Patent ID: 12211107

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A system for handling and storing purchase transactions between a user and point-of-sales is depicted inFIG.1.

The system comprises a number of point-of-sales10, which may be in form of a physical store or an online store or a company, and a user20. The point-of-sale10comprises a receipt module12for generating electronic receipts, a warranty module14for generating electronic warranties, and an extraction module16for extracting a price and information about an item for sale. The extraction module16may also be implemented at the user20, e.g. in an app installed on a smart phone.

When the user20purchases (illustrated with arrow50) an item (or items) from the point-of-sale10, the point-of-sale10generates an electronic receipt related to the purchased item via the receipt module12, and an electronic warranty related to the purchased item via the warranty module14. The point-of-sale10further extracts a price and information about the purchased item via the extraction module16. The point-of-sale10may send the electronic receipt to the user20or print a physical receipt to the user10(as illustrated with arrow52). However, the system according to the invention makes the necessity of physical receipts superfluous. The purchase may be carried out via a point-of-sale terminal in a physical shop and the user20may use a debit card, a credit card or a mobile phone for the payment. If the purchase is carried out online, the user20may enter a credit card number or debit card number or other into the system in order to facilitate the payment.

The point-of-sale10sends (illustrated with arrow60) the electronic receipt, the warranty, and the price and information about the purchased item to an accounting system30. This will be carried out electronically, and may be carried out via an email, a document transfer, text message, MMS or the like. The point-of-sale10may further relay (illustrated with arrow the price and information about the purchased item to a service provider40, such as a credit card provider, a bank or the like. The service provider40comprises an account42associated with the user, e.g. the credit card or debit card of the user. Accordingly, the account42at the service provider40may automatically be updated and balanced by entering the post and automatically sending the post to the service provider40, thus balancing the bank account or credit/debit card account so that it is clear which payment have been checked off.

Further, as known from prior art systems, if there is not sufficient funds in the account42, the service provider40may send a warning (illustrated with arrow72) to the point-of-sale and the purchase may be cancelled.

The information about the location or address, e.g. a telephone number, IP-address, or email address, of the accounting system30may be associated with the user profile22or by the payment method or account used. Thus, the point-of-sale10may receive the information about the location or address from the user profile22or the payment method, after which the point-of-sale10sends the information and price about the payment as well as the electronic receipt to said location or address. The information about the location and address may also be provided by the user20. Thus, the system may also be able to handle cash purchases.

The accounting system30may be provided by a software program, which is installed on an external server or cloud. The accounting system30comprises a number of user profiles32associated with different user profiles or companies. The accounting system30further comprises a receipt storage module or folder34, a warranty storage module or folder36, and a bookkeeping module38. Once the electronic receipt, the electronic warranty, and the price and information about the purchased item is received by the accounting system30, the electronic receipt is stored in the receipt storage module34, and the electronic warranty is stored in a warranty storage module. Further, the price and information about the purchased item is entered into the bookkeeping module and associated by a user profile of the user.

Thereby, the bookkeeping records are automatically updated upon purchase of an item. Further the receipt and warranty are automatically stored in the accounting system30, whereby the user can check the receipt and warranty for possible errors. In practice, the receipt may also function as the warranty, in which case only the receipt needs to be stored or duplicated.

In the shown embodiment, the price and information about the purchased item is sent directly to the accounting system30. However, it may also be relayed to the accounting system30via the service provider40, in which case the service provider40may perceived as being part of the accounting system30. In yet another embodiment, the price and information is sent to the user20, e.g. to a smart phone or PC of the user20, which then relays it to the accounting system30.

The bookkeeping module38may be installed on the external server. However, it may also be installed on an additional server. The bookkeeping module38may for instance be an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, such as SAP, in which case the price and information about the purchased item need not to be store on the external server or cloud. However, in a preferred embodiment, the bookkeeping module38is stored on the external server and balanced upon receipt of price and information about the purchased item. If an ERP system or the like needs to be updated, the accounting system30may relay the price and information to the ERP system (not shown). This may be particular advantageous for companies or firms.

In the shown solution, the extraction module16is implemented at the point-of-sale10, such that the point-of-sale10sends the price and information about the purchased item to the accounting system30. However, the extraction module16may be implemented on the accounting system30instead, and the extraction module may for instance extract the price and information about the price from the electronic receipt.

The information about the purchased item may comprise any combination of the following: purchase date, purchase time, name of the point-of-sale, location, price, product name, manufacturer name, product type or category, and the like. Thus, a number of details may be stored in the bookkeeping module, which may be important for accounting and tax purposes.

The user profile32of a user may have entered an associated budget, e.g. a forecast of spending for an individual or a family, or a maximum spend per day or per month. If the budget has been exceeded, the accounting system60may transmit a warning (illustrated with arrow62), may be in order to cancel the purchase. The accounting system62may also precautionary send (illustrated with arrow82) the warning to the service provider40.

Once a purchase has been carried out, the accounting system30may also update the user profile32associated with the user, e.g. updating a purchase history and an offer/advertising profile. The accounting system30may send the offer/advertising profile to the point-of-sale and other point-of-sales, i.e. shops, whereby the point-of-sale may generate target offer/advertisements to the user20based on the user's purchase history. The user20will have an option to accept or decline such targeted advertisements. The user20may also request for an offer/adverting profile to be set up, in which case, the user20do not have to accept or decline the targeted offers/advertisements.

The user20may have access to his or her user profile22and account details via a front end that mirrors the user profile32from the accounting system30. The front end may be a software program installed on a PC or a MAC, or it may be a software application installed on a smart device, such as a smart phone or a tablet. The front end may also be web-based so that the user20may access the user profile22and account details from anywhere. The user20may thus access the user profile22and account details from anywhere via the app or the web-based access. The accounting system30pushes (illustrated with arrow90) the updated user profile and account details to the front end. The user20may update the user profile22via the front end, which is then sent to the accounting system30(illustrated with arrow92). The user may set preferences, such as budgets, advertising preferences and the like.

It is possible for a user to set up a plurality of user profiles. Thereby, the user can have several bookkeeping records and accounts balanced. The bookkeeping records and accounts of the plurality of user profiles may be shown separately, but may also be combined to show complete bookkeeping records and accounts. This is particular relevant for companies and firms, which may have several employees and departments. Thus, the system allows showing the spending of separate users or departments and for the entire company or firm.

The purchase may comprise a plurality of items. In such a case, the point-of-sale may generate a separate electronic receipt and possible electronic warranty for each item. The price and information about each item is extracted and stored in separate records in the bookkeeping module38, such that each purchased item is properly balanced and entered into the bookkeeping records.

The entire system is updated in real-time. Thus, the user having for instance a mobile phone may instant access his or her account to check the records to see if any errors have occurred, but more importantly to check off purchases and balancing the accounts as well as storing the electronic receipts.

FIG.2illustrates the method for handling and storing purchase transactions between a user and point-of-sales according to the invention.

In a first step110, a user purchases an item from a point-of-sale, either in a physical shop or via an online shop. In a second step112, the point-of-sale generates documentation. The documentation may comprise an electronic receipt, an electronic warranty, and a price and information about the purchased item. The documentation is then in a third step114transmitted to the accounting system. In a fourth step116, the documentation is stored in the accounting system. The accounting system may for instance store the electronic receipt in a dedicated folder on a server, where the dedicated folder may be associated with the user profile of the user. The accounting system may further store the electronic warranty in a dedicated folder. The user may be prompted to decide if the electronic receipt should be stored as an electronic warranty. In a fifth step118, the bookkeeping records and accounts related to the user's user profile are updated and balanced. Further, the user profile may in a sixth step120be updated, e.g. to reflect a purchase history and purchase preferences.

The accounting system may generate a warning and send this to the user, if the purchase exceeds a predetermined budget for said user.

The accounting system may further store a date about an expiry of a warranty. The accounting system sends a warning to the user a predetermined number of days before the expiry of the warranty. Thus, the user receives a reminder of the expiry of the warranty, whereby the user is able to check the purchased item a final time for possible defects within the warranty period. The accounting system may advantageously generate and store the date about the expiry of the warranty based on national or regional laws of the location of the point-of-sale. The system or software program may continuously be updated with changes in national law so that the user at all times is ensured that the warranty laws are complied with.

The accounting system (or point-of-sale) may be based on the user profile generate targeted advertisements, which may be pushed to the user's front end. The user may accept or decline to receive advertisements, which can be set up by editing the preferences of the user profile.

The accounting system30and user20have been shown as two different systems, i.e. a smart phone or PC of the user20, and an external server30. However, in a simple embodiment, the accounting system30may also be implemented on the PC or smart phone of the user20.

The invention has been described with reference to advantageous embodiments. However, the scope of the invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiments, and alterations and modifications can be carried out without deviating from the scope of the invention, which is defined by the claims.