JP2002207734A - Server retrieval method, program, server device and network - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique allowing a client to easily access a server disclosing optimum information of a plurality of servers disclosing the same information on a network as the price information of a commodity. SOLUTION: A server to be retrieved discloses first data belonging to a data item group predetermined with a retrieval executing server and second data belonging to a data item group determined independently in each of servers to the retrieved. The retrieval executing server acquires the first data from a plurality of servers to be retrieved, stores the first data in relation to the address A of the server to be retrieved from which the first data is acquired, and discloses the first data and address A to a client. The client accesses the corresponding server to be retrieved in reference to the address acquired from the retrieval executing server to acquire the second data from the server to be retrieved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to electronic commerce using a computer network, and more particularly, to a virtual store (hereinafter referred to as an electronic shop) provided electronically on a server, using a client computer. Related to technology introduced to many customers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, various electronic shops are established on the Internet in the form of web pages. When trying to purchase a desired product using such an electronic shop, the following procedure is often performed. First, a user who becomes a customer of the electronic shop obtains a URL (uniform resource locator) of the target electronic shop by some means, and then displays a web page on a screen of a terminal used by the user using a browser. Finally, according to the instructions on the web page, processing related to transactions such as designation of goods, input of customer information, selection of a settlement method, and the like are performed.

[0003]

In many cases, the number of electronic shops handling a certain product is not limited to one, and the price of the same product is not always the same in all electronic shops. For this reason, when trying to obtain a desired product at a slightly lower price, the user visits a plurality of e-shops, compares prices with each other, then returns to the lowest-priced e-shop again to execute transaction processing. You have to take steps to do that.

[0004] In particular, in transactions in which a discount can be expected from a posted price of a seller, such as the sale of a car, it is not sufficient to simply compare only the posted price. in this case,
Conditions for multiple sellers with similar posted prices, for example,
It is necessary to consider the condition of the interior and exterior, the mileage, and whether or not there is a guarantee. Taking these conditions into account, buying from the cheapest seller means that the buyer has really been able to buy cheaply.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a plurality of servers that disclose similar information on a network, such as, for example, product price information. Among them, it is an object of the present invention to provide a technology that allows a client to easily access a server that discloses optimal information.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides the following means.

[0007] 1. Server Search Method The present invention relates to a computer network to which a server to be searched (hereinafter, referred to as a search target server), a server for executing a search (hereinafter, referred to as a search execution server) and a client are connected. In the method of accessing a search target server via an execution server, the search target server is independent of the first data belonging to a data item group predetermined with the search execution server and the search target server. Of publishing the second data belonging to the data item group defined on the network 1
A step 2 in which the search execution server acquires the first data from the plurality of search target servers;
And the address A of the search target server that has obtained the first data is stored in association with each other.
A step 4 in which the search execution server discloses the first data and the address A to the client; a step 5 in which the client accesses the corresponding search target server by referring to the address A obtained from the search execution server; Obtaining a second data from the server to be searched by the client.

According to such a method, after the search execution server collects the first data from the plurality of search target servers, it collectively discloses the first data to the client. The client can access the search target server that publishes suitable data by tracing the address published by the search execution server. Therefore, the client can obtain the same effect only by accessing the search execution server without accessing many search target servers. Further, the search target server can publish the related information as the second data and publish more detailed information to the client.

The first data contains only character information, and the second data contains
May include at least one of audio data and image data. In this case, the search execution server only needs to collect only character information having a small amount of information,
The search target server can publish rich expressive voice data and image data to the client.

Normally, the search target servers are independently managed by a number of different managers, and each of them normally updates data independently. However, the search execution server is the latest first among all the search target servers. It is desirable to release the data of the client to the client. For this reason, step 2 may be performed periodically. Step 2 may be performed in response to a request from the search target server.

As a typical example of such a server search method, there is a case where the first data includes a product identifier for identifying each product and price information of the product. In this case, an electronic commerce system can be constructed by transmitting the order information of the product from the client to the search target server with the above-described server search method as a core. To this end, for example, after the step 6, the client may further include a step 7 in which the client transmits order information of the product to the search target server. Alternatively, after the step 6, a step 8 in which the client transmits the order information of the product to the search execution server and a step 9 in which the search execution server transmits the order information to the search target server may be further included. Good.

From a different viewpoint, the search execution server functions as a medium for introducing the search target server to the client. For this reason, it is possible to propose a method in which the search execution server charges the search target server for the advertisement service on the network with the above-described server search method as a core. As an example of such billing, the search execution server
In step 5, the number of times the client accesses the search target server may be counted, and the charging information for the search target server may be generated based on the count. Also, when receiving the order information from the client in step 8, the search execution server generates billing information for the search target server, and in step 9
Then, the billing information may be transmitted to the search target server together with the order information.

[0013] In terms of disclosure to clients, the first data includes a product name associated with one or more product identifiers, and in step 4, the search execution server uses a table created for each product name. Then, a table by product name including the product identifier and the price information may be made public. In this way, even if the search target server discloses a plurality of types of product information, the user of the client can immediately know how the desired product is sold on a large number of search target servers. Can be. At this time, if the table by product name is displayed in a state of being sorted according to the price information, the second data can be checked in order from the search target server that provides the same product at the lowest cost. You can save time and effort.

2. Program The present invention provides a program for notifying the address of another server in response to a request from a client, wherein the first data belonging to a predetermined data item group and each of the search target servers are independently determined. A first process of accessing a plurality of servers (hereinafter, referred to as search target servers) that publish second data belonging to the set of data items on a network, and acquiring first data from the respective search target servers; The computer executes a process 2 for storing the first data and the address A of the search target server that acquired the first data in association with each other, and a process 3 for publishing the first data and the address A to the client. Provide a program characterized by causing In this program, the first data may include only character information, and the second data may include at least one of audio data and image data. The process 1 may be executed periodically. Processing 1 may be executed in response to a request from the search target server.

Further, the first data may include a product identifier for identifying each product and price information of the product. In this case, processing 4 for receiving the order information of the product transmitted from one client to one search target server;
The processing 5 of transmitting the order information to the relevant search target server may be further executed by the computer. Further, a process of counting the number of times the client accesses one search target server with reference to the address A disclosed in the process 3 and a process of generating charging information for the search target server based on the number of times are described. Further, the program may be executed by a computer. Further, the computer may further execute a process of generating billing information for the search target server upon receiving the order information from the client in process 4 and a process of transmitting the billing information together with the order information to the search server in process 5. It may be. Further, the first data includes a product name associated with one or more product identifiers, and is a table created for each product name in process 3, and includes a product name-specific table including a product identifier and price information. It may be made public. At this time, the merchandise name table may be displayed to the client in a state sorted according to the price information.

3. Server Device The present invention provides a server device that operates according to the above-described program.

According to the present invention, there is provided a server device for notifying an address of another server in response to a request from a client, wherein the first device belonging to a predetermined data item group is provided.
, And a plurality of servers (hereinafter, referred to as search target servers) that publish on a network the second data belonging to a data item group defined independently by each of the search target servers. Means 1 for obtaining first data from the search target server, means 2 for storing the first data and the address A of the search target server from which the first data has been obtained in association with each other, Means 3 for publishing the data and the address A to the client.

In this server device, the first data may include only character information, and the second data may include at least one of audio data and image data. Further, the means 1 may be executed periodically. Also,
The means 1 may be executed in response to a request from the search target server.

[0019] The first data may include a product identifier for identifying each product and price information of the product. In this case, the system may further include a unit 4 for receiving the order information of the product transmitted from one client to one server to be searched, and a unit 5 for transmitting the order information to the server to be searched. In addition, the client checks the means 3
And a means for counting the number of accesses to one search target server with reference to the address A disclosed in the above, and a means for generating billing information for the search target server based on the number of accesses. Further, the means 4 may generate billing information for the search target server upon receiving the order information from the client, and the means 5 may transmit the billing information together with the order information to the search target server. In addition, the first data includes a product name associated with one or more product identifiers, and the means 3 is a table created for each product name, and stores a product-specific table including a product identifier and price information. It may be made public. In this case, the means 3 may publish to the client the product name table sorted according to the price information.

4. Network Further, the present invention provides a network device including the server device described above.

[0021]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION First Embodiment A price information search system 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, the price information search system 1 includes an Internet 100
Electronic shop servers 210, 22 interconnected by
0, price information collection server 300, user terminals 410, 4
Consists of twenty.

The electronic shop servers 210 and 220 are servers provided with addresses A1 and A2 on the Internet 100, and are operated by different shops and the like. In addition, each shop table 211, 221
And detailed information 212 and 222 are stored.

The shop-specific table 211 is a table as shown in Table 1 and stores data belonging to a data item group such as a product name, a product identifier, and price information that has been previously agreed with the price information search server 300. I have. here,
The product name indicates the name of the product, the product identifier is an identifier for identifying and identifying each product, and the price information is the sales price to the user of the user terminals 410 and 420.

[0024]

[Table 1]

Similarly, the shop-specific table 221 is shown in Table 2
Is a table as shown in FIG.
Stores data belonging to a data item group such as a product name, a product identifier, price information, etc., which are negotiated with 0.

[0026]

[Table 2]

Although the shop-specific tables 211 and 221 both handle exactly the same data item group, it is sufficient that the shop-specific tables 211 and 221 include the data item group determined in advance with the price information search server 300. Does not need to match exactly. Further, the shop-specific tables 211 and 221 are described in HTML, XML, or the like, and are published on the Internet 100.

The detailed information 212 and 222 store detailed information of the product for each product identifier. For example, in the case where the product is a used car, for example, here, in addition to character data such as year, displacement, mileage, etc. of the car, images such as photographs and video images of interior and exterior conditions are taken. It stores voice data such as data and engine sounds. These data items are stored in the price information search server 300.
And other electronic shop servers.

The price information search server 300 circulates through the electronic shop servers 210 and 220 and stores a table 2 for each shop.
11 and 221 are collected. The collected data is disclosed on the Internet 100 as a product-specific table such as Tables 3, 4, and 5.

[0030]

[Table 3]

[Table 4]

[Table 5]

Each of the rows of Tables 3 to 5 is linked to detailed information of the product. For example, the first line of Table 3 is linked to the address A2, that is, the detailed information of the product with the product identifier 1 stored in the detailed information 222 of the electronic shop server 220. In addition, the product-specific table is generated for each product name and is published to the user terminals 410 and 420 as clients in a state of being sorted in order of price.

User terminals 410 and 420 are terminal devices used by those who want to purchase products through electronic shop servers 210 and 220, and operate as clients of electronic shop servers 210 and 220 and price information search server 300.

Next, the user of the user terminal 410 (hereinafter referred to as the user)
The operation of the price information search system 1 when a user (abbreviated as a user) places an order for a product having the best condition from the products of the product name B via the price information search server 300 will be described with reference to FIG.

Prior to the user operating the user terminal 410, the price information search server 300 accesses the electronic shop servers 210 and 220 registered in advance and acquires a shop-specific table from each electronic shop server. (Steps Sa1, Sa2). Then, the price information search server 300 uses Tables 3 to 5 based on these tables.
Generate a product-specific table such as
00 (step Sa3). Since the electronic shop servers 210 and 220 are managed by different managers, it is common that the data update times do not coincide. For this reason, the price information search server 300
It periodically circulates through the electronic shop servers 210 and 220 and detects whether data has been updated. When the update notice is received from the electronic shop servers 210 and 220, it may be considered that the data has been updated. When data is updated in the electronic shop servers 210 and 220 as described above, the price information search server 300 acquires data from the electronic shop server and updates the contents of the product-specific table. Thus, the price information search server 300 maintains the contents of the product-specific table so as to reflect the latest state of all the shop-specific tables.

When the user accesses the price information search server 300 using the user terminal 410 and requests a product-specific table of a desired product name B, the price information search server 300
Transmits the data of the product-specific table of Table 4 to the user terminal 410 (steps Sa4, 5). The product-specific table is displayed by a browser operating on the user terminal 410.
The user refers to the product-specific table in Table 4 and selects a desired product from the products provided by each electronic shop server (step Sa6). Referring to Table 4, address A is the cheapest one of the products with the product name B provided by the electronic shop servers 210 and 220.
1, that is, the product specified by the identifier 3 in the electronic shop server 210. When the user specifies this product on the product-specific table displayed on the screen using an input device such as a mouse (step Sa7), the price information search server 300 stores the address of the electronic shop server 210 in the user terminal 410. Is counted once (step Sa8), and the address of the detailed information of the product is returned to the user terminal 410 (step Sa9). The user terminal 410 accesses the electronic shop server 210 using the returned address, and receives detailed information of the product with the identifier 3 (steps Sa10 and Sa11).

When the user terminal 410 receives the detailed information, the user obtains the detailed information on the product. Here, the user determines the order for this product, and transmits the order information to the electronic shop server 210 (step S).
a12), the order confirmation is received (step Sa13), and the user operation ends.

Further, price information search server 300 generates billing information based on the number counted in step Sa8, and transmits it to electronic shop server 210 (step Sa14).
Then, the electronic shop server 210 returns a billing confirmation (step Sa15). The transmission of the billing information does not need to be performed every time the shop address is requested.
It may be tallyed and transmitted once a month.

2. Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The difference between the first and second embodiments relates to transmission and reception of order information and billing information. Here, only differences from the first embodiment will be described.

A description will be given below by comparing FIG. 2 and FIG. Steps Sb1 to Sb7 are the same as steps Sa1 to Sa7, and a description thereof will be omitted. Comparing steps Sb8 to Sb14 and steps Sa8 to Sa15, in the first embodiment, the user terminal 410
In the second embodiment, the user terminal 410 transmits the order information to the price information search server 300 (step Sb11), and the price information search server 300 charges the order information together with the order information. The difference is that information is transmitted to the electronic shop server 210 (step Sb12).

Although the present invention has been described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and it is understood that modifications and improvements can be made within the ordinary knowledge of those skilled in the art. Of course.

[0041]

According to the present invention, the search execution server collects the first data from the plurality of search target servers and then collectively publishes the first data to the client. The client can access the search target server that publishes suitable data by tracing the address published by the search execution server. Therefore, the client can obtain the same effect only by accessing the search execution server without accessing many search target servers. Further, the search target server can publish the related information as the second data and publish more detailed information to the client.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a network configuration diagram of a price information search system 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an operation of the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an operation of the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Price information search system 100 Internet 210, 220 Electronic shop server 211, 221 Shop-specific table 212, 222 Detailed information 300 Price information search server 410, 420 User terminal

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (Reference) G06F 17/60 310 G06F 17/60 310E 326 326

Claims (33)

[Claims] 1. A search execution server (hereinafter, referred to as a search execution server), a server executing a search (hereinafter, referred to as a search execution server) and a computer network to which the client is connected, wherein the client is a search execution server. In the method of accessing a search target server via a server, the search target server is independently determined by first data belonging to a data item group predetermined with the search execution server, and each of the search target servers Step 1 of publishing the second data belonging to the obtained data item group on the network, Step 2 of the search execution server acquiring the first data from the plurality of search target servers, and Step 1 of the search execution server And the address A of the search target server from which the first data has been obtained is stored in association with each other. A step 4 in which the server discloses the first data and the address A to the client; a step 5 in which the client accesses the corresponding search target server by referring to the address A obtained from the search execution server; Obtaining the second data from the target server. 2. The server search method according to claim 1, wherein the first data includes only character information, and the second data includes at least one of audio data and image data. . 3. The server search method according to claim 1, wherein step 2 is performed periodically. 4. The server search method according to claim 1, wherein the step 2 is executed in response to a request from a search target server. 5. The server search method according to claim 1, wherein the first data includes a product identifier for identifying each product and price information of the product. . 6. The server search method according to claim 5, further comprising, after the step 6, a step 7 in which the client transmits order information of the product to the search target server. . 7. The server search method according to claim 5, further comprising, after the step 6, a step 8 in which the client transmits product order information to the search execution server; Transmitting the order information. 9. 8. The server search method according to claim 5, wherein the search execution server counts the number of times the client has accessed the search target server in step 5, and based on the count, the search target server. A server search method characterized by generating billing information for a server. 9. The server search method according to claim 7, wherein the search execution server generates charge information for the search target server upon receiving the order information from the client in step 8, and in step 9, the search execution server outputs the charge information together with the order information. A server search method, wherein the server search method is transmitted to a search target server. 10. The server search method according to any one of claims 5 to 9, wherein the first data includes a product name associated with one or more product identifiers. A server search method, which publishes a table created for each product name, the product name table including a product identifier and price information. 11. The server search method according to claim 10, wherein the product name table is displayed in a state sorted according to price information. 12. A program for notifying an address of another server in response to a request from a client, wherein the first data belonging to a predetermined data item group and the first data belonging to a search target server are independently determined. Servers that release the second data belonging to the set of data items on the network (hereinafter, referred to as search target servers)
To obtain the first data from the respective search target servers, and to store the first data and the address A of the search target server that obtained the first data in association with each other. 2. A program for causing a computer to execute a process 2 and a process 3 for opening the first data and the address A to the client. 13. The program according to claim 12, wherein the first data includes only character information, and the second data includes at least one of audio data and image data. 14. The program according to claim 12, wherein the processing 1 is executed periodically. 15. The program according to claim 12, wherein the program is executed in response to a request from a search target server. 16. The program according to claim 12, wherein the first data includes a product identifier for identifying each product and price information of the product. 17. The program according to claim 16, wherein a process 4 for receiving order information of a product transmitted from one client to one server to be searched, and transmitting the order information to the corresponding server to be searched. A program for causing a computer to further execute step 5. 18. The program according to claim 16, wherein the client counts the number of times the client has accessed one search target server by referring to the address A published in the process 3, and the number of times. And generating a charge information for the search target server based on the computer program. 19. The program according to claim 17, wherein, when receiving the order information from the client in the processing 4, the charging information for the search target server is generated, and in the processing 5, the charging information is stored together with the order information in the search target server. And causing the computer to further execute the process of transmitting to the computer. 20. The program according to claim 16, wherein the first data includes a product name associated with one or more product identifiers, and is created for each product name in process 3. A program for publishing a table by product name including a product identifier and price information. 21. The program according to claim 20, wherein the product name table is displayed to the client in a state of being sorted according to price information. 22. A server device that operates according to the program according to claim 12. 23. A server device for notifying an address of another server in response to a request from a client, wherein the first data belonging to a data item group determined in advance and a server to be searched are independently determined. Servers that release the second data belonging to the obtained data item group on a network (hereinafter, referred to as search target servers)
, And means for obtaining first data from each search target server; means for storing the first data and the address A of the search target server that obtained the first data in association with each other 2. A server device, comprising: means 3 for publishing first data and an address A to a client. 24. The server device according to claim 23, wherein the first data includes only character information, and the second data includes at least one of audio data and image data. 25. The server device according to claim 23, wherein the means 1 is periodically executed. 26. The server device according to claim 23, wherein said means 1 executes means 1 in response to a request from a search target server. 27. The server device according to claim 23, wherein the first data includes a product identifier for identifying each product and price information of the product. 28. The server device according to claim 27, wherein: means 4 for receiving order information of the product transmitted from one client to one search target server; and transmitting the order information to the relevant search target server. A server device, further comprising: 29. The server device according to claim 27, wherein the client refers to the address A published by the unit 3, and counts the number of times the client has accessed one search target server. Means for generating billing information for the search target server based on the number of times. 30. The server device according to claim 28, wherein the means 4 receives the order information from the client, generates billing information for the server to be searched, and the means 5 transmits the billing information together with the order information to the search object. A server device for transmitting to a server. 31. The server device according to claim 27, wherein the first data includes a product name associated with one or more product identifiers, and the means 3 is created for each product name. A server which publishes a table by product name including a product identifier and price information. 32. The server device according to claim 31, wherein the means 3 publishes a product name table sorted according to price information to the client. 33. A network including the server device according to claim 22.