KR20010068954A - Electronic Commerce System Using Digital Information Storage Medium and the Method Thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An electronic commerce system using a digital information storing medium and a method thereof are provided to obtain information of a desired commodity, to order the commodity, and to pay the cost through the Internet by storing necessary commodity information to a digital storing medium as a CD-ROM or a DVD and searching the digital storing medium through off-line. CONSTITUTION: A personal computer(13) having a CD-ROM drive(12) driving a CD-ROM(11) is provided. If a DVD is used as a storing medium, the CD-ROM drive(12) may replace with a DVD drive. The personal computer(13) is connected to a host computer server(14) providing a shopping mall or various kinds contents through the Internet(15). A commodity information data include image information of a commodity and information related to a commodity introduction being provided from a shopping mall or a contents site. An application program includes a basic program for executing a digital information storing medium in an operating system of a personal computer and a search engine for searching the commodity information data. A database managing program creates a commodity classifying file, a client information file, a transaction file which is created when a commodity is stored in a cart and removed when a user stop a purchase process, and an order information file being created in accordance with the transaction file to a storing device of the personal computer(13).

Description

Electronic Commerce System Using Digital Information Storage Medium and the Method Thereof}

The present invention relates to an electronic commerce system and method using a digital information storage medium, and more specifically, to a shopping mall or a content site off-line using a digital information storage medium such as a CD-ROM or DVD. The present invention relates to an electronic commerce system and a method using a digital information storage medium that allows a user to order and purchase a desired product by searching for product information provided in advance and finally accessing the Internet.

Recently, electronic commerce that trades goods in a virtual space using a communication medium is becoming more and more common. Among the various types of electronic commerce, shopping malls using the Internet have attracted much attention as a method of selling products to an unspecified majority. A user who wants to purchase a product in such a shopping mall first selects a desired product by a product classification list or a search engine of the shopping mall. However, most current shopping malls provide only basic information such as a brief description of a product and a picture of a product, due to the difficulty of processing a large amount of data and the limitation of an internet communication line speed. A user who wants to purchase a product wants to search for the desired product and get enough information about the searched product. However, when the information about the desired product is large in data volume such as an image or a video, the time required for receiving the data becomes longer. There was a problem that waste of.

Meanwhile, the Internet content business refers to a business that sells digital data such as video information, lottery tickets, MP3s, and games through the Internet. Content sites are typically in the form of webzine or hypertext markup language (HTML) documents, and in some cases, some directories are built into databases. Content sites can also be said to have a similar technical configuration to a shopping mall, and the problems related to product search and information acquisition on the searched products described above can be said to occur similarly in content sites.

On the other hand, CD-ROM and DVD have been used as a storage medium capable of storing a large amount of digital data. However, such a storage medium has a merit that contains a lot of information, but has a disadvantage that cannot be linked to a communication network such as the Internet, and thus the frequency of use thereof is gradually decreasing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and stores the product information necessary for a digital information storage medium such as a CD-ROM or a DVD, and the user can search the digital information storage medium off-line to the desired product. The present invention provides an electronic commerce system and a method using a digital information storage medium that can fully acquire the information about the product to be purchased after completing the order for the product to be purchased and to pay for the purchase of the product.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic commerce system according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of data and a program of the CD-ROM shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a process after the personal computer and host computer server of FIG. 1 are connected through the Internet.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

11: CD-ROM 12: CD-ROM Drive

13: personal computer 14: host computer server

15: Internet 21: product information data

22: Application 23: Database Manager

23-1: Product Classification File 23-2: Customer Information File

23-3: Transaction File 23-4: Order Information File

An electronic commerce system using the digital information storage medium of the present invention for achieving the above technical problem, a host computer server, at least one personal computer connected to the server via the Internet, product information data, applications, database management program And a digital information storage medium which is executed offline on the personal computer including an internet access program and which allows the user to connect the personal computer and the host computer server via the Internet if desired. The product information data provides image information of a product provided by a shopping mall or a content site and information related to a product introduction, and the application program is a basic for operating the digital information storage medium in an operating system (OS) of the personal computer. A program and a search engine for searching the product information data. The database management program generates a product classification file for storing a classification system of products, a customer information file for storing information on registered customers, and the moment a product is placed in a shopping basket as a pre-order of the user's product purchase process. When the transaction confirms the order or stops the purchase process, a transaction file that is destroyed and an order information file generated by inheriting the contents of the transaction file after the order confirmation are formed in a storage device such as a hard disk of a personal computer. The Internet access program connects a personal computer to a host computer server through the Internet for payment after the user completes an order. After the personal computer is connected to the host computer server via the Internet, the application program transfers data stored in the database to the host computer server.

According to the present invention, a digital information storage medium that runs offline on a personal computer, including product information data, an application program, a database management program, and an Internet access program, allows the user to access the personal computer and the host computer server through the Internet, if desired. It provides an electronic commerce method using. First, the user requests the desired product information by using the search engine of the application program. The merchandise information data provides image information of the requested merchandise and information related to the merchandise introduction. The user selects a desired merchandise and places the order on the digital information storage medium. When the order is completed, the order details are stored in the database. When the user completes the order and wants to pay the bill, the user accesses the personal computer and the host computer server through the Internet by executing the Internet access program. At this time, the application program transmits the data stored in the database of the personal computer to the database of the host computer server. Finally, the user performs the payment process for the ordered goods presented by the host computer.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of an electronic commerce system according to the present invention. According to the electronic commerce system of FIG. 1, a personal computer provided with a CD-ROM drive 12 for driving a compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM) 11 is provided. Although FIG. 1 illustrates a CD-ROM as a digital information storage medium for convenience, any storage medium capable of storing digital information, such as a digital versatile disk (DVD), may be replaced in addition to the CD-ROM. Of course, if a DVD is used as the storage medium, the CD-ROM drive 12 will also need to be replaced by a DVD drive. The computer 13 is connected to a shopping mall or a host computer server 14 that provides various contents through the Internet 15. The personal computer 13 can be connected to the Internet using a dedicated line with or without a modem to access the Internet, and has a built-in web browser for viewing World Wide Web pages on the Internet.

2 shows the configuration of data and programs stored in the CD-ROM 12. The CD-ROM 12 incorporates product information data 21, an application program 22, a database management program 23, and an internet access program 24.

The product information data 21 is an HTML document related to image information and product introduction of a product provided by a shopping mall or a content site. The product information data 21 stores ID, a product name, a price, a brief description of the product, and image information for each product sold. The product ID may be arbitrarily determined by each company, but may be determined by a contract between the companies or by standardization led by a government agency, etc., and may have a common format among the companies. The image information may provide not only a still image of the product but also a video, and the user may refer to the HTML document including guide information about product introduction, order, payment, etc. together with the image information, to provide information about the product to be purchased. You can get it.

The application program 22 includes a basic program for executing a CD-ROM in an operating system (OS) such as Windows 95 or Windows 98 of a personal computer. The application 22 is equipped with a search engine so that when a buyer searches for a desired product from a higher classification to a lower category according to a merchandise classification scheme, or searches for a desired product by entering a search term in a search box on the screen, the buyer Accepts a search command and displays the related goods information from the product information data 21 to the buyer as an image and an HTML document. In addition, the application program 22 also performs a function of transferring the order-related data stored in the personal computer 13 to the server 14 when the personal computer 13 is connected to the host computer server 14.

The database manager 23 stores the merchandise classification file 23-1, the customer information file 23-2, the transaction file 23-3, the order information file 23-4, and the like. Form on the disk. In FIG. 2, the files are shown together with the data and programs of the CD-ROM for convenience, but are actually created on a hard disk which is a storage device of the personal computer 13. The commodity classification file 23-1 is a file storing a classification system of each commodity. The commodity classification file 23-1 stores information about an upper class and a commodity ID or a lower class ID belonging to the class by each major and middle class ID. The customer information file 23-2 is a file that stores information about each registered customer. The customer information includes a customer ID, registration date, name, password, age, gender, address, telephone number, and e-mail address. Includes personally identifiable information.

The transaction file 23-3 is generated at the moment of placing a product in a shopping basket as a pre-order of the user's product purchase process, and stores information on all products in the shopping basket. Specifically, the transaction file 23-3 is generated for each buyer and stores information such as a buyer ID, a product ID, a product name, a consumer price, a sale price, and a quantity. The transaction file 23-3 is a temporary file, and disappears when the purchaser confirms the order and generates an order information file record about the contents of the order as described below, or when the purchaser interrupts the purchase process. Done.

The order information file 23-4 constitutes a payment file generated by inheriting the contents of the transaction file 23-3 after confirming the order. In a preferred embodiment, the order information file is generated on an order basis. The order information file 23-4 stores information of goods related to the order when the buyer confirms the order for the goods in the shopping cart. The order information stored in the order information file 23-4 may be canceled or partially modified at the request of the buyer before the goods are shipped. Fields of the order information file 23-4 include order ID, buyer ID, purchase amount, data modification date, brand name ID, quantity, consumer price, and selling price.

The Internet access program 24 is a program that connects the personal computer 13 to the host computer server 14 via the Internet 15 for payment after the user completes an order. The URL or web page of the host computer server 14 is already specified in the Internet access program, so that when the user wants to access the Internet, the user accesses the designated web page address. When the user wants to connect his personal computer 13 to the host computer server using the Internet access program 24, a web browser installed on the personal computer is executed. As a web browser, you can use a general web browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator. A web browser runs a program written by a software tool such as JavaScript or ActiveX to run a dial-up network program to connect to the Internet using a modem. In the case of a dedicated line that does not use a modem, the execution process of the dial-up network program may be omitted. When the above process is completed, the personal computer and the host computer server 14 are connected through the Internet, and the process of confirming the order, changing the order, adding, and paying the process is performed by the host computer server 14.

3 is a flowchart showing the process after the personal computer 13 and the host computer server 14 are connected via the Internet 15. When the personal computer 13 and the host computer server 14 are connected by the Internet access program 24 of the CD-ROM 11 (31), the server 14 generates the personal computer by the database management program 23. Data of the file stored in (13) is received by the application program 22 and stored in its own database (32). The data are data of the customer information file 23-2, the transaction file 23-3 and the order information file 23-4. The transmission of the file data to the host database may be automatically performed when the computer 13 and the server are connected, or may be transmitted by a separate transfer button provided on the web page of the server 14. Thereafter, the user checks his order, namely, order product details, order ID, buyer ID, purchase amount, data modification date, quantity, consumer price, and selling price (33). If the user wants to change or add an order after confirming the order, the user may add the order to the web page of the server while accessing the server on the Internet (35). If the quantity to be ordered is high or if it takes a long time to acquire product information, the user can change or add the order again on the CD-ROM 11 after the Internet connection is terminated. When the addition or change of the order is not completed or when the addition or change of the order is completed, a procedure for payment is performed (36). The host computer server 14 sends the HTML document to the web browser, which allows the buyer to select a payment method for payment. In a preferred embodiment, payment methods include payment by credit card, bank online remittance, and the like. For example, in case of credit card payment, the host computer server 14 checks the credit card number, and then accesses the transaction file and the order information file in the host's own database to order the corresponding records in the transaction file. The data file is inherited and stored in the information file, and the data on the payment method entered by the buyer is also stored in the order information file and the procedure is completed.

Although the above description focuses on a shopping mall, the above description may be equally applied to a content providing site. In addition, although the CD-ROM is exemplified as the digital information storage medium in the above description, the present invention is not limited thereto, and any medium capable of storing digital information other than the CD-ROM may be used.

As described above, according to the present invention, basic search is performed on a CD-ROM using a digital information medium such as a CD-ROM when searching for a product or searching information through the Internet. Access to the Internet directly from the ROM has the effect of eliminating unnecessary steps and saving time and money. In addition, the preferred embodiment of the present invention is disclosed for the purpose of illustration, those skilled in the art will be able to various modifications, changes, additions, etc. within the spirit and scope of the present invention, such modifications, changes, etc. belong to the following claims Should be seen.

Claims (8)

A host computer server, At least one personal computer connected to the server via the Internet, A digital information storage medium including product information data, an application program, a database management program, and an Internet access program, which is executed offline on the personal computer and which allows the user to connect the personal computer and the host computer server via the Internet, if desired. In an electronic commerce system, The product information data includes image information of the product provided by a shopping mall or a content site and information related to product introduction, The application program includes a basic program for executing the digital information storage medium in an operating system (OS) of the personal computer and a search engine for searching the product information data. The database management program generates a product classification file for storing a classification system of products, a customer information file for storing information on registered customers, and the moment a product is placed in a shopping basket as a pre-order of the user's product purchase process. A transaction file that expires when the user confirms the order or stops the purchase process and an order information file generated by inheriting the contents of the transaction file after the order confirmation, is generated in the storage device of the personal computer, The Internet access program connects a personal computer to a host computer server through the Internet for payment after the user completes an order. The application program stores the digital information after the personal computer is connected to the host computer server through the Internet to transfer data of the files formed in the storage device of the personal computer to the host computer server. Electronic commerce system using media. The electronic commerce system of claim 1, wherein the digital information storage medium is a CD-ROM or a DVD. Electronic commerce using digital information storage media, including product information data, applications, database management programs and Internet access programs, executed offline on a personal computer and allowing the user to access the personal computer and host computer server over the Internet, if desired. In the method, (a) a user requesting desired product information using a search engine of the application program; (b) providing image information of a product requested in step (a) and information related to a product introduction by the product information data; (c) selecting a product desired by the user and placing the order on the digital information storage medium and storing the order in a storage device of the personal computer; (d) executing the Internet access program to connect the personal computer and the host computer server through the Internet; (e) storing the order history data generated in the storage device of the personal computer in the database of the host computer server by the application program; And, and (f) selecting a payment method presented by the host computer for the ordered product and paying the price. 4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising, after step (e), if the user confirms his order and wants to change or add the order, the order change or addition procedure is performed on the web page of the host computer server. E-commerce method using a digital information storage medium. 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising, after step (e), if the user confirms his order and wants to change or add the order, the connection to the host computer server is terminated, and the step returns to step (a). E-commerce method using a digital information storage medium. The electronic commerce method using a digital information storage medium according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the digital information storage medium is a CD-ROM or a DVD. Claims [1] A digital information storage medium including product information data, an application program, a database management program, and an Internet access program, which is executed offline on a personal computer and allows a user to access the personal computer and a host computer server through the Internet if desired. The product information data includes image information of the product provided by a shopping mall or a content site and information related to product introduction, The application program includes a basic program for executing the digital information storage medium in an operating system (OS) of the personal computer and a search engine for searching the product information data. The database management program generates a product classification file for storing a classification system of products, a customer information file for storing information on registered customers, and the moment a product is placed in a shopping basket as a pre-order of the user's product purchase process. A transaction file that expires when the user confirms the order or stops the purchase process and an order information file generated by inheriting the contents of the transaction file after the order confirmation, is generated in the storage device of the personal computer, The Internet access program connects a personal computer to a host computer server through the Internet for payment after the user completes an order. The application program stores the digital information after the personal computer is connected to the host computer server through the Internet to transfer data of the files formed in the storage device of the personal computer to the host computer server. media 8. The digital information storage medium of claim 7, wherein the digital information storage medium is a CD-ROM or a DVD.