JP2014056416A - Portable terminal and information service system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide truly useful information about commodities for a user who is shopping.SOLUTION: A portable terminal, which is capable of storing purchased commodity information and receiving commodity-related information, comprises: a first storage unit which stores user information that specifies an owner and purchase history information of commodities that the owner purchased earlier; a commodity information acquisition unit which, when the owner is walking around a shop with a portable terminal in hand, acquires information about a commodity placed near the owner's current position; a provided information determination unit which uses the purchase history information to determine whether the acquired information about the commodity is provided to the owner; an information selection generation unit which, as a result of the determination by the provided information determination unit, selects commodity-related information to be provided among such information or generates the commodity-related information to be provided; an output unit which provides the selected or generated commodity-related information to the owner.

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable terminal and an information providing system, and more particularly to a portable terminal and an information providing system for providing information related to a product suitable for the user when a user carrying the portable terminal purchases a product at a store. .

  Conventionally, for users who purchase products in a store such as a supermarket, the arrangement information of products in the store, special sale information on the day, coupons, purchase points, recipe information, etc., using various information devices providing.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, a customer issues a recipe card that records a code list of a product selected by searching with a search terminal when visiting the store, and the customer attaches the recipe card to a mounting machine attached to a shopping cart. When the shopping cart approaches the shelf on which the products recorded on the recipe card are displayed, the product identification information transmitted from the microwave generator attached to the shelf and the recipe card are recorded. A shopping support system has been proposed in which, when the product code matches, the lamp attached to the mounting machine is turned on to inform the customer of the position of the desired product and prevent the customer from forgetting to purchase.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, information such as a mobile terminal device carried by a shopper, a fixed communication device fixedly installed on a product shelf in a store, a special sale, a new product, a discount, a store map, etc. Comprising an information providing device to provide, transmitting information from the information providing device to the mobile terminal device by communication via the network, or transmitting information to the mobile terminal device by short-range wireless communication via the fixed communication device, Furthermore, the information providing device detects the position of the portable terminal device in the store using the response time from the portable terminal device detected by the fixed communication device, and provides information corresponding to the position to the portable terminal device. Thus, an information providing system capable of improving the service for shoppers has been proposed.

  Patent Document 3 discloses an electronic shopping information system that transmits information based on a shopping place in a store to a mobile handheld unit (ESC device) carried by the shopper, at a position where the shopper has moved. Provided the shopper with electronic coupons based on the shopper's preference data obtained from information on a special sale item or information read from the shopper's personal identification card, and directions to the desired product Information systems have been proposed.

JP 2003-118817 A JP 2008-242810 A JP-T-2006-510106

However, in the conventional system as described above, information related to the product is provided to the shopper mainly based on the position where the product in the store is arranged. However, the provided information includes information such as special sales items and electronic coupons set by the store, but is not necessarily information that the shopper really wants to purchase. That is, the information provided includes information unnecessary for the shopper.
Also, because the information provided is sent regardless of the product that the shopper wants to purchase that day, the shopper can purchase information for another day, even if it is useful information for one day of shopping. May contain a lot of information that is not useful. Providing a lot of such unuseful information is rather cumbersome for the shopper and may miss information that is really necessary.

  Furthermore, in the system of Patent Document 1, when a customer comes near a certain position of a product to be purchased, a lamp can be turned on to notify the customer of the position of the product. In addition, it is necessary to search for purchased products and issue a recipe card. Therefore, before actually purchasing the product, it is necessary to perform a heavy operation after considering all the products to be purchased. The operation takes time and is troublesome.

Further, in the system of Patent Document 2, information such as a bargain item corresponding to the product position is provided when the shopper comes to the product position. This information is useful information for the shopper. Not exclusively.
Moreover, in the thing of patent document 3, although the electronic coupon etc. are given to a shopper in consideration of the position of goods, and a shoppers' personal preference data, the goods corresponding to the electronic coupon are already sold to other stores on that day. The electronic coupon may not be useful if it has been purchased at the time of purchase or if it has already been purchased on another day when the electronic coupon has not been issued.

Further, in the conventional system, the information provided is useful information for any one of a large number of customers coming to the store and may contribute to an increase in overall sales of the store. However, when looking at each individual customer, the same information may or may not be useful information.
Therefore, considering not only the purchase preference for each individual customer but also the history of recent purchases of the customer, etc., it is useful for the customer on a certain day from a lot of information prepared in advance on the store side. It is desirable to select and provide possible information.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and by using a purchase history for each user, it is possible to select and give information that is truly useful to the user. It is an object to provide a terminal and an information providing system.

  The present invention is a mobile terminal capable of storing purchased product information and receiving provision of product-related information, user information for specifying an owner, purchase history information of products purchased by the owner in the past, A first storage unit that stores information, and when the owner is carrying the mobile terminal and is moving through the store and purchasing an item placed in the store, the first storage unit is disposed near the current position of the owner. A product information acquisition unit that acquires information about a product that is present, a provision information determination unit that determines whether to provide the owner with information about the acquired product using the purchase history information, As a result of the determination, the product selection information for selecting the product related information determined to be provided from the information related to the product or generating the product related information to be provided, and the product related information selected or generated in advance There is provided a mobile terminal characterized by comprising an output section for providing the owner.

In addition, one or more RFID tags having a unique identification number are installed in each of the plurality of product shelves installed in the store, and the RFID tag is installed in the product shelf near the current position of the owner By reading the identification number, the current position of the owner is specified as the position where the RFID tag from which the identification number is read is installed.
The identification number of the RFID tag is read by an RFID reader installed in a cart in which an owner places a purchased product.

  In addition, the RFID reader has a second storage unit storing a cart ID for identifying a cart in which the device is installed, and information related to a product and an RFID tag identification number when the identification number of the RFID tag is read. And a server communication unit that transmits the cart ID and the read identification number to a server that associates and manages the product and the RFID tag arranged on the product shelf, and the server includes the server Based on the identification number of the RFID tag transmitted from the RFID reader, the product shelf on which the RFID tag having the identification number is specified is specified, and the current position of the cart and the owner is determined as the position of the specified product shelf. The owner carries information on the cart information processing unit and the products placed on the specified product shelf near the owner's current position. Characterized in that it comprises a product information processing unit for transmitting to the mobile terminal are.

  A personal identification unit that acquires the cart ID from the RFID reader and transmits pairing information in which the user information described in the first storage unit is associated with the acquired cart ID to the server; In addition, the server includes a third storage unit that stores the transmitted pairing information, and the server is associated with the cart ID transmitted from the server communication unit of the RFID reader. Information is specified from the pairing information, and the product information processing unit transmits information related to the product to the portable terminal of the owner specified by the user information.

In addition, the purchase history information is information including a product identification name, purchase date and time, and expiration date for each purchased product.
In addition, when the target product of the information related to the product acquired by the product information acquisition unit is stored in the purchase history information, the information provision determination unit is configured so that the target product is shorter than a predetermined purchase interval. When it is determined that the purchased product is a regularly purchased product, the information selection generating unit generates product related information indicating that the target product is a regularly purchased product, and the output unit is generated. The product-related information is output.

  In addition, when the target product of the information related to the product acquired by the product information acquisition unit is stored in the purchase history information, the information provision determination unit, the current date and the latest purchase date and time of the target product When the difference is smaller than a predetermined numerical value, it is determined that the target product is a product that has been purchased recently, and the information selection generation unit indicates that the target product has been purchased recently. And the output unit outputs the generated product related information.

  Moreover, when the target product of the information regarding the product acquired by the product information acquisition unit is stored in the purchase history information, the information provision determination unit determines the current date and the expiration date of the target product purchased last time. If the current date has already passed the expiration date, the target product purchased last time is determined to have expired, and the information selection generation unit determines the expiration date of the target product. Product-related information indicating that the product has expired is generated, and the output unit outputs the generated product-related information.

  Moreover, when the target product of the information related to the product acquired by the product information acquisition unit is stored in the purchase history information, the information provision determination unit includes the owner and the information regarding the acquired product. When it is determined that the purchase history information of a different person includes a simultaneous purchase product that the other person purchased on the same day as the target product, the information selection generation unit selects the simultaneous purchase product as the target product. The output unit includes product related information included in the product, and outputs the product related information including the simultaneously purchased product.

  Moreover, the target product of the information about the product acquired by the product information acquisition unit is stored in the purchase history information, and the sales promotion of the target product is added to the information about the product acquired by the product information acquisition unit. When the intended coupon information or bargain information is included, when the information provision determination unit determines that the target product is a regularly purchased product that is purchased at an interval shorter than a predetermined purchase interval, The information selection generating unit selects coupon information or bargain information of the target product as product related information from the information about the acquired product, and the output unit outputs the selected product related information. It is characterized by.

The product information acquisition unit reads a barcode assigned to a product placed near the current position of the owner, transmits the read barcode to the server, and is specified by the barcode. The information regarding is acquired from the server.
Further, the output unit may use a display unit that displays the product-related information to be provided.

  The present invention also includes a portable terminal that stores purchased product information and receives provision of product-related information, and an RFID reader that reads an identification number of an RFID tag having a unique identification number installed on a product shelf in a store. An information providing system in which a cart, a server that stores information related to a product and an identification number of an RFID tag, and manages a product placed on a product shelf in association with the RFID tag are connected via a network. The RFID reading device stores the cart ID for identifying the cart, and when the identification number of the RFID tag is read, the cart ID and the identification number read when the identification number of the RFID tag is read. And a server communication unit that transmits the identification number of the RFID tag transmitted from the server communication unit. A cart information processing unit that identifies a product shelf on which an RFID tag is installed and determines the current position of the owner carrying the cart and the mobile terminal as the position of the identified product shelf, and near the current position of the owner A product information processing unit that selects information related to a product placed on the specified product shelf and transmits the information to the owner's mobile terminal, and the mobile terminal includes user information for specifying the owner; , A fifth storage unit storing purchase history information of products purchased by the owner in the past, and the product information processing unit when the owner is moving in the store together with the mobile terminal and the cart. If the product information acquisition unit that acquires information related to the product transmitted from and the target product of the information related to the acquired product are stored in the purchase history information, the purchase history information is used. Then, a provision information determination unit that determines whether or not to provide the owner with the information regarding the acquired commodity, and the commodity related information determined to be provided from the information regarding the commodity as a result of the determination An information providing system comprising: an information selection generation unit that generates product related information to be selected or provided; and an output unit that provides the selected or generated product related information to the owner Is to provide.

  According to the present invention, when the portable terminal carried by the owner acquires information on the product arranged near the current position of the owner moving in the store, the provision information determining unit causes the purchase history information to be purchased. Since the product related information determined to be provided is selected or generated from the information related to the acquired product, the store does not provide the owner with information on all the products prepared in advance by the store. Information that is considered to be truly useful to the owner can be selectively provided, and the information provided is limited to information deemed useful based on the purchase history of the owner, so the owner is provided By confirming the highly useful information, the possibility of purchasing the product can be increased, and the sales can be increased for the store side.

It is a schematic block diagram of one Example of the information provision system of this invention. 1 is a schematic layout diagram of an embodiment of a store using an information providing system of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing of one Example of the communication form of each apparatus utilized by this invention. It is explanatory drawing of one Example of the cart utilized by this invention. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an embodiment of an RFID reader according to the present invention. FIG. It is a block diagram of a configuration of an embodiment of the server of the present invention. It is a block diagram of the configuration of an embodiment of the portable terminal of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing of one Example of the information memorize | stored in the server of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of one Example of the information memorize | stored in the server of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of one Example of the information memorize | stored in the portable terminal of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of one Example of the information memorize | stored in the RFID reader of this invention. It is a schematic flowchart of the goods purchase process of the information provision system of this invention. It is a flowchart of one Example of the pairing process of this invention. It is a flowchart of one Example of the pairing process of this invention. It is a flowchart of one Example of the cart position detection process of this invention. It is a flowchart of one Example of the process at the time of the goods purchase performed with portable TE of this invention. It is a flowchart of one Example of the information provision process about the received merchandise information performed with portable TE of this invention. It is a flowchart of one Example of the information provision information about the goods into which the barcode performed by portable TE of this invention was input. It is a flowchart of one Example of the information provision information about the goods into which the barcode performed by portable TE of this invention was input. It is a flowchart of one Example of the purchase history update process performed with portable TE of this invention. It is a flowchart of one Example of the purchase history update process performed with the cash register apparatus and server of this invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on the embodiments shown in the drawings.
However, this does not limit the present invention.
<Outline of Information Providing System of the Invention>
FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of an information providing system according to the present invention.
In FIG. 1, the information providing system of the present invention is mainly composed of a server (information providing device) 1, a portable terminal (TE) 2, an RFID reader 31 installed in a cart 3, and a cash register device 5. The These devices are connected via a network 9 and transmit / receive predetermined information to / from each other.
The network 9 can use various forms, and performs information communication by wired communication or wireless communication.
However, communication between the devices is preferably performed in a communication mode as described later in FIG.

The server (SV) 1 is an information providing apparatus that stores information to be provided to a user (owner), and has components as shown in FIG.
The mobile terminal (TE) 2 is a terminal owned by the user, and is a terminal that can store purchased product information and receive provision of product-related information. For example, it corresponds to an information processing apparatus such as a mobile phone, a smartphone, and a tablet terminal, and is preferably a small and lightweight terminal having portability.
Here, the user means the owner of the mobile terminal, and also means the owner who carries the mobile terminal and moves in the store.
The cart 3 is a wheelbarrow that is provided in a store that sells products and carries purchased products, and has a frame on which a user puts a basket into which purchased products are placed.
The cart 3 includes an RFID reader 31 that reads out RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) recorded in advance on an RFID tag 41 installed for each product shelf 4 in a non-contact manner. The RFID is a unique identification number recorded on the RFID tag 41.

One or a plurality of RFID tags 41 are installed for each product shelf 4 installed in the store, and each RFID tag 41 has a unique fixed ID. Each RFID is used as information for identifying the position of a product shelf in one store.
The RFID tag 41 includes a coil or an antenna, and when the cart 3 is moving, the distance between the RFID reader 31 installed in the cart and the RFID tag 41 is a predetermined distance (for example, 1 cm). The RFID recorded on the RFID tag 41 is read out by the RFID reader 31 by, for example, an electromagnetic induction method or a radio wave method.
The cash register device 5 is a device that performs accounting processing (settlement), and is a device that pays the price of the product purchased by the user, calculates the change, and issues a receipt and the like.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic layout of an embodiment of a store where the information providing system of the present invention is used.
In FIG. 2, the top view of this shop 10 is shown. A plurality of merchandise shelves 4 are arranged in the merchandise sales area, and a plurality of cash register devices 5 are arranged in the area for settlement.
The server (information providing apparatus) 1 is installed at an arbitrary position in the store, for example, but may be installed in a separate room of the same building or a building different from the store.
In each merchandise shelf 4, one or a plurality of RFID tags 41 having different ID values are installed at predetermined positions on the shelf (for example, the lower surface of the shelf).

A plurality of carts 3 are provided in the store 10, and a user who visits the store in order to purchase a product uses an arbitrary cart 3.
The user moves the cart 3 through the passage between the product shelves and puts the purchased product into the shopping cart mounted on the cart 3.
When the user moves the cart 3 and moves close to the RFID tag 41 installed on a certain product shelf 4, the RFID reader 31 installed on the cart 3 moves the RFID tag 41 within a predetermined distance range. It detects and receives the RFID recorded on the RFID tag 41. As will be described later, the current position of the cart 3 is specified by transmitting the reception RFID 39 to the server 1.

  For example, when the owner carrying the mobile terminal is moving in the store with the cart, the identification number (RFID) of the RFID tag 41 installed on the product shelf near the owner's current position is When the RFID reader 31 reads, the current position of the cart and the owner is specified as the position where the RFID tag whose identification number (RFID) is read is installed.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic explanatory diagram of an embodiment of a cart used in the present invention.
In FIG. 4, the cart 3 includes a basket portion into which purchased merchandise is placed, an RFID reader 31, and a terminal mounting portion 32 on which the mobile terminal 2 (hereinafter, simply referred to as mobile TE or simply TE) is mounted.
The mobile mounting unit 32 is a box that stores the mobile TE 2, and it is preferable that the mobile TE 2 can be fixedly attached using a fixture so that the mobile TE 2 does not fall during the movement of the cart 3. .

In addition, in order to perform wired communication between the mobile TE 2 and the RFID reader 31, the terminal mounting unit 32 may be provided with a connector that is physically connected to an external terminal of the mobile TE 2.
Alternatively, since the external terminal of the mobile TE 2 has various shapes, and it is not realistic to include connectors of all shapes that match the external terminal, the communication between the mobile TE 2 and the RFID reader 31 is wireless communication. It is preferable to carry out with.
In addition, in the RFID reader 31, in addition to communication with the terminal TE <b> 2, communication using radio waves or the like with the RFID tag 41 and wireless communication with the server 1 are performed.
In particular, since the communication with the RFID tag 41 is performed by a weak radio wave or the like, the RFID reader 31 is arranged on the front surface of the cart 3 so that the communication is not disturbed even if a product is put in the cart 3. It is preferable to arrange on the side surface.
The arrangement of the terminal mounting portion 32 and the like shown in FIG. 4 is merely one specific example, and is not limited to this arrangement.

FIG. 3 shows an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of a communication form between the component devices used in the present invention.
First, since the mobile TE2 is moved and used, communication between the server 1 and the mobile TE2 is performed by wireless communication using a network such as a so-called mobile phone (WAN), a wireless LAN (WiFi), or the like. Is preferred.
In addition, communication between the RFID reader 31 provided in the cart 3 and the mobile TE 2 is short-range wireless communication (for example, Bluetooth (registered trademark), ZigBee, UWB, NFC, etc.) or wired using a cable. It is preferable to carry out by communication.

Moreover, it is preferable to perform communication between the server 1 and the RFID reader 31 of the cart by wireless communication using the above-described WAN or LAN.
Communication between the server 1 and the cash register apparatus 5 is preferably performed by wireless communication or wired communication, as in the past.
Communication between the cash register apparatus 5 and the mobile TE 2 is preferably performed by wireless communication in the same manner as the communication between the server 1 and the mobile TE 2.
In addition, communication between the RFID reader 31 of the cart and each RFID tag 41 installed on the product shelf 4 is unidirectional from the tag 41 to the device 31 by radio waves or electromagnetic induction as described above. Do.
The RFID tag 41 includes a type with a built-in battery and a type without a built-in battery. Either one may be used so that appropriate communication is possible depending on the environment in which the RFID tag is installed.

<Configuration of RFID reader>
FIG. 5 shows a configuration block diagram of an embodiment of the RFID reader of the cart.
In FIG. 5, the RFID reader 31 (hereinafter also referred to as a reader) mainly includes a terminal mounting unit 32, a control unit 33, a terminal communication unit 34, a server communication unit 35, an RFID reading unit 36, and a storage unit 37.
The control unit 33 is mainly realized by a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an I / O controller, a timer, and the like, and the CPU organically operates various hardware based on a program stored in the ROM or the like. Thus, the function of the RFID reader 31 of the present invention is realized.

The terminal communication unit 34 is a part that performs data communication with the mobile TE 2, and as described above, data is transmitted and received by wired communication or near field communication.
For example, data communication is performed between the RFID reader 31 provided in the cart 3 and the mobile TE 2 attached to the terminal mounting unit 32 in order to perform a pairing process for associating the cart 3 with the mobile TE 2. .
In the pairing process, as will be described later, a cart ID request is transmitted from TE2 to the reader 31, and a cart ID 38 is transmitted from the reader 31 to TE2 as a reply (reading result) to the cart ID request.

The server communication unit 35 is a part that performs data communication with the server 1, and transmits and receives data by wireless communication as described above.
As data communication between the cart 3 and the server 1, for example, when the user moves the cart, when the reader 31 reads the RFID of the RFID tag 41 installed on the product shelf 4, the cart 3 A position detection request is transmitted from the server 1 to the server 1.
This position detection request includes the cart ID and the read RFID.
As a result of this position detection request, the current position information of the cart and the product information related to the position are transmitted from the server 1 to the TE2.

The RFID reader 36 detects the RFID tag 41 within a predetermined distance range from the cart 3 among the RFID tags 41 installed on the product shelf 4 and reads the unique RFID recorded in the RFID tag 41. Part.
The read RFID is stored in the storage unit 37 as a reception RFID 39, and is included in the position detection request and transmitted to the server 1.

The storage unit 37 corresponds to the above-described second storage unit, and is a part that stores data necessary for executing the function of the RFID reader. For example, a semiconductor storage such as a RAM, a ROM, a flash memory, etc. A storage device such as an element, a hard disk, and an SSD, and other storage media are used.
For example, a cart ID 38 and a reception RFID 39 are stored in the storage unit 37.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the cart ID and the received RFID stored in the RFID reader.
Here, the cart ID 38 is “C0001”, and the reception RFID 39 is “RF0001”.
The cart ID 38 is an ID for identifying the cart 3 in which the RFID reader 31 is installed, and is preferably stored in a non-volatile memory such as a ROM or a flash memory so as not to be rewritten.
As described above, the reception RFID 39 temporarily stores the RFID of the RFID tag 41 read by the RFID reading unit 36. Each time the cart 3 moves, the content of the received RFID 39 changes.
Depending on the current position of the cart 3, RFID may not be read from only one RFID tag 41, but may be read from a plurality of RFID tags 41. When RFIDs are read from a plurality of RFID tags 41, for example, the plurality of RFIDs may be stored as received RFIDs and transmitted to the server 1.

  As will be described later, the control unit 33 of the RFID reader 31 installed in the cart 3 mainly transmits the cart ID to the TE 2 in the pairing process with the TE 2, and receives the read to the server 1. Processing for transmitting a position detection request including the RFID 39 is performed.

<Server configuration>
FIG. 6 shows a configuration block diagram of an embodiment of a server (information providing apparatus).
In FIG. 6, the server 1 mainly includes a control unit 101, a user information processing unit 102, a cart information processing unit 103, a product information processing unit 104, a communication unit 110, and a storage unit 120.
The server 1 mainly provides information to the user, stores information related to the product (including product identification information and product related information), and an identification number (RFID) of the RFID tag, and is arranged on the product shelf. The product and the RFID tag are managed in association with each other.

  The control unit 101 is realized mainly by a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an I / O controller, a timer, and the like, and the CPU organically operates various hardware based on a program stored in the ROM or the like. As a result, the server functions are realized.

The user information processing unit 102 is a part that manages information for identifying individual users and purchase history information for each user. For example, in the pairing process with TE2, the user ID transmitted from TE2 and the user information 123 in storage unit 120 are collated, and the collation result is transmitted to TE2.
When this pairing processing collation is successful, the cart ID and the user ID are associated with each other and stored as pairing information 121.

The pairing information 121 is used when product information corresponding to the cart position is transmitted to the user TE2 associated with the cart ID.
The pairing information 121 is also used when the purchase history information 124 of the user is updated when the user purchases a product, pays the price at the cash register device 5 and completes the approval.

The cart information processing unit 103 is a part that manages the cart ID and RFID.
Specifically, in the pairing process, pairing information 121 including a cart ID and a user ID when collation is successful is stored. Further, in response to a position detection request from the RFID reader 31, the received RFID This is a part for searching the RFID information 122 in the storage unit 120 for position information associated with the information in advance.

  Also, from the RFID tag identification number (RFID) transmitted from the RFID reader, the product shelf on which the RFID tag having the RFID is installed is specified, and the current position of the owner carrying the cart and the mobile TE is specified. Judged as the position of the ordered product shelf.

The product information processing unit 104 is a part that manages the product identification information 125 and the product related information 126.
Specifically, information about products placed on the cart and the product shelves near the owner ’s current location, such as product identification information, bargain information, coupon information, and recommendations, This is a part that is selected from information (125, 126) in the storage unit 120 and transmitted to TE2 carried by the user associated with the cart ID.

The communication unit 110 is a part that communicates with the mobile TE 2, the RFID reader 31, the cash register 5, and the like via a network.
For example, the communication unit 110 includes a terminal communication unit 111 that performs wireless communication with the mobile TE, a cart communication unit 112 that performs wireless communication with the RFID reader 31 of the cart, and a cash register communication unit 113 that performs wireless communication with the cash register device 5. .

  These three communication units (111, 112, 113) receive data transmitted from the corresponding devices (2, 31, 5), respectively, and are generated by the three processing units (102, 103, 104). The various information thus transmitted is transmitted to the corresponding device (2, 31, 5).

The storage unit 120 corresponds to the above-described third storage unit, and is a part that stores information necessary for executing the functions of the server. The storage unit 120 includes a semiconductor storage element such as a ROM and a RAM, a storage device such as a hard disk and an SSD, Other storage media are used.
The storage unit 120 mainly stores pairing information 121, RFID information 122, user information 123, purchase history information 124, product identification information 125, product related information 126, personal identification information 127, and product detailed information 128.

FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 are diagrams illustrating an example of information stored in the storage unit 120 of the server.
As described above, the pairing information 121 is data in which the cart ID is associated with the user ID that specifies the user information.
The pairing information 121 is generated when the collation of the user ID is successful when a pairing request from the TE 2 is received.
This pairing information 121 includes the user ID of the owner of the TE2 attached to the terminal mounting unit 32 of the cart 3 and the cart ID of the cart. If the owner of the TE2 attached to the cart is different, the pairing information 121 The information content (user ID) is also different.

  Further, a switch or the like that closes the contact when TE2 is attached to the terminal mounting portion 32 of the cart 3 is provided in the cart 3 to automatically detect that TE2 is attached to the terminal mounting portion 32. After the detection, pairing processing may be executed to generate and store the pairing information 121.

Moreover, when the terminal mounting part 32 is equipped with the connector which connects TE2, the connector is good also as what has what is called a plug and play function.
When the plug and play function is provided, it is possible to detect that the TE2 is attached to the connector and removed from the connector by checking a signal output from the connector.

On the other hand, when TE2 is removed from the terminal mounting unit 32, TE2 detects that the switch has been released, and based on the detection, performs a pairing cancellation process and stores it. Pairing information may be deleted.
That is, the pairing information 121 is temporary information that is generated when the TE2 is attached to the cart and deleted when the TE2 is removed from the cart.

As shown in FIG. 8, the RFID information 122 includes an identification ID of the RFID tag 41 installed on the product shelf 4 of the store, position information (X coordinate, Y coordinate) in the store where the tag 41 is installed, and Is information that is associated in advance.
The position information is represented by, for example, XY coordinates with a predetermined reference position as the origin in a plan view of the store.
By using the RFID information 122, a certain position of the RFID tag 41 is specified, and the current position of the cart near the RFID tag 41 is specified.

The user information 123 is information for identifying a user who uses the information providing system, and includes past purchase history information about products actually purchased by the user in the store where the information providing system is installed. Also good.
As shown in FIG. 8, the user information 123 includes, for example, a user ID, a personal information ID, a personal information size, a history information ID, a history information size, and the like.

  The user ID is an identification number that identifies the user information 123, and is also an identification number of a user registered in advance to use this system. If the user has already been registered, the user-specific number will be given. However, if the user has not been registered, the service provided by the information providing system can be used temporarily only when visiting the store. A dedicated ID for unregistered users may be given.

The personal information ID is an identification number for distinguishing information for identifying an individual (personal identification information 127), and the personal information size is the data capacity of the personal identification information 127 identified by the personal information ID.
As shown in FIG. 8, the personal identification information 127 includes, for example, a user name, address, and contact information (telephone number, e-mail address, etc.).
The history information ID is an identification number for distinguishing the purchase history information 124 of the user, and the history information size is the data capacity of the purchase history information 124 identified by the history information ID.

The purchase history information 124 is information on products that the owner has purchased in the store in the past, and is stored for each user.
In FIG. 8, for example, it is assumed that the history information of the product purchased by the user with the user ID = UID01 is stored as information distinguished by the history information ID = B001.

As shown in FIG. 8, the purchase history information 124 includes, for example, a history information ID, a product code, a purchase date and time, a expiration date, a quantity, and weather.
Here, the product code is a product identification name or a unique identification number assigned in advance to each product. For example, it is a number specified by a barcode entered on a product.

  The expiry date indicates the date and time of the expiry date assigned to the purchased product itself. As will be described later, the user is notified that the expiry date has already expired or that the expiry date is approaching. Used when

  By searching the purchase history information 124, it is possible to know when and what kind of product the user specified by the user ID has purchased at the store, and the product that the user is currently purchasing has recently been confirmed. It is possible to investigate whether it is a product that has already been purchased or a product that has been purchased regularly (daily) many times.

  In addition, when there are a plurality of bargain information and coupon information prepared in advance on the store side, by examining the purchase history information 124 of the user, for example, the bargain information on the products that are regularly purchased can be obtained for the user. It is also possible to determine which bargain information or coupon information is truly useful for the user, such as determining that it is useful.

The product identification information 125 is information indicating the characteristics of the product and the like, and mainly includes position information where the product is arranged, detailed information on the product itself, and related information related to the product.
FIG. 9 shows an explanatory diagram of one embodiment of the product identification information among the information stored in the server.
As shown in FIG. 9, the product identification information 125 includes, for example, a product code, a product position, a detailed information ID, a detailed information size, a related information ID, and a related information size.
These pieces of information are set in advance before or when the product is placed on the product shelf.

The product code is an identification number assigned to each product as described above.
The merchandise position is information for specifying the position where the merchandise is arranged in the store. In FIG. 9, the ID of the nearest RFID 41 installed on the merchandise shelf where the merchandise is arranged (reception RFID 39). Is shown.
In addition to this, the product position may be an XY coordinate value of a store plan view, a product shelf number, or the like.

The detailed information ID is an identification number for distinguishing the detailed product information 128, and the detailed information size indicates the data capacity of the detailed product information.
As shown in FIG. 8, the product detail information 128 includes, for example, a detailed information ID, a product description, a expiration date, a scheduled arrival date, and the like.
Here, the expiration date is stored as the expiration date in the purchase history information 124 when the product is purchased.

The related information ID is an identification number for distinguishing the product related information 126, and the related information size indicates the data capacity of the product related information.
As shown in FIG. 9, the merchandise related information 126 includes, for example, a related information ID, an identification name of the related information, a date and time (or a validity period), a quantity, a price, a condition, the number of users, contents, and the like.
Here, as the identification name of the related information, two information, bargain information and coupon information, are shown.

The bargain information indicates, for example, when, how long, how much, how much, and under what price and condition, the product is sold.
In addition, coupon information is preferential information applied to the purchase of the product, for example, indicating the application period, purchase limit quantity, number of users, application details and conditions (discount rate, discount amount, etc.) It is a thing.

  The storage unit 120 stores various other information. For example, the purchase history information 124 is stored for each user, but since purchase history information of a plurality of users using this system is stored, considering the purchase date and time of purchase history information of a large number of users, Simultaneously purchased product list that relates two or more products that are often purchased on the same day or at the same time, a list of products that may be purchased regularly, and products that are purchased more frequently depending on the season and weather A list or the like may be automatically investigated and stored in advance, and used as information for determining whether or not to provide related information to the user.

<Configuration of mobile terminal TE>
FIG. 7 shows a configuration block diagram of an embodiment of the portable terminal of the present invention.
In FIG. 7, the portable terminal TE2 mainly includes a control unit 201, a server communication unit 202, a device connection unit 203, a display unit 204, an input unit 205, a position detection unit 211, a provided information determination unit 212, a personal identification unit 213, and a product. An information acquisition unit 214, an information selection generation unit 215, and a storage unit 220 are provided.

  The control unit 201 is a part that controls the operation of the constituent blocks of the mobile TE 2 of the present invention, and is realized by a microcomputer including a CPU and the like, similar to the control unit 101 of the server.

The server communication unit 202 is a part that performs data communication with the server 1 and preferably performs wireless communication via a network such as a WAN or a LAN as described above.
The communication with the server 1 by the server communication unit 202 includes, for example, transmission of a pairing request to the server 1 and a verification request for purchase history as will be described later. , Information such as product information corresponding to the cart position, that is, the current position of the cart to which the mobile TE owned by the user is attached is received.

The device connection unit 203 is an interface portion for connecting an external device, and in the present invention, in particular, is a portion that transmits and receives data to and from the RFID reader 31.
As described above, when performing wired communication with the RFID reader 31, the device connection unit 203 and the RFID reader 31 are connected via a predetermined cable.
Alternatively, when performing wireless communication, the device connection unit 203 may be provided with a short-range wireless communication function such as Bluetooth to transmit and receive data.

  In communication with the RFID reader 31 via the device connection unit 203, a cart ID request is transmitted to the RFID reader 31 and a cart ID as a response to the request is received.

The display unit 204 corresponds to an output unit that provides the owner with selected or generated product-related information, and is a unit that displays various information provided from the server, and an LCD or an organic EL display is used. . As the output unit, in addition to the display unit, an audio output unit (speaker) or the like may be provided.
The input unit 205 is a part for inputting information such as images and characters, and operation input such as device selection. A camera 206, a touch pad 207, a keyboard 208, a mouse 209, and the like are used.

The camera 206 captures and inputs a still image. In the present invention, in particular, the camera 206 captures a barcode attached to a product and inputs the barcode image data.
For example, before putting a product to be purchased by a user into a cart, a barcode attached to the product to be purchased is photographed by the camera 206, and image data of the barcode or a product obtained by digitizing the barcode Send the code to the server 1.

The touch pad 207 is used to input information and a function selection operation using a finger or a pen, and is formed on the display unit 204 or formed integrally with the display unit 204.
The position detection unit 211 is a part that receives information on the current position of the cart transmitted from the server and informs the user of the current position of the user and the cart.

The provision information determination unit 212 is a part that determines whether or not to provide the user with information related to the product transmitted from the server and acquired by the product information acquisition unit. For this determination, purchase history information 223 stored in the storage unit 220 of TE2 is used.
In addition, when the target product of the information related to the product acquired by the product information acquisition unit 214 is stored in the purchase history information 223 of the user, it is determined whether to provide information related to the product.
For example, it is determined whether or not the product that is the target of the bargain information is regularly purchased in view of the contents of the purchase history information 223 of the user. When it is determined that the bargain target product is a product that is regularly purchased, bargain information on the product is provided to the user.
Further, in the case of a product that has not been purchased regularly or a product that has already been purchased recently, the bargain information is not provided to the user.

As described above, if only the bargain information satisfying a predetermined determination condition is provided to the user among the plurality of bargain information set for the convenience of the store, the user can obtain information that is considered to be truly useful. It can be easily confirmed selectively.
Therefore, by confirming information that is highly useful to the user, the user can increase the possibility of purchasing the product, and the store can also increase sales.

  In addition, even when providing information about products near the current cart location to the user, check the purchase history information of the user and purchase products that are near the cart and that are about to provide information. In the case of a product being sold, information useful for the user can be provided by displaying such information that the product is a regularly purchased product or that warns of forgetting to buy.

Examples of conditions that serve as the basis for determination performed by the provided information determination unit 212 include the following.
(1) Whether the target product is a regular (daily) purchase.
(2) Whether the target product is a product that has already been purchased recently.
(3) Whether or not the target product has been purchased one or more times, and the expiration date of the product when it was last purchased has already passed on the current date and time.
(4) Whether the bargain information or coupon information intended for the promotion of the target product is for the user's regularly purchased product.
(5) Whether the bargain information or coupon information is for a product purchased by the user last time and for which the expiration date has already passed.
(6) Whether or not information related to products purchased by others is included in the related information of the target product.

  The determination conditions as described above are not limited to the above-described conditions, but may be added as necessary, and the user may be able to set whether or not to apply them.

Further, among the above conditions, the determination as to whether or not the target product is a periodic purchase product may be as follows, for example.
The term “purchased product” means that a target product whose information on the product is purchased at an interval shorter than a predetermined purchase interval.
All purchase information of the target product is extracted from the purchase history information 223 of the user, and the number N of purchases of the product is counted.
All purchase dates and times D (i) of the target product are extracted, and a purchase interval T (= D _(i) -D _(i-1) ) is calculated.
i means an integer from 1 to the number N of purchases, and the difference between a certain purchase date and the previous purchase date is the purchase interval T.
The result of dividing all N−1 purchase intervals T by N−1, that is, the average value Dh of the purchase intervals is calculated (Dh = Σ (D _(i) −D _(i−1) ). / (N-1)).
When the average value Dh is equal to or smaller than a predetermined determination value Do (Dh ≦ Do), it is determined that the target product is a regularly purchased product.

Here, the predetermined determination numerical value Do is not uniquely determined, and varies depending on the user and also varies depending on the type of product.
For example, as an example, when the target product is milk, 3 days is set as the determination value Do, and in the case of rice, 30 days is set as the determination value Do.
Therefore, it is preferable that the determination numerical value Do can be set and changed as necessary for each product or each user.

Moreover, what is necessary is just to perform the determination whether it has purchased recently as follows.
When the difference between the current date and the latest purchase date and time of the target product is smaller than a predetermined value, it is determined that the target product is a product that has been purchased recently.
Specifically, the current date D1 is compared with the latest purchase date D2 of the target product, and the difference (D1-D2) between the dates is smaller than a predetermined numerical value Do (D1-D2 <Do). It is determined that the target product has been purchased recently. The predetermined numerical value Do may be set and changed for each user and product.
Providing the user with information that has recently been purchased for a product that has been purchased recently can increase the possibility of preventing duplicate purchases.
Further, a warning message for preventing the user from forgetting to buy may be displayed using this determination criterion.
For example, if the target product has not been purchased recently, that is, if D1-D2 ≧ Do, a message indicating that the target product has not been purchased recently, or that the Do date has already passed since the previous purchase date is indicated. If you display a message, you can prevent forgetting to buy.

Also, the current date is compared with the expiration date of the product at the previous purchase in the purchase history information of the target product, and if the current date has already passed the expiration date, It may be determined that the purchased product has expired, and a message indicating that the purchased item has expired may be displayed.
Thus, by displaying a message for preventing purchase forgotten or a message for expiration of consumption, it is possible to provide truly useful information for the individual user.

In addition, regarding the above-mentioned determination conditions, information on the acquired product, and from among a large number of bargain information and coupon information that can be provided to the user, about the product for which the user's periodic purchase or expiration date has already passed If bargain information and coupon information are selectively extracted, information that is truly useful to the user can be provided and the number of provided information is reduced, thus increasing the possibility that the user will notice the useful information. be able to.
A user who has noticed such useful information is considered to have a high possibility of purchasing the product, so that the store side can also obtain a profit of increased sales.

Furthermore, if the related information of the target product received from the server contains information on products purchased at the same time by another person different from the owner (a product purchased by the other person on the same day as the target product), the target product itself In addition to information on bargain information (such as bargain information), information on products purchased by other people at the same time (or on the same day) as the target product may be provided to the user.
For example, the information of “minced meat” is recorded in the purchase history information of others recorded on the server, and the information of “gyoza skin” is also recorded on the same day as the date of purchase of “minced meat”. Suppose that That is, it is assumed that the purchase date of “minced meat” and “gyoza skin” purchased by others is the same day.
If the information that the purchase date of the two foods is the same day is stored in the purchase history information of a certain number or more of others, it is considered that the two foods are likely to be purchased at the same time.

Therefore, when the target product that the user intends to purchase is either one of the foods (for example, ground meat), the related information of the other food (for example, the dumpling skin) is included in the related information of the food. Include information.
When this related information is transmitted to the user's TE2 and the related information of the target product (ground meat) is displayed on the user's TE2, the information on the other food (gyoza skin) that is likely to be purchased at the same time is displayed. It can be displayed as recommended information.
If this user intends to cook in the same manner as another person, the possibility of purchasing the other food can be increased and forgetting to buy can be prevented.
Also in this case, it is possible to increase the possibility that the effect of increasing sales is obtained for the store side, and it is possible to provide useful information for both the user and the store.

In addition, for simultaneously purchased items, recommended information may be generated by considering the purchase history information of the user.
For example, if the other food (for example, gyoza skin) that has been purchased at the same time is checked, the user's past purchase history is checked, the user has purchased the product in the past, and the expiration date of the purchased product has already passed. The simultaneously purchased product may be displayed as recommended information.

In FIG. 7, the personal identification unit 213 is a part that requests the server to associate (pair) the user who is the owner of TE2 with the cart to be used. That is, it is a part that transmits a pairing request to the server.
The pairing request transmitted to the server includes pairing information in which the cart ID 226 acquired from the RFID reader 31 is associated with the user ID that identifies the user information 221 stored in the storage unit.
As described above, since the unique cart ID of the cart 3 is transmitted from the RFID reader 31 by the device connecting unit 203, a pair including a user ID and a cart ID stored in advance in the storage unit 220 is included. By transmitting a ring request to the server, the user who uses the cart is specified by the server 1.
In other words, by identifying a user who is going to use the cart and associating the cart ID with the user ID, the server 1 obtains product information corresponding to the current position of the cart identified by the cart ID. It becomes possible to transmit to the user TE 2 identified by the user ID associated with the cart ID.

The product information acquisition unit 214 is a part that acquires information related to a predetermined product from the server 1.
For example, when an owner carries a mobile TE2 and moves around in a store and purchases a product placed in the store, the cart and a product placed on a product shelf near the owner's current position. This is the part that acquires information.
Further, it is a part that reads a barcode attached to a product that the user intends to purchase, transmits the read barcode to the server, and acquires information about the product specified by the barcode from the server.
Information about the product to be acquired includes information about the product itself (product identification information 224) and information related to the product (product related information 225).
Here, the product identification information 224 and the product related information 225 respectively correspond to the information (125, 126) stored in the storage unit 120 of the server 1 described above.

The information selection generation unit 215 should select or provide the product related information determined to be provided from the information regarding the product acquired by the product information acquisition unit 214 as a result of the determination by the provision information determination unit 212. This is a part that generates product related information.
For example, as described above, when it is determined that the target product is a regularly purchased product, product related information (message) indicating that the target product is a regularly purchased product is generated.
When it is determined that the target product is a product that has been purchased recently, a message indicating that the target product has been purchased recently is generated.

If it is determined that the last purchased target product has expired, a message indicating that the target product has expired is generated.
In addition, if it is determined that the purchase history information of another person contains a purchased product that was purchased on the same day as the target product, the purchased product is included in the product-related information of the target product. .
In addition, when it is determined that the target product is a regularly purchased product, coupon information or bargain information of the target product included in the acquired information on the product is selected as product related information.
As described above, the product-related information selected or generated is provided to the owner mainly by displaying on the display unit corresponding to the output unit.

The storage unit 220 of the mobile TE 2 corresponds to the first storage unit described above, and is a part that stores information used in the TE 2. Like the storage unit 120 of the server 1, a semiconductor storage element, a storage device, etc. Used.
The storage unit 220 stores user information 221, personal identification information 222, purchase history information 223, product identification information 224, product related information 225, cart ID 226, input barcode 227, application program 230 installed in TE2, and the like. Is done.

FIG. 10 shows an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of information stored in the portable terminal of the present invention.
Here, among the information stored in the storage unit 220, user information 221, personal identification information 222, and purchase history information 223 are shown.
Each portable terminal 2 is specified by the user information 221 given to the owner.

  However, the user information 221 shown in FIG. 10 corresponds to the user information 123 stored in the server, the personal identification information 222 corresponds to the personal identification information 127 stored in the server, and the purchase history information 223 is stored in the server This corresponds to the purchase history information 124 stored in FIG.

In addition to the user information 123 stored in the server, different information may be stored in the user information 221 stored in the TE2.
For example, since the server is installed in a specific store, the purchase history information 124 for the product purchased by the user at the store is stored in the purchase history information 124 of the server.
On the other hand, in the purchase history information 223 of TE2, in addition to the purchase history information about products purchased at the store, purchase history information about products purchased at other stores may be stored.

In this way, by storing purchase history information about products purchased at a plurality of stores used by a user in addition to a single store in the storage unit 220 of TE2, more useful information for the user can be obtained. It becomes possible to provide.
For example, when the user UA has recently purchased a product a at a store A, the product purchase history is stored in the storage unit 220 of TE2. When bargain information about the same product a is provided at another store B at a later date, if the user UA goes near the product shelf of the product a in the store B, the product The bargain information of the product a on the shelf is presented to the user.

However, in the present invention, when the determination condition that bargain information on recently purchased products is not provided is set, since the product a has already been purchased in the store A different from the store B, the store B The bargain information of the product a provided in is not useful information and is not provided to the user.
Thus, it is more useful for the user by determining whether or not to provide the product information provided at the store B to the user by using the purchase history information of the product purchased at the other store A as well. It becomes possible to provide information appropriately.

<Overview of processing performed in the information providing system>
FIG. 12 shows a schematic flowchart of an embodiment of the product purchase process performed by the information providing system of the present invention.
When the user visits the store where the information providing system of the present invention is installed, the user selects an arbitrary cart 3 provided in the store and attaches the mobile TE 2 owned by the user to the terminal mounting portion 32 of the cart.

  The mobile TE2 owned by the user is provided with product information that can be used in the information providing system of the present invention, and can execute a product purchase process described below (hereinafter referred to as a product purchase application). ) Is pre-installed.

In step S1, when TE2 is attached to the terminal mounting portion 32 of the cart, communication between the TE2 and the RFID reader 31 of the cart 3 and between the server 1 and TE2 is performed, and pairing processing is performed.
Here, after the TE 2 receives the cart ID from the RFID reader 31, the TE 1 associates the TE 2 with the cart 3 by transmitting a pairing request from the TE 2 to the server 1. That is, the server 1 stores pairing information 121 including a user ID and a cart ID.

A detailed flow of this pairing process is shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 to be described later.
When the pairing process is completed and the user confirms that the association between the TE 2 and the cart 3 has been made, the user moves in the store while pushing the cart, selects the item to be purchased, and selects the cart basket. Put it in.
At this time, in step S2, position detection processing of the moving cart is performed.

In step S <b> 2, the cart position is detected by detecting the RFID tag 41 installed on the nearby product shelf 4 by the cart RFID reader 31 and then making a position detection request to the server 1.
When the server 1 receives the position detection request, the server 1 identifies the current position of the cart from the arrangement position of the RFID tag 41 based on the unique ID (received RFID) of the detected RFID tag 41.

In addition, after specifying the current position of the cart, the server 1 transmits information (product identification information, product related information, etc.) related to the product placed on the product shelf near the current position to the TE 2.
A detailed flow of this cart position detection process is shown in FIG.

In step S3, after TE2 receives the information regarding the product transmitted from the server 1, the product purchase process is executed.
At this time, the user displays various information transmitted from the server on the display unit 204 of the TE 2 and purchases a product while confirming bargain information, for example.
FIG. 16, FIG. 17, FIG. 18 and FIG. 19, which will be described later, show flowcharts of detailed processing executed in TE2 during the product purchase processing.

  When this product purchase process is being executed, information about the product is transmitted from the server to the TE 2 corresponding to the position of the cart moved by the user, and the user is informed about the product placed near the cart, for example. Bargain information, coupon information, a message for preventing forgetting to buy, a warning message for expiration of consumption, recommended information on simultaneously purchased items, etc. are displayed (mainly displayed on the display unit).

However, when presenting such information, the store side does not display all the information prepared in advance, but determines whether to present the information while using the user's past purchase history information stored in TE2. After that, information that is considered useful for the user is displayed.
When the user finishes selecting a product to be purchased, the user goes to the cashier apparatus 5 and performs payment processing (settlement) for the price.

In step S4, when the payment process is completed and the payment is completed, the purchase history information of the user is updated by communication between the cashier apparatus 5 and the TE2 and between the cashier apparatus 5 and the server 1.
Here, after the completion of the settlement is transmitted from the cash register 5 to the TE 2 and the server 1, the purchase history information of the user stored in the respective storage units is updated in the TE 2 and the server 1.

That is, information about the product newly purchased this time is added to the purchase history information.
The detailed flow of this update process is shown in FIGS.
Thereafter, since the purchase of the product at the store is completed, the user removes his / her mobile phone TE2 from the cart 3 and returns the cart.

In step S5, when it is detected that TE2 has been removed from the RFID reader 31 of the cart, a pairing cancellation process for the cart and TE2 is performed.
For example, a pairing cancellation request is transmitted from the RFID reader 31 to the server 1, and the server 1 that has received this request erases the pairing information stored in the storage unit 120.
The above is the schematic flow of the information providing system of the present invention.

<Pairing process>
FIG. 13 and FIG. 14 show flowcharts of an embodiment of the pairing process of the present invention.
FIG. 13 shows a process performed between the TE 2 and the cart RFID reader 31 (reader 31) in the pairing process.

When TE2 is attached to the cart 3, the following pairing process is executed.
In TE2, the fact that TE2 is attached to the terminal mounting portion 32 of the cart 3 is detected, for example, by detecting that a product purchase application installed in TE2 has established a connection via Bluetooth.
Step S11 is performed after this detection.

In step S11, a cart ID request is transmitted from the TE2 to the reader 31.
Thereafter, the TE 2 waits for a cart reading result (reading success / failure) to be transmitted from the reader 31 as a reply.

When the cart reading result is received in step S12, the process proceeds to step S13 in FIG.
On the other hand, the reader 31 of the cart 3 first initializes the contents of the cart reading result in step S21.

In step S22, it is checked whether or not the cart ID request transmitted from TE2 is received. When the cart ID request is received, the process proceeds to step S23.
In step S <b> 23, the reader 31 reads the cart ID 38 stored in its own storage unit 37.

In step S24, the cart reading result including the read cart ID 38 is transmitted to TE2.
However, if the cart ID cannot be read, the cart reading result including information indicating that the cart cannot be read is transmitted to the TE 2. Then, it returns to step S21.

FIG. 14 shows a process performed between the TE 2 and the server 1 in the pairing process.
In step S12, when TE2 receives the cart reading result, in step S13, it is checked whether or not the cart ID is included (received) in the cart reading result.

If the cart ID has not been received, the process proceeds to step S19 to output that the pairing has failed, and the pairing is terminated.
The failure of pairing may be displayed, for example, as “pairing error” on the display unit 204 of TE2.
When the cart ID is received, the process proceeds to step S14, and the received cart ID is stored in the storage unit 220.

In step S15, a pairing request is transmitted to the server 1. The pairing request includes the user ID stored in the storage unit 220 of TE2 and the received cart ID.
After that, the server 1 waits for a verification result to be returned.

On the other hand, in starting the pairing, the server 1 first initializes the contents of the collation result in step S31.
In step S32, it is checked whether a pairing request is received from TE2. If received, the process proceeds to step S33. If not, step S32 is looped.
When the pairing request is received, the user ID and the cart ID included in the pairing request are read out.

In step S33, the read user ID is verified.
In this verification process, it is checked whether or not the received user ID is already registered as an ID that can use this information providing system.
That is, it is checked whether or not the received user ID is included in the user information 123 of the storage unit 120 of the server 1.

If the received user ID is included in the user information 123 in step S34, the user ID has been verified, and the process proceeds to step S35.
On the other hand, if the received user ID is not in the user information 123, the process proceeds to step S36, where a collation result indicating that the pairing of the user ID has failed is generated, and the collation result (failure) is transmitted to TE2. Send.

In step S35, since the user ID has been successfully verified, the pairing information 121 including the received user ID and cart ID is stored in the storage unit 120.
Thereafter, in step S36, a collation result indicating that the pairing is successful is generated, and the collation result (success) is transmitted to TE2.
After step S36, the process returns to step S31.

In TE2, while waiting for a reply from the server 1, the collation result sent from the server 1 is received in step S16.
In step S17, the contents of the collation result are confirmed, and if it is determined that the pairing is successful, the process proceeds to step S18, and if not, the process proceeds to step S19.

In step S18, information indicating that the pairing has been successful is output, and the process ends. Here, for example, a display indicating that “pairing was successful” may be displayed on the display unit of TE2.
When the pairing process is completed as described above and the pairing is successful, the pairing information 121 (user ID, cart ID) is stored in the server 1. This pairing information is stored in the server until TE2 is removed from the cart and pairing is released.

<Cart position detection processing>
FIG. 15 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of the cart position detection process.
Here, when the RFID tag is detected by the cart reader 31, a cart position detection request is transmitted from the cart 3 to the server 1, and the current position of the cart is detected in the server 1.
When the current position of the cart is near the product shelf, information related to the product corresponding to the detected current position of the cart is transmitted from the server 1 to the TE2.

In step S51, when the cart reader 31 starts the cart position detection process, the contents of the received RFID are initialized.
In step S52, it is checked whether pairing between TE2 and cart 3 is completed. Whether or not pairing has been completed can be determined, for example, based on whether or not a cart ID is read and a reading result including the cart ID is transmitted to TE2.
If pairing is complete, the process proceeds to step S53.

  In step S53, it is checked whether or not the RFID tag 41 is detected. Whether or not the RFID tag is detected can be determined by, for example, receiving a predetermined radio wave and reading out the RFID stored in the RFID tag 41.

If the RFID tag 41 is detected in step S54, the process proceeds to step S55, and if not, the process returns to step S51.
In step S55, the ID (received RFID) received from the RFID tag 41 is stored in the storage unit 37 of the cart reader 31.
In step S56, a position detection request is transmitted to the server 1. Here, the received RFID 39 and the cart ID 38 are included in the position detection request.
Then, it returns to step S51.

On the other hand, when the cart position detection process is started in the server 1, first, in step S <b> 71, the user ID, the cart ID, and the contents of the acquired information to be stored in the storage unit 120 are initialized.
In step S72, it is checked whether a position detection request has been received from the cart reader 31.
If received, the process proceeds to step S73. If not, step S72 is looped.

  In step S73, the current position of the cart is detected using the received RFID 39. Here, it is checked whether or not the ID that matches the received RFID 39 sent from the reader 31 is in the RFID information 122 of the storage unit 120.

When an ID that matches the received RFID 39 is present in the RFID information 122, position information (X, Y) corresponding to the ID is read.
That is, the position information (X, Y) of the RFID tag 41 having an ID that matches the received RFID is acquired. As a result, the position information (X, Y) of the RFID tag 41 that is close to the current position of the cart is acquired, so it is specified where the current position of the cart is in the store.

In step S74, it is checked whether the acquired current position of the cart is near the product shelf 4 or the register device 5. For example, the position information (X, Y) of the current position of the cart is compared with the position information (X, Y) of each merchandise shelf 4 and the position information (X, Y) of the cash register device 5. What is necessary is to check whether the current position is closer to the product shelf or the cash register device.
If the current position of the cart is near the product shelf, the process proceeds to step S75. If the current position of the cart is near the cash register apparatus 5, the process proceeds to step S77.

In step S75, information on the product in the product shelf near the current position of the cart is acquired. Here, for example, information on a product placed on a product shelf on which an RFID tag having a reception RFID is installed is acquired.
Here, the product information is information in the product identification information 125 and the product related information 126 stored in the storage unit 120 of the server.
From these pieces of information (125, 126), information (hereinafter referred to as acquisition information) about the product placed on the product shelf is extracted.

In step S76, the acquired product information (acquired information) and the current position information (X, Y) of the cart are transmitted to the mobile phone TE2. Thereafter, the process returns to step S71.
As a result, information related to the product placed on the product shelf near the cart is transmitted to TE2 attached to the cart 3, so that the information is temporarily stored in TE2.
If the cart is in the vicinity of the cash register apparatus 5, it is considered that the user has finished shopping and is going to make a payment process. Therefore, in step S77, the server 1 sends the user ID, cart ID, and cart to the cash register apparatus 5. Send location information.
Thereafter, the process returns to step S71.
As a result, information regarding the user and the cart who are going to perform the payment process is transmitted to the cash register apparatus 5, and the cash register apparatus 5 can perform the payment process for the product placed in the cart.

<Process when purchasing products>
FIG. 16 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of processing at the time of product purchase performed in the mobile TE of the present invention.
When purchasing a product, the user usually takes out a desired product from the product shelf and puts it in the cart. When such an operation is performed, the user confirms whether or not to purchase by confirming the acquisition information of the product sent from the server.

  Here, when the TE2 decides whether to purchase or not, in order to provide useful information to the user, the TE2 examines the content of the acquired information sent from the server, and performs the above-described predetermined operation. Information that satisfies the determination condition is selected and presented (displayed) to the user.

In addition, there is a case where related information is not sent from the server for a product that the user intends to purchase.
For example, when the product has not been purchased by the user in the past and coupon information or bargain information is not associated with the product, related information based on the purchase history information of the user is not transmitted from the server.
Therefore, it is preferable to read the barcode attached to the product for such a product that the user intends to purchase.
In such a case, the user performs an operation of reading a barcode attached to the product with a camera provided in advance in TE2, and inputs the barcode.
By transmitting the input barcode to the server, the server 1 investigates whether there is useful information related to the product to which the barcode is assigned.

If there is useful information (for example, recommended information regarding a simultaneously purchased product), the useful information is transmitted from the server 1 to the TE 2 and the useful information is displayed on the display unit of the TE 2.
As a result, information that is considered useful is presented (displayed) to the user for each product that the user intends to purchase.

Further, when the barcode of the product to be purchased is read, the barcode may be transmitted to the server and the barcode may be stored as purchase history information of TE2.
There is a possibility that the product to which the read barcode is given is a product that has been put into a cart by the user and is not actually purchased and settled.
However, when the user then goes to the cashier device and completes the settlement, the purchased product for which the settlement has been completed is compared with the purchase history information stored in TE2, and the purchase date is the same as the settlement date. When there is a product that does not match the purchased product in the purchase history information of TE2, the product that does not match may be deleted from the purchase history information of TE2.

First, as shown in step S76 of FIG. 15, the acquisition information of the product in the product shelf near the cart is transmitted from the server 1 to the TE2.
In TE2, in step S91, it is checked whether or not the acquisition information regarding the product is received from the server 1.
If the acquisition information related to the product is received, the process proceeds to step S93, and if not, the process proceeds to step S92.

In step S <b> 93, it is determined whether or not the received product acquisition information is to be provided to the user, and information providing processing for providing useful information is performed. Thereafter, the process returns to step S91.
FIG. 17 shows a detailed flowchart of the information providing process in step S93.

In step S92, it is checked whether or not a barcode is input.
If there is an input barcode, the process proceeds to step S94, and the input barcode 227 is stored in the storage unit 220. If no barcode is input, the process returns to step S91.

In step S95, the input barcode 227 is transmitted to the server 1, and when information related to the product specified by the input barcode is transmitted from the server, information providing processing for the product is performed. Thereafter, the process returns to step S91.
Details of the information providing process in step S95 are shown in FIGS.

FIG. 17 shows a flowchart of an example of information providing processing (step S93) for product information received from a server in the mobile TE.
Here, information that is considered useful for the user is selected from the information related to the received product and provided (displayed) to the user.

In order to select useful information, the determination conditions as described above are used.
For example, a check for expiration date, a check for regularly purchased items, and the like. Based on such determination, the information to be provided is selected and a predetermined message is displayed or so-called profit information (bargain, coupon) is displayed.

In step S101, the purchase history information about the product (acquired product) that is the target of the product information acquired from the server is read from the purchase history information 223 of the owned user stored in TE2.
That is, it is checked whether or not the acquired product is a product that the user has purchased in the past. If the acquired product is a product that has been purchased, the entire purchase history of the acquired product is read out.

In step S102, the purchase history information of the acquired product is checked, the expiry date of the product purchased in the past is checked, and the process of determining whether the expiry date has expired is performed.
Here, if the acquired product has been purchased a plurality of times in the past, attention should be paid to the purchase history of the product purchased on the date closest to the current date.
The expiration date in the purchase history of the product purchased on the recent purchase date is read out. Then, the current date is compared with the read expiration date.

In step S103, if the current date is later than the read expiration date, the expiration date has already passed, so it is determined that the expiration date has passed, and the process proceeds to step S104.
Conversely, if the current date is before or on the same date as the expiration date, it is determined that the expiration date has not yet arrived, and the process proceeds to step S105.

In step S104, a message indicating that the expiration date of the acquired product that the user has purchased in the past has expired is output (displayed) on the display unit of TE2.
By viewing this display, the user can know that the acquired product of interest has been purchased in the past and that the expiration date has expired.
The acquired product that is the target of this message is the target product of the information transmitted from the server, but the product that is the target of the transmitted information is the product that is placed on the product shelf near the current position of the cart It is.

Therefore, if the user confirms that the expiration date has expired and wants to purchase the acquired product, the acquired product is placed on the product shelf near the current position of the user pushing the cart. The product can be taken out immediately.
Therefore, when the user performs an operation of taking out the product, it can be said that the expiration date message is useful information for the user.

In step S105, the purchase history information of the acquired product is checked, and it is determined whether or not the acquired product is a periodic (daily) purchase product for the user.
This determination process may be performed by calculating the date as described above using the date read from the purchase history information.

  In step S106, if the acquired product of interest is a regularly purchased product as a result of the determination process, the process proceeds to step 107. If not, the process proceeds to step S108.

In step S107, since the acquired product is a periodic purchase for the user, a message for preventing forgetting to purchase (for example, “Since it is a product that is regularly purchased, do you need to buy it? It is on the product shelf. ”) Is output (displayed).
If the user sees this message and realizes that he / she needs to buy it, the acquired item is on a nearby shelf and can be quickly retrieved.
Therefore, in this case, the message is useful information for the user.
Conversely, if the acquired product is not a periodic purchase, even if related information about the acquired product is received from the server, by not displaying that information, information that is not useful to the user can be obtained. Displaying can be avoided.

In step S108, it is checked whether the information related to the product acquired from the server includes related information of the acquired product that is currently focused on. If there is no related information, the process ends.
On the other hand, if there is related information, the process proceeds to step S109, and the position where the acquired product is arranged (for example, the position of the product shelf) is displayed on the display unit of TE2.

In step S110, it is checked whether or not the related information of the acquired product includes profit information (bargain information, coupon information) of the acquired product.
If the profit information is included, the process proceeds to step S111, and if not, the process proceeds to step S112.

In step S111, since the discount information is considered to be useful information for the user, the discount information is displayed on the display unit of TE2.
If there is no other acquired information, the process ends.
However, if there is still acquisition information, the process returns to step S101 and the same processing may be repeated.

In step S112, for the acquired product, other related information that is not profit information is displayed on the display unit, and the process ends.
However, all other related information may be displayed, but useful information is obtained by determining whether or not to provide the user based on a predetermined determination criterion using the purchase history information of the user. May be displayed when it is determined.

FIG. 18 and FIG. 19 show a flowchart of an embodiment of the information providing process (step S95) for the product for which the user himself / herself entered the barcode in the mobile TE.
Here, the embodiment mainly obtains the related information about the product to which the inputted barcode is given from the server, and outputs the recommended information related to the simultaneously purchased product that has been purchased by others among the related information. Show about.

In step S121, as in step S101, the purchase history information about the acquired product is read out from the purchase history information stored in the storage unit of TE2.
In step S122, the purchase time of the acquired product purchased in the past is determined.
Here, using the above-described determination criteria, it is checked whether or not the purchase date and time of the acquired product purchased in the past can be determined as recently purchased.
When the acquired product has been purchased a plurality of times in the past, the latest purchase date is set as the determination target date.

  In step S123, if the purchase date and time of the acquired product can be determined as recently purchased, the process proceeds to step S124, and if not, the process proceeds to step S125 in FIG.

In step S124, a message is output (displayed) indicating that the acquired product that is currently the object, that is, the product whose barcode has been read by the user, has been purchased recently. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S125 of FIG.
As a result, the user can be warned that the target product has recently been purchased, and that there is a possibility of duplicate shopping.
If the user sees this message and notices that it is a duplicate purchase, this message is useful information for the user.

FIG. 19 shows a flowchart of the TE2 information providing process and the other person's purchase history matching process performed by the server.
In step S <b> 125, the TE <b> 2 transmits a purchase history verification request of the other person to the server 1. This collation request includes the input barcode stored in step S94 of FIG.
On the other hand, the server first initializes the contents of the collation result in step S141.

  In step S142, it is checked whether or not a request to collate another person's purchase history has been received from TE2. If received, the process proceeds to step S143. If not received, step S142 is looped.

In step S143, purchase history information of another person is acquired from the storage unit 120 of the server.
In step S144, the product information (125, 126) corresponding to the input barcode included in the verification request is read from the storage unit 120, the purchase history information of the other person is searched, and the product corresponding to the input barcode is related. Information (product identification information, product related information) is acquired.

  For example, if the purchase history information of another person includes the product A corresponding to the input barcode, the entire purchase history is read out, and the purchase date and time in the purchase history of the product A is the same date. The purchase history of other purchased products B is also read.

  Here, for other products B that have been read, if a certain number or more of others (for example, 10 or more others) have purchased on the same day as the products A, the information on the other products B It is stored as related information of A. The product B on the same purchase date is a simultaneously purchased product, and the related information of the product B is recommended information for the product A.

For example, as described above, when the product A of the input barcode is “ground meat” and the product B of the simultaneously purchased product is “gyoza skin”, “gyoza skin” is related information of “ground meat”. Remembered.
In step S145, the collation result including the purchase history information of the other person acquired in step S143 and the information (acquisition information) related to the product acquired in step S144 is transmitted to TE2. Thereafter, the process returns to step S141.

In step S126, TE2 waits for the collation result to be received from the server. If the collation result is received, the process proceeds to step S127.
In step S127, the matching result including the received purchase history information of the other person and the acquired information is temporarily stored in the storage unit 220.
In step S128, recommended information related to the product corresponding to the input barcode is extracted from the temporarily stored verification results.
Here, as described above, the recommended information is, for example, information related to a simultaneously purchased product purchased by a certain number or more of the products corresponding to the input barcode.

In step S129, it is checked whether or not recommended information has been extracted. If not, the process ends.
In step S130, the extracted recommended information is output (displayed), and the process ends.
This informs the user of information about other products purchased simultaneously by other people regarding the products for which the user has entered the barcode, so that the user can be more likely to prevent forgetting to buy. For the store, if the user also purchases other products, this can lead to an increase in sales.

<Purchase history update process in mobile TE>
FIG. 20 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of the mobile TE purchase history update process.
The purchase history is updated when the user finishes the purchase of all commodities, goes to the cashier apparatus 5, performs the purchase price payment process, and completes the settlement.
In step S151, it is checked in TE2 whether a purchase history update request has been received from the cashier apparatus 5. If received, the process proceeds to step S152. If not received, the process proceeds to step S153.
The purchase history update request transmitted from the cash register device 5 includes a cart ID, a barcode, and purchased product information corresponding to the barcode.
In step S152, the received purchase product information of the user is temporarily stored.
Thereafter, the process returns to step S151.

In step S153, it is checked whether or not settlement completion is received from the cash register apparatus 5. If not received, the process returns to step S151. If received, the process proceeds to step S154.
In step S154, the purchase history information 223 in the storage unit 220 of TE2 is updated and stored, and the process ends. That is, the received purchase product information is additionally stored in the purchase history information 223.

<Purchase history update process in cash register device and server>
FIG. 21 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of purchase history update processing in the cash register apparatus and the server.
Here, the processing performed by the cash register apparatus 5 and the server 1 when the user finishes the purchase of all the products and completes the settlement by performing the payment processing of the purchase price by the cash register apparatus 5 will be described.
First, as shown in FIG. 15, when the cart position detection process is performed in the server 1 and the cart position is near the cash register device 5, in step S <b> 77, the user ID, the cart ID, and the cart position information. Is transmitted to the cashier apparatus 5.

In the cash register apparatus 5, in step S171, it is checked whether or not information such as the cart position is received from the server 1. If it is not received, step S171 is looped. If it is received, the process proceeds to step S172. Information such as the received cart position is temporarily stored in the storage unit of the cash register apparatus 5.
In step S172, it is confirmed whether the received information includes a cart ID.
If the cart ID is acquired in step S173, the process proceeds to step S174.
Since the paired user can be specified from the acquired cart ID and user ID, the user's settlement and purchase history update processing are performed.
If the cart ID is not acquired, step S173 is looped. At this time, the server 1 may be requested to transmit the cart ID and cart position information again.

In step S174, a barcode is read and input for each product purchased by the user. Here, the person in charge or the user of the cash register apparatus 5 performs an operation of reading the barcode given to the purchased product with a scanner, and inputs the barcode.
In step S175, purchase product information is generated from the input barcode.
Here, the purchased product information is information including, for example, a barcode, a product code, a purchase date / time (current date / time), a quantity, an expiration date, weather (including weather name, temperature, humidity, etc.).

In step S176, the registration device 5 transmits a user purchase history update request to the servers 1 and TE2.
This purchase history update request includes, for example, a cart ID, a barcode, and generated purchased product information.
In step S177, the input of barcodes for all purchased products is completed, payment processing is also performed, and it is checked whether there is an input indicating settlement.
If there is no payment input, the process returns to step S174, and the barcode of the next product is input.
If there is a settlement input, the process proceeds to step S178.

In step S178, information (settlement completion notification) indicating that the settlement has been completed is transmitted to the server 1 and the TE2. Thereafter, the process returns to step S171.
On the other hand, the server 1 checks whether or not a purchase history update request is received from the cashier apparatus 5 in step S161.
If not received, the process proceeds to step S163. If received, the process proceeds to step S162.
In step S162, the received purchase product information of the user is temporarily stored. Thereafter, the process returns to step S161.

In step S163, it is checked whether or not payment completion is received from the cash register apparatus 5. If not received, the process returns to step S161. If received, the process proceeds to step S164.
In step S164, the purchase history information 124 for the user with the user ID paired with the cart ID is updated and stored.
Here, the received purchase product information is additionally stored in the purchase history information 124 of the user. Thereafter, the process returns to step S161.

As described above, after the user purchases the product at the store and the payment is completed, the payment is completed in the purchase history information (124, 223) stored in the server 2 and the TE2 owned by the user. Information about the selected product is added and updated.
20 and FIG. 21, the embodiment in which the purchase history update request is transmitted from the cash register device 5 to the server 1 and the TE 2 is shown. After the above is completed, the purchase history information of the user updated in the server 1 may be transmitted from the server 1 to the TE2.

1 server (information provision device)
2 Mobile terminal TE
3 Cart 4 Product shelf 5 Cash register device 10 Store 31 RFID reader 32 Terminal mounting unit 33 Control unit 34 Terminal communication unit 35 Server communication unit 36 RFID reading unit 37 Storage unit 38 Cart ID
39 Received RFID
41 RFID tag 101 Control unit 102 User information processing unit 103 Cart information processing unit 104 Product information processing unit 110 Communication unit 111 Terminal communication unit 112 Cart communication unit 113 Cash register communication unit 120 Storage unit 121 Pairing information 122 RFID information 123 User information 124 Purchase history information 125 Product identification information 126 Product related information 127 Personal identification information 128 Product detailed information 201 Control unit 202 Server communication unit 203 Device connection unit 204 Display unit 205 Input unit 206 Camera 207 Touch pad 208 Keyboard 209 Mouse 211 Position detection unit 212 Provided information determination unit 213 Personal identification unit 214 Product information acquisition unit 215 Information selection generation unit 220 Storage unit 221 User information 222 Personal identification information 223 Purchase history information 224 Product identification information 225 Product related information 226 Car ID
227 Input barcode 230 program

Claims (14)

A mobile terminal that can store purchased product information and receive product-related information,
A first storage unit that stores user information for identifying an owner and purchase history information of a product that the owner has purchased in the past;
Product information for acquiring information about a product placed near the owner's current position when the owner is carrying a mobile terminal and is going to purchase the product placed in the store. An acquisition unit;
A provision information determination unit that determines whether or not to provide the owner with information about the acquired product using the purchase history information;
As a result of the determination, an information selection generation unit that selects product related information determined to be provided from information related to the product or generates product related information to be provided;
An output unit that provides the owner with the product-related information selected or generated.   One or a plurality of RFID tags having a unique identification number are installed in each of the plurality of product shelves installed in the store, and identification of the RFID tags installed in the product shelves near the current position of the owner The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal is configured to specify the current position of the owner to a position where the RFID tag from which the identification number is read is installed by reading the number.   3. The portable terminal according to claim 2, wherein the identification number of the RFID tag is read by an RFID reader installed in a cart in which the owner puts purchased merchandise. The RFID reader has a second storage unit that stores a cart ID for identifying a cart in which the device is installed, and information related to a product and an identification number of the RFID tag when the identification number of the RFID tag is read. A server that stores and stores the cart ID and the read identification number in a server that stores and manages the product and the RFID tag that are stored in the product shelf;
The server specifies a product shelf on which the RFID tag having the identification number is installed from the identification number of the RFID tag transmitted from the RFID reader, and specifies the current location of the cart and the owner. A cart information processing unit for determining the position of
A product information processing unit that transmits information related to a product placed on the specified product shelf near the current position of the owner to a portable terminal carried by the owner; The mobile terminal according to claim 3. A personal identification unit that acquires the cart ID from the RFID reader and transmits pairing information that associates the user information described in the first storage unit with the acquired cart ID to the server; ,
The server includes a third storage unit that stores the transmitted pairing information,
The server specifies user information associated with the cart ID transmitted from the server communication unit of the RFID reader from the pairing information,
The mobile terminal according to claim 4, wherein the product information processing unit transmits information related to the product to a mobile terminal of an owner specified by the user information.   6. The mobile terminal according to claim 5, wherein the purchase history information is information including a product identification name, a purchase date and time, and an expiration date for each purchased product. When the target product of information related to the product acquired by the product information acquisition unit is stored in the purchase history information,
When the information provision determination unit determines that the target product is a regularly purchased product that is purchased at an interval shorter than a predetermined purchase interval, the information selection generation unit determines that the target product is a regularly purchased product. Generate product-related information to show that
The mobile terminal according to claim 6, wherein the output unit outputs the generated product related information. When the target product of information related to the product acquired by the product information acquisition unit is stored in the purchase history information,
When the difference between the current date and the latest purchase date and time of the target product is smaller than a predetermined numerical value, the information provision determination unit determines that the target product is a product that has been purchased recently,
The said information selection production | generation part produces | generates the merchandise relevant information which shows that the said object goods have purchased recently, The said output part outputs the produced | generated merchandise relevant information. The portable terminal as described in. When the target product of information related to the product acquired by the product information acquisition unit is stored in the purchase history information,
The information provision determination unit compares the current date with the expiration date of the target product purchased last time,
If the current date has already passed the expiration date, it is determined that the last purchased target product has expired,
The information selection generation unit generates product related information indicating that the expiration date of the target product has expired,
The mobile terminal according to claim 6, wherein the output unit outputs the generated product related information. When the target product of information related to the product acquired by the product information acquisition unit is stored in the purchase history information,
The information provision determination unit includes purchase history information of another person different from the owner in the acquired information on the product, and includes a simultaneously purchased product purchased by the other person on the same day as the target product. If
The said information selection production | generation part includes the said simultaneous purchase goods in the merchandise relevant information of the said target goods, and the said output part outputs the merchandise relevant information containing the said simultaneous purchase goods. The portable terminal as described in. The target product of information related to the product acquired by the product information acquisition unit is stored in the purchase history information,
When information on the product acquired by the product information acquisition unit includes coupon information or bargain information intended to promote the target product,
When the information provision determination unit determines that the target product is a regularly purchased product purchased at an interval shorter than a predetermined purchase interval,
The information selection generation unit selects coupon information or bargain information of the target product as product related information from among the information about the acquired product,
The mobile terminal according to claim 6, wherein the output unit outputs the selected product related information.   The product information acquisition unit reads a barcode attached to a product placed near the current position of the owner, transmits the read barcode to the server, and information on the product specified by the barcode The mobile terminal according to claim 5, wherein the mobile terminal is acquired from a server.   The portable terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the output unit is a display unit that displays the product-related information to be provided. A mobile device that stores purchased product information and receives product-related information;
A cart with an RFID reader that reads the identification number of an RFID tag with a unique identification number installed on a product shelf in the store;
A server that stores information about products and identification numbers of RFID tags, and associates and manages the products arranged on the product shelves and RFID tags, is an information providing system connected via a network,
When the RFID reader reads a cart ID for identifying the cart and the identification number of the RFID tag, the cart ID and the read identification number are transmitted to the server. A server communication unit,
The server identifies the product shelf on which the RFID tag having the identification number is installed from the identification number of the RFID tag transmitted by the server communication unit, and determines the current position of the owner carrying the cart and the portable terminal A cart information processing unit that determines the position of the identified product shelf;
A product information processing unit that selects and transmits to the owner's mobile terminal information related to a product placed on the specified product shelf near the current position of the owner,
A fifth storage unit in which the mobile terminal stores user information for identifying the owner, and purchase history information of products purchased by the owner in the past;
A product information acquisition unit that acquires information about the product transmitted from the product information processing unit when the owner is moving in the store together with the mobile terminal and the cart;
Whether or not to provide the owner with the information about the acquired product using the purchase history information when the target product of the information about the acquired product is stored in the purchase history information A provided information determination unit for determining
As a result of the determination, an information selection generation unit that selects product related information determined to be provided from information related to the product or generates product related information to be provided;
An information providing system comprising: an output unit that provides the owner with the selected or generated product related information.