阅读说明：本技术 支付管理装置、支付管理系统和支付管理方法 (Payment management apparatus, payment management system, and payment management method ) 是由 藤原崇雄 于 2021-03-29 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供能够细致地管理用户的支付的执行状态的支付管理装置、支付管理系统和支付管理方法。支付管理装置(1)具备：支付判定部(122),其基于确定了用户(U)在多个截止日期进行支付的协议,每当截止日期到来时,判定到所述截止日期为止是否进行了支付；延迟支付判定部(123),其在到所述截止日期为止未支付的情况下,判定是否进行了所述截止日期过期后的支付；以及评价决定部(124),其基于所述支付判定部(122)以及所述延迟支付判定部(123)的判定结果,决定所述用户(U)的评价。(The invention provides a payment management device, a payment management system and a payment management method, which can finely manage the execution state of payment of a user. A payment management device (1) is provided with: a payment determination unit (122) that determines whether or not payment has been made until an expiration date, each time the expiration date arrives, based on a protocol that specifies that a user (U) made payment on a plurality of expiration dates; a delayed payment determination unit (123) that determines whether or not payment has been made after the expiration date when payment has not been made by the expiration date; and an evaluation determination unit (124) that determines the evaluation of the user (U) based on the determination results of the payment determination unit (122) and the delayed payment determination unit (123).)

1. A payment management device is provided with:

a payment determination unit (122) that determines whether or not payment has been made until the expiration date, each time the expiration date arrives, based on a protocol that specifies that the user (U) made payment on a plurality of expiration dates;

a delayed payment determination unit (123) that determines whether or not payment has been made after the expiration date when payment has not been made by the expiration date; and

and an evaluation determination unit (124) that determines the evaluation of the user (U) based on the determination results of the payment determination unit (122) and the delayed payment determination unit (123).

2. The payment management apparatus of claim 1,

the payment management device is provided with: an evaluation storage unit (132) that stores the evaluation determined by the evaluation determination unit (124) in association with the user (U); and

a notification control unit (125) that determines a notification to the user (U) in accordance with the expiration date based on the evaluation stored in the evaluation storage unit (132),

the evaluation determination unit (124) determines the evaluation and updates the evaluation stored in the evaluation storage unit (132) every time the payment determination unit (122) and the delayed payment determination unit (123) perform the determination.

3. The payment management apparatus of claim 2,

the notification control unit (125) determines at least one of the execution timing of the notification and the content of the notification for the notification to the user (U) before the expiration date based on the evaluation.

4. The payment management apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,

the delayed payment determination unit (123) determines whether or not payment has been made in a 1 st period after the expiration date has elapsed, and whether or not payment has been made in a 2 nd period after the 1 st period has elapsed,

the evaluation determination unit (124) sets the evaluation when payment is made in the 1 st period after the expiration date to a higher evaluation than when payment is made in the 2 nd period after the 1 st period.

5. The payment management apparatus of claim 4, wherein,

when the delayed payment determination unit (123) determines that payment has not been made during the 2 nd period, the evaluation determination unit (124) makes a lower evaluation than when payment has been made during the 2 nd period after the 1 st period has elapsed.

6. The payment management apparatus of claim 2,

when the delayed payment determination unit (123) determines that payment after the expiration of the expiration date has been made, the evaluation determination unit (124) updates the evaluation stored in the evaluation storage unit (132) to a lower evaluation.

7. The payment management apparatus of claim 2,

when the delayed payment determination unit (123) determines that payment after the expiration of the 1 st expiration date has been made and payment after the expiration of the 2 nd expiration date after the 1 st expiration date has been made, the evaluation determination unit (124) updates the evaluation stored in the evaluation storage unit (132) to a higher evaluation.

8. The payment management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7,

the evaluation determination unit (124) sets an upper limit for the evaluation determined by the 1 st user (U) determined that payment has been made after the expiration of the expiration date, the upper limit being lower than the evaluation of the 2 nd user (U) determined that payment has been made up to all the expiration dates.

9. A payment management system having:

a payment management device (1) that manages a payment status based on an agreement that determines that a user (U) made payments on a plurality of expiration dates; and

a notification device (4, 20) that notifies the user (U),

the payment management device (1) is provided with:

a payment determination unit (122) that determines, based on the agreement, whether or not payment has been made until the expiration date each time the expiration date arrives;

a delayed payment determination unit (123) that determines whether or not payment has been made after the expiration date when payment has not been made by the expiration date;

an evaluation determination unit (124) that determines an evaluation of the user (U) based on the determination results of the payment determination unit (122) and the delayed payment determination unit (123);

an evaluation storage unit (132) that stores the evaluation determined by the evaluation determination unit (124) in association with the user (U); and

a notification control unit (125) that determines a notification to the user (U) in accordance with the expiration date based on the evaluation stored in the evaluation storage unit (132),

the notification device (4, 20) executes the notification determined by the notification control unit (125).

10. A payment management method, wherein,

determining whether payment has been made until a set expiration date based on an agreement that payment has been made on the set expiration dates,

determining whether or not payment after the expiration date is made in a case where payment is not made until the expiration date,

the evaluation of the user (U) is determined based on the determination result of whether or not payment has been made up to the expiration date and the determination result of whether or not payment has been made after the expiration date.

Technical Field

The invention relates to a payment management apparatus, a payment management system and a payment management method.

Background

Conventionally, financial services such as loan and rental are known as a method for a user to acquire a vehicle. Such financial services must manage the situation where the user makes payments as specified by the contract. For example, in the system described in patent document 1, a user acquires a vehicle by loan or rental, and if the payment period is exceeded, the user prompts return by invalidating the vehicle.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: U.S. patent application publication No. 2007/0136083 specification

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

As described in patent document 1, the conventional method discriminates whether or not payment is made before the deadline. Therefore, there is a problem that the payment status of the user cannot be finely managed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a payment management apparatus, a payment management system, and a payment management method that can finely manage the execution state of payment by a user.

Means for solving the problems

The payment management apparatus 1 is characterized by comprising: a payment determination unit 122 that determines whether or not payment has been made until an expiration date, each time the expiration date comes, based on a protocol that specifies that the user U made payment on a plurality of expiration dates; a delayed payment determination unit 123 that determines whether or not payment has been made after the expiration date when payment has not been made by the expiration date; and an evaluation determination unit 124 that determines the evaluation of the user U based on the determination results of the payment determination unit 122 and the delayed payment determination unit 123.

In the above configuration, the payment management apparatus 1 may include: an evaluation storage unit 132 that stores the evaluation determined by the evaluation determination unit 124 in association with the user U; and a notification control unit 125 that determines a notification to the user U in accordance with the expiration date based on the evaluation stored in the evaluation storage unit 132, wherein the evaluation determination unit 124 determines an evaluation and updates the evaluation 142 stored in the evaluation storage unit 132 every time the payment determination unit 122 and the delayed payment determination unit 123 perform the determination.

The notification control unit 125 determines at least one of the execution timing of the notification and the content of the notification for the notification to the user U before the expiration date based on the evaluation.

In the above configuration, the delayed payment determination unit 123 may determine whether or not payment has been made in the 1 st period after the expiration date has elapsed, and whether or not payment has been made in the 2 nd period after the 1 st period has elapsed, and the evaluation determination unit 124 may set the evaluation when payment has been made in the 1 st period after the expiration date to a higher evaluation than when payment has been made in the 2 nd period after the 1 st period has elapsed.

In the above configuration, when the delayed payment determination unit 123 determines that payment has not been made in the 2 nd period, the evaluation determination unit 124 may set an evaluation lower than that when payment has been made in the 2 nd period after the 1 st period has elapsed.

In the above configuration, when the delayed payment determination unit 123 determines that payment after the expiration date has been made, the evaluation determination unit 124 may update the evaluation stored in the evaluation storage unit 132 to a lower evaluation.

In the above configuration, when the delayed payment determination unit 123 determines that payment after expiration of the 1 st expiration date and payment after expiration of the 2 nd expiration date after the 1 st expiration date are made, the evaluation determination unit 124 may update the evaluation stored in the evaluation storage unit 132 to a higher evaluation.

In the above configuration, the evaluation determined by the evaluation determination unit 124 for the 1 st user U who is determined to pay after the expiration of the expiration date may be set to an upper limit lower than the evaluation of the 2 nd user U who is determined to pay until all the expiration dates.

The payment management system has: a payment management apparatus 1 that manages a payment state based on an agreement that determines that a user U pays at a plurality of expiration dates; and notification devices 4 and 20 that notify the user U, the payment management device 1 including: a payment determination unit 122 that determines whether or not payment has been made until the expiration date each time the expiration date comes based on the agreement; a delayed payment determination unit 123 that determines whether or not payment has been made after the expiration date when payment has not been made by the expiration date; an evaluation determination unit 124 that determines an evaluation of the user U based on the determination results of the payment determination unit 122 and the delayed payment determination unit 123; the payment management device is provided with: an evaluation storage unit 132 that stores the evaluation determined by the evaluation determination unit 124 in association with the user U; and a notification control unit 125 that determines a notification to be given to the user U in accordance with the expiration date based on the evaluation stored in the evaluation storage unit 132, and the notification devices 4 and 20 execute the notification determined by the notification control unit 125.

The payment management method is characterized in that whether or not payment has been made up to the expiration date is determined based on an agreement that payment has been made up to a plurality of expiration dates set, whether or not payment has been made up to the expiration date is determined if payment has not been made up to the expiration date, and evaluation of the user U is determined based on a determination result of whether or not payment has been made up to the expiration date and a determination result of whether or not payment has been made up to the expiration date.

Effects of the invention

The payment management device of the present invention includes: a payment determination unit that determines whether or not payment has been made until the expiration date each time the expiration date comes, based on a protocol that specifies that the user made payment on a plurality of expiration dates; a delayed payment determination unit that determines whether or not payment has been made after the expiration date when payment has not been made by the expiration date; and an evaluation determination unit that determines an evaluation of the user based on the determination results of the payment determination unit and the delayed payment determination unit.

According to this configuration, even in the case where payment is not made until the expiration date, since the user can be evaluated by distinguishing the case where payment is made although the expiration date has expired from the case where payment is not made after the expiration date, the execution state of payment by the user can be managed finely as compared with the case where evaluation is made based only on the presence or absence of payment until the expiration date.

In the above configuration, the payment management apparatus may include: an evaluation storage unit that stores the evaluation determined by the evaluation determination unit in association with the user; and a notification control unit that determines a notification to the user in accordance with the expiration date based on the evaluation stored in the evaluation storage unit, wherein the evaluation determination unit determines an evaluation each time the payment determination unit and the delayed payment determination unit make a determination, and updates the evaluation stored in the evaluation storage unit.

According to this configuration, the evaluation of the user is updated each time the evaluation based on whether or not the payment has been made up to the expiration date and each time the evaluation based on whether or not the payment after expiration of the expiration date is made, and the notification to the user U is determined based on the updated evaluation. Therefore, the execution state of the payment by the user U can be quickly reflected in the evaluation, and the effective notification can be performed according to the actual state of the payment by the user U.

In the above configuration, the notification control unit may determine at least one of an execution timing of the notification and a content of the notification for the notification to the user before the expiration date based on the evaluation.

With this configuration, the time or content of the notification to the user can be adjusted while finely reflecting the payment state of the user. Therefore, the psychological resistance of the user can be suppressed, and more effective notification can be performed.

In the above configuration, the delayed payment determination unit may determine whether or not payment has been made in a 1 st period after the expiration date has elapsed, and whether or not payment has been made in a 2 nd period after the 1 st period has elapsed, and the evaluation determination unit may set the evaluation when payment has been made in the 1 st period after the expiration date to a higher evaluation than when payment has been made in the 2 nd period after the 1 st period has elapsed.

According to this configuration, by distinguishing between a case where payment is made during the 1 st period after the expiration date has elapsed and a case where payment is made during the 2 nd period after the 1 st period has elapsed, the payment state of the user can be evaluated more finely.

In the above configuration, when the delayed payment determination unit determines that the payment has not been made in the 2 nd period, the evaluation determination unit may set the evaluation to be lower than the evaluation when the payment has been made in the 2 nd period after the 1 st period has elapsed.

According to this configuration, the time period when the user has paid is divided into the 1 st period and the 2 nd period, and the shorter the time period before the expiration date is, the higher the user is evaluated. Thus, by appropriately evaluating the payment of the user, the user can be motivated to make the payment at an earlier time.

In the above-described configuration, when the delayed payment determination unit determines that payment after the expiration date has been made, the evaluation determination unit may update the evaluation stored in the evaluation storage unit to a lower evaluation.

According to this configuration, the evaluation of the user is reduced in accordance with the payment after the payment due date has expired, and the execution state of the payment by the user can be managed in detail. Further, the user can be motivated to make payments before the expiration date.

In the above-described configuration, when the delayed payment determination unit determines that payment after expiration of the 1 st expiration date is made and payment after expiration of the 2 nd expiration date after the 1 st expiration date is made, the evaluation determination unit may update the evaluation stored in the evaluation storage unit to a higher evaluation.

According to this configuration, when the payment after expiration of the expiration date is continuously made on the 1 st expiration date and the 2 nd expiration date, the evaluation by the user can be improved. This enables the execution state of payment by the user to be managed in detail. Further, by evaluating the fact that payment has been made itself, the user can be motivated to make payment.

In the above-described configuration, an upper limit that is lower than the evaluation of the 2 nd user who is determined to pay until all the expiration dates is set for the evaluation determined by the evaluation determination unit for the 1 st user who is determined to pay after the expiration date.

According to this configuration, by distinguishing between payment after expiration of the expiration date and payment until expiration date, the execution state of payment by the user can be managed finely. Further, the user can be motivated to pay at an earlier time.

The payment management system of the present invention is characterized by comprising: a payment management means for managing a payment status based on an agreement that determines that a user made payments on a plurality of expiration dates; and a notification device that notifies the user U, the payment management device including: a payment determination unit that determines whether or not payment has been made until the expiration date each time the expiration date comes, based on the agreement; a delayed payment determination unit that determines whether or not payment has been made after the expiration date when payment has not been made by the expiration date; an evaluation determination unit that determines an evaluation of the user based on the determination results of the payment determination unit and the delayed payment determination unit; an evaluation storage unit that stores the evaluation determined by the evaluation determination unit in association with a user; and a notification control unit that determines, based on the evaluation stored in the evaluation storage unit, a notification to be given to the user in accordance with the expiration date, wherein the notification device executes the notification determined by the notification control unit.

According to this configuration, even in the case where payment is not made until the expiration date, since the user can be evaluated by distinguishing the case where payment is made although the expiration date has expired from the case where payment is not made after the expiration date, the execution state of payment by the user can be managed finely as compared with the case where evaluation is made based only on the presence or absence of payment until the expiration date.

The payment management method of the present invention is characterized in that whether or not payment has been made up to the expiration date is determined based on an agreement that payment has been made up to a plurality of expiration dates set, whether or not payment has been made up to the expiration date is determined when payment has not been made up to the expiration date, and evaluation by a user is determined based on a determination result of whether or not payment has been made up to the expiration date and a determination result of whether or not payment has been made up to the expiration date.

According to this configuration, even in the case where payment is not made until the expiration date, since the user can be evaluated by distinguishing the case where payment is made although the expiration date has expired from the case where payment is not made after the expiration date, the execution state of payment by the user can be managed finely as compared with the case where evaluation is made based only on the presence or absence of payment until the expiration date.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a payment management system.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing information stored in the server storage unit.

Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of processing of payment for a user.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing the actions of the payment management system.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing the actions of the payment management system.

Description of the reference numerals

1: a management server (payment management apparatus);

2: a vehicle;

4: a portable terminal device (notification device);

11: a server communication unit;

12: a server control unit;

13: a server storage unit;

20: a vehicle-mounted terminal device (notification device);

100: a payment management system;

121: an information acquisition unit;

122: a payment judging section;

123: a delayed payment judging section;

124: an evaluation determination unit;

125: a notification control unit;

131: a history storage unit;

132: an evaluation storage unit;

133: a condition storage unit;

141: history information;

141 a: a user ID;

141 b: the expiration date is numbered;

141 c: year, month and day;

141 d: the date of deposit;

141 e: a payment decision result;

141 f: delaying the payment decision result;

142: evaluating;

142 b: evaluating the score;

143: contract information;

144: judging a condition;

145: evaluating conditions;

146: notifying the setting information;

146 a: a fractional range;

146 b: a notification period;

146 c: notifying the content;

200: a deposit management system.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a payment management system 100 of an embodiment.

The payment management system 100 manages payment status for users U who have a payment monetary obligation according to an agreement. Here, the agreement includes a contract and other agreements that determine the right of the user U to accept property, intangible property, or service and pay as its cost. For example, an installment sale contract, a lease contract, a money consumption loan contract, and a loan contract may be mentioned, but the specific form is not limited, and may include other overall agreements that determine the payment deadline for the payment made by the user U. In the case where the subject of the agreement is a legal person, the user U is, for example, a person related to the legal person.

In the present embodiment, a case where the right of the user U to use the vehicle 2 temporarily or continuously according to the agreement is acquired and payment is made as the cost thereof is exemplified. In this protocol, a plurality of expiration dates for payment by the user U are specified. The expiration dates are set at regular intervals. For example, the end of each month is defined as the payment due date.

The payment management system 100 includes the management server 1 and at least one of the portable terminal device 4 and the in-vehicle terminal device 20, and may include both the portable terminal device 4 and the in-vehicle terminal device 20. The mobile terminal device 4 is a terminal device used by the user U, and is, for example, a smartphone, a mobile phone, or a personal computer. The in-vehicle terminal device 20 is a device mounted on the vehicle 2 used by the user U. The portable terminal device 4 and the in-vehicle terminal device 20 have a communication function, and perform data communication with the management server 1 via the communication network NW.

The communication network NW is configured by a data communication line such as a public line network or a private line, and connects the management server 1 to the portable terminal device 4 and/or the in-vehicle terminal device 20 so as to enable data communication. The communication network NW may include various communication devices such as a server device, a router, and a switch, or may include a wireless communication line.

The payment management system 100 is connected to the deposit management system 200. The deposit management system 200 can perform data communication with the management server 1 via the communication network NW or other communication lines. The deposit management system 200 is a device used by a financial institution of a payment recipient to which the user U pays in accordance with an agreement, or an institution that can acquire information on payment made by the user U to the financial institution. The deposit management system 200 stores information that can specify the user U who made the payment, information indicating that the payment was made, and information indicating the date and time when the payment was made, with respect to the payment by the agreement-based user U.

The vehicle 2 is a four-wheel vehicle, a two-wheel vehicle, a bicycle, other vehicles, etc., and the specific form is not limited, and the two-wheel vehicle is illustrated in fig. 1. The vehicle 2 is mounted with an in-vehicle terminal device 20. The in-vehicle terminal device 20 includes an in-vehicle communication unit 21, an in-vehicle terminal control unit 22, and an in-vehicle display 23. The in-vehicle display 23 has a display screen such as a liquid crystal display panel, and the user U can visually recognize the in-vehicle display 23 when driving the vehicle 2 or when riding the vehicle. The in-vehicle display 23 may be fixedly provided in the vehicle 2, or may be attached to and detached from the vehicle 2 together with the respective parts of the in-vehicle terminal device 20.

One portable terminal apparatus 4 and one in-vehicle terminal apparatus 20 used by one user U are illustrated in fig. 1, but the number of users U managed by the payment management system 100 is not limited. The management server 1 identifies each user U by processing information that can specify the user U. In the present embodiment, a user ID unique to the user U is used as information that can identify the user U, but this is merely an example. As the information that can identify the user U, the name, address, telephone number, information relating to the account of the financial institution managed by the user U, and the like of the user U may be used.

The in-vehicle terminal device 20 functions as a notification device that performs notification to the user U by displaying characters or images on the in-vehicle display 23 in accordance with the notification instruction transmitted by the management server 1.

The in-vehicle communication unit 21 performs communication with the management server 1 via the communication network NW in accordance with the control of the in-vehicle terminal control unit 22, and receives a notification instruction transmitted from the management server 1. The notification instruction transmitted by the management server 1 includes, for example, data of characters or images displayed as a notification and information specifying a timing of the notification using the in-vehicle display 23.

The in-vehicle terminal control unit 22 performs notification using the in-vehicle display 23 in accordance with the notification instruction received by the in-vehicle communication unit 21. That is, the in-vehicle terminal control unit 22 displays the text or image included in the notification instruction on the in-vehicle display 23 at the time designated by the notification instruction.

The mobile terminal device 4 includes a communication unit 41, a control unit 42, a display unit 43, and a voice processing unit 44. The mobile terminal device 4 functions as a notification device that performs notification to the user U in response to the notification instruction transmitted from the management server 1. The mobile terminal apparatus 4 may have a function other than notification.

The communication unit 41 performs communication with the management server 1 via the communication network NW according to the control of the control unit 42, and receives a notification instruction transmitted from the management server 1.

When the user U makes a voice call or web browsing using the mobile terminal device 4, the communication unit 41 transmits and receives various data such as voice data, text data, and image data via the communication network NW.

The display unit 43 has a display screen such as a liquid crystal display panel or an organic el (electro luminescence) display panel. The display unit 43 displays characters and images under the control of the control unit 42.

The voice processing unit 44 outputs a voice based on the voice data from a speaker not shown, according to the control of the control unit 42. The voice processing unit 44 collects voice by a microphone, not shown, and outputs voice data.

The control unit 42 controls the communication unit 41 to receive the notification instruction from the management server 1. The control unit 42 causes the in-vehicle display 23 to display the text or the image at the time designated by the notification instruction, based on the data of the text or the image included in the notification instruction. Here, the management server 1 may transmit a notification instruction including the voice data to the mobile terminal apparatus 4. In this case, the control unit 42 outputs the voice at the timing specified by the notification instruction by the voice processing unit 44 based on the voice data included in the notification instruction. In this way, the portable terminal apparatus 4 can perform notification by text, image, or voice.

When the user U makes a voice call or browses the web, the control unit 42 transmits and receives various data such as voice data, text data, and image data via the communication unit 41.

The in-vehicle terminal control Unit 22 and the control Unit 42 include a processor (not shown) such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a microcomputer, and execute a program by the processor to realize various control functions.

The management server 1 includes a server communication unit 11, a server control unit 12, and a server storage unit 13. The server communication unit 11 performs data communication with the mobile terminal device 4, the in-vehicle terminal device 20, and the deposit management system 200 via the communication network NW under the control of the server control unit 12.

The server control unit 12 includes a processor, not shown, such as a CPU or a microcomputer, and executes programs by the processor to constitute functional units of the information acquisition unit 121, the payment determination unit 122, the delayed payment determination unit 123, the evaluation determination unit 124, and the notification control unit 125.

The information acquisition unit 121 acquires information related to payment by the agreement-based user U from the deposit management system 200. The information acquired by the information acquiring unit 121 is stored in the server storage unit 13.

The server storage unit 13 has a storage area formed of a semiconductor storage device, a magnetic recording medium, an optical recording medium, or the like, and stores data or programs in a nonvolatile manner. A history storage unit 131, an evaluation storage unit 132, and a condition storage unit 133 are provided in a storage area of the server storage unit 13.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing information stored in the server storage unit 13.

The history storage unit 131 stores history information 141. The history information 141 includes an expiration date number 141b, a year, month, and day 141c, a deposit day 141d, a payment determination result 141e, and a delayed payment determination result 141f in correspondence with the user ID141 a. The history information 141 is information related to one date specified according to the agreement of one user U, and the history storage unit 131 can store the history information 141 for the number of expiration dates. For example, in the case where the user U has signed a contract to make 10 payments, the history information 141 can store the history information 141 for each payment due date of 10 payment due dates. The expiration date number 141b is a number assigned to the payment expiration date, and specifically, is a numerical value indicating the expiration date of the number of times. The year, month and day 141c is a specific calendar day of the expiration date. The deposit date 141d is information indicating the date on which the user U made the payment, and the deposit date 141d is data indicating that the user U did not make the payment.

The user ID141a, the expiration date number 141b, and the year, month, and day 141c are based on the agreement content of the user U or information acquired by the management server 1 from the deposit management system 200. The deposit date 141d is information acquired by the information acquisition unit 121 from the deposit management system 200.

For example, when the information about the user U is acquired from the deposit management system 200, the information acquisition unit 121 generates the history information 141 of the number of payment due dates and stores the history information in the history storage unit 131. The information acquiring unit 121 acquires information on payment by the user U from the deposit management system 200 at a time corresponding to the expiration date, and updates the deposit date 141d based on the acquired information.

Returning to fig. 1, the payment determination unit 122 determines whether or not the user U has paid by the expiration date specified according to the agreement, based on the information acquired by the information acquisition unit 121. The payment determination unit 122 stores the determination result as the payment determination result 141e in association with the user ID141a and the year, month, and day 141 c.

The delayed payment determination unit 123 determines whether or not the user U has made payment after the expiration of the expiration date based on the information acquired by the information acquisition unit 121. The delayed payment determination unit 123 stores the determination result as the delayed payment determination result 141f in association with the user ID141a and the year, month, and day 141 c.

The evaluation determination unit 124 determines the evaluation of the user U with reference to the payment determination result 141 e. The evaluation determination unit 124 determines the evaluation of the user U with reference to the delayed payment determination result 141 f. The evaluation determined by the evaluation determination unit 124 is stored in the evaluation storage unit 132.

As shown in fig. 2, the evaluation storage unit 132 stores the evaluation 142. The evaluation 142 includes an evaluation score 142b indicating the evaluation determined by the evaluation determination unit 124 in association with the evaluation score 142 a. In the present embodiment, an example of digitizing the evaluation of the user U is shown, and the user U is better as the numeric value is larger. In this example, the evaluation determination unit 124 determines a numerical value indicating the evaluation of the user U, and stores the numerical value as the evaluation 142 in the evaluation storage unit 132.

The evaluation deciding part 124 updates the evaluation score 142b each time the evaluation of the user U is decided based on the payment decision result 141e and each time the evaluation of the user U is decided based on the delayed payment decision result 141 f.

Returning to fig. 1, the notification control unit 125 determines a notification corresponding to the evaluation determined by the evaluation determination unit 124. In this process, the notification control unit 125 refers to the information stored in the condition storage unit 133.

As shown in fig. 2, the condition storage unit 133 stores contract information 143, determination conditions 144, evaluation conditions 145, and notification setting information 146. The contract information 143 is information related to the contents of the agreement in which the user U is determined to make the payment, and includes, for example, the number of payments, payment due date, payment amount, and the like. For example, the information acquisition unit 121 generates the history information 141 based on the contract information 143.

The determination condition 144 includes information for the payment determination unit 122 and the delayed payment determination unit 123 to perform determination. For example, the payment determination unit 122 determines whether or not payment has been made up to the expiration date, including the year, month and day of the expiration date.

The determination condition 144 includes information indicating the 1 st period from the expiration date and the 2 nd period after the 1 st period has elapsed, as a condition for determining whether or not the payment after the expiration date has been made by the delayed payment determination unit 123. The 1 st period is a period whose starting date is the next day of the expiration date, and the 2 nd period is a period whose starting date is the next day of the last day of the 1 st period. The delayed payment determination unit 123 discriminates between the payment made during the 1 st period and the payment made during the 2 nd period to determine the payment after the expiration of the expiration date. Therefore, the determination result of the delayed payment determination unit 123 includes information indicating whether or not the payment in the 1 st period and the payment in the 2 nd period have been made.

The evaluation condition 145 includes information for the evaluation determination unit 124 to determine the evaluation. The evaluation condition 145 includes, for example, a condition for changing the evaluation score 142b in accordance with a score increase/decrease amount obtained by adding or subtracting the evaluation score 142 b. The evaluation determination section 124 determines the score increase/decrease amount of the evaluation score 142b by applying the payment determination result 141e to the evaluation condition 145. Further, the evaluation determination section 124 determines the score increase amount of the evaluation score 142b by applying the delayed payment determination result 141f to the evaluation condition 145.

The notification setting information 146 includes information for the notification control unit 125 to determine notification. The notification setting information 146 includes a score range 146a, a notification time 146b, and notification contents 146 c. The score range 146a determines the numerical range of the evaluation score 142 b. The notification time 146b is a time at which the in-vehicle terminal device 20 and/or the portable terminal device 4 notifies the user, and is determined by the number of days based on the year, month, and day of the payment due date. The notification content 146c is the content of the notification. For example, the notification content 146c includes text or images displayed by the in-vehicle terminal device 20 and/or the portable terminal device 4, or data of voice output by the portable terminal device 4.

Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of processing of payment for the user U.

Fig. 3 shows an example of determining payment of the user U from the 1 st to sixth expiration dates according to the agreement that the user U pays n times (n is an integer of 7 or more) and processing for evaluating the user U. In fig. 3, the horizontal axis represents a time axis, and the 1 st expiration date T1 to the 6 th expiration date T6 are represented on the horizontal axis. In fig. 3, (a) represents the execution state of the payment by the user U. (b) The score increase/decrease amount determined by the evaluation determination unit 124, (c) the value of the evaluation score 142b, and (d) the content of the notification determined by the notification control unit 125.

In the example of fig. 3, the 1 st period is set to 5 days including the next day of the expiration date, and the 2 nd period is set to 5 days including the next day of the end of the 1 st period. When the user U pays for the expiration date, the evaluation determination unit 124 adds 100pt (points) to the evaluation score 142 b. When the user U does not pay by the expiration date, the evaluation determination unit 124 subtracts 50pt from the evaluation score 142b, that is, adds-50 pt. When the user U pays for the expiration date, the evaluation determination unit 124 adds a value lower than 100pt to the evaluation score 142 b. The conditions for these amount of increase and decrease in the score are determined by the evaluation condition 145.

In this example, for the 1 st expiration date T1, the user U does not make payment until the expiration date T1, but makes payment three days after the expiration date T1. The payment is made as an deposit P1.

The payment determination unit 122 determines that payment has not been made until the expiration date, for example, the next day of the expiration date T1, and stores the payment determination result 141 e. Thus, the unpaid E1 in which the user U exists is recorded in the history information 141.

As shown in fig. 3 (b), the evaluation determination unit 124 refers to the payout determination result 141E, and determines the score increment/decrement value-50 pt corresponding to the unpaid E1 according to the evaluation condition 145. Thus, as shown in fig. 3 (C), the evaluation score 142b is 0 pt.

After the 2 nd period has elapsed since the expiration date T1, the delayed payment determination unit 123 determines that the user U has made the delayed payment because the deposit P1 was made three days after the expiration date T1, and generates and stores the delayed payment determination result 141 f. The evaluation determination unit 124 determines the score increase/decrease amount to be +10pt based on the delayed payment determination result 141f, and thereby the evaluation score 142b becomes 10 pt.

After the expiration date T1, the notification control unit 125 determines a notification related to the expiration date T2. The notification is a message urging payment to the user U when the user U has not made payment by the payment due date. After the evaluation score 142b is updated by the evaluation determination unit 124, the notification control unit 125 determines the timing and content of the notification with respect to the behavior of the user U with respect to the expiration date T1, i.e., the non-payment E1 and the deposit P1. The notification control unit 125 specifies a score range 146a that matches the evaluation score 142b, and determines notification based on the notification timing 146b and the notification content 146c corresponding to the specified score range 146 a. In the example of fig. 3, the notification control unit 125 determines a notification of the content urging payment to be made two days after the expiration date T2, based on the evaluation score 142b updated after the deposit P1.

When the user U does not pay at the expiration date T2 (no-pay E2), the payment determination unit 122 determines that no payment has been made. Thus, the evaluation determination unit 124 determines the score increase/decrease amount to be-50 pt, and updates the evaluation score 142 b. When the user U deposits the money P2 10 days after the expiration date T2, the delayed payment determination unit 123 determines that there is delayed payment, and the evaluation determination unit 124 determines the score increase/decrease amount to be +10pt, and updates the evaluation score 142 b. Then, the notification control unit 125 determines a notification based on the evaluation score 142b updated in accordance with the deposit P2.

The management server 1 increases the amount of point increase for the delayed payment in the case where the user U continues to make the delayed payment. In the example of fig. 3, the evaluation determination unit 124 sets the score increase/decrease amount to +20pt in accordance with deposit P3. The score increase/decrease amount is larger than the score increase/decrease amount determined in accordance with deposit P1. The purpose is as follows: in the case where the user U continuously makes delayed payments on the expiration dates T1, T2, and T3, a penalty of expiration of the expiration dates is not given, but an action that is evaluated as better than not making payments is performed. In the example of fig. 3, the point increment and decrement corresponding to deposit P4 is +60pt, and the delayed payments that were continuously made on expiration dates T1, T2, T3, and T4 are evaluated to be higher. The result can be an incentive for the user U to continue payment.

An upper limit is set on the amount of point increase corresponding to the delayed payment. Delayed payments are rated low compared to payments within the expiration date, as they pass the expiration date. In the example of fig. 3, the upper limit of the amount of the score increase for the delayed payment is set to +70 pt. Therefore, the score increase/decrease amount for deposit P6 is +70pt, which is the same as the score increase/decrease amount for deposit P5. Thus, when the user U pays before the expiration date, the user U can be motivated to pay before the expiration date because the user U is surely evaluated higher than the delayed payment.

The higher the evaluation score 142b is, the more the notification time becomes, and the softer the expression of the user U becomes, with respect to the content of the notification determined by the notification control unit 125. In the example of fig. 3, the notification when there is no payment on the expiration date T5 is made 10 days after the expiration date T5. The content of the notification is not the urging of payment, but the content of asking the situation to the user U. After the evaluation score 142b is updated to 60pt in accordance with the deposit P4, the timing and content of the notification are determined based on the evaluation score 142 b. In this way, by changing the timing and content of the notification in accordance with the value of the evaluation score 142b, it is possible to give an incentive to pay the user U.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the payment management system 100, and shows the operation related to payment determination. The operation of fig. 4 is executed by the server control unit 12 every time the expiration date comes.

The server control unit 12 determines whether or not the expiration date specified by the contract information 143 has expired (step S101), and waits when the expiration date has not expired (step S101; no). When the expiration date has expired (step S101; yes), the information acquisition unit 121 acquires information from the deposit management system 200, and updates the history information 141 based on the acquired information (step S102).

The payment determination unit 122 refers to the history information 141 updated in step S102, and executes the payment determination process (step S103). When the user U pays before the expiration date (step S103; yes), the payment determination unit 122 determines that payment has been made until the expiration date (step S104). When the user U does not pay by the expiration date (step S103; no), the payment determination unit 122 determines that the payment is not made by the expiration date (step S105).

The payment determination unit 122 updates the payment determination result 141e based on the determination result in step S103 or step S104 (step S106).

The evaluation determination unit 124 determines the score increase/decrease amount based on the history information 141 updated in step S106 (step S107), and updates the evaluation score 142b (step S108).

The notification control unit 125 acquires the evaluation score 142b updated in step S108 (step S109), and determines a notification timing corresponding to the evaluation score 142b (step S110). Further, the notification control unit 125 determines the content of the notification corresponding to the evaluation score 142b (step S111), and ends the present process.

The process of fig. 4 determines the time and content of the notification corresponding to the presence or absence of payment until the payment due date.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the payment management system 100, and shows the operation related to the delayed payment determination.

The operation shown in fig. 5 is executed by the server control unit 12. Further, the action shown in fig. 5 is performed only for the user U whose payment determination result 141e indicates that payment has not been made by the expiration date. That is, the server control unit 12 does not execute the operation of fig. 5 for the user U whose payment determination result 141e indicates that payment has been made up to the expiration date.

The server control unit 12 determines whether or not the 2 nd period has elapsed since the expiration date specified by the contract information 143 (step S121), and waits when the 2 nd period has not expired (step S121; no). When the period 2 has elapsed (step S101; yes), the information acquisition unit 121 acquires information from the deposit management system 200, and updates the history information 141 based on the acquired information (step S122).

The delayed payment determination unit 123 refers to the history information 141 updated in step S122, and executes the delayed payment determination process (step S123). When the user U pays for the 1 st period (step S123; yes), the delayed payment determination unit 123 determines that the 1 st delayed payment is made, and updates the delayed payment determination result 141f (step S124). When the payment in the 1 st period is not made (step S123; NO), the delayed payment judging unit 123 judges whether the payment in the 2 nd period is made (step S125). When the payment within the 2 nd period is made (step S125; yes), the delayed payment judging unit 123 judges that the 2 nd delayed payment is made, and updates the delayed payment judgment result 141f (step S126).

The evaluation determination unit 124 determines the score increase/decrease amount based on the delayed payment determination result 141f updated in step S124 or step S126 (step S127).

The evaluation determination unit 124 determines whether or not delayed payment is continuously made on a plurality of expiration dates (step S128). When the delayed payment is continuously made on a plurality of expiration dates (step S128; yes), the evaluation determination unit 124 increases the amount of increase and decrease of the score determined in step S127 in accordance with the number of times the delayed payment is continuously made (step S129).

For example, in fig. 3, when the deposit P5 is made on the expiration date T5, the evaluation determination unit 124 determines in step S128 whether or not delayed payments are made consecutively on a plurality of expiration dates including the expiration date T5. In the example of fig. 3, since the delayed payments are continuously made on the expiration dates T1 to T5, the evaluation determination unit 124 increases the score increase/decrease amount to +70pt in step S129.

The evaluation determination unit 124 determines whether or not the score increase/decrease amount increased in step S129 exceeds the upper limit value (step S130). If the score exceeds the upper limit value (step S130; yes), the evaluation determination unit 124 adjusts the score increase/decrease amount (step S131). That is, the increase/decrease amount of the score increased in step S129 is changed to be equal to or smaller than the upper limit value.

The evaluation determination unit 124 updates the evaluation score 142b of the evaluation 142 based on the score increase/decrease amount adjusted in step S131 (step S132).

If it is determined that the user U has not continuously performed the delayed payment (step S128; no), the evaluation determination unit 124 updates the evaluation score 142b of the evaluation 142 based on the score increase/decrease amount determined in step S127 (step S132).

If it is determined that the score increase/decrease amount does not exceed the upper limit value (step S130; no), the evaluation determination unit 124 updates the evaluation score 142b of the evaluation 142 based on the score increase/decrease amount increased in step S129 (step S132).

The notification control unit 125 acquires the evaluation score 142b updated in step S132 (step S133), and determines a notification timing corresponding to the evaluation score 142b (step S134). Further, the notification control unit 125 determines the content of the notification corresponding to the evaluation score 142b (step S135), and ends the present process. When the timing of notification and the content of notification are determined in steps S134 to S135, the notification control unit 125 overwrites the timing and the content of notification determined in the operation of fig. 4.

By the processing of fig. 5, the user U who has paid after the payment due date has passed completes the evaluation, and determines the time and content of the payment notification.

The timing and content of the notification determined in steps S110 to S111 in fig. 4 and steps S134 to S135 in fig. 5 are transmitted from the management server 1 to the portable terminal apparatus 4 and/or the in-vehicle terminal apparatus 20 as a notification instruction. Thus, the notification to the user U is executed by the portable terminal device 4 and/or the in-vehicle terminal device 20 as the notification device in accordance with the timing and the content determined by the management server 1.

If the payment is not made within the 2 nd period (step S125; no), the delayed payment determination unit 123 determines that the payment is not made, and updates the delayed payment determination result 141f (step S136). The evaluation determination unit 124 determines the amount of increase and decrease in the score corresponding to the case where the user U has not made payment (step S137). In step S137, the score increase/decrease amount may be set to 0, and the evaluation score 142b may not be changed. For example, in fig. 3, corresponding to no payment being made on the expiration date, the evaluation score 142b is subtracted at no payment E1, E2, … …. In this case, the subtraction of the new evaluation score 142b due to the non-payment in the 2 nd period may not be performed. Further, the evaluation score 142b may be subtracted in accordance with a case where payment is not made on the expiration date, and the added evaluation score 142b may be subtracted in accordance with a case where payment is not made in the 2 nd period.

The evaluation determination unit 124 updates the evaluation score 142b based on the score increase/decrease amount determined in step S137 (step S132), and executes the processing after step S133. In this way, the management server 1 also notifies the user U who has not paid for the period 2, using the evaluation score 142 b.

As described above, the management server 1 to which the payment management apparatus of the present invention is applied includes: a payment determination unit 122 that determines whether or not payment has been made until the expiration date every time the expiration date comes, based on a protocol that specifies that the user U made payment on a plurality of expiration dates; a delayed payment determination unit 123 that determines whether or not payment has been made after expiration of the expiration date when payment has not been made by the expiration date; and an evaluation determination unit 124 that determines the evaluation of the user U based on the determination results of the payment determination unit 122 and the delayed payment determination unit 123.

The payment management system 100 has: a management server 1 as a payment management apparatus that manages a payment state according to an agreement that decides that a user U pays at a plurality of expiration dates; and a portable terminal device 4 and/or an in-vehicle terminal device 20 as a notification device that notifies the user U. The management server 1 includes: a payment determination unit 122 that determines whether or not payment has been made until the expiration date, each time the expiration date comes, based on the agreement; a delayed payment determination unit 123 that determines whether or not payment has been made after expiration of the expiration date when payment has not been made up to the expiration date; an evaluation determination unit 124 that determines an evaluation of the user U based on the determination results of the payment determination unit 122 and the delayed payment determination unit 123; and an evaluation storage unit 132 that stores the evaluation determined by the evaluation determination unit 124 in association with the user U; and a notification control unit 125 that determines a notification to be given to the user U in accordance with the expiration date based on the evaluation 142 stored in the evaluation storage unit 132, and the portable terminal device 4 and/or the in-vehicle terminal device 20 executes the notification determined by the notification control unit 125.

The payment management method performed by the management server 1 is the following method: whether payment has been made by the expiration date is determined based on an agreement that payment has been made by a plurality of set expiration dates, whether payment after expiration date has been made is determined if payment has not been made by the expiration date, and the evaluation of the user U is determined based on the determination result of whether payment has been made by the expiration date and the determination result of whether payment has been made after expiration date.

According to the management server 1, the payment management system 100 provided with the management server 1, and the payment management method executed by the management server 1, even if the user U does not pay by the expiration date, the user U can be evaluated by distinguishing between the case where payment is made by the expiration date and the case where payment is made after the expiration date. Therefore, the execution state of the payment by the user U can be finely managed as compared with the case where evaluation is performed only based on the presence or absence of payment by the expiration date.

The management server 1 includes: an evaluation storage unit 132 that stores the evaluation determined by the evaluation determination unit 124 in association with the user U; and a notification control unit 125 that determines a notification to the user U in accordance with the expiration date based on the evaluations stored in the evaluation storage unit 132, and the evaluation determination unit 124 determines an evaluation and updates the evaluation 142 stored in the evaluation storage unit 132 every time the payment determination unit 122 and the delayed payment determination unit 123 perform the determination.

According to this configuration, the management server 1 updates the evaluation 142 each time an evaluation based on whether or not payment has been made up to the expiration date and each time an evaluation based on whether or not payment has been made after expiration of the expiration date, and determines notification to the user U based on the updated evaluation. Therefore, the execution state of the payment by the user U can be quickly reflected in the evaluation, and the effective notification can be performed according to the actual state of the payment by the user U.

The notification control unit 125 determines at least one of the execution timing of the notification and the content of the notification for the notification to the user U before the expiration date based on the evaluation. This makes it possible to finely reflect the payment state of the user U and adjust the timing or content of the notification to the user U. Therefore, the psychological resistance of the user U can be suppressed, and more effective notification can be performed.

The delayed payment determination unit 123 determines whether or not payment has been made in the 1 st period after the expiration date has elapsed, and whether or not payment has been made in the 2 nd period after the 1 st period has elapsed, and the evaluation determination unit 124 sets the evaluation score in the case where payment has been made in the 1 st period after the expiration date to a higher evaluation score than in the case where payment has been made in the 2 nd period after the 1 st period has elapsed. For example, in fig. 3, regarding the amount of increase and decrease in the score for deposit P2, although the addition is made by making delayed payments successively on the expiration date T1-T2, the amount of increase and decrease in the score for deposit P1 is +10pt, as well. This is because the deposit P1 is a payment within the 1 st period from the expiration date T1, and the deposit P2 is a payment within the 2 nd period of the expiration date T2. In this way, by distinguishing between the case where payment is made during the 1 st period after the expiration date has elapsed and the case where payment is made during the 2 nd period after the 1 st period has elapsed, the payment state of the user U can be evaluated more finely. Further, the user U can be motivated to pay earlier.

When the delayed payment determination unit 123 determines that payment has not been made during the 2 nd period, the evaluation determination unit 124 lowers the evaluation score 142b to be lower than when payment has been made during the 2 nd period after the 1 st period has elapsed.

Thus, the time period when the user U paid is divided into the 1 st period and the 2 nd period, and the shorter the time period before the expiration date is, the higher the evaluation of the user U is. Therefore, by appropriately evaluating the payment of the user U, the user U can be motivated to make the payment at an earlier timing.

When the delayed payment determination unit 123 determines that payment after expiration of the expiration date has been made, the evaluation determination unit 124 may update the evaluation score 142b stored in the evaluation storage unit 132 to be lower. In this case, in addition to the effect of finely managing the execution state of the payment by the user U, the evaluation of the user U is reduced in accordance with the payment after the expiration of the payment due date, and the user U can be motivated to pay before the payment due date.

When the delayed payment determination unit 123 determines that payment after the expiration of the 1 st expiration date has been made and payment after the expiration of the 2 nd expiration date after the 1 st expiration date has been made, the evaluation determination unit 124 updates the evaluation score 142b stored in the evaluation storage unit 132 to a higher evaluation. For example, the evaluation determination unit 124 adds the score increase/decrease amount when delayed payment is performed for a plurality of consecutive expiration dates. According to this configuration, by improving the evaluation of the user U who has continuously made payments, the execution state of the payments by the user U can be finely managed. Further, by evaluating the fact that payment has been made itself, the user U can be motivated to make payment.

In the management server 1, for the 1 st user U determined to pay after the expiration of the expiration date, the evaluation determined by the evaluation determination unit 124 is set to an upper limit lower than the evaluation of the 2 nd user U determined to pay until all the expiration dates. Therefore, by distinguishing between payment after expiration of the expiration date and payment until the expiration date, the execution state of payment by the user U can be finely managed. Further, the user U can be motivated to pay at an earlier time.

The above embodiment shows an embodiment to which the present invention is applied, and the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the portable terminal device 4 used by the user U and the in-vehicle terminal device 20 mounted on the vehicle 2 used by the user U are shown as the notification devices, but the specific form of the notification device is arbitrary. A car navigation device mounted on a four-wheeled car, a computer that the user U does not carry, a computer used by many people other than the user U, and the like may also be used as the notification device. Note that the method of the management server 1 transmitting the notification instruction to the notification device is not limited to direct communication, and may be a method using an electronic mail or a message program.

In the above embodiment, the configuration in which the management server 1 is configured as a device separate from the deposit management system 200 to determine payment and delay payment and determine notification is shown, but the management server 1 may be a device integrated with the deposit management system 200. The management server 1 and the deposit management system 200 may be managed by a common administrator. The information acquired by the information acquiring unit 121 by the management server 1 may be periodically pushed and distributed from the deposit management system 200 to the management server 1. Instead of the information acquisition unit 121 acquiring information from the deposit management system 200, the user U may acquire input information using the mobile terminal device 4, for example.

Note that the notification control unit 125 is not limited to determining the notification timing and the notification content in accordance with the evaluation score 142 b. The notification control unit 125 may determine only the timing of notification in accordance with the evaluation score 142 b. Note that the notification control unit 125 may determine only the content of the notification in accordance with the evaluation score 142 b. The notification control unit 125 may determine a notification method in accordance with the evaluation score 142b, and for example, may perform only text notification to the user U with a high evaluation score 142b and perform voice notification to the user U with a low evaluation score 142 b.

Each functional unit shown in fig. 1 has a functional structure, and the specific mounting method is not particularly limited to this. That is, it is not necessary to install hardware individually corresponding to each functional unit, and it is needless to say that a configuration in which the functions of a plurality of functional units are realized by executing a program by one processor may be adopted. In the above embodiment, a part of the functions realized by software may be realized by hardware, or a part of the functions realized by hardware may be realized by software. Note that the specific implementation method of the configuration in the storage area of the server storage unit 13 shown in fig. 2 is also arbitrary.

The processing units in the flowcharts shown in fig. 4 to 5 are processing units divided into main processing contents in order to facilitate understanding of the processing of the management server 1. The method of dividing the processing unit shown in the flowcharts of fig. 4 to 5 or the name thereof is not limited, and the processing unit may be divided into more processing units according to the processing content, or may be divided into 1 processing unit including more processing. The processing procedure of the flowchart is not limited to the illustrated example. The operations shown in fig. 4 to 5 may be executed by 1 program or by a plurality of programs.