilege granting process based on the achievement of mission conditions.

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0014] (Overall Configuration) FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an entire system including an information processing apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Each of the information processing apparatus 10, the user terminal 11, and the franchise settlement terminal 12 is communicably connected to each other via a well-known network 13 such as the Internet or a dedicated line. In this specification, the information processing apparatus 10 is described as one apparatus, but the processing of various functions executed by the information processing apparatus 10 may be configured to be executed distributively by a plurality of apparatuses or servers. In FIG. 1, only one user terminal 11 and one franchise settlement terminal 12 are shown, but there may be a plurality of these.

[0015] The information processing apparatus 10 generates mission data for each user based on part or all of the data in various databases within the information processing apparatus 10, that is, the history of sales data of cardholders, attribute information, and questionnaire information answered by cardholders, and stores the generated mission data for each user in the mission information 110 for each user. The mission data for each user can include conditions (e.g., payment amount × number of times) that the entity operating the information processing apparatus 10 hopes the cardholder will achieve, a period, and attribute information of the cardholder targeted.

[0016] The information processing apparatus 10 can generate mission data for each user based on various logics. The various logics can be, for example, the following. · Generate mission data for each user based on the membership route information of the card held by the user. To encourage users to utilize the services of various affiliated merchants, if the same mission is completed consecutively, that merchant's mission will not be selected as part of the user's individual mission data. When a user changes their place of residence, the system prioritizes selecting affiliated businesses in the vicinity of the new residence that match the user's preferences. • Select users who possess the attribute information targeted by the representative member store and provide them with user-specific mission data. Based on the information provided in the user's survey responses, the system prioritizes selecting affiliated businesses in industries that match the user's preferences as user-specific mission data.

[0017] Furthermore, the information processing device 10 can set a priority for each user-specific mission data and display them on the user terminal 11 according to their priority. As will be described later, in this specification, user-specific mission data is generated by various logics, but it is possible to treat the generated user-specific mission data as candidate data to be provided to the user, and to treat user-specific mission data that has been assigned a priority to be actually provided to the user as regular data. Alternatively, user-specific mission data that has been assigned a priority and will not actually be provided to the user may be deleted. For example, if 10 user-specific mission data are generated, but only 5 are provided to the user, data with priority values ​​from 6 to 10 may be deleted.

[0018] The information processing device 10 can provide the user terminal 11 with a list of mission data for each cardholder in response to access (login) from the user terminal 11, so that cardholders (users) can learn about the existence of missions by logging in. The information processing device 10 can uniformly set the number of mission data to actually provide to each cardholder. The information processing device 10 can prioritize displaying missions from industries and merchants that the user has not used before on the user terminal 11.

[0019] The information processing device 10 can provide information that a merchant wants to convey to the user (for example, an advertisement) to the user terminal 11 via mission data provided to the user (for example, by clicking on a designated area).

[0020] When the information processing device 10 receives sales data from a cardholder's card, it can determine from the sales data and user-specific mission data whether the cardholder has fulfilled the set conditions. If the condition is a predetermined number of times (for example, 3 times within a period), the information processing device 10 can determine whether the cardholder has fulfilled the predetermined number of times or only a portion of them. If the condition is fulfilled, the information processing device 10 can identify the cardholder as eligible for a reward, and then proceed to grant the reward to the identified cardholder.

[0021] The information processing device 10 is configured to initiate a process of granting benefits when a user accesses (logs into) the system, in order to encourage continued use by the user. In other words, upon receiving the user ID through user login, the information processing device 10 then executes the benefit granting process for the identified cardholder.

[0022] The information processing device 10 can provide the user terminal 11 with information on the status of achieving the conditions (for example, "achieved," "1 / 3 achieved," "one more to go until achievement," etc.) in response to access (login) from the user terminal 11. The screen provided to the user terminal 11 can be configured to display not only the status of achieving the conditions for the user-specific mission data for the current month, but also the achievement results for the user-specific mission data for the previous month.

[0023] The information processing device 10 can send a reminder email when there are a predetermined number of days remaining until the end of the period, or display a notification on the user terminal 11 when the user logs in, if there are any unfulfilled conditions in the user's mission data for the current month.

[0024] The user terminal 11 may be any type of device capable of operating in a wired or wireless environment (e.g., a smartphone, PC, tablet, etc.) and is not limited to any specific device. The user terminal 11 can display several user-specific mission data provided by the information processing device 10 on its display. The user terminal 11 can display the status of completion of the conditions for each of the several user-specific mission data provided by the information processing device 10 on its display. The user terminal 11 can transmit response information to the questionnaire provided by the information processing device 10 to the information processing device 10.

[0025] The merchant payment terminal 12 can be a card payment terminal installed in the merchant's store or a card payment device operated by the merchant, but is not limited to a specific device. The merchant payment terminal 12 can transmit sales data during card payment to the information processing device 10. The sales data may include information such as card number, merchant ID, date, and payment amount.

[0026] (System Configuration) Figure 2 is a system configuration diagram of an information processing device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 2, the information processing device 10 includes a control unit 101, a main memory unit 102, an auxiliary memory unit 103, an IF unit 104, and an output unit 105, which are interconnected by a bus 120 or the like, similar to a general computer. The information processing device 10 can include a user master 106, a representative franchisee master 107, a franchisee master 108, sales information 109, and user-specific mission information 110 in the form of a file / database (DB).

[0027] The control unit 101, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), controls each component of the information processing device 10 and performs data calculations. It also reads various programs stored in the auxiliary storage unit 103 into the main memory unit 102 and executes them. The main memory unit 102, also known as main memory, stores various received data, computer-executable instructions, and data after calculations performed by those instructions. The auxiliary storage unit 103 is a storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD), and is used for long-term storage of data and programs.

[0028] The embodiment shown in Figure 2 describes an embodiment in which the control unit 101, main memory unit 102, and auxiliary storage unit 103 are located inside the same computer. However, in other embodiments, the information processing device 10 can be configured to achieve parallel distributed processing by multiple computers by using multiple control units 101, main memory unit 102, and auxiliary storage unit 103. In another embodiment, it is also possible to set up multiple servers for the information processing device 10, and have multiple servers share a single auxiliary storage unit 103.

[0029] The IF unit 104 acts as an interface (IF) for sending and receiving data with other systems and devices, and also provides an interface for receiving various commands and input data (various masters, tables, etc.) from the system operator. The output unit 105 provides a display screen for displaying the processed data and printing means for printing the data.

[0030] The user master 106 stores user data, which is master information associated with cardholders. In this specification, "user" and "cardholder" can be used interchangeably. In the embodiments described herein, a credit card is used as an example of a "card," but "card" may include any payment card other than a credit card, such as a prepaid card, debit card, or electronic money. Credit cards may include both proprietary cards and co-branded cards, or only any type of card may be included. Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the user master 106. The user master 106 may include a representative user ID 301, user ID 302, user information 303, card number 304, attribute information 305, survey information 306, benefit information 307, and membership route information 308, but is not limited to these data items and may include other data items as well.

[0031] The representative user ID 301 is an identifier that identifies the cardholder and can combine multiple user IDs 302. User ID 302 is a user identifier associated with each cardholder. User information 303 shows information related to the user, such as notification information like an email address, authentication information for logging into sites provided by the information processing device 10, and information on whether or not the user is subscribed to various services such as subscription services. The card number 304 indicates the card number associated with the cardholder. In other words, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the card number associated with the cardholder and the user ID. This card may also be a family card held by a family member of the cardholder.

[0032] Attribute information 305 shows attribute information associated with the cardholder, such as age (20s, 50s, etc.), gender, place of residence (e.g., prefecture, city / county / district geographical area), and whether or not they have a family. Survey information 306 shows information from a survey provided by the information processing device 10 to understand the preferences of the cardholder and / or the cardholder's family. Based on the survey results, the information processing device 10 can select user-specific mission data to present to the user. Benefit information 307 shows benefits granted to the cardholder (e.g., points, coupons, etc.). Membership route information 308 shows how the cardholder became a cardholder. For example, if the cardholder applied for membership at a participating store such as a department store, membership route information 308 can store information about the participating store where the application was made.

[0033] Returning to Figure 2, the Representative Franchisee Master 107 stores the Representative Franchisee data, which is the master information for the representative franchisee within a group of franchisees. A group of franchisees could be, for example, a chain store (i.e., a retail business that operates multiple stores of the same type, with the headquarters managing each store). A group of franchisees can consist of just one store. Therefore, even a local, independent store can be a Representative Franchisee. Figure 4 illustrates an example of the data structure of the Representative Franchisee Master 107. The Representative Franchisee Master 107 can include the Representative Franchisee ID 401, Representative Franchisee Name 402, Industry 403, and Area 404, but it is not limited to these data items and can include other data items as well.

[0034] The Representative Member ID (401) is the identifier for the representative member within the group of member stores. The Representative Member Name (402) indicates the name of the representative member store. The Industry (403) indicates the industry of the representative member store. The Area (404) indicates the geographical area (e.g., prefecture, city / county / ward) in which the group of member stores operates.

[0035] Returning to Figure 2, the merchant master 108 stores merchant data, which is the master information of merchants. Merchants refer to stores, facilities, and e-commerce businesses that can provide specific services such as card payments by concluding merchant agreements with credit card companies, etc. Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the merchant master 108. The merchant master 108 can include merchant ID 501, merchant name 502, industry 503, area 504, and representative merchant ID 401, but is not limited to these data items and can include other data items as well.

[0036] The merchant ID 501 is the identifier of the merchant. The merchant name 502 indicates the name of the merchant. The industry 503 indicates the industry of the merchant. The area 504 indicates the geographical area where the merchant is located (e.g., prefecture, city / county / ward). The representative merchant ID 401 indicates the identifier of the representative merchant of a group of merchants, if the merchant belongs to a group of merchants.

[0037] Returning to Figure 2, sales information 109 stores sales data for card payments made at merchants by the cardholder and / or their family. Figure 6 illustrates an example of the data structure of sales information 109. Sales information 109 may include payment ID 601, sales date 602, card number 603, payment amount 604, merchant ID 501, and merchant name 502, but is not limited to these data items and may include other data items as well.

[0038] The payment ID 601 is the identifier of the payment that formed the basis of the sales data. The sales date 602 indicates the date on which the sales based on the payment were recorded. The card number 603 indicates the card number of the card used for the payment that formed the basis of the sales data. The payment amount 604 indicates the payment amount of the payment that formed the basis of the sales data. The merchant ID 501 and merchant name 502 indicate the identifier and name of the merchant where the payment was made.

[0039] Returning to Figure 2, the user-specific mission information 110 stores user-specific mission data recommended to the cardholder, generated by the information processing device 10 based on the cardholder's card usage status, attribute information, and / or survey information. Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the user-specific mission information 110. The user-specific mission information 110 may include user ID 302, representative merchant ID 401, target year and month 701, target merchant for the mission 702, mission completion conditions 703, mission completion status 704, target merchant information for the mission 705, and priority 706, but is not limited to these data items and may include other data items as well.

[0040] User ID 302 is a user identifier associated with each cardholder's card. Representative Merchant ID 401 is an identifier of the representative merchant that provides the recommended mission to the user. Target Year and Month 701 indicates the target year and month for the recommended mission to the user. Mission Target Merchant 702 indicates the merchant IDs that are the target of the recommended mission to the user. Mission Target Merchant 702 may include all merchants belonging to the representative merchant group, or it may include only merchants in a specific geographic area. Mission Completion Conditions 703 shows the conditions under which the recommended mission to the user is considered completed, and information on the rewards that the user will receive upon completion, such as conditions such as a combination of payment amount and number of payments, and information on rewards such as the number of points awarded. Mission Completion Status 704 indicates whether the recommended mission to the user has been completed. The mission completion status 704 may simply indicate whether the mission has been completed, or, if a predetermined number of payments (e.g., 3 payments) is specified as a completion condition, it may indicate the number of payments made at that time, for example, "Progress: 1 / 3". The target merchant information 705 shows merchant information associated with the target merchant of the mission recommended to the user, for example, information such as campaigns being conducted at a specific merchant. The priority 706 indicates the priority of the user-specific mission data to be presented to the user. If the number of mission information presented to the user is set to be 5, data with priorities 1 to 5 will be provided to the user terminal 11. Data with a priority of 6 or lower will not actually be provided to the user terminal 11, but may remain stored in the user-specific mission information 110 as candidate data.

[0041] (Processing flow: Generation and provision of user-specific mission information) Figure 8 is a flowchart illustrating the user-specific mission data generation and provision processes according to the present invention.

[0042] In S801, the information processing device 10 can generate user-specific mission data based on the data stored in the user master 106, representative franchise master 107, franchise master 108, and sales information 109. The information processing device 10 can generate candidate user-specific mission data based on the following processes (i) and (ii), and can select the legitimate user-specific mission data to actually provide to the user terminal 11 as a recommendation based on the following process (iii).

[0043] (i) A process that generates user-specific mission data based on the card membership registration information. The information processing device 10 reads one user data entry from the user master 106 and stores the mission data associated with the member store in the user-specific mission information 110, based on the information of the representative member store indicated by the membership route information 308 of the read user data.

[0044] More specifically, the information processing device 10 generates the user ID 302 for user-specific mission information 110 from the user ID 302 of the user data read from the user master 106, the representative merchant ID 401 from the representative merchant information indicated by the membership route information 308, the target year and month 701 from the information at the time the data generation process is performed (for example, the system date held by the information processing device 10), the mission target merchant 702, mission completion conditions 703, and mission target merchant information 705 arbitrarily set by the information processing device 10, and stores the user-specific mission data, including the generated data, in user-specific mission information 110.

[0045] The information processing device 10 reads one user data entry from the user master 106 and performs the above-described process.

[0046] This process (i) allows us to recommend the mission information of the representative merchant to the user if the card was registered through that representative merchant.

[0047] (ii) A process for generating user-specific mission data for users with attributes that the operator of the information processing device 10 wants to target. The information processing device 10 queries the user master 106 based on the target attribute information entered by the operator of the information processing device 10, and identifies user data in which the attribute information matches the attribute information 305 in the user master 106. The information processing device 10 generates a user ID 302 from the user ID of the identified user data, a target year and month 701 from the information at the time the data generation process is performed (for example, the system date held by the information processing device 10), a representative merchant ID 401, a mission target merchant 702, mission completion conditions 703, and mission target merchant information 705, which are arbitrarily set by the information processing device 10, and stores user-specific mission data including the generated data in user-specific mission information 110.

[0048] The information processing device 10 reads one piece of the next mission data from the user-specific mission information 110 and performs the above-described processing.

[0049] This process (ii) enables the operator of the information processing device 10 to identify users who match the target attribute information and to recommend mission information of representative member stores to the identified users.

[0050] (iii) The information processing device 10 can select the legitimate user-specific mission data to actually provide to the user by setting a priority for the candidate user-specific mission data generated in (i) and (ii) above and stored in the user-specific mission information 110. The legitimate user-specific mission data may also be simply referred to as "user-specific mission data". For example, if the information processing device 10 is configured to provide a maximum of 5 user-specific mission data to the user terminal 11, even if 10 data items are stored in the user-specific mission information 110 for a given user, only data with a priority of 1 to 5 will be provided to the user terminal 11. Data with a priority of 6 to 10 may be deleted or may remain stored in the user-specific mission information 110.

[0051] The information processing device 10 queries the user master 106 based on the user ID 302 of the user-specific mission data read from the user-specific mission information 110 to obtain the card number indicated by the card number 304. Based on the obtained card number, the information processing device 10 queries the sales information 109 to calculate the number of data entries and settlement amount for each merchant ID 501 during a predetermined period. The information processing device 10 compares the merchant ID associated with the number of data entries and settlement amount calculated from the sales data in the sales information 109 with the merchant ID of the mission target merchant 702 of the user-specific mission data read from the user-specific mission information 110.

[0052] The information processing device 10 determines the priority of each user-specific mission data read from the user-specific mission information 110 according to any of the following policies (a) to (e), and sets the determined priority information as priority 706 of the data in the user-specific mission information 110 and registers it.

[0053] (a) If user-specific mission data exists for the user-specific mission information 110 generated in (i) above, set priority 706 to priority "1". This process may be performed when generating the user-specific mission data in (i) above. This policy is to give the highest priority to the mission associated with the merchant through which the user joined the card. Note that process (a) may not be performed if the missions of this merchant have been completed for a predetermined number of consecutive months.

[0054] (b) Merchant IDs with a relatively small number of data entries or transaction amounts calculated from sales information 109 will be given a relatively higher priority. This policy is intended to encourage users to use merchants they have used before but have used less frequently or with lower transaction amounts.

[0055] (c) Based on the user ID of the user-specific mission data read from the user-specific mission information 110, the user master 106 is queried to obtain the residential information of the user data attribute information 305, and based on the merchant ID of the mission target merchant 702 of the user-specific mission data, the merchant located in the residential area indicated by the residential information is given a relatively higher priority among the geographical areas of the merchant data area 504 obtained by queriing the merchant master 108. This policy is intended to encourage daily use of merchants near the user's place of residence.

[0056] (d) In the above, the information processing device 10 compared the merchant ID associated with the number of data entries and settlement amount calculated from the sales data stored in the sales information 109 with the merchant ID of the mission target merchant 702 of the data read from the user-specific mission information 110. However, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto. For example, the information processing device 10 can compare the merchant ID associated with the industry and number of data entries calculated from the sales data stored in the sales information 109 with the merchant ID of the mission target merchant 702 of the user-specific mission data read from the user-specific mission information 110, and then determine the priority for each of the user-specific mission data read from the user-specific mission information 110.

[0057] (e) The information processing device 10 can also determine the priority 706 of the user-specific mission data in the user-specific mission information 110 based on the user preference information shown in the questionnaire information 306 of the user master 106. For example, the priority 706 may be determined based on user preference information such as affiliated stores in industries that the user prefers to use, or affiliated stores that the user frequently visits.

[0058] In S802, the information processing device 10 determines whether a user has accessed the system via the user terminal 11. If an access has been detected, the process proceeds to S803; otherwise, this processing flow terminates.

[0059] In S803, the information processing device 10 queries the user-specific mission information 110 based on the user ID of the accessing user and provides the user terminal 11 with data for the most recent two months (current month and previous month) up to a predetermined priority. The predetermined priority can be determined arbitrarily. For example, if the information processing device 10 is configured to provide a user with up to five pieces of mission information, the information processing device 10 can read data with priorities from 1 to 5 from the user-specific mission information 110 and provide it to the user terminal 11.

[0060] Figure 9 shows an example of the user-specific mission data list screen 900 displayed on the user terminal 11. The user-specific mission data list screen 900 is a screen that displays a predetermined number of pieces of information to the user in order of priority from the mission data for the current month stored in the user-specific mission information 110. The merchant display section 901 shows the mission data of the merchant. The merchant's mission data includes information such as the merchant name, the mission period, the conditions for completing the mission, the benefits given to the user upon completion of the conditions, and announcements from the merchant. The merchant display section 901 displays a predetermined number of merchant mission data. By referring to the user-specific mission data list screen 900, the user can find out about the missions set for them for the current month, making it easier to decide whether or not to use that merchant's services.

[0061] In the embodiments described above, an example of the process for generating user-specific mission data to be stored in user-specific mission information 110 was explained, but the generation process in the present invention may be an example other than that described above. In (i), it was shown that a representative merchant associated with the card enrollment route is selected as the target merchant for the current month's mission, but for example, the information processing device 10 may be configured to preferentially select a representative merchant that provides subscription services as the target merchant for the current month's mission. Alternatively, the information processing device 10 may be configured to preferentially select mission information of merchants belonging to any industry from among the industries that are commonly used in daily life (for example, restaurants, convenience stores, supermarkets, e-commerce / mail order, shopping centers / department stores, railways / taxis, books / videos / CDs, drugstores, etc.) as user-specific mission information.

[0062] (Processing flow: Update process for user-specific mission data that has met the conditions) Figure 10 is a flowchart illustrating the process of updating user-specific mission data based on user card payment sales data to show users who have met the required conditions.

[0063] In S1001, the information processing device 10 reads one user-specific mission data entry for the current month from the user-specific mission information 110.

[0064] In S1002, the information processing device 10 queries the user master 106 based on the user ID of the user-specific mission data for the current month read from the user-specific mission information 110, and obtains the card number associated with that user ID. Based on the obtained card number and the information for the target year and month 701 of the read user-specific mission data (i.e., the current month), the information processing device 10 queries the sales information 109, and obtains the merchant ID and settlement amount of the sales data for that year and month associated with that card number.

[0065] In S1003, the information processing device 10 compares the merchant ID and payment amount obtained in S1002 with the merchant ID of the target merchant 702 and the conditions of the mission completion conditions 703 (e.g., amount, number of times) of the user-specific mission data read from the user-specific mission information 110 in S1001, and determines whether the mission conditions have been fully or partially achieved.

[0066] For example, if the condition is "5,000 yen x 1 time", the information processing device 10 can determine that the condition has been fully met if a payment of 5,000 yen or more is made at a merchant with the merchant ID of Mission Target Merchant 702. Also, if the condition is "1,000 yen x 3 times", the information processing device 10 can determine that 1 / 3 of the condition has been met if a payment of 1,000 yen or more is made at a merchant with the merchant ID of Mission Target Merchant 702. The number of times a condition is set to one or multiple times can be arbitrarily determined. If it is determined that the condition has been fully or partially met, the process proceeds to S1004; otherwise, this processing flow ends, and the process of reading other data may start at S1001.

[0067] In S1004, the information processing device 10 updates the mission completion status 704 data of the user-specific mission data read from the user-specific mission information 110 in S1001, based on the determination result in S1003, and stores the updated data in the user-specific mission information 110. The updated mission completion status 704 data may indicate that the conditions have been fully met, or it may indicate the degree of progress based on the number of times it has been achieved so far (for example, 1 / 3). The information processing device 10 can provide the user-specific mission data, including the updated mission completion status 704 information, to the user terminal 11 via the mission completion status 1100 screen.

[0068] Figure 11 shows an example of the Mission Completion Status 1100 screen. The Merchant Display Section 1101 can display the mission data of the merchant set for the user and its current completion status. The completion status may indicate complete completion or indicate the degree of progress. The "Notices from the Store" section of the Merchant Display Section 1101 can display notices such as advertisements and notices from the merchant. Alternatively, selecting "Notices from the Store" in the Merchant Display Section 1101 can display notices such as advertisements and notices from the merchant.

[0069] (Processing flow: Reward granting process based on fulfillment of mission conditions) Figure 12 is a flowchart illustrating the process of granting rewards based on the completion of mission conditions.

[0070] In S1201, the information processing device 10 reads data one by one from the user-specific mission information 110 at predetermined processing timings.

[0071] In S1202, the information processing device 10 determines whether the mission conditions have been fully met based on the mission completion status 704 of the user-specific mission data read from the user-specific mission information 110. If it is determined that the conditions have been fully met, the process proceeds to S1203. On the other hand, if it is determined that the conditions have not been met, this processing flow is terminated, and in S1201, other data to be processed may be read. As described above, the mission completion status 704 may indicate the degree of progress toward mission completion (for example, 1 / 3), but the information processing device 10 may be configured to grant the user a reward only when the conditions of the mission information have been fully met.

[0072] In S1203, the information processing device 10 queries the user master 106 based on the user ID 302 of the user-specific mission data read from the user-specific mission information 110 to identify the user data of that user. The information processing device 10 can update the reward information 307 of the user data in the identified user master 106 using the reward information indicated in the mission completion conditions 703 of the user-specific mission data read from the user-specific mission information 110.

[0073] If the reward is points, the user can use the accumulated points for any service. If the reward is a coupon, the information processing device 10 can provide the coupon to the user at a predetermined time based on the reward information 307 in the user master 106 (for example, by sending an email, or by providing it in response to access to the system by the user terminal 11). In this way, the information processing device 10 can be configured to provide the reward to the user according to the content of the reward.

[0074] In another embodiment of the present invention, in order to encourage users to use the system, the information processing device 10 may be configured to start processing S1201 in response to a user logging into the system within a predetermined period.

[0075] As described above, the information processing device 10 can determine whether to grant a reward to a user based on sales data from card payments, in accordance with the user's card usage status (e.g., location of the merchant, industry, etc.), user attribute information (age, gender, place of residence, family status, etc.), and survey information, in order to fulfill a mission set for each user. Subsequently, the process of granting the reward to the user can be executed at a predetermined timing. In addition, the user can learn about the content and progress of the mission set for them via the user terminal 11, and learn about the purchasing behavior required to achieve it.

[0076] Although the principles of the present invention have been described above with reference to exemplary embodiments, those skilled in the art will understand that various embodiments with modifications in configuration and details can be realized without departing from the spirit of the invention. That is, the present invention can take the form of, for example, a system, apparatus, method, program, or storage medium. [Explanation of symbols]

[0077] 10 Information Processing Devices 11 User terminals 12. Merchant payment terminals 13 Networks 101 Control Unit 102 Main memory 103 Auxiliary storage 104 IF section 105 Output section 106 User Master 107 Representative Member Store Master 108 Merchant Master 109 Sales Information 110 User-Specific Mission Information

Claims

1. An information processing device comprising a control unit and a storage unit, The aforementioned storage unit is A user master that stores user data associated with a user, A sales information database that stores sales data of card payments associated with the aforementioned user, A user-specific mission information database that stores user-specific mission data recommended to the aforementioned user, Equipped with, The control unit, Based on the user-specific mission data for the current month read from the user-specific mission information DB, the card number obtained by querying the user master, and the target year and month of the user-specific mission data read from the current month, the merchant ID and payment amount of the sales data for the target year and month associated with the card number are obtained. The process involves comparing the acquired merchant ID and payment amount with the merchant ID and mission completion conditions of the user-specific mission data for the current month that were read out, and determining whether the mission completion conditions have been fully or partially achieved. The mission completion status of the user-specific mission data for the current month, which has been read, is updated on the condition that the aforementioned mission completion conditions have been fully or partially achieved. Based on the mission completion status of the user-specific mission data read from the user-specific mission information DB, it is determined whether the mission completion conditions have been fully met. Under the condition that it is determined to be fully achieved, the reward information for the identified user data is updated by querying the user master based on the user ID of the user-specific mission data, An information processing device configured to perform the following actions.

2. The control unit, Based on the user ID and membership route information of the user data read from the user master, the information of the representative member store indicated by the system date, the arbitrarily set mission target member store, mission completion conditions, and mission target member store information, user-specific mission data is generated, and the generated user-specific mission data is stored in the user-specific mission information DB. Based on the input target attribute information, the user master is queried to identify user data in the user master that has attribute information matching the target attribute information; user-specific mission data is generated based on the user ID, system date, and arbitrarily set representative member store information, mission target member store, mission completion conditions, and mission target member store information of the identified user data; and the generated user-specific mission data is stored in the user-specific mission information DB. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, configured to generate candidate user-specific mission data.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control unit is further configured to select user-specific mission data to provide to a user by setting a priority order for the candidate user-specific mission data.

4. The control unit, The information processing device according to claim 3, configured to set the priority order of candidate user-specific mission data based on the number of data entries and the merchant ID associated with the settlement amount calculated from the sales data stored in the sales information DB.

5. The control unit, The information processing device according to claim 3, configured to set the priority order of candidate user-specific mission data based on the user's place of residence information associated with the user ID of the user-specific mission data read from the user-specific mission information DB, and the geographical area information of the affiliated store associated with the affiliated store ID of the mission target affiliated store of the user-specific mission data.

6. The control unit, The information processing device according to claim 3, configured to set the priority order of candidate user-specific mission data based on a comparison between a merchant ID associated with the industry and number of data records calculated from the sales information DB and the merchant ID of the mission target merchant in the user-specific mission data of the user-specific mission information DB.

7. The control unit, The information processing device according to claim 3, configured to set the priority order of candidate user-specific mission data based on user preference information indicated by the user master survey information.

8. The control unit, The information processing device according to any one of claims 4 to 7, configured to provide the user terminal with user-specific mission data associated with the accessing user, up to a predetermined number of priority levels, in response to access from the user terminal.

9. It also includes a communication unit for communicating with external networks, The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is further configured to provide the user terminal with the updated mission completion status of the user-specific mission data via the communication unit.

10. A method performed by an information processing device comprising a control unit and a storage unit, The aforementioned storage unit is A user master that stores user data associated with a user, A sales information database that stores sales data of card payments associated with the aforementioned user, A user-specific mission information database that stores user-specific mission data recommended to the aforementioned user, Equipped with, The control unit obtains the card number obtained by querying the user master based on the user-specific mission data for the current month read from the user-specific mission information DB, and the target year and month of the user-specific mission data read from the current month, and obtains the merchant ID and settlement amount of the sales data for the target year and month associated with the card number. The control unit compares the acquired merchant ID and payment amount with the merchant ID and mission completion conditions of the user-specific mission data for the current month that was read out, and determines whether the mission completion conditions have been fully or partially achieved. The control unit updates the mission completion status of the user-specific mission data for the current month that it has read, based on the condition that the mission completion conditions have been fully or partially achieved. The control unit determines whether the mission completion status has been fully achieved based on the user-specific mission data read from the user-specific mission information DB, The control unit, under the condition that it has been determined to be fully achieved, queries the user master based on the user ID of the user-specific mission data to update the benefit information of the identified user data. A method for providing this.

11. A program that, when executed, causes a computer to perform the method described in claim 10.

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