KR100778822B1 - System and method for executing an auction and a purchase of goods - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an auction or purchasing agency system and method. The auction or purchasing agent system according to the present invention is performed on a computing device, an auction / purchasing server connected to the computing device and a communication network, and on the computing device, and auctions or purchases are made by bidding by accessing a website through the computing device. Web accessing and accessing the web site based on the goods designation helper engine that collects and delivers the primary information about the desired item and on the auction / purchasing server, based on the first information received from the goods designation helper engine. Data mining engine that collects secondary information about the page and the auction / purchase agency server, and processing the secondary information collected from the data mining engine to extract the third information required for auction or purchase of goods Web page information extraction engine for updating.

Auction, Purchasing, Data Mining, Bidding, Re-Bidding

Description

Auction and Purchasing System and Method {SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXECUTING AN AUCTION AND A PURCHASE OF GOODS}

1 is a schematic block diagram of an auction and goods purchasing agency system according to the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a process of transmitting information about auction items and purchased items to an auction / purchasing server according to the present invention.

3 is a flowchart for explaining in detail the steps S210 and S212 shown in FIG. 2;

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of obtaining information by an auction / purchasing server according to the present invention.

5A and 5B are flowcharts illustrating a process in which an auction / purchase agent server acts on behalf of a user in accordance with the present invention.

The present invention relates to the field of electronic commerce, and more particularly to an auction and purchasing agency system and method.

If an Internet user wants to trade through an auction (especially an overseas auction) and an item purchasing agency site (hereinafter referred to as a purchasing agent site), the auction and purchasing agent manager and the user must confirm the same information at the same time, but the transaction will be smooth. Can be. However, most of the auction items and purchase items desired by the user are not on the home page of the purchasing agency site, but are items that exist in an auction site or a shopping mall site operated by a domestic and / or foreign company. Therefore, the web page of the auction site and the shopping mall site that the user accesses and the web page of the auction site and the shopping mall site accessed by the administrator who operates the purchasing agency site are the type (or version) of the communication program (for example, an Internet browser). ) May be displayed differently on the computer monitor of the user and the administrator.

Information on whether the auction item or the purchased item is located on the web page of the auction site or the shopping mall site is entered by the user directly on the purchase agent site, so that the administrator and the user who operates the purchase agent site have the same information. To share. Therefore, it is troublesome that the user has to manually enter information about the auction item or the purchased item in the purchase agency site. In addition, when the user participates in the auction, it is almost impossible for the user to perform the auction through the purchase agency site because the information on the auction item, for example, the bid price changes from time to time.

Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the user does not manually enter the information on the auction items and purchases, and only by purchasing the agency site by notifying only the corresponding website information on the purchase agency site It is an object of the present invention to provide an auction and goods purchasing agency system and method that can automatically obtain information about auction goods and purchased goods and on behalf of the user on behalf of the goods auction and goods purchase.

According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, a computing device, an auction / purchasing server connected to the computing device and a communication network, performed on the computing device, connected to a website through the computing device A bidder designated by the bidder to collect and deliver first-order information about the goods to be auctioned or purchased, and is performed on the auction / purchasing server, based on the first information received from the goods-specified helper engine. A data mining engine for accessing the web site to collect secondary information about the accessed web page, and processing the secondary information collected from the data mining engine on the auction / purchasing server. To obtain tertiary information necessary for auctioning or purchasing This auction or purchasing agent to a system including a web page information extraction engine that updates are provided.
In the auction or purchase agency system, the article designation helper engine collects URL information of the web page. The auction or auction system collects HTML information about the item to be auctioned or purchased by the data mining engine. The auction or purchasing agency system, the auction / purchase agency server requests and receives the delivery information for the goods to be auctioned or to purchase from the computing device.
According to another aspect of the present invention, accessing a web site through a computing device to collect the first information about the item to be bid or auction or to purchase and deliver to the auction / purchase agency server, and the auction / purchase agency Collecting secondary information about the accessed web page by accessing the web site on the basis of the received primary information on a server, and processing the collected secondary information on the auction / purchasing server; By auctioning or purchasing agency method comprising the step of extracting and updating the third information required for the auction or purchase for the article is provided.
The auction or purchase proxy method further includes requesting and receiving delivery information about the item to be auctioned or to be purchased from the computing device.
According to another aspect of the present invention, accessing a website through a computing device to deliver the first information about the item to be auction agency server, and based on the first information on the auction agency server A first data mining step of acquiring auction information on the article, and auctioning the auction by logging into the website on the auction agency server based on the auction information, and proceeding the auction for the auction on the auction agency server An auction agency method is provided that includes a second data mining step of updating information.
Now, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5B.
1, there is shown a schematic block diagram of an auction and article purchasing agency system in accordance with the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the auction and goods purchase agency system 100 may use the auction server 102, the shopping mall server 104, the communication network 106, the auction / purchase agency server 108, and the computing device 110. It is included.
The auction server 102 may exist domestic and / or overseas where the user resides, and operates an auction website for auctioning multiple items. The shopping mall server 104 exists domestic and / or overseas where the user resides and operates a shopping mall web site for selling a plurality of items. The auction / purchasing server 108 operates a web site for auctioning and purchasing of auction items or purchase items desired by a user. The auction / purchasing server 108 acts to auction and purchase goods through a data mining engine, a web page information extraction engine, and an auction engine stored on a computer readable medium. These engines will be described later. In addition, the auction / purchasing server 108 is provided with a goods designation helper engine for designating and sending information about items to be auctioned and / or purchased by the user. This will be described later.
Although the communication network 106 shown in FIG. 1 is a conventional Internet communication network, the present invention is not limited thereto and is understood to refer to a wired or wireless communication network that can be connected through a user's computing device 110. Should be interpreted. The user connects to the auction server 102, the shopping mall server 104, and the auction / purchasing server 108 via the communication network 106 using the computing device 110.
Here, the computing device 110 includes an article designation helper engine downloaded from the auction / purchase agent server 108. The item designation helper engine is a program used to transmit information about bid items and / or items to be purchased to the auction / purchase server 108 by a user, and is a computer-readable program provided in the auction / purchase server 108. Stored on the media.
The auction / purchasing server 108 also includes a data mining engine 114 or a web page information extraction engine 116. The data mining engine 114 obtains detailed information about the item desired by the user based on the information received from the goods specifying helper engine 112, and the webpage information extraction engine 116 is based on the detailed information. Extract information on the web page for the item.
In FIG. 1, only one auction server 102 and one shopping mall server 104 are illustrated. However, the auction server 102 and the shopping mall server 104 exist only as examples, and those skilled in the art will fully understand that there may be a plurality of auction servers and a plurality of shopping mall servers. .
Referring to FIG. 2, a flow diagram for illustrating a process of transmitting information of an item that a user wants to auction and / or purchase to the auction / purchasing server 108 is shown.
In step S202, the user connects to the auction / purchasing server 108 via the computing device. The computing device has the ability to communicate with the auction / purchasing server 108 via the communication network 106 as described above.
In step S204, the user downloads the goods specification helper engine from the connected auction / purchase agency server 108. Next, the user's computing device prepares for the automatic installation of the article designation helper engine, and performs the installation of the article designation helper engine according to the user's consent.
In step S206, the user activates the item specification helper engine. That is, since the item designation helper engine installed on the user's computing device always operates with a communication program (eg, Internet Explorer), the user activates the communication program to execute the auction server 102 and / or via the communication network 106. The article designation helper engine is activated by accessing the shopping mall server 104.
In step S208, in order to select a desired item from a web site operated by the auction server 102 and / or the shopping mall server 104, the user uses an auction server to communicate with the auction server 106 through the communication network 106. 102 and / or the mall server 104, and then position the pointer (eg, a mouse pointer) on the desired item displayed on the display of the computing device, and then generated by the activated item helper engine. Select a menu (eg, "Purchase Request" or "Auction Request").
In step S210, when the user selects a menu, the goods specifying helper engine displays the URL (Uniform Resource Locator), the item image URL, and the Internet Explorer screen capture information of the corresponding web page where the item desired by the user exists. Obtained from the auction / purchase agency server 108 and transmits. Here, the information that the item designation helper engine obtains from the web site includes, for example, the auction item and / or the auction / purchasing server 108 desired by the user, such as a URL and a photo information URL of a shopping mall website and / or an auction website. Or basic information necessary to obtain information about purchased goods. In this case, the item designation helper engine may store the information obtained from the web site on the user's computing device and transmit the information to the auction / purchase agent server 108. Then, the auction / purchasing server 108 obtains detailed information on the desired item from the web site through the data mining engine provided on the basis of the information received from the item specification helper engine. A detailed description of the step S210 will be described later with reference to FIG. 3.
In step S212, the auction / purchasing server 108 stores the information obtained from the web site through a data mining engine in its predetermined place, such as a database (not shown), and then processes according to the present invention. To exit. At this time, the auction / purchase agency server 108 requests and receives additional information about this, for example, the recipient name, address, delivery method of the goods and the like for accurate delivery of the goods for the auction and purchase. This additional information may be further input by the user after the information of the auction item and / or purchase item desired by the user is completed to the auction / purchasing server 108. In addition, if the auction item and / or purchase item desired by the user is a registered item on an overseas auction website and / or a shopping mall website, the auction / purchasing server 108 may notify the user to determine the cost of delivering the item. You can additionally request information related to shipping cost determination, such as the weight of the item. The auction / purchasing server 108 purchases the goods according to the usual purchasing procedure based on the above-described information when the user requests the agency to purchase the goods. Detailed description of the step (S212) will be described later with reference to FIG.
Referring to FIG. 3, a flowchart for describing in detail the steps S210 and S212 of FIG. 2 is shown.
In step S302, the auction / purchasing server 108 connects to the auction website and / or the shopping mall website through the communication network 106 based on the information received from the user's computing device. For example, when the communication network 106 is the Internet, the auction / purchasing server 108 may use an auction server 102 and / or a shopping mall server (eg, a socket program or an internet browser) provided therein. 104).
In step S304, the auction / purchasing server 108 uses the data mining engine provided therein, based on the information transmitted from the goods specification helper engine, to connect to the auction server 102 and / or the shopping mall server ( Obtain data necessary for auctioning and / or purchasing goods from the web page (s) operated by 104. The data mining engine receives all data about the contents of the accessed web page and temporarily stores it in a predetermined place of the auction / purchasing server 108. Here, the data mining engine is implemented on a computer readable medium provided in the auction / purchasing server 108. In addition, the data mining engine checks whether the acquired information includes information about expired periods or information about auctions and / or items that cannot be purchased, and then only valid information of the auction / purchasing server 108 Store in a preset storage location.
In step S306, the auction / purchasing server 108 organizes the temporarily stored data into a preset format using the data mining engine. Next, the auction / purchasing server 108 divides the data needed and the unnecessary data for the auction and / or the purchase of the goods by using the web page information extraction engine. The process of the auction / purchasing server 108 to extract information using the web page information extraction engine will be described in detail later with reference to FIG. 4.
In step S308, the auction / purchase agent server 108 uses a data mining engine to delete unnecessary data among the divided data and to store necessary data in a predetermined storage location. For example, when the auction / purchasing server 108 acts as an auction, data such as auction title, item image, detailed description, transaction start time, end time, highest bid, highest bidder, and the like are stored as necessary data.
Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a flow chart illustrating a process of an auction / purchasing server obtaining information from a corresponding web page in accordance with the present invention.
In step S402, the auction / purchasing server 108 uses a data mining engine to display Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) information about auction items and / or purchase items desired by a user from an auction website and / or a shopping mall website. ) Receive information and store it temporarily in a preset storage location. As mentioned above, the HTML information is provided through an article designation helper engine activated by the user.
In step S404, the auction / purchasing server 108 cuts the stored HTML information line by line using a web page information extraction engine and sorts it into a preset type.
In step S406, the auction / purchasing server 108 retrieves each HTML information arranged in a preset type in string units using a web page information extraction engine.
In step S408, the auction / purchasing server 108 determines whether a string of a predetermined form exists using the web page information extraction engine. If the determination result in step S408 is affirmative, i.e., a string of a predetermined form exists, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S410. On the contrary, when the determination result in step S408 is negative, that is, a character string of a predetermined form does not exist, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S422.
In step S410, the auction / purchasing server 108 determines whether the string of the preset form in the HTML information is valid information. If the determination result in step S410 is affirmative, that is, the obtained character string is valid information, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S412. On the contrary, if the determination result in step S410 is negative, that is, the obtained character string is not valid information, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S422.
Steps S408 and S410 will be described in detail by way of example, and the web page information extraction engine extracts a string of a predetermined form from the HTML information of "<TR><TD> 08:33:12 </ TD>". To find out, it is determined whether the character contents of the first to eighth columns of the HTML information are equal to "<TR><TD>". Next, the web page information extraction engine determines whether the information corresponding to the character string of the preset form is valid information. That is, the web page information extraction engine determines whether the obtained character string has a format of "(number) (number): (number) (number): (number) (number)" based on ":". If the &quot; number &quot; and &quot;:" are continuous information in this way, it is determined as time information and the subsequent steps according to the present invention are performed.
In addition, the web page information extraction engine may be configured in a predetermined form from HTML information of "<TR><TD> Dumpy Popsha"</TD><TD> 3Long 31Pp21Sha 46G </ TD></TR>. To find a string, a string representing the start or end time, such as "(number) (character) (space) (number) (character) (space) (number) (character) (space) (number) (character)" The web page information extraction engine finds these strings and deletes only the "(character)" field, then "(month) (blank) (date) (blank) (hour) (blank) (minutes). Since a string in the form of () (blank) (seconds) "is left, the web page information extraction engine rearranges the string before and after the" (blank) "portion to perform a validity judgment. The web page information extraction engine performs validity information. As a result, the identified character string is converted into information in a form suitable for an operating system of the auction / purchasing server 108 and stored in a predetermined storage location. The.
In addition, when the auction / purchasing server 108 performs the auction process, the web page information extraction engine is "<A HREF="http://www.aaa.com/morimura_2000?"> morimura_2000 </A>&nbsp;(<AHREF = "http://www.aaa.com/rating?userID=morimura_2000&"> 2209 </A>) <BR></B></SMALL></TD>"Auction items from HTML information Find a string of preset forms corresponding to the exhibitor's user ID. Since the string contained between the '? ">' String and the '</A>' string in the HTML information is the auction exhibitor's ID, this part is extracted and placed before the '&">' string after the 'userID =' string. Compare with the part and store the result in a preset storage location. Through this process, the web page information extraction engine, for example, auction title, auction item exhibitor ID, current highest bid, auction start time, auction end time, number of images, URL of each image, options specified by the exhibitor in the auction item Extract information about the auction item.
Referring back to FIG. 4, in step S422, the auction / purchasing server 108 moves to the next string after sorting, and then proceeds to step S408 to perform the above-described process.
Meanwhile, in step S412, the auction / purchase agent server 108 stores the character string determined to be valid as information in a predetermined storage location, and then proceeds to step S414.
In step S414, the auction / purchase agent server 108 determines whether a string to be searched for remains in the HTML information. If the determination result in step S414 is affirmative, that is, a string to be searched for remains, the auction / purchasing server 108 returns to step S408 to perform the above-described process. On the contrary, when the determination result in step S414 is negative, that is, there are no more strings to be searched in the HTML information, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S416.
In step S416, the auction / purchase agent server 108 determines whether the extracted information is sufficient to perform the auction or purchase process. If the determination result in step S412 is affirmative, that is, the extracted information is sufficient, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S420. In step S420, the auction / purchasing server 108 stores the extraction information as described above in a predetermined storage location and then terminates the process according to the present invention.
In contrast, if the determination result in step S416 is negative, that is, the extracted information is not sufficient, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S418. In step S418, the auction / purchasing server 108 terminates the process according to the present invention after sending an input information error message informing the user that the information obtained from the web page is an error.
In addition, the web page information extraction engine not only extracts the text information of the web page, but also additionally receives an image of the auction item, and then converts the received image into an image of a preset size. Store in a preset storage location. Accordingly, even if the user does not check the goods on the auction website and / or the shopping mall website, since all the goods information is stored in the auction / purchasing server 108, there is an effect that easy auction and / or purchase is possible. In addition, because the HTML configuration of each of the Web sites may be different, the auction / purchase server 108 may simultaneously execute different web page information extraction engines according to the operation requested by the user (ie, auction or purchase agency). Extract information from your web site.
5A and 5B, there is shown a flow diagram illustrating a process by which an auction / purchase agent 108 acts on behalf of a user in accordance with the present invention.
First, in step S502 of FIG. 5A, the user selects a desired auction item using the item designation helper engine. The article designation helper engine then sends basic information about the selected auction item to the auction / purchase agent server 108 as described above.
In step S504, the auction / purchasing server 108 uses the auction engine to determine whether the user wants to enter the auction, i.e., whether to bid on the selected auction item. If the determination result in step S504 is affirmative, that is, the user wants to bid, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S506. At this time, the user inputs a bid for the selected auction item. Alternatively, if the determination result in step S504 is negative, that is, the user does not want to bid, the auction / purchasing server 108 terminates the process according to the present invention.
In step S506, the auction / purchasing server 108 obtains information related to the auction from the corresponding web page based on the information transmitted from the item designation helper engine using the data mining engine and the web page information extraction engine. (Primary data mining).
In operation S508, the auction / purchasing server 108 determines whether the item selected by the user is currently auctionable at the auction site, based on the information about the auction item among the obtained auction-related information. If the determination result in step S508 is affirmative, that is, the item selected by the user is an item currently available for auction in the auction site, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S510. On the contrary, if the determination result at step S508 is negative, that is, the item selected by the user is not currently auctionable at the auction site, the auction / purchasing server 108 terminates all processes according to the present invention.
In step S510, the auction / purchasing server 108 stores the current auctionable item and auction information relating thereto in a predetermined storage location.
In step S512, the auction / purchasing server 108 retrieves an ID that the user can use when bidding. This ID is an ID owned by the user or an ID held by the auction / purchasing server 108 to log in to the auction site operated by the auction server 102.
In step S514, the auction / purchasing server 108 logs in to the auction site using the ID retrieved in step S512 and then performs an auction with the bid entered by the user.
In step S516, the auction / purchasing server 108 uses the data mining engine and the website information extraction engine to auction progress related information, i.e., bidding results, for the auction items that the user bids at predetermined time intervals. Obtain information from the auction site and update the information related thereto (secondary data mining). At this time, the auction / purchase agency server 108 to update the information from the auction items close to the end time of the stored auction-related information, the update based on the highest bid and the highest bidder information. Here, the preset time interval may be set by the user, and may be set to decrease as the auction end time approaches.
Next, in step S518 of FIG. 5B, the auction / purchasing server 108 determines whether the user has won the bid based on the updated information through the data mining engine and the website information extraction engine. To judge. If the result of the determination in step S518 is affirmative, i.e., a successful bid is received by the user, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S524.
In step S524, the auction / purchase agent server 108 obtains information on the successful bid result using the data mining engine and the web page information extraction engine. In this case, the obtained information includes, for example, a successful bidder, an auction article exhibitor's name, an exhibitor's e-mail address, and an exhibitor account.
In step S526, the auction / purchase agency server 108 analyzes the successful bid result information obtained through the data mining engine and the web page information extraction engine, and notifies the user through an e-mail and / or a short message.
In step S528, the auction / purchasing server 108 receives payment for the successful bidding item from the user through a normal payment process, deducts a predetermined fee, and then transfers the bidding article to the account of the auctioned goods exhibitor. The process according to the present invention is terminated after requesting for dispatch.
On the other hand, if the determination result in step S518 is negative, that is, the user has not received a successful bid bid, the auction / purchase agency server 108 proceeds to step S520. In this case, the unsuccessful bid means that the auction is in progress.
In step S520, the auction / purchase agency server 108 determines whether the auction time for the bidding article has expired. If the determination result in step S520 is negative, that is, the auction time has not expired, the auction / purchase agent server 108 proceeds to step S522. On the contrary, when the determination result in step S520 is affirmative, that is, when the auction time has expired, the auction / purchasing server 108 terminates all processes according to the present invention.
In step S522, the auction / purchase agent server 108 determines whether the user wants to re-bid. If the determination result in step S522 is negative, that is, the user does not want to re-bid, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S530. In contrast, if the determination result in step S522 is affirmative, that is, the user wants to re-bid, the auction / purchasing server 108 returns to step S514. At this time, the user further selects the item to be bid among the bidding items, inputs a new bid, and performs the step of determining whether the bid is normally entered. Thereafter, as described above, the auction / purchasing server 108 performs an auction with the new bid updated by the user.
In step S530, the auction / purchasing server 108 updates the information related to the auction by the auction end time by using the data mining engine and the web page information extraction engine, and then proceeds to step S520 to perform the above-described process. Perform.

As described above, according to the present invention, the hassle that a user must perform in order to purchase and / or participate in an auction can be simplified through an auction / purchasing server. Furthermore, when a user participates in an auction, the user does not own the ID necessary for this, and by using the ID of the auction / purchasing server, there is an effect of reducing the cost of paying to own the ID required for the auction. In addition, the user can pay the costs of the purchase and auction auction through the auction / purchase agency server has the effect of reducing the hassle due to the payment. In addition, even if the user wants to buy auctions and goods on the overseas auction website and the shopping mall website, there is an effect that can be easily bid and purchase through the auction / purchase agency server.

Claims (7)

An auction and purchasing agency system that connects through a website and communication network. A computing device connected with the web site; And An auction / purchasing server connected to the computing device and the web site to perform auction and purchase of goods Including, The computing device accesses the web site in response to an auction request and a purchase request from a user, obtains information about the auction item and the purchased item, and transmits the information to the auction / purchasing server, and bids for the auction item from the user. Receiving the input includes a goods specification helper engine for transmitting to the auction / purchase agency server, The auction / purchase agency server Based on the information about the auction item and the purchased item, the web site is accessed to obtain detailed information about the auction item and the purchased item, and the detailed information that can be auctioned and purchased is analyzed by analyzing the obtained detailed information. Obtaining a data mining engine; An information extraction engine for processing the auction and purchase detailed information to extract only information necessary for auction and purchase agency; And An auction engine that auctions the auction item based on the bid and the extracted information Auction and purchase agency system comprising a. The method of claim 1, And the article designation helper engine includes means for collecting URL information of the web page. The method of claim 1, And the data mining engine comprises means for gathering HTML information about the item to be auctioned or purchased by the bidding. The method of claim 1, The auction / purchasing server comprises a means for requesting and receiving delivery information for the item to be bid or auctioned or purchased from the computing device. An auction and purchase agent method of an auction and purchase agent system including a computing device and an auction / purchase agent server, a) at the computing device, accessing a web site in response to an auction request and a purchase request from a user to obtain information about the auction item and the purchased item, and receiving a bid for the auction item from the user; b) at the auction / purchasing server, accesses the web site based on the information on the auction item and the purchased item, obtains detailed information on the auction item and the purchased item, and obtains the obtained detailed information. Analyzing and obtaining only detailed information that can be auctioned and purchased; c) processing, at the auction / purchasing server, extracting only information necessary for auction and purchasing agent by processing detailed information available for auction and purchase; And d) performing an auction on the auction item on the auction / purchasing server based on the bid and the extracted information; Auction and purchase agency method comprising a. The method of claim 5, And requesting and receiving delivery information about the item to be auctioned or purchased by the bidding device from the computing device. delete

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