JP2002245296A - Product-selecting device, product-selecting system provided with the same, and method of selecting product - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a product-selecting system, capable of selecting necessary products for realizing desired functions on a computer even if a user does not have high-level knowledge of computer specifications, etc. SOLUTION: A product-selecting server 2 receives provision of product information concerning computer component products from manufacturers a-n, to be stored in a product information control part 22. A PC information control part 21 obtains information for specifying hardware/software products of a user PC(personal computer) 1 from the user PC 1 and refers to the product information in the product information control part 22, to determine detailed specifications, etc., of the component products for the PC. An information- determining part 23 refers to the product information in the product information control part 22, to select the products which are capable of realizing demands inputted by a user from the user PC 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for selecting components (hardware and software) for realizing functions required by a user on a computer such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC). .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a PC) is a general-purpose machine, and realizes functions desired by a user by mounting components corresponding to functions in a system called a PC in the form of a product. I do. The term “components” used herein is a concept including hardware such as a memory and a hard disk, and software such as word processing software and graphic tools.
These are specific products such as Word (a product name of Microsoft Corporation) as a word processing software and Desktar (a product name of IBM Japan, Ltd.) as a hard disk drive.

However, the functions required by the user are
Requires a sufficient amount of relevant knowledge and a considerable amount of work to be implemented, and without knowledge, not only is the work itself difficult, but even if possible, a great deal of effort is required. .

In the mounting work, first, the components (group) necessary for realizing the required function are determined, second, the necessary components are selected as specific products, and third, the selection is performed. Fourth, there is a series of operations of actually obtaining those products, and fourthly, incorporating the obtained products as components into a PC. Fifth, after the implementation, a task of reconstructing the components in accordance with the version upgrade of the product occurs.

[0005] In the fourth and fifth works, a technique which is effective work support means when the object is software is disclosed.

[0006] As an effective technique for the fourth work, an installation system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-87460 is known, whereby the checking of the validity of the hardware configuration and the incorporation of software are automated. It is possible. Further, as a technique effective for the fifth task, a client server system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-31590 is known, which makes it possible to automate software version upgrades.

[0007]

Problems to be solved by the present invention, which have not been solved by the prior art, and which will be solved by the present invention will be described below.

First, in the second work of selecting necessary components as specific products, even if the products realize the same function, they belong to a plurality of different standards. There is a problem that it is necessary to determine whether or not implementation is possible. For example, taking a memory as an example, even for the same memory, it is necessary to determine the difference in the shape of the bus slot, the number of base clocks, the RAM standard, and the like, in particular, the compatibility with the motherboard standard.

[0009] However, there arises a problem that such determination cannot be made unless the user understands the internal specifications of the device which should be a black box. Furthermore, since the performance difference between individual products and the degree of influence on the entire PC are not in a proportional relationship, there is a problem that an effect corresponding to the investment cannot always be obtained. The determination of performance cannot be made without actual data such as benchmark tests, etc., in addition to the superficial understanding of product specifications.

[0010] Next, in the first operation for determining the components necessary for realizing the function required by the user, a single component is added on top of the basic components (CPU, memory, hard disk device, etc.). In addition to this, there is a problem in which the necessity of another component (such as an expansion board or basic software) must be determined. These are due to the fact that the correspondence between functions and components is not always one-to-one.

In these judgments, it is necessary not only to understand the correspondence between functions and components, but also to be able to grasp the specifications of the current PC and the state of resource consumption. For example, DVD
If you want to handle external devices, you will need to select an external drive if you do not have enough internal bays, but at the same time you will need cables and interfaces for connection, and if there is no available interface, you will need to replace the already installed product. Must also be considered.

Further, in the third work of actually obtaining the selected products, for example, when requesting a manufacturer to purchase a necessary product, a specific product name is specified or the product selection is performed by the manufacturer. However, there is a problem in that the conditions for realizing the function must be clearly specified. In addition, fluctuation information (inventory, actual price, etc.) that depends on distribution uncertainty that is particularly noticeable for PC-related products
In consideration of the above, it must be determined whether the product is actually available in terms of distribution and price.

Although the above problem has been partially solved in the conventional example, there is a fundamental limitation that the selection target is a single piece of software. This is a limitation because the methodology is based on the recognition that realizing functions is basically the role of software, and hardware is a condition for implementing software.

Thus, in the present invention, hardware and software are treated equally as components for realizing functions, and a PC having a desired function is selected by selecting a product candidate to satisfy a user's request. It is an object of the present invention to provide a product selection device or the like that can effectively support the construction of a product.

[0015]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a product selection apparatus according to the present invention provides a product selection apparatus for supporting an operation of selecting a product necessary for realizing a user's request on a computer. Device, component product specifying information for specifying component products of the user's computer,
The user's request is input, and a product information storage unit that stores product information for each component product provided by a manufacturer of the component product and refers to the product information storage unit based on the component product identification information An environment condition determining unit that determines an environmental condition of the user's computer; a necessary component determining unit that determines a necessary component necessary to realize the user's request; and a product belonging to the required component. A belonging product determination unit that obtains product information from the product information storage unit, and a conforming product determination unit that selects a product that matches the environmental conditions of the user's computer based on the product information obtained by the belonging product determination unit. And a product information output unit for outputting information on the selected product to the conforming product determination unit.

According to this configuration, the user only needs to input his or her own request without requiring advanced knowledge of the specifications of the computer and its component products. Note that a component refers to a hardware concept or a software concept generally referred to by a generic name of a functional unit, such as a memory, a hard disk, database software, or word processing software. On the other hand, a product refers to a specific product provided by the manufacturer to the market.

In the above configuration, first, the necessary component judging section judges a necessary component which is a component necessary for realizing the user's request, and then, the belonging product judging section judges the necessary component. Product information of a specific product belonging to the element is obtained, and a product that matches the environmental conditions of the user's computer is selected from the product information and output to the user.

The environmental conditions of the user's computer are conditions for the specifications of the user's computer (OS, hardware standards, etc.), and are provided by the manufacturer as information indicating detailed specifications of each component product. Is extracted from the product information based on the component product specifying information for specifying the component product of the computer of the user. Therefore,
Even if the user does not have advanced knowledge of the specifications of the computer, etc., if the component product specifying information is sent to the product selecting device by some means, the product selecting device receives the component product specifying information based on the component product specifying information. Computer specifications can be determined.

As described above, according to the above configuration, it is possible to provide a product selection device capable of efficiently supporting selection of a product satisfying a user's request.

[0020] In the product selection device, it is preferable that the conforming product determination unit generates a request to change an environmental condition of the user's computer based on the selection result, and feeds the request to the necessary component.

In the product selection device, at least one of the component product specifying information and the user's request is
It is preferable that the information is obtained from the user's computer via a communication network. This makes it possible to immediately respond to a user request.

In the product selection device, it is preferable that the product information is obtained from a product information management device of the manufacturer via a communication network. This makes it possible to accumulate the latest product information.

In the above-mentioned product selection device, it is preferable that the product information includes variation information on a product provided by each manufacturer. The fluctuation information refers to information that can fluctuate over time, such as the stock status and actual price of each product. According to this configuration, for example, a product that is advantageous to the user based on more realistic judgment factors, such as excluding out-of-stock products from the selection target or preferentially selecting a product whose actual price is decreasing. Can be selected.

In order to achieve the above object, a product selection system according to the present invention is provided in any one of the above-described product selection devices and a product information management device of each manufacturer, and stores product information on each component product. A product information sub-storage unit that stores and can be referred to from the product selection device via a communication network.

As described above, by linking the product information management device of the manufacturer and the product selection device, when the product information is used in the product selection device, the product information sub-storage of the manufacturer is transmitted via the communication network. Since it is sufficient to refer to the section, it is possible to save the trouble of obtaining product information from the manufacturer. In addition, update of product information at the manufacturer
It can also be reflected on the product selection device in real time.

In the product selection system, it is preferable that a purchase request for a product from the user is input, and the purchase request is transmitted to a product information management device of a maker of the product via the communication network. This not only saves the user's trouble, but also fundamentally avoids erroneous purchase requests based on erroneous inputs such as typographical errors and selection errors and erroneous determinations such as selecting unnecessary products. .

In order to achieve the above object, a product selection method according to the present invention is a product selection method for selecting a product necessary for realizing a user's request on a computer. The component product specifying information for specifying the product and the request of the user are obtained, and provided from the manufacturer of the component product of the computer, and stored in the product information storage unit. Based on the specific information, determine the environmental conditions of the user's computer, determine the necessary components required to fulfill the user's request, and store the product information of the product belonging to the required components in the product information storage Department, and selects a product that matches the environmental conditions of the user's computer based on the product information, and presents information on the selected product. And wherein the door.

According to this method, first, a necessary component which is a component necessary for realizing a user's request is determined, and then product information of a specific product belonging to the required component is obtained. Then, from the product information, a product that matches the environmental conditions of the user's computer is selected and presented to the user. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently select a product that satisfies the requirements even if the user does not have advanced knowledge of the specifications of the computer.

[0029]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a PC-related product selection system according to the present embodiment includes a user PC (personal computer) 1 and a product management system 3 for manufacturers a to n.
a to 3n and product selection server 2 (product selection device)
Are connected via a network such as the Internet 4.

The product selection server 2 has a PC information management unit 2
1, a product information management unit 22 and an information determination unit 23. The PC information management unit 21 manages information about the user PC1. The product information management unit 22 includes manufacturers a to
n manages product information provided by the n. Information judgment unit 2
3 extracts product information suitable for the user's request based on the information. In FIG. 1, the user P
Although only one C is shown, it goes without saying that a plurality of user PCs can be connected.

The detailed configuration of the product selection server 2 is as shown in FIG.

The PC information management unit 21 includes a PC component product information storage unit 21A, a PC information determination unit 21B (environmental condition determination unit), and a PC information storage unit 21C. The PC component product information storage unit 21A stores user extraction information (component product specifying information) extracted by the user PC 1 and sent to the product selection server 2. PC information judgment unit 2
1B generates PC information indicating the details of the configuration of the user PC 1 by comparing the user extraction information with product information provided by the manufacturer and stored in the product information management unit 22 as described later. The generated PC information is stored in the PC information storage unit 21C.

The product information management section 22 stores the product information storage section 2
2A and a product information search unit 22B.
The product information storage unit 22A stores product information provided by each manufacturer. The product information search unit 22B is a PC
The product information is retrieved from the product information storage unit 22A according to an arbitrary condition provided by the information determination unit 21B.

The information determining unit 23 includes a request input unit 23A, a necessary component determining unit 23B, a belonging product determining unit 23C, a conforming product determining unit 23D, and a product information output unit 23E. The request input unit 23A inputs a function required by the user. The necessary component determining unit 23B determines components necessary to realize a function required by the user. The belonging product determination unit 23C selects a product belonging to a necessary component from the product information management unit 22. Conformity product judgment unit 23D
Determines whether each product selected by the belonging product determination unit 23C matches the environmental conditions of the user PC1. The product information output unit 23E provides the user with information on a product selected as a product for realizing a function required by the user.

First, the product selection server 2 will be described with reference to FIG.
Describes the mechanism for accumulating product information provided by each manufacturer.

The product management system 3a of each manufacturer
It is necessary that the data format of the product information managed by ~ 3n is the same as the data format of the product selection server 2. However, even if the data format is different, a known technique or the like is used. , The product management systems 3a-3
It is relatively easy to provide a mechanism for converting the product information data managed by n into the data format of the product selection server 2.

For example, a product information sub-storage section 31a-31n that stores and manages only the product information of each manufacturer in cooperation with the manufacturers a through n is provided in the product management system 3 of the manufacturer.
a to 3n, the product management systems 3a to 3n
The 3n product information can be diverted to the product selection server 2 in the data format as it is.

The product information is sent from the product management systems 3a to 3n of the respective manufacturers to the product selection server 2, stored in the product information storage unit 22A, and, if necessary, via the product information search unit 22B. Used.

The product information includes function information and operation condition information of each product as illustrated in FIG. The function information represents a function specification of a product, and includes information such as a storage capacity and an access speed in the case of a memory, for example. The operating condition information indicates operating environment conditions of the product. In the case of a memory as well, as shown in FIG.
The information includes information such as a base clock, the number of pins, a memory type, a module type, and a CL.

In the case where the manufacturer discloses, for example, the compatibility table between products or direct information such as information that can determine the feasibility of mounting only by the product name on the WWW, for example, the above-described case is adopted. This direct information may be used in preference to such indirect concept information. That is, direct information and indirect information can be properly used as needed.

Next, a mechanism for acquiring user extraction information from each user PC 1 and storing it in the product selection server 2 will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the user extraction information includes information on a list of products constituting the PC extracted by each user PC 1 and information indicating the use status of each product as necessary.

The user PC 1 is provided with a PC component product information extraction unit 11. PC configuration product information extraction unit 11
Extracts a list of hardware products constituting the user PC 1 and software products installed in the user PC 1, and selects a product selection server 2 via the Internet 4.
Send to In the product selection server 2, the received information is
It is stored in the PC component product information storage unit 21A of the PC information management unit 21.

Since the product selection server 2 uses the information stored in the product information storage unit 22A to determine the details of the product specifications and the like, the minimum information extracted from the user PC 1 is the product name and the like. Information such as a product code that can uniquely identify a product. Further, only when information such as the usage status is required in addition to the product name or the like to select a product, the usage status of the product is also extracted. Note that P
In C, it is known that such information can be extracted from registry information or the like.

The case where information such as a use state other than a product name or the like is required to select a product is, for example, a case where a software product is selected. That is, whether or not software can be added to the PC needs to be determined based on the available memory capacity. However, the memory usage during the operation of the PC is “dynamic information”. It fluctuates. Therefore, in such a case,
It is necessary to extract information on the usage status from the user PC.

On the other hand, there is a case where information such as a use situation is not required. For example, there is a case where a determination as to whether or not a certain product can be added to a PC can be made only by determining the number of available extension terminals. In other words, the number of available expansion terminals is
It is "static information" that depends only on the PC configuration product specifications.
This is because the product selection server 2 can determine based on only how many products using the extension terminal are included as component elements and the specification information of those products. Therefore, in this case, only the product list information needs to be extracted from the user PC, and there is no need to extract the usage status information.

As a method of providing the PC component product information extracting unit 11 in the user PC 1, a program for realizing the function may be installed in advance at the time of manufacturing the user PC 1, or may be stored in a CD-ROM or the like. A method of allowing the user to download from a medium may be used.

Alternatively, a program for realizing the function of the PC component product information extracting unit 11 is automatically downloaded from the product selection server 2 to the user PC 1 and activated, whereby the user's work load can be reduced. This mechanism is, for example, an automatic download unit 24 that automatically downloads arbitrary software using a known technique.
Is incorporated in the product selection server 2, and the request input unit 23A that has received the request activates the automatic download unit 24.

In the PC information management unit 21, the PC information determination unit 21B sends an instruction to the product information search unit 22B,
Based on the user extraction information stored in the C component product information storage unit 21A, product information indicating detailed specifications and the like of the products making up the user PC 1 is read from the product information storage unit 22A, whereby the specifications of the user PC 1 User PC information indicating environmental conditions such as (standards of software and hardware such as an OS, etc.) and resource consumption status (remaining storage medium, number of extended terminals, etc.) is generated, and the PC information storage unit 21C
To memorize.

That is, the product information search section 22B uses the product name or product code included in the user extraction information as a search key, thereby obtaining detailed function specifications of each product stored in the product information storage section 22A. Extract information. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 4, a product name is used as a search key,
Function specification information including the capacity of each memory, base clock, number of pins, memory type, module type, and CL can be extracted.

As described above, the minimum information that can uniquely specify a product, such as a product name, is extracted from the user PC 1, and the product name and the details acquired from the manufacturer are extracted in the product selection server 2. By obtaining necessary function specification information by collating with necessary product information, necessary PC information can be obtained without imposing an extra load on the user PC 1.

Further, since the information to be sent from the user PC 1 to the product selection server 2 is simple and requires only a small amount, it is possible to avoid a reduction in response due to a stagnation of network traffic. Instead of transmitting information via the Internet 4, the user extraction information extracted by the user PC 1 is stored in a storage medium such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk, and is mailed to an administrator of the product selection server 2. The method of sending by may be taken. Further, in addition to the storage medium, a paper medium such as a mark sheet can be used. Further, by managing specific product information in the product selection server 2, it is possible to recover information deterioration due to interpretation into PC information.

Next, referring to FIG. 6, a mechanism by which the product selection server 2 extracts product information corresponding to a user request,
The operation of the user on the user PC 1 will also be described.

The user inputs the required function to the request input section 23A of the information determination section 23 in the product selection server 2. Here, an example in which the browser 12 on the user PC 1 is used as an interface between the user and the product selection server 2 will be described. However, the interface is not limited to this. For example, a voice guide on a telephone line is used, or a paper medium such as a mark sheet is sent to the manager of the product selection server 2 by mail or the like, and the manager uses an appropriate method. For example, the information may be input to the product selection server 2.

First, an input screen as shown in FIG. 7 is displayed by the browser 12 of the user PC 1. On this input screen, the user is allowed to select a desired function using a guide such as a message. Here, it is assumed that the user selects, for example, “I want to increase the execution speed of the application” as the function required in “Application related”.

By the way, an application has different execution performance dependency on hardware depending on the characteristics of the application. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the database software frequently accesses data on the hard disk, and thus its performance greatly depends on the access speed of the hard disk. Further, for example, game software frequently performs high-speed display of three-dimensional graphics, so that its performance greatly depends on a graphic board.

The necessary component determining section 23B displays a list of applications installed in the user PC 1 on the browser 12 of the user PC 1 as shown in FIG. 9 based on the PC information in the PC information storage section 21C. Let
Let the user choose which application to prioritize. Then, necessary components are determined based on the application dependency.

For example, here, as shown in FIG. 9, it is assumed that the user has selected “graphic software y” from a list of applications installed in the user PC 1. As shown in FIG. 10, the necessary component determining unit 23B stores the correspondence between the product and the component, and determines from the correspondence that “graphic software y” belongs to the graphic software. The necessary component determining unit 23B further stores a dependency between the components as shown in FIG. 8, and from this dependency, the execution performance of the graphic software depends on the performance of the CPU or the memory. It is determined that the degree is large. The necessary component determining unit 23B displays this determination result on the browser 12, as shown in FIG. 9, and the user can select a desired product from the displayed product candidates. In the example of FIG. 9, the user has selected a memory from the products displayed on the browser 12.

Next, the belonging product determination unit 23C acquires the product name selected by the user and instructs the product information search unit 22B to output the product information corresponding to the component desired by the user. It is read from the storage unit 22A. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, when the user selects a memory, the belonging product determination unit 23C reads out the memory product list information having the contents as shown in FIG. Further, for example, by further prompting the user for additional input here, it is also possible to narrow down according to the request of the user. For example,
If the user indicates that "I want to increase the memory by 64 MB or more", the belonging product determination section 23C reads the product information on the second to seventh memories from the top in FIG.

Further, the conforming product determination section 23D refers to the user PC information stored in the PC information storage section 21C,
By collating the condition indicated by the PC information with the operation condition information of the product information, the products that can be mounted on the user PC 1 are narrowed down. For example, the PC information of the user PC 1 is such that the memory module type is DIMM and the base clock is PC
If it is 100, the conforming product determination unit 23
D selects the third to fifth memories from the top in FIG. 4 as products that can be mounted on the user PC 1.

The results thus obtained (in this case,
The product information of the third to fifth memories in FIG. 4)
A product list output from the product information output unit 23E to the outside of the system and, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, together with the operation condition information of the user PC1, a list of products finally selected by the compatible product determination unit 23D is displayed on the browser 12 of the user PC1. Expanded above.

As described above, the user inputs an abstract function request such as “I want to increase the execution speed of an application” without needing an essential understanding of the PC specifications and the product specifications. Only by this, it is possible to know a specific product name or the like that is necessary to achieve this purpose and conforms to the specifications of the user PC 1.

In the present embodiment, since the resource use status of the user PC 1 is used as a judgment factor, for example, when there is no empty slot, the user can be alerted, and not only the addition of a product but also the replacement can be performed. Can be presented as an option.

Further, the necessary component judging section 23B feeds back the judgment result of the conforming product judging section 23D from the product information output section 23E when judging the component necessary for realizing the function desired by the user. This provides not only a single component, but also a plurality of component groups as a result.

For example, it is assumed that the request input from the user to the request input unit 23A is a request "I want word processing software".
It is assumed that a product as shown in FIG. 12 is selected as a candidate by 3C. At this time, if the memory capacity of the user PC 1 is 32 MB, the word processor software B does not satisfy the operating condition regarding the memory capacity, and therefore the conforming product determination unit 2
According to 3D, only word processing software A is excluded from the target and becomes a selection candidate.

However, even in the above case, if the operating conditions regarding the memory capacity are cleared, the word processing software B can be mounted. Therefore, the conforming product determination unit 23D
Generates a request for changing the environmental conditions of the user PC 1 having a content such as "adding a memory to 64 MB or more", and feeds it back to the necessary component determining unit 23B.

Thus, the necessary component determining section 23B,
Affiliated product determination unit 23C and conforming product determination unit 23D
Is a group of products that satisfies both the requirement of "I want word processing software" and the requirement of "expanding memory to 64M or more".
Select a combination with memory.

Then, this result is added to the product information output unit 23 together with the result before feedback (word processing software A).
By outputting from E, the user is presented with two types of candidates, word processor software A alone or a combination of word processor software B and 32 MB memory.
As a result, it is possible to prevent the range of options from being carelessly narrowed.

Since the updating of the hardware is performed in accordance with the necessary operating conditions of the software, this method is effective in terms of supporting the system upgrade and eventually the replacement decision. At this time, it goes without saying that the divergence of the number of selection targets can be avoided by adding an arbitrary limit such as the maximum number of products included in the product group.

Here, like replacement or new purchase,
When a set of PCs is configured from scratch (that is, when there is no existing PC information), it is necessary to configure a set of PCs based on data indicating the relevance between components and functional concepts as shown in FIG. A method for selecting a necessary product will be described. However, the relevance shown in FIG. 13 is represented by a binary value indicating whether or not the relevance is high (circled) for simplification of data. I do not care. As described above, the data indicating the relevance between the components and the functional concepts is stored in the information determination unit 23 in advance.

First, it can be seen from FIG. 13 that the essential components required for the operation of the PC are a motherboard, a power supply, a CPU, a memory, and a built-in hard disk. Similarly, you can see the components that can be extended,
This simply means that not only can the components corresponding to the functions that can be extended be known, but also that the user can be informed of the possibility of what can be extended. The support effect can be expected. Due to these scalability, the user can select the necessary hardware components when selecting functions, for example, from the relevance of speed to increase the speed, or from the relevance of memory to increase the storage capacity. Can be nominated.

For example, if the user wants to connect an external SCSI device, a SCSI board and a cable are necessary due to the connection relationship,
It can also be seen that it is necessary to support the SI board. Further, conditions necessary for the software to be used can be considered in relation to the operating conditions of the software. If the components can be determined in this way, a specific product corresponding to the components can be selected according to the procedure described above.

Further, the product selection server 2 is connected to the manufacturer a
To n product management systems 3a to 3n, and may mediate a purchase request for a product selected by the user. That is,
For example, as shown in FIG. 11, when the user desires to purchase any of the selection candidates output from the product information output unit 23E, the user selects the product selection server 2 from the browser 12.
, A purchase request for a product desired by the user may be sent to the user, and the purchase request may be sent from the product selection server 2 to the product management system of the manufacturer of the product. According to this configuration, not only can the user's trouble be saved, but also a typo,
A simple erroneous input such as a selection error or an erroneous purchase request based on an erroneous determination such as selection of an unnecessary product can be fundamentally avoided.

Further, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, a product information search unit 22B is provided from the product information sub-storage unit 31 provided in the manufacturer's product management systems 3a to 3n as necessary.
Variation information (such as inventory information or price information) may be acquired via the Internet 4 and added to the information determining unit 23 as a material for determining product selection. Thereby, the information determination unit 23
Can be performed based on more realistic judgment data.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a network such as the Internet 4 is exemplified as the connection medium, but the data transmission means is not limited to such a communication network, but may be necessary. Any means capable of transmitting data within a required period may be used. For example, a method of mailing a storage medium storing data or transmitting a request via a telephone line using a voice guide may be used. At that time, although the immediacy may be impaired depending on the means, it is possible to easily select the product required for the required function with little knowledge of the PC product, and to achieve the essential effect of this system. No change.

As described above, the present invention supports the work necessary for realizing the functions required by the user on the PC, and specifically provides the following effects.

(1) By collating user needs with product information, products belonging to the components required for the required function can be extracted, and these can be further extracted from the specifications of the user PC (OS, standard of each hardware, etc.) and the like. By collating with user PC information such as resource consumption status (remaining storage medium, number of extended terminals, etc.), only products that can be mounted on the PC can be extracted, and related information can be obtained easily and reliably. Note that the user PC
In extracting information, the user P
By automatically specifying the products that make up C (implemented hardware products, installed software, etc.) and linking them with the product information in the server, the specifications (O
S, the user PC information such as the standard of each hardware, the resource consumption status (the remaining amount of the storage medium, the number of available expansion terminals, etc.) is automatically extracted. In the user PC, only the minimum product information that can identify the product is extracted, and it is processed in the server to the required format by comparing it with the detailed product information. Necessary PC information can be obtained.

(2) The user PC, the product management system of the maker, and the product selection server are connected via a network such as the Internet to transmit information, and the user is operated via an interface such as a browser. Immediateness and simplicity of work are further improved.

(3) When judging constituent elements necessary for user needs, regardless of hardware or software, P
All the components of C are treated as judgment materials, and not only a single component but also a combination of components that can satisfy the conditions given by the user is provided to the user as a selection result, so that any function can be provided. The feasibility and options are dramatically increased. By setting conditions such as the maximum number of components, it is possible to control the range of options, and it is possible to avoid impairing the original purpose due to an excessive increase in options.

(4) By linking with a product management system or the like of a product maker, not only the trouble of a user's purchase request can be saved, but also a simple erroneous input such as a typographical error or a selection error, or an unnecessary product can be selected. In addition, it is possible to fundamentally avoid erroneous purchase requests based on erroneous judgments, etc., and obtain information on fluctuations such as inventory status and actual prices on the spot, so that products can be selected in consideration of realistic feasibility and cost Becomes possible.

[0081]

As described above, according to the present invention, a product selection device capable of selecting a product necessary for realizing a desired function without requiring a user to have a high level of knowledge about a computer. Can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a PC-related product selection system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a product selection server included in the system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration for accumulating product information provided by a manufacturer in a product selection server in the system.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of product information provided by a manufacturer.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration for acquiring information on products constituting a user's PC in the system.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration in which a product selection server selects and presents a product corresponding to the request in response to a user request sent from a user PC in the system.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a screen on a user PC for a user to input a request;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the dependence of software components on hardware components.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a screen on the user PC that allows the user to select a component.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a correspondence relationship between products and components.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a screen on a user PC on which a selection result by a product selection server is displayed.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the correspondence between products and operating conditions.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a correspondence relationship between hardware components and functional concepts;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 User PC 11 PC Configuration Product Information Extraction Unit 12 Browser 2 Product Selection Server 21 PC Information Management Unit 21A PC Configuration Product Information Storage Unit 21B PC Information Judgment Unit 21C PC Information Storage Unit 22 Product Information Management Unit 22A Product Information Storage Unit 22B Product information search unit 23 Information determination unit 23A Request input unit 23B Necessary component determination unit 23C Affiliated product determination unit 23D Conformity product determination unit 23E Product information output unit 24 Automatic download unit a to n manufacturer 31 Product information secondary storage unit 4 Internet

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A product selection device for selecting a product necessary for realizing a user's request on a computer, comprising: component product specifying information for specifying a component product of the user's computer; A product information storage unit that stores product information about each component product provided by a manufacturer of the component product, and refers to the product information storage unit based on the component product specifying information, and An environmental condition determining unit that determines an environmental condition of the computer; a necessary component determining unit that determines a necessary component necessary to realize the user's request; and product information of a product belonging to the required component. A belonging product determination unit obtained from an information storage unit, and based on the product information acquired by the belonging product determination unit, A product selection device comprising: a conforming product determination unit that selects a matching product; and a product information output unit that outputs information on the product selected by the conforming product determination unit. 2. The product selection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conforming product determination unit generates a request to change an environmental condition of the computer of the user based on the selection result and feeds the request to the necessary component. . 3. The product selection device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the constituent product specifying information and the user request is obtained from a computer of the user via a communication network. 4. The product information is obtained from a product information management device of the manufacturer via a communication network.
Product selection device according to any of the above. 5. The product selection device according to claim 1, wherein said product information includes variation information on a product provided by each manufacturer. 6. A product selection device according to claim 1, provided in a product information management device of each manufacturer,
A product selection system, comprising: a product information sub-storage section that stores product information about each component product and that can be referenced from the product selection device via a communication network. 7. The product selection system according to claim 6, wherein a purchase request for a product from the user is input, and the purchase request is transmitted to a product information management device of a manufacturer of the product via the communication network. . 8. A product selection method for selecting a product necessary for realizing a user's request on a computer, comprising: component product specifying information for specifying a component product of a user's computer; and the user's request. Acquired, stored in the product information storage unit provided from the manufacturer of the computer component products, from the product information about each component product, based on the component product identification information, determine the environmental conditions of the user's computer, Determining necessary components necessary for realizing the user's request; obtaining product information of a product belonging to the required components from the product information storage unit; based on the product information, an environment of the user's computer. A product selection method characterized by selecting a product that meets the conditions and presenting information on the selected product.