Information processing device, information processing method, and program

Abstract

Further utilization of information obtained from receipts. [Solution] An information processing device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires receipt information from a user terminal device, which is obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store and includes at least information about the goods or services purchased by the user; an update unit that updates user preference information of at least the user using the user terminal device based on the receipt information; and a recommendation unit that generates recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the user preference information.

Description

Technical Field

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

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, an invention of a system has been disclosed in which a receipt issued by a store is imaged by a user's terminal device, and a privilege to be given to the user is determined by taking into account information read by OCR (Optical Character Recognition) processing in settlement information (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 technology described in Patent Document 1, store attributes and product attributes are derived from information obtained from a receipt, and an evaluation coefficient is obtained by applying them to a table to determine a privilege. However, there is still room for further utilization in the information obtained from the receipt.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and one of its objectives is to provide an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program capable of further utilizing information obtained from a receipt.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] One aspect of the present invention is an information processing device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires receipt information obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store from a user terminal device; an update unit that updates at least the user preference information of a user using the user terminal device based on the receipt information; and a recommendation unit that generates recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the user preference information. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to one aspect of the present invention, information obtained from receipts can be further utilized. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] This diagram shows the basic forms of in-store electronic payment. [Figure 2] This diagram shows an example of a configuration for performing electronic payments (terminal payments) using a payment app. [Figure 3] This figure shows an example of the contents of user information 172. [Figure 4] This diagram shows an example of the contents of merchant / store information 174. [Figure 5] This diagram shows an overview of the processing flow when a user scan is performed. [Figure 6] This diagram shows an overview of the processing flow when a store scan is performed. [Figure 7] This diagram shows an example of a configuration for performing electronic payments (card payments) using payment cards. [Figure 8] This flowchart shows an example of the processing flow related to individual settlements. [Figure 9] This figure shows an example of the contents of the detailed information. [Figure 10] This diagram illustrates the process of identifying users who should make payments and the process of accepting payments. [Figure 11] This is a diagram showing an example of the contents of store details 176. [Figure 12]This figure shows an example of the content of user preference information (178 items). [Figure 13] This figure shows an example of the contents of the 180 product similarity index. [Figure 14] This diagram illustrates how the update unit 154 updates the preference information 178 for each user. [Figure 15] This figure shows an example of the content of group-specific preference information (182). [Figure 16] This figure shows an example of the recommendation information selection screen IM4. [Figure 17] This figure shows an example of the analysis screen IM5 that the analysis unit 158 ​​displays on the merchant interface 55. [Figure 18] This figure shows an example of the analysis screen IM6 that the analysis unit 158 ​​displays on the merchant interface 55. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] [overview] Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings, embodiments of an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program according to the present invention will be described. The information processing apparatus is provided in association with a service server that provides various network services to users in cooperation with an application program, or operates as a function built in such a service server. The application program operates on a terminal device (user terminal device) such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal. In the following example, the network service is assumed to be an electronic payment service, but instead, it may be shopping, an auction, a flea market, a banking service, or the like. In the following description, the service server is referred to as a payment server, and the application program is referred to as a payment app. And the information processing apparatus is assumed to be built in the payment server as an "information processing unit". The payment app, the payment server, and the credit card server cooperate to provide an electronic payment service as a payment system. The electronic payment service is a service that supports payment for goods and services in a store. The store is, for example, a physical store (actual store) existing in the real space, but may include a virtual store for e-commerce. The virtual store may include those provided by a party different from the operator of the electronic payment service. In that case, at the time of payment for shopping in the virtual store, it is controlled to transition to the interface screen of the electronic payment service. In the electronic payment service, the store is, for example, treated as belonging to a franchise (brand), and the electronic payment when a purchase action is performed in the store is mainly performed between the user and the franchise. Instead of this, the electronic payment may be performed between the user and the store.

[0010] The payment application and payment system according to the present invention suitably support settlement (hereinafter referred to as individual settlement) after a representative has made a lump-sum payment for goods or services purchased by multiple people (for example, dining at a restaurant). Note that this operation is just one example of an operation to acquire receipt information, and receipt information may be acquired regardless of individual settlement. In that case, the receipt information will be acquired by an operation such as having the user acquire the receipt information after electronic payment, with the premise of awarding points. First, we will explain electronic payment services in general, and then we will explain the process for the settlement described above.

[0011] [Types of in-store electronic payment methods] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic mode of in-store electronic payment. Basically, electronic payment is executed by three parties: a medium M held by a user U, store equipment E, and a payment system S. The medium M is a portable computer device such as a smartphone or a credit card. The store equipment E exists in a physical store (hereinafter simply referred to as a store) existing in the real space, and includes a POS device, a wireless communication device, a credit card reader, a printed matter of a code image such as a QR code (registered trademark), or a display device for displaying a code image. In in-store electronic payment, first, information such as information that can recognize the user's identification information and payment amount information is shared unidirectionally or bidirectionally between the medium M and the store equipment E. At this time, one of the medium M or the store equipment E optically reads various information from the code image displayed by the other, provides information by NFC (Near Field Communication), or reads the PAN (Primary Account Number) by a credit card reader. Then, one of the medium M or the store equipment E (the side that has acquired information from the other) transmits payment information necessary for payment to the payment system S via the network NW. Note that both the medium M and the store equipment E may transmit information to the payment system S. The payment system S manages various information of the user U and performs electronic payment between the store and the user U in various modes. Electronic payment is performed by one or both of the prepaid method and the postpaid (postpay) method, or by other methods. In addition, electronic payment may include a so-called online shopping mode executed by both the user's terminal device and the payment system. The network NW includes, for example, the Internet, a LAN (Local Area Network), a wireless base station, a provider device, and the like. Various devices that communicate via the network NW, which will appear later, are assumed to have communication devices such as network cards and wireless communication modules.

[0012] [Configuration (Terminal Payment)] Figure 2 shows an example of a configuration for electronic payment (terminal payment) using a payment application. This electronic payment is executed around a payment application 20 running on a user terminal device 10, which is one of the media Ms; one or more store payment terminals 30 and one or more store code images 40, which are part of the store equipment E; and a payment server 100 that constitutes part of the payment system S. The payment server 100 communicates with the user terminal device 10, the store payment terminals 30, and one or more information terminals 50 via a network NW.

[0013] 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 users. The payment application 20 is installed in the user terminal device 10 from, for example, an application distribution server (not shown), and controls the camera, communication device, touch panel, etc. of the user terminal device 10. In the following description, there may be instances where it is written as "sending information to the user terminal device 10 (or receiving / acquiring information from the user terminal device 10)" and instances where it is written as "sending information to the payment application 20 (or receiving / acquiring information from the payment application 20)," but these are merely differences in expression and do not distinguish anything.

[0014] The store payment terminal 30 is installed, for example, in a store. The store payment terminal 30 is a computer device (or a collection thereof) having at least a product price acquisition function, an optical reading function, a program execution function, and a communication function. The store payment terminal 30 includes a so-called POS (Point of Sale) device, and the POS device may have a product price acquisition function and an optical reading function.

[0015] The store code image 40 is placed in the store and is a code image such as a QR code printed on paper or plastic. The store code image 40 may also be displayed on a display placed in the store (this may also be the display of a terminal device such as a smartphone or tablet).

[0016] The information terminal 50 is used by the operator of a merchant that oversees the stores. In the electronic payment service, customers as providers of goods or services are treated as merchants (brands), and have one or more stores under their umbrella. There may also be merchants that operate only one store. The information terminal 50 is a smartphone, tablet, personal computer, etc. The information terminal 50 operates the merchant interface 55. The merchant interface 55 may be a merchant application or a web page displayed by a general-purpose browser. The merchant interface 55 accepts coupon settings etc. from the merchant operator and transmits them to the payment server 100. By executing the merchant interface 55, the information terminal 50 may have the function of displaying a code image corresponding to the store code image 40 or reading a code image displayed by the user terminal device 10 (in the latter case, an optical reading function is required).

[0017] The payment server 100 communicates with the credit card server 200 via a network NW. The payment server 100 includes, for example, a content provision unit 110, an information management unit 120, a payment processing unit 130, an information processing unit 150, and a storage unit 170. The components other than the storage unit 170 (including each part of the information processing unit 150) are implemented, for example, by a hardware processor such as a CPU executing a program (software). Some or all of these components are LSIs (Large Scale Integrations), ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), FPGAs (Field-Programmable Graph Protocols), etc. The program may be implemented by hardware (including circuitry) such as a Gate Array or a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), or by the collaboration 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 a drive device.

[0018] 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, merchant / store information 174, and various information used by the information processing unit 150 (described later).

[0019] The content provider unit 110, 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. The content provider unit 110 provides content to the user terminal device 10 in the form of a web page, or provides the user terminal device 10 with parameters necessary for the payment application 20 to render images.

[0020] The Information Management Department 120 edits, adds, and deletes user information 172 and merchant / store information 174, and manages these.

[0021] Figure 3 shows an example of the contents of User Information 172. User Information 172 is a collection of information such as User URL, Account ID, Phone Number, Password, Registration Date, Charge Balance, Electronic Money Type, Terminal Payment Method, Card Payment Method, Various History Information, Identity Verification Flag, Name, Address, Date of Birth, Email Address, Bank Account, Postpay Settings, Postpay Conditions Information, and Friends List, all of which are linked to each other. Hereafter, the instance of a user (electronic payment account) to which this information is linked may be referred to as an account. In the figure, items indicated by "-" indicate that they are not set.

[0022] The user URL is used for transferring funds between users. When registering for the electronic payment service, registration of a phone number and password is required. The account ID is issued to the user by the payment server 100. The registration date is the date the user registered for the electronic payment service (the date the account was created). The charge balance is information indicating the balance of electronic money set by the user beforehand by sending money to the account. Methods of transfer include depositing money into an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) of a designated company (bank) and transferring money from a registered bank account. The type of electronic money is information indicating, for example, whether the electronic money can be withdrawn or can only be used for electronic payments. The terminal payment method is setting information indicating whether the user will make an electronic payment using the charge balance (balance payment) or a deferred payment in terminal payments. The card payment method is setting information indicating whether the user will make an electronic payment using the charge balance (balance payment) or a deferred payment in card payments. Various types of history information include charge history, which shows the history of when a user has previously sent money to an electronic payment service to increase their balance, and payment history, which shows the details of each payment made by the user (date and time, store ID of the store where the purchase was made, merchant ID, payment amount, payment method, etc.). The friends list is a list of identification information of communication partners in the user-to-user communication function (this may be an account ID, user URL, or other information).

[0023] The "Verified" flag indicates whether the user has completed identity verification using an identification document. Post-payment becomes available only after identity verification is complete. In the diagram, the user with account ID "002" has not completed identity verification and therefore can only select balance payment as their terminal payment method. The bank account is the account number of a bank account into which funds can be deposited for the electronic payment service. The "Post-payment Settings" indicates whether the user has completed the necessary setup to enable post-payment. The "Post-payment Conditions" information shows various conditions for post-payment, such as the limit and the current month's usage amount.

[0024] Figure 4 shows an example of the contents of the merchant / store information 174. The merchant / store information 174 includes, for example, a first table 174A in which merchant IDs and store IDs are associated with store URLs, a second table 174B in which merchant names and sales figures (as described above) are associated with merchant IDs, and a third table 174C in which store IDs are associated with store IDs. In addition to this information, the merchant / store information 174 may also include information such as the merchant or store category, store location, and payment patterns.

[0025] The payment processing unit 130 performs various processes for electronic payment. There are two methods for terminal payment, which are described below: the first method (user scan) and the second method (store scan).

[0026] Figure 5 shows an overview of the processing flow when a user scan is performed. First, the user terminal device 10, with the payment application 20 running, reads and decodes the store code image 40 using its optical reading function (S1). The store code image 40 contains information about the store URL. The payment application 20 sends first payment information, including the store URL and the user's account ID, to the payment server 100 (S2). The payment server 100 searches for merchant / store information 174 using 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 payment application 20 on the screen where the merchant name and store name are displayed (S5). Then, the payment application 20 generates second payment information, including at least the payment amount, and sends it to the payment server 100 (S6).

[0027] The payment processing unit 130 of the payment server 100 performs electronic payment based on the received second payment information if the "terminal payment method" in the user information 172 of the user is set to "balance payment" (S7-1). At this time, the payment processing unit 130 performs electronic payment by, for example, decreasing the charge balance managed in association with the user ID and increasing the item value of the merchant's sales proceeds. The item value of the merchant's sales proceeds is not used as electronic money itself, for example, but rather the amount corresponding to the item value of the sales proceeds is transferred to the bank account in a cycle according to the agreement between the merchant and the electronic payment service. On the other hand, if the "terminal payment method" is set to "post-payment", the payment processing unit 130 sends the first payment information and the second payment information to the credit card server 200 to request electronic payment (S7-2). The credit card server 200 performs electronic payment by adding the payment amount to the user's monthly usage amount based on the received information and deducting the monthly usage amount from the user's bank account after the closing date (S7-3).

[0028] Then, the payment processing unit 130 sends a payment completion notification (information for displaying the payment completion screen) to the payment application 20 via the content provision unit 110 (S8), and the payment application 20 displays the payment completion screen (S9). If the store code image 40 is displayed on a display placed in the store, the store code image 40 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.

[0029] Figure 6 shows an overview of the processing flow when a store scan is performed. First, 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 processing unit 130 of 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 store payment terminal 30, and the store payment terminal 30 reads and decodes the code image using its optical reading function and obtains the one-time code, etc. (S15). Then, the store payment terminal 30 generates payment information including the one-time code, payment amount, merchant ID, store ID, etc., and sends it to the payment server 100 (S16). Payment amount information is obtained in advance through methods such as barcode scanning or manual entry.

[0030] The payment processing unit 130 of the payment server 100 identifies the user corresponding to the one-time code based on the received information, and if the "terminal payment method" in the user information 172 of that user is set to "balance payment", it performs electronic payment based on the received second payment information (S17-1). The content of the processing at this time is the same as the processing in S7-1 in Figure 5. On the other hand, if the "terminal payment method" is set to "post-payment", the payment server 100 sends the first payment information and the second payment information to the credit card server 200 to request electronic payment (S17-2). The credit card server 200 adds the payment amount to the user's monthly usage amount based on the received information and performs electronic payment by deducting the monthly usage amount from the user's bank account after the closing date (S17-3).

[0031] Then, the payment processing unit 130 sends a payment completion notification to the payment application 20 via the content provision unit 110 (S18), and the payment application 20 displays a payment completion screen (S19).

[0032] 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.

[0033] Furthermore, instead of managing the "post-payment" settlement through the credit card server 200, it may be handled internally by the payment server 100. In this case, the configuration of the payment card 60, credit card server 200, etc., may be omitted.

[0034] [Configuration (Card Payment)] Figure 7 shows an example of a configuration for electronic payment (card payment) using a payment card. This electronic payment is executed around a payment card 60, which is one of the media Ms; a credit processing terminal 70, which is one of the store equipment Es; and a payment server 100 and a credit card server 200, which constitute part of the payment system S. The credit card server 200 communicates with the credit processing terminal 70 via a network NW.

[0035] The credit processing terminal 70 is installed in the store, similar to the store payment terminal 30. The credit processing terminal 70 includes, for example, a credit payment terminal (credit card reader) and a POS device. The credit payment terminal reads the PIN (Personal Identification Number) from the inserted or scanned credit card and verifies it against the PIN entered by the user, or transmits the PAN (Primary Account Number) read from the credit card to the credit card server 200 via the POS device. The POS device works with the credit payment terminal to transmit information such as the payment amount to the credit card server 200. An acquisitioner server may be interposed between the credit processing terminal 70 and the credit card server 200, but for the sake of simplicity, the description of the acquisitioner server will be omitted below. The payment card 60 is, for example, similar in form to a commonly used credit card, with a communication chip embedded in the card base material. The communication chip contains a storage medium that stores the PIN and communicates with an external device via a contactor (or wireless antenna). Alternatively, the payment card 60 may be a magnetic stripe card. Note that the information (messages) transmitted and received when using a credit card includes an authorization message for authentication and a sales message to convey the payment amount; however, a detailed explanation distinguishing between these will be omitted below.

[0036] The credit card server 200 communicates with the settlement server 100 via a network NW. The credit card server 200 includes, for example, an information management unit 210, a credit interface 220, a settlement distribution unit 230, a credit settlement processing unit 240, and a storage unit 270. Components other than the storage unit 270 are implemented, for example, by a hardware processor such as a CPU executing a program (software). Some or all of these components may be implemented by hardware (including circuitry) such as an LSI, ASIC, FPGA, or GPU, 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 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 in a drive device. The storage unit 270 stores information such as card user information 272.

[0037] The information management unit 210 edits, adds, and deletes card user information 272 and manages it. Card user information 272 is information that associates, for example, information unique to the user (e.g., PAN), the card payment method, and the user's account ID (used by the payment server 100) with each other. The card payment method is setting information that indicates whether the user will make an electronic payment using their charged balance (balance payment) or a deferred payment in card payments.

[0038] The credit interface 220 determines whether the BIN (Bank Identification Number) in the PAN included in the message received from the credit processing terminal 70 is a code for the company. If it is a code for the company, it passes the message received from the credit processing terminal 70 to the settlement distribution unit 230. If it is not a code for the company, it discards the received message.

[0039] The settlement distribution unit 230 refers to the user's card user information 272 corresponding to the message obtained from the credit interface 220 and determines whether the "card payment method" is set to "post-payment". If the "card payment method" is set to "post-payment", the settlement distribution unit 230 notifies the credit interface 220 of this and passes the message obtained from the credit interface 220 to the credit payment processing unit 240. On the other hand, if the "card payment method" is set to "balance payment", the settlement distribution unit 230 adds the user's account ID to the message obtained from the credit interface 220 and sends it to the settlement server 100 to request electronic payment. The settlement server 100, upon receiving the request for electronic payment, performs the same processing as in S7-1 in Figure 5 and S17-1 in Figure 6.

[0040] The credit interface 220 checks the PAN and expiration date, and verifies whether the cumulative payment amount exceeds the monthly limit. The credit payment processing unit 240 adds the payment amount to the user's monthly usage amount based on the information contained in the message obtained from the payment distribution unit 230, and performs electronic payment by deducting the monthly usage amount from the user's bank account after the closing date.

[0041] [Individual liquidation] The following describes individual settlements performed collaboratively by the payment application 20 and the payment server 100. Figure 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing flow related to individual settlements. In the following explanation, it is assumed that multiple users, including a representative and participants, dine at a restaurant, which is an example of a store, and the representative makes a lump-sum payment. In this case, the items used are the food and drinks (menu items), souvenirs, etc., ordered by each user. In addition, at least some of the representative and participants use an electronic payment service (have accounts), and the representative's user terminal device is referred to as the first user terminal device 10-1, and the participants' user terminal devices are referred to as the second user terminal device 10-2. Note that the payment to the restaurant itself does not necessarily have to be made using an electronic payment service.

[0042] First, the payment app 20 acquires an image of the receipt issued by the store (S20). For example, the payment app 20 activates the camera of the first user terminal device 10-1 at the operator's discretion and acquires an image of the receipt captured by the camera. Alternatively, the payment app 20 may acquire an image of the receipt sent electronically from the store's POS device or the like via communication. In this case, email, Bluetooth®, Wi-Fi, etc., may be used.

[0043] Next, detailed information is obtained for each of the one or more items shown in the receipt image (S21). For example, the payment application 20 obtains detailed information based on the results of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) processing performed on the receipt image. The OCR processing may be performed on the first user terminal device 10-1, or it may be performed by requesting processing from the payment server 100. In the example in Figure 8, the payment application 20 requests OCR processing from the payment server 100 (S21-1), and obtains the results of the OCR processing from the payment server 100 (S21-2).

[0044] Figure 9 shows an example of the contents of the detailed information. The detailed information includes, for example, store name, date and time of use, number of people, name of the item used and payment amount for each item, total payment amount, tax amount, service charge, etc. The payment application 20 processes the results of the OCR processing, such as semantic interpretation, to organize this information.

[0045] Next, the payment app 20 identifies which of the representative and / or participants should make the payment for one or more transaction items (S22). For example, the payment app 20 transmits transaction details to the payment app 20 of one or more second user terminal devices 10-2 to share the information and identifies the users according to the actions of the representative and / or participants (S22-1, S22-2). Then, the payment app 20 accepts payment from the participants among the identified users (S23).

[0046] Figure 10 illustrates the process of identifying the user to whom payment should be made and the process of accepting payment. For example, in the first stage (in the figure, (1)), the payment application 20 displays a participant selection screen IM1 showing the details on the first user terminal device 10-1. The interface screen IM1 displays (presents) a list of other users (candidate participants) registered in the aforementioned friends list. The information from the friends list is provided from the payment server 100 to the payment application 20 on the first user terminal device 10-1. When the representative R selects a participant by tapping or other operation on the participant selection screen IM1, the payment application 20 on the first user terminal device 10-1 transmits at least a portion of the details information to the second user terminal device 10-2 of the selected participant P to share the information. The transmission of the details information is performed, for example, using the user-to-user communication function associated with the electronic payment service.

[0047] In the second stage (indicated as (2) in the diagram), the service item selection screen IM2 is displayed on the first user terminal device 10-1 and the second user terminal device 10-2. The representative R and participant P each select the service items they have ordered by tapping or other operations. The payment app 20 on the first user terminal device 10-1 obtains information on the service items selected (entered) by participant P from the payment app 20 on the second user terminal device 10-2. Simultaneously, the payment app 20 on the first user terminal device 10-1 obtains information on the service items selected (entered) by representative R. These acquisition results are reflected, for example, in real time on the service item selection screen IM2. This allows the payment app 20 on the first user terminal device 10-1 to identify the user to whom payment should be made. Subsequently, the selections made by representative R and participant P are reflected on the service item selection screen IM2. At this point, if, for example, the representative operates the confirmation button B1, the process of identifying the user to whom payment should be made is completed.

[0048] In the third stage (3) in the diagram, the payment screen IM3 is displayed on participant P's second user terminal device 10-2, guiding the participant to make a payment using the user-to-user transfer function. For example, the payment screen IM3 displays by default the amount that the participant should pay according to the usage items identified in the second stage, and the participant can transfer the money to the representative by operating the transfer button B2. The amount may be modified at this stage. This completes the individual settlement process. Instead of displaying the transfer button B2, the representative's name may be displayed along with a button to transition to the user-to-user transfer screen, allowing participant P to manually enter the amount and make the transfer.

[0049] When participant P makes a payment, the payment information is notified to the payment application 20 on the first user terminal device 10-1. For this reason, on the item selection screen IM2 that representative R is viewing, completed payment items may be displayed separately from incomplete payment items (for example, by highlighting, shading, changing the color or brightness, or displaying text indicating whether payment is complete or not). Also, if a certain period of time has elapsed since the process to move to the third stage and guide payment was performed, a notification prompting payment (reminder) may be displayed on the second user terminal device 10-2 of participant P who has not yet made a payment.

[0050] Here, the payment amount for each item displayed on the receipt may be the price excluding tax, not the price including tax. In this case, the total payment amount should not match the sum of the payment amounts for each item, so in the process of obtaining the detailed information, the payment amount for each item may be corrected by multiplying it by the tax rate. In this case, in the process of S21 in Figure 8, the payment application 20 or the payment server 100 calculates the payment amount for each item including tax.

[0051] Furthermore, this method is also applicable when participants are not subscribed to an electronic payment service and do not have an account. In this case, in addition to the friend list, communication identification information (such as email address, phone number, or messaging app ID) of users who may be participants in the individual payment of the present invention may be added to the user information 172, and it may be possible to select users who may be participants in the second stage of Figure 10. Also, if the payment app 20 has permission to access the phone book or messaging app, it may be possible to select users who may be participants from the phone book. Thus, if a participant is not subscribed to an electronic payment service, the payment app 20 of the first user terminal device 10-1 may refer to a list of communication partners for individual payments that is different from the list of communication partners in the user-to-user communication function, and allow the user to select the participant to be subject to information sharing processing.

[0052] If a participant is not subscribed to an electronic payment service, the email, short message, or messaging app message sent to the participant from the first user terminal device 10-1 may have the payment methods accepted by the representative R and the necessary payment information (payment amount, recipient user ID for other electronic payment services, bank account information for bank transfers, recipient's phone number, etc.) automatically embedded by the payment app 20 and displayed on the participant's terminal device. Some of this information may be registered in the user information 172 of the payment server 100 in advance by the representative R operating the payment app 20.

[0053] [Information Processing] The processing of the information processing unit 150 will be described below. As shown in Figure 2, the information processing unit 150 comprises an acquisition unit 152, an update unit 154, a recommendation unit 156, and an analysis unit 158. The information processing unit 150 also stores information such as store details 176, user preference information 178, product similarity indicators 180, group preference information 182, and store analysis information 184 in the storage unit 170 and uses it for processing.

[0054] The acquisition unit 152 acquires receipt information from the user terminal device 10, which is receipt information obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store and includes at least information about the goods or services (hereinafter referred to as "goods, etc.") purchased by the user. Here, "goods, etc." is often the same as "usage items" in the above explanation, and "receipt information" is often the same as "detailed information," but below we will use the terms "goods, etc." and "receipt information" to explain the process. The acquisition unit 152 acquires receipt information through a process other than the "individual settlement" described above.

[0055] The update unit 154 updates the store details 176 based on the receipt information and further updates the user preference information 178 for at least the user using the user terminal device 10 (the "representative" in the above example). If the "participant" is a user of an electronic payment service, the update unit 154 may also update the participant's user preference information 178. In addition, the update unit 154 may update the user preference information 178 based on user preference information obtained through other processes (for example, electronic payment history, surveys, etc.) in addition to the receipt information.

[0056] The recommendation unit 156 generates recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the user's preference information 178. The specific processing of these functional units will be described below.

[0057] Figure 11 shows an example of the contents of store details 176. Store details 176 includes information such as store name, business hours, holidays, products (in the figure, the store is a restaurant, so menu), category, and the gender ratio of customers. The update unit 154 creates store details 176 by aggregating receipt information. In this process, to eliminate unreliable information, only the information recorded on the receipt information multiple times may be reflected in the store details 176.

[0058] Figure 12 shows an example of the content of user preference information 178. User preference information 178 is information that associates products, etc., with the degree of preference for each user's account ID. The degree of preference is expressed, for example, from 0% (not interested) to 100% (most interested).

[0059] Figure 13 shows an example of the contents of the product similarity index 180. The product similarity index 180 is, for example, an index value that indicates the degree of similarity between multiple products that are the subject of user preference information 178. For example, it is information that associates an index value indicating the degree of similarity with a representative combination of products. This index value is set to a higher value, for example, the more frequently the same user has purchased (ordered) the product. In the example shown, the index value is expressed from 0% (not similar) to 100% (very similar). The update unit 154 extracts a data set that will be the basis of the product similarity index 180 from receipt information and other information in advance, and creates the product similarity index 180 by a method such as adding points according to the number of times the same user has purchased it. At this time, a distributed representation vector may be generated for each product, and the index value may be set to be higher the closer the distance between the distributed representation vectors is.

[0060] Figure 14 illustrates how the update unit 154 updates the preference information 178 for each user. Let's assume that a user with account ID "XXX" (as shown in Figure 12) ate (purchased) "steak" at a restaurant, and this was recorded on the receipt. In this case, the update unit 154 increases the preference level of "steak" itself, as well as the preference levels of "red wine," "hamburger," "grilled meat," and "beef stew," which are not included in the receipt but have similar indicators to "steak" in the product similarity indicator 180. For example, let C1 represent products included in the receipt, C2 represent products not included in the receipt, C1(u) represent user u's preference level for C1, C2(u) represent user u's preference level for C2, and β represent the indicator value between C1 and C2. 12In this case, C1(u) and C2(u) are updated as follows: α is a coefficient between zero and 1, and n is the number of previous updates for the product in question. Furthermore, the update unit 154 may be modified to include a forgetting function so that the degree of preference gradually decreases over time.

[0061] C1(u)=C1(u)+{100%-C1(u)}×(α / n) C2(u)=C2(u)+{100%-C2(u)}×(α×β 12 / n)

[0062] In the example in Figure 14, the preference for "steak" increased from 30% to 55%, for "red wine" from 25% to 43%, for "hamburger" from 0% to 12%, for "grilled meat" from 0% to 20%, and for "beef stew" from 0% to 16%.

[0063] The recommendation unit 156 generates recommendation information, for example, as shown below, and provides it to the payment application 20 via the content provision unit 110. The recommendation unit 156 generates recommendation information that recommends stores whose products and other items match the preferences of the target user. In this case, the recommendation unit 156 selects stores to recommend from stores located within the target user's activity range, which has been collected in advance. The activity range is derived from the location of stores indicated in the target user's payment history.

[0064] Furthermore, if the payment app 20 can access the location information of the user terminal device 10 (the location information of the target user), the recommendation unit 156 may generate recommendation information that recommends products, etc. (obtainable from the store details 176) offered by stores located at the location indicated by the location information that match the target user's preference information (for example, products ranked from the highest to the nth highest preference level). In this case, the recommendation unit 156 can recommend products, etc. (menus) to the target user once they are inside the store. Alternatively, the recommendation unit 156 may generate recommendation information that recommends products, etc. (menus) offered by stores located near the location indicated by the location information that match the target user's preference information. In this case, the recommendation unit 156 can provide information to help the target user choose a store.

[0065] Furthermore, the update unit 154 may generate group-specific preference information 182 for each group of users categorized, in addition to the individual user preference information 178, and the recommendation unit 156 may generate recommendation information based on the group-specific preference information 182 corresponding to the group to which the target user belongs. The group of users categorized can be represented by user types such as "Western food lover," "Asian food lover," "travel lover," and "frugal person," and the user type to which a user belongs may be determined not only from receipt information but also from information collected from payment history, survey results, etc. Figure 15 is a diagram showing an example of the content of group-specific preference information 182. The degree of preference for each user type can be obtained, for example, by averaging the degree of preference of users belonging to the group. In this way, users can learn about the preferences of other users with similar attributes to themselves, and their purchasing behavior can be broadened.

[0066] Furthermore, the recommendation unit 156 may generate recommendation information based on preference information with an opposite trend to the user-specific preference information 178 of the target user. Opposite preference information is, for example, reverse preference information obtained by subtracting the degree of each preference in the user-specific preference information 178 from 100%. In this way, users can enjoy purchasing behavior that is different from their usual.

[0067] The recommendations made by the recommendation unit 156 may be selected by the target user. Figure 16 shows an example of the recommendation information selection screen IM4. When the target user selects area A1, stores or products that match the target user's preference information are recommended. When the target user selects any of the areas in A2, stores or products corresponding to each of the multiple user types are recommended. When the target user selects area A3, stores or products that match the preference information of the opposite trend to the target user's preference information are recommended.

[0068] Furthermore, instead of recommending stores or products, the recommendation unit 156 may recommend matching users with similar user preference information 178, for example, as users to add to a friends list. Note that "similar" user preference information 178 and group preference information 182 means, for example, that when their elements (degrees of preference) are elements of a vector, the distance indicator, such as the cosine similarity between the vectors, is small. Similarly, other "similar" means that the differences between multiple elements are small.

[0069] The analysis unit 158 ​​performs analysis of the store or affiliate based on the receipt information. For example, the analysis unit 158 ​​selects the user type that is considered to have the highest affinity to the target store, and generates a screen showing information comparing the degree of preference corresponding to the selected user type in the group preference information 182 with the products, etc. of the target store, and displays it on the affiliate interface 55. Figure 17 is a diagram showing an example of the analysis screen IM5 that the analysis unit 158 ​​displays on the affiliate interface 55. For example, the analysis unit 158 ​​displays a bar graph as the analysis screen IM5 on the affiliate interface 55, with solid lines representing products, etc. that are available at the target store and dashed lines representing products, etc. that are not available at the target store but have a high degree of preference corresponding to the selected user type, arranged in descending order of preference. The preference information to be compared may be user preference information 178 instead of group preference information 182. In this case, it is preferable to select user preference information 178 of users who have visited the target store or who are presumed to be interested in the categories of the target store.

[0070] Furthermore, the analysis unit 158 ​​may display other products that have a high affinity with existing products as recommendation information on the merchant interface 55. Other products that have a high affinity with existing products are other products that have a high index value between them and existing products in the product similarity index 180.

[0071] Furthermore, the analysis unit 158 ​​may display the sales trends of comparable stores or affiliated stores (hereinafter referred to as "comparative stores, etc.") that are similar in category and business information (business hours, gender ratio, etc.) to the target store or affiliated store to which the target store belongs (hereinafter referred to as "target store, etc.") on the affiliated store interface 55 so that the sales trends of the target store, etc. can be compared, and business information of the target store, etc. may also be displayed. Figure 18 is a diagram showing an example of the analysis screen IM6 that the analysis unit 158 ​​displays on the affiliated store interface 55. Regarding sales trends, the analysis unit 158 ​​may use information obtained by crawling, or it may obtain information using an LLM (Large Language Model), etc.

[0072] According to the information processing described above, the information obtained from receipts can be further utilized.

[0073] 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]

[0074] E. Store facilities M medium S Payment System 10. User terminal device 10-1 First User Terminal Device 10-2 Second User Terminal Device 20 Payment Apps 30 Store Payment Terminals 40 Store Code Images 60 Payment Cards 70 Credit card processing terminal 100 Payment Servers 130 Payment Processing Unit 150 Information Processing Unit 152 Acquisition Department 154 Update Department 156 Recommendation Department 158 Analysis Department 170 Storage section 176 Store Details 178. User-specific preference information 180 Product similar indicators 182 Preference information by group 184 Store Analysis Information 200 credit card servers

Claims

1. An acquisition unit that acquires receipt information from a user terminal device, which is obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store and includes at least information about the goods or services (hereinafter referred to as "goods, etc.") purchased by the user. An update unit that updates user preference information for at least one user using the user terminal device based on the aforementioned receipt information, A recommendation unit that generates recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the user's individual preference information, An information processing device equipped with the following features.

2. The update unit further updates the degree of preference in the user's preference information for products included in the receipt information and products not included in the receipt information but similar to those included in the receipt information, based on an index value indicating the degree of similarity between multiple products, etc. that are the subject of the user's preference information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

3. The recommendation unit generates recommendation information that recommends stores whose products and services match the user's preferences. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

4. The acquisition unit further acquires the user's location information, The recommendation unit generates recommendation information that recommends products, etc. that are located at the location indicated by the location information or offered by nearby stores, and that match the user's individual preference information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

5. The update unit generates preference information for each group into which users have been categorized. The recommendation unit generates the recommendation information based on the group preference information corresponding to the group to which the user belongs. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

6. The recommendation unit generates the recommendation information based on preference information that has the opposite trend to the user-specific preference information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

7. The recommendation unit generates recommendation information that recommends matching users whose individual preference information is similar to that of other users. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

8. The system further includes an analysis unit that performs store analysis based on the aforementioned receipt information and displays the analysis results on a screen for the franchisee interface. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

9. The analysis unit generates a screen showing information comparing the degree of preference of the target store's products with that of the comparison target, and displays it on the interface for the affiliated store. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8.

10. The analysis unit displays the sales trends of comparable stores similar to the target store and the sales trends of the target store in a comparable manner for the franchisee. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8.

11. Information processing device, A process for obtaining receipt information from a user terminal device, which is obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store and includes at least information about the goods or services (hereinafter referred to as "goods, etc.") purchased by the user, Based on the aforementioned receipt information, a process is performed to update the preference information of each user who uses the user terminal device, A process for generating recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the user's individual preference information, An information processing method that performs the following.

12. On the computer, A process for obtaining receipt information from a user terminal device, which is obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store and includes at least information about the goods or services (hereinafter referred to as "goods, etc.") purchased by the user, Based on the aforementioned receipt information, a process is performed to update the preference information of each user who uses the user terminal device, A process for generating recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the user's individual preference information, A program to execute.

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