Expenditure management device, expenditure management method, and expenditure management program

Abstract

An expenditure management device, method, and program are provided that enable detailed evaluation of expenditures. [Solution] In an expenditure management system in which terminal devices, a server, and store terminals are connected via a network, a server 3 as an expenditure management device comprises a transaction information acquisition unit 321 that acquires transaction information of a target user, an expenditure calculation unit 322 that calculates the target user's expenditure in a first period from the start point of the first period to a reference point based on the acquired transaction information, a benchmark calculation unit 323 that calculates a benchmark as a standard of the target user's expenditure from the start point to the reference point, a display content generation unit 324 that generates display content including a comparison result that is a result of comparing the calculated expenditure with the calculated benchmark, and an output unit 324 that outputs the generated display content.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to expense management techniques. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a technology for displaying information showing how much money is actually being used relative to a target amount of a usage limit for a predetermined period (FIGS. 4 and 7 of Patent Document 1, and paragraphs 0034 to 0046 of the specification). The target amount of the usage limit for a predetermined period, that is, the budget, can be set by selecting a displayed icon (paragraph 0042 of the specification of Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-64235 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The technique of Patent Document 1 has a problem in that expenditures can only be evaluated in relation to a budget set for a given period of time.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made to solve such problems, and has an object to provide an expense management technology that enables expenses to be evaluated in more detail than in the prior art. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] An expenditure management device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a transaction information acquisition unit that acquires transaction information of a target user, an expenditure calculation unit that calculates the target user's expenditure in a first period from a start point of the first period to a reference point based on the acquired transaction information, a benchmark calculation unit that calculates a benchmark as a standard of the target user's expenditure from the start point to the reference point, a display content generation unit that generates display content including a comparison result that is a result of comparing the calculated expenditure with the calculated benchmark, and an output unit that outputs the generated display content. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to an embodiment of the expenditure management device of the present disclosure, display content is output that includes a comparison result of expenditures in a first period from the start of the first period to a reference time point and a benchmark as a standard for expenditures from the start of the first period to the reference time point, thereby making it possible to evaluate expenditures in more detail than with conventional techniques. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an expenditure management system. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a server configuration. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a terminal device. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a configuration of a terminal device; [Diagram 5] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen. [Figure 6] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen. [Figure 7] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen. [Figure 8] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen. [Figure 9] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen. [Figure 10] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen. [Figure 11] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen. [Figure 12A] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of an expenditure management device or a terminal device. [Figure 12B] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of an expenditure management device or a terminal device. [Figure 13] 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method for managing expenditures. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Various embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, identical or similar parts are denoted by identical or similar reference numerals, and duplicated descriptions of such parts will be omitted. In the present disclosure, the term "or" is used to mean an inclusive logical OR unless otherwise specified.

[0010] <System configuration> The configuration of an expenditure management system 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the expenditure management system 1 is, in one aspect, a system in which a terminal device 2, a server 3, and a store terminal 4 are connected via a network NW. The network NW is an existing telecommunication line such as the Internet. An external server 5 may be additionally connected to the network NW. The terminal device 2 includes a terminal device 2 used by a user A1. A1 and terminal device 2 used by user A2. A2In the present disclosure, user A1 or user A2 is an example of a target user. "Target" means a target for managing expenditures. Both user A1 and user A2 are joint users linked to a joint account, and may be referred to as a first target user and a second target user, respectively, in the present disclosure. A joint account means an account shared by multiple people, and reflects the expenditures of each person. Examples of joint users include a married couple, a couple, or a business partner, but may also include people with other relationships. In the following description, when there is no need to distinguish between user A1 and user A2, they may be collectively referred to simply as user A. In the following, a joint account will be used as an example for explanation, but the target may be a personal account of user A1 or user A2 instead of a joint account.

[0011] The expenditure management system 1 is a system for managing expenditures of an account linked to a payment card B of a user A. Transaction information of the payment card B of the user A is stored in association with the account. When the user A is a joint user including the user A1 and the user A2, transaction information of the payment card B1 by the user A1 and transaction information of the payment card B2 by the user A2 are stored, and the expenditure management system 1 manages expenditures of the joint account linked to both the payment card B1 and the payment card B2. Examples of the payment card include any card that can be used to pay for a product, such as a prepaid card, a cash card, a debit card, or a credit card. The user A purchases a product or receives a service at a store equipped with a store terminal 4. When the user A pays for a product with the payment card B, the store terminal 4 transmits transaction information such as the store name, the product name, the service name, the date and time of payment, and the identification information of the payment card B to the server 3 or an external server 5. The external server 5 is a server for providing an external service different from the service provided using the server 3. For example, when the server 3 is used in a payment system for a prepaid card, examples of the external server 5 include a server used to provide banking services or a server used to provide credit card services. When transaction information is transmitted to the external server 5, the server 3 may acquire the transaction information from the external server 5 by API integration with the external server 5. The transaction information acquired from the external server 5 is stored in the memory unit of the server 3. In this disclosure, transaction information acquired through API integration may be referred to as "integrated transaction information."

[0012] <Server (expense management device) configuration> In one aspect, the server 3 is a device for managing expenditures by the user A using the payment card B. When application software capable of making payments is installed in the terminal device 2 of the user A instead of the payment card B, the server 3 has an aspect of being a device for managing expenditures by the user A using the terminal device 2. To achieve this purpose, the server 3 includes a control unit 32, a communication unit 33, and a storage unit 35, as shown in FIG. 2. The communication unit 33 is a communication device capable of communicating with the terminal device 2, the store terminal 4, or the external server 5 via the network NW. The storage unit 35 is a storage device that stores a program that realizes the functions performed by the control unit 32 and data used in the processing performed by the control unit 32.

[0013] The control unit 32 includes, for example, a transaction information acquisition unit 321, an expenditure calculation unit 322, a benchmark calculation unit 323, a display content generation unit 324, and an output unit 325. The control unit 32 may also include a budget acquisition unit 326. The control unit 32 may also include a user input acquisition unit 327. Information acquired by the user input acquisition unit 327 may be used as appropriate by other functional units of the control unit 32. The configuration of the control unit 32 will be described in detail below.

[0014] (Transaction Information Acquisition Department) In one aspect, the transaction information acquisition unit 321 is a functional unit that acquires transaction information of user A. As an example, the transaction information acquisition unit 321 may acquire the transaction information of user A from the transaction history of a payment account linked to user A's payment card B. The transaction history is stored in, for example, the storage unit 35, and the transaction information acquisition unit 321 may access the storage unit 35 to acquire transaction information for a desired period of user A.

[0015] In another aspect, the transaction information acquisition unit 321 may acquire transaction information of a similar person having attributes similar to those of the user A. The attributes refer to a person's characteristics such as annual income, age, or hobbies. The transaction information of the similar person is also acquired from the storage unit 35 included in the server 3 or the external server 5.

[0016] When user A1 and user A2 are joint users, the transaction information acquisition unit 321 acquires transaction information of the joint users including user A1 and user A2. The transaction information of the joint users is acquired from the storage unit 35 included in the server 3 or the external server 5. The transaction information acquisition unit 321 may acquire transaction information of a similar person who is similar to all or some of the joint users.

[0017] The transaction information acquisition unit 321 supplies the acquired transaction information to the expenditure calculation unit 322 and the benchmark calculation unit 323. As an example, the transaction information acquisition unit 321 supplies, of the acquired transaction information, transaction information for a first period, for example, this month, to the expenditure calculation unit 322, and supplies transaction information prior to the first period, for example, up to the previous month, to the benchmark calculation unit 323. As another example, the transaction information acquisition unit 321 supplies all of the acquired transaction information to both the expenditure calculation unit 322 and the benchmark calculation unit 323.

[0018] (Expenditure Calculation Department) The expenditure calculation unit 322 is a functional unit that calculates the expenditure of user A in the first period from the start of the first period to the reference time based on the acquired transaction information. When user A includes user A1 and user A2, the expenditure of user A1 and user A2 in the first period from the start of the first period to the reference time is calculated. The first period is, for example, one month. The reference time is, for example, the current time, but may be any time after the start of the first period and before the current time. By referring to a time before the current time, it is possible to evaluate the expenditure at a past time. The expenditure calculation unit 322 calculates the expenditure from the start of the first period to the reference time based on the acquired transaction information by accumulating the amount of expenditure from the start of the first period to the reference time. Note that the transaction information includes linked transaction information.

[0019] The expenditure calculation unit 322 may use the current time acquired from a calendar function unit (not shown) as the reference time, or may use the day to which the current time belongs. In addition, when data indicating the reference time is transmitted from the terminal device 2 to the server 3, the time indicated by the transmitted data may be used as the reference time.

[0020] When user A1 and user A2 are joint users, the expenditure calculation unit 322 calculates the expenditure from the start of the first period to the reference time by adding up the expenditure amount of user A1 from the start of the first period to the reference time and the expenditure amount of user A2 from the start of the first period to the reference time. When the joint users include users other than user A1 and user A2, the sum is calculated in a similar manner.

[0021] The expenditure calculation unit 322 supplies the calculated expenditure to the display content generation unit 324 .

[0022] (Budget Acquisition Department) The budget acquisition unit 326 is a functional unit that acquires a budget for a first period of time of user A. The first period typically corresponds to the period of the budget. The terminal device 2 transmits the budget input by user A to the server 3, and the budget acquisition unit 326 of the server 3 acquires the budget input by user A via the communication unit 33. The budget acquisition unit 326 supplies the acquired budget to the benchmark calculation unit 323.

[0023] When user A1 and user A2 are joint users, the budget acquisition unit 326 acquires the budget for all the joint users including user A1 and user A2. The budget for all the joint users may be the sum of the budgets set by each of the joint users for himself / herself, or may be a budget set by any one of the joint users for all the joint users.

[0024] (Benchmark Calculation Division) In one aspect, the benchmark calculation unit 323 calculates a benchmark as a standard of expenditures from the start of the first period of user A to a reference time point based on the acquired transaction information. When the first period is one month, the transaction information on which the calculation is based includes the expenditure results of user A in the previous month or the average expenditure results in the past up to the previous month, or the expenditure results in the previous month or the average expenditure results in the past up to the previous month of a similar person. Examples of the "average expenditure results in the past up to the previous month" include the average for the most recent three months, the average for the most recent six months, or the average compared to the same month of the previous year. These results may be results as time-series data. The benchmark calculation unit 323 acquires the reference time point in the same manner as the expenditure calculation unit 322.

[0025] The benchmark calculation unit 323 calculates the benchmark in units of a second period shorter than the first period. Specifically, the benchmark calculation unit 323 calculates the benchmark in units of a period shorter than the first period, which is the period for setting the budget. When the first period is one month, examples of periods shorter than one month include two weeks, one week, or one day. In this way, by calculating the benchmark in units of a second period shorter than the first period, it becomes possible to compare expenditures with the benchmark in detail in units of the second period.

[0026] As an example, if the previous month had 31 days and the current month also has 31 days, the actual expenditures for the previous month are used as is, and the expenditures from the first day of the previous month (e.g., July 1st) to the corresponding point in the previous month (e.g., July 21st) that corresponds to the reference point in this month (e.g., August 21st) are used as the benchmark.

[0027] As an example, if the previous month has 31 days and the current month has 28 days (if there is a date that does not exist in the month to be collected), the actual expenditure of the previous month is corrected to calculate the benchmark. For example, the total expenditure value up to the last day of the previous month may be used as the basis for calculating the benchmark for the last day of this month. More specifically, if the current month is February (February), the total expenditure value from January 1 to January 31 is used as the benchmark for February 28, and the total expenditure value from January 28 to January 30 is not used. The correction method is not limited to this example, and other correction methods may be used. For example, the amount obtained by multiplying the actual expenditure value from the first day of the previous month (e.g., January 1) to the corresponding time point (e.g., January 15) in the previous month that corresponds to the reference time point (e.g., February 15) of this month by 28 / 31 may be used as the benchmark.

[0028] As an example, if the previous month had 28 days and the current month has 31 days (if there is a date that does not exist in the previous month), the actual expenditure for the previous month is revised to calculate the benchmark. For example, the expenditure on February 28 may be used as the basis for calculating the benchmark for each day from March 29 to March 31.

[0029] The calculated benchmark does not have to be linear over time. For example, when the actual expenditure of user A in the previous month is used as a benchmark, it is not necessary to divide the expenditure in the previous month by the total number of days in the previous month to calculate the average expenditure per day. This is because people do not spend the same amount every day, and it is considered that expenditures are accompanied by some tendency, such as spending more on weekends than on weekdays. Therefore, the calculated benchmark does not have to have a constant slope over time, like the benchmark shown by the dashed line sloping upward to the right in FIG. 5.

[0030] In one aspect, the benchmark calculation unit 323 may calculate the benchmark based on the budget of user A supplied from the budget acquisition unit 326 in addition to the transaction information. For example, if the actual expenditure in the previous month was 200,000 yen and the budget for this month is 150,000 yen, the benchmark may be calculated by multiplying the actual expenditure as time-series data for the previous month by 0.75 (150,000 / 200,000). In this way, the benchmark calculation unit 323 calculates the benchmark based on the past expenditure of user A and the acquired budget of user A. Instead of the past expenditure of user A, the past expenditure of a similar person may be used.

[0031] When transaction information of a similar person is supplied from the transaction information acquisition unit 321, the benchmark calculation unit 323 may calculate a benchmark for user A based on the acquired transaction information of a similar person in the same manner as the above-mentioned method. The transaction information of a similar person includes past transaction information of a similar person prior to the first period.

[0032] When user A1 and user A2 are joint users, the benchmarks for user A1 and user A2 are calculated in the same manner as described above based on the acquired transaction information of user A1 and transaction information of user A2. Collaborative transaction information may be included not only in the transaction information of user A1 but also in the transaction information of user A2.

[0033] The benchmark calculation unit 323 supplies the calculated benchmark to the display content generation unit 324. Furthermore, the benchmark calculation unit 323 supplies the budget acquired from the budget acquisition unit 326 to the display content generation unit 324. Note that the budget may be supplied from the budget acquisition unit 326 to the display content generation unit 324.

[0034] (Display content generation unit) In one aspect, the display content generating unit 324 is a functional unit that generates display content including a comparison result that is a result of comparing the expenditure acquired from the expenditure calculating unit 322 with the benchmark acquired from the benchmark calculating unit 323. The display content generating unit 324 may also generate display content including a comparison result that is a result of comparing the expenditure acquired from the expenditure calculating unit 322, the benchmark acquired from the benchmark calculating unit 323, and the budget acquired from the budget acquiring unit 326 or the benchmark calculating unit 323. Examples of display content generated by the display content generating unit 324 will be described with reference to Figs. 5 to 7 and Fig. 11. The generation of display content includes not only a case where content such as a graph or text is generated as a display screen, but also a case where information required for displaying content such as a graph or text on a display screen is generated. The server 3 may generate information required for displaying content such as a graph or text on a display screen, and transmit the generated information to another device such as the terminal device 2, and the other device may generate a display screen based on the information generated by the server 3.

[0035] As an example, the display content generation unit 324 generates display content as shown in the example display screen of Fig. 5. The example display screen of Fig. 5 is an example assuming that the budget for January 2024 is 180,000 yen, the expenditure for January up to January 16, 2024, which is the reference time, is 82,000 yen, and the remaining budget amount obtained by subtracting the expenditure from the budget is 98,000 yen.

[0036] In the graph of the example display screen of FIG. 5, the thick horizontal solid line represents the budget. This solid line representing the budget is located just below the horizontal line of 200,000 yen, visually indicating that the set budget is slightly less than 200,000 yen. The reference point is represented by a circle at the right end of the solid line that rises to the right. This solid line that rises to the right represents expenditures up to the reference point. In addition, the dashed line that rises to the right represents the benchmark. In the example display screen of FIG. 5, expenditures at the reference point are the same as the benchmark, and expenditures that are less than the benchmark are represented by a first grayscale density on the graph.

[0037] In the area just above the graph, the information shown in the graph above is displayed as text or numbers. It shows that the budget for January 2024 is 180,000 yen, the expenditure from January 1 to 16, 2024 is 82,000 yen, and the remaining budget, which is the budget minus the expenditure, is 98,000 yen.

[0038] As an example, the display content generation unit 324 generates display content as shown in the example display screen of Fig. 6. The example display screen of Fig. 6 is an example assuming that the budget for January 2024 is 180,000 yen, the expenditure for January up to January 16, 2024, which is the reference time, is 102,000 yen, and the remaining budget amount obtained by subtracting the expenditure from the budget is 78,000 yen.

[0039] In the example display screen of FIG. 6, the solid line showing the expenditure is visually shown in the graph to be above the benchmark on January 16, 2024. Note that as of January 16, 2024, the expenditure of 102,000 yen is below the January budget of 180,000 yen. In this way, the fact that the expenditure exceeds the benchmark and is below the budget is represented in the graph by a grayscale of a second density different from the grayscale of the first density. Note that the value of 102,000 yen in the upper area of ​​the graph may be displayed in a color different from the color of 82,000 yen in the example of FIG. 5.

[0040] As an example, the display content generation unit 324 generates display content as shown in the example display screen of Fig. 7. The example display screen of Fig. 7 is an example assuming that the budget for January 2024 is 180,000 yen, the expenditure for January up to January 16, 2024, which is the reference time, is 190,000 yen, and the budget remaining amount obtained by subtracting the expenditure from the budget is -10,000 yen.

[0041] In the example display screen of FIG. 7, the graph visually shows that the solid line showing expenditure exceeds not only the benchmark but also the budget on January 16, 2024. Such expenditure exceeding the budget is represented in the graph by a third density grayscale different from both the first density grayscale and the second density grayscale. Note that the value of 190,000 yen in the upper area of ​​the graph may be displayed in a color different from both the 82,000 yen in the example of FIG. 5 and the 102,000 yen in the example of FIG. 5.

[0042] As can be understood by comparing Figures 5 to 7, the areas between the horizontal axis representing the dates of the graph and the solid line rising to the right from the first day of January 2024 to the reference point are drawn in different grayscales. Instead of the grayscale, they may be expressed in different colors.

[0043] Furthermore, when a time point earlier than the current time is acquired as a reference time point by user input, the display content generating unit 324 generates display content based on the earlier time point as shown in Fig. 11. The example in Fig. 11 shows an example of a display screen when the current date is January 16, 2024, and January 14 is accepted as a reference time point by user input.

[0044] With such a display, user A can understand whether the expenditure for the month is appropriate or not.

[0045] The display content generating unit 224 may generate the display content so as to display an alert display that warns the user when the expenditure exceeds the benchmark. Examples of the alert display include a display in a different color as in the example of Fig. 6 or Fig. 7, as well as an alert display 81 shown in Fig. 8 to be described later or an alert display 91 shown in Fig. 9 to be described later.

[0046] The display content generating unit 224 may generate display content including such an alert display, and may also generate audio content indicating that the expenditure exceeds the benchmark. An example of the audio content may be a voice saying, "You are spending too fast."

[0047] The display content generation unit 224 supplies the generated display content to the output unit 325. When the display content generation unit 224 generates audio content, it supplies the audio content to the output unit 325 together with the generated display content.

[0048] (Output section) The output unit 325 supplies the display content acquired from the display content generation unit 324 to the communication unit 33, and the communication unit 33 transmits the display content acquired from the output unit 325 to the terminal device 2. When the output unit 325 acquires audio content, the audio content is transmitted together with the display content to the terminal device 2. When the target user is a joint user, the alert display may be transmitted to all of the joint users.

[0049] When the display content acquired from the display content generating unit 324 includes the alert display 81 or the alert display 91, the output unit 325 may notify the terminal device 2 by push notification. That is, the server 3 may push the alert display 81 or the alert display 91 that notifies that the second case applies. The push notification is not a notification that the server 3 delivers in response to a request from the terminal device 2, but a notification method in which the server 3 delivers voluntarily when a predetermined condition is satisfied. By the server 3 sending the push notification, the user A can quickly know that he is spending too much money, that is, that the expenditure exceeds the benchmark. By receiving such a push notification, the user A can take measures to suppress the expenditure, and therefore it becomes possible to keep the expenditure for the entire first period within the budget.

[0050] <Variation 1> (User input acquisition part) The control unit 32 may further include a user input acquisition unit 327 that acquires a user input entered by the user A into the terminal device 2 via the communication unit 33, and may perform various processes based on the acquired user input.

[0051] An example will be described with reference to Fig. 8 to Fig. 10. The user input acquisition unit 327 may acquire, as a user input, management category information indicating a management category for managing expenses, and supply the acquired management category information to the expense calculation unit 322, the benchmark calculation unit 323, and the display content generation unit 324. In this case, the user input acquisition unit 327 has an aspect as a management category acquisition unit.

[0052] The expenditure calculation unit 322 calculates the expenditure of the management category indicated by the management category information acquired from the user input acquisition unit 327, among the transaction information acquired from the transaction information acquisition unit 321. Fig. 8 shows that the expenditure is 80,000 yen when the management category information is "food". Fig. 9 shows that the expenditure is 80,000 yen when the management category information is "food / eating out" (food or eating out).

[0053] The benchmark calculation unit 323 calculates the benchmark of the management category indicated by the management category information acquired from the user input acquisition unit 327 from the acquired transaction information. The calculation method is as described above. Fig. 8 shows that the benchmark when the management category information is "food" is as shown by the dashed line. Fig. 9 shows that the benchmark when the management category information is "food / eating out" is as shown by the dashed line.

[0054] 8 or 9, the display content generation unit 324 generates content displaying the expenditure received from the expenditure calculation unit 322 and the benchmark received from the benchmark calculation unit 323. Furthermore, the display content generation unit 324 may generate the display content to include an alert display 81 or an alert display 91 indicating that the expenditure exceeds the benchmark.

[0055] In this manner, for each management category, the expenditure calculation unit 322 calculates the expenditure, the benchmark calculation unit 323 calculates the benchmark, and the display content generation unit 324 generates the display content.

[0056] User input by user A to terminal device 2 is performed, for example, by displaying a touch-operable user interface such as that shown in FIG. 10 on the display unit 24 of terminal device 2, and having user A select at least one management category from among a plurality of management categories displayed as “categories to notify.”

[0057] Furthermore, the user input acquisition unit 327 may acquire, as a user input, excluded target information indicating excluded targets that are not to be included in the basis of calculation when calculating the expenditure and the benchmark, and supply the acquired excluded target information to the expenditure calculation unit 322 and the benchmark calculation unit 323. In this case, the user input acquisition unit 327 has an aspect of being an excluded target acquisition unit. The expenditure calculation unit 322 calculates the expenditure from the start of the first period to the reference time point without including the acquired excluded targets. The benchmark calculation unit 323 calculates the benchmark from the user's past transaction information without including the acquired excluded targets.

[0058] In some cases, it may be appropriate not to include expenses for irregular events such as birthday dinners, expensive home appliances, and travel expenses in the benchmark for managing expenses. Therefore, expenses for irregular events may be excluded. To perform such processing, the terminal device 2 displays, for example, an expense statement including a plurality of expenditure items of the user A on the display unit 24, and displays an icon for selecting whether or not to exclude each expenditure item from the calculation of the benchmark. The operation unit 21 of the terminal device 2 receives exclusion target information indicating the exclusion target selected to be excluded from the calculation of the benchmark, and the terminal device 2 transmits the received exclusion target information to the server 3.

[0059] <Terminal device configuration> Next, the configuration of the terminal device 2 will be described with reference to Fig. 3. As shown in Fig. 3, the terminal device 2 includes an operation unit 21, a control unit 22, a communication unit 23, and a display unit 24.

[0060] (Operation unit) The operation unit 21 is realized by an input device such as a touch screen, and accepts user input from user A. Examples of user input from user A include an input specifying a reference point in time, an input of a budget for a certain month, an input of a category to be managed for overspending, and an input of an object to be excluded. The operation unit 21 supplies the accepted user input to the control unit 22.

[0061] The control unit 22 controls the overall operation of the terminal device 2, and transmits user input received from the operation unit 21 to the server 3 via the communication unit 23. The control unit 22 also receives display content from the server 3 via the communication unit 23, and performs display control so as to display the received display content on the display unit 24.

[0062] (Communications Department) The communication unit 23 is a communication device capable of communicating with the terminal device 2, the store terminal 4, or the external server 5 via the network NW. The communication unit 23 may also have a communication function that enables payment by short-range wireless communication (NFC payment) at the store terminal 4.

[0063] (Display) The display unit 24 is realized by an output device such as a touch screen, and displays display contents.

[0064] <Variation 2> In the above description, many processes such as the generation of display contents are realized by the server 3 as an expenditure management device, but these processes may be executed by the terminal device 2. That is, the terminal device 2 may download an application program that performs the processes described below from the server 3 and locally execute the processes realized by the server 32 of the server 3. In this embodiment according to the second modification, the terminal device 2 corresponds to the expenditure management device.

[0065] In order to perform such processing locally, as shown in FIG. 4, the terminal device 2 is equipped with an operation unit 21, a control unit 22, a communication unit 23, and a display unit 24, similar to the case of FIG. 3, and further includes a memory unit 25 for storing various data such as transaction information.

[0066] 4, the control unit 22 of the terminal device 2 includes a transaction information acquisition unit 221, an expense calculation unit 222, a budget acquisition unit 226, a benchmark calculation unit 223, a display content generation unit 224, and an output unit 225. The control unit 22 may also include a user input acquisition unit 227. The functions performed by these functional units are similar to those of the transaction information acquisition unit 321, the expense calculation unit 322, the budget acquisition unit 326, the benchmark calculation unit 323, the display content generation unit 324, the output unit 325, and the user input acquisition unit 327 of the server 3, so that redundant explanations will be omitted. In the second modification, the display content output from the output unit 325 is supplied to the display unit 24, and the display content is displayed on the display unit 24.

[0067] <Hardware configuration> Next, referring to Fig. 12A and Fig. 12B, an example of the hardware configuration of the server 3 and the terminal device 2 will be described. The control unit 32 of the server 3 and the control unit 22 of the terminal device 2 are realized by a processing circuit. The processing circuitry may be a dedicated processing circuit 100a as shown in Fig. 12A, or a processor 100b that executes a program stored in a memory 100c as shown in Fig. 12B.

[0068] When the processing circuitry is a dedicated processing circuit 100a, the dedicated processing circuit 100a includes, for example, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA).

[0069] When the processing circuitry is a processor 100b serving as a computer, the functions realized by the control unit 32 of the server 3 and the control unit 22 of the terminal device 2 are written as programs, and the programs are stored in the memory 100c. The processor 100b realizes the functions of the control unit 32 or the control unit 22 by reading and executing the programs stored in the memory 100c. Examples of the memory 100c include non-volatile or volatile semiconductor memories such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), and electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM).

[0070] <Operation> Next, the operation of the server 3 or the terminal device 2 shown in FIG. 4 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0071] (Step ST1) In step ST1, the transaction information acquisition unit 321 or the transaction information acquisition unit 221 acquires transaction information of user A. The transaction information acquisition unit 321 or the transaction information acquisition unit 221 may acquire transaction information of a similar person having attributes similar to those of user A. When user A1 and user A2 are joint users, the transaction information acquisition unit 321 or the transaction information acquisition unit 221 may acquire transaction information of all of the joint users.

[0072] Note that a step (not shown) may be provided in parallel with step ST1, in which the budget acquisition unit 326 or the budget acquisition unit 226 acquires the budget for the first period of user A. When user A1 and user A2 are joint users, the budget acquisition unit 326 or the budget acquisition unit 226 acquires the budget for all joint users including user A1 and user A2.

[0073] (Step ST2) In step ST2, the expenditure calculation unit 322 or the expenditure calculation unit 222 calculates the expenditure of user A in the first period from the start of the first period to the reference time point, based on the transaction information acquired by the transaction information acquisition unit 321 or the transaction information acquisition unit 221. When users A1 and A2 are joint users, the expenditure calculation unit 322 or the expenditure calculation unit 222 calculates the expenditure from the start of the first period to the reference time point by adding up the expenditure amount of user A1 from the start of the first period to the reference time point and the expenditure amount of user A2 from the start of the first period to the reference time point.

[0074] (Step ST3) In step ST3 performed in parallel with step ST2, the benchmark calculation unit 323 or the benchmark calculation unit 223 calculates a benchmark as a standard of expenditures from the start point of the first period to the reference point based on the transaction information acquired by the transaction information acquisition unit 321 or the transaction information acquisition unit 221. When transaction information of a similar person is supplied from the transaction information acquisition unit 321 or the transaction information acquisition unit 221, the benchmark calculation unit 323 or the benchmark calculation unit 223 may calculate a benchmark for user A based on the acquired transaction information of the similar person. When user A1 and user A2 are joint users, the benchmark calculation unit 323 or the benchmark calculation unit 223 calculates benchmarks for user A1 and user A2 based on the acquired transaction information of user A1 and transaction information of user A2.

[0075] (Step ST4) In step ST4, the display content generation unit 324 or the display content generation unit 224 generates display content including a comparison result which is a result of comparing the expenditure calculated by the expenditure calculation unit 322 or the expenditure calculation unit 222 with the benchmark calculated by the benchmark calculation unit 323 or the benchmark calculation unit 223. In addition, when the budget of user A is acquired, the display content generation unit 324 or the display content generation unit 224 may generate display content including a comparison result which is a result of comparing the expenditure calculated by the expenditure calculation unit 322 or the expenditure calculation unit 222 with the benchmark calculated by the benchmark calculation unit 323 or the benchmark calculation unit 223 and the budget acquired by the budget acquisition unit 326 or the budget acquisition unit 226.

[0076] (Step ST5) In step ST5, the output unit 325 supplies the display content generated by the display content generation unit 324 to the communication unit 33, and the communication unit 33 transmits the display content acquired from the output unit 325 to the terminal device 2. The display content received by the terminal device 2 is displayed on the display unit 24.

[0077] In step ST5, the output unit 225 may output the display content generated by the display content generation unit 224 to the display unit 24. The display unit 24 generates the display content generated by the display content generation unit 224.

[0078] It is possible to combine the embodiments, and to modify or omit each embodiment as appropriate. [Industrial Applicability]

[0079] The server 3, which is an example of an expenditure management device in the present disclosure, can be used as a device for managing the expenditures of a user who receives an expenditure management service. [Explanation of symbols]

[0080] 1 expenditure management system, 2 (2A1, 2A2) terminal device (expenditure management device), 3 server (expenditure management device), 4 store terminal, 5 external server, 21 operation unit, 22 control unit, 23 communication unit, 24 display unit, 25 memory unit, 32 control unit, 33 communication unit, 35 memory unit, 81 alert display, 91 alert display, 100a processing circuit, 100b processor, 100c memory, 221 transaction information acquisition unit, 222 expenditure calculation unit, 223 benchmark calculation unit, 224 display content generation unit, 225 output unit, 226 budget acquisition unit, 227 user input acquisition unit, 321 transaction information acquisition unit, 322 expenditure calculation unit, 323 benchmark calculation unit, 324 display content generation unit, 325 output unit, 326 budget acquisition unit, 327 user input acquisition unit.

Claims

1. A transaction information acquisition unit that acquires transaction information of a target user; an expenditure calculation unit that calculates expenditures of the target user in a first time period from a start point of the first time period to a reference time point based on the acquired transaction information; A benchmark calculation unit that calculates a benchmark as a standard of expenditure of the target user from the start time point to the reference time point; a display content generator that generates display content including a comparison result that is a result of comparing the calculated expenditure with the calculated benchmark; an output unit that outputs the generated display content; An expenditure management device comprising:

2. the benchmark calculation unit calculates the benchmark in units of a second period shorter than the first period; 2. The expenditure management device according to claim 1.

3. the transaction information acquisition unit is configured to be capable of further acquiring transaction information of a similar person having an attribute similar to an attribute of the target user, the transaction information of the target user includes past transaction information of the target user prior to the first time period; the transaction information of the similar person includes past transaction information of the similar person prior to the first period; The benchmark calculation unit calculates the benchmark based on past transaction information of the target user or past transaction information of the similar person.

2. The expenditure management device according to claim 1.

4. A budget acquisition unit that acquires a budget for the first period of the target user, The benchmark calculation unit calculates the benchmark based on the past expenditures of the target user or the past expenditures of the similar person and the acquired budget.

4. An expenditure management device according to claim 3.

5. the display content generator generates the display content such that the comparison result includes a comparison result of comparing the acquired budget, the calculated expenditure, and the calculated benchmark.

5. An expenditure management device according to claim 4.

6. the display content generation unit generates the display content so as to display the comparison result in a graph.

6. An expenditure management device according to claim 5.

7. the display content generation unit generates the display content such that the display content is displayed differently depending on whether the calculated expenditure exceeds the calculated benchmark.

2. The expenditure management device according to claim 1.

8. the display content generation unit generates display content so that different displays are provided for a first case in which the calculated expenditure is equal to or less than the calculated benchmark, a second case in which the calculated expenditure exceeds the calculated benchmark and is equal to or less than the acquired budget, and a third case in which the calculated expenditure exceeds the acquired budget.

5. An expenditure management device according to claim 4.

9. the display content generation unit generates the display content in the second case so as to include an alert display that the calculated expenditure exceeds the obtained benchmark.

9. An expenditure management device according to claim 8.

10. The target users include a first target user and a second target user linked to a joint account; The expenditure calculation unit calculates expenditures of the first target user and the second target user from the start time point to the reference time point.

2. The expenditure management device according to claim 1.

11. The transaction information of the target user includes past transaction information of the first target user and past transaction information of the second target user prior to the first time period; The benchmark calculation unit calculates the benchmark based on past transaction information of the first target user and past transaction information of the second target user.

11. An expense management device according to claim 10.

12. a budget acquisition unit that acquires budgets for the first period of the first target user and the second target user; The benchmark calculation unit calculates the benchmark based on the past expenditures of the first target user and the past expenditures of the second target user and the acquired budget; the display content generation unit generates display content so that different displays are provided for a first case in which the calculated expenditure is equal to or less than the calculated benchmark, a second case in which the calculated expenditure exceeds the calculated benchmark and is equal to or less than the acquired budget, and a third case in which the calculated expenditure exceeds the acquired budget; the display content generation unit generates the display content in the second case so as to include an alert display that the calculated expenditure exceeds the obtained benchmark.

12. An expense management device according to claim 11.

13. The past transaction information of the target user includes linked transaction information obtained from an external server used for providing an external service linked via API.

4. An expenditure management device according to claim 3.

14. Further, an excluded target acquisition unit is provided for acquiring excluded targets that are not to be included in the basis of the calculation when the benchmark is calculated, The benchmark calculation unit calculates the benchmark from past transaction information of the target user, excluding the acquired excluded target.

4. An expenditure management device according to claim 3.

15. a management category acquisition unit for acquiring at least one management category designated by the target user; For each management category acquired, The expenditure calculation unit calculates the expenditure, The benchmark calculation unit calculates the benchmark, The display content generation unit generates the display content.

15. An expenditure management device according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

16. An expenditure management method performed by a device including a transaction information acquisition unit, an expenditure calculation unit, a benchmark calculation unit, a display content generation unit, and an output unit, The transaction information acquisition unit acquires transaction information of a target user; a step of the expenditure calculation unit calculating expenditures of the target user in a first time period from a start point of the first time period to a reference time point based on the acquired transaction information; A step in which the benchmark calculation unit calculates a benchmark as a standard of expenditures of the target user from the start time point to the reference time point; generating display content including a comparison result, the comparison result being a comparison between the calculated expenditure and the calculated benchmark, the display content generating unit; an output unit outputting the generated display content; The expenditure management method includes:

17. On the computer, acquiring transaction information of a target user; calculating an expenditure of the target user in a first time period from a start point of the first time period to a reference time point based on the acquired transaction information; calculating a benchmark as a measure of spending of the target user from the start time to the reference time; generating display content including a comparison result that is a result of comparing the calculated expenditure with the calculated benchmark; outputting the generated display content; Expense management program that allows you to:

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