Information processing device, information processing method, and information processing system for extracting information on electronic payment from bill image

An information processing method comprising:

• an image acquisition step of acquiring a bill image which is an image of a bill charged to a user;
• an identification information extracting step of extracting identification information indicating a demander from the bill image acquired in the image acquisition step;
• a type determination step of determining a type of bill associated with the identification information extracted in the identification information extracting step;
• a region identifying step of reading, from a format storage section previously storing formats of bills for individual types of bill, a format associated with the type of bill determined in the type determination step and identifying, based on the read format of the bill, a region of the bill image containing character images related to an electronic payment;
• a character recognizing step of recognizing characters in the region identified in the region identifying step;
• a payment information extracting step of extracting, among the characters in the region recognized in the character recognizing step, characters related to the electronic payment;
• a display control step of allowing the display section to display the electronic payment-related characters extracted in the payment information extracting step;
• an operating step of accepting from the user an instruction to make settlement with contents of the electronic payment displayed on the display section;
• and
• a communication step of, upon acceptance of the instruction to make settlement in the operating step, sending the electronic payment-related characters to a settlement server.

An information processing system in which an information processing device and a settlement server are capable of communication with each other via a network,

• the information processing device comprising:
• a control unit that comprises a processor and, upon execution of a control program by the processor, functions as
• an image acquisition section that acquires a bill image which is an image of a bill charged to a user, and
• an identification information extracting section that extracts, from the bill image acquired by the image acquisition section, identification information indicating a demander;
• and
• a communication section that sends to the settlement server the identification information extracted by the identification information extracting section,
• the settlement server comprising:
• a format storage section that previously stores formats of bills for individual types of bill;
• a server control unit that comprises a processor and, upon execution of a server control program by the processor, functions as
• a type determination section that determines a type of bill associated with the identification information having been extracted by the identification information extracting section and having been received from the communication section, and
• a region identifying section that reads from the format storage section a format associated with the type of bill determined by the type determination section and identifies, based on the read format of the bill, a region of the bill image containing character images related to an electronic payment;
• and
• a server communication section that sends to the information processing device the region identified by the region identifying section,
• wherein the information processing device further comprises a display section,
• wherein, upon execution of the control program by the processor, the control unit further functions as:
• a character recognition section that recognizes characters in the region sent from the server communication section and received by the communication section;
• a payment information extracting section that extracts, among the characters in the region recognized by the character recognition section, characters related to the electronic payment;
• and
• a display control section that allows the display section to display the electronic payment-related characters extracted by the payment information extracting section,
• wherein the information processing device further comprises an operating section that accepts from the user an instruction to make settlement with contents of the electronic payment displayed on the display section,
• wherein when the operating section accepts the instruction to make settlement, the communication section sends the electronic payment-related characters to the settlement server, and
• wherein the settlement server settles the electronic payment based on information indicated by the electronic payment-related characters sent from the communication section and received by the server communication section.