JPH09311891A - Automatic exchange and payment device for currency - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to execute an electronic business transaction via the payment and the exchange of electronic currency which are simultaneously performed and to deal with many types of currency, by performing the exchange of currency simultaneously with the payment of the charge or a purchased commodity when the types of currency are different between a consumer and a store. SOLUTION: When the ordering information is sent to the automatic currency exchange/payment device 7 via a consumer terminal 4, the device 7 inquires about the type of currency. Then the electronic currency stored in an electronic purse 1 of the consumer is sent to an electronic currency exchange part 6 of a bank, and the exchange of currency is asked to the bank. Receiving the exchange request from the device 7, the part 6 converts an amount of money into the currency of another country and sends it to the device 7. Receiving the converted currency, the device 7 sends the electronic currency to a store terminal 5. The terminal 5 stores the received electronic currency in an electronic purse 2 of a store.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic currency exchange payment device for automatically exchanging currencies between a plurality of countries online when paying for shopping using electronic money.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the progress of internationalization, it is more and more necessary to sell a product not only in its own currency but also in another country's currency. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of an electronic cash register disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56-27469, which is suitable for such use. In the figure, 10 is an electronic cash register, 11 is an operator display unit provided on the upper front surface of the electronic cash register 10, 12 is an operation unit, 13 is a receipt issuing port, 14
Is a journal window, 15 is a drawer for storing money, 1
6 is a remote display unit for customers.

To perform a payment operation with this apparatus, first, the keys of the operation unit 12 are operated to preset the exchange rates for the currencies of dollar, franc, mark, and pound. Next, the product code and the price are input from the operation unit 12.
The input data is displayed on the operator display unit 11 and the customer remote display unit 16 and simultaneously printed out on the journal inspection window 14. When the input is completed, the operator display unit 11 and the customer remote display unit 1
The total amount of money is displayed in yen in 6 and is printed out on the journal inspection window 14. When the customer requests payment in a currency of another country, for example, dollar, the amount of dollar is calculated based on the preset exchange rate, and the operator display unit 1
1 is displayed on the customer remote display unit 16 and is printed out in the journal. You can also combine multiple currencies for payment. If there is change, the change in yen is calculated, displayed on the operator display unit 11 and the customer remote display unit 16 and printed out on the journal inspection window 14.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-60900 discloses that
Disclosed is an electronic cash register that has means for storing exchange rates between countries, and converts the fishing amount into currencies of multiple countries based on the stored exchange rates and pays it or pays to a credit card or the like. .

The conventional device having such a structure has means for storing the exchange rate between countries, and displays the price in the currency of another country selected by the customer to facilitate the payment, or makes a plurality of change amounts. Since it can be converted into national currency and paid, it can be considered as a form of cash register having a currency exchange function, and the customer does not have to consider currency exchange.

Further, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 60-181896 is provided with an exchange rate storage means for storing an exchange rate transmitted from a center connected online, and the exchange rate transmitted online is used in the home country. There is a description of an automatic money changer that exchanges currencies to other countries 'currencies or other countries' currencies to their own currencies.

[0007]

The method using the above-mentioned conventional device has the following problems.

(1) Since the actual currency is exchanged,
I cannot do electronic commerce using the network.

(2) Since the amounts of money in different currencies are calculated and paid based on the exchange rates registered in advance,
Whenever the exchange rate is changed, it is necessary to reset the exchange rate each time, which requires labor and time.

(3) The store must always store the currency of the other country in the cash register in order to receive the payment in the currency of the other country and to pay the change to the customer. It is necessary to exchange with the currency of, that is, exchange regularly. However, the exchange of currencies had to be done at banks, which was time consuming, labor intensive, and needed to have a large cash register in order to be able to handle a large variety of currencies.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and a first object thereof is to make it possible to carry out electronic commerce by exchanging electronic money at the same time as payment, and to carry out various kinds of currencies. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic exchange and payment device for currencies that saves the currency of other countries in order to handle money and eliminates the hassle of consumers consciously exchanging money, and enables smooth commercial transactions.

[0012] A second object is to obtain an automatic currency exchange payment device which can always perform exchange processing at the latest exchange rate without changing the setting of the exchange rate.

A third object is to eliminate the need for a store to visit a bank to exchange the currency of another country with the currency of its own country, that is, to exchange money on a regular basis, and to dispense with a money changer or a large cash register. Is to get a currency automatic payment device.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An automatic currency exchange and payment device according to the present invention uses a type and amount of currency held by a consumer and the currency of a store when paying for shopping using electronic money. The necessity of exchange is determined by the means for determining the necessity of exchange, and when the exchange is necessary, it automatically connects to the bank online, and the electronic money of its own country is converted into the electronic currency of another country and the electronic money of the other country Electronic trading is performed by electronically exchanging electronic money of the home country.

According to the automatic currency exchange payment apparatus of the present invention, if it is necessary to exchange electronic money at the time of payment, the online currency is automatically connected to a bank, and electronic money is exchanged as much as necessary for payment. It is possible that both the store and the consumer have only their own currency. That is,
There is no need to store currencies of other countries or to have a money changer or cash register in order to handle multiple currencies in business transactions, which simplifies the payment procedure and system configuration and is convenient for use. is there.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiment 1. FIG. 1 shows an automatic currency exchange payment system configured by installing a currency automatic exchange payment device according to a first embodiment of the present invention on the consumer side. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a consumer electronic wallet. 2 is an electronic wallet for a store and 3 is an electronic wallet for a bank. In the description of the invention according to this application, electronic information given a monetary value by using a part or all of a storage device will be referred to as “electronic money”. Electronic money is information for making payment from an electronic wallet, and has at least its value, that is, the amount of money that can be used. The electronic wallets 1, 2, and 3 are respectively
It can store electronic money in multiple currencies owned by consumers, shops, and banks.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a consumer user terminal used by the consumer to handle payment using electronic money, which is used by the consumer to operate the electronic wallet 1, that is, to take out and put in electronic money and purchase goods. It has functions and. Reference numeral 5 denotes a store use terminal used by the store for dealing with payment using electronic money, which has functions of operating the electronic wallet 2 of the store and selling products. Reference numeral 6 denotes an electronic money exchange unit of the bank, which has a function of operating the electronic wallet 3 of the bank and exchanging the received electronic money with the designated electronic money. Reference numeral 7 denotes an automatic currency exchange payment device according to the present invention, which has various functions required when a consumer purchases a product.

In FIG. 1, an arrow shown by a solid line shows an actual flow of electronic money, and an arrow shown by a dotted line shows from which electronic wallet electronic money is taken out and which electronic wallet is stored. There is. When the consumer decides the product to be purchased and sends the order information to the automatic currency exchange payment device 7 via the consumer use terminal 4, the automatic exchange payment device 7 first asks the store about the price of the desired product. Inquire about the type of currency the store has. After that, the electronic money stored in the electronic wallet 1 of the consumer is taken out, the electronic money is sent to the electronic money exchange unit 6 of the bank, and the exchange of the currency is requested. The electronic money exchange unit 6 of the bank, which has received the request for the exchange from the automatic exchange payment device 7, stores the received electronic money in the electronic wallet 3 of the bank. Then, the remaining amount after subtracting the numerology is converted into the currency of another country, the corresponding electronic money is taken out from the electronic wallet 3 of the bank, and sent to the automatic exchange payment device 7. The currency automatic exchange / payment device 7 that has received the electronic currency exchanged for the currency of another country sends the electronic currency to the store use terminal 5. The store use terminal 5 stores the received electronic money in the electronic wallet 2 of the store.

FIG. 2 shows a flow chart when the automatic currency exchange payment apparatus of FIG. 1 is constructed as software on a computer. When constructing the automatic exchange payment device with software, the electronic wallets 1, 2 in FIG.
3 is secured in a fixed disk device or other storage device as a storage unit for files and the like. A program for taking in and out electronic money from the electronic wallets 1 and 2 runs on the consumer use terminal 4 and the store use terminal 5. further,
A program for electronically purchasing a product is running on the consumer use terminal 4, and a program for electronically receiving an order for selling a product is running on the store use terminal 5. In the electronic money exchange unit 6 of the bank, a program for operating an electronic wallet and exchanging electronic money for electronic money of another currency is running. The automatic exchange payment device 7 replaces the program and manages automatic currency exchange when paying a fee. The automatic exchange and payment system for currencies built on a computer is connected to shops, banks, etc. via telephone lines and other communication lines, and combined with an ordering system such as electronic catalog shopping to select products, from ordering to payment. Can be done online.

Next, the processing flow shown in FIG. 2 will be described step by step. When the product to be purchased is determined and the ordering process is started, first, in step 1, the type of currency held by the store and the price in that currency are inquired. Then, in step 2, it is checked whether the currency held by the consumer is the same as the currency held by the store. If they are the same, there is no need to exchange currencies, so the process jumps to step 8, and if the amount charged is in the consumer's electronic wallet 1, the process proceeds to step 7. If not, the process proceeds to step 9 and an error message is output. If the currencies are different, go to step 3.

[0021] In step 3, the bank is connected online to inquire about the exchange rate and the fee between the currency that the user has and the currency that the store has, and in step 4, the amount paid by the consumer is calculated from the information. Calculate and display in consumer currency. Then, in step 5, it is determined whether or not there is enough electronic money in the consumer's electronic wallet 1 to pay, and if there is, it proceeds to step 6 and the consumer's electronic wallet 1
After the required amount of money is taken out from the store and sent to the bank for exchange with the currency of the store, in step 7, the exchanged electronic currency is sent to the store. The store stores the received electronic money in the electronic wallet 2 of the store. If there is not enough electronic money to purchase the product, the process jumps to step 9, an error message indicating that fact is output, and the process ends.

As described above, according to the apparatus of the present embodiment, when it is necessary to exchange electronic money at the time of payment of money, the electronic money is automatically connected to the bank and the electronic currency is exchanged as much as necessary. You can make payments by paying, so both the store and the consumer need to have only their own currency. In other words, there is no need to put a money changer or cash register to store a large number of currencies and store the currencies of other countries, which simplifies the payment procedure and system and is convenient for use.

Embodiment 2 FIG. In the automatic currency exchange payment device according to the first embodiment, the consumer always exchanges the national currency to be paid with a unified currency valid on the network and pays it to the store, and the store receives the received unified currency. May be exchanged. In this case, the money exchange section of the bank is configured to exchange the electronic money accepted in each country with the electronic money unified on the network. With such a configuration, it is possible to simplify the configuration of the automatic currency exchange and payment device and the currency exchange section of the bank, which is advantageous in terms of cost.

Embodiment 3. In the above automatic currency exchange payment device, inquire the exchange rate and fee to the bank before actually exchanging electronic money, and calculate and display the amount of the product in the currency of your country plus the bank's mathematics You may do it. By doing so, it is possible to know the payment amount in the currency of the home country before actually exchanging the electronic money, and therefore it is possible to carry out the commercial transaction with sufficient information and prospects for the price.

Embodiment 4 Further, when the exchange rate is changed during the actual exchange of the currency after inquiring about the exchange rate, it may be possible to wait until the exchange rate does not cause a loss and then request the exchange.
In this case, there is no discrepancy between the exchange rate at the time of making an inquiry and the actual exchange rate, so that the fear of complaints from consumers can be eliminated.

Embodiment 5 In addition, the exchange rate is automatically downloaded from the bank at the time when the exchange rate is determined on that day, and is stored in the database. Then, when the exchange rate is changed, the database may be automatically updated. By doing this, the exchange rate data is kept at hand, and it is not necessary to connect to the bank online to inquire about the exchange rate data, so that a faster exchange payment process for electronic money can be realized. You can

Embodiment 6 FIG. Further, the exchange rate and the fee may be examined for a plurality of banks, and the most advantageous bank for the consumer may be searched for to request the exchange of currency. By doing so, it is possible to exchange money under the most advantageous conditions for consumers.

Embodiment 7 In addition, by providing a means to automatically determine the type of currency used by the consumer and displaying the price of the product on the consumer's terminal in the consumer's currency, the operation from the consumer user terminal is simplified. can do.

Embodiment 8 FIG. 3 shows an automatic exchange payment system in which an automatic exchange payment device is installed not in a terminal used by a consumer but in a store, and the currency is automatically exchanged when an electronic wallet is used for payment at the store. Is. If a portable one such as an IC card is used as the electronic wallet, even in areas with different currencies, it is possible to easily pay for shopping at the store using electronic money. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 8 is an electronic wallet access device that can read and write an electronic wallet installed in a store, and corresponds to an IC card reader when the electronic wallet is an IC card. When the consumer decides to purchase the item, the electronic wallet access device 8 looks up the type of consumer-owned currency in the consumer's electronic wallet 1. If the currency the consumer has and the currency the store has are different, inquire the exchange rate and fee to the bank and the price of the product including the mathematics paid when exchanging the currency at the bank Is calculated in the currency that the consumer has and is displayed on the store use terminal 5. Then, the electronic money of that amount is taken out from the consumer's electronic wallet 1, exchanged at the bank, and then stored in the electronic wallet 2 of the store as the purchase price of the product.

According to the above-mentioned configuration, the consumer carries an IC card as an electronic wallet, goes to the store, selects a necessary product, and then an IC card reader which is an electronic wallet access device installed in the store. By simply inserting the IC card into the, you can make payments without being aware of the exchange procedure.

Embodiment 9 If you install an automatic exchange payment device in the bank and the consumer pays the amount charged by the store with the electronic payment device installed in the bank together with the math department to the bank with electronic currency of your own currency, the bank will exchange the currency. When applied to a system for paying to a store, a consumer can pay the purchase price to the store while staying at a bank.

[0032]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

1) Even when the consumer and the store use different currencies, it is sufficient that both the store and the consumer have their own currencies by simultaneously exchanging money when paying for the purchased product. This saves the trouble of storing the currencies of, and consciously changing money for consumers, and eliminates the need for a money changer or cash register, which simplifies the payment procedure and system and reduces the time and labor required for money exchange. It is possible to omit and carry out commerce smoothly.

2) By exchanging electronic currency that is valid in each country with electronic currency that is unified on the network, the structure of the automatic currency exchange and payment device and the exchange unit of the bank can be simplified, which is advantageous in terms of cost. .

3) Even if the bank is inquired about the exchange rate and the fee before actually exchanging electronic money, the price of the product in the currency of the home country is calculated and displayed by adding the bank's math skill to the displayed amount. Good. By doing this,
Since you can know the payment amount in your own currency before actually exchanging electronic money, you can make transactions with sufficient information and prospects for the price. Moreover, when purchasing a product at a foreign store, neither the consumer nor the store has the currency of another country, and it is possible to carry out a commercial transaction smoothly without considering the exchange of the currency.

4) If the exchange rate has changed during the actual exchange of currencies after inquiring about the exchange rate, wait until the exchange rate does not cause a loss and then request the exchange. As a result, there is no discrepancy between the exchange rate at the time of making an inquiry and the actual exchange rate, and it is possible to eliminate the risk of complaints from consumers.

5) By downloading the exchange rate and keeping the data in the database at hand, there is no need to connect to the bank online to inquire about the exchange rate data, and the exchange payment processing of electronic money can be performed more quickly. Can be realized.

6) Examine the exchange rates and fees of a plurality of banks, search for the most advantageous bank for the consumer, and request the exchange of currency, thereby exchanging money on the most advantageous condition for the consumer. It can be carried out.

7) Operation from the consumer terminal by providing means for automatically discriminating the type of currency used by the consumer and displaying the price of the product on the consumer's terminal in the consumer's currency. Can be simplified.

8) By installing an automatic exchange / payment device in a store and making payment using an electronic wallet at the store, the consumer carries an IC card as an electronic wallet and goes to the store,
After selecting the necessary products, simply insert the IC card into the IC card reader, which is an electronic wallet access device installed in the store, and payment can be done smoothly without being aware of the exchange procedure.

9) An automatic exchange payment device is installed in a bank, and when the consumer pays the amount charged by the store from the device installed in the bank together with the mathematics department to the bank, the currency is exchanged at the bank and then the store is replaced. By applying it to an automatic exchange payment system for making payments, it becomes possible for consumers to pay shopping prices from banks to shops.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an automatic currency exchange payment system including an automatic currency exchange payment apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the automatic currency exchange payment device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an automatic currency exchange payment system including an automatic currency exchange payment apparatus according to an eighth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a conventional electronic cash register.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 consumer electronic wallet, 2 store electronic wallet, 3 bank electronic wallet, 4 consumer terminal, 5 store terminal,
6 Electronic money exchange departments of banks, 7 Automatic currency payment devices, 8 Electronic wallet access devices.

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Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A means for inquiring a store about a price of purchased goods and a type of currency, a means for judging necessity of exchange based on a type and amount of currency held by a consumer and a currency of the store, and a network at the time of payment. It automatically connects to the bank online from the terminal of, and asks the bank to exchange money for electronically exchanging electronic money of its own country with electronic money of another country and electronic money of another country with electronic money of its own country. , An automatic currency exchange payment device comprising means for paying the price of goods to a store using electronic money according to the result of exchange at a bank. 2. The automatic currency exchange payment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein electronic money is exchanged for a unified currency that is valid on a network and payment is made. 3. The automatic currency conversion system according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising means for connecting to a bank online during a transaction, inquiring about an exchange rate, and calculating and displaying an amount of a commodity in a home currency. Exchange payment device. 4. When the exchange rate changes during the actual exchange of currencies after inquiring about the exchange rate,
4. The automatic currency exchange payment apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising means for performing currency exchange after waiting until the exchange rate is not lost. 5. The automatic currency conversion system according to claim 1, further comprising means for downloading the exchange rate at a time when the exchange rate is determined on that day, converting the exchange rate into a database, and updating the database when there is a change. Exchange payment device. 6. The automatic currency exchange payment apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a bank with the most favorable exchange rate and fee is searched from a plurality of banks and a currency exchange is requested. 7. The automatic currency exchange payment device according to claim 1, further comprising means for automatically detecting a currency held by a consumer. 8. The automatic currency exchange payment apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for performing currency exchange according to information input from an electronic wallet access device, which is installed in a store. 9. The bank is installed in a bank, and when the consumer pays the amount charged by the store together with the maths to the bank with the electronic currency of the home currency in the bank, the bank exchanges the currency of the store and pays the store. The automatic currency exchange payment device according to claim 1, characterized in that.