KR20120135179A - Method, system and computer-readable recording medium for providing shopping information - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for providing shopping information, a system and a computer readable recording medium are provided to perform information exchange around a product by open type social communication and situation awareness communication. CONSTITUTION: A wish list management unit(210) collects information for a product which a user selects from a plurality of online shopping malls. The wish list management unit generates an integrated wish list of the user based on the collected information. The user and another user perform mutual communication for a specific item which is involved in the integrated wish list in a communication space connected to an account of the user through a user communication supporting unit(220). [Reference numerals] (210) Wish list management unit; (220) User communication supporting unit; (230) Advertisement providing unit; (240) Database; (250) Communication unit; (260) Control unit

Description

METHOOD, SYSTEM AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM FOR PROVIDING SHOPPING INFORMATION}

The present invention relates to a method, a system and a computer readable recording medium for providing shopping information.

Recently, as the number of small and medium sized online shopping malls as well as large online shopping malls has increased, users can purchase products through various online shopping malls that match their tastes.

Typically, such a user adds information about a product of interest to the wish list before confirming the purchase. However, in the related art, since each of the plurality of online shopping malls provides the individual wish list service to the user, there is a great inconvenience in that the user has to access all the online shopping malls in order to check his or her products of interest.

In addition, in the past, a search portal site and the like provided comprehensive search results for numerous products scattered in various online shopping malls, but since these search results were mainly intended to induce users to access the online shopping malls, After all, it did not allow users to be subordinate to a particular online shopping mall.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve all the problems of the prior art described above.

Another object of the present invention is to enable a user to collectively manage wish lists of a plurality of online shopping malls.

Another object of the present invention is to enable a user to exchange information centered on a product through open social communication and contextual communication.

Another object of the present invention is to enable a user to experience a truly desired advertisement.

In order to accomplish the above object, a representative structure of the present invention is as follows.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a method for providing shopping information, comprising: information about a product selected by a user from each of a plurality of online shopping malls, wherein the information about the product relates to basic information, a detailed description, an image, and the product; Collecting at least some of the location information of the space containing the information or the product is available, generating an integrated wish list of the user based on the collected information, and the user's account In a communication space associated with the present invention, a method is provided that enables the user and other users belonging to the social network group of the user to communicate about a particular item belonging to the integrated wish list.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information management system for providing shopping information, comprising: information about a product selected by a user from each of a plurality of online shopping malls, wherein the information about the product includes basic information, a detailed description, an image, and the product; And at least some of the location information of the space containing the information about the product can be obtained-and a wish list management unit for generating an integrated wish list of the user based on the collected information, and the In a communication space associated with a user's account, a system is provided that includes a user communication support unit that enables the user and other users belonging to the social network group of the user to communicate about a specific item belonging to the integrated wish list. .

In addition, there is further provided a computer readable recording medium for recording another method for implementing the present invention, another system, and a computer program for executing the method.

According to the present invention, the user can manage the wish list of a plurality of online shopping malls.

According to the present invention, it is possible for the user to exchange information centered on a product by means of open social communication and contextual communication.

According to the present invention, a user can experience a truly desired advertisement.

1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an entire system for providing shopping information according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a diagram illustrating in detail the internal configuration of the information management system 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram illustrating an example in which an image of a product is cropped according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 to 8 are diagrams showing spaces exemplarily implemented according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. It should be understood that the various embodiments of the present invention are different, but need not be mutually exclusive. For example, certain shapes, structures, and characteristics described herein may be implemented with changes from one embodiment to another without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. In addition, it is to be understood that the location or arrangement of individual components within each embodiment may be changed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention should be construed as encompassing the scope of the appended claims and all equivalents thereof. In the drawings, like reference numbers designate the same or similar components throughout the several views.

Hereinafter, various preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily implement the present invention.

[Preferred Embodiment of the Present Invention]

The wish list referred to herein is a list that allows a user to store information about a product (or service) of interest in an online shopping mall in association with his or her account, and may also be referred to as an electronic cart. Such a wish list may be particularly useful when a user ponders about the purchase of a specific product or wants to compare specific product information with other product information.

Each item of the wish list may include basic information about the product, a detailed description, an image, etc., and may include information about the product or location information of a cyber space (for example, a web page) where the product may be obtained. For example, a URL may be included. In addition, a tag may be assigned to each item of the wish list. Each item in the wish list may be used by the user for an explicit action, such as 'add to wish list' for the product, or for an implicit action such as multiple product information selections (e.g., repeated clickthroughs or queries from the user). It may have been added to your wish list.

Configuration of the entire system

1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an entire system for providing shopping information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the entire system according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a communication network 100, an information management system 200, a user terminal device 300, and an online shopping mall server 400. have.

First, the communication network 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may be configured regardless of a communication mode such as wired communication or wireless communication, and includes a local area network (LAN) and a metropolitan area network (MAN). ), And various communication networks such as a wide area network (WAN). Preferably, the communication network 100 referred to herein may be the well-known Internet or World Wide Web (WWW). However, the communication network 100 may include, at least in part, a known wire / wireless data communication network, a known telephone network, or a known wire / wireless television communication network, without being limited thereto.

Next, the information management system 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention integrates a wish list of a plurality of online shopping malls by a user interworking with the user terminal device 300 or the online shopping mall server 400 on the communication network 100. In addition to being able to manage, it can perform the function of making information that is truly product-centric.

The configuration and function of the information management system 200 according to the present invention will be described in detail through the following detailed description.

Next, the user terminal device 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention is a digital device including a function that allows a user to communicate after connecting to the information management system 200 or the online shopping mall server 400, Any digital device having a computing capability by mounting a microprocessor such as a desktop computer, a notebook computer, a workstation, a PDA, a web pad, a mobile phone, and the like can be adopted as the user terminal device 300 according to the present invention. Can be.

In particular, the user terminal device 300 may include a browser program that allows a user to manage the wish list of a plurality of online shopping malls and to use information centered on products. There is no particular limitation on the type of browser program. On the other hand, the browser program may include or link with a cropping application or a product questioning application as described below. This cropping application or product question application may be downloaded from the information management system 200 or other external device.

Lastly, the online shopping mall server 400 according to an embodiment of the present invention may be an information providing apparatus capable of communicating with the information management system 200 or the user terminal device 300. The online shopping mall server 400 may be, for example, an operation server of an internet shopping mall site. The online shopping mall server 400 may provide various product information, in particular, information for constructing a wish list, to the information management system 200 or the user terminal device 300.

Information Management System

Hereinafter, the internal configuration of the information management system 200 according to the present invention and the function of each component will be described.

2 is a diagram illustrating in detail the internal configuration of the information management system 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the information management system 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a wish list managing unit 210, a user communication support unit 220, an advertisement providing unit 230, a database 240, and a communication unit. 250 and the control unit 260 may be configured. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the wish list management unit 210, the user communication support unit 220, the advertisement providing unit 230, the database 240, the communication unit 250 and the control unit 260 is at least some of them The program module may communicate with the user terminal device 300 or the online shopping mall server 400. Such program modules may be included in the information management system 200 in the form of operating systems, application modules or other program modules, and may be physically stored in various known storage devices. Such program modules may also be stored in a remote storage device capable of communicating with the information management system 200. Such program modules, on the other hand, encompass but are not limited to routines, subroutines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types as described below in accordance with the present invention.

First, the wish list management unit 210 according to an embodiment of the present invention collects information on the product selected by the user from each of the plurality of online shopping mall servers 400, and integrated wish list of the user based on the collected information You can create a file and manage it. The function of the wish list manager 210 will be described in detail below.

The wish list manager 210 may allow the cropping application to be downloaded to the user terminal device 300. Such a cropping application may be installed and activated in the user terminal device 300 to perform a function of cropping information about a product of an online shopping mall. There is no limit to the kind of information about the product that the cropping application can crop, but typically, the basic information such as the brand, model name, seller, etc. of the product, detailed description of the product characteristics, the image of the product, The location information of the space on the online shopping mall that contains the information or the product can be cropped. On the other hand, in the cropping process, the user inputs and assigns a tag about a product by himself, so that the corresponding item of his wish list can be searched later by the tag. Such a tag may be a general text tag, but may also be a product color tone tag input as a user visually determines the color tone of the product and then uses the color palette interface. Of course, those skilled in the art can also be configured such that the tag is automatically assigned by a known tagging program that can be included in the wish list management unit 210 or cropping applications.

The cropping application as described above may include a known parsing program for cropping text information among information about a product. Such a parsing program may automatically recognize and collect basic information or detailed description of a product from an online shopping mall. The cropping application may also crop at least a portion of the image of the product at any location on the online shopping mall. For this image cropping, as shown in FIG. 3, the user may directly select an area to be cropped in the image of the product according to a predetermined guide, and the cropping application automatically recognizes all or part of the image of the product. You can also choose. For automatic recognition of merchandise images, the cropping application may include a known object recognition program.

The cropped information as described above may be stored and managed in association with the user's account in the database 240 as described below. Thus, the user can have a wish list with items that contain cropped information.

Meanwhile, the wish list manager 210 may allow a user to manage individual items belonging to his wish list. Specifically, a user may enter a management space for one item of a wish list (eg, a 'me luuv' page as shown in FIG. 4) and forward the item to another user, or Leave a comment or manage (ie, add, change, or delete) a tag related to the item. According to the user's behavior as described above, the wish list manager 210 associates the item with another user's account. You can add it as an item in another wish list, extend the thread of comments about the item, or manage tags for that item. In particular, the wish list manager 210 may provide a color palette interface as exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 4 in order to enable the user to visually manage the product color tone tag even in the item management space.

Next, the user communication support unit 220 according to an embodiment of the present invention is a site hosted by the information management system 200 (for example, a 'luuv.it' site as shown in FIGS. 4 to 8). In any communication space (e.g., item management space as shown in FIG. 5 or time-series group communication space as shown in FIGS. 6 and 8). luuv.it 'friend group or friend group imported from other social network sites) can be a function that enables the communication between the center of the product belonging to a specific item. The function of the user communication support unit 220 will be described in detail below.

If user A selects an item from his wish list and user A leaves a comment in the management space (for example, an item management space as shown in FIG. 5) regarding the item, Information about the item (e.g., an image of the product, location information of the item management space, etc.) and / or a time-series group communication space in which the comment belongs to user A (e.g., as shown in FIG. The same item is included in the item management space (User B's wish list) that belongs to the same time series group communication space, while also belonging to one or more other users (for example, User B) belonging to the same group as User A. If present) or in a time series group communication space. In this case, the user A and user B's item management space (for items commonly included in the wish list of the two users) or the time series group communication space may be synchronized with each other. That is, user A and user B can share a conversation thread, starting with the comments left by user A initially and consisting of their subsequent comments. Such conversation threads may be shared among three or more users. Preferably, at least a portion of the conversation thread as described above may include information that allows the user to intuitively grasp the subject of the conversation, such as an image of a product.

In order to implement the above functions, the user communication support unit 220, in response to the user A leaving a comment, sets the identification information on the user A and / or the identification information on the corresponding item as a key. A record regarding the comment may be created in the database 240. Such a record may be accompanied by a time stamp. In addition, the user communication support unit 220 retrieves the record from the database 240 (example search condition: identification information about the user A) for the user B, and the comment is added to the time series group communication space of the user B. The record may be delivered or displayed, or the record may be retrieved from the database 240 (example search condition: identification information about the item) so that the comment may be delivered or displayed in the user B's corresponding item management space. On the other hand, if the user B leaves his / her comment on the comment, the user communication support unit 220 similarly generates a comment record with the identification information on the user B and / or the identification information on the item, and the corresponding comment. May be retrieved for User A and communicated or displayed in User A's communication space.

On the other hand, the user communication support unit 220 includes, as an item in the wish list of the user B, an item included in the wish list of the user A regarding the product which is the subject of the conversation, in response to the explicit or implicit request of the user B. You can also

Next, the advertisement providing unit 230 according to an embodiment of the present invention, when a user asks a question with a tag search word and / or a photographic image about a product of interest to a user, a user may search for a corresponding product from a wish list of a plurality of users. Searching one or more items may perform a function of providing information (list) of the items to the user terminal device 300 as a response to the question. See below for details.

The advertisement provider 230 may provide a question space (eg, a 'find me luuv' page as illustrated in FIG. 7) in which the user may ask a predetermined question. This question space may have an interface that allows a user to enter tag search terms and / or photographic images. Preferably, such an interface may indicate that some of the various tags related to the wish list of the user are highly selectable.

Alternatively, the advertisement providing unit 230 may cause the product question application to be downloaded to the user terminal device 300. Such a product question application may be installed and activated in the user terminal device 300 to perform a function of allowing a user to similarly ask questions without having to access the question space as described above. Preferably, the user may input an image of a picture photographed by himself / herself with a camera that may be provided in the terminal device 300 to the product question application.

Next, the advertisement providing unit 230 searches for an item from the database 240 based on a tag search term and / or a photographic image input by the user, and provides information about the retrieved item (for example, an image of a product, Information about the product or location information of a space where the product can be obtained, etc.) can be extracted and configured and provided as response content to the user's question. Preferably, the response content may be a list including an image of a product and location information of an online shopping mall selling the product. Less preferably, at least some of such response content may be arbitrarily configured by the operator of the information management system 200.

The advertisement providing unit 230 may enable the user to communicate with other users belonging to his or her social network group in a predetermined communication space with respect to the response content provided by the user. That is, the advertisement provider 230 may generate a response content record and allow it to be distributed among several users. Referring to FIG. 8, it can be seen an example of how the response content is distributed like the comment.

In addition, when the user A expresses interest in a predetermined manner with respect to the question of the user B in advance, the advertisement providing unit 230 provides the response content provided to the user B (ie, the user B's question space, etc.) with respect to the question. May also be provided to User A (ie, User A's communication space, etc.).

Next, the advertisement providing unit 230 according to another embodiment of the present invention may be applied to an item (or a product thereof) that is measured as having high interest among users among many items of various wish lists managed by the information management system 200. The advertisement content may be generated and transmitted to the user terminal device 300 through a site hosted by the information management system 200 or by a known messaging technique. To this end, the advertisement providing unit 230 each item based on the number of items added to the user's wish list, the number of visits of the user to the item management space, the number of comments made (or the amount) of the user's items, etc. Measure the user's interest in. Preferably, the advertising content may be to induce a user to visit a predetermined management space regarding an item associated with a particular user's account. In this case, some of the advertisement fee may be paid to the specific user based on the number of visits or the number of purchases (or purchase amount) due to the visit.

Next, the advertisement providing unit 230 according to another embodiment of the present invention searches for a plurality of items related to the same product among the many items in the various wish lists managed by the information management system 200, and then the corresponding user It may also perform a function to support a joint purchase. To this end, the advertisement providing unit 230 provides a separate co-purchasing platform on a site or other space hosted by the information management system 200 or provides an external co-purchasing server (not shown) to such a user. Contact information and / or information about the product may be transmitted.

Next, a variety of information as described above may be stored in the database 240 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Although the database 240 is illustrated as being included in the information management system 200 in FIG. 2, the database 240 is separate from the information management system 200, as required by those skilled in the art to implement the present invention. It may be configured. On the other hand, the database 240 in the present invention is a concept that includes a computer-readable recording medium, and may be a broad database including not only a negotiated database but also a data record based on a file system. If the set can be retrieved to extract data, it can be the database 240 in the present invention.

Next, the communication unit 250 according to an embodiment of the present invention allows data to be transmitted and received from / to the wish list management unit 210, the user communication support unit 220, the advertisement providing unit 230, and the database 240. To perform the function.

Finally, the control unit 260 according to an embodiment of the present invention is the flow of data between the wish list management unit 210, the user communication support unit 220, the advertisement providing unit 230, the database 240 and the communication unit 250 It can control the function. That is, the controller 260 according to the present invention controls the data flow from / to the outside of the information management system 200 or the data flow between each component of the information management system 200, thereby, the wish list manager 210, The user communication support unit 220, the advertisement providing unit 230, the database 240, and the communication unit 250 may control each to perform a unique function.

Embodiments according to the present invention described above can be implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed by various computer components and recorded in a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium may include program commands, data files, data structures, and the like, alone or in combination. The program instructions recorded on the computer-readable recording medium may be those specifically designed and configured for the present invention or may be those known and used by those skilled in the computer software arts. Examples of computer-readable media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tape, optical recording media such as CD-ROM and DVD, magneto-optical media such as floptical disks, medium, and hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program instructions, such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include machine language code, such as those generated by a compiler, as well as high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The hardware device may be modified into one or more software modules for performing the processing according to the present invention, and vice versa.

Although the present invention has been described by specific matters such as specific components and limited embodiments and drawings, it is provided only to help a more general understanding of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Those skilled in the art may make various modifications and changes from this description.

Accordingly, the spirit of the present invention should not be construed as being limited to the above-described embodiments, and all ranges that are equivalent to or equivalent to the claims of the present invention as well as the claims .

100: Network
200: information management system
210: wish list management unit
220: user communication support unit
230: advertising provider
240: database
250: communication unit
260:
300: user terminal device
400: online store server

Claims (12)

As a method for providing shopping information,
Information about a product selected by a user from each of a plurality of online shopping malls, wherein the information about the product includes at least one of basic information, a detailed description, an image, and location information of a space where the product can be obtained or can be obtained. Includes a portion-collecting,
Generating an integrated wish list of the user based on the collected information, and
In a communication space associated with the user's account, allowing the user and other users belonging to the user's social network group to communicate about a particular item belonging to the integrated wish list;
≪ / RTI > The method of claim 1,
The product information collecting step,
Causing a cropping application to be downloaded to the user's terminal device;
Collecting information about the product by the cropping application, and
Receiving a color tag for the product by the color palette interface provided by the cropping application
≪ / RTI > The method of claim 1,
The communication space is an item management space or a time series group communication space. The method of claim 1,
The social network group of the user is a group imported from another social network site of the user. The method of claim 1,
Wherein said communication about said particular item exchanges a plurality of comments on a product of said particular item within said social network group of said user. The method of claim 5,
At least one of the plurality of comments includes an image of the product of the particular item or location information of a management space with respect to the particular item. A method for providing advertising content using the method according to claim 1,
Receiving a question from the terminal device of the user, wherein the question is constituted by at least one of a tag search word and a photo image;
Retrieving an item from an integrated wish list of a plurality of users based on at least one of the tag search word and the photo image, and
Providing response content about the retrieved item, the response content containing information about the product or information about the product or including location information of a space where the product can be obtained.
≪ / RTI > The method of claim 7, wherein
The response content may be distributed through the communication space. A method for providing advertising content using the method according to claim 1,
User interest-The user interest is measured based on at least one of the number of items added to the user's wish list, the number of visits to the user's item management space, the number of comments made on the user's items, or the amount thereof. Extracting a popular item from the unified wish list of the plurality of users based on; and
Generating and providing advertisement content regarding the popular item
≪ / RTI > 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the advertising content induces a visit to a management space for the popular item. An information management system for providing shopping information,
Information about a product selected by the user from each of the plurality of online shopping malls, wherein the information about the product includes at least one of basic information, a detailed description, an image, and location information of a space where the product can be obtained; Includes a portion-a wish list management unit for collecting and generating an integrated wish list of the user based on the collected information, and
In the communication space associated with the user's account, the user communication support unit for allowing the user and other users belonging to the user's social network group to communicate about a specific item belonging to the integrated wish list
/ RTI > A computer readable recording medium for recording a computer program for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

Images