JP2001306951A - Method and system for managing electronic commercial transaction in distributed data processing system and computer program product - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system and method for managing E commerce by a distributed data processing system. SOLUTION: A PCM client side agent for setting customer information, a customer rule, and a customer policy, and for managing individual transaction is held in a client site, and a server side agent is held in each vender site, and information is exchanged between those agents according to the customer rule and customer policy set at the client site so that E commerce can be managed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to e-commerce (e-commerce) development, and more particularly to e-commerce customers who are personalized under their own direct control,
Systems and methods that enable the setting of personalized shopping policies.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art E-commerce is growing rapidly as it overcomes the initial questions and concerns of customers ordering online. The advantages of e-commerce are many. Customers can often avoid paying state sales taxes that would exceed shipping costs for many items. Also, customers can shop at various vendors both domestically and abroad, and can look for lower prices for the same product that can be purchased offline.

[0003] The customization of online interactions with customers by e-commerce vendors is often limited or non-existent. For example, a book vendor may use a current purchase to attract customers' attention to similar books. However, this is hardly personalized because all customers who buy the same book receive the same reference information.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a personalized, personalized shopping policy that is automatically applied not only to customers, but also to customer participants, such as family members or work colleagues. It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and a method that allow a customer to set a password.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A system and method for managing e-commerce in a distributed data processing system is provided. The basic component is a personal transaction manager (PCM) client-side agent at each customer site. The client-side agent sets a customer information set, a customer rule set, and a customer policy set. The PCM at the customer site can manage multiple parties, such as, for example, family, work colleagues, or college colleagues. The primary account holder sets rules and policies for other parties. Customer information typically includes a customer name, a party name list, a billing address, a shipping address, and account information. The customer rules are based on e-commerce decisions, such as whether customer information can be sent to an approved third party site. Customer policy includes a list of approved vendor sites for each authorized party,
An association of the account with a particular vendor site, spending limits associated with each party, and the ability to filter incoming information from the vendor to determine what information to display. These are merely examples of policies, and various other policies can be applied.
Each vendor site also has a PCM server-side agent. These client-side and server-side agents exchange information and manage e-commerce according to rules and policies established at their respective customer sites.

[0006]

FIG. 1 shows a distributed data processing system in which the present invention can be implemented.

[0007] Distributed data processing system 100 is a computer network in which the present invention may be implemented. Distributed data processing system 100 includes a network 102 that is a medium that provides a communication link between various devices and computers connected to distributed data processing system 100. Network 102 may include a permanent connection, such as a wire or fiber optic cable, or may include a temporary connection through a telephone line.

In the illustrated example, the servers 104, 11
4, 116, and 118 are connected to the network 102. Storage units 106 and 122
Is also connected to the network 102 and the server 10
4, 114, 116, and 118 providing backup support. The storage unit 122 provides backup support dedicated to the server 104. In addition, Client 1
08, 110 and 112 are also connected to the network 102. These three clients may be, for example, personal computers or network computers. For the purposes of the present invention, a network computer is any computer connected to a network that receives programs or other applications from other computers connected to the network. Distributed data processing system 10
0 may include additional servers, clients and other devices not shown.

In the example shown, the servers 104, 11
4, 116 and 118 are clients 108, 110
And 112 provides storage for data received from. These four servers also have boot files,
The OS image and the application are provided to the clients 108, 110, and 112. Client 1
08, 110 and 112 are servers 104, 114, 1
Clients for one or all of 16 and 118. A particular application running on one of the clients 108, 110 and 112 may be supported by one of the servers 104, 114, 116 and 118. In addition, servers 104, 114, 116 and 118 may provide mutual backup support. If a server fails, make a backup
Servers are assigned by the network administrator. In that case, the request directed to the failed server would be:
Routed to the backup backup server.

Similarly, the servers 104, 114, 11
Data backup support for storage units 6 and 118 is provided by storage units 106 and 122. However, rather than assigning a data backup storage unit each time the network administrator uses it, the data backup quota is set and the data backup transfer is free,
Typically after midnight, servers 104, 114, 11
6, and 118 and storage units 106 and 12
It takes place between two.

In the illustrated example, the distributed data processing system 100 may be the Internet, in which case the network 102 may use TCP / IP for intercommunication.
Represents a worldwide collection of networks and gateways that use a protocol suite. At the heart of the Internet is the backbone of high-speed data communication lines between master nodes or host computers that send data and messages consisting of thousands of commercial, government, educational, and other computer systems. Of particular note of the present invention is the use of distributed data processing system 100 for e-commerce. According to the present invention, the clients 108, 110, and 112
Rules and policies can be set when interacting with an e-commerce server, such as 4, 116, 118.

[0012] Of course, a distributed data processing system may also include, for example, an intranet or a LAN.
It can be implemented as different types of networks. FIG.
Is an exemplification, and does not limit the configuration of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, a server such as FIG.
A block diagram of a data processing system that may be implemented as the server 104 of the present invention is shown in accordance with the present invention. Data processing system 200 may be a symmetric multi-processor (SMP) system including a plurality of processors 202 and 204 connected to a system bus 206.
Alternatively, it may be a single processor system. A memory controller / cache 208, which provides an interface to the local memory 209, is also connected to the system bus 206. I / O bus bridge 210
Is connected to the system bus 206 and the I / O bus 21
2 to provide an interface. Memory controller / cache 208 and I / O bus bridge 21
0 may be integrated as shown.

A PCI bus bridge 214 is connected to the I / O bus 212 and provides an interface to a PCI local bus 216. Multiple modems 218, 2
20 may be connected to the PCI bus 216. PCI
A typical implementation of the bus supports four PCI expansion slots or add-in connectors. The communication link to the network computers 108-112 of FIG. 1 is via a PCI local bus 216 via an add-in board.
Can be provided via a modem 218 and a network adapter 220 connected to the In the context of the present invention, the server 200 comprises the clients 108, 1 in FIG.
E-commerce with clients like 10 and 112
Engage in transactions. Clients connect to the Internet via a slow dial-up modem or higher speed technology such as a cable modem or DSL (Digital Subscriber Line).

Additional PCI bus bridges 222 and 2
24 provides an interface to additional PCI buses 226 and 228 that support additional modems or network adapters. In this way, server 200 allows connection to multiple network computers. A memory mapped graphic adapter 230 and a hard disk 232 may also be connected to the I / O bus 212, either directly or indirectly, as shown.

The hardware shown in FIG. 2 may be various. For example, other peripheral devices such as optical disk drives may be added or used in place of the hardware shown. The examples shown do not limit the configuration of the invention.

The data processing system shown in FIG. 2 may be, for example, an IBM AS / 400 running an enhanced interactive executive (AIX) OS.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown a block diagram of a data processing system in which the present invention may be implemented. Data processing system 300 is an example of a client computer. The data processing system 300
Uses CI local bus architecture. The example shown uses a PCI bus, but other architectures such as Micro Channel and ISA may be used. Processor 302 and main memory 304
Is connected to the PCI local device via the PCI bridge 308.
Connected to bus 306. PCI bridge 308 may also include an integrated memory controller and cache memory for processor 302. Additional connections to PCI local bus 306 may be made by direct component interconnection or through add-in boards. As illustrated, LAN adapter 310,
SCSI host bus adapter 312 and expansion bus
Interface 314 is connected to PCI local bus 306 by direct component connection. Meanwhile, the audio adapter 316, the graphic adapter 318, and the audio / video adapter (A /
V) 319 is connected to the PCI local bus 306 by an add-in board inserted in an expansion slot. The expansion bus interface 314 connects the keyboard and mouse adapter 320, the modem 322, and the additional memory 324. In the illustration, a SCSI host bus adapter 312 connects a hard disk drive 326, a tape drive 328, a CD-ROM drive 330, and a digital video disk read-only memory drive (DVD-ROM) 332. In a typical implementation of a PCI local bus, 3
One to four PCI expansion slots or add-in connectors are supported.

The hardware in FIG. 3 can take various forms depending on the implementation. The client 300 is connected to the modem 32
2 is shown to connect to the Internet, but faster technologies, such as DSL or cable modems, can connect to Internet e-commerce servers. The system and method of the present invention facilitate the use of e-commerce by the user of the client computer shown in FIG.
It is designed to provide a robust environment for stimulation. The exemplification does not limit the configuration of the present invention. For example, the process of the present invention is applicable to a multiprocessor data processing system where a user conducts e-commerce from a work site that includes a good client computer. The process of the present invention can also be applied to portable wireless devices that provide access to the Internet.

The primary purpose of e-commerce is to provide convenient and flexible online shopping. The PCMs introduced according to the present invention are designed to allow customers to implement rules and policies that apply to customer participants sharing the same PCM, such as customers and family. It is important that these rules and policies are controlled directly by the customer.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an exemplary content of the PCM is shown. Stored data 404 includes personal information items such as name, birthday, billing address, and shipping address. Multiple user accounts, such as accounts for each member of a family, may be in each PCM. Although the PCM 402 may also include a plurality of rules 406, FIG. 4 shows only one rule of automatically transmitting registered user information to an approved third party site. An example of a common information transfer is:
A transfer to a credit card payment site that takes place to approve the payment before the transaction is approved.

The PCM 402 also includes multiple policies 40
8 can be included. The main difference between a rule and a policy is that the rule includes a decision on whether to use a checkbox, while the policy contains more detailed information, as illustrated by the two examples provided. It is that you are. The first policy, as described in policy 408, is to provide a member of the family, such as a son, with one or more websites included in the list of sites approved by the primary account holder, Allows for spending up to $ 50. Payments will be made on the credit card of the main stakeholder's account holder.
If the primary account holder has more than one credit card, the second policy is that a specific card, Platinum Naviza Card is a specific vendor,
Guaranteed to be used for all purchases of Mingdale. It is straightforward to recall the various policies set by the customer to facilitate shopping by the customer and other parties listed in the customer's PCM. The use of PCM is not restricted to family members and can be used by co-workers, government employees, college co-workers, and the like as well.

[0023] Internet users have the experience of downloading long web pages, especially when using modems, due to bandwidth issues. E-commerce providers want to make their sites as attractive and flexible as possible, but this often results in larger web pages and increased download times. The PCM system is
Includes server-side agents and client-side agents. By placing some of the components on the client side, bandwidth issues are reduced and policies are applicable to all e-commerce vendors.

Referring now to FIG.
Various ways of incorporating the PCM into the side computer system are shown. Generally, PCM504
Is installed as an Internet browser plug-in 502. Browser plug-ins are third party software products that extend the functionality of web browsers. Other methods include storing the PCM on the hard drive 506, storing it on removable media 508, embedding it in system software 510, embedding it in IT software 512, or encoding it directly into the browser 514.

The server-side component updates the client-side agent and can deploy new applications to the agent as appropriate. PC
The palliative and policies set by the M system allow the customer to transmit information tailored to the customer's specific needs, thereby eliminating information that the customer does not need or want. . This reduces the bandwidth required for communication between the server and the customer.

The server-side agent can notify the client-side agent of special purchases or other e-commerce that the customer is particularly interested in. When the customer launches the browser, the client
The side agent displays the received content. If the customer decides to order a product in the list, the order is placed by linking directly to the purchasing system, bypassing the e-commerce vendor's website.

Referring now to FIG. 6, there is shown a diagram of two purchase transactions without using the PCM system. Customer 602 is responsible for all JohnGrisha
Suppose you are reading m novels and want to buy the next book that Grisham wrote. Customer 602 repeatedly visits book vendor website 606 via link 604. After visiting the site for weeks or months, the customer 602 may access the book vendor's website 6
At 06, find a new book of Grisham and order this book. The book vendor 606 sends the order to the direct purchasing system 608 used by this vendor.

Customer 602 also has a DVD player and wishes to track the DVD release of a new movie by browsing the DVD vendor's website 612. When customer 602 finds a new DVD to order, the order is sent via link 610 to DVD vendor 612, which in turn sends the order directly to purchasing system 614.

Referring now to FIG. 7, there is illustrated the same two purchases as in FIG. 6, but using PCM agents on the server side and the client side. Customers will be informed immediately that any new book information issued by John Grisham will be notified and that any new DVDs of movies that have been shown in cinemas during the past 12 months will be released "And two policies. Book Vendor-7
02 uses the direct purchasing system 704. When the direct purchasing system 704 purchases the latest Grisham books, the book vendor 702 will create a new Grisham book.
The PCM server side agent 706 is notified that m books have been issued. Server-side agent 706 notifies all client-side agents that a new book has been released,
The policy implemented by the customer's client-side agent 710 is John Graham
Specifies that only authored books should be displayed. The server-side agent 706 sends a notification to the client-side agent 710 of the new Grisham book via link 708. As shown in FIG. 5, client-side agent 710
May exist at various locations in the computing environment.
This information is displayed to the customer 712 the next time the customer's browser is activated, as the Griham book notice applies to that policy. If customer 712
If he chooses to purchase the book, the order is sent directly to the direct purchasing system 704 via link 714, bypassing the book vendor's website 702.

Similarly, DVD vendor website 716 orders all of its DVDs from direct purchasing system 718. When a new movie DVD is released, PCM Server Side Agent 720
Notify all client-side agents. In the case of the client-side agent 710, the notification is via link 722. The policy of the client-side agent 710 has been
Display only DVD releases of movies produced in a month. Customer 712 is presented with a list of recent movies released on DVD and can purchase what they want. When a DVD is purchased, the order can be found at link 724
Directly to the purchasing system 718 via the client
Sent from side agent 710. By using a PCM system, customers can be immediately notified of products of particular interest. This approach is
Bandwidth can be used more effectively than iterating "web surfing" to find the product the customer wants.

Referring now to FIG. 8, there is shown a block diagram of client side software for supporting a PCM system. Client endpoint 802 includes a number of components as shown to the right. The PCM may be executed as part of the browser 804, either as a plug-in or directly coded into the browser. Alternatively, the PCM can be part of the application 806. The customer can access the PC via the PCM control panel 808.
M system access. As a result, the user can save the stored data (404 in FIG. 4), the rules (40 in FIG. 4).
6) and a policy (408 in FIG. 4) can be set. Data entry is made in the form of type entry by the customer. Rule setting is performed by a toggle between two options such as whether to automatically transmit registered information. Policy configuration is more complex, but customers can be guided by a configuration wizard among the various options available for policy configuration.

The PCM system uses the application layer 8
10 is held. Since all input / output activities of the computer system are handled by the OS, the input / output of these software components depends on the OS layer 812.

The block diagram of FIG. 8 is best understood by examining the flow of events in processing a response from the server, as shown in FIG. The client sends a request to the server and receives a response (step 9)
02). The response is typically created in a markup language, such as XML, and the response is analyzed (step 904). Each XML tag is determined whether it is related to PCM. If PCM X
If it is not an ML tag (No in Step 906), the response is processed without using PCM (Step 908), and the response is sent to the server (Step 91).
0).

If the XML tag is a PCM tag (if step 906 is Yes), the response is a PCM tag.
Processed as a request (step 912). This process typically includes checking the PCM client side policy (step 914). If the PCM client-side policy does not allow the operation (step 916 is No), an appropriate response is sent to the server (step 9).
10). If the PCM client side policy allows the operation (step 916)
If yes), the customer makes a decision as to whether to order the product (step 918) and an appropriate response is sent to the server (step 910).

Referring now to FIG. 10, there is shown a block diagram of server-side software for supporting a PCM system. Web server 1002
Contains multiple components as shown to the right. PCM server 1004 is at the top level. The application server 1006 calls a method of the PCM server 1004. This can be done using the Java servlet 1008. Although the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown using the programming language Java, the invention can be implemented in other programming languages such as C ++.

The application server 1006 has H
It is held on the TTP server 1010. All I / O activity of the computer system is OS
The input and output of these software components depends on the OS layer 1012.

The block diagram of FIG. 10 is best understood by examining the flow of events in processing a request from a client, as shown in FIG.
A request is received from the client (step 110
After 2), it is analyzed (step 1104). The request is checked to see if it contains PCM data. If it does not contain PCM data (step 1106 is No), the request is processed without using PCM (step 1108) and a response is sent to the client (step 1110).

If PCM data is included (if Step 1106 is Yes), the request is processed as a PCM request (Step 1112). This process
It typically involves checking the PCM server side policy (step 1114). For example,
A request from the customer may indicate whether the server site allows the registration data to be transmitted to an approved third party site, such as rule 406 shown in FIG. If the customer indicates that he does not want to perform a particular policy action (step 1116 is No), then no PCM action is performed (step 1118). If the customer indicates that the policy should be invoked (if step 1116 is Yes), the appropriate PCM action is performed (step 1120). An appropriate response is sent to the client as to whether the policy has been invoked (step 11).
10).

Although the invention has been described with reference to a fully functioning data processing system, the process of the invention can be distributed in the form of a computer readable medium and in various forms as shown in FIG. Applies equally, regardless of the type of signal-bearing medium used for the actual distribution. Examples of computer readable media are recordable media, such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, RAM and CD-ROM, and transmission media, such as digital and analog communication links. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 illustrates a distributed data processing system in which the present invention may be implemented.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a data processing system that can be self-propelled as a server.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a data processing system that can be implemented as a client.

FIG. 4 shows the contents of a sample of a PCM according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates various ways to incorporate PCM into a client-side computer system in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows two purchase transactions without PCM.

FIG. 7 illustrates the same two purchases using server-side and client-side PCM agents in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of client-side software supporting a PCM system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a flow of an event when processing a response from a server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of server-side software supporting a PCM system in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a flow of events when processing a request from a client according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Edwin Charles Stern Forest Trail 2000, Austin, Texas, USA

Claims (33)

[Claims] 1. A method for managing electronic commerce (E-commerce) in a distributed data processing system, comprising: (1) customer information, one or more customer rules, and one or more customer rules. Setting at the customer site a personal transaction manager (hereinafter referred to as PCM) that sets the customer policy of: (2) the customer information, the one or more customer rules, and the one or more customer policies Managing the data exchange between the customer site and the vendor site based on the information. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the PCM is included in at least one of a browser plug-in, a file on a system disk, a system software program, and a file on removable media. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the PCM client-side agent includes information for each of a plurality of parties. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one of said plurality of parties is designated as a primary party. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer information includes at least one of a customer name, a party name, a billing address, a shipping address, and account information. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer rules are based on e-commerce capabilities. 7. The method of claim 7, wherein the customer rules include permitting transmission of customer information to an approved third party site. 8. The customer policy may include: authorized parties performing e-commerce, authorized vendor sites for each of the authorized parties, associating accounts with specific vendor sites, authorizing. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of: the determined spending limit of the related party; and the determination of information display by filtering incoming information from the vendor. 9. A method for managing e-commerce in a distributed data processing system, comprising: (1) setting a PCM server-side agent at a vendor site; and (2) establishing a PCM server-side agent at the vendor site. Managing the data exchange between the two. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the PCM server side agent recognizes PCM information transmitted from the PCM client side agent to the server. 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the PCM server-side agent stores customer information, enforces customer rules, and enforces customer policies. 12. A client-based transaction management system comprising: (1) a PCM client-side agent that sets customer information, one or more customer rules, and one or more customer policies; Setting means set on the site; (2) the customer information, the one or more customer rules,
And management means for managing data exchange between the customer site and the vendor site based on the one or more customer policies. 13. The PCM comprises a browser plug-in,
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the system is included in at least one of a file on a system disk, a system software program, and a file on removable media. 14. The system of claim 12, wherein said PCM client-side agent includes information for each of a plurality of parties. 15. The system of claim 14, wherein at least one of said plurality of parties is designated as a primary party. 16. The system according to claim 12, wherein said customer information includes at least one of a customer name, a party name, a billing address, a shipping address, and account information. 17. The system of claim 12, wherein the customer rules are based on a decision regarding e-commerce functionality. 18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the customer rules include a permission to transmit customer information to an approved third party site.
The system described in. 19. The customer policy may include: authorized parties performing e-commerce, authorized vendor sites for each of the authorized parties, associating accounts with specific vendor sites, and authorizing. The system of claim 12, wherein the system determines at least one of the following: an expenditure limit of the related party; and an information display determination by filtering incoming information from the vendor. 20. A server-based business transaction management system, comprising: (1) setting means for setting a PCM server-side agent at a vendor site; and (2) setting between the vendor site and a customer site. Management means for managing data exchange. 21. The PCM server-side agent recognizes PCM information transmitted from a PCM client-side agent to a server.
The system described in. 22. The system of claim 20, wherein said PCM server-side agent stores customer information, executes customer rules, and executes customer policies. 23. A computer program product for managing e-commerce, comprising: (1) a PCM client side that sets customer information, one or more customer rules, and one or more customer policies. A first step of setting up an agent at the client site; (2) the customer information, the one or more customer rules,
And managing a data exchange between a customer site and a vendor site based on the one or more customer policies. 24. The PCM includes a browser plug-in, a file on a system disk, a system software
24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the computer program product is included in at least one of a program and a file on removable media. 25. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the PCM client-side agent includes information for each of a plurality of parties. 26. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein at least one of said plurality of parties is designated as a primary party. 27. The computer program product according to claim 23, wherein said customer information includes at least one of a customer name, a party name, a billing address, a shipping address, and account information. 28. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the customer rules are based on e-commerce function availability decisions. 29. The customer rule according to claim 28, wherein the customer rule includes permission to transmit customer information to an approved third party site.
Computer program product as described in. 30. The customer policy may include authorized parties performing e-commerce, approved vendor sites for each of the authorized parties, associating an account with a particular vendor site, 24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the computer program product determines at least one of a spending limit of a party and a determination of information display by filtering incoming information. 31. A computer program product for managing e-commerce, comprising: (1) setting up a PCM server-side agent at a vendor site; and (2) between a vendor site and a customer site. Managing a data exchange of the computer program product. 32. The PCM server-side agent recognizes PCM information transmitted from a PCM client-side agent to a server.
Computer program product as described in. 33. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the PCM server site agent stores customer information, executes customer rules, and executes customer policies.