KR20060093947A - Method and system for electronic commerce using virtual city - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a method and system for performing e-commerce using a virtual city embodied in three-dimensional graphics in the same manner as a real area. The electronic commerce system of the present invention receives terrain data from a GIS server, generates and stores MAP data for implementing virtual cities corresponding to a plurality of regions as three-dimensional graphic data using the terrain data, and stores the stores implemented in the virtual city. An e-commerce providing server that stores product information of a member company that sells a product online and stores MAP information indicating a location and a virtual city in a virtual city of a store; A member company server which selects one or more of the plurality of MAP data and sells a product corresponding to the product information online in a store implemented in a virtual city implemented by the selected MAP data; And displaying the virtual city to the member in 3D graphics according to the MAP data received from the e-commerce server, and receiving a list of products sold in the store from the e-commerce providing server when the member's avatar visits a store implemented in the virtual city. Displayed to the member, the user terminal receives the selection information on the product you want to purchase from the list of products and includes a user terminal for transmitting to the e-commerce providing server.

Description

Method and system for electronic commerce using virtual city

1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an electronic commerce system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the e-commerce providing server of the present invention shown in FIG.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an electronic commerce providing method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a detailed flowchart illustrating step S340 of FIG. 3 for providing a service of the present invention to a member company according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a detailed flowchart illustrating step S340 of FIG. 3 for providing a service of the present invention to an individual member according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating a virtual city according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6B is a diagram illustrating an example of an internal view of a store located in a virtual city.

The present invention relates to an electronic commerce method and system. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electronic commerce method and system that can implement an electronic commerce by implementing a virtual city on-line and entering a company in the virtual city.

Due to the spread of the high-speed Internet network, the electronic commerce that purchases the product online has been activated from the conventional commerce method that directly purchased the product offline.

However, the conventional electronic commerce method has a hassle to search and visit the online site where the consumer can purchase the product to purchase. In order to solve this problem and make it easier for buyers to visit the product seller's site, the conventional e-commerce method places a banner advertisement to promote the product selling site on the Internet portal site where the visitor is many, When the user clicks on the banner advertisement, the advertisement method is adopted so that the advertisement is placed on the home page of the advertiser who placed the banner advertisement, that is, the product seller.

However, such a conventional banner advertising method does not cause consumer interest, and thus has a very low banner advertisement clickthrough rate, and thus has a very low effect of promoting a website of an advertiser who has posted a banner advertisement.

Meanwhile, a map search service using a GIS system is currently provided through the Internet. The GIS system is designed to create and manage maps and geographic information used in the past in the form of printed materials by computer, collect and analyze data based on the geographic information obtained from this, and apply it to all areas related to the terrain. Refers to a comprehensive information system.

It is divided into land information system, urban information system, drawing automation, and facility management, but it is used in a wide range of fields such as land, resource, environment, city, marine, fisheries, military transportation, and communication and water and sewage. If the geographic information system is equipped, various spatial analysis is possible, and various geographic information such as graphic information and related database can be known in detail, and a large amount of spatial data can be efficiently managed using processing tools and operation tools. You can also use a dedicated macro language for your users. However, the data providing service using the conventional GIS system is merely a display of a map of the corresponding area to the user according to the input number of the user, and there is a problem in that it cannot provide various services to the user.

The technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to provide an electronic commerce method and system that can be used by more consumers by inducing interest of the user. In particular, the technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to provide an electronic commerce system and method that can induce the interest of consumers by using a virtual city of the same appearance as the actual region by combining the GIS system.

An electronic commerce system of the present invention for achieving the above-described technical problem, GIS server for storing terrain data for a plurality of areas; Receive terrain data from a GIS server, generate and store MAP data that implements virtual cities corresponding to a plurality of regions as 3D graphic data using the terrain data, and store products online at stores implemented in virtual cities. An electronic commerce providing server for storing product information of a member company for selling and MAP information indicating a location and a virtual city in a virtual city of a store; A member company server which selects one or more of the plurality of MAP data and sells a product corresponding to the product information online in a store implemented in a virtual city implemented by the selected MAP data; And displaying the virtual city to the member in 3D graphics according to the MAP data received from the e-commerce server, and receiving a list of products sold in the store from the e-commerce providing server when the member's avatar visits a store implemented in the virtual city. Displayed to the member, the user terminal receives the selection information on the product you want to purchase from the list of products and includes a user terminal for transmitting to the e-commerce providing server.

The e-commerce providing server may further include a friend list including members registered as friends by a member. When the member accesses, the e-commerce providing server transmits a list of friend members registered in the member's friend list among the already connected members to the user terminal. The instant message received from the user terminal may be transmitted to the user terminal of the friend member selected by the member.

The apparatus may further include a weather information providing server providing weather information of a plurality of regions, and the electronic commerce providing server may transmit MAP data reflecting weather information to a user terminal and display the same to a member.

On the other hand, an electronic commerce providing apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above-described technical problem, Member DB for storing personal information and unique list information of the member; A member company DB that stores product information about a product sold by the member company and MAP information indicating a location and a virtual city in a virtual city of a store in which the member company enters, for each member company; A MAP storage DB for storing a plurality of MAP data of a virtual city corresponding to each region in three-dimensional graphics according to the terrain data; A MAP generation unit generating MAP data implementing a virtual city using the terrain data and outputting the MAP data to a MAP storage DB; A virtual city output unit for displaying the virtual city by transmitting MAP data to a member company server of a member user terminal and a member company; An entry manager that receives selection information on stores in a virtual city from a member company server and registers MAP information in a member company DB; When a member's avatar visits a store in a virtual city, product information of a member entered into a store is read from a member company DB, transmitted to a user terminal for display, and product selection information and payment information are received from the user terminal to pay for a product purchase price. It includes an e-commerce provider to perform.

In addition, the above-mentioned unique list information includes a friend list including members registered as friends by the member, and when the member accesses, a list of friend members registered in the member's friend list among the already connected members is transmitted to the user terminal. The mobile terminal may further include a chat providing unit configured to transmit an instant message received from the user terminal to a user terminal of a friend member selected by the member.

In addition, the above-mentioned member company DB further stores the interior data representing the interior of the store each member company entered, the e-commerce provider reads the interior data when the member's avatar visits the store and transmits to the user terminal of the member Can be shown to members.

In addition, when the above-described store management unit receives an entry request signal from a member company server, when the list of virtual cities from which the MAP data is generated is read from the MAP storage DB and transmitted to the member company server, and the virtual city selection signal is received from the member company server, The virtual city output unit may output the MAP data of the selected virtual city to the member company server.

In addition, the above-described virtual city output unit may transmit a MAP data to a member company server by displaying a predetermined mark on a store that a member company can enter.

In addition, the above-described virtual city output unit may reflect the weather information of each region received from the predetermined weather information providing server to the MAP data implementing each region and transmit the same to the user terminal for display to the member.

In addition, the above-described virtual city output unit downloads the MAP data of the virtual city visited by the member for the first time with the version information of the MAP data to the user's user terminal, and receives it from the user terminal when the member visits the same virtual city again. The version information of the MAP data is compared with the version information of the MAP data stored in the MAP storage DB. If the version information does not match, the upgrade patch including the modified contents of the MAP data may be transmitted to the user terminal.

The virtual city output unit may transmit avatar information of another member who visited the same virtual city as the virtual city visited by the member to the user terminal and display the avatar information.

On the other hand, in the electronic commerce method of the present invention for achieving the above-described technical problem, (a) a virtual city in which the e-commerce providing server that receives the terrain data for a predetermined region from a predetermined GIS server corresponding to the region using the terrain data Generating and storing MAP data implementing 3D graphic data; (b) the electronic commerce providing server authenticating the user terminal of the connected member and the member company server of the member, transmitting a selection menu corresponding to the user terminal and the member company server, and receiving a selection value for the selection menu; (c) if the selection value received from the member company server indicates store entry implemented in the virtual city, the member company server transmits MAP data for implementing the virtual city list and the virtual city in three-dimensional graphics to the member company server, Placing a member company in a store in a virtual city selected from the group; And (d) transmitting the MAP data implementing the virtual city represented by the selection value received from the user terminal to the user terminal to display the selected virtual city together with the avatar of the member, wherein the avatar enters the company in the virtual city. When visiting a store, the product information of the member company is transmitted to the user terminal, and the product selection information is received from the user terminal.

In addition, the above step (a) includes storing the member company's sales product list and the product information for each product in the member company DB, the above step (c) is the case where the selection value received from the member company server is product management In addition, the electronic commerce providing server may newly register product information received from the member company server, or modify and store the stored product information.

In addition, the above step (a) includes the step of storing a friend list registered by the member, the above step (d) transmits to the user terminal a list of members who are connected among the members registered in the friend list to the user terminal and The instant message received from the user terminal may be transmitted to the user terminal of the friend member selected by the user terminal.

In addition, in the above-described step (d), the weather information of each region received from the predetermined weather information providing server may be reflected to the MAP data corresponding to each region and transmitted to the user terminal.

In addition, in step (d), the avatar information of other members who visited the same virtual city selected by the member may be transmitted to the user's user terminal along with the MAP data.

In addition, step (a) described above includes a step of receiving and storing interior data representing the internal view of the store entered by the member company from the member company server, and storing the selected data from the member company server. When the value indicates store management, the e-commerce providing server may update the interior data stored with the interior data received from the member company server or change the appearance of the store represented in the MAP data.

Hereinafter, an electronic commerce method and system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an electronic commerce system according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the electronic commerce system of the present invention includes a plurality of user terminals 100 connected to a wired / wireless internet network centered on a wired / wireless communication network (hereinafter, collectively referred to as a “wired / wireless internet network”). A plurality of member company server 300, GIS server 500, the weather information providing server 400, and the electronic commerce providing server 200.

The user terminal 100 is a device that allows a general consumer to access the electronic commerce providing server 200 through a wired / wireless communication network. If the user terminal 100 can access the electronic commerce providing server 200 through a wired / wireless internet network, the user terminal 100 is not limited thereto. It generally includes a PC, a PDA, and a mobile terminal capable of wireless internet.

The member company server 300 is a product sales company entering a virtual city implemented by the e-commerce providing server 200 of the present invention, and the member company server 300 accesses the e-commerce providing server 200 to update the sales product information. Sell products online and modify exterior or interior graphic data of entry stores implemented in virtual cities.

The GIS server 500 stores the terrain data and transmits the terrain data to the electronic commerce providing server 200 through a communication network whenever new data is added or existing data is updated.

The weather information providing server 400 transmits the current weather information of each country or region in which the MAP data is stored in the electronic commerce providing server 200 to the electronic commerce providing server 200 in real time.

The financial institution server 600 receives payment information from the electronic commerce providing server 200 with respect to the e-commerce activity performed by the electronic commerce providing server 200 and performs payment of a product purchase price.

The e-commerce providing server 200 periodically receives new terrain data and updated terrain data from the GIS server 500, generates and updates MAP data, and when the user terminal 100 connects, the user terminal 100. According to the selection of the MAP data of the selected area to configure the graphic to perform the function of displaying to the user terminal (100). In this case, weather information may be received from the weather information providing server 400, and may be output to the user terminal 100 by reflecting the weather information in the MAP data of the region selected by the user.

2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the electronic commerce providing server 200 of the present invention. 2, the e-commerce providing server 200 of the present invention is a web server 210, chat provider 212, virtual city output unit 216, e-commerce provider 214, MAP generator ( 218, a store management unit 220, a member DB 250, a member company DB 252, a MAP storage DB 254, and a GIS DB 256.

First, the member DB 250 stores member information of a member who subscribes to an e-commerce service using a virtual city of the present invention. The member information includes personal information such as a member's ID, password, avatar, name, address, social security number, mobile phone number, and e-mail address, and includes payment information such as a credit card number used at the time of purchase of the product. In addition, the member information includes a unique list of members registered by the member. The unique list of members includes a friend list including names and IDs of other members registered as friends, and favorite stores that register stores in the regions and virtual cities that members frequently visit. A search list and the like.

The member company DB 252 includes member company information, product information, and interior information of a member company located in a virtual city. The member company information includes the basic information of the member company, such as the address of the member company's main store, the business registration number, the homepage address, and the MAP including the stores in the virtual city where the member enters, and the MAP information indicating the location. The product information includes a list of products sold by a member in a store located in a virtual city, a price of each product, a description of each product, and image information about each product. The interior information is graphic data representing an interior view of a store to be displayed on the user terminal 100 of the member when the avatar of the member enters a store entered by the member, which may be image data depicting an offline store in the same way. The graphic data may be generated and received by the member company server 300.

The GIS DB 256 stores the newly added terrain data and updated terrain data received from the GIS server 500 described above, and provides the stored terrain data to the MAP generator 218.

The MAP storage DB 254 stores the MAP data generated by the MAP generator 218 using the terrain data stored in the GIS DB 256.

The web server 210 authenticates the member company server 300 and the user terminal 100 connected to the electronic commerce providing server 200 through a wired or wireless Internet network, and the financial company server 600 and the weather information providing server 400 described above. And the GIS server 500 to transmit / receive data according to a predetermined protocol.

The virtual city output unit 216 outputs a list of regions in which the MAP is generated to the user terminal 100 of the member when the member is connected. The virtual city output unit 216 receives the member's selection value from the user terminal 100, reads the MAP data implementing the virtual city of the region selected by the member from the MAP storage DB 254, and reads the member's avatar from the member DB. It reads from 250 and transmits it with the MAP data to the member's user terminal 100.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 6A, the user terminal 100 displays the MAP data received from the virtual city output unit 216 and the member's avatar together with the member, and displays the member's operation according to the member's operation. The avatar motion information is output to the virtual city output unit 216 through the web server 210, and the virtual city output unit 216 sends the changed MAP data to the user terminal 100 according to the received motion information of the member avatar. send.

In addition, the virtual city output unit 216 outputs the avatars of other members who have selected the same region as the region selected by the member to the user terminal 100, and not only depicts a more realistic urban landscape to the member. It receives the weather information of the actual city corresponding to the MAP in real time from the weather information providing server 400 described above, and outputs the weather information reflecting the weather information when outputting the MAP data of the virtual city to the user. That is, when the virtual city output unit 216 transmits the weather information together while transmitting the MAP data to the user terminal 100, the user terminal 100 graphically reflects the weather information (for example, snow or rain) in the MAP data. Can be displayed to members.

The chat provider 212 provides a chat function so that a connected member can chat with another connected member. In particular, when a member connects, the chat provider 212 inquires a friend list of the connected member in the member DB 250, and transmits and displays a connected member list registered as a friend to the user's user terminal 100. And transmits an instant message to the user terminal 100 of the selected friend member according to the member's selection.

The e-commerce provider 214 moves the virtual city when the member's avatar enters a store entered in the virtual city, inquires the member company DB 252 moving into the store, and displays the interior as illustrated in FIG. 6B. The graphic data is output to the user terminal 100 to display the internal view of the store to the member, and the list of products for sale and the image of the corresponding product are read from the member company DB 252 and transmitted to the user terminal 100. In addition, when the purchase request signal is received from the user terminal 100, the member DB 250 reads the payment information of the member and transmits it to the financial institution server 600 to perform a function of performing a payment.

The MAP generator 218 receives the terrain data from the GIS DB 256, converts the terrain data into 3D graphic data, generates MAP data, and outputs the generated MAP data to the MAP storage DB 254. The terrain data includes altitude data indicating the altitude of the building, along with coordinate data indicating the type of the building, the terrain, the feature (hereinafter, referred to as "building"), the location of the building, and the like. The MAP generating unit 218 generates MAP data by expressing buildings and the like in three-dimensional graphics at the height indicated by the elevation data according to the type of the building or the like to be implemented in three dimensions at the position indicated by the coordinate data. The MAP data is mainly generated around the high-traffic cities and is not limited to one country. Instead, the map data is inputted from the world's leading cities. Providing to the user terminal 100, the member can experience the actual visit to the famous cities abroad, even if you do not go abroad.

When the member company server 300 connects to the member company server 300 and wishes to enter the shop, the store manager 220 reads the virtual city list in which the MAP data is generated from the MAP storage DB 254 and transmits the list to the member company server 300 and selects the member company server from the server. Upon receiving the information, the virtual city output unit 216 causes the member company server 300 to output MAP data of the region where the member company wishes to enter the store. In this case, a predetermined mark is displayed for the stores in the virtual city where the member company can enter, and leasing and selling for each store are possible. The manner of entering a store implemented in the virtual city of the present invention is almost the same as the manner of entering an offline store. That is, a member company can rent a store for a monthly fee, and can also sell the store to another person.

However, since the virtual city implemented in the present invention is generated in the same manner as the actual city, in order to provide a more realistic virtual city to general members, the operator operating the shop in the real city enters the corresponding store of the virtual city. If the right to do so is given preferentially, and the operator expressly expresses his or her intention not to enter the virtual city, it is preferable to distribute it to the third party in the store.

On the other hand, when the entry of the virtual city of the member company is confirmed, the MAP generation unit 218 transmits the foreground of the shop to the member company to enter the member company server 300, and receives the image data with the foreground modified from the member company server 300 Reflected on the MAP data and output to the MAP storage DB (254) to store.

So far, the electronic commerce system including the electronic commerce providing server 200 and the electronic commerce providing server 200 according to the first embodiment of the present invention has been described. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications may be derived from the first embodiment described above within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. The second preferred embodiment of the present invention described below may be implemented when the above-described user terminal 100 has a predetermined storage space as a personal computer (PC). Since the configuration of the second embodiment is similar to that of the first embodiment described above, it will be described focusing on functional differences.

According to the second embodiment, when the user terminal 100 accesses the e-commerce providing server 200 and visits the virtual city for the first time, the user terminal 100 receives MAP data from the virtual city output unit 216 and maps the data to an internal storage location. Save with version information of data. Thereafter, when the member visits the same virtual city again, the virtual city is displayed to the member using MAP data stored in the user terminal 100. At this time, the user terminal 100 transmits the version information of the virtual city MAP data stored therein to the virtual city output unit 216 of the e-commerce providing server 200, and when the version is changed due to the modification of the MAP data, the MAP Receive an upgrade patch containing the modifications of the data, reflect it to the already stored MAP data, and display it to the members and save it at the same time.

In addition, the user terminal 100 receives the avatar information (including character information and movement information) and weather information of another member moving in the same virtual city from the virtual city output unit 216, and reflects the information to the MAP data for the member. Output to the graphical display. In addition, the user terminal 100 outputs the chat information received from the chat provider 212 to the member.

When the member first visits a specific virtual city, the virtual city output unit 216 of the e-commerce providing server 200 reads the MAP data of the visited virtual city from the MAP storage DB 254 and downloads it to the user terminal 100. . Thereafter, when the member selects to visit the same virtual city again, the member receives the version information of the MAP data stored in the user terminal 100 from the user terminal 100 and compares it with the current version information as described above. If the versions do not match, the upgrade fetch including the modification of the MAP data is transmitted to the user terminal (100).

Meanwhile, in another embodiment of the present invention, the virtual city output unit 216 downloads the MAP data to the user terminal 100 and then displays the version information of the MAP data downloaded to the user terminal 100 in the member DB 250. ) To save. Then, when the member selects to visit the same virtual city again, the virtual city output unit 216 compares the version information of the MAP data received from the user terminal 100 with the version information stored in the member DB 250. For example, when updated to a new version, an upgrade patch including the updated contents may be transmitted to the user terminal 100 to update MAP data stored in the user terminal 100.

In addition, as described above, the virtual city output unit 216 transmits avatar information of another member who visited the virtual city visited by the member to the user's user terminal 100.

On the other hand, when the member is connected, the chat provider 212 checks the friend list of the member stored in the member DB 250 and transmits the list of the connected members among the members registered in the friend list to the user terminal 100.

So far, the configuration of the electronic commerce providing server 200 using the virtual city and the electronic commerce system including the same have been described. Hereinafter, an e-commerce method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 3, which is a flowchart illustrating the e-commerce providing method according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, first, the electronic commerce providing server 200 maintains in advance MAP data for implementing a virtual city in 3D graphics (S310). In detail, the e-commerce providing server 200 receives terrain data from the GIS server 500 and stores the terrain data in the GIS DB 256 (S312), and the MAP generator 218 stores the terrain data stored in the GIS DB 256. Converts into 3D graphic data embodying a virtual city, generates a virtual city MAP, and outputs the generated virtual city MAP to the MAP storage DB 254 (S316).

On the other hand, when the member company server 300 or the user terminal 100 is connected through the wired or wireless Internet network described above, the web server 210 transmits the member authentication web page to the member company server 300 and / or the user terminal 100. Then, the ID and password are received from the member company server 300 and / or the user terminal 100 to perform member authentication (S320).

The web server 210 checks the received ID and password to the member DB 250 and the member company DB 252 and checks whether the received ID and password match (S325). If not registered as a member company or member, the member registration procedure is performed (S328).

On the other hand, if authenticated as a member or member company, the web server 210 transmits a service selection menu corresponding to the member or member company to the user terminal 100 or the member company server 300 and the user terminal 100 or member company server 300 Receives a menu selection value from (S330), and provides a service corresponding to the selection value (S340).

At this time, if the authenticated member is a member company, a main selection menu such as member company application, store management, and product management is provided, and the member company application application menu is provided with sub-menus of store sales and store lease, and store management menu. The MAP data change and interior information change submenus are provided, and the product management menu is provided with product information correction and product registration submenus.

On the other hand, when the authenticated member is an individual member, the virtual city output unit 216 reads the virtual city list from the MAP storage DB 254 and provides it to the user terminal 100 as a selection menu, and the user terminal 100 Receive a selection value for the virtual city to visit from.

4 is a detailed flowchart illustrating step S340 of providing a service of the present invention to a member company according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, the web server 210 examines the selection value received from the member company server 300 (S400).

When the member company selects store management and selects MAP data change as its submenu, the MAP generation unit 218 obtains graphic data indicating the appearance of the store in which the member company enters from the member company server 300. The received MAP data is changed to the appearance indicated by the received graphic data, output to the MAP storage DB 254, and stored (S410).

When the member company selects store management and change interior information, which is a submenu, the web server 210 outputs the interior graphic data received from the member company server 300 to the member company DB 252 to change the interior data (S412). ).

On the other hand, when the member company selects the entry application menu and selects rent or sale as its submenu, the entrance management unit 220 inquires the MAP storage DB 254 and selects the virtual city in which the current MAP is generated. The list of members is output to the member company server 300, and the selection value for the virtual city is received from the member company server 300 (S420).

Thereafter, the virtual city output unit 216 transmits the MAP data of the virtual city selected by the member company server 300 to the member company server 300, and displays a predetermined display in a store where the member company can enter (S422).

When the member company server 300 selects one of the stores marked as available, the entry management unit 220 inquires the member company DB 252, executes payment through the financial company server (S424), and the member company DB 252. MAP registered in the member company and the information about the store entered into the member company information is changed (S426).

When the MAP generation unit 218 determines the member company entrance, the MAP generation unit 218 changes the MAP data to reflect this and stores the MAP data in the MAP storage DB 254 (S428). At this time, the MAP generation unit 218 changes the appearance of the store to the logo of the member company or the image requested by the member company.

On the other hand, when the member company selects the product management menu and the product modification menu is selected as the sub menu as a result of the selection value (S430), the e-commerce provider 214 lists the products of the member companies stored in the member company DB 252. Read and transmit to the member company server 300 to display (S432), and modify the content (eg, price, product image, etc.) of the product selected by the member company in accordance with the correction received from the member company server 300 (S434), it is stored in the member company DB (252) (S438).

When the member company selects a product registration submenu of the product management menu, the electronic commerce provider 214 registers and stores the product information received from the member company server 300 in the product list of the member company DB 252 (S436, S438).

5 is a detailed flowchart illustrating step S340 of providing a service of the present invention to an individual member according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 5, the virtual city output unit 216 reads MAP data of the virtual city selected by the member from the MAP storage DB 254 according to the selection value received from the user terminal 100 in step S330 described above. And transmits to the user terminal 100 to output (S510). If the user terminal 100 secures a predetermined data storage space and stores MAP data of the visited virtual city as in the above-described second embodiment, and visits the virtual city where the member has visited again. The virtual city output unit 216 may examine the version information of the MAP data received from the user terminal 100 and transmit only the upgrade patch including the updated contents to the user terminal 100. At this time, the virtual city output unit 216 may transmit avatar information (character information and movement information) of another member who visited the same virtual city to the user terminal 100 in real time.

In addition, the virtual city output unit 216 may transmit the MAP data reflecting the weather information received from the weather information providing server 400 to the user terminal 100, when the MAP data is stored in the user terminal 100 Transmitting only the weather information may be reflected when the user terminal 100 outputs the virtual city to the member.

On the other hand, when a member connects, the chat provider 212 reads a list of members whose members are connected as friends by searching the member DB 250 and uses the list of members who are connected among the members registered in the friend list. Output to the terminal 100 provides a chat function (S520). Although it is described in the drawing that the chat function is provided in step S520 for convenience of description, the person skilled in the art knows that the chat function is provided by the chat provider 212 while the member visits the virtual city. Could be.

When the member enters a certain store by moving his avatar output in the virtual city as shown in FIG. 6A (S530), the e-commerce provider 214 inquires the member company DB 252 and shown in FIG. 6B. As described above, the interior data corresponding to the corresponding store is read and transmitted to the user terminal 100 for display to the member, and the list of products sold online at the corresponding store is transmitted to the user terminal 100 for display to the member. (S540). At this time, the image information of each product together with the product list may be transmitted to the user terminal 100 and displayed to the member. Whenever the user terminal 100 clicks the product list, the image information of the product is displayed to the user. It may be transmitted to the terminal 100.

On the other hand, when the member decides to purchase one or more of the output products, the e-commerce provider 214 receives the payment information such as credit card number from the user terminal 100 or the member DB (250) The payment information of the member stored in the service is read, and the purchase price is settled through the financial institution server 600 (S550).

As described above, the e-commerce providing server 200 of the present invention implements a virtual city in the same form as a real city, and stores the same shop as a store in a real city or a member company's store that received an application for entry. By conducting e-commerce by entering a shop, members can visit online the world's leading cities that have never been visited, and shoppers can visit shops in virtual cities that members visit with interest. As a result, advertising of the member companies and the effect of selling products online are possible.

However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and various modifications can be derived within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. For example, stores described in the above-described virtual city are described as selling tangible products, but are not limited thereto. That is, when a store in a virtual city is a movie theater, when a member's avatar enters, a list of movies currently being screened or available for sale is displayed on the user terminal 100, and the member selects a movie from one of the lists. You can buy a ticket. In addition, when the shop in the virtual city is a pizza shop, those skilled in the art will appreciate that a member company may receive a pizza delivery order through a shop in the virtual city.

The invention can also be embodied as computer readable code on a computer readable recording medium. Computer-readable recording media include any type of recording device that stores data that can be read by a computer system. Examples of computer-readable recording media include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage, and the like, which are also implemented in the form of a carrier wave (for example, transmission over the Internet). It also includes. The computer readable recording medium can also be distributed over network coupled computer systems so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.

So far I looked at the center of the preferred embodiment for the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be implemented in a modified form without departing from the essential features of the present invention. Therefore, the disclosed embodiments should be considered in descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. The scope of the present invention is shown in the claims rather than the foregoing description, and all differences within the scope will be construed as being included in the present invention.

The present invention implements a virtual city in which three-dimensional graphics of the same state as the actual area is implemented by using the GIS information, that is, terrain data of the real area, and applies for the same shop or store in the virtual city as described above. By allowing users to conduct e-commerce by entering stores that have received a license, users are not only required to search the product sales site in order to purchase the products they want to buy online, but also to virtual cities in regions that they have not actually visited. By visiting the user can feel like visiting a real city, there is an effect that can induce interest of the user. In addition, in terms of member companies, by placing shops in virtual cities with a large number of visitors, not only can they maximize the advertising promotion effect of members, but also increase sales revenue by selling products online through stores in virtual cities. .

Claims (18)

A GIS server storing terrain data for a plurality of regions; Receives the terrain data from the GIS server, generates and stores MAP data for implementing virtual cities corresponding to the plurality of regions as 3D graphic data using the terrain data, and enters a store implemented in the virtual city. An electronic commerce providing server for storing product information of a member company that sells a product online, and MAP information indicating a location in the virtual city of the store and the virtual city; A member company server which selects one or more of the plurality of MAP data and sells a product corresponding to the product information online in a store implemented in a virtual city implemented by the selected MAP data; And Display the virtual city to the member in three-dimensional graphics according to the MAP data received from the e-commerce server, and when the avatar of the member visits a store implemented in the virtual city, displays a list of products sold in the store. Receiving from the provision server and displayed to the member, the electronic commerce system comprising a user terminal for receiving the selection information on the product you want to purchase from the member to the e-commerce providing server . The method of claim 1, The e-commerce providing server includes a friend list including members registered as friends by the member, When the member accesses, a list of friend members registered in the friend list of the member already connected to the user terminal, and the instant message received from the user terminal of the user member of the friend member selected by the member E-commerce system, characterized in that for transmitting. The method of claim 1, Further comprising a weather information providing server for providing weather information of the plurality of areas, The electronic commerce providing server is characterized in that for transmitting the MAP data reflecting the weather information to the user terminal to display to the member. Member DB for storing the personal information and unique list information of the member; A member company DB that stores product information about a product sold by a member company, MAP information indicating a location in the virtual city of a store in which the member company is entered and the virtual city for each member company; A MAP storage DB for storing a plurality of MAP data of a virtual city corresponding to each region in three-dimensional graphics according to the terrain data; A MAP generation unit generating MAP data implementing the virtual city using the terrain data and outputting the MAP data to the MAP storage DB; A virtual city output unit to display the virtual city by transmitting the MAP data to a member company server of a member user terminal and a member company; An entry management unit that receives selection information on a store in the virtual city from a member company server and registers the MAP information in the member company DB; When the avatar of the member visits a store in the virtual city, product information of the member company entered in the store is read from the member company DB, transmitted to the user terminal for display, and product selection information and payment information are displayed from the user terminal. And an electronic commerce providing unit configured to receive and perform payment for a product purchase. The method of claim 4, wherein The unique list information includes a friend list including members registered as friends by the member, When the member accesses, a list of friend members registered in the friend list of the member already connected to the user terminal, and the instant message received from the user terminal of the user member of the friend member selected by the member E-commerce providing apparatus further comprises a chat provider for transmitting to. The method of claim 4, wherein The member company DB further stores the interior data representing the interior of the store each member company entered, When the avatar of the member visits the shop, the electronic commerce provider reads the interior data and transmits the interior data to the user terminal of the member to display to the member. The method of claim 4, wherein When the shop management unit receives a shop request signal from the member company server, the store manager reads a list of virtual cities in which MAP data is generated from the MAP storage DB and transmits the list to the member company server, and receives a virtual city selection signal from the member company server. And causing the virtual city output unit to output MAP data of the selected virtual city to the member company server. The method of claim 7, wherein And the virtual city output unit transmits the MAP data to the member company server by displaying a predetermined mark on a store that the member company can enter. The method of claim 4, wherein The virtual city output unit may reflect the weather information of each region received from a predetermined weather information providing server to the MAP data implementing the respective regions to transmit to the user terminal for displaying to the member, characterized in that . The method of claim 4, wherein The virtual city output unit downloads the MAP data of the virtual city visited by the member for the first time with the version information of the MAP data to the user terminal of the member, and the user terminal when the member visits the same virtual city again. The version information of the MAP data received from the MAP data is compared with the version information of the MAP data stored in the MAP storage DB. If the version information does not match, an upgrade patch including the modified contents of the MAP data is transmitted to the user terminal. E-commerce providing apparatus, characterized in that. The method of claim 4, wherein And the virtual city output unit transmits avatar information of another member who visited the same virtual city as the virtual city visited by the member to the user terminal and displays the avatar information to the member. (a) an e-commerce providing server that receives terrain data of a predetermined region from a predetermined GIS server, generates and stores MAP data that implements a virtual city corresponding to the region as 3D graphic data using the terrain data; step; (b) the electronic commerce providing server authenticates the user terminal of the connected member and the member company server of the member, transmits a selection menu corresponding to the user terminal and the member company server, and receives a selection value for the selection menu. step; (c) when the selection value received from the member company server indicates store entry implemented in the virtual city, the member company server sends the virtual city list and MAP data for implementing the virtual city in three-dimensional graphics to the member company server. Transmitting the member company to a store in the virtual city selected from the member company server; And (d) transmitting the MAP data in which the virtual city represented by the selection value received from the user terminal in 3D graphics is transmitted to the user terminal to display the selected virtual city together with the avatar of the member, and the avatar When the member company in the city visits the store, the product information of the member company is transmitted to the user terminal to display, and receiving the product selection information from the user terminal comprising the step of performing a payment E-commerce method. The method of claim 12, The step (a) includes the step of storing the member company's sales product list and product information for each product in the member company DB, In the step (c), when the selection value received from the member company server is product management, the electronic commerce providing server newly registers product information received from the member company server, or modifies and stores the stored product information. E-commerce method, characterized in that. The method of claim 12, The step (a) includes storing a friend list registered by the member, In step (d), a user terminal of a friend member selected by the user terminal to transmit an instant message received from the user terminal to the user terminal, and transmits a list of members who are connected among the members registered in the friend list to the user terminal. E-commerce method characterized in that the transmission. The method of claim 12, In the step (d), the weather information of each region received from a predetermined weather information providing server is reflected in the MAP data corresponding to each region and transmitted to the user terminal. The method of claim 12, In the step (d), the avatar information of other members who visited the same virtual city selected by the member is transmitted together with the MAP data to the user terminal of the member. The method of claim 12, The step (a) includes the step of receiving and storing from the member company server the interior data indicating the interior of the store entered by the member company from the member company server, In the step (c), when the selection value received from the member company server indicates store management, the e-commerce providing server updates the stored interior data with the interior data received from the member company server, or the MAP data. E-commerce method, characterized in that the appearance of the store is changed. 18. A recording medium having a computer readable method executable by the computer program, wherein the electronic commerce method according to any one of claims 12 to 17 is recorded.

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