Information processing device, information processing method, and program

Abstract

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

Description

[Technical Field]

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

[0002] Previously, a system has been disclosed that captures an image of a receipt issued by a store on a user's terminal device, and determines the benefits to be granted to the user by taking into account the information read by OCR (Optical Character Recognition) processing into account the payment information (Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2024-32001 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The technology described in Patent Document 1 derives store and product attributes from information obtained from receipts, applies them to a table to find an evaluation coefficient, and determines benefits, but there is room for further utilization of the information obtained from receipts.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of these circumstances, and one of its objects is to provide an information processing device, information processing method, and program that can further utilize information obtained from receipts. [Means for solving the problem]

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

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

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates basic aspects of brick-and-mortar electronic payment. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration for performing electronic payment (terminal payment) using a payment application. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of user information 172. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of affiliated store / shop information 174. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an outline of a processing flow when a user scan is performed. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an outline of the processing flow when a store scan is performed. [Figure 7] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration for performing electronic payment (card payment) using a payment card. [Figure 8] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing flow related to individual settlement. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of detailed information. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a process for identifying a user who should make a payment and a process for accepting payment. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of detailed store information 176. [Figure 12]FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of user preference information 178. [Figure 13] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a similarity index 180 for products, etc. [Figure 14] 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of how an update unit 154 updates user-specific preference information 178. FIG. [Figure 15] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the content of group preference information 182. [Figure 16] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a recommendation information selection screen IM4. [Figure 17] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an analysis screen IM5 that the analysis unit 158 ​​causes the affiliated store interface 55 to display. [Figure 18] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an analysis screen IM6 that the analysis unit 158 ​​causes the affiliated store interface 55 to display. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] [overview] Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings, embodiments of an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program according to the present invention will be described. The information processing device is provided as an attachment to a service server that provides various network services to users in cooperation with an application program, or operates as a function built into such a service server. The application program runs on a terminal device (user terminal device) such as a smartphone or tablet. In the following example, the network service is assumed to be an electronic payment service. However, it may alternatively be shopping, auction, flea market, banking service, etc. In the following description, the service server is referred to as a payment server, and the application program is referred to as a payment app. The information processing device is assumed to be built into the payment server as an "information processing unit." The payment app, payment server, and credit card server work together to provide electronic payment services as a payment system. An electronic payment service is a service that supports payments for the purchase of goods and services at a store. A store may be, for example, a physical store (real store) existing in real space, but may also include a virtual store for e-commerce transactions. A virtual store may also include one provided by an entity different from the operator of the electronic payment service. In such a case, control is exercised to transition to an interface screen for the electronic payment service when making a payment for a purchase at the virtual store. In electronic payment services, stores are treated as belonging to, for example, affiliated stores (brands), and electronic payments made at stores are primarily between the user and the affiliated store. Alternatively, electronic payments may be made between the user and the store.

[0010] The payment app and payment system of the present invention effectively support settlement (hereinafter referred to as individual settlement) after multiple people have purchased goods or services (e.g., eating and drinking at a restaurant) and a representative has paid collectively. Note that this operation is an example of an operation for acquiring receipt information, and receipt information may be acquired independently of individual settlement. In such cases, receipt information is acquired by an operation such as having the user acquire receipt information after electronic payment, assuming points will be awarded. First, we will explain electronic payment services in general, and then we will explain the process for the settlement.

[0011] [Electronic payment methods at brick-and-mortar stores] FIG. 1 illustrates the basic aspects of brick-and-mortar electronic payments. Electronic payments are generally carried out by three parties: a medium M held by a user U, store equipment E, and a payment system S. The medium M may be a portable computer device such as a smartphone or a credit card. The store equipment E resides in a physical brick-and-mortar store (hereinafter simply referred to as the store) in real space and may include a POS device, a wireless communication device, a credit card reader, a printed code image such as a QR Code (registered trademark), or a display device displaying the code image. In brick-and-mortar electronic payments, information that can identify the user and information about the payment amount are first shared unidirectionally or bidirectionally between the medium M and the store equipment E. At this time, either the medium M or the store equipment E optically reads various information from a code image displayed by the other, provides information via near-field communication (NFC), or reads the PAN (primary account number) using a credit card reader. Then, either the medium M or the store equipment E (the party that obtains information from the other) transmits the payment information required for the payment to the payment system S via a network NW. Both the medium M and the store equipment E may send some information to the payment system S. The payment system S manages various information about the user U and performs electronic payments between the store and the user U in various ways. Electronic payments are performed using either or both of a prepaid system and a postpaid system, or by other methods. In addition, electronic payments may also include so-called online shopping, which is performed between the user's terminal device and the payment system. The network NW includes, for example, the Internet, a LAN (Local Area Network), a wireless base station, a provider device, etc. The various devices that communicate via the network NW, which will be described below, are assumed to have communication devices such as network cards and wireless communication modules.

[0012] [Configuration (Terminal Payment)] 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration for performing electronic payment (terminal payment) using a payment app. This electronic payment is performed mainly by a payment app 20 running on a user terminal device 10, which is one of the media M, one or more store payment terminals 30 and one or more store code images 40, which are one of the store facilities E, and a payment server 100, which constitutes part of a payment system S. The payment server 100 communicates with the user terminal device 10, the store payment terminal 30, and one or more information terminals 50 via a network NW.

[0013] The user terminal device 10 is a portable terminal device such as a smartphone or tablet. The user terminal device 10 is a computer device having at least an optical reading function, a communication function, a display function, an input acceptance function, and a program execution function. In the following description, components for realizing these functions are referred to as a camera, a communication device, a touch panel, a central processing unit (CPU), etc. In the user terminal device 10, a processor such as a CPU executes a payment application 20, which operates in cooperation with a payment server 100 to provide electronic payment services to users. The payment application 20 is installed on the user terminal device 10 from, for example, an application distribution server (not shown) and controls the camera, communication device, touch panel, etc. of the user terminal device 10. In the following description, the terms "send information to the user terminal device 10 (or receive / acquire information from the user terminal device 10)" and "send information to the payment application 20 (or receive / acquire information from the payment application 20)" may be used interchangeably, but these terms are merely different expressions and are not intended to distinguish between them.

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

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

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

[0017] The payment server 100 communicates with the credit card server 200 via a network NW. The payment server 100 has, for example, a content provider 110, an information management unit 120, a payment processing unit 130, an information processing unit 150, and a storage unit 170. The components other than the storage unit 170 (including each unit of the information processing unit 150) are realized by, for example, a hardware processor such as a CPU executing a program (software). Some or all of these components may be implemented using a large scale integration (LSI), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or the like. The program may be realized by hardware (including circuitry) such as a Gate Array (GPU) or a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), or may be realized by a combination of software and hardware. The program may be stored in advance in a storage device (a storage device with a non-transitory storage medium) such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or flash memory, or may be stored in a removable storage medium (a non-transitory storage medium) such as a DVD or CD-ROM, and installed in the storage device by inserting the storage medium into a drive device.

[0018] The storage unit 170 is a HDD, flash memory, RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. The storage unit 170 may be a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device that the payment server 100 can access via a network. The storage unit 170 stores information such as user information 172, affiliated store / shop information 174, and various information (described later) used by the information processing unit 150.

[0019] The content providing unit 110 has, for example, a function of a web server, and provides information (content) for displaying various screens of the electronic payment service to the user terminal device 10. The content providing unit 110 provides the content to the user terminal device 10 in the form of a web page, and provides the user terminal device 10 with parameters required for the payment application 20 to render an image.

[0020] The information management unit 120 edits, adds, deletes, etc., user information 172 and affiliated store / shop information 174, and manages them.

[0021] 3 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of user information 172. User information 172 is information in which, for example, user URL, account ID, phone number, password, registration date, charge balance, electronic money type, terminal payment method, card payment method, various history information, identity verification flag, name, address, date of birth, email address, bank account, deferred payment settings, deferred payment condition information, friend list, and other information are associated with each other. Hereinafter, a user instance (electronic payment account) in which this information is associated may be referred to as an account. In the figure, items marked with "-" indicate that they are not set.

[0022] The user URL is used for remittance processing between users. When registering for the electronic payment service, registration of a phone number and password is required. The account ID is issued to the user by the payment server 100. The registration date is the date on which the user registered for the electronic payment service (the date on which the account was created). The charge balance is information indicating the balance of electronic money that the user has set by transferring money to the account in advance. Remittance methods include depositing money into an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) of a designated service provider (bank) or transferring money from a registered bank account. The type of electronic money is information indicating, for example, whether the electronic money can be withdrawn or can only be used for electronic payments. The terminal payment method is setting information indicating whether the user will make electronic payment using the charge balance (balance payment) or by deferred payment in terminal payment. The card payment method is setting information indicating whether the user will make electronic payment using the charge balance (balance payment) or by deferred payment in card payment. The various history information includes a charge history, which is a history of the user's previous transfers to the electronic payment service to increase the charge balance, and a payment history, which shows the details of each payment made by the user (date and time, store ID of the store where the purchase was made, affiliated store ID, payment amount, payment method, etc.). The friend list is a list of identification information (which may be account ID, user URL, or other information) of communication partners in the user-to-user communication function.

[0023] The identity verification flag is information indicating whether or not the user has completed identity verification using an ID document. Deferred payment can be selected if identity verification has been completed, and the user with account ID "002" in the figure has not completed identity verification and can only select balance payment as the terminal payment method. The bank account is the account number of a bank account that can be used to deposit funds into the electronic payment service. Deferred payment settings is information indicating whether or not the settings have been completed to make deferred payment selectable. Deferred payment condition information is information indicating various conditions such as the deferred payment limit and the amount used for the current month.

[0024] 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of affiliated store / store information 174. The affiliated store / store information 174 includes, for example, a first table 174A in which an affiliated store ID and a store ID are associated with a store URL, a second table 174B in which an affiliated store ID is associated with an affiliated store name and sales amount (described above), and a third table 174C in which a store ID is associated with a store ID. In addition to this information, the affiliated store / store information 174 may also include information such as the category of the affiliated store or store, the store's location, and payment patterns.

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

[0026] FIG. 5 shows an overview of the process flow when a user scan is performed. First, the user terminal device 10, with the payment application 20 running, reads and decodes the store code image 40 using its optical reading function (S1). The store code image 40 contains store URL information. The payment application 20 sends first payment information, including the store URL and the user's account ID, to the payment server 100 (S2). The payment server 100 searches the affiliated store / store information 174 using the affiliated store ID and store ID corresponding to the store URL, acquires information about the affiliated store name and store name (S3), and sends this to the payment application 20 (S4). The user enters the payment amount into the payment application 20 on the screen displaying the affiliated store name and store name (S5). The payment application 20 then generates second payment information including at least the payment amount and sends it to the payment server 100 (S6).

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

[0028] Then, the payment processing unit 130 sends a payment completion notice (information for displaying a payment completion screen) to the payment app 20 via the content providing unit 110 (S8), and the payment app 20 displays the payment completion screen (S9). When the store code image 40 is displayed on a display installed in the store, the store code image 40 may include information on the payment amount in addition to the store URL. In this case, the procedure for the user to input the payment amount is omitted, and the information on the payment amount is included in the first payment information and sent to the payment server 100. Information on the affiliated store name and store name may be included and displayed on the payment completion screen.

[0029] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an overview of the processing flow when a store scan is performed. First, when the payment app 20 is launched, when a payment operation is performed using the payment app 20, when an automatic update timing (e.g., every minute) occurs, and at other timings, the payment app 20 sends a request to issue a one-time code to the payment server 100 (S11). The payment processing unit 130 of the payment server 100 generates a one-time code (S12) and sends it to the payment app 20 (S13). The payment app 20 displays a code image, such as a QR code or barcode, generated based on the one-time code (S14). The user holds (presents) the display surface of the user terminal device 10 over the store payment terminal 30, and the store payment terminal 30 reads and decodes the code image using its optical reading function to obtain the one-time code, etc. (S15). The store payment terminal 30 then generates payment information including the one-time code, payment amount, affiliated store ID, store ID, etc., and sends it to the payment server 100 (S16). The payment amount information is acquired in advance by reading a barcode or manually entering it.

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

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

[0032] Note that electronic payment may be performed using only one of the above patterns. Furthermore, the "account ID" described in FIG. 2 may be other information (e.g., a phone number) that can be used as user identification information. Furthermore, issuing a one-time code may be omitted in store scanning, and the payment application 20 may display a code image generated based on the user's account ID. In this case, the payment server 100 identifies the user corresponding to the account ID instead of identifying the user corresponding to the one-time code.

[0033] It should be noted that the "post-payment" settlement may be performed within the settlement server 100, rather than being managed by the credit card server 200. In this case, the components such as the settlement card 60 and the credit card server 200 may be omitted.

[0034] [Configuration (Card Payment)] 7 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration for performing electronic payment (card payment) using a payment card. This electronic payment is performed mainly using a payment card 60, which is one of the media M, a credit card processing terminal 70, which is one of the store facilities E, a payment server 100, which constitutes part of a payment system S, and a credit card server 200. The credit card server 200 communicates with the credit card processing terminal 70 via a network NW.

[0035] The credit processing terminal 70 is installed in the store, similar to the in-store payment terminal 30. The credit processing terminal 70 includes, for example, a credit card reader and a POS device. The credit card terminal reads a personal identification number (PIN) from an inserted or held-up credit card and compares it with the PIN entered by the user. It also transmits a primary account number (PAN) read from the credit card to the credit card server 200 via the POS device. The POS device cooperates with the credit card terminal to transmit information such as the payment amount to the credit card server 200. A payment agent (acquirer) server may be interposed between the credit processing terminal 70 and the credit card server 200; however, for simplicity, the following description omits the server. The payment card 60 is, for example, similar to a commonly used credit card, with a communication chip embedded in the card substrate. The communication chip incorporates a storage medium storing the PIN and communicates with an external device via a contactor (or a wireless antenna). Alternatively, the payment card 60 may be a magnetic card. The information (messages) sent and received when using a credit card include an authorization message for authentication and a sales message for conveying the payment amount, but detailed explanations distinguishing between these will be omitted below.

[0036] The credit card server 200 communicates with the payment server 100 via a network NW. The credit card server 200 includes, for example, an information management unit 210, a credit interface 220, a payment allocation unit 230, a credit payment processing unit 240, and a memory unit 270. The components other than the memory unit 270 are implemented by, for example, a hardware processor such as a CPU executing a program (software). Some or all of these components may be implemented by hardware (including circuitry) such as an LSI, ASIC, FPGA, or GPU, or may be implemented by a combination of software and hardware. The program may be stored in advance in a storage device such as an HDD or flash memory (a storage device with a non-transitory storage medium), or may be stored in a removable storage medium (a non-transitory storage medium) such as a DVD or CD-ROM, and installed in the storage device by inserting the storage medium into a drive device. The memory unit 270 stores information such as card user information 272.

[0037] The information management unit 210 edits, adds, deletes, etc., and manages the card user information 272. The card user information 272 is information in which, for example, information unique to a user (e.g., PAN), a card payment method, and the user's account ID (used by the payment server 100) are associated with one another. The card payment method is setting information that indicates whether the user will make electronic payment using the charged balance (balance payment) or deferred payment when making a card payment.

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

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

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

[0041] [Individual liquidation] Below, we will explain individual settlement performed by the payment app 20 and the payment server 100 in cooperation with each other. Figure 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the process flow for individual settlement. In the following explanation, it is assumed that multiple users, including a representative and participants, eat and drink at a restaurant, which is an example of a store, and the representative pays for all of the items together. In this case, the items of use are the food, drinks (menu), souvenirs, etc. ordered by each user. Furthermore, at least some of the representative and participants use an electronic payment service (have accounts), and the representative's user terminal device is referred to as first user terminal device 10-1, and the participants' user terminal devices are referred to as second user terminal device 10-2. Note that the payment to the restaurant itself does not necessarily have to be made using an electronic payment service.

[0042] First, the payment application 20 acquires an image of the receipt issued by the store (S20). For example, the representative activates the camera of the first user terminal device 10-1 and acquires an image of the receipt captured by the camera. Alternatively, the payment application 20 may acquire an image of the receipt electronically sent from a POS device or the like on the store side via communication. In this case, email, Bluetooth (registered trademark), Wi-Fi, etc. may be used.

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

[0044] 9 is a diagram showing an example of the details information. The details information includes, for example, the store name, date and time of use, number of people, names of items of use and payment amounts for each item of use, total payment amount, tax amount, service charge, etc. Payment application 20 performs semantic interpretation and other processing on the results of the OCR processing to organize this information.

[0045] Next, payment application 20 identifies which of the representative and one or more participants is the user who should make the payment for one or more use items (S22). For example, payment application 20 shares information by sending statement information to payment application 20 of one or more second user terminal devices 10-2, and identifies users according to operations by the representative and participants (S22-1, S22-2). Then, payment application 20 accepts payment from the identified participants (S23).

[0046] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the process of identifying a user who should make a payment and the process of accepting payment. For example, in the first stage ((1) in the figure), the payment app 20 displays a participant selection screen IM1 showing detailed information on the first user terminal device 10-1. The interface screen IM1 displays (presents) a list of other users (candidate participants) registered in the friend list described above. Information on the friend list is provided from the payment server 100 to the payment app 20 of the first user terminal device 10-1. When the representative R selects a participant on the participant selection screen IM1 by tapping or other operation, the payment app 20 of the first user terminal device 10-1 transmits at least a portion of the detailed information to the second user terminal device 10-2 of the selected participant P to share the information. The detailed information is transmitted, for example, using a user-to-user communication function associated with the electronic payment service.

[0047] In the second stage ((2) in the figure), the use item selection screen IM2 is displayed on the first user terminal device 10-1 and the second user terminal device 10-2. In response to this, the representative R and the participant P each select the use items they have ordered by tapping or other operations. The payment app 20 of the first user terminal device 10-1 acquires information on the use items selected (entered) by the participant P from the payment app 20 of the second user terminal device 10-2. At the same time, the payment app 20 of the first user terminal device 10-1 acquires information on the use items selected (entered) by the representative R. These acquisition results are reflected on the use item selection screen IM2, for example, in real time. As a result, the payment app 20 of the first user terminal device 10-1 identifies the user who should make the payment. Thereafter, the results selected by the representative R and the participant P are reflected on the use item selection screen IM2. In this state, for example, if the representative operates the confirm button B1, the process of identifying the user who should make the payment is completed.

[0048] In the third stage ((3) in the figure), the second user terminal device 10-2 of participant P displays a payment screen IM3 that guides the participant to make a payment using the user-to-user remittance function. For example, the payment screen IM3 displays by default the amount to be paid by the participant according to the use items identified in the second stage, and the participant transfers money to the representative by operating the remittance button B2. The amount may be amended at this point. This completes the individual settlement process. Instead of displaying the remittance button B2, the representative's name may be displayed, along with a button for transitioning to the user-to-user remittance screen, and participant P may manually enter the amount to transfer the money.

[0049] When participant P transfers money, information about the deposit is notified to the payment application 20 of the first user terminal device 10-1. For this reason, on the usage item selection screen IM2 being viewed by the representative R, usage items for which payment has been completed may be displayed distinctly from usage items for which payment has not been completed (for example, by highlighting, shading, changing the color or brightness, or displaying text indicating whether payment has been completed or not). Furthermore, if a certain period of time has passed since the process proceeded to the third stage and the process for guiding payment was performed, a notice urging (reminding) payment may be displayed on the second user terminal device 10-2 of participant P for whom payment has not yet been transferred.

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

[0051] This method is also applicable to cases where participants are not subscribed to an electronic payment service and do not have an account. In this case, in addition to the friend list, communication identification information (e.g., email address, phone number, message app ID) of users who can become participants in the individual payment of the present invention may be added to the user information 172, making it possible to select potential participants in the second step of FIG. 10. Furthermore, if the payment application 20 has permission to access a phone book or a message app, it may be possible to select potential participants from the phone book. In this way, if a participant is not subscribed to an electronic payment service, the payment application 20 of the first user terminal device 10-1 may refer to a list of communication partners for individual payment, which is different from the list of communication partners in the user-to-user communication function, and allow the user to select a participant with whom to perform the information sharing process.

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

[0053] [Information Processing] The following describes the processing of the information processing unit 150. As shown in Fig. 2, the information processing unit 150 includes an acquisition unit 152, an update unit 154, a recommendation unit 156, and an analysis unit 158. The information processing unit 150 also stores information such as detailed store information 176, preference information for each user 178, a similarity index for products etc. 180, preference information for each group 182, and store analysis information 184 in the storage unit 170 for use in processing.

[0054] The acquisition unit 152 acquires receipt information from the user terminal device 10, which is receipt information obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store and includes at least information about the products or services (hereinafter, "products, etc.") purchased by the user. The "products, etc." here refers to the "items of use" in the above explanation, and the "receipt information" refers to the "detailed information." In many cases, however, these are described below as "products, etc." and "receipt information." The process by which the acquisition unit 152 acquires receipt information is not limited to the "individual settlement" described above, and receipt information may be acquired through other processes.

[0055] The update unit 154 updates the detailed store information 176 based on the receipt information, and further updates the per-user preference information 178 of at least the user (the "representative" in the above example) who uses the user terminal device 10. If the "participant" is a user of an electronic payment service, the update unit 154 may also update the per-user preference information 178 of the participant. Furthermore, the update unit 154 may update the per-user preference information 178 based on user preference information obtained in a separate process (for example, obtained through electronic payment history, a questionnaire, etc.) in addition to the receipt information.

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

[0057] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the detailed store information 176. The detailed store information 176 includes information such as the store name, business hours, holidays, products (menu, since the store is a restaurant in the figure), category, and the ratio of male to female customers. The update unit 154 creates the detailed store information 176 by aggregating receipt information. At this time, in order to eliminate information with low reliability, only the information written in receipt information may be reflected in the detailed store information 176 multiple times.

[0058] 12 is a diagram showing an example of the content of user preference information 178. User preference information 178 is information in which, for example, products and the like and the preference level for each user are associated with the account ID of each user. The preference level is expressed, for example, from 0% (not interested) to 100% (most interested).

[0059] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the product similarity index 180. The product similarity index 180 indicates, for example, an index value indicating the degree of similarity between multiple products, etc., which are the subject of the user preference information 178. For example, the index value is information in which a representative combination of products, etc. is associated with an index value indicating the degree of similarity. For example, the index value is set to a higher value the more purchase (order) histories the same user has. In the example shown in the figure, the index value is expressed as 0% (not similar) to 100% (very similar). The update unit 154 creates the product similarity index 180 by extracting a data group that serves as the basis for the product similarity index 180 from receipt information and other information in advance, and adding points according to the number of purchases by the same user. At this time, a distributed representation vector may be generated for each product, etc., and the closer the distance between the distributed representation vectors is, the higher the index value may be set.

[0060] FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating how the update unit 154 updates the preference information 178 for each user. Assume that a user with an account ID of "XXX" shown in FIG. 12 ate (purchased) "steak" at a restaurant, and the details of the meal are recorded in the receipt information. In this case, the update unit 154 increases the preference level of "steak" itself, which is included in the receipt information, and also increases the preference levels of "red wine," "hamburger steak," "yakiniku," and "beef stew," which are not included in the receipt information but have indices similar to "steak" in the product similarity index 180. For example, let C1 be the product, etc. included in the receipt information, C2 be the product, etc. not included in the receipt information, C1(u) be the preference level of user u for C1, C2(u) be the preference level of user u for C2, and β be the index value between C1 and C2. 12Then, C1(u) and C2(u) are updated as follows: where α is a coefficient between zero and one, and n is the number of times the product or the like has been updated up to now. Note that the processing of the update unit 154 may be provided with a forgetting function so that the preference degree gradually decreases over time.

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

[0062] In the example of Figure 14, the preference level for "steak" has been updated from 30% to 55%, the preference level for "red wine" from 25% to 43%, the preference level for "hamburger steak" from 0% to 12%, the preference level for "yakiniku" from 0% to 20%, and the preference level for "beef stew" from 0% to 16%.

[0063] The recommendation unit 156 generates, for example, the following recommendation information and provides it to the payment application 20 via the content providing unit 110. The recommendation unit 156 generates, as recommendation information, information recommending stores whose products and the like match the preference information of the target user. In this case, the recommendation unit 156 selects stores to recommend from stores that exist within the target user's range of activity, which has been collected in advance. The range of activity is derived from the locations of stores indicated in the target user's payment history, etc.

[0064] Furthermore, when the payment application 20 can access the location information of the user terminal device 10 (location information of the target user), the recommendation unit 156 may generate, as recommendation information, information recommending products, etc. (for example, products with the highest to nth highest preference levels) that match the preference information of the target user from among products, etc. offered by stores located at the location indicated by the location information (which can be obtained from the store detail information 176). In this case, it is possible to recommend recommended products, etc. (menu) to the target user when the target user enters the store. Alternatively, the recommendation unit 156 may generate, as recommendation information, information recommending products, etc. that match the preference information of the target user from among products, etc. offered by stores located near the location indicated by the location information. In this case, it is possible to provide information that the target user can use to select a store.

[0065] Furthermore, the update unit 154 may generate group-specific preference information 182 for each group into which users are categorized, in addition to the user-specific preference information 178. The recommendation unit 156 may generate recommendation information based on the group-specific preference information 182 corresponding to the group to which the target user belongs. The user-specific group may be represented by a user type, such as "Western food lover," "Asian food lover," "travel lover," or "thrifty." The user type to which a user belongs may be determined based on information collected from payment history, survey results, or other sources, in addition to receipt information. FIG. 15 illustrates an example of the group-specific preference information 182. The preference level for each user type can be calculated, for example, by averaging the preference levels of users belonging to the group. This allows users to learn about the preferences of other users with similar attributes, thereby broadening their purchasing behavior.

[0066] Furthermore, the recommendation unit 156 may generate recommendation information based on preference information having an opposite tendency to the user-specific preference information 178 of the target user. The preference information having an opposite tendency is, for example, opposite preference information obtained by subtracting each preference degree in the user-specific preference information 178 from 100%. This allows the user to enjoy purchasing behavior that is different from usual.

[0067] The content recommended by the recommendation unit 156 may be selected by the target user. Fig. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a recommendation information selection screen IM4. When the target user selects area A1, stores or products that match the target user's preference information are recommended, when the target user selects one of areas A2, stores or products that correspond to each of multiple user types are recommended, and when the target user selects area A3, stores or products that match preference information that has an opposite tendency to the target user's preference information are recommended.

[0068] Furthermore, instead of recommending stores, products, etc., the recommendation unit 156 may match users who have similar user preference information 178 and recommend them as users to add to a friend list, for example. Note that the user preference information 178 and the group preference information 182 are "similar" when, for example, the elements (degrees of preference) of the users are taken as elements of a vector and a distance index such as cosine similarity between the vectors is small. Similarly, other "similar" means that the difference between each of the multiple elements is small.

[0069] The analysis unit 158 ​​analyzes the store or affiliated store based on the receipt information. For example, the analysis unit 158 ​​selects a user type considered to have the highest affinity with the target store, generates a screen showing information comparing the preference level corresponding to the selected user type in the group preference information 182 with the products, etc., of the target store, and displays the screen on the affiliated store interface 55. FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of an analysis screen IM5 displayed by the analysis unit 158 ​​on the affiliated store interface 55. The analysis unit 158 ​​displays, for example, a bar graph as the analysis screen IM5 on the affiliated store interface 55, in which products, etc., available at the target store are displayed with solid lines and products, etc., not available at the target store but with a high preference level corresponding to the selected user type are displayed with dashed lines, arranged in descending order of preference level. Note that the preference information to be compared may be the user preference information 178 instead of the group preference information 182. In this case, the user preference information 178 of a user who has visited the target store or is estimated to be interested in the category of the target store may be selected.

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

[0071] Furthermore, the analysis unit 158 ​​may display, on the interface for affiliated stores 55, the sales trends of comparable stores or affiliated stores (hereinafter referred to as comparison stores, etc.) that are similar in category or business information (business hours, male / female ratio, etc.) to the target store or the affiliated store to which the target store belongs (hereinafter referred to as the target store, etc.) in a comparable manner, thereby making it possible to display business information, etc. of the target store, etc. FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of an analysis screen IM6 that the analysis unit 158 ​​displays on the interface for affiliated stores 55. With regard to the sales trends, the analysis unit 158 ​​may use information acquired by crawling, or may obtain information using an LLM (Large Language Model), etc.

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

[0073] The above describes the form for carrying out the present invention using an embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and various modifications and substitutions can be made within the scope that does not deviate from the gist of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0074] E. Store Facilities M medium S payment system 10 User terminal device 10-1 First user terminal device 10-2 Second user terminal device 20. Payment App 30 Store payment terminal device 40 Store code image 60 Payment Cards 70 Credit card processing terminal 100 Payment Server 130 Payment processing unit 150 Information Processing Department 152 Acquisition Department 154 Update Department 156 Recommendation Department 158 Analysis Department 170 Storage section 176 store details 178 User preference information 180 Product similar indicators 182 Group preference information 184 Store Analysis Information 200 Credit Card Server

Claims

1. an acquisition unit that acquires, from a user terminal device, receipt information obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store, the receipt information including at least information about the product or service (hereinafter, "product, etc.") purchased by the user; an update unit that updates preference information for at least each user who uses the user terminal device based on the receipt information; a recommendation unit that generates recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the preference information for each user; Equipped with The update unit further updates the preference levels of the products included in the receipt information and the products that are not included in the receipt information but are similar to the products included in the receipt information, based on an index value indicating the similarity between the products included in the user preference information. Information processing device.

2. An acquisition unit that acquires receipt information from a user terminal device, the receipt information being obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store, the receipt information including at least information about the product or service (hereinafter, "product, etc.") purchased by the user; an update unit that updates preference information for at least each user who uses the user terminal device based on the receipt information; a recommendation unit that generates recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the preference information for each user; Equipped with The acquisition unit further acquires location information of the user, The recommendation unit generates, as the recommendation information, information recommending products, etc. that match the preference information for each user, from products, etc. that are present at the location indicated by the location information or that are offered by nearby stores. Information processing device.

3. An acquisition unit that acquires receipt information from a user terminal device, the receipt information being obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store, the receipt information including at least information about the product or service (hereinafter, "product, etc.") purchased by the user; an update unit that updates preference information for at least each user who uses the user terminal device based on the receipt information; a recommendation unit that generates recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the preference information for each user; Equipped with the update unit generates preference information for each group into which users are classified, the recommendation unit generates the recommendation information based on the group preference information corresponding to the group to which the user belongs; Information processing device.

4. An acquisition unit that acquires receipt information from a user terminal device, the receipt information being obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store, the receipt information including at least information about the product or service (hereinafter, "product, etc.") purchased by the user; an update unit that updates preference information for at least each user who uses the user terminal device based on the receipt information; a recommendation unit that generates recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the preference information for each user; Equipped with the recommendation unit generates the recommendation information based on preference information having an opposite tendency to the preference information for each user; Information processing device.

5. An acquisition unit that acquires receipt information from a user terminal device, the receipt information being obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store, the receipt information including at least information regarding the product or service (hereinafter, "product, etc.") purchased by the user; an update unit that updates preference information for at least each user who uses the user terminal device based on the receipt information; a recommendation unit that generates recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the preference information for each user; Equipped with the recommendation unit generates the recommendation information recommending matching between users having similar preference information for each user; Information processing device.

6. The recommendation unit generates, as the recommendation information, information recommending a store whose products and the like match the user's preference information.

6. The information processing device according to claim 1.

7. An acquisition unit that acquires receipt information from a user terminal device, the receipt information being obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store, the receipt information including at least information regarding the product or service (hereinafter, "product, etc.") purchased by the user; an update unit that updates preference information for at least each user who uses the user terminal device based on the receipt information; a recommendation unit that generates recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the preference information for each user; an analysis unit that analyzes the store based on the receipt information and displays a screen showing the analysis results on an interface for affiliated stores; Equipped with the analysis unit generates a screen showing information comparing the products etc. of the target store with the preference level of the comparison target, and displays the screen on the interface for the member store; Information processing device.

8. An acquisition unit that acquires receipt information from a user terminal device, the receipt information being obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store, the receipt information including at least information about the product or service (hereinafter, "product, etc.") purchased by the user; an update unit that updates preference information for at least each user who uses the user terminal device based on the receipt information; a recommendation unit that generates recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the preference information for each user; an analysis unit that analyzes the store based on the receipt information and displays a screen showing the analysis results on an interface for affiliated stores; Equipped with The analysis unit displays, for the member store, the sales trends of a comparison store similar to the target store and the sales trends of the target store in a comparable manner. Information processing device.

9. The information processing device A process of acquiring receipt information from a user terminal device, the receipt information being obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store, the receipt information including at least information about the product or service (hereinafter, "product, etc.") purchased by the user; a process of updating preference information for each user who uses at least the user terminal device based on the receipt information; A process of generating recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the preference information for each user; Run The process of updating the preference information further includes updating the preference levels in the per-user preference information for the products included in the receipt information and for products that are not included in the receipt information but are similar to the products included in the receipt information, based on an index value indicating the similarity between the multiple products that are the subject of the per-user preference information. Information processing methods.

10. The information processing device A process of acquiring receipt information from a user terminal device, the receipt information being obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store, the receipt information including at least information about the product or service (hereinafter, "product, etc.") purchased by the user; a process of updating preference information for each user who uses at least the user terminal device based on the receipt information; A process of generating recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the preference information for each user; A process of acquiring location information of the user; Run The process of generating the recommendation information includes generating, as the recommendation information, information recommending products, etc. that match the preference information for each user, from products, etc. that are present at the location indicated by the location information or that are offered by nearby stores. Information processing methods.

11. On the computer, A process of acquiring receipt information from a user terminal device, the receipt information being obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store, the receipt information including at least information about the product or service (hereinafter, "product, etc.") purchased by the user; a process of updating preference information for each user who uses at least the user terminal device based on the receipt information; A process of generating recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the preference information for each user; A program for executing The process of updating the preference information further includes updating the preference levels in the per-user preference information for the products included in the receipt information and for products that are not included in the receipt information but are similar to the products included in the receipt information, based on an index value indicating the similarity between the multiple products that are the subject of the per-user preference information. program.

12. On the computer, A process of acquiring receipt information from a user terminal device, the receipt information being obtained from an image of a receipt issued by a store, the receipt information including at least information about the product or service (hereinafter, "product, etc.") purchased by the user; a process of updating preference information for each user who uses at least the user terminal device based on the receipt information; A process of generating recommendation information to be provided to the user based on the preference information for each user; A process of acquiring location information of the user; A program for executing The process of generating the recommendation information includes generating, as the recommendation information, information recommending products, etc. that match the preference information for each user, from products, etc. that are present at the location indicated by the location information or that are offered by nearby stores. program.

Images