JP2002215959A - Electronic commerce system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic commerce system capable of easily updating a written estimate to be presented, smoothly presenting commodity information to a customer, and achieving high security for an order receiving process. SOLUTION: In this electronic commerce system 10, a terminal device 14 at the customer end is capable of communicating through a data communication net 12 such as an Internet, and the customer transmits a written order to place an order for the commodity. An inquiry server device 16 using a communication line 26 and an order receiving server means 40 using a communication line 28 can respectively communicate through a data communication net 12. A rewriting device 58 updates a commodity data base stored in a commodity data base storing part 56. When the commodity data base is updated, an estimate page generating part 60 generates an update page with reference to the commodity data base storing part 56, and sends the same to an estimate page storing part 34 through a data communication net 70. The estimate page storing part 34 updates the estimate page stored by the update page. Thus, the updated estimate page can be browsed in the terminal device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a data communication network,
The present invention relates to an electronic commerce system including a terminal device capable of communicating via the data communication network, and transmitting an order form from the terminal device to order a product.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional electronic commerce system, a server device for receiving an order for a product is generally a so-called own server managed by a seller himself, and is connected to the Internet by a so-called dedicated line. In this system, when a customer operates a terminal device connected to the Internet, data communication is performed between the terminal device and the server system via the Internet,
Electronic commerce is conducted between the customer and the seller.

[0003] In an electronic commerce system, it is particularly desirable to prepare various commodities, present merchandise information, and promptly respond to a customer's quote request.

[0004] Some products in e-commerce have a plurality of specifications and thus have a wide variety of selling prices. This product consists of a combination of multiple types of devices and components. Specifically, for example, a personal computer is a so-called main body including a main board on which a CPU is mounted, a memory module, an auxiliary storage device, a power supply device, and a housing for storing them, and devices such as a display device and a pointing device. Or parts are combined.

[0005] In a product having such various specifications,
The price of a product is estimated based on the total amount of combined devices or parts, and the selling price differs for each specification.
For this reason, a quote has been prepared separately for each product specification and presented in response to a customer request. In addition, in order to update this quote, the data of each quote was created and updated. To create a quote, ODBC (Op
en Database Connectivity)
An API (Application Program) compatible with ODBC is described in the database described based on
The search and the creation were performed using application software having an interface.

[0006]

However, since the above-mentioned products have various specifications, there are many types of quotes, and it has been difficult to quickly create a quote. In addition, changes in the situation may cause factors that determine the selling price, such as the cost of equipment or parts, to rise or fall separately,
It was even more difficult to update the quotes presented as circumstances changed.

In general, in electronic commerce, a seller presents a plurality of products in a selectable manner, a customer selects a desired product from these products, and if the product has a plurality of specifications, the customer selects a desired product. Is selected, a quote for the selected product is obtained and reviewed, and then the product is ordered. However, compared to the number of customers who only make a request for a quote, the number of customers who actually order products is usually very small.

[0008] Further, in the electronic commerce system, it is desirable that the provision of merchandise information to the customer be smooth and that the security of order processing be high. In order to smoothly present product information even if many customers request at the same time, we have prepared our own server device with large capacity and a dedicated line with large transmission capacity, but these have a large cost. It takes. On the other hand, a server device having a large capacity other than its own server and a communication line having a large transmission capacity and a non-dedicated line have relatively low costs, but generally do not have sufficient security for ordering a product.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic commerce system that smoothly presents product information in response to a customer request, performs order processing with high security, and can easily update a quote to be presented. And

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An electronic commerce system according to the present invention includes a data communication network and a terminal device capable of communicating via the data communication network. An ordering system, further comprising: a first server means for storing an inventory page on which information of a plurality of products is stored; and a quotation page on the inventory page, wherein the quotation page describes the quotation of the product. Quotation page storing means which can communicate with the terminal device through a first communication line connected to the data communication network, and the second server means is associated with the quotation page and stores the order form of the product. A second order communication means connected to the data communication network, comprising order storage means for storing the stored order form, and order processing means for receiving the order form, extracting the order information and processing the order. Characterized in that it comprises a second server means capable of communicating with the terminal apparatus via a line.

Preferably, in the electronic commerce system according to the present invention, the product database storage means stores a product database representing product information, and the database update means updates the product database storage means to generate an estimate page. The means is connected to the estimate page storage means so as to be able to transmit data, and when the product database storage means is updated, generates an update page representing an estimate based on the updated product information with reference to the product database storage means, and The estimated page is transmitted to the page storage, and the estimated page storage is further updated with the updated page when the updated page is received.

Preferably, in the electronic commerce system according to the present invention, the first communication line has a larger transmission capacity than the second communication line.

Preferably, in the electronic commerce system according to the present invention, further, the customer database storage means is connected to the order processing means and stores information about the customer, and the order database storage means is connected to the order processing means and stores the product. Receiving the order, the order processing unit further extracts the information on the customer and the information on the order of the product from the order, and stores them in the customer database storage unit and the order database storage unit, respectively. It is characterized by being stored.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An electronic commerce system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0015]

FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram of an embodiment of an electronic commerce system according to the present invention. Electronic commerce system 1
0 includes a data communication network 12, a customer terminal device 14, an inquiry server device 16, and a seller system 18.

The data communication network 12 is a communication network that enables data communication between connected networks or communication devices, and typically uses the Internet. From the viewpoint of easily enabling electronic commerce by an unspecified number of customers, the data communication network 12 is preferably a public network, and preferably has a function of improving encryption and other security as necessary.

In principle, all resources on the data communication network 12, for example, software such as files or data, or hardware such as servers, each have a unique identifier. Therefore, if a request is made to the data communication network 12 by specifying this identifier, a desired resource can be accessed via the data communication network 12. When this identifier is used on the Internet,
(World Wide Web) URL (Un
iform Resource Locators or URI (Uniform Resource Id)
entifier).

The terminal device 14 is an information communication device capable of two-way communication through a communication line 24. The terminal device 14
Typically, a personal computer, an input device such as a keyboard or a pointing device, a CR
T (cathode ray tube display) or LCD (liquid crystal display)
And the like, an information processing device including a CPU and a storage device, and a DTE (data line terminating device) (not shown) such as a modem device. Terminal device 1
4, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or a larger computer system can also be used. The terminal device 14
Many potential customers can easily participate in the e-commerce system 10 and the system can be constructed at a low cost because the devices that are widely used may be used. Terminal device 1
4 is connected to the data communication network 12 by a communication line 24.

The terminal device 14 has, as an information processing function, a browser function of interpreting and displaying a document described in a markup language having a hyperlink function. This language is specifically SGML (Standard Ge
neutralized Markup Languag
e), HTML (Hypertext MarkupL)
language) or XML (Extensible)
Markup Language). The browser function is realized by mounting user agent software including a browser function for interpreting and displaying a markup language, but may be realized by other measures.

The terminal device 14 further has a function of interpreting and executing the object embedded in the document. This function is added to or implemented in the above-mentioned user agent software. This object includes a script described in a script language such as JavaScript.

The inquiry server device 16 is connected to the data communication network 12
Is a server device that can communicate via the Internet. The inquiry server device 16 is connected to the data communication network 12 by the communication line 26, and includes an inventory page storage unit 32 and an estimate page storage unit. From the terminal device 14, the inquiry server device 1
Upon receiving the data transmission request including the identifier indicating the catalog 6 itself or the catalog page storage unit 32, the inquiry server device 16
The data of the catalog page stored in the catalog page 32 is transmitted to the terminal device 14 via the data communication network 12 via the communication line 26.

The inquiry server device 16 further includes an extension mechanism for dynamically displaying a page, for example, a CGI (comm).
on gateway interface (common gateway interface). For this reason, the inquiry server device 16 can perform processing using an external program, reflect the processing result on a page, and send the result to the terminal device 14. In addition, a script environment described later is provided.

The catalog page storage unit 32 is a storage function unit that stores a catalog page describing a catalog of sales products. The catalog page is described in the aforementioned markup language so that the product name or model number is displayed on the terminal device 14 for a plurality of sales products, and preferably further includes a summary of the product or an image of the product. It is preferable that the information is described so as to be displayed together. Also,
In the data of the catalog page, an identifier of an estimation page described later is described, and the sale page or the specification thereof is associated with the estimation page described later.

Referring to FIG. 2, a page 100 shows a display example of the above-mentioned list page. Depending on the display device (not shown) of the terminal device 14, not all of the pages are simultaneously displayed on the display screen. However, when the terminal device 14 is operated, the display screen scrolls. Can also be viewed. Page 1
00, a product image 102, a product name, and a model number are described for each of a plurality of products. Here, the terminal device 14
Is operated to move the pointer 104 to the product image 102, that is, focus on the product image 102, and further press, for example, a button of a pointing device (not shown) of the terminal device 14, that is, a determination operation such as clicking. Is performed, a request for transmission of an estimate page described later is made to the data communication network 12 together with the identifier associated with the selected product.

The catalog page is preferably a page generally accessed first by a customer, that is, a page referred to as a “home page”, “top page” or “index page”. When the terminal device 14 accesses this page, it may be automatically linked to the catalog page. This allows the customer to easily access the catalog page.

Returning to FIG. 1, the estimated page storage unit 32
The storage function unit stores the estimation page associated with the catalog page. The catalog page in the estimate page storage unit 32 stores one estimate page for each product having a plurality of combinations. That is, the data of the estimate page is described in a script language, and when read by the terminal device 14, a quote is generated and displayed on the terminal device 14. When a different specification is selected on the terminal device 14, a quote for the selected specification is newly generated and displayed. Instead of the terminal device 14, the inquiry server device 16 may be configured to generate an estimate. Product,
For example, in a personal computer, if the combination of devices or components such as the storage capacity of a memory or the type of a CPU is changed, the performance and price of a product change, and a customer can obtain a desired product specification estimate. This script environment is, for example, an ASP (A
active Server Page), which is a script described in VBScript or JScript on the server side, or an Acti including a Java applet.
A platform for executing veX controls.

The estimation page may store one page for each product specification. In this case, the inquiry server device 16 need not have a script environment.

Referring to FIG. 3, page 110 shows a display example of the above-mentioned list page. On the page 110, a pull-down menu section 112 for selecting a product specification is displayed. When the button 114 of the pull-down menu unit 112 is pressed, the specification of the product can be selected.

More specifically, referring to FIG.
Pull-down menu section 112 for CPU selection in FIG.
Shows a steady state. When the pointer 114 is moved and the button 114 is clicked, a pull-down unit 120 is newly displayed as shown in FIG. Focus one of the options displayed in the pull-down section (see FIG. 4).
(In (c), 500 MHz)
The specifications of the device or component (in this case, the CPU) are determined (FIG. 4D). Returning to FIG. 3, the specifications can be similarly selected for other devices or parts.

As described above, each pull-down menu section 11
If a device or a part is selected in 2, the combination of them is determined, and the specification of the product is determined. In this way, all selectable devices or combinations of parts are expressible and the customer can select the desired specifications. The button 118 is associated with an order form described later, and when clicked, a request for transmission of the order form is made. The button 119 is associated with the above-mentioned list page, and when clicked, the list page is displayed again.

Returning to FIG. 1, the seller-side system 18
It includes an order receiving server device 40, a database device 50, a terminal device 58, and an estimate page generating unit 60. In the seller system 18, the order receiving server device 40 is connected to the data communication network 12 by a communication line 28. This merchant system 18 is, from the viewpoint of maintenance and security,
For example, a merchant's headquarters, headquarters or main office,
It is desirable to install in a place that can be managed by the seller. The communication line 28 is preferably a dedicated line in order to keep security high.

The inquiry server device 16 and the order receiving server device 40 are separate server devices, and are connected to the data communication network 12 by separate communication lines, that is, communication lines 26 and 28, respectively. It is the order receiving server device 40 that accepts the order from the customer, so that the communication line 26 having a relatively large communication capacity may be a public line, and the inquiry server device 16 has security as high as the order receiving server device 40. It is not necessary. For this reason, external IS
P (Internet Service Provide)
er), the cost of the system can be reduced even if a large-capacity line and a server device with a large capacity are provided.

The order receiving server device 40 is a server device connected to the data communication network 12 by the communication line 28 and capable of communicating via the data communication network 12, and has the same function as the inquiry server device 16. The order receiving server device 40 includes an order form storage unit 44 and an order processing unit 46.

The order form storage unit 44 is a storage function unit that stores an order form for creating an order form described later in the terminal device 14. This order form is written in a script such as an ASP (Active Server Page).
This is dynamically described based on e) and the like. That is,
When the order form is read into the terminal device 14, the order form is displayed on the terminal device 14. The order form is described so that when the customer checks the display on the terminal device 14 and fills in necessary fields or selects a selection field, the order form is completed. Thus, the customer can easily place an order online by sending the completed order form.

FIG. 5 shows a display example of the order form. The page 130 displays the product selected on the catalog page, the specification of the product selected on the estimation page, and the estimate thereof. Operate the terminal device 14 and enter the description field 132
When the customer information such as the customer name and contact information is input to and, the purchase order is completed. The button 136 is associated with the order processing unit 46 described later,
By clicking, this purchase order is transmitted to the order processing unit 46. The button 138 is associated with the above-described estimate page, and when the button 138 is clicked, the estimate page is displayed again.

Returning to FIG. 1, the order processing unit 46 is an information processing function unit that, upon receiving the order sheet, extracts information on the order from the order sheet and outputs the information. The order receipt includes information on the order (hereinafter, order information), such as a customer's name or name, a product delivery address, a telephone number, or an e-mail address. Order processing unit 46
Receives the order form from the terminal device 14, extracts the order information, sends it to the customer database storage unit 52 and the order database storage unit 54, which will be described later, and processes the order. The order processing unit 46 further has a function of sending an order to the customer-side terminal device 14 when the order processing is completed.

FIG. 6 shows a display example of the above-mentioned order receipt. This order form displays the specifications of the product indicated in the order form, the parties to the contract, that is, the names of customers and sellers, and the fact that the order has been received. By displaying the order receipt on the terminal device 14, the customer can
You can confirm that the order has been placed.

Returning to FIG. 1, the database device 50
A database device for storing a database relating to electronic commerce, comprising a customer database storage unit 52, an order database storage unit 54, and a product database storage unit 5.
6 are included. Each of the customer database storage unit 52, the order database storage unit 54, and the product database storage unit 56 is a divided storage area in the database device 50, but may be separate devices.

The customer database storage unit 52 is a storage function unit that stores a database of information about customers.
Information about the customer is, for example, the name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address of the customer.

The order database storage unit 54 is a storage function unit that stores an order database that represents information on ordering of products. The order database stores the name or name of the customer, the name of the ordered product, the specifications of the product, and the like. When the order information is sent out by the order processing unit 46, the order database storage unit updates and stores the stored order information.

The product database storage unit 56 is a storage function unit that stores a product database in which information on products is described. The product database describes the model number and name of the product to be sold, the performance of selectable parts or devices, their prices, and the like. When the rewriting device 58 rewrites the stored information, that is, the product database, the product database storage unit 56 sends product information including the rewritten portion, that is, update information, to the estimate page generation unit 60. Product database storage unit 5
6 is connected to the estimate page generating unit 60 via a signal line 64 via the order receiving server device 40. From the viewpoint of further improving security, a so-called firewall is provided in the order receiving server device 40, or the product database storage unit 56 is directly connected to the estimate page generation unit,
It is preferable that the data communication network 12 cannot be easily accessed.

The estimate page generation section 60 is a data generation function section for generating and sending an update page, that is, an update page, based on the update information described above. What is necessary is just to comprise with the apparatus similar to. The estimate page generation unit 60 has a function of generating an update page based on the above-described update information and transmitting the update page to the estimate page storage unit 34 via the data communication network 70.

For example, if a change is made in the product database with respect to selectable parts or devices of the product and the selling price for each specification of the product, the quotation page generation unit 60 searches the product database storage unit 56 and makes a selection. To create different product specifications by combining various devices or parts. Next, the estimate page generating unit 60 searches the product database storage unit 56, searches and associates the price for each generated product specification, generates data, and generates a page described in the aforementioned markup language. If the device is sold in combination with the so-called “body” of the product, and the total sales are determined by simply adding the value of this device to the value of the “body”, When the price fluctuates, only the price portion of the device needs to be changed.

When the product database is updated, the estimate page generator 60 generates and sends an updated page.
An input device and a display device (both not shown),
An editor function that allows the operator to manually edit the update page may be provided. The estimate page generating unit 60 is connected to a data communication network 70 by a communication line 62.

The data communication network 70 is a communication network similar to the data communication network 12. The case where the data communication network 70 is a communication network separate from the data communication network 12 will be described, but it is preferable that the data communication network 70 be the same communication network. Data communication network 70
Is a communication line 72 connected to the estimate page storage unit 34. From the viewpoint of increasing security, the estimate page generation unit 60 uses the dedicated line to
May be directly connected.

The above-mentioned estimate page storage unit 34 is also configured to, upon receiving an estimate page via the communication line 72, update the already stored estimate page, that is, add, replace or delete, based on the received update page. I have. For this reason, each time the product database storage unit 56 is updated by the rewriting device 58, the estimate page is updated in the estimate page storage unit 34.

Referring to FIG. 7, when the customer operates the terminal device 14 on the customer side in the operating state, a transmission request with the identifier of the catalog page storage unit 32 is made to the data communication network 12. The catalog page storage unit 32 stores the terminal device 1
Then, the data of the list page is transmitted to the fourth page. The terminal device 14
When the data of the catalog page is received, it is interpreted and the catalog page is displayed visually (step S002).

The customer browses the displayed catalog page,
Select the desired product from the listed products (YE
S). If not selected (NO), the terminal device 14 reads the list page again (step S002).

When a product is selected, the estimate page storage unit 34 stores the data of the estimate page relating to the product selected in step S002 in the terminal device 1 as in step S002.
Send to 4. The terminal device 14 reads the data of the estimation page and displays the estimation page of the selected product (step S006).

When the customer rearranges the configuration of the selected product, that is, changes the specification of the product (YES), a quote page corresponding to the specification is displayed on the terminal device 14. If the customer does not change this specification (NO),
Move on to order confirmation (step S008).

Next, the customer selects whether or not to purchase a product having the selected specification (step S010). If the order is not determined (NO), the catalog page is displayed again.
When the order is determined, the order form stored in the order form storage unit 44 is displayed on the terminal device 14 as in step S002 (step S012).

When the customer completes the order using this order form and performs a confirmation operation, the data of the order is sent to the order processing unit 46 (step S014).

Upon receiving the order form data, the order processing unit 46 extracts data required for order processing, and stores the data in the customer database storage unit 52 and the order database storage unit 5.
4 and stored. When the order processing is completed, an order page to that effect is sent out and displayed on the terminal device 14.

If the customer subsequently selects the use of the electronic commerce system 10 (YES), the catalog page is displayed again. If the use is not selected (NO), the process is terminated.

Referring to FIG. 8, in the operating state, when an update operation such as addition, replacement, or deletion of product data is performed from the rewriting device 58 (step S110), the product database is updated in the product database storage unit 56. (Step S112).

When the product database is updated, the updated data is sent to the estimate page generator 60. The estimated page generating unit 60 generates an updated estimated page, that is, updated page data, based on the updated data (step S116).

More specifically, referring to FIG. 9, when the product database is updated, quote page generating section 60 searches for a change in the product configuration, that is, a part or device (step S202), and these can be selected. A plurality of specifications combining various parts or devices are generated (step S20).
4). Further, the price for each of these specifications is searched (step S206), and update data is generated (step S20).
8). If there is a device to be added to this, information such as the price of this device is searched from the product database (step S210). Using these pieces of information, an update page is generated in the above-described markup language (step S212).

The data of the generated updated page is sent to the estimated page storage unit 34 via the data communication network 70 (step S118).

The estimated page storage unit 34 updates the stored estimated page by adding, replacing, deleting, etc., based on the updated page data (step S120). Thus, the estimate page that can be browsed from the terminal device 14 is updated.

[0060]

The electronic commerce system according to the present invention includes separate server devices, that is, an inquiry server device 16 and an order receiving server device 40, each of which has a separate communication line 2.
6 and 28, the connection to the data communication network 12 minimizes the congestion of communication so that customers can obtain product information smoothly, the security of ordering products is improved, and the cost of servers and communication lines is reduced. Can be reduced.

The electronic commerce system according to the present invention also includes
When the product database storage unit 54 is rewritten, the estimate page storage unit 34 is updated by the estimate page generation unit 60, so that the estimate page can be easily updated corresponding to the product database.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of an embodiment of an electronic commerce system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a catalog page.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a display example of an estimate page.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a pull-down menu in a display example of an estimate page.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of an order form.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of an order receipt.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an outline of a commercial transaction operation in the electronic commerce system according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an outline of updating an estimate page in the electronic commerce system according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the generation of an estimate page in FIG. 8 in detail.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 E-commerce system 12 Data communication network 14 Terminal device 16 Inquiry server device 32 Catalog page storage unit 34 Estimation page storage unit 40 Order reception server device 44 Order form storage unit 46 Order reception processing unit 50 Database device 52 Customer database storage unit 54 Order database storage Unit 56 product database storage unit 58 rewriting device 60 estimate page generation unit 70 data communication network

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 17/30 110 G06F 17/30 110F 110C 170 170Z 19/00 300 19/00 300N

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An electronic commerce system that includes a data communication network and a terminal device capable of communicating via the data communication network, and transmits an order form from the terminal device to order a product. Further, a catalog page storage unit that stores a catalog page describing a plurality of information of the product, and an estimate page storage unit that stores an estimate page that describes an estimate of the product, which is associated with the catalog page, First server means capable of communicating with the terminal device through a first communication line connected to the data communication network; order form storage means associated with the quote page and storing an order form of the product; and An order processing means for receiving the order form, extracting the order information, and processing the order, and receiving the order form through a second communication line connected to the data communication network; Electronic commerce system, characterized in that it comprises a second server means capable of communicating with end device. 2. An electronic commerce system that includes a data communication network and a terminal device capable of communicating via the data communication network, and transmits an order form from the terminal device to order goods. Further, a catalog page storage unit that stores a catalog page describing a plurality of information of the product, and an estimate page storage unit that stores an estimate page that describes an estimate of the product, which is associated with the catalog page, First server means capable of communicating with the terminal device through a first communication line connected to the data communication network; order form storage means associated with the quote page and storing an order form of the product; and An order processing means for receiving the order form, extracting the order information, and processing the order, and receiving the order form through a second communication line connected to the data communication network; A second server unit capable of communicating with a terminal device; a product database storage unit that stores a product database representing information of the product; a database updating unit that updates the product database storage unit; Connected to enable data transmission to
When the product database storage unit is updated, an estimate page generation unit that generates an update page representing an estimate based on the product information updated with reference to the product database storage unit and sends the updated page to the estimate page storage unit. The e-commerce system, wherein the quote page storage means updates the quote page with the updated page upon receiving the updated page. 3. The electronic commerce system according to claim 1, wherein the first communication line has a larger transmission capacity than the second communication line. 4. The electronic commerce system according to claim 1, wherein the system is further connected to the order processing means and stores customer information storing customer information, and connected to the order processing means. Order receiving database storing means for storing information on an order for a product, wherein the order processing means further receives the order, extracts information on a customer and information on an order for the product from the order, and An electronic commerce system wherein the information is stored in a customer database storage unit and the order database storage unit, respectively.