Identification information supervising method, portal information providing apparatus, and IC card

• US 10,013,696 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2002
• Issued: 07/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kawashima, Takashi, Hagiwara, Kotaro, Hayaashi, Hirofumi, Goishi, Shinya
• Primary Examiner(s): JOSEPH, TONYA S
• Application Number:
  US10/432,710
• Publication Number:
  US 20040148186A1
• Time in Patent Office: 5,758 Days
• Field of Search: 705 5- 6
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

An identification information centralizing method capable of receiving services provided by a plurality of corporations by using a single item of identification information. Centralized ID information (162) for identifying a customer is assigned by a centralizing corporation. Individual ID information (168) which is uniquely assigned to identify the customer by a plurality of corporations which provide services to a pre-registered customer is registered in a database (160) in such a manner as to be associated with the centralized ID information (162), so that provision of services by a plurality of corporations is made possible by using the single item of centralized ID information (162).

Claims

1. A method for distributing service information from a computer apparatus of a first corporation to a terminal apparatus of a customer, the first corporation centralizing services provided by a plurality of corporations to the customer, the method comprising:

the computer apparatus assigning centralized identification information to the customer, the centralized identification information being registered in a database of the computer apparatus and recorded in an IC card issued to the customer;

the computer apparatus registering, in the database, individual identification information assigned by each of the corporations to the customer, and associating the individual identification information with the centralized identification information;

the computer apparatus receiving the centralized identification information recorded in the IC card through a card reader coupled to the terminal apparatus of the customer, thereby authenticating the customer, the card reader being contactlessly communicable with the IC card;

the computer apparatus registering, in the database, service identification information that identifies the services provided by the corporations, and associating the service identification information with the centralized identification information registered in the database;

the computer apparatus extracting service identification information from the database based on the centralized identification information;

the computer apparatus narrowing the extracted service identification information in accordance with an area code of the customer obtained on the basis of a purchase history of the customer;

the computer apparatus obtaining, from one or more of the corporations, service information corresponding to the narrowed service identification information; and

the computer apparatus distributing the service information to the terminal apparatus of the customer,

wherein the area code of the customer obtained on the basis of the purchase history is determined based on stored locations of prior transactions using the IC card with the card reader, and

wherein the prior transactions of the purchase history of the customer are stored in sequence based on time of purchase, and when the stored purchase history of the customer exceeds a predetermined number of transactions or a predetermined period of time has passed since purchase, older transactions of the purchase history are deleted in sequence starting with an oldest transaction such that the location of each deleted transaction is no longer used to determine the area code of the customer.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

recording customer information of the customer, and associating the customer information with the centralized identification information;

selecting the service information obtained from the one or more of the corporations based on the customer information; and

distributing the selected service information.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the customer information comprises at least one of area information including a location where the customer lives, and history information including the services previously received from the one or more of the corporations.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the area code of the customer is further obtained on the basis of at least one of an address, a postal-code number, and a phone number of the customer.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the area code of the customer comprises a plurality of area codes obtained on the basis of statistical processing of the prior transactions of the purchase history.

4. A method for distributing customized service information from a computer apparatus of a first corporation to a terminal apparatus of a customer via a network, using an IC card issued by the first corporation to the customer, the IC card recording centralized identification information assigned by the first corporation to the customer, wherein the first corporation centralizes services provided by a plurality of corporations to the customer, the method comprising:

registering, in a database of the computer apparatus, service identification information that identifies the services provided by the corporations, and associating the service identification information with the centralized identification information;

registering, in the database, individual identification information assigned by each of the corporations to the customer, and associating the individual identification information with the centralized identification information;

recording, in the database, personal information of the customer including an area code of the customer obtained on the basis of a purchase history of the customer, and associating the personal information of the customer with the centralized identification information;

receiving the centralized identification information recorded in the IC card by accessing the IC card using a card reader coupled to the terminal apparatus of the customer, thereby to authenticate the customer;

extracting service identification information from the database based on the centralized identification information;

retrieving service information from servers of the corporations in accordance with the extracted service identification information;

generating the customized service information by narrowing the service information in accordance with the personal information of the customer; and

distributing the customized service information to the terminal apparatus of the customer,

wherein the area code of the customer obtained on the basis of the purchase history is determined based on stored locations of prior transactions using the IC card with the card reader, and

wherein the prior transactions are stored in sequence in the database based on time of purchase, and when the stored personal information of the customer exceeds a predetermined number of transactions or a predetermined period of time has passed since purchase, older items of the personal information are deleted in sequence starting with an oldest transaction such that the location of each deleted transaction is no longer used to determine the area code of the customer.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein receiving the centralized identification information comprises wirelessly accessing the IC card by the card reader.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein the area code of the customer is further obtained on the basis of at least one of an address, a postal-code number, and a phone number of the customer.

9. The method according to claim 4, wherein the area code of the customer comprises a plurality of area codes obtained on the basis of statistical processing of the prior transactions of the purchase history.