JP2006107156A - Live net shopping system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a live net shopping system suitable for sales for particularly, an expensive article, a one-of-a kind article, used article, and the like. <P>SOLUTION: Live data obtained from a microphone 38 and a Web camera 39 connected to a shop terminal 30 is received, through the Internet 20, by a live data receiver means 12. Writing contents from a participant terminal 40 are written on the chat bulletin board of a chat bulletin board section 14. The live data and the latest contents on the chat bulletin board are delivered, through the Internet 20, from a data transmitter means to a plurality of participant terminals 40 and a plurality of viewer terminals 50 under access. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an online shopping system for selling products and services through the Internet, and more particularly to a live online shopping system suitable for selling high-priced products, single-item products, used products, and the like.

  Currently, a large number of virtual shops are opened on the Internet, and the amount and number of online sales are growing rapidly. A person who wants to purchase a product or service accesses the virtual store site from a personal computer or mobile phone terminal, selects the desired product from the displayed products, and purchases payment, delivery, etc. Purchases are made by following the procedures. However, for high-priced products, single-item products such as artworks, crafts, and pets, and used products such as used cars, the net sales amount has been sluggish. One of the reasons is that as a result of the increase in the number of merchants registered in the virtual shopping mall and the number of products, there are more choices for those looking for products, but most of the same products from similar stores are the most suitable for their wishes. The task of selecting matching products is complicated and troublesome. On the other hand, the products sold on the Internet are at best introduced by a few photos or short videos or brief descriptions, and those who wish to purchase will choose to choose. There is a fact that we cannot be sure that the products we have have the quality we want. For example, if you are in a real shop, you can see and touch the product directly, and by interacting with the store clerk, you can find a product that meets your needs. However, only one-dimensional two-dimensional visual information from a seller to a buyer in a conventional virtual store and a simple explanation could not be confidently purchased particularly expensive products and used products. For example, it was possible to make inquiries by e-mail about the contents to be known, but it took time and could not be explained accurately.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-227260 discloses a configuration in which data of an instruction manual for a product on a shopping site and data in a Flash animation format are distributed by operation of a terminal and displayed on a display of a user terminal. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-53377 discloses a configuration that guides a device setup procedure using a still image, a moving image, audio, or the like.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-227260 JP 11-53377 A

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide information on products sold on the Internet in real time and in a question-and-answer manner, and thus to provide a shopping system particularly suitable for expensive products.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention receives live data including digital image data obtained by an imaging means connected to a shop terminal from the shop terminal placed in a store for goods or services through the Internet. The data receiving means, the shop terminal and a plurality of participant terminals receive the character information to be written on the bulletin board, and the bulletin board means on which the characters are written and the latest contents of the live data and the bulletin board means are transmitted to the shop terminal via the Internet. The live net shopping system includes a plurality of participant terminals and data transmitting means for transmitting to a plurality of accessing viewer terminals.

  According to the live net shopping system of the present invention, an actual product is imaged by an imaging means such as a CCD camera at the shop side, and the obtained digital image data is received as live data from the shop terminal by the data receiving means through the Internet. Is done. The live data received by the data receiving means is transmitted to a plurality of participant terminals and a plurality of viewer terminals being accessed. Participants ask questions about the characteristics and performance of the product while referring to the product image displayed on the display of the participant's terminal, measure the size and weight of the product, operate the product, and image the interior of the product. Or a request to close up a part can be written on the bulletin board means, and the shop side can immediately respond to the written question or request. A participant who operates the participant terminal and a viewer who operates a plurality of accessed viewer terminals can determine whether or not to purchase the product while referring to the contents of the images and the bulletin board. The live data may include pre-recorded product descriptions and audio data such as BGM.

  Here, the participant terminal is a terminal that is allowed to write on the bulletin board means, and the viewer terminal is a terminal that can only see images and the bulletin board. Participant terminals are limited in advance by, for example, a membership system or a reservation system.

  Microphone means is connected to the shop terminal, and the live data may include digital audio data collected by the microphone means. Thus, for example, participants and viewers can hear the sound produced by the product, and the shop clerk explains the product being imaged through the hand microphone by voice, or the shop clerk wears a headset. The question or request written on the bulletin board can be read out by another store clerk who operates the shop terminal so that it can respond immediately.

  Further, when character information to be written on the bulletin board is received from the participant terminal, the character information is transmitted only to the shop terminal by the bulletin board means so that it can be determined whether to write on the bulletin board by operation of the shop terminal. May be. This is to eliminate in advance writing that is not related to the description of the product or inappropriate writing. Briefly, all the writings from the participants are sent and displayed on the shop terminal from the bulletin board means, and unnecessary writing is deleted at the shop terminal and then returned to the bulletin board means. The bulletin board means is returned from the shop terminal. The bulletin board with the contents is output to the data transmission means and displayed on the participant terminal and the viewer terminal.

  The data transmission means preferably displays at least the live data and the content of the bulletin board in the divided frames on the browser screen of each terminal. Thereby, a participant and a viewer can see live data and a bulletin board simultaneously.

  It further includes a purchase procedure guide means for transmitting a purchase page for displaying contents for guiding a procedure for purchasing a product or service to a participant terminal and a viewer terminal, and a link to the purchase page is provided on the browser screen of each terminal. It may be included. Participants and viewers can refer to live data and the latest contents of the bulletin board, open a link to a purchase page when they decide to purchase a product, and immediately perform a purchase procedure.

  It is obvious that such a live shopping system can be configured by a server connected to the Internet. A single server may be used, or a plurality of servers connected via a LAN or the Internet may be used. The shop terminal, participant terminal, and viewer terminal are typically computers that can be connected to the Internet. The shop terminal may be a plurality of computers connected to each other via a LAN. The participant terminal needs to be able to write on the bulletin board, and the viewer terminal may be a mobile phone or an Internet TV as long as it can receive data through the Internet, but it can develop browsers, video playback software and audio playback software A personal computer is most preferred. The digital image data is preferably a moving image that is streamed, but continuous still images are transmitted according to the operation from each terminal or the judgment of the data transmission means according to the traffic on the transmission path to each terminal, the transmission rate, etc. There is also.

  As described above, according to the live shopping system according to the present invention, a person who intends to purchase a product can request the shop side for information necessary for determining whether or not to purchase, and can immediately obtain the information. It is possible to accurately determine whether or not to purchase the product, and as a result, it is possible to promote the sales of the product.

  Hereinafter, the best mode of a live shopping system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The following description is for the purpose of understanding the invention more deeply and is not intended to limit the scope of the claims.

  FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram showing the main configuration of the best mode of the live shopping system according to the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, the live shopping system 10 includes a live data receiving unit 12, a chat bulletin board unit 14, a data transmitting unit 16, and a purchase procedure guide unit 18. Specifically, the live shopping system includes a group of servers connected to each other via a LAN. Each unit is connected to the Internet 20. The live data receiving unit 12 receives live data transmitted from the shop terminal 30 and outputs it to the data transmitting unit 16. The chat bulletin board unit 14 receives the text data transmitted from the participant terminal 40 and transmits it to the shop terminal 30, accumulates the text data transmitted from the shop terminal 30, and displays the updated contents of the chat bulletin board. The data is output to the data transmitter 16. The data transmitting unit 16 distributes the live data input from the live data receiving unit 12 and the latest chat bulletin board content input from the chat bulletin board unit 14 to the participant terminal 40 and the viewer terminal 50. The purchase procedure guide unit 18 transmits a page for guiding a procedure for purchasing a product to each of the terminals 40 and 50.

  The plurality of participant terminals 40 and the plurality of viewer terminals 50 are typically personal computers, and are installed with software capable of reproducing live video data and digital audio data, and are connected with hardware. ing. The participant terminal 40 is installed with kana-kanji conversion software developed for writing characters on the chat bulletin board displayed on the browser screen. The viewer terminal 50 may be a mobile terminal or an Internet TV as long as it can reproduce at least a moving image of live data and see a chat bulletin board. The number of participant terminals 40 is determined in consideration of the load on the system and the transmission path, and is about 5 to 9, for example. In the present embodiment, the number of participant terminals 40 is determined by (10-number of Web cameras). For the same reason, the number of viewer terminals 50 is 100.

  Connected to the shop terminal 30 are a keyboard 32, a CRT 34, a microphone 36, a headset speaker 37 and a microphone 38, and a Web camera 39. The shop clerk who explains the product imaged by the Web camera 39 wears a headset, and the sound picked up from the microphone 38 is converted into digital audio data at the shop terminal 30, and the Web camera 30 captures the image at the shop terminal 30. It is processed together with the digitized digital image data, and live data suitable for streaming distribution is generated and transmitted to the live data receiving unit 12. Another shop clerk sits in front of the shop terminal 30 and reads out the contents written on the chat bulletin board provided by the chat bulletin board unit 14 to the shop clerk who is explaining from the speaker 37 of the headset through the microphone 36. The chat bulletin board is adjusted by, for example, writing a summary of the explained contents by operating the keyboard 32 and checking the written contents by the participant terminal 40 sent from the chat bulletin board unit 14. In the present embodiment, five web cameras 39 are connected to the shop terminal 30. Therefore, the number of participant terminals 40 is 10−5 = 5.

  Next, the operation of the live shopping system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  Participants are recruited before the actual live shopping begins. Participants are recruited through a recruitment site established by the live shopping system. A link to the recruitment site is set up on the site of the shop that holds live shopping. The recruitment site contains a live shop schedule that shows the date and time of live shopping similar to the TV program schedule, and clicks on the live shopping you want to join, and enter your ID and password to make a reservation procedure. Is completed. The reserved participant can open a corresponding chat bulletin board provided by the chat bulletin board unit 14 before live shopping is started and write questions and requests in advance. Pre-questions and requests are posted on the chat bulletin board from the beginning, and the shop can also write answers.

  When live shopping is started, the participant operates the participant terminal 40 to open a browser and inputs a URL to display the live shopping page for the participant in FIG. The live shopping page for participants is divided into a plurality of frames, one large camera window representing the product 1 being explained, four small camera windows representing the products 2 to 5 to be introduced later, a chat bulletin board window, A message window for writing messages to the chat bulletin board is displayed. In addition, a link button to the product purchase page, a logout button, and a comment button for sending a writing are arranged. The viewer's live shopping page of FIG. 3 can be opened without prior reservation, but cannot speak to the chat bulletin board from here. However, live data and chat bulletin board contents can be viewed, and products can be purchased.

  On the shop side, five Web cameras 39 respectively capture the products 1 to 5, and the obtained image data is converted into live data in the shop terminal 30 along with audio data collected from the microphone 38 of the headset. Processed. Of the five web cameras, the web camera that captures the product 1 captures a moving image, and the web camera that captures the products 2 to 5 captures a still image. Switching between moving images and still images of the Web camera is performed by operating the shop terminal 30.

  The explanation clerk who is a shop clerk wearing the headset explains the product 1 (refrigerator) introduced first. A camera clerk who is a shop clerk who operates the Web camera takes an image of the product 1 with the Web camera 39, and the explanation clerk says, “Product 1 is a compact size refrigerator, made by OO. In this type of refrigerator, "A new feature called XX has been added." The collected contents are collected by the microphone 38 and output as a part of the live data from an audio output device such as a speaker or headphones connected to the participant terminal 40 and the viewer terminal 50. The live data is also output from the CRT 34 and the speaker (not shown) of the shop terminal 30, and the operation staff who is the shop clerk operating the shop terminal 30 listens to the explanation of the explanation staff, summarizes it, and displays it on the chat bulletin board. Write: “It is a compact size refrigerator. This type of ○○ has a new function ○○.” The content written from the shop terminal 30 is immediately distributed to each participant terminal 40 and the viewer terminal 50. Although the explanation clerk, camera clerk, and operation clerk are each a shop clerk, it goes without saying that they may be specialized companions, cameramen, and operators, respectively.

  The live data and the written content are received by the live data receiving unit 12 and the chat bulletin board unit 14 through the Internet 20 and distributed from the data transmitting unit 16 to each participant terminal 40 and the viewer terminal 50.

  One participant who saw this (Guest 1) wanted to know if product 1 would fit in the space where he wanted to put the refrigerator, and the message window in Fig. 2 says "What is the depth and width?" Write and press the speak button. The text data is transmitted to the chat bulletin board 14 through the Internet 20, but is not immediately posted on the chat bulletin board 14, but is once transmitted to the shop terminal 30 from the chat bulletin board unit 14 that has received the text data. Check. The operator determines that there is no problem with the contents of the writing, and operates so as to post it on the chat bulletin board as it is. The operator can delete contents that are not related to the product 1 or inappropriate contents, and can correct typographical errors and grammatical errors. The content transmitted from the shop terminal 30 is added to the end of the chat bulletin board and updated, and is distributed to each participant terminal 40 and the viewer terminal 50.

The operation staff posts the remarks of the guest 1 on the chat bulletin board, reads out the contents of the question, and transmits them to the explanation staff through the microphone 36 and the speaker 37. The explanation clerk who heard this looks at the product specifications and actually puts the measure on the product, and explains, “The depth is 55 cm and the width is 70 cm.” The operation staff writes on the chat bulletin board as it is and distributes it to each participant terminal 40 and the viewer terminal 50. As a result of the above procedure, the screens as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 are displayed. When the description of the product 1 is completed, the Web camera is switched, and the description of the products 2 to 5 is performed in the same procedure.

  When the live shopping progresses in the above procedure and the participant or the viewer who decides to purchase the product operates the mouse and clicks the product purchase button in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3, the purchase procedure guide unit 18 provides The purchase page shown in FIG. 4 opens. The purchase page includes a small image of each product, a product information button for each product, a button for transferring the product to the shopping cart, a window for informing the contents of the shopping cart, and a product purchase button. Clicking on the product information button will open a page with detailed information and prices for each product. When one or more products are transferred to a shopping cart and a product purchase button is pressed, a page for selecting a payment method, a page for inputting a delivery address, a page for confirming order contents, etc. are opened in order, and the product can be purchased immediately.

  Thus, according to the live shopping system according to the present embodiment, a participant who wants to purchase a product can request the shop side for information necessary to determine whether or not to purchase the product through the chat bulletin board and obtain it immediately. Therefore, it is possible to accurately determine whether or not to purchase a particularly expensive product, and as a result, sales of the product can be promoted.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it goes without saying that modifications can be made as appropriate within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram showing the main configuration of the best mode of the live shopping system according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a browser screen distributed from the live shopping system of FIG. 1 and displayed on the participant terminal. FIG. 3 is a browser screen similar to FIG. 2 displayed on the viewer terminal. FIG. 4 is a browser screen representing a purchase page distributed from the live shopping system of FIG. 1 and displayed on the participant terminal and the viewer terminal.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Live shopping system 12 Live data receiving part 14 Chat bulletin board part 16 Data transmission part 18 Purchase procedure guidance part 20 Internet 30 Shop terminal 38 Microphone 39 Web camera 40 Participant terminal 50 Visitor terminal

Claims (5)

Data receiving means for receiving live data including digital image data obtained by an imaging means connected to the shop terminal from a shop terminal arranged at a store of goods or services, via the Internet;
A bulletin board means for receiving character information to be written on the bulletin board from the shop terminal and the plurality of participant terminals, and writing the characters;
A live net shopping system comprising: data transmission means for transmitting live data and latest contents of bulletin board means to a shop terminal, a plurality of participant terminals, and a plurality of accessing viewer terminals via the Internet. The live net shopping system according to claim 1, wherein a microphone means is connected to the shop terminal, and the live data includes digital audio data collected by the microphone means. When character information to be written on the bulletin board from the participant terminal is received by the bulletin board means, the character information is transmitted only to the shop terminal by the bulletin board means, and it can be determined whether or not to write to the bulletin board by operation of the shop terminal. Item 3. A live net shopping system according to item 1 or 2. 4. The live net shopping system according to claim 1, wherein the data transmitting means displays at least the live data and the contents of the bulletin board in divided frames on the browser screen of each terminal. It further includes a purchase procedure guide means for transmitting a purchase page for displaying contents for guiding a procedure for purchasing a product or service to a participant terminal and a viewer terminal, and a link to the purchase page is provided on the browser screen of each terminal. The live net shopping system according to claim 4 including.

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