JP2001350878A - System for providing product information and method for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To help a user to easily select a best product by presenting information such as the running costs of the product which is difficult for the user to see to the user so that the information can be easily understood by the user. SOLUTION: Product information such as the price for purchase for each device classification of a certain kind of product (for example, a printer) or the use quantity or unit costs of the consumable stores (for example, sheets or ink) of the product is preliminarily stored in a computer. A user designates his or her desired plural device classification names and his or her own use configuration (for example, the kind of print sheets, a sheet size, a picture example to be printed, and print quantity) in the computer system. The computer system calculates total costs as the function of the use quantity (for example, the number of sheets to be printed) by combining the initial costs such as the price for purchase with the running costs such as the prices of the consumable stores based on the use configuration designated by the user and the product information for each device classification designated by the user, and displays it in a graphical and inter-device classification contrastable format such as a polygonal line graph.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a system and method for notifying a user of product information such as performance and cost, which is useful for selecting the best product when purchasing a product or service.

[0002] In this specification, the term "product" is used not only for goods but also for services.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art When a person intends to purchase a certain kind of product, for example, a car product, various car products are printed or converted into electronic data based on a car catalog or explanation from a sales person. Usually, you decide which product is best for you and purchase the product that you think is best.

A conventional product catalog describes the selling price, specifications, etc. of various products for each product. In some cases, prices and detailed specifications of a plurality of products are shown in a table form so that they can be compared.

[0005]

Some of the goods and services, such as automobiles, printers, mobile phones, and Internet connection services, include initial costs such as selling prices and initial registration fees, as well as gasoline charges, There are many things that require running costs, such as vehicle inspection fees, ink fees, paper fees, communication fees, and monthly fees. And there are many products whose running cost accounts for a large proportion of the total cost. The running cost is determined by the intertwining of the cost factor and the usage amount or the usage time, and it is difficult for the user to immediately and accurately grasp the running cost. The total cost of the initial cost and the running cost is often different for each product in a complicated manner (for example,
One mobile phone service has a high basic charge but a low communication fee, and another mobile phone service has the opposite effect. In addition, it depends on the usage of individual users (for example, a user who has a long talk time and a short call time). Different users will find out which mobile phone service is most special.)

In a conventional product catalog, it is very difficult to accurately determine the total cost by taking such running costs into consideration and to select the best product.

[0007] Further, even if comparison is made only with simple initial costs, for example, when a computer system in which a plurality of hardware and software are combined is purchased, a complex case in which a product or service to be purchased is combined is used. In the conventional product catalog, it is difficult to determine which product should be purchased at which store.

Therefore, the present invention provides a product information providing system which assists a user in easily selecting a best product by presenting information that is difficult to see to the user, such as the running cost of the product, to the user. It is to provide a method.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A product information providing system according to the present invention provides a product necessary for obtaining a product-related state quantity that varies depending on the usage amount or usage time of each product. Product-related information storage means for storing related information; state-quantity calculating means for obtaining a product-related state quantity for each product as a function of usage or use time based on product-related information for each product; Graphical display means for graphically displaying the product-related state quantity of each product obtained as a function of the usage time in comparison with various products.

According to this product information providing system, a product-related state quantity (for example, a running cost of a product) that changes according to the usage amount or usage time of a product is determined by various types of the product or consumables. Based on the information, it is determined as a function of the amount of use or the time of use, and is displayed in a graphical form contrasting between various products. For this reason, the user can grasp the product-related state quantities that are difficult to grasp immediately from the conventional product catalogs at a glance graphically, and in comparison between products. This facilitates a more accurate selection of the best product.

[0011] In a preferred embodiment, in addition to the above configuration, a use mode designating means for the user to specify the use mode of the product is further provided, and the product-related information for each product and the use mode designated by the user are provided. , The product-related state quantity of each product is determined as a function of the usage amount or the usage time. Thereby, the product-related state quantity can be obtained in accordance with the product usage mode of each user.

According to the present invention, there is provided a server for providing product information to a user system via a communication network,
For various products, state quantity calculating means for obtaining a product-related state quantity that varies according to the usage amount or use time of each product as a function of the usage amount or usage time, and Product related state quantity for each product
Graphic display means for creating a product information screen graphically displayed by comparing various products and transmitting the product information screen to a user system.

Although the present invention can be typically implemented by a computer, a computer program for that can be installed or loaded into the computer through various media such as a disk storage, a semiconductor memory, and a communication network.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration of a product information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A product information server 20 for providing a user with information on various products in a method according to the present invention via a communication network, such as the Internet 10, a computer system of various product manufacturers, Manufacturer system 30 that stores product information
30, a computer system possessed by various product dealers, each having a product sales price accumulated at each dealer, 40,..., 40; 20
User systems 50, ..., which can access the
50 are communicably connected.

The product information server 20 stores, for various products, information such as consumables for determining selling prices and running costs, and various product information such as performance and specifications. These pieces of product information may be manually input to the product information server 20 by an operator, or the product information server 20 may be configured by the manufacturer system 30,.
, 40, etc., may be automatically obtained through the Internet 10. The product information server 20 includes the user systems 50,.
In response to a product information request sent to the product information server 20 from the company, the total cost and performance of the products are calculated for each product using the product information of the various products, and the calculation results are displayed graphically. Has a function of creating a product information screen expressed by comparing products, and sending the product information screen to each of the user systems 50,. The product information server 20 has a WWW server, and each of the user systems 50,..., 50 has a web browser, and the product information server 20 and each user system in the process from the transmission of the product information request to the return of the product information screen. 5
, 50 is performed by communication between a WWW server in the product information server 20 and a web browser in each of the user systems 50,.

FIG. 2 shows a functional configuration of the product information server 20.

The product information server according to the present invention can be used for providing various types of information on various types of products, and is not limited to providing only specific types of information on specific types of products. . However, in FIG. 2, in order to make the description easy to understand, as an example, a case in which information about a total cost including a purchase price and a running cost is provided for a product called a printer will be described. 1 shows a configuration example. Those skilled in the art should be able to easily predict the configuration when providing other types of information on other types of products based on the configuration example of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the product information server 20
Are functional input elements such as a request input unit 100, an ink amount calculation unit 200, a cost calculation unit 300, and a graphic display unit 4.
00 and a product information updating unit 800. Further, the product information server 20 includes, as information elements, printer information 500,..., 500 for each product of various printer products, various ink cartridge products used in the printer products (here, the ink is a liquid ink). , 600, as well as product-specific cartridge information 600,..., 600, and product-specific paper information 700,. 700.

The printer information 500 of each printer product includes basic information for calculating the ink consumption of the printer product (for example, the number of dots per unit area for each print image quality and print density, print image quality and paper type). Another ink amount per dot, or a calculation formula, coefficient value, lookup table, or average number of dots per unit area or ink usage amount for each print quality) 510; Stored are a purchase price (sale price) 520 of the printer product, a link 530 to cartridge information of a specific ink cartridge product used in the printer product, and the like.

The cartridge information 600 of each ink cartridge product includes the purchase price (sales price) 610 of the ink cartridge product, the color type 620 of the ink contained in the ink cartridge product, and the cartridge product. The storage capacity 630 of each color ink is stored.

The paper information 700 of each paper product stores a purchase price (sales price) per unit number of the paper product.

.., 500, cartridge information 600, printer information 500,.
, 600 and the latest information on the paper information 700,..., 700 are downloaded by manual input from an operator or from the maker systems 30,. The printer information 500,..., 500, the cartridge information 600,.
0,..., 700 are updated.

Request input unit 100, ink amount calculation unit 20
0, cost calculator 300 and graphic display 400
The printing specifications (that is,
Receives a product information request specifying the type of paper to be used, the type of image to be printed, the print quality, etc.) and the type of printer product to be used (printer model, usually specifying multiple models). Calculates the total cost, including the printer purchase price and running cost, as a function of the number of prints when printing to the specified specifications using a model, and graphically compares the calculation results between printer products. Then, a process of creating the product information screen and transmitting the product information screen to the requesting user system 50 is performed.

Hereinafter, this processing will be described in detail with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 2 and also to the flowchart of this processing shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the request input unit 100
A plurality of paper types (for example, plain paper,
Paper type list 1 showing photo-only paper, glossy paper, etc.)
10. A plurality of paper sizes (for example, B
5, a paper size list 120 showing A4, B4, A3 sizes, etc., a plurality of user-selectable image examples (for example, a character image with only text, a DTP image with mixed graphics and text, a photographic image) Example image list 130 showing only a photo image example, a CAD image example only of a geometrical diagram drawn by CAD, etc., and a plurality of print qualities that can be selected by the user (for example, a two-tone black and white image, a 256-tone image) Print-quality list 150 showing a grayscale image, a full-color medium-resolution color normal image, a full-color high-resolution color photo image, etc., and a printer model list 160 showing a number of user-selectable printer models. have.

The request input unit 100 is provided for the user system 50
When the web browser is accessed from the web browser, a request input screen displaying the lists 110 to 160 as a selection menu is sent to the web browser of the user system 50 (step S1 in FIG. 3). The web browser of the user system 50 displays the request input screen on the display, prompts the user to select a paper type, a paper size, an image example, a print quality, and a printer model from a selection menu, and inputs a request result of the user's selection. Return to unit 100. The request input unit 100 recognizes the user's selection result (that is, the print specification specified by the user) returned from the user system 50 (step S2 in FIG. 3). Regarding the method of designating the image example, instead of selecting from the image examples displayed in the selection menu in the request input screen, the user inputs an arbitrary image example to the user system 50 and requests the user system 50 to request the image example. It is also possible to transmit to the input unit 100. In addition, for items other than the printer model, in principle, one item should be selected for each item (for example, for paper type, one of plain paper, photo-only paper, and glossy paper should be selected). However, as for the printer model, usually, two or more printer models are selected (because the costs are compared between those models).

When the print specifications of the user specifications are determined in this way, the request input unit 100 passes the information of the print specifications to the ink amount calculation unit 200. The request input unit 100 also outputs information about the paper in the print specifications to the cost calculation unit 30.
Pass to 0.

The ink amount calculation unit 200 calculates the amount of ink used when a user-specified image example is printed on paper of the type and size specified by the user with the print quality specified by the user. Is calculated based on the basic ink consumption information stored in the printer information 500 of each printer model. Various methods can be considered as a specific method of this calculation. As an example, in this embodiment, first, based on the paper size, the image example, the print quality, and the number of dots per unit area for each print quality and density in the ink consumption basic information, the number of printed sheets is set to one. The number of dots 210 is calculated for each ink color (step S4 in FIG. 3). Next, the number of dots 210, print quality, paper type, and one dot for each print quality and paper type in the basic ink consumption information are calculated. Based on the hit ink amount, an ink amount 220 to be consumed by one printed sheet is calculated for each ink color (step S5 in FIG. 3).

When the ink amount 220 to be consumed by one printed sheet is obtained in this way, the ink amount calculation unit 200 passes the ink amount 220 to the cost calculation unit 300.

The cost calculation unit 300 prints, for each of the printer models specified by the user, using paper of the type and size specified by the user, using the ink amount per sheet 220 calculated by the ink amount calculation unit 200. When I went,
The total cost including the printer purchase price and the running cost is calculated as a function of the number of prints. Various methods can be adopted as a specific method of this cost calculation. As an example, in this embodiment, first, a specific cartridge product (that is, a cartridge product used in each printer product) indicated by a cartridge information link 530 stored in the printer information 500 of each printer product selected by the user. ) Cartridge information 600
Of the cartridge purchase price 610, the ink color type 620, the ink capacity 630 for each ink color, and the ink amount 220 for each ink color per printed sheet passed from the ink amount calculation unit 200 stored in the printer. Based on this, the ink cost 320 as a function of the number of prints is calculated (step S6 in FIG. 3). Next, the paper cost 310 as a function of the number of prints is calculated from the purchase price 710 per unit number of papers stored in the paper information 700 of the paper product corresponding to the paper type and size selected by the user (FIG. 3). Step S7). Finally, for each printer product selected by the user, the paper cost 31 as a function of the number of prints now calculated.
The total cost 340 as a function of the number of prints is calculated by adding 0, the ink cost 320, and the purchase price 520 of the printer stored in the printer information 500 of each printer product (step S7 in FIG. 3).

This total cost calculation is repeated for all printer models selected by the user (step S3 in FIG. 3). Then, the cost calculation unit 200 passes the calculated total cost 340 of each printer model to the graphic display unit 400.

The graphic display unit 400 creates a product information screen in which the total cost of all printer models selected by the user is graphically displayed by comparing the total costs among the printer models, and sends the product information screen to the web browser of the user system 50. Transmit (step S8 in FIG. 3). The web browser of the user system 50 displays the product information screen on a display.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the product information screen.

In this example, the number of prints is plotted on the horizontal axis, the total cost is plotted on the vertical axis, and the total cost of various printer models is shown in a line graph format in comparison.
From this screen, for example, the model ABC of Company A
Compared to the company's CDF model, the purchase price is low but the running cost is high, so it is obvious at a glance that the relationship between the high and low costs is reversed for every 250 printed sheets, which is useful when purchasing products. A guide for selection.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above.
The above embodiment is merely an example for describing the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention to only the above embodiment. Therefore, the present invention can be implemented in various modes other than the above-described embodiment. For example, if the present invention is applied to cost comparison when purchasing a new car, if the purchase price, discount rate, fuel efficiency information, loan interest rate, vehicle inspection cost, insurance cost, failure rate, trade-in price information, fuel consumption information for each model are available. Information on vehicles and consumables (fuel and tires) such as type, tire type, unit price of various fuels, unit price of various tires, etc. is stored in the server, and the user can use the down payment and loan when purchasing. The ratio, the type and year of the trade-in car when purchasing a new car, the expected driving form (distance and frequency of near-field driving, distance and frequency of outing, average number of passengers, etc.) are input to the server, etc. Based on this information, the total cost including the initial cost and the running cost can be calculated as a function of the use date and displayed graphically in comparison between the vehicle types. Also, the present invention can be implemented as a stand-alone system that provides product information to a user or a customer of a retail store by incorporating the product information locally into a user system or a retail store system instead of a server on the Internet. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a product information server 20.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the product information server 20.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a product information screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Internet 20 Product information server 30 Maker system 40 Dealer system 100 Request input part 200 Ink amount calculation part 300 Cost calculation part 400 Graphic display part 500 Printer information 600 Cartridge information 700 Paper information 800 Product information update part

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. Product-related information storage means for storing, for each of various products, product-related information necessary for obtaining a product-related state quantity that varies according to the usage amount or usage time of each product; State quantity calculating means for obtaining the product-related state quantity for each product as a function of the usage amount or usage time based on the product-related information for each product; and each product obtained as a function of the usage amount or usage time. A graphical display means for graphically displaying the product-related state quantity for each product in comparison with each other. 2. The product information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the product-related state quantity of each product includes a running cost of each product. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a use mode designating unit for a user to specify a use mode of the product, wherein the state quantity calculating unit stores the product-related information for each product and the use mode designated by the user. The product information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the product-related state quantity of each product is obtained as a function of the usage amount or the usage time based on the usage amount. 4. A step of preparing, for each of various products, product-related information necessary for obtaining a product-related state quantity that changes according to the usage amount or usage time of each product; Determining the product-related state quantity for each product as a function of the usage amount or usage time based on the product-related information; and the product-related state quantity of each product obtained as a function of the usage amount or usage time. And graphically displaying the information among various products in a graphical manner. 5. A step of preparing, for each product, product-related information necessary for obtaining a product-related state quantity that varies according to the usage amount or usage time of each product, for each product; Obtaining the product-related state quantity of each product as a function of the usage amount or usage time based on the product-related information of each of the products, and obtaining the product-related state quantity as a function of the usage amount or usage time. Displaying a product-related state quantity of each product in a graphical format in which various products are compared with each other, and a computer-readable recording medium carrying a program for causing a computer to execute the steps. 6. A server for providing product information to a user system via a communication network, wherein, for various products, the usage amount of each product or the product-related state quantity that changes according to the time of use is used as the usage amount or A state quantity calculation means for calculating as a function of use time, and a product information screen for graphically displaying the product-related state quantity of each product obtained as a function of the use amount or use time by comparing between various products And a graphical display means for transmitting the product information screen to the user system. 7. A method for providing product information to a user system via a communication network, comprising: for each product, the usage amount of each product or a product-related state quantity that changes according to the time of use; A step of obtaining as a function of use time; and a step of creating a screen that graphically displays the product-related state quantity of each product obtained as a function of the usage amount or the use time in comparison with various products, Transmitting a screen to the user system;
Product information providing method with.