EP1254414A1

EP1254414A1 - Method for selecting products

Info

Publication number: EP1254414A1
Application number: EP01905673A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Andreas Gantenhammer
Original assignee: Gantenhammer Intermedia GmbH
Current assignee: GANTENHAMMER, ANDREAS
Priority date: 2000-02-10
Filing date: 2001-01-20
Publication date: 2002-11-06
Also published as: CA2399607A1; DE10005832A1; CA2399607C; WO2001059611A1; DE10005832B4; US7089506B2; AU2001233699A1; US20030112272A1

Abstract

The invention concerns a method for selecting products, wherein a data record having a plurality of characteristics of the product is assigned to each product, wherein the selection of a product is made based on specifications pertaining to the characteristics chosen by the user and wherein the selection is shown on a graphic display unit (100). The invention aims at simplifying the selection method in such a way that the number of results is limited by simplified characteristic specification. This is achieved in that characteristic specifications are carried out on at least two scales (205a, 205b) and the specifications on said scales are given with the aid of at least one input device that is connected to the graphic display unit.

Description

Process for selecting products

The invention relates to a method for selecting products, in which each product is assigned a data record with a plurality of properties of the product, in which the selection of a product is made on the basis of specifications selected by a user regarding the properties, and in which the selection is based on a graphical display unit is shown.

In previously known methods for selecting products, the user can search through a product inventory for individual products using search functions. For this purpose, the products are classified based on properties and data records are created for the individual products. The database created in this way can now be searched with the aid of various search algorithms for specifications entered by the user. With such a search in a large database, it regularly happens that a very large number of products correspond to the specifications entered by the user, which makes selection considerably more difficult for the user.

As an example of a selection procedure described above, the Internet offer from Amazon.com may be mentioned here. This online department store offers a variety of products on its website. The products are initially divided into product groups such as books, music and various other products. First, the user must select the product group he wants, after which he can search within this product group for all available products in the offer of the provider Amazon.com. In addition to this first rough product classification, the products are divided into individual categories. For this purpose, for example, the available book titles are divided into categories such as biographies, computers, money, society, children's books, youth books, art and culture, etc. If the user now selects one of these product categories, he receives a number of products to choose from, which the provider has assigned to this category. The user can select subcategories within a category. For example, under the category biographies there are the subcategories of the Federal Republic of Germany, the GDR, great personalities, diaries or contemporary history. The user has the option to search the sub-categories cascaded or to have the selected category or sub-category searched for keywords.

If the user now wants to order a specific product from the supplier's offer, he must use the search function to describe this product so precisely that the result of the search leads him to the desired product or he must search the cascaded search trees of the product categories, whereby he only gets an impression at the end of his search whether something actually leads him to the desired product. Another well-known sales offer is the online offer from the Quelle company. This selection process made available to users can also be used to search within the available products with the help of a targeted search query. However, since the Quelle company also has a large number of products on offer, such a search across all available products leads to an unmanageable variety of results. To support the user in the search and selection of the desired products, this offer already divides the products into categories such as household appliances, do-it-yourself, sports, fashion and consumer electronics. Now that the user has selected one of these categories, he can carry out a more detailed search within subcategories. For example, under the category consumer electronics there are the subcategories photo, television, DVD etc. If the user is now looking for products for a DVD player, he will surely choose the category DVD. In the DVD category, the products are again divided into the product categories DVD software, sets, playback devices. In the Software category, the user can now find all available DVD films and can choose the desired one from the vast number of products available there.

A disadvantage of the prior art shown above is, on the one hand, that a search using search queries provides an unmanageable number of results. The user must describe the product he is looking for precisely in order to carry out a successful search. On the other hand, the cascaded search trees mean that the user is held up enormously during his search only knows at the end of the search whether the right product is in the selection.

On the basis of the prior art described above, there is the task of simplifying the selection process in such a way that the number of results is limited by a simplified specification of properties.

The invention achieves the previously derived and shown object in that the specifications for the properties are made on at least two scales and the specifications on the scales are made with the aid of at least one input device in connection with the graphic display unit.

The fact that the user can search the offered products with the aid of at least two scales, the scales representing properties of the products, means that a selection can be made based on specifications

Product properties possible. Since the specifications on the scales can be changed in parallel, navigation in the product range is very easy. During the search within the individual product categories determined by the scales, the user is shown a selection of results. For example, within a product category for natural films, it is possible to search the entire range of natural films on the basis of two scales, one of which represents the mood conveyed by the film and the second represents the topicality of the respective film. During the search there is already an overview of the respective, the specified properties having products, can be seen on the display unit. Such a selection process enables the user to search within a product offer in a time-saving manner, the user not having to specify the product in question precisely in order to be able to make a selection.

The specifications determined by the scales can be made on the basis of both discrete and continuous changes. If the specifications on the scales are changed discretely, the products must be classified in such a way that their properties can be assigned to defined categories. If the specifications on the scales change continuously, the properties of the products must be classified in such a way that they can be called up using continuous scales. Here one has to think of a division of a feature film on a "mood" scale between "dark" and "cheerful". On the one hand, a film can be assigned to exactly one of these two categories, on the other hand it can also be blurred between these two categories.

For better product presentation and to visualize the changes made by the user to the scales, it is helpful to subdivide the graphic display unit into at least four partial areas such that the properties corresponding to the current specification are displayed in a first partial area, so that a selection is made in a second partial area of the products assigned to the combination of the properties are displayed on the graphic display unit so that the scales are displayed in a third sub-area and that product information of the selected product is displayed in a fourth section. This gives the user the opportunity to recognize the current specifications on the scales on the one hand and to select from a selection of products that meet the specifications on the other. He knows very quickly in which direction he has to change the specifications in order to find a product with the properties he wants.

An order for the currently selected product or the retrieval of further information about this product is guaranteed in such a way that a button is displayed in a partial area of the graphic display unit and that after the user interacts with the button, information about the product currently selected is sent to one remote computers are sent and that this information is further processed with the help of information assigned by the user. In this way, a user can easily order the product they have chosen. It is also possible for the user to be provided with further product information as a result. This is possible, for example in the case of music products, in such a way that short sections from the piece of music chosen by the user can be played to the user.

The selection of the products is considerably simplified by the fact that, during the change of the specifications on the scales, graphic and / or acoustic contents corresponding to the respective specifications are displayed and / or played back. So when choosing, for example, film products while the defaults on the scales, film excerpts from corresponding films are played on the graphic display unit. However, images and sounds can also be played, which the user associates with the respective specifications.

The fact that in a first step the data records are divided into data groups characterized by generic terms and in a second step the scales are adapted according to the respectively selected data groups, a dynamic change of the scales depending on the respectively selected data groups is possible. Here, for example, reference is made to the possibility of offering the user both a scale for the "mood" between "eventful" and "informative", and a scale "time" between "current" and "antique" for film products for films from the Naturfilm data group , In the science fiction data group, the "Mood" scale can now be moved between the values "dark" and "cheerful" and the "Time" scale between "Middle Ages" and "Far Future" can be selected.

A convenient selection of the products is made possible in that in the first step on the graphical display unit on a body having several levels, a level representing the current data group is highlighted in accordance with the chosen generic term and in the second step the specifications for the properties are made and that on the graphic display unit, a position representing the combination of the at least two specifications is highlighted within the selected level. Through the graphic preparation of the user entered It is always informed about the current status of its specifications. He does not lose orientation during his search, but can find the products that have the properties according to his specifications.

There are now a number of possibilities for designing and developing the method according to the invention. For this purpose, reference is made, on the one hand, to the claims subordinate to claim 1, on the other hand, to the description of an exemplary embodiment of the method according to the invention in conjunction with the drawing. The drawing shows:

1 shows a first step of the selection process according to the invention;

Fig. 2 shows a second step of the selection process according to the invention.

A graphical display unit 100 can be seen in FIG. The graphic display unit 100, which is formed, for example, by an LCD display or a monitor, is divided into two partial areas 102 and 104. The sub-area 102 shows the different product categories 110a-f for a specific product group, for example books, music CDs or video films. For example, the product categories Comedy, Homeland, Crime, Science Fiction, Western and Animation are displayed for the video group. The user can now use the input device (not shown), for example a so-called mouse, under these product categories 110a-f choose. A cube 106 is shown in partial area 104. The cube is divided into different layers 106a-f, which represent the user-selectable product categories 110a-f. If the user now selects such a product category llOa-f, the corresponding level of the cube 106 is highlighted. In Fig. 1 it can be seen that the user has selected the product category 11 od science fiction. As a result of this selection, the plane 106d of the cube 106 is highlighted. After the user has made a final selection of a product category, the level of the cube 106, which represents the product category selected by the user, is highlighted on the graphic display unit.

Such a plane 206 is shown in FIG. 2. The graphic display unit 100 is divided here into four sub-areas. In section 210, level 206, which represents the product category 11d selected by the user, is shown. In sub-area 230, the user always has an overview of the specifications selected by him. In this section, for example, the product category "science fiction", the product property "Future", the mood "gloomy" and the epoch "80s" for the films to be displayed are shown according to the specifications. In section 240, the user is shown a selection of the available products with the specified properties. The user can select the desired product from these products using the input device (not shown). After a selection of the desired product, the user is shown in section 250 further information about this product. Here you can Example, an image or a film sequence of a selected film can be displayed. The title, release date, actor and sales price can also be displayed.

As already mentioned above, level 206 is shown in subarea 210. Level 206 represents the two scales 205a and 205b on which the user can make specifications for the products within the selected product category. As the user moves within this level 206 with the aid of the input device (not shown), the respective location 208 is highlighted. The user can now move freely on these scales and thus make specifications for his selection. The further he moves along the scale 205a, the further he moves forward in the epoch scale. Along the 205a scale, the user can now choose between science fiction films from the Middle Ages and from the distant future. Along the scale 205b, the user can specify the mood conveyed by the film to be selected. The scale 205b offers the user the possibility to choose between a cheerful and a very dark mood. Depending on the combination of the specifications on the scales of level 206, a selection of available products appears in subarea 240. It is quite conceivable that the user in the subarea 210 can not only move within a two-dimensional plane 206, but also with suitable input devices within multidimensional spaces can meet specifications on the scales extending in the respective dimension. With the help of sub-area 220, the user can order the selected product. To do this, he uses the input device (not shown) to activate level 220, whereupon the product data for the selected product is sent to a remote computer (not shown). The order placed by the user is processed there and the user receives the ordered product.

Claims

claims

1. Process for selecting products

- in which each product is assigned a data record with a plurality of properties of the product,

- in which the selection of a product is made on the basis of specifications selected by a user regarding the properties, and

- in which the selection is shown on a graphical display unit, that means that

- the specifications for the properties are met on at least two scales and

- The specifications on the scales are made using at least one input device in conjunction with the graphic display unit.

2. The method of claim 1, d a d u r c h g e k e n n z e i c h n e t that the specifications are made based on discrete changes on the scales.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the requirements are made on the basis of continuous changes on the scales.

4. The method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the graphic display unit is subdivided into at least four subareas, in which the properties corresponding to the current specification are displayed in a first subarea, in which in a second subarea a selection of the to A combination of the products assigned to properties is displayed on the graphic display unit, in which the scales are shown in a third section and in which properties of the selected product are shown in a fourth section.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that a button is shown in a partial area of the graphic display unit, that after an interaction of the user with the button, information about the product selected at that time is sent to a remote computer and that this information is further processed with the help of information assigned by the user.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that when the user changes the specifications on the graphic display unit corresponding graphic contents are displayed.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, d a d u r c h g e k e n z e i c h n e t that when the user changes the specifications on acoustic speakers arranged essentially on the graphic display unit, the respective specifications are played back.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, so that in a first step the data records are divided into data groups characterized by generic terms and in a second step the scales are adapted in accordance with the respectively selected data groups.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that in the first step on the graphical display unit on a multi-level body according to the selected generic term, a level representing the current data group is highlighted and in which in the second step the specifications for the properties are made and that a position representing the combination of the at least two specifications within the selected level is highlighted on the graphic display unit.

10. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 9, characterized in that the body representing the levels of the individual generic terms is formed by a cube.

11. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 9, so that the body representing the planes of the individual generic terms is formed by a sphere.