JP2007264747A - Merchandise transaction system and merchandise retrieval method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To sufficiently meet the demand even when merchandise purchase is demanded in an ordinary language expressing the characteristics of merchandise. <P>SOLUTION: This server 3 is provided with a merchandise retrieval dictionary DB 9 in which the specification information of merchandise in each category of merchandise for a plurality of categories are associated with ordinary language expressing the characteristics of merchandise and a merchandise DB 8 in which the merchandise for a plurality of categories is stored with the specification information. When receiving the category of merchandise and the ordinary language expressing the characteristics of the merchandise from an arbitrary terminal 1, a merchandise retrieval dictionary corresponding to the category is selected from the merchandise retrieval dictionary DB 9, and the specification information corresponding to the received ordinary language is retrieved from the selected merchandise retrieval dictionary, and the merchandise pertinent to the received category and the retrieved specification information is retrieved from the merchandise DB 8, and the retrieved merchandise and its information are transmitted to the terminal 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a merchandise transaction system and a merchandise search method, and in particular, a merchandise transaction system and a server apparatus configured by a client device that transmits a purchase request for a product via a network and a server device that sells the product in response to the purchase request. It is related with the goods search method in.

There has been proposed a product search and sales system that enables a product purchaser to transmit purchase conditions of a product to be purchased using a telephone. According to this proposal, the purchaser of the product conveys the purchase conditions such as the provider, the price, and the delivery date of the desired purchase product using a telephone. On the computer provided in the center, the voice recognition unit recognizes the content inputted by voice, the search condition extraction unit extracts the product search condition from the voice recognition result, and the product search unit extracts Search the product database for the product that best matches the product search criteria, detect the product, send the product information to the product buyer, and allow the product purchaser to purchase the product. ing. (See Patent Document 1)
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-197091

However, in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, it is still an established technical level to fully recognize the voice of the purchase conditions such as the provider, the price, the delivery date, etc., which have been communicated over the phone by any purchaser of young and old. Has not reached. Further, the purchase condition is such as “100 sets of 32 megabytes of M company's memory with a delivery date of August 31” as described in paragraph number “0026” of the embodiment of the invention in Patent Document 1. It is not limited to limited information such as product specification information and date. Rather, it is often explained in daily life words that represent the characteristics of the product, as if talking to a store clerk at an actual store. In other words, “Product XX” performance conditions such as “Small XX”, “Quiet XX”, “Clean XX”, “Simple XX”, etc. ... "," I have poor eyesight ... "," I want to put it in a room with 4 tatami mats ... ", etc. In general, the conditions regarding the purpose of use are specified as desired requirements, such as “I want to bring it to the computer” or “I want to use it by connecting to a personal computer”. In this way, it is very difficult to perform speech recognition for extremely ambiguous desired requirements. On the other hand, there are very few buyers who can specify product specification information as purchase conditions as a whole, and it is extremely rare to use product specification information as purchase conditions in a system that purchases products via a network. is there.
An object of the present invention is to solve such a conventional problem, and even when a purchase of a product is requested in a daily life language that represents a feature of the product, the request can be sufficiently met. Is to do so.

  The merchandise transaction system according to claim 1, wherein the server apparatus (corresponding to the server 3 in FIG. 1 in the embodiment) transmits a merchandise purchase request via the network and responds to the purchase request. A merchandise transaction system configured by a server device that sells the merchandise, the server device having a plurality of search databases corresponding to a plurality of categories representing the type of the merchandise, and for each search database corresponding to each category First storage means (corresponding to the product search dictionary DB 9 in FIG. 1 in the embodiment) for storing the specification information of the product in the category and the daily life words representing the product characteristics; Second storage means for storing product groups of a plurality of categories in association with identification information and specification information of each product (in the embodiment, the product DB 8 in FIG. 1) The daily life words representing the product category and product characteristics from the arbitrary client device (corresponding to the terminal 1 in FIG. 1 in the embodiment). The search database corresponding to the category is selected from the first storage means, the specification information corresponding to the received life word is searched from the selected search database, and received. Search means for searching for the identification information of the product corresponding to the category and the searched specification information from the second storage means, and transmitting the identification information of the searched product to the client device (in the embodiment, in FIG. This corresponds to the product search unit 6).

  In the commodity transaction system according to claim 1, as described in claim 2, the retrieval unit corresponds to a candidate commodity corresponding to the received category and the retrieved specification information (in the embodiment, corresponds to a list of commodity data). ) Identification information is retrieved from the second storage means, specification information common to the retrieved candidate product identification information is transmitted to the client device, and an instruction to identify the product is received from the client device. Is configured to search the identification information of the identified product from the second storage means, and transmit the identified product identification information to the client device together with the specification information unique to the product. Good.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for searching for a product according to the purchase request to a client device (in the embodiment, corresponding to the terminal 1 in FIG. 1) that transmits a purchase request for the product via a network. Is a product search method in a server device that sells products (corresponding to the server 3 in FIG. 1 in the embodiment), which is a daily life language that represents product categories and product features from any client device (embodiment) In this case, there are a plurality of search databases corresponding to a plurality of categories representing the types of products, and each search database corresponding to each category First storage means for storing product specification information and daily life words representing product characteristics in association with each other (in the embodiment, product search in FIG. 1) The product search database corresponding to the category of the product received in step A, and the received life language from the product search database selected in step B. Step C for retrieving the corresponding specification information, and second storage means for storing the product groups of a plurality of categories in association with the identification information of each product and the specification information (in the embodiment, in the product DB 8 in FIG. 1) Step D for searching for product identification information corresponding to the specification information searched in Step C, and Step E for sending the product identification information searched in Step D to the client device. , Is configured to execute.
In addition, step A thru | or step E are equivalent to the process of the goods search part 6 of the server 3 of FIG. 1 in embodiment.

  In the product search method according to claim 3, as described in claim 4, step D corresponds to a candidate product corresponding to the specification information searched in step C (in the embodiment, a list of product data). When the specification information common to the retrieved candidate product identification information is transmitted to the client device in step E and then an instruction for identifying the product is received from the client device in step A. Configuration for searching the identification information of the specified product from the second storage means and transmitting the identification information of the searched product to the client device in step E together with the specification information unique to the product It may be.

  According to the merchandise transaction system and the merchandise search method of the present invention, even when a merchandise purchase is requested in a daily life language representing the characteristics of the merchandise, an effect that the request can be sufficiently satisfied can be obtained.

Hereinafter, embodiments of a commodity transaction system and a commodity search method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a commodity transaction system according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, a plurality of terminals 1 are devices used by a client who is a product purchaser, and are constituted by personal computers, for example. The terminal 1 can be connected to the network 2. The network 2 is a communication line constructed by an ADSL using a telephone line, an optical fiber line provided by an Internet connection company, a cable line set top box provided by a cable TV company, and the like. The server 3 is always connected to the network 2, receives purchase conditions for the product from an arbitrary terminal 1, and sells products that meet the purchase conditions. As shown in FIG. 1, the server 3 includes an authentication unit 4, a settlement unit 5, a product search unit 6, a personal DB (database) 7, a product DB 8, and a product search dictionary DB 9.

  The authentication unit 4 authenticates whether the user of the terminal 1 that has accessed the server 3 is a client registered in the personal DB 7. The settlement unit 5 searches the account number of the client's financial institution registered in the personal DB 7 when a product sales contract is established with the client's terminal 1, and processes billing, point granting, etc. To do. The product search unit 6 searches the product search dictionary DB 9 and the product DB 8 for products that meet the purchase conditions based on the product purchase conditions transmitted from the client terminal 1. Details of the product search method will be described later.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the product search dictionary DB 9. As shown in FIG. 2, the product search dictionary DB 9 is prepared for each category of products in a plurality of categories. The product search dictionary for each category stores the daily life words representing the characteristics of the product of the category and the specification information (spec, threshold) of the product in association with each other. For example, in the search dictionary of “digital camera” shown in FIG. 2, the characteristics of performance and purpose of use such as “small”, “large screen”, “beautiful”, “useful for sports day”, “useful for travel”, etc. Corresponding to the daily life language to be expressed, specification information such as “a numerical value of shape”, “a numerical value indicating the performance of a mounted component”, “a numerical value of a use condition and a threshold value” is stored. Similarly, in the product search dictionaries of other categories of products “refrigerator”, “vacuum cleaner”, “DVD recorder”, “thin large screen TV”, and other categories of products, the characteristics of the products of each category A daily life word representing the value of the specification information of the product is stored correspondingly.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the product DB 8. As shown in FIG. The product DB 8 stores detailed specification information of each product in a plurality of categories. For example, in the case of the digital camera shown in FIG. 3, a product image, a product name, a manufacturer, a product description, a specification, a price, a grant point, inventory information, and the like are stored.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the terminal 1 of FIG. The CPU 11 is connected via a system bus 12 to a program ROM 13, work RAM 14, display unit 15, user interface 16 including a keyboard, a pointing device, a touch sensor, and a communication unit 17. The terminal 1 is entirely controlled while exchanging commands.

Next, the operation of the product search method and other processes executed by the product transaction system of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the flow charts of the product transaction sequence shown in FIGS.
In FIG. 5, the client terminal 1 registered in the personal DB 7 of the server 3 establishes communication with the server 3 by the communication unit 17 after predetermined initialization (step SA1) (step SA2). Next, the shopping site is accessed with respect to the server 3 (step SA3). In response to the access to the shopping site from the terminal 1, the server 3 sends an authentication screen to the terminal 1 (step SB1). The terminal 1 displays the authentication screen received via the communication unit 17 on the display unit 15 (step SA4). On the displayed authentication screen, an area for inputting authentication data such as a client ID and password assigned when registering in the personal DB 7 of the server 3 is displayed.

  When the authentication data is input from the user interface 16 (step SA5), the terminal 1 sends the authentication data to the server 3 (step SA6). Upon receiving the authentication data from the terminal 1, the server 3 searches the personal DB 7 and authenticates that it is a registered client (step SB2). Then, the search screen is sent to the terminal 1 (step SB3). The terminal 1 displays the search screen received from the server 3 on the display unit 15 (step SA7). On the displayed search screen, a message for inputting a category of a product desired to be purchased and daily life words representing the characteristics of the product, or a numerical value of specific product specification information is displayed. The product category may be displayed in a list on the search screen so that it can be selected.

  When the product category is input from the user interface 16 (step SA8) and the terminal 1 receives a desired requirement such as a life word indicating the characteristics of the product or a numerical value of specific product specification information (step SA9). ), And sends the product category and desired requirements to the server 3 (step SA10). For example, conditions related to product performance such as “small shape”, “quiet sound”, “beautiful screen”, “easy operation”, “I use it by my grandma in her 70s…” It ’s bad… ”,“ I'd like to put it in a room with 4 tatami mats… ”, conditions regarding users and places of use,“ I want to use it for children ’s athletic meet ”,“ I want to take it to travel ”, When a desired requirement regarding the purpose of use is input, such as “I want to connect to a personal computer”, the desired requirement is sent to the server 3. Upon receiving the product category and desired requirements, the server 3 selects the product search dictionary DB 9 based on the product category (step SB4). For example, when the product category is “digital camera”, the product search dictionary of the product category “digital camera” shown in FIG. 2 is selected.

  The server 3 obtains a “spec threshold (specification range)” corresponding to the “desired requirement” from the selected product search dictionary (FIG. 6, step SB5). That is, a dictionary word (spec, threshold) corresponding to the heading (desired requirement) in FIG. 2 is obtained. Next, the product data corresponding to the “product category” is narrowed down by the product DB 8 (step SB6), and only the product data corresponding to the “spec threshold” is selected from the narrowed product data (step SB7). Next, a list screen of product names is created based on the selected product data (step SB8). Then, the created product name list screen is sent to the terminal 1 (step SB9).

  The terminal 1 displays the product name list screen received from the server 3 on the display unit 15 (step SA11). When the product name is selected by the user interface 16 (step SA12), the product name is sent to the server 3 (FIG. 7, step SA13). The server 3 searches the product DB 8 based on the product name received from the terminal 1 (step SB10). And the display screen of the searched merchandise data is produced | generated (step SB11). For example, the product data display screen shown in FIG. 3 is generated. Then, the created product data display screen is sent to the terminal 1 (step SB12).

  The terminal 1 displays the display screen of the product data received from the server 3 on the display unit 15 (Step SA14). On the displayed product data screen, detailed specifications and threshold values that are individual information of the product are displayed. The terminal 1 sends a purchase request to the server 3 when the user interface 16 instructs the purchase of the product (step SA15). Upon receiving the purchase request from the terminal 1, the server 3 creates a purchase screen (step SB13) and sends the created purchase screen to the terminal 1 (step SB14). The terminal 1 displays the purchase screen received from the server 3 on the display unit 15 (step SA16).

  On the displayed purchase screen, a product name, price, and delivery date are displayed, and a message prompting input of purchase data such as lump sum payment or installment payment is displayed. When the purchase data is input through the user interface 16 (step SA17), the terminal 1 sends the data to the server 3 (step SA18). The settlement unit 5 of the server 3 performs billing settlement based on the received purchase data and the account number registered in the personal DB 7 (step SB15).

As described above, according to this embodiment, the server 3 corresponds to each category of products in a plurality of categories, and associates product specification information in each category with daily life words representing product features. A product search dictionary DB 9 and a product DB 8 for storing products of a plurality of categories together with specification information, and when receiving daily life words representing product categories and product characteristics from any terminal 1, A product search dictionary corresponding to the category is selected from the product search dictionary DB 9, and specification information corresponding to the received life word is searched from the selected product search dictionary, and the received category and the searched specification information are displayed. The corresponding product is searched from the product DB 8 and the searched product and its information are transmitted to the terminal 1.
Therefore, even when a purchase of a product is requested in a daily life language representing the characteristics of the product, the request can be sufficiently met.

Further, according to this embodiment, the server 3 narrows down the products corresponding to the received category and the searched specification information, searches the product DB 8 for information common to product data lists, that is, candidate products, When the list of the searched product data is transmitted to the terminal 1 and an instruction for specifying the product is received from the terminal 1, the product data display screen of the specified product is transmitted to the terminal 1.
Accordingly, when a purchase of a product is requested, a plurality of products corresponding to the request can be presented to expand the options for the product, and the convenience of the purchaser can be achieved.

The figure which shows the structure of the goods transaction system of this invention. The figure which shows the structure of goods search dictionary DB in the server of FIG. The figure which shows the structure of goods DB in the server of FIG. The block diagram which shows the internal structure of the terminal of FIG. The flowchart which shows the sequence of the merchandise transaction between the terminal of FIG. 1, and a server. The flowchart which shows the sequence of the commodity transaction following FIG. The flowchart which shows the sequence of the commodity transaction following FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Terminal 2 Network 3 Server 4 Authentication Unit 5 Settlement Unit 6 Product Search Unit 7 Personal DB
8 Product DB
9 Product Search Dictionary DB

Claims (4)

A product transaction system including a client device that transmits a purchase request for a product via a network and a server device that sells the product in response to the purchase request,
The server device
It has multiple search databases corresponding to multiple categories that represent the type of product, and for each search database corresponding to each category, it corresponds to the product specification information of that category and the daily life language that represents the product features First storage means for storing and,
Second storage means for storing the product groups of the plurality of categories in association with identification information and specification information of each product;
When a daily life language representing a product category and product characteristics is received from an arbitrary client device, a search database corresponding to the category is selected from the first storage means, and the selected search database The specification information corresponding to the received life word is searched from the inside, and the identification information of the product corresponding to the received category and the searched specification information is searched from the second storage means, and the identification information of the searched product Search means for transmitting to the client device;
A commodity transaction system characterized by comprising:   The search means searches the second storage means for identification information of candidate products corresponding to the received category and searched specification information, and specifies the specification information common to the identification information of the searched candidate products. When transmitting to the client device and receiving an instruction to specify the product from the client device, the identification information of the specified product is searched from the second storage means, and the identification information of the searched product is The product transaction system according to claim 1, wherein the product information is transmitted to the client device together with specification information unique to the product. A product search method in a server device that sells a product according to the purchase request to a client device that transmits a purchase request for the product via a network,
Receiving daily life words representing product categories and product features from any client device; and
It has multiple search databases corresponding to multiple categories that represent the type of product, and for each search database corresponding to each category, it corresponds to the product specification information of that category and the daily life language that represents the product features Step B for selecting a product search database corresponding to the category of the product received in Step A from the first storage means for storing
Step C for searching for specification information corresponding to the received daily life from the product search database selected in Step B;
Search for identification information of products corresponding to the specification information searched in step C from the second storage means for storing the product groups of the plurality of categories in association with the identification information and specification information of each product. Step D to
Transmitting the identification information of the product searched in Step D to the client device;
A method for searching for products, characterized in that   The step D retrieves identification information of candidate products corresponding to the specification information retrieved in the step C, and the specification information common to the retrieved candidate product identification information is transmitted to the client device in the step E. When an instruction for identifying a product is received from the client device after step A, the identification information of the identified product is retrieved from the second storage means, and the retrieved product 4. The product search method according to claim 3, wherein the identification information is transmitted to the client device along with the specification information unique to the product in the step E. 5.

Images