Programs, information processing methods, terminals

Abstract

To provide an effective display method of advertisement for terminals when users are waiting for cash registers or the like.SOLUTION: A display method of a terminal that performs processing related to settlement includes: displaying first code information for performing the processing related to settlement in a display area of the terminal based on input of a user of the terminal for the terminal: receiving advertisement information on advertisement by a communication unit of the terminal; and displaying advertisement based on the advertisement information in the display area in which the first code information is displayed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a display method for a terminal, a server, a program, and an information processing method for a server.

Background Art

[0002] In recent years, code settlement technology using a user's terminal has been utilized. Patent Document 1 discloses a shopping settlement system that reads a graphic code for settlement on a terminal and performs settlement.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

[0004] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display method for a terminal that executes a process related to settlement, including displaying first code information for executing a process related to settlement in a display area of the terminal based on an input of a user of the terminal to the terminal, receiving advertisement information related to an advertisement by a communication unit of the terminal, and displaying an advertisement based on the advertisement information in the display area where the first code information is displayed. Further, according to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program executed by a terminal that executes a process related to settlement, causing the terminal to display first code information for executing a process related to settlement in a display area of the terminal based on an input of a user of the terminal to the terminal, receive advertisement information related to an advertisement by a communication unit of the terminal, and display an advertisement based on the advertisement information in the display area where the first code information is displayed. Furthermore, according to a third aspect of the present invention, a terminal for performing payment processing comprises a display unit that displays first code information for performing payment processing based on user input to the terminal, and a communication unit that receives advertising information relating to advertisements, wherein the display unit displays an advertisement based on the advertising information in a second display area different from the first display area on which the first code information is displayed. Furthermore, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a terminal for performing payment processing includes a processor that reads a program stored in memory and performs processing based on the program, wherein the processor performs the following actions based on user input to the terminal: display first code information for performing payment processing on the terminal's display area, receive advertising information related to advertisements via the terminal's communication unit, and display advertisements based on the advertising information in the display area where the first code information is displayed. Furthermore, according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a method for displaying a server that communicates with a terminal that performs payment processing includes: transmitting a first code information for performing payment processing to the terminal by a communication unit of the server based on user input from the terminal; transmitting advertising information related to the advertisement to the terminal by a communication unit; receiving information related to purchasing the advertised product transmitted by the communication unit based on user input from the terminal to the advertisement based on the advertising information displayed on the terminal; and transmitting electronic data of the advertised product to the terminal by a communication unit based on the information related to purchasing the advertised product. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0005] [Figure 1] This block diagram shows an example of a communication system configuration, specifically an example of a terminal and server configuration. [Figure 2] This is a schematic diagram illustrating the outline of a communication system according to an embodiment, where (a) is a plan view showing the area in front of a cash register in a store, and (b) is a diagram showing how an advertisement is displayed on a terminal. [Figure 3] This is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the communication between devices in a communication system. [Figure 4] Figure 3 shows a flowchart illustrating an example of terminal operation. [Figure 5] This flowchart shows an example of server operation related to Figure 3. [Figure 6] This is a block diagram showing an example configuration of a communication system according to Embodiment 2. [Figure 7] This is a conceptual data diagram showing an example of the data structure for advertising management information. [Figure 8] This is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the communication between devices in a communication system. [Figure 9] Figure 8 shows a flowchart illustrating an example of terminal operation. [Figure 10] Figure 8 is a flowchart showing an example of server operation. [Figure 11] This sequence diagram illustrates another example of the interactions between devices in a communication system that identifies advertisements based on the location information of a terminal. [Figure 12] Figure 11 shows a flowchart illustrating an example of server operation. [Figure 13] This sequence diagram illustrates another example of the interactions between devices in a communication system that identifies advertisements based on the location information of a terminal and images captured inside a store. [Figure 14] Figure 13 shows a flowchart illustrating an example of server operation. [Figure 15] This flowchart shows an example of how the terminal works. [Figure 16] This diagram shows examples of how the information will appear on the device screen. (a) is an example of how it will appear before purchase, (b) is an example of the UI for purchase, (c) is an example of how it will appear after purchase, and (d) is an example of how it will appear after purchase. [Figure 17] This is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of communication between devices in a communication system when an app is being charged. [Figure 18] Figure 17 shows a flowchart illustrating an example of terminal operation. [Figure 19] Figure 17 shows a flowchart illustrating an example of server operation. [Figure 20] (a) to (c) are diagrams showing display examples to be displayed on the screen of the terminal. [Figure 21] It is a sequence diagram showing the interaction between devices in the communication system. [Figure 22] It is a flowchart showing an operation example of the server related to FIG. 21.

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0006] <Compliance with Legal Matters> It should be noted that the disclosure described in this specification is based on the premise of compliance with the legal matters of the country of implementation required for the implementation of the present disclosure, such as communication secrecy.

[0007] An embodiment for implementing a display method or the like capable of confirming the situation related to transmission or reception by the terminal according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0008] <System Configuration>

[0009] FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a communication system 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As disclosed in FIG. 1, in the communication system 1, the server 10 and the terminals 20 (terminal 20A, terminal 20B, terminal 20C) are connected via the network 30. The server 10 provides a service for realizing the transmission and reception of messages between the terminals 20 to the terminals 20 owned by the user via the network 30. Note that the number of terminals 20 connected to the network 30 is not limited.

[0010] The network 30 plays a role of connecting one or more terminals 20 and one or more servers 10. That is, the network 30 means a communication network that provides a connection path so that data can be transmitted and received after the terminal 20 is connected to the server 10.

[0011] One or more parts of network 30 may or may not be wired or wireless networks. Network 30 may include, but is not limited to, an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), part of the internet, part of a public switched telephone network (PSTN), a mobile phone network, integrated service digital networks (ISDN), wireless LAN, LTE (long term evolution), CDMA (code division multiple access), Bluetooth (registered trademark), satellite communications, or two or more combinations thereof. Network 30 may include one or more networks 30.

[0012] Terminal 20 (Terminal 20A, Terminal 20B, Terminal 20C) can be any information processing terminal capable of realizing the functions described in each embodiment. Terminal 20 includes, but is not limited to, smartphones, mobile phones (feature phones), computers (but is not limited to, for example, desktops, laptops, tablets, etc.), media computer platforms (but is not limited to, for example, cable, satellite set-top boxes, digital video recorders), handheld computer devices (but is not limited to, for example, PDAs (personal digital assistants), email clients, etc.), wearable devices (glasses-type devices, watch-type devices, etc.), or other types of computers or communication platforms. Terminal 20 may also be referred to as an information processing terminal.

[0013] Since the configurations of terminals 20A, 20B, and 20C are basically the same, the following explanation will focus on terminal 20. Furthermore, where necessary, the terminal used by user X will be referred to as terminal 20X, and user information associated with user X or terminal 20X in a given service will be referred to as user information X. User information refers to user information associated with the account used by the user in a given service. User information includes, but is not limited to, information associated with the user, such as the user's name, user icon image, user's age, user's gender, user's address, user's hobbies and preferences, and user identifier, which are entered by the user or assigned by the given service. It may include any one of these, a combination thereof, or not.

[0014] Server 10 has the function of providing predetermined services to terminal 20. Server 10 may be any information processing device capable of realizing the functions described in each embodiment. Server 10 includes, but is not limited to, a server device, a computer (for example, a desktop, laptop, tablet, etc.), a media computer platform (for example, a cable, satellite set-top box, digital video recorder, etc.), a handheld computer device (for example, a PDA, email client, etc.), or other types of computers or communication platforms. Server 10 may also be referred to as an information processing device. If it is not necessary to distinguish between Server 10 and terminal 20, Server 10 and terminal 20 may or may not be referred to as information processing devices.

[0015] <Hardware (HW) Configuration>

[0016] Using Figure 1, the hardware configuration of each device included in communication system 1 will be explained.

[0017] (1) Terminal hardware configuration

[0018] Terminal 20 comprises a control unit 21 (CPU: central processing unit), a storage unit 28, a communication interface 22, an input / output unit 23, a display unit 24, and a location information acquisition unit 25. The hardware components of terminal 20 are interconnected via bus B, not limited to but as an example. It is not mandatory for terminal 20's hardware configuration to include all components. For example, terminal 20 may have a configuration in which individual or multiple components such as the microphone 232, camera 234, and location information acquisition unit 25 are removed, or it may not.

[0019] The communication interface 22 transmits and receives various types of data via the network 30. This communication may be performed via wired or wireless connection, and any communication protocol may be used as long as communication between the two parties is possible. The communication interface 22 has the function of communicating with the server 10 via the network 30. The communication interface 22 transmits various types of data to the server 10 according to instructions from the control unit 21. The communication interface 22 also receives various types of data transmitted from the server 10 and transmits them to the control unit 21. The communication interface 22 may also be simply referred to as the communication unit. Furthermore, if the communication interface 22 is composed of a physically structured circuit, it may also be referred to as the communication circuit.

[0020] The input / output unit 23 includes a device for inputting various operations to the terminal 20, and a device for outputting the processing results processed by the terminal 20. The input / output unit 23 may have an integrated input unit and an output unit, or it may have separate input and output units, or it may not have been integrated.

[0021] The input unit is implemented by any or a combination of any type of device capable of receiving input from the user and transmitting the information related to said input to the control unit 21. The input unit includes, but is not limited to, hardware keys such as a touch panel 231, touch display, and keyboard, pointing devices such as a mouse, a camera 234 (operation input via video), and a microphone 232 (operation input via voice).

[0022] The output unit is implemented by any or any combination of any type of device capable of outputting the processing results processed by the control unit 21. The output unit includes, but is not limited to, a touch panel, a touch display, a speaker 233 (for audio output), a lens (for, but is not limited to, 3D (three-dimensional) output or hologram output), a printer, and the like.

[0023] The display unit 24 is implemented by any or a combination of any type of device capable of displaying data according to the display data written to the frame buffer. The display unit 24 includes, but is not limited to, touch panels, touch displays, monitors (including, but is not limited to, liquid crystal displays and OLEDs (organic electroluminescence displays)), head-mounted displays (HDMs), projection mapping, holograms, and devices capable of displaying images, text information, etc., in air (which may or may not be a vacuum). These display units 24 may or may not be capable of displaying display data in 3D.

[0024] If the input / output unit 23 is a touch panel, the input / output unit 23 and the display unit 24 may be arranged facing each other and have substantially the same size and shape.

[0025] The control unit 21 has physically structured circuitry to perform functions realized by code or instructions contained within the program, and is implemented, but is not limited to, by a data processing device built into the hardware. Therefore, the control unit 21 may or may not be described as a control circuit.

[0026] The control unit 21 includes, but is not limited to, a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, a processor core, a multiprocessor, an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit), and an FPGA (field programmable gate array).

[0027] The storage unit 28 has the function of storing various programs and data necessary for the operation of the terminal 20. The storage unit 28 includes, but is not limited to, various storage media such as HDD (hard disk drive), SSD (solid state drive), flash memory, RAM (random access memory), and ROM (read-only memory). The storage unit 28 may or may not be referred to as memory.

[0028] Terminal 20 stores program P in storage unit 28, and by executing program P, the control unit 21 executes the processing of each part included in the control unit 21. In other words, program P stored in storage unit 28 enables terminal 20 to realize the various functions executed by the control unit 21. Furthermore, this program P may or may not be described as a program module.

[0029] Microphone 232 is used for inputting audio data. Speaker 233 is used for outputting audio data. Camera 234 is used for acquiring video data.

[0030] (2) Server hardware configuration

[0031] Server 10 comprises a control unit 11 (CPU), a storage unit 15, a communication interface 14, an input / output unit 12, and a display unit 13. The hardware components of Server 10 are interconnected via bus B, not as an example but as an example. It is not mandatory for Server 10's hardware configuration to include all components. For example, Server 10's hardware may or may not include the display unit 13.

[0032] The control unit 11 has physically structured circuitry to perform functions realized by code or instructions contained within the program, and is implemented, but is not limited to, by a data processing device built into the hardware.

[0033] The control unit 11 is typically a central processing unit (CPU), but may also be a microprocessor, processor core, multiprocessor, ASIC, FPGA, or otherwise. In this disclosure, the control unit 11 is not limited to these.

[0034] The storage unit 15 has the function of storing various programs and data necessary for the operation of the server 10. The storage unit 15 is implemented using various storage media such as HDDs, SSDs, and flash memory. However, in this disclosure, the storage unit 15 is not limited to these. Also, the storage unit 15 may or may not be referred to as memory.

[0035] The communication interface 14 transmits and receives various types of data via the network 30. This communication may be performed via wired or wireless connection, and any communication protocol may be used as long as communication between the two parties is possible. The communication interface 14 has the function of communicating with the terminal 20 via the network 30. The communication interface 14 transmits various types of data to the terminal 20 according to instructions from the control unit 11. The communication interface 14 also receives various types of data transmitted from the terminal 20 and transmits them to the control unit 11. The communication interface 14 may also be simply referred to as the communication unit. Furthermore, if the communication interface 14 is composed of a physically structured circuit, it may also be referred to as the communication circuit.

[0036] The input / output unit 12 is implemented by a device that inputs various operations to the server 10. The input / output unit 12 is implemented by any or a combination of any type of device that can receive input from a user and transmit information related to said input to the control unit 11. The input / output unit 12 is typically implemented by hardware keys such as a keyboard or a pointing device such as a mouse. The input / output unit 12 may, but is not limited to, include, a touch panel, a camera (operation input via video), or a microphone (operation input via voice). However, in this disclosure, the input / output unit 12 is not limited to these.

[0037] The display unit 13 is typically implemented as a monitor (not limited to, but for example, a liquid crystal display or an OLED (organic electroluminescence display)). The display unit 13 may also be a head-mounted display (HDM) or not. These display units 13 may or may not be capable of displaying data in 3D. However, the display unit 13 is not limited to these in this disclosure.

[0038] Server 10 stores program P in storage unit 15, and by executing program P, the control unit 11 performs the processing of each part included in the control unit 11. In other words, program P stored in storage unit 15 enables server 10 to realize each function executed by the control unit 11. This program P may or may not be described as a program module.

[0039] In each embodiment of this disclosure, it is described as being realized by the CPU of terminal 20 and / or server 10 executing program P.

[0040] Furthermore, the control unit 21 of terminal 20 and / or the control unit 11 of server 10 may implement each process not only with a CPU having a control circuit, but also with logic circuits (hardware) or dedicated circuits formed on an integrated circuit (IC (Integrated Circuit) chip, LSI (Large Scale Integration)), etc., or they may not. Also, these circuits may be implemented by one or more integrated circuits, and the multiple processes shown in each embodiment may be implemented by a single integrated circuit, or they may not. In addition, LSIs are sometimes called VLSI, Super LSI, Ultra LSI, etc., depending on the degree of integration. For this reason, the control unit 21 may or may not be described as a control circuit.

[0041] Furthermore, the program P of each embodiment of the present disclosure (not limited to, for example, a software program, a computer program, or a program module) may or may not be provided stored on a computer-readable storage medium. The storage medium is a “non-temporary tangible medium” capable of storing the program P. Also, the program P may or may not be for the purpose of implementing some of the functions of each embodiment of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the program P may or may not be a so-called differential file (differential program) that can implement the functions of each embodiment of the present disclosure in combination with a program P already recorded on the storage medium.

[0042] The storage medium may include one or more semiconductor-based or other integrated circuits (ICs) (for example, but not limited to, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs)), hard disk drives (HDDs), hybrid hard drives (HHDs), optical disks, optical disk drives (ODDs), magneto-optical disks, magneto-optical drives, floppy diskettes, floppy disk drives (FDDs), magnetic tapes, solid-state drives (SSDs), RAM drives, secure digital cards, or drives, any other suitable storage medium, or any two or more suitable combinations thereof. The storage medium may be volatile, non-volatile, or a combination of volatile and non-volatile, where appropriate. The storage medium is not limited to these examples and may be any device or medium capable of storing program P. The storage medium may or may not be referred to as memory.

[0043] The server 10 and / or terminal 20 can realize the functions of the multiple functional units shown in each embodiment by reading the program P stored in the storage medium and executing the read program P.

[0044] Furthermore, the program PDD of this disclosure may or may not be provided to the server 10 and / or terminal 20 via any transmission medium capable of transmitting the program (such as a communication network or broadcast waves). The server 10 and / or terminal 20 realize the functions of the multiple functional units shown in each embodiment by executing the program P downloaded via the Internet or the like, for example, without limit.

[0045] Furthermore, each embodiment of this disclosure can also be realized in the form of a data signal embedded in a carrier wave, in which the program P is embodied by electronic transmission.

[0046] At least part of the processing on server 10 and / or terminal 20 may or may not be implemented by cloud computing consisting of one or more computers.

[0047] The configuration may or may not involve the server 10 performing at least a portion of the processing on terminal 20. In this case, the configuration may or may not involve the server 10 performing at least a portion of the processing of each functional unit of the control unit 21 of terminal 20.

[0048] The configuration may or may not involve the terminal 20 performing at least a portion of the processing on the server 10. In this case, the configuration may or may not involve the terminal 20 performing at least a portion of the processing of each functional unit of the control unit 11 of the server 10.

[0049] Unless otherwise explicitly stated, the configuration of the determination in the embodiments of this disclosure is not mandatory, and a predetermined process may be performed if the determination condition is met, or if the determination condition is not met, or not.

[0050] The programs disclosed herein may be implemented using, but are not limited to, scripting languages ​​such as ActionScript and JavaScript®, object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Objective-C and Java®, and markup languages ​​such as HTML5. <Embodiment 1> <Overview> Users may use code information to make payments when shopping at stores, etc. In this embodiment, the payment using code information can be broadly divided into two types: a payment method in which a dedicated QR code (registered trademark) displayed at a store is read by the smartphone camera when purchasing goods, and a payment method in which code information is displayed on a smartphone app and the store clerk reads the code information with a barcode reader at the store, etc. In this embodiment, the payment method in which code information is displayed on a smartphone is used. Here, code information may be information that uniquely identifies the user's credit card number or account number in order to make payments similar to card payments by associating it with the user's credit card or bank account, etc., or it may be information that contains server-type electronic money and is used to charge money and use it as electronic money. Code information includes one-dimensional codes that have information only in the horizontal direction and two-dimensional codes that have information in the horizontal and vertical directions. In recent years, QR codes have become popular as a type of two-dimensional code, but it is not limited to these. Code information can be any information as long as it can be used to make a payment and the information can be read by a reader such as a code reader. Payment using code information is called code payment, and is further subdivided into barcode payment and QR code payment depending on the type of code information. In recent years, payments are also made by displaying payment code information on the user's terminal, i.e., a smartphone, and in this case, it is sometimes called smartphone payment. In this embodiment, QR code payment will be explained as an example. Figure 2 shows an example of use in stores such as convenience stores, where QR code payment is made by displaying a QR code on the user's terminal and using a reading device such as a barcode reader at the store. Furthermore, the payment referred to here can be in the form of a QR code displayed on the user's terminal being linked to the user's bank account, and the purchase price of the goods etc. being deducted from the user's bank account, or in the form of a QR code displayed on the user's terminal being deducted from electronic money that has been pre-charged. In this embodiment, either form is acceptable.

[0051] Figure 2(a) is an example of a store floor plan, showing an example of a situation where multiple users are waiting in line at the checkout. As shown in Figure 2(a), user U4, who is waiting in line at the checkout, displays a QR code on their terminal 20d in order to make a QR code payment and waits. At this time, the user is wasting time. Therefore, when terminal 20d receives a request from the user to display and input a QR code for QR code payment, it displays an advertisement along with the QR code. This will be explained in detail below.

[0052] Furthermore, advertising may refer to the information itself used to disseminate information about products, services, or themselves offered by companies, organizations, or individuals, or to the medium on which the advertisement is published, or it may not refer to any other form. Advertisements may be provided in any form, such as audio, still images, or videos.

[0053] Terminal 20d belonging to communication system 1 may have a dedicated application installed for QR payment and may perform payment by displaying a QR code via that dedicated application. Alternatively, payment may be performed by displaying a QR code without using the dedicated application. Furthermore, terminal 20d may or may not have a messaging application installed for using the messaging service provided by server 10 related to communication system 1. The messaging service may be the service provided by server 10 as described above, and terminals 20 can exchange messages with each other in a talk room via the messaging application. A talk room is, without limitation, a user interface that allows users of the messaging service provided by server 10 to display content sent and received by users of the messaging service on their terminals. A talk room may also be called a chat room. Furthermore, the content exchanged in the talk room includes, but is not limited to, text information entered by the user using their terminal 20 (text data of information related to income and expenses), image information including photos and stamps (for example, a photo of a receipt), various file information such as audio files, video files, and data files, and advertising information. Furthermore, a messaging application is an application used for exchanging messages within a messaging service.

[0054] (1) Functional configuration of terminal 20 As shown in Figure 1, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20 includes a message processing unit 211, a display processing unit 212, and a QR code processing unit 213.

[0055] The message processing unit 211 accepts input from the user and / or content input including messages received by the communication interface 12, in accordance with the messaging application provided by the messaging service provided by the server 10, and instructs the display processing unit 212 to display it. When input from the user is received, the message processing unit 211 instructs the communication interface 22 to send the received input to the server 10. Furthermore, the objects of processing by the message processing unit 211 here are not limited to text messages entered by the user in the talk room, but may also include image information such as photos and stamps, audio files, video files, data files, etc.

[0056] The display processing unit 212 accepts input from the user and / or content including messages received by the communication interface 12, in accordance with the messaging application provided by the messaging service provided by the server 10, and instructs the display unit 24 to display it. When input from the user is received, the display processing unit 212 instructs the communication interface 22 to send the received input to the server 10. For example, the display processing unit 212 displays advertising information along with a QR code for QR code payment on the display unit 24, in accordance with instructions from the QR code processing unit 213.

[0057] The QR code processing unit 213, via the input / output unit 23, receives a QR code display instruction from the user and instructs the display processing unit 212 to display a QR code for QR code payment. Upon receiving the instruction to display a QR code, the QR code processing unit 213 acquires advertising information to be displayed along with the QR code. The QR code processing unit 213 may acquire advertising information from the server 10 via the communication interface 22, or it may acquire advertising information that has been previously stored in the storage unit 28. Alternatively, the QR code processing unit 213 may acquire advertising information from other devices connected to the network 300. The QR code processing unit 213 instructs the display processing unit 212 to display the acquired advertising information and the QR code for QR code payment together.

[0058] (2) Functional configuration of Server 10 As shown in Figure 1, the control unit 11 of the server 10 includes a message processing unit 111 and an advertising processing unit 112.

[0059] The message processing unit 111 has the function of managing talk rooms for communication between users. The message processing unit 111 relays the exchange of content, including content, between terminals that receive the messaging service provided by the server 10. That is, when content is sent from a user to a talk room, it identifies that talk room and sends the content to other users belonging to that talk room.

[0060] When the advertising processing unit 112 receives an advertising request signal from the terminal 20 via the communication interface 14, it identifies the advertisement to send to the terminal 20. The advertisements acquired by the advertising processing unit 112 may be stored in the storage unit 15, or they may be acquired via the communication interface 14 from other devices connected to the network 300. In addition, the advertisements displayed by the terminal 20 in the store may be set by the store, and the settings may be changed as appropriate.

[0061] The above describes the functional configuration of Server 10.

[0062] <Operation> Figure 3 is a sequence diagram showing the interaction between terminal 20 and server 10 in communication system 1. The sequence diagram in Figure 3 shows how terminal 20 obtains advertising information from server 10.

[0063] As shown in Figure 3, terminal 20 receives a display instruction from the user of terminal 20 to display a QR code for QR code payment (step S301). Upon receiving the display instruction to display a QR code, terminal 20 requests the server 10 to provide the QR code and the advertising information to be displayed (step S302).

[0064] When server 10 receives a request for advertising information from terminal 20, server 10 identifies the advertising information to send to terminal 20 (step S303). Then, server 10 sends the identified advertising information to terminal 20 (step S304).

[0065] When terminal 20 receives advertising information from server 10, it displays the received advertising information along with the QR code for QR code payment (step S305), and then terminates the process. In this way, terminal 20 according to this embodiment displays an advertisement at the same time as displaying the QR code for electronic payment.

[0066] Figure 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of terminal 20 to realize the interaction shown in Figure 3.

[0067] As shown in Figure 4, the input / output unit 23 of terminal 20 receives an instruction from the user of terminal 20 to display and input a QR code for QR code payment (step S401). The input / output unit 23 transmits the input content to the control unit 21.

[0068] When the QR code processing unit 213 of the control unit 21 receives an instruction to display a QR code, it acquires advertising information to be displayed along with the QR code. Specifically, the QR code processing unit 213 sends an advertising request signal to the server 10 via the communication interface 22, requesting advertising information (step S402).

[0069] The communication interface 22 determines whether or not it has received advertising information from the server 10 (step S403). The communication interface 22 waits until it receives advertising information (NO in step S403). If the communication interface 22 has received advertising information from the server 10 (YES in step S403), it transmits the received advertising information to the control unit 21.

[0070] The QR code processing unit 213 of the control unit 21 instructs the display processing unit 212 to display the received advertising information together with the QR code for QR code payment. The display processing unit 212, in accordance with this instruction, displays an image on the display unit 24 showing the QR code and the advertising information (step 404), and then terminates the process.

[0071] Next, we will explain an example of the operation of server 10 using Figure 5. Figure 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of server 10 to realize the interaction shown in Figure 3.

[0072] As shown in Figure 5, the communication interface 14 of the server 10 receives an advertising request signal from the terminal 20 requesting advertising information (step S501). The communication interface 14 transmits the received request to the control unit 11.

[0073] The advertising processing unit 112 of the control unit 11 identifies the advertising information to be transmitted to the terminal 20 (step S502). There are various methods by which the advertising processing unit 112 identifies the advertisement.

[0074] As an example, the advertising processing unit 112 may identify advertising information that matches information about the user of terminal 20 that requested advertising information, or, as an example, preference information indicating the user's preferences, or it may not. The advertising processing unit 112 may also identify advertising information related to products that the user of terminal 20 is trying to purchase or has purchased in the past, or it may not. Alternatively, the advertising processing unit 112 may identify advertising information related to the location of terminal 20, or it may not. The advertising processing unit 112 may also identify advertising information randomly. The advertising processing unit 112 may also identify advertising information set by the store where the user is (where terminal 20 is located). Specifically, the communication I / F 14 of the server 10 receives advertising information indicating the content of the advertisements that the store wants to deliver from the store's terminal (not shown), along with identification information indicating which store it is. The store's terminal is an information processing device such as a PC or tablet terminal used by store employees, etc. The communication interface 14 transmits the received advertising information and store identification information to the advertising processing unit 112. The advertising processing unit 112 then stores the received advertising information and store identification information in the storage unit 15, associating them. As a result, when the advertising processing unit 112 receives an advertising request signal from the user's terminal 20, it can identify the advertising information set by that store and transmit it to the user's terminal 20.

[0075] The advertising processing unit 112 transmits the identified advertising information to the terminal 20 via the communication interface 14 (step S503). As a result, the advertising information transmitted from the server 10 is displayed on the terminal 20 along with a QR code.

[0076] In Figures 3 and 4, the QR code processing unit 213 of the terminal 20 is configured to request advertising information from the server 10. However, as mentioned above, the QR code processing unit 213 may use advertising information that has been stored in the storage unit 28 in advance, or it may request the information from a device other than the server 10 that holds advertising information.

[0077] <Effects of Embodiment 1> According to the terminal 20 of Embodiment 1, when performing QR code payment, advertising information can be displayed in the display area of ​​the display unit 24 of the terminal 20 along with the QR code for QR code payment. Therefore, by effectively utilizing the time spent waiting in line for QR code payment, the terminal can increase the probability of users seeing advertisements. Since the time spent waiting in line is often idle for users, displaying advertisements during this time increases the likelihood that users will see them, resulting in a high advertising effect.

[0078] The advertising information displayed on terminal 20 may be advertisements set by the store. Stores (or their staff) can set the advertising information that will be sent to terminals within the store, allowing them to run advertisements that are beneficial to the store (not limited to specific advertisements, but for example, those that are expected to increase sales), thus potentially improving sales performance.

[0079] <Embodiment 2> In this second embodiment, a method for selecting advertisements that are expected to have a greater promotional effect than in the first embodiment will be described. In this second embodiment, as shown in Figure 2(a), product shelves 70a, 70b, 70c, and 70d are provided in the store, and various products 80 are placed on each product shelf 70. One or more cash registers 51 (51a, 51b) are provided on the checkout counter 52. At each cash register, store clerks 50a and 50b accept the purchase of products from users. Each user 60a to 60e waits in front of the cash register until they purchase their own products. At this time, for example, user 60d displays a QR code for code payment using their terminal 20d. Meanwhile, beacon transmitters 40 are provided in various places in the store, and each beacon transmitter 40 is assigned a beacon ID as a unique identifier. Terminal 20d receives beacon signals from beacon transmitters 40 and displays advertising information corresponding to the received beacon signal along with a QR code for code payment. This QR code is read by a barcode reader or other reading device at the register, and payment is processed.

[0080] Figure 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the system configuration of the communication system 1 according to Embodiment 2. As shown in Figure 6, the communication system 1 further includes a beacon transmitter 40. The terminal 20 and the server 10 will be described focusing on the differences from Embodiment 1.

[0081] <HW configuration of beacon transmitter 40> As shown in Figure 6, the beacon transmitter 40 includes a beacon transmitting unit 412. The beacon transmitter 40 may or may not include a communication interface 411.

[0082] The communication interface 411 transmits and receives various types of data via the network 30. This communication may be performed via wired or wireless connection, and any communication protocol may be used as long as communication between the two parties is possible. The communication interface 411 has the function of communicating with the server 10 via the network 30. The communication interface 411 transmits various types of data to the server 10 according to instructions from the control unit 21. The communication interface 411 may also be simply referred to as the communication unit. Furthermore, if the communication interface 411 is composed of a physically structured circuit, it may also be referred to as the communication circuit.

[0083] The beacon transmitter 412 periodically (for example, every second) transmits a beacon signal on the communication system 1 that includes a beacon ID that uniquely identifies the unit. The beacon signal is a signal to notify other surrounding devices (sometimes called peripherals) of the presence of the beacon transmitter 412. For example, it may use a beacon signal defined by the BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy®) communication standard, but it is not limited to this. The beacon signal is a signal that can be transmitted without establishing a communication connection with other devices. However, the beacon signal may be configured to be transmitted after establishing a communication connection with other devices. The range of the beacon signal can be determined by the signal transmission strength, and the stronger the signal strength, the further the beacon signal can travel. In this embodiment, the beacon transmitter 412 transmits a beacon signal with a signal strength sufficient to reach a predetermined distance (a distance at which it can be determined that the user holding the terminal 20 is within a predetermined range, and for example, within 2 or 3 meters from the beacon transmitter).

[0084] <Functional configuration of terminal 20> Furthermore, in addition to the functions shown in Embodiment 1, the QR code processing unit 213 of the terminal 20 in Embodiment 2 extracts the beacon ID contained in the beacon signal when the communication I / F 22 receives a beacon signal transmitted by the beacon transmitter 40, includes the extracted beacon ID in an advertising request signal requesting advertising information, and transmits it to the server 10 via the communication I / F 22.

[0085] Furthermore, if terminal 20 receives multiple beacon signals within a predetermined time (a time period during which it is assumed to be in approximately the same location, not limited to a specific period, but for example 10 seconds), it may or may not include the beacon ID of the beacon signal with the highest signal strength at the time of reception in the advertisement request signal.

[0086] In addition, the advertising processing unit 112 of the server 10 extracts the beacon ID included in the advertising request signal received by the communication I / F 14 and identifies the corresponding advertising information from the advertising management information 700 stored in the storage unit 15, in addition to the functions shown in Embodiment 1 above.

[0087] <Data> Figure 7 is a conceptual data diagram showing an example of the data structure of the advertising management information 700. The advertising management information 700 is stored in the storage unit 15 of the server 10. The advertising management information 700 may also be stored in an external storage device accessible by the server 10.

[0088] As shown in Figure 7, the advertising management information 700 is information that associates the beacon ID 701, product ID 702, advertising ID 703, and attribute information 704.

[0089] Beacon ID 701 is identification information used to uniquely identify each beacon transmitter.

[0090] Product ID 702 is information that identifies a product located near the beacon transmitter indicated by the corresponding beacon ID 701. Product ID 702 may also be the name of the product.

[0091] Ad ID 703 is an identifier that uniquely identifies advertising information related to the vicinity of the beacon transmitter indicated by the corresponding beacon ID 701. Ad ID 703 may be associated with the actual data of the advertising information itself. Here, advertising information related to the vicinity of the beacon transmitter refers to advertising information related to the location where the beacon transmitter is placed, and is not limited to, but may be, for example, advertising information for products placed near the beacon transmitter, or it may not be. Furthermore, the advertising information may be, not limited to, information related to the location where the beacon transmitter is placed, but may be, for example, a description of that location, or information introducing nearby facilities, or it may not be.

[0092] Attribute information 704 is information that indicates the attributes of the advertising information indicated by the corresponding advertising ID 703. Attribute information 704 is not limited to but is merely an example of a concise description of the content of the advertising information. If the advertisement indicated by the corresponding advertising ID 703 is an advertisement introducing a product, then attribute information may include various types of attribute information such as the product type, the target customer base, and the preferences of the target customer base, or it may not.

[0093] In the example in Figure 7, for instance, the beacon ID "B01015" is associated with product IDs "P01015", "P01016", "P01017", "P01018", and "P01019". Additionally, product ID "P01015" is associated with advertisement ID "C0010215", and the content of that advertisement has attributes such as "cosmetics, for women, 10-30s, ...".

[0094] Furthermore, since it is sufficient to identify the ad ID 703 from the beacon ID 701, the product ID 702 and attribute information 704 do not need to be included in the ad management information 700. However, the presence of the product ID 702 makes it possible to uniquely understand which products are located near the corresponding beacon transmitter. In addition, the presence of attribute information 704 allows for filtering of ads to be suitable for the user of terminal 20 when multiple ad IDs 703 are identified from the beacon ID.

[0095] The advertising management information 700 is configured by receiving in advance settings from each store indicating which products are placed near which beacon transmitters (which advertising information to transmit). The advertising management information 700 may also be configured so that each store's information processing device can appropriately set the advertising information distributed within its own store. That is, the store's information processing device may be configured to set the advertising information to be displayed during QR code payment.

[0096] <Operation> Figure 8 is a sequence diagram showing the communication between each device in the communication system 1.

[0097] As shown in Figure 8, the beacon transmitter 40 transmits a beacon signal (step S801).

[0098] Terminal 20 receives the transmitted beacon signal when it is within a predetermined distance from the beacon transmitter 40. Terminal 20 extracts the beacon ID contained in the beacon signal from the received beacon signal (step S802). Then, Terminal 20 includes the extracted beacon ID in an advertising request signal requesting advertising information and sends it to the server 10 (step S803).

[0099] When server 10 receives an advertisement request signal from terminal 20, it identifies the advertisement information corresponding to the beacon ID contained in the advertisement request signal (step S804). Then, server 10 transmits the identified advertisement information to terminal 20 (step S805).

[0100] Terminal 20 receives advertising information sent from server 10, displays the received advertisement along with a QR code (step S807), and then terminates the process.

[0101] Next, the operation of terminal 20 to realize the interaction shown in Figure 8 will be described. Figure 9 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of terminal 20. The processes from step S901 onwards shown in Figure 9 are executed after the process of step S401 in Embodiment 1. Note that the processes of steps S901 to S903 may be executed before the process of step S401.

[0102] As shown in Figure 9, the communication interface 22 of terminal 20 receives a beacon signal from the beacon transmitter 40 (step S901). Terminal interface 22 transmits the received beacon signal to the control unit 21.

[0103] The QR code processing unit 213 of the control unit 21 extracts the beacon ID from the received beacon signal (step S902). The QR code processing unit 213 generates an advertisement request signal that includes the extracted beacon ID and requests an advertisement, and transmits it to the server 10 via the communication interface 22 (step S903).

[0104] The communication interface 22 determines whether or not it has received advertising information from the server 10 (step S904). If the communication interface 22 has received advertising information (YES in step S904), it transmits the received advertising information to the control unit 21. If it has not received advertising information (NO in step S904), it terminates the process.

[0105] When the QR code processing unit 213 of the control unit 21 receives advertising information, it instructs the display processing unit 212 to display the received advertising information along with the QR code for QR code payment. The display processing unit 212 then displays the advertising information along with the QR code on the display unit 24 (step S905) in accordance with this instruction, and terminates the process.

[0106] Figure 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of server 10 to realize the interaction shown in Figure 8.

[0107] As shown in Figure 10, the communication interface 14 receives an advertisement request signal from the terminal 20, which includes the beacon ID and the terminal ID (step S1001). Upon receiving the advertisement request signal, the communication interface 14 transmits it to the control unit 11.

[0108] The advertising processing unit 112 of the control unit 11 extracts the beacon ID included in the received advertising request signal and identifies the advertising ID 703 corresponding to the extracted beacon ID by referring to the beacon ID 701 in the advertising management information 700 (step S1002). At this time, if multiple advertising IDs 703 corresponding to the extracted beacon ID can be identified, the advertising processing unit 112 may identify all of the advertising IDs 703, or it may identify only some of the multiple advertisements that can be identified. When identifying only some, as an example and not limited to this, it may identify advertisements that introduce products or services that match the preferences of the user of terminal 20 from among the identified advertisements, or it may not. Also, it may identify advertisements for products located in the direction of travel of the user of terminal 20 from among the identified advertisements, or it may not. The direction of travel of the user can be determined from the acceleration sensor provided in terminal 20, as an example and not limited to this.

[0109] The advertising processing unit 112 transmits the advertising information it has identified to the terminal 20 via the communication interface 14 (step S1003). As a result, the terminal 20 displays advertisements for products, etc., that are located near the terminal 20.

[0110] <Modified Example of Embodiment 2> In the above embodiment 2, the user's location was identified from the beacon ID of the beacon signal from the beacon transmitter 40. This is merely one method for identifying the location of the user's terminal 20 and identifying appropriate advertising information.

[0111] As an alternative to this beacon signal, location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit 25 of the terminal 20 may be used. In this case, the server 10 may store a range of location information including latitude and longitude instead of the beacon ID in the advertisement management information 700, and be configured to identify the advertisement depending on which range of location information the location information transmitted from the terminal 20 falls into.

[0112] Figure 11 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of interaction between a terminal 20 and a server 10 to explain a method for identifying advertisements based on the terminal's location information.

[0113] As shown in Figure 11, terminal 20 acquires its own location information (step S1101). Then, the QR code processing unit 213 transmits an advertisement request signal that includes the location information acquired by terminal 20 (step S1102).

[0114] Server 10 receives an advertisement request signal that includes the terminal's location information. From the terminal's location information included in the received advertisement request signal, Server 10 identifies the store where the terminal is located and its location within the store. Alternatively, Server 10 may stop at identifying the store. Then, Server 10 identifies advertisement information corresponding to the location within the identified store (step S1103). Server 10 transmits the identified advertisement information to Terminal 20 (step S1104).

[0115] Terminal 20 displays the received advertising information (step S1105) and then terminates the process.

[0116] Figure 12 is a flowchart showing the operation of the server 10 to realize the interaction shown in Figure 11. Note that the terminal 20 is only used by the location information acquisition unit 25 to acquire location information and transmit it as an advertisement request signal, and to display the received advertisement information, so an explanation using a flowchart is omitted.

[0117] As shown in Figure 12, the communication interface 14 of the server 10 receives an advertisement request signal from the terminal 20 that includes location information acquired by the terminal 20 via GPS or the like (step S1201). The communication interface 14 transmits the received advertisement request signal to the control unit 11.

[0118] The advertising processing unit 112 of the control unit 11 identifies the location of the terminal 20 (and its user) from the location information contained in the received advertising request signal. This is done by storing location information or a range of location information in place of the beacon ID 701 in the advertising management information 700 shown in Figure 7, thereby identifying the range in which the terminal 20 is located. The advertising processing unit 112 then identifies the advertising ID 703 associated with the identified location.

[0119] When the advertising processing unit 112 identifies an advertisement, it transmits the identified advertisement to the terminal 20 via the communication interface 14 (step S1203) and terminates the process. In this way, the terminal 20 can display an advertisement appropriate to its location, even based on the terminal 20's location information.

[0120] Alternatively, the user's location may be determined using cameras installed in stores or other establishments, or it may not be necessary to do so.

[0121] This will be explained in detail using the sequence diagram shown in Figure 13 and the flowchart of Server 10 shown in Figure 14. Figure 13 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a process that sends an advertisement that identifies the user's location from a camera installed in a store.

[0122] As shown in Figure 13, each camera installed in the store captures images of the store's interior and transmits the captured images (which may be still images or videos taken at regular intervals (not limited to, but for example, every 10 seconds)) to the server 10 as appropriate (step S1301).

[0123] When terminal 20 displays a QR code for QR code payment, it sends an advertising request signal to server 10 that includes the location information of terminal 20 (step S1302).

[0124] When server 10 receives an advertisement request signal from terminal 20, it identifies which store the user is in based on the location information of terminal 20. Then it identifies the cameras installed in the identified store and determines the user's location within the store based on the images captured by those cameras (step S1303). Server 10 identifies advertisement information based on the identified user's location (step S1304). Then server 10 transmits the identified advertisement information to terminal 20 (step S1305).

[0125] Terminal 20 displays the advertising information received from server 10 (step S1306).

[0126] Figure 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of server 10 to realize the interaction shown in Figure 13. Note that the camera simply takes images and transmits them as needed, so a detailed explanation is omitted. Similarly, terminal 20 simply transmits an advertising request signal containing location information and receives the received advertising information, so a flowchart explanation is omitted.

[0127] As shown in Figure 14, the communication interface 14 of the server 10 receives an advertisement request signal from the terminal 20, which includes the location information of the terminal 20 (step S1401). The terminal 20 transmits the received advertisement request signal to the control unit 11. The advertisement processing unit 112 of the control unit 11 identifies the store where the user of terminal 20 is located from the location information included in the received advertisement request signal (step S1402).

[0128] The advertising processing unit 112 identifies the store where the user is located and then identifies the image captured by the camera installed in the identified store. Based on the identified image, it then determines the user's location within the store (step S1403). Specifically, the storage unit 15 of the server 10 stores information that associates the captured image with the location within the store and the advertising information that the user should check at that location, as well as the user's face image obtained with the user's permission. Based on the stored user face image and the image captured by the store's camera, the advertising processing unit 112 uses existing face recognition technology to determine the user's location within the image. Then, the advertising processing unit 112 determines the location within the store from the location in the image that was determined.

[0129] The advertising processing unit 112 identifies advertising information associated with the identified location within the store (step S1404). Then, the advertising processing unit 112 transmits the identified advertising information to the user's terminal 20 via the communication interface 14 (step S1405).

[0130] Thus, the communication system 1 can also identify advertising information for products, etc., located near the position acquired from images captured by the store's cameras.

[0131] <Supplement to Embodiment 2> In Embodiment 2 and its modified form, when terminal 20 receives a purchase request from a user for a product or service related to advertising information, terminal 20 may display reward information associated with the purchase of the product related to the advertising information. The reward information may or may not be transmitted in advance from server 10 along with the advertising information. Alternatively, the reward information may be transmitted from terminal 20 to server 10 after terminal 20 receives the purchase information based on the user's acceptance of the purchase request for a product related to the advertising information, or it may not be transmitted from server 10 after server 10 receives the purchase information. The reward information referred to here may or may not be any information that is advantageous to the user, and is not limited to, but may be, for example, a right to a discount when purchasing a product. Alternatively, the reward information may or may not be points that can be used in services provided by server 10. "Usable" here may mean that it can be used to purchase products or services. The reward information may or may not be points or coupon information that can be used in other services.

[0132] The example shown illustrates how Server 10 identifies advertising information about products and services located near the user's location (the terminal 20) and sends it to Terminal 20. However, the products and services corresponding to the advertising information being displayed may be unavailable for purchase at that store due to being sold out or for other reasons. Whether the corresponding products and services are sold out can be determined by pre-memorizing the number of products available at opening time and reducing that number each time a product is sold, thereby managing inventory. Furthermore, if there are no products or services corresponding to the advertising information identified based on the user's (terminal 20's) location, Server 10 may or may not be configured to identify and send different advertising information to Terminal 20. Alternatively, if there are no products or services corresponding to the identified advertising information, instead of sending different advertising information, Server 10 may send the identified advertising information along with information about other stores where the products or services indicated in that advertising information are available.

[0133] <Effects of Embodiment 2> In Embodiment 2, the terminal 20 transmits information about its location, such as a store, to the server 10. The server 10 then provides the terminal 20 with advertising information identified from the terminal 20's location, and the terminal 20 displays the provided advertising information along with a QR code. As an example, the server 10 may provide the terminal 20 with advertising information related to products near the terminal 20's location, and the terminal 20 displays that advertising information. This allows the system to display advertisements for products located near the user while the user of terminal 20 is waiting in line at the checkout, thereby increasing the user's interest in nearby products and improving the chances of them being purchased.

[0134] Furthermore, terminal 20 transmits information about its location to server 10, and server 10 identifies advertising information based on the received location information. This allows terminal 20 to display advertising information appropriate to its location. Therefore, as an example, if a product related to the advertising information displayed at that location is located nearby, the likelihood of that product being purchased can be increased.

[0135] Furthermore, terminal 20 receives beacon signals transmitted from beacon transmitters 40 placed in stores, etc., and transmits the beacon signal or the beacon ID contained in the beacon signal from terminal 20 to server 10. Server 10 then identifies the corresponding advertising information that identifies which beacon transmitter terminal 20 is near, and transmits the identified advertising information to terminal 20. Obtaining location information using GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) may sometimes result in the inability to obtain location information or inaccuracies in the calculated location compared to the actual location. On the other hand, with beacon signals, the distance from the beacon transmitter can be determined, allowing for confirmation that terminal 20 is in the vicinity of the beacon transmitter. Therefore, terminal 20 can efficiently and more reliably acquire and display advertising information about products in its vicinity than when using GNSS.

[0136] Furthermore, the server 10 identifies advertising information for products located near the location indicated by the location information of terminal 20 received from terminal 20, and sends it to terminal 20. Terminal 20 then displays the received advertising information. By storing the locations where products are located and the advertising information for those products associated with those locations in the server 10, it is possible to identify advertising information for products located near the user's terminal 20 and display it on the user's terminal 20. This allows users to view advertisements displayed on device 20, and the presence of the advertised product near them can pique their interest in the product and increase the likelihood of them purchasing it.

[0137] Alternatively, the server 10 may determine the location of the terminal 20 (user) using a camera installed within the store where the terminal 20 is located, and the terminal 20 may display advertising information determined from the location of the terminal user. As a result, even if there is no beacon transmitter or accurate location information cannot be obtained, the server 10 can determine the user's location within the store and send advertising information to the terminal 20, and the terminal 20 can display the appropriate advertising information.

[0138] Furthermore, terminal 20 may display special offer information when a user purchases a product related to the advertising information. This can increase the likelihood that users will become interested in the advertisements, as well as the likelihood that they will purchase products related to those advertisements.

[0139] Furthermore, if the product or service corresponding to the advertising information identified based on the location information of the terminal 20 is not available at the store where the terminal 20 is located, for reasons such as being sold out, the server 10 identifies advertising information different from the identified advertising information and sends it to the terminal 20. This allows terminal 20 to display advertisements for products and services that are not available in the store where the user is located, preventing the user from being disappointed when they want to purchase something but find that product is unavailable.

[0140] <Embodiment 3> Embodiment 3 describes the process that occurs when a user touches the display unit 24 to input advertising information, as described in Embodiments 1 and 2.

[0141] Figure 15 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of terminal 20, and is a flowchart of the operations following the processes shown in Figures 4 and 9. Figure 15 shows the operations starting from the last processing block of the flowcharts shown in Figures 4 and 9.

[0142] As shown in Figure 15, the QR code processing unit 213 of the control unit 21 determines whether or not the QR code payment has been completed (step S1501). If the QR code payment has not been completed (NO in step S1501), the QR code processing unit 213 determines whether or not the user has entered information regarding the displayed advertisement into the input / output unit 23 of the terminal 20 (step S1502).

[0143] If there is input regarding advertising information (YES in step S1502), the QR code processing unit 213 determines whether the input is for purchasing a product related to the advertising information (step S1503).

[0144] If the input is for purchasing a product related to advertising information (YES in step S1503), the QR code processing unit 213 will process the purchase. do The display processing unit 212 is instructed to display the QR code corresponding to the product. In accordance with this instruction, the display processing unit 212 displays the QR code for QR code payment along with the purchase information. do The QR code corresponding to the product is displayed (step S1504). On the other hand, if the input does not instruct the purchase of a product (NO in step S1503), the display processing unit 212 displays other advertisements related to the displayed advertisement information (step S1505). The advertisement information displayed at this time may be obtained in advance when the displayed advertisement information is obtained from the server 10, or it may be obtained when the user inputs the advertisement information. Note that if the input does not instruct the purchase of a product, it is not necessary to display other advertisement information.

[0145] In this case, the actual product may or may not be brought in by a store employee from the sales area. Alternatively, if the store has an automated transport system for transporting products to the cash register or product pick-up area, the system may be configured to identify the product ID corresponding to the QR code displayed on terminal 20 when it is read at the cash register, etc., and to transport the product corresponding to the identified product ID to the cash register or product pick-up area. As an example, not an exhaustive one, a warehouse for displaying products and a transport device such as a belt conveyor connecting the warehouse and the product pick-up area are provided. A robot is then placed in the warehouse to place the products inside onto the belt conveyor. The product ID read at the cash register is transmitted to the robot, and the robot places the product corresponding to the received product ID onto the belt conveyor. In this way, the product purchased by the user is automatically sent to the pick-up area.

[0146] Figure 16 shows an example of a display screen shown in the display area of ​​the display unit 24. Figure 16(a) shows the screen before touching the advertisement information, and Figure 16(b) shows the screen after touching the advertisement information. Figure 16(c) shows the screen after deciding to purchase the product.

[0147] As shown in Figure 16(a), the display area of ​​the display unit 24 of the terminal 20 displays a QR code 1600 for QR code payment. Along with the QR code 1600, advertising information 1601 is also displayed. The advertising information 1601 may or may not be configured to accept touch input from the user. Here, it is assumed that the advertising information 1601 is configured to accept input from the user. As shown in Figure 16(a), the terminal 20 receives input from the user regarding the advertising information 1601.

[0148] Then, as shown in Figure 16(b), terminal 20 displays a UI (user interface) 1620 that asks whether the user wants to purchase the product related to the advertisement information touched. UI 1620 includes a button 1621 for accepting the user's affirmation and a button 1622 for accepting the user's denial. Figure 16(b) shows the user agreeing to purchase the product and touching button 1621.

[0149] Figure 16(c) shows an example of the display screen shown on terminal 20, following Figure 16(b). As shown in Figure 16(c), when terminal 20 receives a purchase instruction from the user regarding the displayed advertising information for a product, terminal 20 displays the product barcode 1631 so that the user can purchase the product at the register.

[0150] At the register, by scanning the user's QR code 1600 along with the barcodes of the items the user is holding and the displayed barcode 1631, the user can purchase not only the items they originally intended to buy, but also items related to the advertising information. The physical items corresponding to barcode 1631 may be found by store staff within the store and handed to the user. Note that Figure 16(c) shows the purchase along with QR code 1600 for QR code payment. do The example shows the display of product barcode 1631, but as shown in Figure 16(d), the QR code 1600 is hidden in place of product barcode 1631 in Figure 16(c), and the purchase do Alternatively, a new QR code 1641 containing information about the purchase of the product may be generated and displayed.

[0151] In Figure 16, the purchase is shown via Figure 16(b), but with the user's permission, the display may transition from the display mode in Figure 16(a) to the display mode shown in Figure 16(c) without going through Figure 16(b). That is, the terminal 20 may accept the touch input for the advertising information 1601 shown in Figure 16(a) as the user's intention to purchase when the user touches the advertising information 1601, and then display the screen shown in Figure 16(c). In addition, the terminal 20 is shown to display the barcode 1631 corresponding to the product, but this is not a mandatory configuration. The terminal 20 may be configured to allow the user to purchase the product related to the advertising information by sending information to the server 10 indicating that the user intends to purchase additional products, and the server 10 sending information to the cash register or other point of contact at the store where the user is located, indicating that there are additional products.

[0152] <Modified Example of Embodiment 3> Embodiment 3 described above explained the case where a user purchases a product related to an advertisement they touched. This modified example describes the process when the advertisement information displayed on terminal 20 relates to some application, in particular an application that requires payment for use (incurs charges). Charges here include purchasing the application itself to use the application, and charging for in-app currency usable within the application. These charges may be performed regardless of whether the application is running or not.

[0153] Figure 17 is a sequence diagram showing the communication between each device in communication system 1 when performing in-app billing.

[0154] As shown in Figure 17, after displaying the advertisement information, terminal 20 receives input from the user regarding the advertisement. Then, it determines whether the received input indicates the purchase of a product (step S1701).

[0155] If the input for the advertisement is a billing instruction for the application, terminal 20 sends a message to server 10 to that effect (step S1702).

[0156] Server 10 receives instructions from terminal 20 and performs billing for the application (step S1703). Here, billing by server 10 means that if the application was distributed by server 10, it requests money from the user of terminal 20 for its usage, and if the application was distributed by another party, it collects the fee from the user and makes the payment to the other party.

[0157] Figure 18 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of terminal 20 to realize the interaction shown in Figure 17. Terminal 20 displays advertising information along with a QR code. As shown in Figure 18, the input / output unit 23 of terminal 20 determines whether there is input for the displayed advertising information (step S1801). If there is no input for the advertising information (NO in step S1801), the process proceeds to step S1809.

[0158] If there is input for advertising information (YES in step S1801), the control unit 21 determines whether the displayed advertisement is related to an application (step S1802). If it is determined that the displayed advertisement is related to an application (YES in step S1802), the control unit 21 determines whether that application is already installed on the terminal 20 (step S1803). If the displayed advertisement is not related to an application (NO in step S1802), it obtains and displays further advertising information related to the advertisement (step S1806) and proceeds to the process in step S1809. The advertising information obtained here may be a still image, a video, or text information.

[0159] If the application related to the displayed advertisement information is already installed (YES in step S1803), it is determined whether the input for the advertisement information is an instruction to charge the application (step S1804).

[0160] If the input for advertising information is an input for application billing (YES in step S1804), a billing request including an application ID indicating which application it is for and a user ID indicating the user of terminal 20 is sent to the server 10 (step S1805). As a result, billing is performed for the user of terminal 20.

[0161] On the other hand, if the application related to the advertising information is not already installed (NO in step S1803), the control unit 21 obtains a guidance screen that guides the user through the installation of the application, and the display processing unit 212 displays the obtained guidance screen in the display area of ​​the display unit 24. The acquisition of the guidance screen is not limited to this, but may be achieved by obtaining the URL of the web content that guides the user through the installation of the application associated with the advertising information, or it may not be achieved in this way. Alternatively, it may be achieved by obtaining the guidance information that is sent to the server 10 along with the advertising information when the advertising information is acquired from the server 10, or it may not be achieved in this way.

[0162] The input / output unit 23 determines whether or not there is an input from the user for installation (step S1807). If there is input from the user, the input / output unit 23 transmits the content of the input to the control unit 21. The control unit 21 then determines whether the input instructs the execution of application installation. If the input instructs application installation (YES in step S1807), the control unit 21 obtains the application installation package and executes the installation (step S1808). If the input does not instruct application installation (NO in step S1807), the process proceeds to step S1809.

[0163] Terminal 20 determines whether the payment has been completed (step S1809). If the payment has not been completed (NO in step S1809), the process returns to step S1801. If the payment has been completed (YES in step S1809), the process ends.

[0164] Note that in the process shown in Figure 18, the processing for cases where the advertisement is not application-related (processing from step S1802 to S1806) is not mandatory and does not need to be executed. Similarly, the processing for cases where the advertisement is application-related but that application is not installed on terminal 20 (processing from step S1803 to steps S1807 and S1808) is also not mandatory and does not need to be executed.

[0165] Thus, the system may be configured such that the advertising information relates to an application such as a game, and charges are incurred when user input regarding the advertising information is received. Furthermore, although this modified example shows an example of charging for an application, the input regarding the advertising information may also be for a purchase on an e-commerce site, and in that case, the purchase of the product may be implemented by accepting the purchase in a manner in which the product is delivered to a designated shipping address (for example, the user's home on terminal 20). The charge for the application may be paid to the server (operator) distributing the application via server 10, or it may be paid directly by the user of terminal 20 to the server (operator) distributing the application.

[0166] Figure 19 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of server 10 to realize the interaction shown in Figure 17.

[0167] As shown in Figure 19, the communication interface 14 of the server 10 receives an application billing request from the terminal 20 (step S1901). Upon receiving the application billing request, the communication interface 14 transmits it to the control unit 11.

[0168] When the control unit 11 receives a billing request for an application, it identifies which application the billing request is for (step S1902). The control unit 11 identifies the application from the application ID included in the billing request.

[0169] The control unit 11 determines whether the identified application was distributed by another party, since it was distributed by itself (step S1903). If the identified application was distributed by itself (YES in step S1903), it performs a charge to the user of terminal 20 from its own device (step S1904).

[0170] If the identified application is not distributed by the control unit 11 (NO in step S1903), the control unit 11 collects the application fee from the user, sends the collected fee to the person who distributed the application (step S1905), and then terminates the process.

[0171] Figure 20 shows an example of the display screen when the advertising information is an advertisement for an application, and that application is already installed.

[0172] Figure 20(a) shows an example of displaying advertising information 2001 related to a game application, along with a QR code 1600. When the advertising information 2001 receives input from the user, it may, as an example, display a UI 2020 as shown in Figure 20(b), not as an exclusive example. Here, an example is shown where the game application corresponding to the advertising information is already installed on the terminal 20, and as can be seen from Figure 20(b), an example is shown where a UI 2020 asking about payment is displayed. The UI 2020 includes buttons 2021 and 2022 for responding to the question. Here, it is assumed that the user touched button 2021 to agree to perform the payment.

[0173] Then, as shown in Figure 20(c), terminal 20 launches the game application and displays information indicating that a charge has been made. Although Figure 20(c) shows an example of launching the game application, it is also possible to simply display information indicating that a charge has been made while keeping the QR code 1600 displayed without launching the game application. Furthermore, terminal 20 may, upon receiving touch input for the advertising information 2001 shown in Figure 20(a), interpret this as an intention to purchase in-game currency usable within the corresponding application, and instead of displaying the screen shown in Figure 20(b), display a screen like the one shown in Figure 20(c). The example shown in Figure 20 shows an example of purchasing (charging) a paid item called "BB Stone" used in the game "BBBonline".

[0174] In Embodiment 3, an example was shown where the user purchases or is charged for a product or service related to the displayed advertisement by touching the advertisement information. However, the invention is not limited to this. As an example, if the advertisement information is a video, the system may initially display a still image of the advertisement, and the user can initiate video playback by touching the advertisement information.

[0175] <Effects of Embodiment 3> The terminal 20 according to Embodiment 3 accepts the purchase of goods or services related to advertising information displayed along with a QR code for QR code payment. The terminal 20 then displays code information for the goods to be purchased. By reading this code information, users can also purchase products related to the displayed advertisements.

[0176] Alternatively, terminal 20 may hide the displayed QR code 1200 in place of the barcode 1231 of the product to be purchased, and generate and display a new QR code that includes the purchase of the product. By reading this code information, it is also possible to purchase products related to the displayed advertisement.

[0177] Furthermore, terminal 20 accepts the purchase of goods or services related to the advertising information displayed along with the QR code for QR code payment. Terminal 20 then sends information about the purchased goods to server 10. Server 10 then sends this information to the store where the user is located, and when the QR code is scanned at the register, it also accepts the purchase of any additional items purchased. This allows for the purchase of products related to advertising information without displaying the corresponding product code information when the user enters purchase information.

[0178] <Embodiment 4> In the above embodiment, examples were shown where the advertising information matched the user's attributes (gender, age, preferences, etc.) or used advertisements related to the user's location, but the examples of advertising information are not limited to these. The advertising information may be predetermined by the store. The advertising information predetermined by the store may be one or more.

[0179] Furthermore, the advertising information may be for stores other than the one the user is currently at.

[0180] In this case, the store may charge other stores for advertising opportunities. This will be explained in detail below.

[0181] Figure 21 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the exchange between devices in the communication system 1 when a store uses advertising information from other stores as advertising information to be transmitted to terminal 20.

[0182] As shown in Figure 21, store A receives a request from store B to deliver advertising information B (step S2101).

[0183] When store A receives a request from store B to deliver advertising information B, it sends a mapping request signal to server 10 requesting that the advertising information B requested by store B be mapped to the advertising information corresponding to the beacon ID installed in store A (step S2102). Here, an example is shown in which advertising information mapped to a beacon ID is identified, but as shown in Figures 11 to 14 above, the location of terminal 20 may be identified from the terminal's location information or images captured by the store's camera and the corresponding advertising information may be identified.

[0184] Server 10 receives a mapping request signal and stores the advertising information B of store B in the advertising management information 700 as advertising information to be transmitted to terminal 20 located within store A (step S2103).

[0185] Meanwhile, terminal 20 receives a beacon signal from a beacon transmitter in store A (step S2104) and sends an advertisement request signal including the beacon ID of store A to server 10 (step S2105).

[0186] When server 10 receives an advertisement request signal from terminal 20, it identifies that the beacon ID belongs to store A and sends the corresponding advertisement information B for store B to terminal 20 (step S2106).

[0187] Terminal 20 receives and displays advertising information B from store B (step S2107).

[0188] Figure 22 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of server 10 to realize the interaction shown in Figure 21.

[0189] The communication interface 14 of the server 10 determines whether or not it has received a mapping request signal from the information processing device of store A (step S2201). The mapping request signal includes the beacon ID of the beacon transmitter of store A and the advertising information to be mapped. The advertising information may or may not include information indicating that it is an advertisement for store B, which is different from store A. If the mapping request signal is received (YES in step S2201), the communication interface 14 transmits the received mapping request signal to the control unit 11. If the mapping request signal is not received (NO in step S2201), the process proceeds to step S2203.

[0190] The control unit 11 associates the beacon ID included in the received associated request signal with the advertising information, stores it in the advertising management information 700 of the storage unit 15 (step S2202), and terminates the process.

[0191] Meanwhile, the communication interface 14 of the server 10 determines whether or not it has received an advertisement request signal from the terminal 20 (step S2203). If an advertisement request signal is received (YES in step S2203), the advertisement request signal is sent to the control unit 11. If an advertisement request signal is not received (NO in step S2203), the process is terminated.

[0192] The control unit 11 extracts the beacon ID included in the advertisement request signal. Then, it identifies the advertisement information corresponding to the beacon ID from the advertisement management information 700 (step S2204).

[0193] Then, the control unit 11 transmits the identified advertising information (advertisement for store B) to the terminal 20 via the communication interface 14 (step S2205), and terminates the process.

[0194] The operation of terminal 20 is the same as in other embodiments, so its explanation will be omitted. Furthermore, the information processing devices for stores A and B are equivalent to typical PCs, so a detailed explanation of their configuration and processing will be omitted.

[0195] <Effects of Embodiment 4> Store A receives a request from another store B and asks server 10 to associate store B's advertising information B with the beacon ID of the beacon transmitter installed in its own store. As a result, server 10 associates store B's advertising information with store A's advertising information, allowing it to send advertising information from other stores to terminals 20 in its own store, thus enabling it to cooperate in advertising other stores.

[0196] Furthermore, the communication interface 22 of the terminal 20 may be composed of multiple communication units, and is not limited to that, but may consist of, for example, a first communication unit that receives a beacon signal transmitted from the beacon transmitter 414, and a second communication unit that transmits the beacon ID or beacon signal contained in the beacon signal received by the first communication unit to the server 10 as is. In this case, the first communication unit and the second communication unit may communicate according to the same communication standard, or they may communicate according to different communication standards. When communication is performed according to different communication standards, a terminal 20 that can support multiple communication standards can be provided. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0197] 1. Communication System 10 servers 11 Control Unit 111 Message Processing Unit 112 Advertising Processing Section 12 Input / output section 13 Display section 14. Communication Interface (Communication Section) 15 Storage section 20 devices 21 Control Unit 211 Message Processing Unit 212 Display Processing Unit 213 QR code processing unit 22 Communication I / F 23 Input / output section 231 Touch Panel 232 Mike 233 speakers 234 Cameras 24 Display Unit 25 Location information acquisition section 28 Memory section 30 Networks

Claims

1. A program executed by a terminal that performs payment processing, Based on user input to the terminal, the terminal displays first code information for executing the payment on the terminal's display unit. The terminal's communication unit receives advertising information related to the advertisement, Before the payment based on the first code information is executed, the advertisement based on the advertisement information is displayed on the display unit where the first code information is displayed. Based on user input from the terminal for purchasing the product corresponding to the advertising information, the display unit displays a second code for executing the payment corresponding to the product. A program that causes the aforementioned terminal to execute.

2. The program according to claim 1, The advertising information is a program that includes information about the advertisement selected based on first information relating to the location of the terminal.

3. The program according to claim 2, A program that causes the terminal to transmit the first information via the communication unit to the server that transmits the advertising information.

4. The program according to claim 3, A program that causes the terminal to receive the first information via the communication unit from an electronic device installed in the store where the payment is made.

5. The program according to claim 1, A program that causes the terminal to hide the first code information from the display unit and display the second code information on the display unit, based on input from the terminal user for purchasing a product corresponding to the advertising information.

6. The program according to claim 1, A program that causes the terminal to display the second code information in an area different from the area where the first code information is displayed on the display unit, based on input from the terminal user for purchasing a product corresponding to the advertising information.

7. A program according to any one of claims 1 to 4, 6, A program that, when the advertisement is displayed on the display unit and the payment is made using the first code information, causes the terminal to receive information regarding benefits based on the advertisement information via the communication unit.

8. A program according to any one of claims 1 to 7, A program wherein the advertising information includes, if the server transmitting the advertising information determines that the store where the payment is made has a first product or a first service based on the location of the terminal or the user, information about the first product or the first service, and if the server determines that the store where the payment is made does not have a first product or a first service based on the location of the terminal or the user, information about a second product or a second service from a different store than the store where the payment is made, which is different from the first product or the first service.

9. A method for processing information for a terminal that performs payment-related processing, Based on user input to the terminal, the terminal displays first code information for executing the payment on the terminal's display unit. The terminal's communication unit receives advertising information related to the advertisement, Before the payment based on the first code information is executed, the advertisement based on the advertisement information is displayed on the display unit where the first code information is displayed. Based on user input from the terminal for purchasing the product corresponding to the advertising information, the display unit displays a second code for executing the payment corresponding to the product. Information processing methods, including those mentioned above.

10. A terminal that performs payment processing, A display unit that displays first code information for executing the payment based on user input to the terminal, It includes a communication unit that receives advertising information related to advertisements, The display unit, before the payment based on the first code information is executed, displays the advertisement based on the advertisement information in a second display area different from the first display area where the first code information is displayed, and displays the second code information for executing the payment corresponding to the product based on the input of the user of the terminal for purchasing the product corresponding to the advertisement information. Terminal.

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