KR20040087391A - System and method for executing an auction and a purchase of goods - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A commodity auction and purchase intermediation system and method is provided to intermediate the auction or the purchase of commodities by allowing a user only to notify an intermediating server of corresponding web site data. CONSTITUTION: The system comprises an intermediating server(108), an auction server(102), a selling server(104), and a network(106). The intermediating server(108) gathers data from a commodity auction or a commodity selling web site, and performs an intermediation of the commodity auction or the commodity purchase. The auction server(102) operates a commodity auction web site. The selling server(104) operates a commodity selling web site. The network(106) interconnects the intermediating server(108) to the auction server(102) and the selling server(104).

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXECUTING AN AUCTION AND A PURCHASE OF GOODS}

The present invention relates to the field of electronic commerce, and more particularly to a system and method for auctioning and purchasing goods.

If an Internet user wants to trade through an auction (especially an overseas auction) and an article purchasing site (hereinafter referred to as a purchasing site), the auction and the purchasing agent manager and the user must confirm the same information at the same time, but a smooth transaction can be made. have. However, most of the auction items and purchase items desired by the user are not on the home page of the purchasing agency site, but are items that exist in an auction site or a shopping mall site operated by a domestic and / or foreign company. Therefore, the web page of the auction site and the shopping mall site that the user accesses and the web page of the auction site and the shopping mall site accessed by the administrator who operates the purchasing agency site are the type (or version) of the communication program (for example, an Internet browser). ) May be displayed differently on the computer monitor of the user and the administrator.

Information on whether the auction item or the purchased item is located on the web page of the auction site or the shopping mall site is entered by the user directly on the purchase agent site, so that the administrator and the user who operates the purchase agent site have the same information. To share. Therefore, it is troublesome that the user has to manually enter information about the auction item or the purchased item in the purchase agency site. In addition, when the user participates in the auction, it is almost impossible for the user to perform the auction through the purchase agency site because the information on the auction item, for example, the bid price changes from time to time.

Therefore, the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the user does not manually enter the information on the auction items and purchases, and only by automatically notifying the purchase agent site of the corresponding website information to the purchase agency site automatically It is an object of the present invention to provide an auction and goods purchasing agency system and method that can obtain information on auction goods and purchased goods and act on behalf of a user on behalf of goods auction and goods purchase.

1 is a schematic block diagram of an auction and goods purchasing agency system according to the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a process of transmitting information about auction items and purchased items to an auction / purchasing server according to the present invention.

3 is a flowchart for explaining in detail the steps S210 and S212 shown in FIG. 2;

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of obtaining information by an auction / purchasing server through a web page information extraction engine according to the present invention.

5A and 5B are flowcharts illustrating a process in which an auction / purchase agent server acts on behalf of a user in accordance with the present invention.

Now, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5B.

1, there is shown a schematic block diagram of an auction and article purchasing agency system in accordance with the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the auction and goods purchase agency system 100 includes an auction server 102, a shopping mall server 104, a communication network 106, an auction / purchasing server 108, and a user 110. Doing.

The auction server 102 may exist domestically and / or overseas where the user 110 resides and operates an auction website for auctioning a plurality of items. The shopping mall server 104 exists domestically and / or overseas where the user 110 resides, and operates a shopping mall web site for selling a plurality of items. The auction / purchasing server 108 operates a web site for the auction and purchase of auction items or purchased items desired by the user 110. Although the communication network 106 shown in FIG. 1 is a typical Internet communication network, the present invention is not limited thereto and refers to a wired or wireless communication network that can be connected through a user's computing device (not shown). It must be understood and interpreted. The user 110 connects to the auction server 102, the shopping mall server 104, and the auction / purchasing server 108 via the communication network 106 using the computing device. In FIG. 1, only one auction server 102 and one shopping mall server 104 are illustrated. However, the auction server 102 and the shopping mall server 104 exist only as examples, and those skilled in the art will fully understand that there may be a plurality of auction servers and a plurality of shopping mall servers. .

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a flow diagram illustrating a process for transmitting information of an item that a user 110 wants to auction and / or purchase to the auction / purchasing server 108.

In step S202, the user 110 connects to the auction / purchasing server 108 via the computing device. The computing device has the ability to communicate with the auction / purchase agent server 108 via the communication network 106.

In step S204, the user 110 connects to the auction / purchasing server 108 via the computing device and then downloads the item designation helper engine from the auction / purchasing server 108. Next, the computing device of the user 110 prepares for the automatic installation of the article designation helper engine, and performs the installation of the article designation helper engine according to the consent of the user 110. Here, the item designation helper engine is a program used by the user 110 to transmit information about bid items and / or items to be purchased to the auction / purchasing server 108 and is stored on a computer-readable medium. have.

In step S206, the user 110 checks whether the item specification helper engine is normally installed on the computing device. The item designation helper engine installed on the computing device of the user 110 always operates with a communication program (eg, Internet Explorer), and the user 110 connects to the auction server 102 and / or the shopping mall server via the communication network 106. It is automatically activated when connected to 104.

In step S208, in order to select a desired item from a web site operated by the auction server 102 and / or the shopping mall server 104, the user 110 connects to the auction server 102 and / or via the communication network 106. Or connect to shopping mall server 104, then place a pointer (e.g., a mouse pointer) on the desired item displayed on the display of the computing device, and then select a menu (e.g., "purchase" Application ").

In operation S210, when the user 110 selects a menu, the item designation helper engine displays the URL (Uniform Resource Locator), the item image URL, and the Internet Explorer screen of the corresponding web page where the desired item exists. The capture information is obtained from the web site and transmitted to the auction / purchasing server 108. Here, the information that the item designation helper engine obtains from the web site is, for example, the auction that the auction / purchasing server 108 desires by the user 110, such as a URL and a photo information URL of a shopping mall web site and / or an auction web site. It contains basic information necessary to obtain information about the goods and / or purchased goods. In this case, the item designation helper engine may store the information obtained from the web site on the computing device of the user 110 and transmit the information to the auction / purchase agent server 108. Next, the auction / purchasing server 108 obtains detailed information about the goods from the web site as described above through the data mining engine provided therein, based on the information received from the goods specification helper engine. do.

In step S212, the auction / purchasing server 108 stores the information obtained from the web site through a data mining engine in its predetermined place, such as a database (not shown), and then processes according to the present invention. To exit. At this time, the auction / purchase agency server 108 requests and receives additional information about the information, such as the recipient address and delivery method, etc. from the user 110 for accurate delivery of the goods for the auction and purchase. The additional information may be further input by the user 110 after the information on the auction item and / or the purchased item desired by the user 110 is completed to the auction / purchase agent server 108. In addition, when the auction item and / or purchase item desired by the user 110 is a registered item on an overseas auction website and / or a shopping mall website, the auction / purchasing server 108 may determine the cost of delivering the item. The user 110 may additionally request information related to shipping cost determination, such as the weight of the item.

Referring to FIG. 3, a flowchart for describing in detail the steps S210 to S212 of FIG. 2 is illustrated.

In step S302, the auction / purchasing server 108 connects to the auction website and / or the shopping mall website through the communication network 106 based on the information received from the computing device of the user 110. For example, when the communication network 106 is the Internet, the auction / purchasing server 108 may use an auction server 102 and / or a shopping mall server (eg, a socket program or an internet browser) provided therein. 104).

In step S304, the auction / purchasing server 108 uses the data mining engine provided therein, from the web page of the connected auction and / or shopping mall web site, based on the information transmitted from the article designation helper engine. Acquire data for auctioning and / or purchasing goods. The data mining engine receives all data about the contents of the accessed web page and temporarily stores it in a predetermined place of the auction / purchasing server 108. Here, the data mining engine is stored at a predetermined location of the auction / purchasing server 108 and implemented on a computer readable medium. In addition, the data mining engine checks whether the information obtained includes information about expired periods or information about auctions and / or items that are not available for purchase, and then only valid information is sent to the auction / purchasing server 108. Save it.

In step S306, the auction / purchasing server 108 makes it easy to organize and list the temporarily stored data in a preset format using the data mining engine, and then uses the web page information extraction engine to auction and / Or it is divided into necessary data and unnecessary data when purchasing goods. The process of the auction / purchasing server 108 to extract information using the web page information extraction engine will be described in detail later with reference to FIG. 4.

In step S308, the auction / purchase agent server 108 uses a data mining engine to delete unnecessary data among the divided data and finally store the necessary data in a predetermined storage location. For example, necessary data when the auction / purchasing server 108 conducts an auction includes data such as auction title, item image, detailed description, transaction start time, end time, highest bid, and highest bidder. .

Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a flow chart illustrating a process of an auction / purchasing server obtaining information from a corresponding web page through a web page information extraction engine according to the present invention.

In step S402, the auction / purchasing server 108 transmits HTML (HyperText Mark-) regarding auction items and / or purchase items desired by the user 110 from an auction website and / or a shopping mall website through a data mining engine. up Language) information is temporarily stored in a predetermined storage location.

In step S404, the auction / purchase agency server 108 cuts and sorts the stored HTML information line by line through the web page information extraction engine.

In step S406, the auction / purchasing server 108 retrieves each HTML information sorted in a predetermined type through a web page information extraction engine in string units.

In step S408, the auction / purchasing server 108 determines whether a string of a predetermined type exists through the web page information extraction engine. If the determination result in step S408 is affirmative, i.e., a string of a preset type exists, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S410. In contrast, if the determination result in step S408 is negative, that is, the character string of the preset type does not exist, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S422.

In step S410, the auction / purchase agency server 108 determines whether the type found through the web page information extraction engine is valid information. If the determination result in step S410 is affirmative, that is, the type found is valid information, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S412. On the contrary, if the determination result in step S410 is negative, that is, the type found is not valid information, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S422.

Step S408 and Step S410 are described in detail by way of example, the web page information extraction engine is adapted to find a predetermined type from the HTML information of "<TR> <TD> 08:33:12 </ TD>". It is determined whether or not the contents of the characters from the first to eighth columns of each character string are equal to "<TR> <TD>". Next, the web page information extraction engine determines whether the information corresponding to the preset type is valid information. That is, the web page information extraction engine determines whether the format is (number) (number): (number) (number): (number) (number) based on ":". If the " number " and ": " are continuous information in this way, it is confirmed as time information and the subsequent steps according to the present invention are performed.

In addition, the web page information extraction engine may select a preset type from the HTML information of "<TR> <TD> Dumpy Popper" </ TD> <TD> 3Long 31Pp21Sha 46G </ TD> </ TR> ". To find out, determine whether there is a string representing the start or end time, such as (number) (letter) (space) (number) (letter) (space) (number) (letter) (space) (number) (letter) The web page information extraction engine finds cells consisting of these strings and excludes only the (letter) field, then (month) (space) (date) (space) (hour) (space) (minutes) (space) Since only the form of (seconds) is left, the web page information extraction engine rearranges the information before and after the (blank) portion to perform a validity judgment.The web page information extraction engine auctions / purchases the server to verify the information as valid information. Converted to an operating system type of 108 and stored in a predetermined storage location.

In addition, the web page information extraction engine may include "<A HREF="http://www.aaa.com/morimura_2000?"> morimura_2000 </A> &nbsp; (<AHREF =" http : //www.aaa.com/rating? userID = morimura_2000 & "> 2209 </A>) <BR> </ B> </ SMALL> </ TD>" To find a preset type from HTML information, Because the characters that appear between the string ">" and the string "</A>" are the IDs of the auction entries, this part is extracted and compared to the portion that appears before the string "&"> "after the string" userID = " Save it to a storage location.

Through this process, the web page information extraction engine, for example, auction title, auction item exhibitor ID, current highest bid, auction start time, auction end time, number of images, URL of each image, options specified by the exhibitor in the auction item Extract information about the auction item.

In step S422, the auction / purchasing server 108 moves to the next string after sorting, and then proceeds to step S408 to perform the above-described process.

Meanwhile, in step S412, the auction / purchasing server 108 stores the information determined to be valid in a predetermined storage location, and then proceeds to step S414.

In step S414, the auction / purchase agent server 108 determines whether a string to be searched for remains. If the determination result in step S414 is affirmative, that is, a string to be searched for remains, the auction / purchasing server 108 returns to step S408 to perform the above-described process. On the contrary, if the determination result in step S414 is negative, that is, there are no more strings left to be searched, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S416.

In step S416, the auction / purchase agency server 108 determines whether the number of extracted information is sufficient. If the determination result in step S412 is affirmative, that is, the number of extracted information is sufficient, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S420. On the contrary, when the determination result in step S416 is negative, that is, the number of extracted information is not sufficient, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S418.

In step S418, the auction / purchasing server 108 transmits an input information error message notifying the user 110 that the information obtained from the web page is an error and ends the process according to the present invention.

In step S420, the auction / purchasing server 108 stores the extraction information as described above in a predetermined storage location and then terminates the process according to the present invention.

As described above, the web page information extraction engine not only obtains the information of the web page, but additionally receives an image of the auction item, and then receives the received image in a small size. Store in a preset storage location. Then, even if the user 110 does not check the goods on the auction website and / or the shopping mall website, since all the goods information is stored in the auction / purchasing server 108, the effect of easy auction and / or purchase is possible. There is. In addition, since the HTML configuration of each website may be different, the web page information extraction engine may be changed so that even a large number of websites can be sufficiently processed by operating different web page information extraction engines according to the tasks required by the user 110. It may be.

5A and 5B, there is shown a flow chart illustrating a process by which an auction / purchasing server 108 acts on behalf of a user 110 in accordance with the present invention.

First, in step S502 of FIG. 5A, the user 110 selects a desired auction item through the item specification helper engine described above.

In step S504, the auction / purchasing server 108 uses the auction engine to determine whether the user 110 wants to participate in the auction, that is, whether to bid on the selected auction item. If the determination result in step S504 is affirmative, that is, the user 110 wants to bid, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S506. Alternatively, if the determination result in step S504 is negative, that is, the user 110 does not want to bid, the auction / purchasing server 108 terminates the process according to the present invention.

In step S506, the auction / purchasing server 108 obtains auction-related information by using the above-described data mining engine and web page information extraction engine (primary data mining).

In operation S508, the auction / purchase agent server 108 determines whether the item selected by the user 110 is currently auctionable item based on the information about the auction item among the obtained auction-related information. If the determination result in step S508 is affirmative, that is, the item selected by the user 110 is currently auctionable item, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S510. Alternatively, if the determination result in step S508 is negative, that is, the item selected by the user 110 is not currently auctionable item, the auction / purchasing server 108 terminates all processes according to the present invention.

In step S510, the auction / purchasing server 108 stores the current auctionable item and auction information relating thereto in a predetermined storage location.

In step S512, the auction / purchasing server 108 retrieves an ID that the user 110 can use for bidding. This ID is an ID held by the user 110 personally or an ID held by the auction / purchasing server 108 and can be used to log in to the auction website.

In step S514, the auction / purchasing server 108 logs in to the auction website using the ID retrieved in step S512, and then performs an auction with the bid entered by the user 110.

In step S516, the auction / purchasing server 108 sends the auction web-related information about the auction item, i.e., the bidding result, for the auction item designated at a predetermined time interval through the data mining engine and the website information extraction engine. Obtain information from the site and update the related information (secondary data mining). The auction / purchasing server 108 updates information from the auction items close to the end time among the stored auction-related information, and updates based on the highest bid and the highest bidder information. Here, the predetermined time may be set by the user 110 and may be set to decrease the time interval as the end of the auction approaches.

In step S518 of FIG. 5B, the auction / purchasing server 108 determines whether the user 110 has won the desired item based on the information updated through the data mining engine and the website information extraction engine. do. If the determination result in step S518 is affirmative, that is, the user 110 has won the desired item, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S524. On the contrary, when the determination result in step S518 is negative, that is, the user 110 does not win the desired item, the auction / purchasing server 108 proceeds to step S520. In this case, if the bid is not successful, it means that the auction is in progress, not the case in which the auction is terminated.

In step S520, the auction / purchase agency server 108 determines whether the auction time for the bidding article has expired. If the determination result in step S520 is affirmative, that is, the auction time has not expired, the auction / purchase agent server 108 proceeds to step S522. On the contrary, when the determination result in step S520 is negative, that is, when the auction time expires, the auction / purchasing server 108 terminates all processes according to the present invention.

In step S522, the auction / purchase agent server 108 determines whether the user 110 wants to re-bid. If the determination result in step S522 is negative, that is, the user 110 does not want to re-bid, the auction / purchase agency server 108 proceeds to step S530. On the contrary, if the determination result in step S522 is affirmative, that is, the user 110 wants to re-bid, the auction / purchasing server 108 returns to step S514. In this case, the user 110 further selects an item for which the bid is to be raised, inputs a new bid, and determines whether the bid is normally input. Thereafter, as described above, the auction / purchasing server 108 performs the auction with the new bid updated by the user 110.

In step S530, the auction / purchasing server 108 updates the information related to the auction by the auction end time by using the data mining engine and the web page information extraction engine, and then proceeds to step S520 to perform the above-described process. Perform.

In step S524, the auction / purchase agent server 108 obtains information on the successful bid result using the data mining engine and the web page information extraction engine. In this case, the obtained information includes, for example, a successful bidder, an auction article exhibitor's name, an exhibitor's e-mail address, and the like.

In step S526, the auction / purchase agency server 108 analyzes the information on the successful bid results obtained through the data mining engine and the web page information extraction engine, the email 110 and / or short message to the user 110 Notify via

In step S528, the auction / purchasing server 108 receives payment for the successful bid item from the user 110 through a normal payment process, deducts a predetermined fee, and then transfers it to the auction item exhibitor's account. The process according to the present invention is terminated after the request for shipment of the winning article is requested.

As described above, according to the present invention, the hassle that a user must perform in order to purchase and / or participate in an auction can be simplified through an auction / purchasing server. Furthermore, when a user participates in an auction, the user does not own the ID necessary for this, and by using the ID of the auction / purchasing server, there is an effect of reducing the cost of paying to own the ID required for the auction. In addition, the user can pay the costs of the purchase and auction auction through the auction / purchase agency server has the effect of reducing the hassle due to the payment. In addition, even if the user wants to buy auctions and goods on the overseas auction website and the shopping mall website, there is an effect that can be easily bid and purchase through the auction / purchase agency server.

Claims (2)

A system for acting on auction and purchase of goods in response to a user's request, An auction / purchasing server having an engine for acquiring information from an auction and goods sale web site and performing auction and goods buying agency; An auction server for operating the article auction web site, An article sales server for operating the article sales web site, A communication network for interconnecting the auction / purchasing server, the auction server, and the product selling server Including, The engine is implemented on a computer readable medium and comprises a data mining engine and a web page information extraction engine. A method for acting on auction and purchase of goods in response to a user's request, a) receiving a user's request for auction and purchase of goods, b) in response to the user's request for auction and purchase of goods, accessing a corresponding website; c) obtaining web page information, including auction items and purchased items, from the web site; d) analyzing the web page information to obtain information about the auction item and the purchased item and information on the auction progression; e) performing auction and purchase of goods based on the information obtained in step d); f) after performing the auction and purchase of the item, transmitting a result to the user; g) processing the costs for the auction goods and the purchased goods and performing the goods dispatch How to include.