JP2004310498A - Auction item information management system, item information server and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an auction item information management system that has high scalability performance even to increases in auction items and auction bidders while preventing a direct transaction between a bidder and a seller. <P>SOLUTION: A basic information database 11 holds basic information as predefined partial information of information on auction items. An item information search part 12 receives an item information search request from a bidder PC, and searches the basic information database 11 for basic item information and searches for detailed item information in a seller PC 3. A basic item information registration part 13 receives a basic item information registration request from a seller PC, and registers basic information in the basic information database 11. A complete item information creation part 14 receives an item information browse request from a bidder PC, and acquires basic information stored in the basic information database 11 and detailed item information stored in a seller PC to combine them both into complete item information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an auction merchandise information management system for a bidder to search and browse information on merchandise exhibited by an exhibitor in an auction system using a network, and more particularly to a merchandise information server used in the merchandise information management system.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In an auction system using a network, a user who wants to sell a product uploads all of the product information to a product information server prepared by an auction company, while a bidder accesses the product information server to perform a search or the like. In this case, the user selects the exhibition information of interest and downloads it from the product information server (for example, see Patent Document 1).
[0003]
Further, a system and a method for searching and collecting auction product information across a plurality of auction sites have been disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 2).
[0004]
On the other hand, as a means for reducing the cost of the centralized database, the content is placed on each user's PC, and the centralized database manages only part of the information on the content and information on the location of the content, and requests the content. 2. Description of the Related Art A hybrid peer-to-peer network system in which a user obtains content by directly communicating with a content-owning user after inquiring the location of the content in a centralized database is known (for example, see P. 33 of Non-Patent Document 1).
[0005]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2001-125990 A [Patent Document 2]
JP 2001-222647 A [Non-Patent Document 1]
Masao Kawauchi, Keiichi Koyanagi, "The New Century of P2P Internet", Telecommunications Association, May 1, 2002, first edition, ISBN 4-88549-019-7
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, in the conventional network auction, all of the exhibitor's exhibition information is uploaded to the merchandise information server installed by the auction operator, and the merchandise information search processing and merchandise information browsing processing requested by the bidder are performed by the merchandise information server. Was done in
[0007]
However, this method requires endlessly increasing the storage capacity of the product information server in response to the increase in the number of auctions, and the frequency of product information search processing and browsing processing increases as the number of bidders increases. It is necessary to increase the processing capacity of the product information server endlessly. As a result, there has been a system in which a very high service cost is required to secure the scalability of the system. Even if a method of searching and collecting merchandise information over a plurality of auction sites is used, it is necessary to reinforce each site, add a new site, and the like, and cannot solve the above problem.
[0008]
As a means for solving these problems, application of the above-mentioned hybrid peer-to-peer network system is considered. However, in this method, contents are exchanged between users, and when applied directly to a network auction, merchandise information is directly transmitted. After the exchange, it is also possible to directly transact goods between the bidder and the seller, so that it is impossible to correctly collect the successful bid commission, which is the income of the auction business.
[0009]
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve such a conventional problem and to prevent a direct transaction between a bidder and an exhibitor, while providing high scalability performance even when the number of auctions and the number of auction bidders are increased. An auction merchandise information management system and a merchandise information server are provided.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, an auction product information management system of the present invention is installed and operated by an auction company, and a product information server for managing auction product information; One or more bidder PCs for retrieving and browsing information and bidding on auction products, and auction sellers registering exhibition product information in a product information server, and are stored in the product information server. And one or more exhibitor PCs storing therein detailed product information that is a part of the exhibited product.
[0011]
The product information server receives a product information search request from the bidder PC, and stores a basic information database that holds product basic information that is a predetermined part of information on exhibited products. A product information search means for searching for product basic information and a search request for product detailed information held by the seller PC, and a product for receiving a product basic information registration request from the seller PC and registering the product basic information in the basic information database A basic information registration unit and a product information browsing request from a bidder PC are received, and basic product information stored in a basic information database and detailed product information stored in an exhibitor PC are acquired. Includes a merchandise overall information creating means for creating overall information.
[0012]
According to the present invention, the auction company's product information server holds and manages only part of the information on the products for sale, and detailed information such as photos is held in the seller's PC. It is possible to reduce the storage capacity required for the product information server. Then, since the product information server collects the information in the exhibitor's PC, combines it with the information possessed by itself, and provides it to the bidder, the bidder cannot recognize the seller and the location of the exhibited product. It can always be under the control of the auction business.
[0013]
Further, in the product information server of the present invention configured as described above, the entire product information created by collecting information in the exhibitor PC in response to the bidder's product information browsing request is temporarily cached, When a product information browsing request for the product is received, the cached information may be returned to the bidder PC.
[0014]
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to speed up the response to the product information browsing request and reduce the load on the exhibitor PC and the traffic on the route to the exhibitor PC for frequently accessed products. is there.
[0015]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0016]
Referring to FIG. 1, the auction product information management system of the present invention is installed and operated by an auction business operator, and a product information server 1 that manages product information of an auction, and an auction bidder stores product information of the product information server 1. A plurality of bidder PCs 2 for searching, browsing, and bidding on auction products, and auction sellers registering exhibition product information in the product information server 1, and are not held in the product information server 1. It is composed of a plurality of exhibitor PCs 3 in which detailed product information (hereinafter abbreviated as detailed information), which is a part of exhibited products, is stored.
[0017]
As shown in FIG. 2, the product information server 1 includes a basic information database 11 that stores basic product information (hereinafter, abbreviated as basic information), which is partial information defined in advance, among information on exhibited products, A product information search unit 12 that receives a product information search request from the exhibitor PC 2 and requests the basic information database 11 to search for basic information and a search for detailed information possessed by the exhibitor PC 3, and to register basic product information from the exhibitor PC 3 The product basic information registration unit 13 which receives the request and registers the basic information in the basic information database 11 and the product information browsing request from the bidder PC 2 and receives the basic information stored in the basic information database 11 and the exhibitor PC 3 It is composed of an overall information creating unit 14 that acquires the stored detailed information and combines them to create overall product information. There.
[0018]
Next, the operation of the commodity basic information registration unit 13 when a commodity basic information registration request is received from the exhibitor PC 3 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Upon receiving a commodity basic information registration request from the exhibitor PC 3 (step 110), the presented basic information and the attributes and access method of the exhibitor PC that has registered the basic information are specified in the commodity basic information database 11. A request is made to store possible seller information (step 120).
[0019]
Next, the operation of the product information search unit 12 when a product information search request from the bidder PC 2 is received will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When a product information search request is received from the bidder PC 2 (step 210), it is checked whether there is any search item that corresponds to the basic information (step 220). A request is made and the search result is held (step 230). Next, it is checked whether or not the search item corresponds to the detailed information (step 240). If there is, a product information search request is transmitted to all the connected exhibitor PCs 3 and the search result is returned. It is held (step 250). Thereafter, the search result of the basic information database 11 is combined with the search result obtained from each exhibitor PC3 to create a final search result (step 260), and the result is returned to the bidder PC2 (step 270). ).
[0020]
Next, the operation of the entire product information creation unit 14 when a product information browsing request is received from the bidder PC will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When a product information browsing request is received from the bidder PC2 (step 310), the basic information of the product and the seller information of the product are obtained from the basic information database 11 (step 320), and then the seller PC3 is detailed. An information acquisition request is made to acquire detailed information (step 330). Then, the basic information acquired from the basic information database 11 and the detailed information acquired from the exhibitor PC3 are combined to create overall product information (step 340), and the overall product information is returned to the bidder PC2 who has requested viewing. (Step 350).
[0021]
FIG. 6 shows another configuration example of the product information server 1. A cache 15 for temporarily storing the entire product information created by the entire product information creating unit 14 is added to the product information server 1 of FIG. Accordingly, a function is added to the product information search unit 12 and the entire product information creation unit 14.
[0022]
The operation of the product information search unit 12 when the product information search request from the bidder PC 2 is received in the product information server 1 of FIG. 6 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When a product information search request is received from the bidder PC2 (step 410), it is checked whether or not the entire product information of the product is stored in the cache 15 (step 420), and when the entire product information of the product is stored. Checks whether the entire product information matches the search condition and holds the search result (step 430). On the other hand, if the entire product information of the product has not been stored in the cache 15, it is checked whether there is any search item that corresponds to the basic information (step 440). A search is requested to the information database 11, and the search result is held (step 450). Next, it is checked whether there is any of the search items corresponding to the detailed information (step 460). If there is, a product information search request is transmitted to all connected exhibitor PCs 3 and the search result is obtained. Is stored (step 470). Thereafter, the search result of the whole product information stored in the cache 15, the search result of the basic information database 11, and the search result obtained from each exhibitor PC are combined to create the whole product information (step 480). Is returned to bidder PC2 (step 490).
[0023]
Next, the operation of the entire product information creating unit 14 when a product information browsing request is received from the bidder PC 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Upon receiving a product information browsing request from bidder PC2 (step 510), it is checked whether the entire product information of the product is stored in cache 15 (step 520), and the product entire information of the product is stored. In this case, the entire product information is acquired from the cache 15 (step 530), and a reply is sent to the bidder PC2 who has requested browsing (step 540). On the other hand, if the entire product information of the product is not stored in the cache 15, the basic information of the product and the seller information of the product are acquired from the basic information database 11 (step 550), and then the seller PC3 A detailed information acquisition request is made to acquire detailed information (step 560), and the basic information acquired from the basic information database 11 and the detailed information acquired from the exhibitor PC 3 are combined to create overall product information ( (Step 570), a reply is sent to the bidder PC2 who requested browsing (Step 580). Thereafter, the created product overall information is stored in the cache 15 (step 590).
[0024]
In addition, the product information server 1 records a program for realizing its function in a computer-readable recording medium other than that realized by dedicated hardware, and stores the program recorded in the recording medium in a computer. It may be loaded into the system and executed. The computer-readable recording medium refers to a recording medium such as a floppy disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, or a storage device such as a hard disk device built in a computer system. Further, the computer-readable recording medium is one that dynamically holds a program for a short time (transmission medium or transmission wave), such as a case where the program is transmitted via the Internet, and serves as a server in that case. It also includes those that hold programs for a certain period of time, such as volatile memory inside a computer system.
[0025]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the auction company's product information server holds and manages only a part of the information on the exhibited product, and the product information server collects the information in the exhibitor PC and Since the bidder cannot recognize the location of the seller and the item for sale by providing the information to the bidder in combination with the information held by the auction company, the connection between the bidder and the seller is always under the control of the auction business. However, there is an effect that it is possible to construct a highly scalable auction system that requires a small amount of space for the product information server of the auction company.
[0026]
Further, according to the invention of claim 3, the merchandise information created by collecting information in the exhibitor's PC in response to the bidder's merchandise information browsing request is temporarily cached, and the merchandise information browsing request relating to the merchandise is issued. By returning the cached information when received, it is possible to speed up the response to product information browsing requests for frequently accessed products, and reduce the load on the exhibitor PC and the traffic on the route to the exhibitor PC. It has the effect of becoming.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an auction product information management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a product information server shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the commodity basic information registration unit shown in FIG. 2 when receiving a commodity basic information registration request from an exhibitor PC.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the commodity basic information search unit shown in FIG. 2 when receiving a commodity information search request from a bidder PC.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of the entire product information creating unit shown in FIG. 2 when receiving a product information browsing request from a bidder PC.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating another configuration of the product information server illustrated in FIG. 1;
7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the product information search unit shown in FIG. 6 when receiving a product information search request from a bidder PC.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation of the entire product information creating unit shown in FIG. 6 when receiving a product information browsing request from a bidder PC.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 product information server 2 bidder PC
3 exhibitor PC
11 Basic Information Database 12 Product Information Retrieval Unit 13 Product Basic Information Registration Unit 14 Product Total Information Creation Unit 15 Caches 110, 120, 210-270, 310-350 Steps 410-490, 510-590 Steps

Claims (4)

A product information server that is installed and operated by an auction business operator and manages auction product information; and one or more for an auction bidder to search and browse auction product information of the product information server and to bid on auction products. Bidder PC and the auction exhibitor register the exhibited product information in the product information server, and internally store the detailed product information, which is a part of the exhibited product, which is not held in the product information server. Having one or more exhibitor PCs,
The product information server receives a product information search request from the bidder PC, and stores a basic information database that holds product basic information that is predetermined partial information of information on exhibited products, A product information search means for performing a search for product basic information and a search request for product detailed information from the exhibitor PC; accepting a product basic information registration request from the seller PC; Commodity basic information registration means for registering information; accepting a commodity information browsing request from the bidder PC; and accepting commodity basic information stored in the basic information database and commodity detailed information stored in the exhibitor PC. Auction product information including product whole information creation means that acquires and combines both to create product whole information Management systems. An item information server used in an auction item information management system for an auction bidder and an auction seller to exchange item information,
A basic information database that holds product basic information, which is partial information defined in advance, among information on exhibited products,
A commodity information search request is received from the bidder PC, and the basic information database is searched for commodity basic information, and the commodity of the exhibitor PC, which is partial information of the commodity for sale, which is not held in the basic information database. A product information search means for requesting a search for detailed information;
Product basic information registration means for receiving a product basic information registration request from the exhibitor PC and registering product basic information in the basic information database;
A commodity information browsing request is received from the bidder PC, and the commodity basic information stored in the basic information database and the commodity detailed information stored in the exhibitor PC are acquired. A product information server having a product total information creating unit to be created. Further comprising a cache, wherein the entire product information creating means stores the created entire product information in the cache, and if there is a product information browsing request for the same product thereafter, The merchandise information server according to claim 2, wherein the merchandise information server returns the entire merchandise information to the bidder PC. A program for realizing the function of the product information server according to claim 2 by a computer.

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