JP2002245286A - Method of mediation, mediating apparatus, and method of providing data - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of mediation, a mediating apparatus, and a method of providing data, capable of preventing troubles which arise, after the transaction of luxury goods and purchase of goods and to improve convenience for customers. SOLUTION: For soblving above troubles, this method includes a receiving process of receiving goods image data related to the goods from a supplier of goods, and consumer environment image data from consumers, and an image compositing process of compositing the environment image data with the goods image data. By having the consumers select the goods utilizing a composited image, the environment image data of the consumers can be composited and simulated with the goods image data (including the service) provided by the goods suppliers to match intentions of the consumers. Selection of goods can thus be assisted, and chances for business negotiations can be increased for the suppliers of goods.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an intermediary method, an intermediary device and a data providing method, and more particularly to an electronic commerce (e-commerce) utilizing the Internet or the like.
The present invention relates to an intermediary method, an intermediary device, and a data providing method for electronically performing a simulation when a target product is introduced so that an intermediary gives a customer a specific image of a product supplied by a product supplier.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a normal business transaction, a customer visits a store and actually picks up a product. Even in electronic transactions, when purchasing a product, it is necessary to consider not only introduction data on the product, but also a taste of taste such as design and size according to the image of each customer.

[0003] The needs of each customer differ depending on the circumstances of each customer, and retailers handle a large number of products to meet the needs of each customer. In most cases, such needs are image information that is hardly represented by character information. Even in the case of actual transactions, the customer's image is embodied in the interaction with the retail clerk,
Eventually, it will be linked to the introduction data.

[0004] In the case of electronic transactions, such exchanges that elicit the needs of customers cannot be performed, and transactions can be smoothly carried out with electric appliances or computers that can easily grasp the product image from the introduction. It is a barrier to e-commerce.

In recent years, the IT environment has been improved and the above-mentioned electronic commerce has attracted attention. As described above, for products with strong taste factors, a method suitable for electronic commerce must be adopted. Is needed.

[0005] As a method of electronically solving the customer's preference request, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-218904, electronic image data of eyeglasses is electronically synthesized with an image of the customer's face, so that the customer's hand can be obtained. There is a technology to have a favorable image even for glasses that do not have it. Although the present invention is directed to simulation in a retail store, it can be applied to electronic commerce.

In this case, the image is synthesized by the customer's terminal. However, in such an application, since the image needs to look more natural, the demand for the synthesis technique and the equipment used for the synthesis is increased. Therefore, it is difficult for all customers to run such applications on terminals.

Further, even if such a service is provided on a one-to-one basis between a manufacturer and a customer, there is a problem that the operating environment varies, the choice of the customer becomes narrower, and it is difficult to spread it in earnest. .

[0008] Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the above problems, to provide a mediation method and apparatus capable of preventing troubles occurring after transaction of favorite goods or purchase of goods, and improving customer convenience. Aim.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a goods supplier supplying goods, a consumer purchasing goods from the goods supplier, and a goods supplier via a computer network. In an intermediary method in which an intermediary in electronic commerce performed by a mediator that mediates between a consumer and a consumer, merchandise image data relating to the product and a consumer to the consumer environment It has a receiving procedure for receiving image data, and an image composition procedure for compositing environmental image data and product image data. The consumer can use the composite image to select a product, so that the consumer's environmental image data and Combines and simulates product image data (including services) provided by product suppliers to suit consumers' intentions Because, it is possible to increase the opportunity of the negotiation of consumer product selection help and product suppliers.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a management procedure for managing image data of at least two or more product suppliers, a counting procedure for counting the number of accesses by consumers, and a counting procedure by the counting procedure And a billing procedure for charging each merchandise supplier on the basis of
Provide consumers with free access to product supplier image data, allow consumers to choose from a large number of products, and provide product suppliers with more opportunities for business negotiations by connecting to the consumer portal site. An attractive portal can be formed, and the business of the intermediary can be established by paying a fee from the commodity supplier according to the number of accesses from the consumer or the number of completed negotiations.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the display order for determining the display order of the goods supplier data provided to the consumer based on the history information ordered by the consumer or the statistical amount of the history information. By having a decision procedure and a distribution procedure for distributing the composite image to the consumer based on the display order,
When the intermediary saves the history information ordered by the consumer, the next time the consumer accesses the product, the display order is determined by the history information or the statistics of the history information, so the consumer can reach his favorite product .

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the provision of the provision procedure for providing the supplier security data to the commodity image data allows the intermediary to confirm the commodity supplier and to provide a person other than the commodity supplier. Can be prevented from impersonating the product supplier and acting fraudulently on the consumer.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, a merchandise supplier who supplies merchandise, a consumer who purchases merchandise from the merchandise supplier, and a mediator between the merchandise supplier and the consumer via the computer network. It is possible to provide a data providing method in which a merchandise supplier suitable for the electronic commerce according to claims 1 to 4 performed by an intermediary that provides data to the intermediary.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, a merchandise supplier who supplies merchandise, a consumer who purchases merchandise from the merchandise supplier, and an intermediary between the merchandise supplier and the consumer via the computer network. It is possible to provide a data providing method in which a consumer suitable for the electronic commerce according to claims 1 to 4 performed by an intermediary provides data to the intermediary.

[0015] According to the invention as set forth in claim 7, through a computer network, a merchandise supplier who supplies merchandise, a consumer who purchases merchandise from the merchandise supplier, and a mediator between the merchandise supplier and the consumer. An intermediary device for electronic commerce according to claims 1 to 4 performed by an intermediary that performs the intermediation.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. [Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 shows a network configuration diagram in the first and second embodiments of the present invention. In FIG. 1, an intermediary (intermediary server) 20 is interposed between a user 11 and a maker 12 on the Internet 10. The manufacturer 12 transfers product images and related introduction data 13, and the user 11 transfers environment image data 14 of the user's own environment to the mediator server 20 via the Internet 10. In the mediator server 20, the product image / introduction 13 and the environment image 14 are combined, and the combined image 15 is
To provide. Also, at this time, the mediator server 20 combines the combined image 15 with reference to the image DB 16 in which information such as products is stored in advance.

Here, home appliances, furniture, etc.
The process up to ordering 1 will be described as an example. Manufacturer 1
2 that has contracted with
The merchandise image / introduction 13 is registered in the mediator server 20. Since the mediator server 20 has contracted with a plurality of manufacturers 12, the mediator server 20 stores data of a plurality of products of the plurality of manufacturers 12 in a searchable manner. These data are sent by the mediator server 20
The composite image 15 is disclosed to the user 11. The user 11 selects the composite image 15 and refers to desired product data.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of the electronic commerce processing in the first embodiment of the present invention. 2, in the process of step S10, the user 11 transmits a user environment image to the mediator server 20. Step S11
In the process (1), the model of the product is selected. Next, step S
In the process of 12, a model 3D image is read from the image DB 16 and displayed. In the process of step S13, the image image is enlarged / reduced, the viewpoint is determined, and the combination position is specified. In the process of step S14, a composite image is created (including fine adjustment). In the process of step S15, it is determined whether or not the displayed image meets the needs of the user and order processing has been performed. If an order has been placed, an order process is performed. If an order has not been placed, step S
Step 11 is repeated. Next, a specific example of the mediation process will be described.

FIG. 3 shows a display screen in the first embodiment of the present invention. When the user 11 accesses the home page published by the mediator server 20 on the Internet 10, a screen as shown in FIG. 3 is obtained.

The user 11 first selects a desired product from a product selection menu provided on this homepage. When there are few products, these selections can be made at once, but when there are many products to be handled, selection is made from a hierarchically structured menu. Here, it is assumed that a home appliance / refrigerator is selected. Next, the user 11 registers a user image 22 obtained by photographing the environment of the user with a digital camera or the like. Here, it is assumed that an image of the user's kitchen is transferred. The transferred user image 22 is transferred to the mediator server 20 and used for subsequent processing. The user 11 further selects one of the model selection frames 24 for selecting a maker and a model, and specifies the model.

When the model is specified, a 3D image of the model pops up as a product window 21 as shown in FIG. The user 11 selects an image viewed from a desired viewpoint using the operation button 25 in the product window 21. Usually, this viewpoint direction is made to coincide with the viewpoint direction of the image transferred by the user 11. Next, fitting to the size of the transfer image is performed by an enlargement / reduction operation. Furthermore, by dragging this window on the screen and dropping it on the previous transfer screen, the product image is pasted at the position intended by the user 11. These parameters (rotation, movement, scaling, insertion image coordinates, etc.) It is recorded on the mediator server 20 and adapted to the product image / introduction 13 to be called in the future.

The transfer image and the product image arranged by the user 11 are adjusted by the mediation server 20 based on the analysis result of the user image to adjust the density difference, the color balance, etc. 11 is provided. In the case of the present embodiment, an image is obtained as if a refrigerator were provided in the kitchen of the user 11.

The user 11 can confirm on the computer screen whether or not the merchandise suits his / her environment and suits his / her sensibility by referring to this image.

In the subsequent operations, since the transformation parameters are recorded, the user 11 can obtain a composite screen only by operating the maker / model selection menu. The user 11 can easily select a maker / model he / she wants to purchase that matches the user image 22 by checking the introduction window 23 displayed therewith.

The merchandise data is obtained by using the supplier security data of the manufacturer 12 contracted with the broker 20.
, It is possible to prevent fraudulent impersonation of the maker 12. Such data may be explicitly made as in a public encryption system, or may be made invisible to the user 11 for digital watermarking technology.

When the purchase maker / model is determined, the user 11 transmits an order intention to the intermediary 20 by operating a decision button (not shown). The mediator 20 transmits an order request of the user 11 to the maker 12 and bills the maker 12 for an intermediary fee according to the number of orders.

These series of programs are stored in the mediator server 2
0, or may operate partially on the terminal of the user 11 depending on the communication state.

The order history of the user 11 is recorded in the mediator server 20 together with the order information of the ordered product (manufacturer, size, color, etc.). Is displayed in the upper hierarchy of the homepage, the user 11 has more chances to find a desired product. Also, from the statistics of the history of the plurality of users 11,
Trends can be inferred, and the trendy products change the display priority of this system. Further, these historical statistical data are provided from the intermediary 20 to the manufacturer 12 for a fee, and are used as a reference for making future products and services.

The present system desirably operates with a general-purpose browser such as HTML so that the terminal of the user 11 does not matter. Further, in order to cope with a case where the terminal of the user 11 is a low-resolution display terminal such as an i-mode terminal, the mediation server 20 is provided with a protocol conversion and data conversion means, and is provided to the user terminal for which display is requested. The combined data can be transmitted.

In this example, the data of the maker 12 is
Although the configuration in which the data is stored in the database No. 0 has been described, a method in which the address of the database held by the maker 12 is disclosed on the home page of the mediator may be used if the data format is unified.

In this example, home electric appliances are taken as an example. However, the present invention can be applied to most electronic business transaction simulations such as a surrounding environment image and a planned building image, a layout simulation of a house and a car, a store, an interior, and an office. It is also suitable for selling products in which the user 11 arbitrarily selects a plurality of options. [Embodiment 2] FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of moving image processing in a second embodiment of the present invention. 4, first, in the process of step S20, the user 11 transmits a user environment image to the mediator server 20. Step S21
In the process (1), the model of the product is selected. Next, step S
In the process of 22, a model moving image is read from the image DB 16 and displayed. In the process of step S23, the image image is enlarged / reduced, the viewpoint is determined, and the combination position is specified. In the process in step S24, a composite image is created (including fine adjustment). In the process of step S25, it is determined whether or not the displayed image meets the needs of the user 11 and the ordering process has been performed. If the order has been placed, the order processing is performed. If the order has not been placed, the process of step S21 is repeated. Next, a specific example of the moving image processing will be described.

FIG. 5 shows a display screen according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the moving image processing, the maker 11 shown in FIG. The mediator 20 divides this moving image data by manufacturer,
It is stored together with the authentication data so that it can be accessed for each product, and is disclosed to the user 11 on its homepage. When the user 11 selects the product video data as in the first embodiment,
As shown in FIG. 5, a moving image playback window opens together with the user image 31 transferred from the user 11. The user 11 reproduces the moving image data, displays the desired product window 30, enlarges / reduces the size with the operation buttons 34 to match the size of the transfer image, and then drags it from this window to the transfer image window to obtain a desired image. Drop in position. Then, these two data are stored in the mediator server 20.
, The density difference, the color balance, etc. are automatically fine-tuned and then synthesized, and displayed to the user 11. User 11
When the purchase is determined by the introduction window 32 of the composite image and the product linked to the composite image, the contract is established when the order is received from the manufacturer 12 through the intermediary server 20 as described above by pressing the determination button. .

Although the present embodiment shows a moving image, the data to be registered may be a 3D image of a moving image.
The operation is the same as that described above. [Embodiment 3] FIG. 6 shows a network configuration diagram in the third and fourth embodiments of the present invention. The operation of the user 11 and the service provided by the intermediary 20 are the same as those of the embodiment, but the method of approval is different.

As described above, when the user 11 determines the purchase target, the order request 40 is sent directly to the manufacturer without the intermediary 20.
Put out. Accordingly, it is possible to cope with a transaction that is not an electronic commerce without the intermediary 20 intervening in the commodity transaction. in this case,
The intermediary described above records the number of times the user takes out the product data of the manufacturer, and charges the manufacturer 12 to which the user has access a fee according to the number of times. [Embodiment 4] In FIG. 6, up to the point where the user 11 transfers an image to the intermediary server 20 and selects a product, the operation is the same as that of the above-described embodiment, but the user 11 further moves between arbitrary points in the transferred image. The data representing the actual dimensions of is also transmitted together with the image. The mediator server 20 determines the enlargement / reduction ratio of the product image based on these data and the actual data attached to the data from the supplier 12. Thereafter, the user 11 determines the adjustment of the viewpoint (Example 1) and the extraction of the desired frame (Example 2), and based on the determined data, the mediator 20 performs the above-described image synthesis, and outputs the result to the user 1
1 is displayed.

FIG. 7 is a diagram relating to actual dimension data transferred together with an image according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. User 1
The actual dimension data transmitted by the camera 1 together with the image is, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, when the camera and the object are sufficiently separated and the width of the imaging position element is sufficiently smaller than the distance to the subject. W can be substituted by the angle of view (zoom magnification) and the distance to the object (subject distance) when the user captures the image, and the relationship between the actual shooting width W and the screen width w, the actual dimension L, and the in-screen dimension p. Can be calculated by L = (W / w) p (1). When the angle θ of the camera with respect to the subject is known as shown in FIG. 7, W = 2Ltan (θ
/ 2)... (2).

If an image photographing apparatus capable of recording such data linked to an image is used, a simpler operation becomes possible. In this case, the angle of view may use the lens extension position, and the subject distance may use the output of a distance measuring unit such as AF, or may additionally include a measuring unit.

FIG. 8 is a main configuration diagram of the mediator server according to the first to fourth embodiments of the present invention. 8, the mediator server 20 includes a receiving unit 40, a combining unit 41, an image D
B16 and providing means 42. Receiving means 4
0 receives the environment image 14 from the user 11 and the product image / introduction image 13 from the maker 12,
The environment image 14 and the product image / introduction image 13 are supplied to the synthesizing means 41. Also, the receiving means 4
0 is the image data of the product data received from the maker 12
Store it in B16. The synthesizing unit 41 stores the image DB 16
, And combines the environmental image 14 with the product image / introduction image 13 and supplies the synthesized image to the providing means 42. The providing unit 42 provides the combined data from the combining unit 41 to the user 11. in this way,
The mediator server combines the environmental image from the consumer with the product image / introduction image from the product supplier and supplies it to the consumer, so that the consumer obtains a more realistic image at the time of product introduction. be able to.

[0038]

According to the mediation method, mediation device and data providing method of the present invention, it is possible to prevent troubles occurring after trading of a preferred product or purchasing a product, and to improve customer convenience.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a network configuration according to first and second embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an electronic commerce process according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a display screen according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a moving image process according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a display screen according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a network configuration diagram in the third and fourth embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram relating to actual dimension data transmitted together with an image according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a main configuration diagram of an intermediary server according to the first to fourth embodiments of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Internet 11 User 12 Manufacturer 13 Product Image / Introduction 14 Environmental Image 15 Synthetic Image 20 Intermediary Server 40 Receiving Means 41 Synthetic Means 42 Providing Means

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A computer system, comprising: a merchandise supplier supplying goods, a consumer purchasing the goods from the goods supplier, and an intermediary mediating between the goods supplier and the consumer via a computer network. An intermediary method in which the intermediary in the performed electronic commerce mediates supply and purchase of a product, a receiving procedure of receiving product image data on the product from the product supplier and environmental image data of the consumer from the consumer. And an image synthesizing step of synthesizing the environmental image data and the product image data, wherein the consumer can select a product using the synthesized image. 2. The intermediation method according to claim 1, wherein: a management procedure for managing image data of at least two or more of the commodity suppliers; a counting procedure for counting the number of accesses by the consumer; and the counting procedure. And a billing procedure for billing each merchandise supplier based on the number of times of counting. 3. The display method according to claim 1, wherein the order information is provided to the consumer based on history information ordered by the consumer or statistics of the history information. And a distribution step of distributing the composite image to the consumer based on the display order. 4. The intermediation method according to claim 1, further comprising an adding step of adding supplier security data to the product image data. 5. A computer system, comprising: a merchandise supplier supplying goods, a consumer purchasing the goods from the goods supplier, and an intermediary mediating between the goods supplier and the consumer via a computer network. In a data providing method in which the commodity supplier provides data to the intermediary in an electronic commerce to be performed, the merchandise image data to which data representing an introduction of a commodity provided by the commodity supplier is added, wherein the intermediary Providing data used for distribution to the consumer by being combined with the environmental image data from the consumer. 6. A computer supplier, via a computer network, a merchandise supplier supplying goods, a consumer purchasing the goods from the goods supplier, and an intermediary intermediating the goods supplier and the consumer. A data providing method in which the consumer provides data to the intermediary in an e-commerce to be performed, wherein the environmental image data of the consumer provided by the consumer is provided by the intermediary from the commodity supplier. A data providing method for providing data used for distribution to the consumer by being combined with the product image data. 7. A computer system, comprising: a commodity supplier supplying goods, a consumer purchasing the goods from the commodity supplier, and an intermediary intermediating the commodity supplier and the consumer. In an intermediary device for electronic commerce to be performed, receiving means for receiving product image data on the product from the product supplier and environmental image data of the consumer from the consumer; and the product image data received by the receiving device Data combining means for storing the commodity image data from the receiving means, the environmental image data, and the commodity image data from the data storage means, and combining from the image combining means. Providing means for providing image data to the consumer. Intermediary device.