Information processing device and information processing method

Abstract

Reduce the burden on qualified individuals who are authorized to sell pharmaceutical products. [Solution] The information processing device 1 has an acquisition unit 131 that acquires from a user terminal 2 a user ID and drug identification information for identifying the desired drug that the user wishes to purchase, which is a drug that requires sales permission from a specified qualified person at the time of sale; an evaluation unit 132 that evaluates whether or not to sell the desired drug to the user based on drug identification information of drugs that the qualified person has previously authorized to sell to the user, which is associated with the user's user ID, and an authorization history including the date and time when sales permission was authorized for the drug; and a first transmission unit 133 that sends initiation information to the user terminal 2 for starting communication regarding sales permission for the desired drug between the user terminal 2 and the qualified person terminal 3, and when communication regarding sales permission is initiated based on the initiation information, sends the evaluation result by the evaluation unit 132 to the qualified person terminal 3.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing device and an information processing method. [Background technology]

[0002] Over-the-counter (OTC) medicines are known that can be purchased with the advice of a pharmacist or a registered salesperson. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a device that acquires information related to the purchase of a medicine from a terminal of a person who wishes to purchase the medicine, transmits the information to a terminal of a person who is qualified to authorize the sale of the medicine, and, when the person authorizes the sale of the medicine based on the information, transmits a permission code to the terminal of the person who wishes to purchase the medicine so that the medicine can be purchased from a vending machine. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2023-058016 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Qualified persons who are qualified to sell pharmaceuticals must communicate with prospective purchasers in a short amount of time, confirm whether the purchaser is a drug abuser, and whether the drug the purchaser wishes to purchase is inappropriate for interaction with other medications the purchaser is currently taking, in order to determine whether to allow the sale of the drug to the prospective purchaser, which poses a heavy burden.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of these points, and aims to reduce the burden on qualified persons who are authorized to sell pharmaceuticals. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A first aspect of the present invention is an information processing device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires, from a terminal used by a user, user identification information for identifying the user and drug identification information for identifying a desired drug that the user wishes to purchase and that requires a sales authorization from a predetermined qualified person at the time of sale; an evaluation unit that evaluates whether or not to sell the desired drug to the user based on drug identification information of the drug that the qualified person has previously authorized to sell to the user and an authorization history that is associated with the user's user identification information and includes the drug identification information of the drug that the qualified person authorized to sell to the user in the past and the date and time the sales authorization was granted; a first transmission unit that transmits, to the terminal, initiation information for initiating communication regarding the sales authorization of the desired drug between the terminal and a qualified person terminal used by the qualified person, and transmits an evaluation result by the evaluation unit to the qualified person terminal when the communication regarding the sales authorization is initiated based on the initiation information; a reception unit that accepts authorization to sell the desired drug from the qualified person terminal; and a second transmission unit that, when the reception unit accepts authorization to sell the desired drug, transmits authorization information indicating that the sale of the desired drug has been authorized to the terminal.

[0007] A second aspect of the present invention is an information processing device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires, from a terminal used by a user, user identification information for identifying the user and drug identification information for identifying a desired drug that the user wishes to purchase and that requires a sales authorization from a predetermined qualified person at the time of sale; an evaluation unit that evaluates whether or not the sale of the desired drug to the user is appropriate based on an authorization history associated with the user's user identification information, the authorization history including drug identification information of the drug that the qualified person previously authorized to sell to the user and the date and time the sale of the drug was authorized; a first transmission unit that, if the evaluation result by the evaluation unit exceeds a predetermined evaluation, transmits to the terminal start information for initiating communication regarding the sales authorization of the desired drug between the terminal and a qualified person terminal used by the qualified person; a reception unit that receives from the qualified person terminal permission for the user to purchase the desired drug; and a second transmission unit that, when the reception unit receives permission to purchase the desired drug, transmits permission information to the terminal indicating that the purchase of the desired drug has been authorized.

[0008] The evaluation unit may determine the number of times that the sale of the desired drug to the user has been permitted within a specified period based on the permission history, and may evaluate the acceptability of the sale of the desired drug to the user so that the evaluation becomes lower the more times the number of times is determined.

[0009] The evaluation unit may refer to purchase history information indicating the user's purchase history of the desired drug, and identify the number of times the user has purchased the desired drug within a specified period of time, and may evaluate the suitability of selling the desired drug to the user so that the evaluation becomes lower the more times the identified purchases are made.

[0010] The permission history may include drug identification information of the drug that the qualified person has permitted to be sold to the user, the date and time the sale of the drug was permitted, and the number of the drug that has been permitted to be sold, and the evaluation unit may identify the total number of the desired drug that has been permitted to be sold within a specified period based on the permission history, and may evaluate the acceptability of the sale of the desired drug to the user so that the evaluation becomes lower the larger the identified total number.

[0011] The evaluation unit may determine whether the purchase of other medicines different from the desired medicine has been permitted within a specified period based on the permission history, and may evaluate whether or not to sell the desired medicine to the user so that the evaluation is lowered if the combination of the desired medicine and the other medicine matches a combination that has been pre-designated as a bad combination.

[0012] The permission history may include drug identification information of the drug that the qualified person has permitted to be sold to the user, the date and time the sale of the drug was permitted, and store identification information of the store from which the user wishes to purchase the drug, and the evaluation unit may refer to store information that associates the store identification information with store location information that indicates the location of the store indicated by the store identification information, and the permission history, and if it is determined that the user wishes to purchase the drug or a drug similar to the drug they wish to purchase at a predetermined number or more of different stores or at different stores that are located at a predetermined distance or more from each other within a predetermined period, the evaluation unit may evaluate the suitability of selling the drug they wish to purchase to the user so that the evaluation is lowered.

[0013] The evaluation unit may further evaluate whether or not to sell the desired pharmaceutical product to the user based on confirmation information, which is information about the user regarding the items to be confirmed by a qualified person in the communication related to the sales authorization, and which is associated with the user's user identification information.

[0014] The evaluation unit may evaluate whether or not to sell the desired medicine to the user based on at least one of reaction information indicating an allergic reaction when the user takes the medicine, which is associated with the user's user identification information as the confirmation information, or pregnancy information indicating whether the user is pregnant, so that the evaluation is lowered if there is a high probability that the user will have an allergic reaction if they take the desired medicine, or if the user is pregnant and the desired medicine is a medicine that requires caution when taken during pregnancy.

[0015] The permission history may include information indicating denial of permission to purchase the drug, and the evaluation unit may evaluate whether or not to sell the drug to the user so that the evaluation is lowered when it is determined that the sale of the drug to the user is not permitted based on the permission history.

[0016] The acquisition unit may acquire store identification information that identifies the store from which the user wishes to purchase the desired drug, and the first transmission unit may identify other drugs that have the same efficacy as the desired drug and are sold at the store indicated by the store identification information acquired by the acquisition unit, and may transmit drug information of the identified other drugs to the qualified person terminal.

[0017] A third aspect of the present invention is an information processing method comprising the steps of: acquiring, from a terminal used by a user, user identification information for identifying the user and drug identification information for identifying a desired drug that the user wishes to purchase and that requires a sales authorization from a predetermined qualified person at the time of sale; evaluating whether or not to sell the desired drug to the user based on a permission history associated with the user's user identification information, including drug identification information of the drug that the qualified person has previously authorized to sell to the user and the date and time the sale of the drug was authorized; transmitting, to the terminal, initiation information for initiating communication regarding the sales authorization of the desired drug between the terminal and a qualified person terminal used by the qualified person, and, when communication regarding the sales authorization is initiated based on the initiation information, transmitting the evaluation result in the evaluating step to the qualified person terminal; accepting, from the qualified person terminal, authorization to sell the desired drug of the user; and, upon accepting authorization to sell the desired drug, transmitting authorization information indicating that the sale of the desired drug has been authorized to the terminal.

[0018] A fourth aspect of the present invention is an information processing method comprising the steps of: acquiring, from a terminal used by a user, user identification information for identifying the user and drug identification information for identifying a desired drug that the user wishes to purchase and that requires a sales authorization from a predetermined qualified person at the time of sale; evaluating whether or not to sell the desired drug to the user based on an authorization history associated with the user's user identification information, the authorization history including drug identification information of the drug that the qualified person previously authorized to sell to the user and the date and time the sales authorization was granted for the drug; transmitting, if the evaluation result in the evaluating step exceeds a predetermined evaluation, to the terminal, start information for initiating communication related to the sales authorization for the desired drug between the terminal and a qualified person terminal used by the qualified person; accepting, from the qualified person terminal, permission for the user to purchase the desired drug; and, upon accepting permission for the purchase of the desired drug, transmitting permission information to the terminal indicating that the purchase of the desired drug has been authorized. [Effects of the Invention]

[0019] The present invention has the effect of reducing the burden on qualified persons who are authorized to sell pharmaceuticals. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0020] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overview of an information processing device. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of an information processing device. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of permission history information. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a page for qualified persons. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing a processing flow when an information processing device transmits permit information to a user terminal. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0021] [Overview of information processing device 1] 1 is a diagram showing an overview of an information processing device 1. The information processing device 1 is a computer that, when a user wishes to purchase a drug that requires a sales permit from a predetermined qualified person at the time of sale, provides a license issuance service that receives a sales permit for the drug from the predetermined qualified person and issues license information as permission information indicating that the sales permit has been granted.

[0022] An example of a drug that requires a sales permit from a designated qualified person at the time of sale is an over-the-counter (OTC) drug that can be purchased without a prescription. A designated qualified person is, for example, a pharmacist or a registered salesperson who holds the professional qualifications necessary to sell drugs, including OTC drugs. In the following explanation, we will proceed assuming that a drug that requires a sales permit from a designated qualified person at the time of sale is an OTC drug. In the following explanation, a designated qualified person will simply be referred to as a qualified person.

[0023] The information processing device 1 acquires from the user terminal 2, which is the terminal used by the user, a user ID as user identification information for identifying the user and a product code of the OTC drug as drug identification information for identifying the OTC drug that the user wishes to purchase ((1) in Figure 1).

[0024] The user terminal 2 is a communication terminal capable of communicating via the Internet or a mobile phone line, such as a smartphone owned by the user. In this embodiment, the user terminal 2 is described as a communication terminal owned by the user, but the user terminal 2 may be a terminal other than a communication terminal owned by the user. For example, the user terminal 2 may be a store terminal installed in a store where the user intends to purchase a drug and available to the user. In the following description, the product code of an OTC drug will be simply referred to as the product code, and the OTC drug that the user wishes to purchase will also be referred to as the desired drug.

[0025] The user ID is, for example, a user ID issued by a business providing a permit issuing service and usable for multiple services. The user ID may be a user ID associated with each user ID for multiple services and issued by a business different from the business providing the permit issuing service.

[0026] When the information processing device 1 acquires the user ID and product code, it evaluates whether or not to sell the desired drug to the user based on the product codes of OTC drugs that a qualified person has previously authorized to be sold to the user, which are associated with the user ID, and the authorization history, which includes the date and time when the sale of the OTC drug was authorized ((2) in Figure 1).

[0027] The information processing device 1 transmits to the user terminal 2 start-up information for initiating communication related to the sales authorization of the desired drug between the user terminal 2 and the qualified person terminal 3 used by the qualified person ((3) in Fig. 1). Then, when communication related to the sales authorization is initiated based on the start-up information ((4) in Fig. 1), the information processing device 1 transmits to the qualified person terminal 3 the evaluation result of whether or not to approve the sale of the desired drug to the user ((5) in Fig. 1). This allows the qualified person to consider whether or not to approve the sale of the desired drug to the user based on the evaluation result. Therefore, the information processing device 1 can reduce the burden on the qualified person.

[0028] Thereafter, when the information processing device 1 receives permission to sell the drug desired by the user from the qualified person terminal 3 ((6) in Fig. 1), it transmits license information as permission information indicating that the sale of the drug desired by the user to the user has been permitted ((7) in Fig. 1) to the user terminal 2. This allows the user to present the license information received by the user terminal 2 at the store and purchase the drug desired by the user.

[0029] [Functional configuration of information processing device 1] Next, a description will be given of the functions of the information processing device 1. Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the functional configuration of the information processing device 1. The information processing device 1 has a communication unit 11, a storage unit 12, and a control unit 13.

[0030] The communication unit 11 is a communication interface for transmitting and receiving data to and from external devices such as the user terminal 2 and the qualified person terminal 3 via a communication network such as the Internet or a mobile phone line. The storage unit 12 is a storage medium that stores various types of data, and includes a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a hard disk, etc. The storage unit 12 stores programs executed by the control unit 13. The storage unit 12 stores programs that cause the control unit 13 to function as an acquisition unit 131, an evaluation unit 132, a first transmission unit 133, a reception unit 134, and a second transmission unit 135.

[0031] The control unit 13 is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The control unit 13 executes a program stored in the storage unit 12, thereby functioning as an acquisition unit 131, an evaluation unit 132, a first transmission unit 133, a reception unit 134, and a second transmission unit 135.

[0032] The acquisition unit 131 acquires, from the user terminal 2 used by the user, a user ID and an OTC drug product code for identifying the OTC drug that the user wishes to purchase. For example, the user terminal 2 can execute a drug purchasing application for obtaining a license for the user's desire to purchase an OTC drug. The drug purchasing application is, for example, an application installed on the user terminal 2 or a web application. Hereinafter, the drug purchasing application will be referred to as a drug purchasing app.

[0033] For example, a user operates the user terminal 2 to execute a medicine purchasing app. The medicine purchasing app is associated with the user's user ID. When the user terminal 2 executes the medicine purchasing app, it receives from the user the product name of the medicine desired to be purchased and the intended purchase store where the user plans to purchase the medicine desired. The user terminal 2 then transmits permission application information indicating a permission application for purchasing the medicine desired to be purchased to the information processing device 1, the permission application information including the received product code of the medicine desired to be purchased, a store ID as store identification information for identifying the accepted intended purchase store, and the user's user ID. By receiving the permission application information from the user terminal 2, the acquisition unit 131 acquires the user ID, the product code of the medicine desired to be purchased, and the store ID of the intended purchase store.

[0034] The evaluation unit 132 evaluates whether or not to sell the desired drug to the user based on the product code of the OTC drug that the qualified person has previously authorized to be sold to the user, which is associated with the user's user ID, and the authorization history including the date and time when the sale of the OTC drug was authorized.

[0035] For example, the storage unit 12 stores permission history information indicating a permission history for selling OTC drugs to users. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the permission history information. As shown in Fig. 3, the permission history information can confirm that the user ID of a user who desired to purchase an OTC drug, the product code of the OTC drug, the number of OTC drugs that the user desired to purchase, the qualified person ID of the qualified person who decided whether to sell the OTC drug, the permission / denial result which is information indicating whether the qualified person has permitted or denied the sale of the OTC drug, the decision date and time which is the date and time when the decision was made to permit or deny the sale of the OTC drug, and the store ID of the store where the user desired to purchase the OTC drug are associated with each other.

[0036] For example, the evaluation unit 132 identifies the number of times the user has been permitted to purchase the drug he or she wishes to purchase within a predetermined period of time, based on the permission history of OTC drugs indicated by the permission history information stored in the storage unit 12. For example, the evaluation unit 132 identifies the number of times the user has been permitted to purchase the drug he or she wishes to purchase within a predetermined period of time, by identifying the number of permission his or her history entries (number of rows) in which the user's user ID is associated with the product code of the drug he or she wishes to purchase within the predetermined period of time.

[0037] The evaluation unit 132 then evaluates the acceptability of selling the desired drug to the user so that the more the identified number of purchase authorizations, the lower the evaluation. For example, the evaluation unit 132 evaluates the acceptability of selling the desired drug to the user by calculating the evaluation value so that the more the identified number of times, the lower the evaluation value indicating the acceptability of selling the desired drug to the user. Here, if there is no problem in selling the desired drug to the user, the evaluation value is high, and if there is a problem, the evaluation value is low.

[0038] Although the evaluation unit 132 evaluates the acceptability of selling the desired drug to the user based on the number of times the user has been permitted to purchase the desired drug within a predetermined period, this is not limiting. The evaluation unit 132 may also evaluate the acceptability of selling the desired drug to the user based on the user's history of permission to purchase the desired drug within a predetermined period and the history of permission to purchase OTC drugs similar to the desired drug within a predetermined period. For example, the evaluation unit 132 may evaluate the acceptability of selling the desired drug to the user based on the number of times the user has been permitted to purchase the desired drug within a predetermined period and the number of times the user has been permitted to purchase OTC drugs similar to the desired drug within a predetermined period.

[0039] In addition, the evaluation unit 132 may identify the total number of the desired medicines that have been approved for sale within a specified period based on the permission history, and evaluate the acceptability of the sale of the desired medicines to the user so that the higher the identified total number, the lower the evaluation.

[0040] In this case, for example, the evaluation unit 132 identifies the number of the desired medicines associated with the user's user ID and the product code of the desired medicines within a predetermined period, and by tallying the number, identifies the total number of the desired medicines that have been permitted for sale within the predetermined period. The evaluation unit 132 calculates the evaluation value so that the larger the identified total number, the lower the evaluation value indicating whether the desired medicines will be sold to the user.

[0041] Furthermore, the evaluation unit 132 may determine whether the purchase of other medicines than the desired medicine has been permitted within a specified period based on the permission history, and evaluate whether or not the desired medicine should be sold to the user so that the evaluation is lowered if the combination of the desired medicine and other medicines matches a combination that has been pre-designated as a bad combination.

[0042] For example, the storage unit 12 stores combination information indicating combinations of incompatible OTC drugs, which associates the product codes of multiple incompatible OTC drugs. The evaluation unit 132 references the combination information and identifies the product codes of the OTC drugs that are incompatible with the desired drug. The evaluation unit 132 then determines, based on the permission history, whether the purchase of the OTC drug corresponding to the identified product code, i.e., the OTC drug that is incompatible with the desired drug, has been permitted within a predetermined period. If the evaluation unit 132 determines that the purchase of the OTC drug that is incompatible with the desired drug has been permitted within the predetermined period, the evaluation unit 132 calculates an evaluation value indicating whether the desired drug will be sold to the user so that the evaluation value is lower. For example, the evaluation unit 132 calculates the evaluation value so that the evaluation value indicating whether the desired drug will be sold to the user is lower the more frequently the OTC drug that is incompatible with the desired drug is purchased within the predetermined period.

[0043] Furthermore, the evaluation unit 132 may evaluate the suitability of selling the drug to the user so as to lower the evaluation if it determines that the user's user ID or the user terminal 2 to which the user ID is assigned is being used by multiple people. In this case, the storage unit 12 stores store information that associates a store ID with store location information that indicates the location of the store identified by the store ID. The storage unit 12 also stores similar product information that associates product codes of OTC drugs with the same or similar efficacy.

[0044] The evaluation unit 132 refers to the store information stored in the memory unit 12 and the permission history, and determines whether the user wishes to purchase the desired drug or a drug similar to the desired drug within a specified period of time at a specified number of different stores or at different stores that are located at a specified distance or more from each other.

[0045] For example, the evaluation unit 132 first refers to the similar product information to identify drugs similar to the desired drug. Then, the evaluation unit 132 refers to the permission history information to identify the store IDs of one or more stores where the purchase of the desired drug or a drug similar to the desired drug has been permitted within a predetermined period, as well as the store IDs acquired by the acquisition unit 131. Based on these store IDs, the evaluation unit 132 determines whether the purchase of the desired drug or a drug similar to the desired drug has been desired within the predetermined period from a predetermined number or more of different stores.

[0046] Furthermore, the evaluation unit 132 refers to the store information and identifies the locations of stores corresponding to the store IDs of one or more stores at which the purchase of the desired drug or a drug similar to the desired drug is permitted within a predetermined period, and also identifies the locations of stores corresponding to the store IDs acquired by the acquisition unit 131. Then, based on the identified store locations, the evaluation unit 132 determines whether the user wishes to purchase the desired drug or a drug similar to the desired drug within the predetermined period from different stores that are located at a distance equal to or greater than a predetermined distance from each other.

[0047] When the evaluation unit 132 determines that the user wishes to purchase the desired drug or a drug similar to the desired drug within a predetermined period of time at a predetermined number or more of different stores or at different stores that are located at a predetermined distance or more from each other, the evaluation unit 132 determines that the user's user ID or the user terminal 2 to which the user ID is assigned is used by multiple people. When the evaluation unit 132 determines that the user's user ID or the user terminal 2 to which the user ID is assigned is used by multiple people, the evaluation unit 132 calculates the evaluation value, which indicates whether the desired drug will be sold to the user, so that the evaluation value is lower.

[0048] In addition, the evaluation unit 132 may evaluate whether or not to sell the drug desired to be purchased to the user based on confirmation item information, which is user information regarding items to be confirmed by a qualified person in communication regarding sales approval for OTC drugs, associated with the user's user ID acquired by the acquisition unit 131.

[0049] In this case, the medicine purchasing app running on the user terminal 2 accepts confirmation item information from the user, and stores the user ID and confirmation item information in association with each other in the user terminal 2. The confirmation item information is at least one of reaction information indicating an allergic reaction when the user takes an OTC medicine or pregnancy information indicating whether the user is pregnant. The reaction information includes, for example, the product code of the OTC medicine or the active ingredient of the OTC medicine, as information for identifying the OTC medicine to which the user has an allergic reaction when taking it.

[0050] The acquisition unit 131 then acquires the confirmation item information corresponding to the user by receiving permission application information including the confirmation item information from the user terminal 2. The evaluation unit 132 determines, based on the confirmation item information acquired by the acquisition unit 131, whether there is a high probability that the user will have an allergic reaction if they take the medicine they wish to purchase, and whether the user is pregnant and the medicine they wish to purchase is a medicine that requires caution when taken during pregnancy.

[0051] If the evaluation unit 132 determines that there is a high probability that the user will have an allergic reaction if they take the medicine they wish to purchase, or that the user is pregnant and the medicine they wish to purchase is a medicine that requires caution when taken during pregnancy, the evaluation unit 132 calculates the evaluation value so that it is low, thereby evaluating whether or not to sell the medicine they wish to purchase to the user.

[0052] Furthermore, the evaluation unit 132 may evaluate the acceptability of the sale of the desired drug to the user so that the evaluation is lowered when it is determined based on the permission history that the sale of the desired drug to the user has been denied. For example, the evaluation unit 132 refers to the permission history and calculates the evaluation value so that the evaluation value is lowered when it is determined that the sale of the desired drug to the user has been denied within a predetermined period.

[0053] The evaluation unit 132 may evaluate whether or not the sale of the desired drug to the user is acceptable based on at least one of the number of times the sale of the desired drug was permitted within a specified period, the total number of desired drug units permitted for sale within a specified period, whether or not the purchase of other drugs than the desired drug was permitted within a specified period, whether or not the sale of the desired drug to the user was not permitted, whether or not the user's user ID or the user terminal 2 to which the user ID is assigned is used by multiple people, and the confirmation item information.

[0054] Furthermore, the evaluation unit 132 may identify factors that lower the evaluation when evaluating the acceptability of the sale of the desired drug to the user. For example, when evaluating the acceptability of the sale of the desired drug to the user based on the number of purchase authorizations, if the number of purchase authorizations for the desired drug by the user within a predetermined period exceeds a predetermined threshold, the evaluation unit 132 identifies a large number of purchase authorizations as a factor that lowers the evaluation.

[0055] The first transmission unit 133 transmits start information to the user terminal 2 for starting communication related to sales approval of the desired drug between the user terminal 2 and the qualified person terminal 3. When communication related to sales approval is started based on the start information, the first transmission unit 133 transmits the evaluation result by the evaluation unit 132 to the qualified person terminal 3.

[0056] The start information is, for example, the address of a sales permission page for starting a voice chat between the user terminal 2 and the qualified person terminal 3, and is an address addressed to the information processing device 1. The first transmission unit 133 transmits a screen including a start button for accessing the address of the sales permission page to the user terminal 2. Note that the communication related to the sales permission is not limited to voice chat, and may be communication using other means by which communication can be established between the user terminal 2 and the qualified person terminal 3, such as text chat or video conferencing.

[0057] When the start button is pressed, the user terminal 2 transmits a request to access the sales permission page. When the first transmission unit 133 receives the access request, it transmits a user page, which is a sales permission page for conducting a voice chat with the qualified person, to the user terminal 2.

[0058] The first transmission unit 133 also transmits request information, including the address of the sales permission page and requesting access to the page, to the qualified person terminal 3. When the first transmission unit 133 receives the request to access the sales permission page from the qualified person terminal 3, it determines that communication related to sales permission has started. Then, the first transmission unit 133 transmits to the qualified person terminal 3 a sales permission page for conducting voice chat with the user, which includes the evaluation value calculated by the evaluation unit 132 and the evaluation result indicating the factors identified by the evaluation unit 132 that lower the evaluation.

[0059] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a page for a qualified person. As shown in FIG. 4, the page for a qualified person displays the evaluation value as the evaluation result and the factors that lower the evaluation identified by the evaluation unit 132. It can also be seen that the page for a qualified person displays drug information for the desired drug and a confirmation button for checking the permission history as information to assist the qualified person in granting purchase permission. In response to pressing the confirmation button, the first transmission unit 133 transmits the user's permission history to the qualified person terminal 3 and causes the qualified person terminal 3 to display the permission history. It can also be seen that the page for a qualified person displays a sales permission button for allowing the qualified person to sell the desired drug to the user and a sales denial button for denying permission to sell the desired drug.

[0060] In addition, the first transmission unit 133 may identify other medicines that have the same efficacy as the medicine desired to be purchased and are sold at the store indicated by the store ID acquired by the acquisition unit 131, and transmit pharmaceutical information about the identified other medicines to the qualified person terminal 3.

[0061] For example, the first transmission unit 133 refers to the similar product information and identifies other medicines that have the same efficacy as the medicine desired to be purchased. Then, the first transmission unit 133 accesses a product management server (not shown) that associates the store ID of the store, the product codes of the products sold at the store, and the inventory of the products, and identifies, from the identified other medicines, other medicines whose product codes are associated with the store ID acquired by the acquisition unit 131 and that are in stock at the store with the store ID. Then, the first transmission unit 133 transmits medicine information about the identified other medicines to the qualified person terminal 3. In this way, the qualified person can introduce to the user other medicines that have the same efficacy as the medicine desired to be purchased as a substitute for the medicine desired to be purchased, in addition to the medicine desired to be purchased, and can consider whether to allow the sale of the other medicines.

[0062] The reception unit 134 receives permission to sell the drug desired by the user from the qualified person terminal 3. For example, when the sales permission button is pressed on the confirmation screen shown in Fig. 4, the qualified person terminal 3 transmits sales permission information indicating that the qualified person has given permission to sell the drug desired by the user to the information processing device 1. By receiving the sales permission information from the qualified person terminal 3, the reception unit 134 receives permission to sell the drug desired by the user.

[0063] The reception unit 134 also receives denial of the sale of the drug desired by the user from the qualified person terminal 3. For example, when the sales denial button is pressed on the confirmation screen shown in Fig. 4, the qualified person terminal 3 transmits sales denial information indicating that the qualified person has not permitted the sale of the drug desired by the user to the information processing device 1. By receiving the denial information from the qualified person terminal 3, the reception unit 134 receives denial of the sale of the drug desired by the user.

[0064] When the receiving unit 134 receives permission to sell the drug desired by the user from the qualified person terminal 3, the second transmitting unit 135 transmits permission information indicating that the sale of the drug desired by the user has been permitted to be sold to the user terminal 2. For example, when the receiving unit 134 receives permission to sell the drug desired by the user from the qualified person terminal 3, the second transmitting unit 135 generates permit information indicating that the sale of the drug desired by the user has been permitted, and transmits the permit information to the user terminal 2. The user can purchase the drug desired by displaying the permit information on the user terminal 2 and presenting it to a store clerk when purchasing the drug at the store.

[0065] In addition, when the receiving unit 134 receives from the qualified person terminal 3 a denial of permission to sell the drug desired by the user, the second transmitting unit 135 transmits error information to the user terminal 2 indicating that the sale of the drug desired by the user has not been permitted.

[0066] [Processing flow in information processing device 1] Next, a description will be given of the flow of processing in the information processing device 1. Fig. 5 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of processing when the information processing device 1 transmits permit information to the user terminal 2.

[0067] First, the acquisition unit 131 receives permission application information from the user terminal 2, thereby acquiring the user ID of the user, the product code of the medicine that the user wishes to purchase, and the store ID of the store from which the user intends to purchase the medicine (S1).

[0068] Next, the evaluation unit 132 evaluates whether or not it is appropriate to sell the desired drug to the user based on the product codes of OTC drugs that the qualified person has previously authorized to be sold to the user, which are associated with the user's user ID acquired by the acquisition unit 131, and the authorization history including the date and time when the sale of the OTC drug was authorized (S2).

[0069] Next, the first transmission unit 133 transmits to the user terminal 2 start-up information for starting communication related to sales permission for the drug desired to be purchased between the user terminal 2 and the qualified person terminal 3 (S3). For example, the first transmission unit 133 transmits to the user terminal 2 a screen for accessing the address of a sales permission page as start-up information.

[0070] When the first transmission unit 133 receives the request to access the sales permission page (S4), it transmits a user page, which is a sales permission page for conducting voice chat with the qualified person, to the user terminal 2 (S5).

[0071] Next, the first transmission unit 133 transmits request information, including the address of the sales permission page, requesting access to the page to the qualified person terminal 3 (S6). When the first transmission unit 133 receives a request to access the sales permission page from the qualified person terminal 3 (S7), it determines that communication related to sales permission has started. Then, the first transmission unit 133 transmits to the qualified person terminal 3 a sales permission page for conducting voice chat with the user, which includes the evaluation value calculated by the evaluation unit 132 and the evaluation result indicating the factors that lower the evaluation identified by the evaluation unit 132 (S8). This allows voice chat to be conducted between the user and the qualified person.

[0072] Next, the accepting unit 134 receives sales permission information from the qualified person terminal 3 (S9), thereby accepting permission to sell the desired drug to the user. Next, the second transmitting unit 135 generates license information indicating that the sale of the desired drug has been permitted (S10), and transmits the license information to the user terminal 2 (S11).

[0073] [Variation 1] In the above-described embodiment, when communication related to sales approval is initiated between the user terminal 2 and the qualified person terminal 3 based on the initiation information for initiating communication related to sales approval for the desired drug, the first transmission unit 133 transmits the evaluation result by the evaluation unit 132 to the qualified person terminal 3, but this is not limited to this.

[0074] The first transmission unit 133 may transmit to the user terminal 2 start information for starting communication related to sales approval of the desired drug between the user terminal 2 and the qualified person terminal 3 when the evaluation result by the evaluation unit 132 exceeds a predetermined evaluation, and may not transmit the start information to the user terminal 2 when the evaluation result does not exceed the predetermined evaluation. For example, the first transmission unit 133 may transmit the start information to the user terminal 2 when the evaluation value as the evaluation result by the evaluation unit 132 exceeds a predetermined threshold. In this way, the information processing device 1 can reduce the burden on qualified persons who are qualified to grant sales approval for drugs.

[0075] Furthermore, when the evaluation result does not exceed a predetermined evaluation, the first transmission unit 133 may not transmit start information to the user terminal 2, but may transmit information indicating the factors that lower the evaluation, identified by the evaluation unit 132, and information indicating that the drug desired to be purchased cannot be sold to the user to the user, to the user terminal 2. In this way, the user can recognize the reason why the drug desired to be purchased cannot be purchased.

[0076] [Variation 2] In the above-described embodiment, the evaluation unit 132 evaluates the acceptability of selling the desired drug to the user based on the authorization history of OTC drugs that the qualified person has previously authorized to be sold to the user, which is stored in the storage unit 12. However, this is not limited to this. The evaluation unit 132 may also evaluate the acceptability of selling the desired drug to the user based on purchase history information that indicates the user's purchase history of products at the store. Furthermore, the evaluation unit 132 may evaluate the acceptability of selling the desired drug to the user based on both the purchase history information and the authorization history of OTC drugs.

[0077] The purchase history information is collected, for example, by a store's POS (Point Of Sales) register. The purchase history information is, for example, information that associates the user ID of the user, the product code of the product purchased by the user, the store ID, the purchase date and time, and the number of items purchased, which the store's POS register acquires from the user terminal 2 using a predetermined payment method such as code payment. This user ID is assumed to be the same as the user ID used in the permit issuance service, but is not limited to this and may also be associated with the user ID used in the permit issuance service. The purchase history information is collected in advance by a management server (not shown) that manages store sales, and the information processing device 1 can refer to the purchase history information.

[0078] For example, the evaluation unit 132 refers to the purchase history information to identify the number of purchases of the desired drug by the user within a predetermined period, and evaluates the quality of the sale of the desired drug to the user so that the higher the identified number of purchases, the lower the evaluation. Also, the evaluation unit 132 refers to the purchase history information to identify the total number of desired drug purchased by the user within a predetermined period, and evaluates the quality of the sale of the desired drug to the user so that the higher the identified total number, the lower the evaluation.

[0079] The evaluation unit 132 also refers to the purchase history information to determine whether the user has purchased other medicines than the desired medicine within a specified period, and evaluates whether or not to sell the desired medicine to the user so that the evaluation is lowered if the combination of the desired medicine and other medicines matches a combination that has been previously designated as a bad combination.

[0080] In addition, the evaluation unit 132 refers to store information and purchase history information, and when it determines that the user wishes to purchase the desired drug or a drug similar to the desired drug within a specified period of time at a specified number of different stores or at different stores that are located at a specified distance or more, evaluates whether or not it will be possible to sell the desired drug to the user so as to lower the evaluation.

[0081] Even if the sale of an OTC drug is permitted, the user may not purchase the OTC drug. Therefore, even if the user has not purchased the OTC drug and there is no risk of overdose, the sale of the OTC drug to the user may not be permitted due to a low evaluation of the sale of the OTC drug to the user. In response to this, the information processing device 1 can evaluate the appropriateness of the sale of the desired drug to the user based on the user's actual purchase history, thereby evaluating the appropriateness of the sale of the desired drug to the user based on a state that is close to the user's actual taking history of the desired drug.

[0082] [Variation 3] In the above-described embodiment, the evaluation unit 132 calculates the evaluation value such that the greater the number of purchase authorizations for the identified desired drug, the lower the evaluation value indicating whether the user will be able to purchase the desired drug. However, this is not limited to this. The evaluation unit 132 may calculate the evaluation value such that the greater the number of purchase authorizations for the identified desired drug, the higher the evaluation value indicating whether the user will be able to purchase the desired drug. The evaluation unit 132 may also calculate the evaluation value such that the greater the total number of desired drugs permitted for sale, the higher the evaluation value indicating whether the user will be able to purchase the desired drug.

[0083] In this case, the permission history information may store the results of the qualified person's confirmation of the presence or absence of side effects in the user. The evaluation unit 132 may then calculate an evaluation value such that the greater the number of times the purchase of the desired drug is permitted, the higher the evaluation value indicating whether the desired drug will be sold to the user, provided that the user experiences no side effects from taking the identified desired drug in the confirmation results. Similarly, the evaluation unit 132 may calculate an evaluation value such that the greater the total number of desired drugs permitted for sale, the higher the evaluation value indicating whether the desired drug will be sold to the user, provided that the user experiences no side effects from taking the identified desired drug in the confirmation results. In this way, the information processing device 1 can evaluate whether the desired drug will be sold to the user by utilizing the permission history that has granted permission when the user does not experience any side effects and there are no problems as a result of taking the desired drug.

[0084] [Effects of information processing device 1] As described above, the information processing device 1 according to this embodiment evaluates whether or not to sell to the user a drug that the user wishes to purchase, based on drug identification information of drugs that a qualified person has previously authorized to be sold to the user, which is associated with the user's user ID, and the authorization history including the date and time when the sale of the drug was authorized, and transmits the evaluation result to the qualified person terminal 3. In this way, the information processing device 1 can reduce the burden on the qualified person who is authorized to authorize the sale of drugs.

[0085] Furthermore, this invention will make it possible to contribute to Goal 9 of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is "Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and promote innovation and resilience."

[0086] The present invention has been described above using embodiments, but the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiments, and various modifications and changes are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention. For example, all or part of the device can be configured by functionally or physically distributing or integrating any unit. Furthermore, new embodiments resulting from any combination of multiple embodiments are also included in the embodiments of the present invention. The effects of the new embodiments resulting from the combination also have the effects of the original embodiments. [Explanation of symbols]

[0087] 1. Information processing equipment 2. User terminal 3 Qualified Person Terminal 11 Communications Department 12 Storage section 13 Control Unit 131 Acquisition Department 132 Evaluation Department 133 First Transmission Unit 134 Reception Department 135 Second Transmission Unit

Claims

1. an acquisition unit that acquires, from a terminal used by a user, user identification information for identifying the user and drug identification information for identifying a drug that the user wishes to purchase and that requires a sales license from a predetermined qualified person at the time of sale; an evaluation unit that evaluates whether or not the sale of the drug desired to be purchased to the user is appropriate based on drug identification information of the drug that the qualified person has previously authorized to be sold to the user, which is associated with the user identification information of the user, and an authorization history including the date and time when the sale of the drug was authorized; a first transmission unit that transmits to the terminal start information for starting communication related to the sales authorization of the desired drug between the terminal and a qualified person terminal used by the qualified person, and transmits the evaluation result by the evaluation unit to the qualified person terminal when the communication related to the sales authorization is started based on the start information; a reception unit that receives permission to sell the drug that the user wishes to purchase from the qualified person terminal; a second transmission unit that, when the reception unit receives permission to sell the desired drug, transmits permission information indicating that the sale of the desired drug has been permitted to the terminal; An information processing device having the above.

2. an acquisition unit that acquires, from a terminal used by a user, user identification information for identifying the user and drug identification information for identifying a drug that the user wishes to purchase and that requires a sales license from a predetermined qualified person at the time of sale; an evaluation unit that evaluates whether or not the sale of the drug desired to be purchased to the user is appropriate based on drug identification information of the drug that the qualified person has previously authorized to be sold to the user, which is associated with the user identification information of the user, and an authorization history including the date and time when the sale of the drug was authorized; a first transmitting unit that transmits to the terminal, when the evaluation result by the evaluation unit exceeds a predetermined evaluation, start information for starting communication related to the sales authorization of the desired drug between the terminal and a qualified person terminal used by the qualified person; a reception unit that receives permission to purchase the desired medicine of the user from the qualified person terminal; a second transmission unit that, when the reception unit receives permission to purchase the desired medicine, transmits permission information indicating that the purchase of the desired medicine has been permitted to the terminal; An information processing device having the above.

3. the evaluation unit identifies the number of times that the sale of the desired drug to the user has been permitted within a predetermined period based on the permission history, and evaluates the acceptability of the sale of the desired drug to the user so that the evaluation becomes lower as the identified number of times increases.

3. The information processing device according to claim 1 or 2.

4. the evaluation unit refers to purchase history information indicating the user's purchase history of the desired drug, identifies the number of times the user has purchased the desired drug within a predetermined period, and evaluates the quality of the sale of the desired drug to the user so that the evaluation becomes lower as the identified number of purchases increases; 3. The information processing device according to claim 1 or 2.

5. The permission history includes drug identification information of the drug that the qualified person has permitted to be sold to the user, the date and time when the sale of the drug was permitted, and the number of the drug that has been permitted to be sold, the evaluation unit specifies the total number of the desired medicines that have been permitted to be sold within a predetermined period based on the permission history, and evaluates the acceptability of the sale of the desired medicines to the user so that the evaluation becomes lower as the specified total number increases.

3. The information processing device according to claim 1 or 2.

6. The evaluation unit determines whether the purchase of other medicines than the desired medicine has been permitted within a predetermined period based on the permission history, and evaluates whether the sale of the desired medicine to the user is appropriate so that the evaluation is lowered when a combination of the desired medicine and the other medicine matches a combination that is previously designated as a bad combination.

3. The information processing device according to claim 1 or 2.

7. The permission history includes drug identification information of the drug that the qualified person has permitted to be sold to the user, the date and time when the sale of the drug was permitted, and store identification information of the store where the user desired to purchase the drug; the evaluation unit refers to store information associating the store identification information with store location information indicating the location of the store indicated by the store identification information, and the permission history, and when it determines that the user wishes to purchase the desired drug or a drug similar to the desired drug within a predetermined period of time at a predetermined number or more of different stores or at different stores that are located at a predetermined distance or more, evaluates whether or not it is appropriate to sell the desired drug to the user so as to lower the evaluation; 3. The information processing device according to claim 1 or 2.

8. The evaluation unit evaluates whether or not the sale of the desired drug to the user is appropriate based on confirmation item information, which is information of the user regarding items to be confirmed by a qualified person in the communication related to the sales authorization, which is associated with the user identification information of the user.

3. The information processing device according to claim 1 or 2.

9. The evaluation unit evaluates whether or not the user is likely to have an allergic reaction when taking the medicine, based on at least one of reaction information indicating an allergic reaction when the user takes the medicine, which is associated with the user identification information of the user as the confirmation item information, and pregnancy information indicating whether or not the user is pregnant, so that the evaluation is lowered if the user is highly likely to have an allergic reaction when taking the medicine, or if the user is pregnant and the medicine requires caution when taken during pregnancy. The information processing device according to claim 8 .

10. The authorization history includes information indicating that the purchase of the medicine has not been authorized, the evaluation unit evaluates whether the sale of the desired drug to the user is acceptable or not, so that the evaluation is lowered when it is determined that the sale of the desired drug to the user is not permitted based on the permission history.

3. The information processing device according to claim 1 or 2.

11. The acquisition unit acquires store identification information that identifies a store where the user wishes to purchase the medicine, The first transmission unit identifies other drugs that have the same efficacy as the desired drug and are sold at the store indicated by the store identification information acquired by the acquisition unit, and transmits drug information of the identified other drugs to the qualified person terminal.

3. The information processing device according to claim 1 or 2.

12. A computer-implemented method for A step of acquiring, from a terminal used by a user, user identification information for identifying the user and drug identification information for identifying a drug desired to be purchased by the user, the drug being a drug that requires a sales license from a predetermined qualified person at the time of sale; a step of evaluating whether or not to sell the drug desired by the user to the user based on drug identification information of the drug that the qualified person has previously authorized to sell to the user, which is associated with the user identification information of the user, and an authorization history including the date and time when the sale of the drug was authorized; a step of transmitting to the terminal start information for starting communication related to the sales authorization of the desired drug between the terminal and a qualified person terminal used by the qualified person, and when communication related to the sales authorization is started based on the start information, transmitting the evaluation result in the evaluating step to the qualified person terminal; A step of accepting permission to sell the drug desired by the user from the qualified person terminal; a step of transmitting permission information indicating that the sale of the desired drug has been permitted to the terminal when the permission to sell the desired drug is received; An information processing method comprising:

13. A computer-implemented method for A step of acquiring, from a terminal used by a user, user identification information for identifying the user and drug identification information for identifying a drug desired to be purchased by the user, the drug being a drug that requires a sales license from a predetermined qualified person at the time of sale; a step of evaluating whether or not to sell the drug desired by the user to the user based on a permission history including drug identification information of the drug that the qualified person has previously authorized to sell to the user, which is associated with the user identification information of the user, and the date and time when the sale of the drug was authorized; a step of transmitting, to the terminal, initiation information for initiating communication related to the sales authorization of the desired drug between the terminal and a qualified person terminal used by the qualified person when the evaluation result in the evaluation step exceeds a predetermined evaluation; A step of accepting permission to purchase the desired medicine of the user from the qualified person terminal; a step of transmitting, upon receiving permission to purchase the desired medicine, permission information indicating that the purchase of the desired medicine has been permitted to the terminal; An information processing method comprising:

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