TW201407523A - Method and system for processing shopping information - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosure is related to a method and a system for processing shopping information. The method is adapted to a handheld device which initiates a product searching process. A server is introduced to providing shopping information based on an enquiry over a network. In an exemplary example of the invention, a user-end program is initiated in the handheld device to link with the server, and enquire about a product. The user-end program can be used to capture a product's image, barcode, or generate text description for enquiring the product in the server. After identifying the product, a comparison performed in the server with a database results in one or more related products. The products are then sorted by price. The user-end program obtains the result including products' names, prices, and selling locations for user to collect or browse, and also for shopping.

Description

Shopping information processing method and system thereof

The present invention relates to a shopping information processing method and system thereof for a handheld device, and more particularly to a method for transmitting product information to a server for querying and price sorting through a program of a handheld device and a system for providing the same.

When consumers buy certain products, they tend to shop around and may buy them from the best-priced stores with specific promotions. However, the traditional price comparison method is either the user searches on the Internet or collects them. The webpage of the price of each selling place is inquired to obtain the most convenient (close to location) and affordable purchase method.

Another problem is that the conventional technology lacks a way to effectively integrate various stores and suppliers. Even if the user decides the more favorable products by himself, the location of the sale may be one of the final considerations for whether or not to purchase.

Moreover, the prior art lacks a service provider that can monitor the price fluctuations of various stores and suppliers, so that consumers can only pay attention to whether the price reaches the acceptable level of purchase at any time.

In view of the need for consumers to integrate information and price comparison information, the present invention provides a shopping information processing method, and a specific service provider provides a server for collecting product information of various stores, suppliers, and sales platforms, including various commodities. The name, category, price, and location of the sale, providing consumers with a platform to purchase information, and keep abreast of each The price of the commodity fluctuates, and the user's handheld device is installed to install a specific software program, and the connection inquiry is performed at any time.

According to one of the embodiments, the method flow described in the disclosure includes starting a client program through a handheld device, and the client program transmits the client identification data to the set server, and the initial data transmitted includes device identification. Or the user identification data, after the connection request, establish a connection between the server and the user handheld device.

Afterwards, the user generates a query data through the user program, and the query data includes a product information, for example, the product function of the client program can be used to capture the product, and after uploading the server, the image identification technology is used to determine the product; or the barcode can be taken. 2D barcode uploading server, the server compares the database to obtain the product data; or the voice recognition input keyword, and then the server compares the database to obtain the product data; and provides a text description query.

After the server queries the database according to the uploaded product information, the product can be identified, and then the information of the relevant product is obtained by comparison, and the server establishes a commodity data package file by the comparison result, and then transmits the data package to the handheld device, and the commodity data package The file includes one or more articles related to the product, and each product data includes at least a product name, a price, and a place of sale.

After receiving the package file of the product data by the user-side handheld device, the package file can be opened through the aforementioned client program, and the user can obtain the order of the product price, browse the product information, and further integrate the obtained product into the individual through the function provided by the software program. A list of favorites that can be stored in a handheld device or stored in a server's database.

According to another embodiment, when the handheld device transmits the query data, the location of the handheld device is further transmitted, for example, the positioning information is generated through the global positioning system in the device, and the positioning information can assist in querying the user for selling nearby. Product information.

In the embodiment of the invention described in the disclosure, the invention further includes a shopping information processing system, wherein the system includes a server for querying product data, and the server includes a data processing unit for processing the incoming and outgoing signals in the server, and provides a server connection. The network further connects the communication unit of each client device, the database connection unit that provides the server connection database and the query operation, the client management unit that provides the server management connection device, and the sort program unit sorted according to the query result. And a product identification unit that identifies the product information transmitted by the client program. The product identification unit specifies that the product name can be recognized by the received image by the image recognition technology, or the product can be identified based on the transmitted barcode.

The database linked to the server records a plurality of commodity data and a plurality of client data, and the commodity data includes one or more combinations of texts, barcodes, images, prices, and sales locations of the plurality of products; wherein the client data includes One or a combination of identity data, history, collections, communication materials, and comments of a plurality of users.

In order to provide a user with a convenient and efficient access to shopping information of a specific product, the invention described in the present disclosure provides a shopping information processing method and system thereof, which can be applied to a handheld device through a user terminal installed in the device. The program is connected to a server that provides a product inquiry service, and the client program provides a product inquiry interface, so that the user can conveniently input the inquiry data through the function on the handheld device.

For example, a handheld device usually has a camera function, and the service provided by the present invention can receive a product image captured by the handheld device, and then utilize the image recognition function. The product can be identified, and the relevant products in the database can be queried to obtain the prices of a plurality of vending stores, suppliers, and sales platforms of the same or similar products, which are provided to the user for selection, or directly provide the lowest price for sale. The location is for the user's reference.

Moreover, the handheld device can be provided with a function program for taking a barcode and a two-dimensional barcode (such as a QR code), so that the barcode or the two-dimensional barcode of the product can be directly photographed, and then the decoded message is transmitted to the server by the servo. After comparing the database, the product information is obtained, and then the price of the plurality of vending stores, suppliers, and sales platforms that obtain the same or similar products in the database is compared, and the lowest selling location is also provided to the user. reference.

According to another embodiment proposed by the disclosure, the location of the handheld device can be obtained by using a global positioning system (GPS) or an assisted positioning technology (such as A-GPS) in the handheld device, and thus, further, when the user transmits When querying information, the location information obtained by the positioning system can be transmitted at the same time, so that the server can provide the product information related to the user's location according to the location information, and provide the user with reference. For example, the relevant product information includes location information, which allows the user to select the query result within a specific location range, and obtain the product information that is closer and has a good price, so that the user can further purchase.

For an embodiment, reference may be made to the schematic diagram of the embodiment of the shopping information processing system architecture of the present invention shown in FIG. The figure shows a server 10, which is connected to a database 12. The database 12 is a storage device for summarizing various materials, and may be a collection of one or more databases.

The other end of the network can be connected to the server 101. The handheld device 101 can be connected to the server 10. As shown, the handheld device 101 executes a client program, and the generated user interface provides an interface for querying products, which can be used by the user. Input text description, or product image, or image of scanned barcode, etc., and finally sent to the server 10 for inquiry, the server 10 compares the contents of the database 12, and then transmits the query result to the handheld device 101'. The handheld device 101' displays the result of the query. This example displays one or more sales locations of the same or similar products, such as store one, store second, etc. as shown.

Figure 2 then shows a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the aforementioned shopping information processing system. In the embodiment of the invention described in the disclosure, FIG. 2 shows a shopping information processing system composed of main components such as a server 20 for searching for product data, a database 22, and the like.

The server 20 includes a data processing unit 201 for processing incoming and outgoing signals in the server 20, such as a central processing unit of a computer system for performing various signal processing and numerical calculations, particularly signal communication between the various circuit units. The figure includes a communication unit 202 electrically connected to the data processing unit 201, a database interface unit 203, a client management unit 204, a sorting program unit 205, and a product identification unit 206, which are composed of the server 20 to perform the shopping of the present invention. The necessary components for information processing.

The communication unit 202 provides the server 20 with the ability to connect to the network 24, and provides each client device to connect the server 20 via the network 24. The server 20 connects the database 22 via the database interface unit 203, provides the data of the database 22 to the server 20, and executes the query operation of the database 22 according to the query data generated by each client device. For example, the query data received by the client device includes a product information, and the database interface unit 203 can compare the content of the database 22 according to the product information, and cooperate with the data processing capability of the data processing unit 201 to obtain a comparison result.

The client management unit 204 in the server 20 is configured to manage a plurality of client devices of the connection server 20, and is mainly used to identify each client device. Connected, the connection packet will carry the identification information of the user device. In another embodiment, the shopping information processing system provided by the present invention may require the user to log in to the server 20 by using an identification method such as an account number and a password. This method may enable the client management unit 204 to obtain the user identity data, and thus may provide corresponding information. The service includes recording the user's usage habits and query history, and the database 22 records the user's favorite items, my favorites, and the like.

The server 20 further has a sorting program unit 205, and the sorting program unit 205 can perform sorting according to the result of the foregoing query job, in particular, comparing the prices of the products at the respective sales locations in the query result, sorting and displaying to the user, or directly Provide the lowest price for the user's reference.

The item identification unit 206 is used to identify the item information transmitted by each client device. According to the embodiment, the function generated by the product identification unit 206 can identify the content of the product according to the product information provided by the user device. For example, the product identification unit 206 can identify the product according to the transmitted product image, barcode, or text description. The image recognition technology can be cited to identify the product image, and then the data of the database 22 is compared to obtain the product content. For the same reason, it can be used for the identification of barcodes and text descriptions.

At the user end, each client device is connected to the server 20 through the executed client program, and the client program generates the information for identifying the client devices by the client management unit 204 in the server 20, and the client program provides Input methods (photographing, scanning bar code, text input, voice input, handwriting input, etc.) can produce product images, barcodes or text descriptions.

The database 22 shown in FIG. 2 is connected to the server 20 via the database interface unit 203. The database 22 records a plurality of commodity data and a plurality of client data.

The product information 220 includes a text introduction of a plurality of articles (221) , bar code (222), image (223), price (224) and place of sale (225), including one or a combination of physical access and/or commodity network addresses, which are based on query information After the output is generated to the client program, depending on the product data that the database 22 can obtain, it may not be provided in full, and only some of the collected data may be provided. The client data 230 includes a plurality of user identity data (231), including identity data, or user basic data; history (232), including the user's past query records, transaction records, etc., and these records may also include The user has purchased the location of the product, positioning information, etc.; the collection (233) is the user to set the item to be collected after the inquiry for future reference; including the user's communication data (234); A user's comment on each item (235), or one of the other people's comments of the same item, or a combination thereof may be stored.

The embodiment of the server-side shopping information processing method of the present invention can refer to the flow of FIG.

According to one of the embodiments, the method flow described in the disclosure includes starting a client program through a handheld device, and the client program transmits the client identification data to the set server, and the initial data transmitted includes device identification. Or the user identification data, after the server accepts the connection request, establish a connection between the server and the user handheld device, as in step S301.

Then, the user generates a query data through the user program, and the query data includes a product information, which is received by the server. In step S303, for example, the camera function of the client program can be used to capture the product, and after uploading the server, the image is recognized by the image. The technical judgment of the goods; or can take the barcode, 2D barcode upload server, the server compares the database to obtain the product information; can also provide text description query.

After the server queries the database according to the uploaded product information, the server can identify the product, as in step S305. Then, by comparing the contents of the database, information about the product can be obtained. In step S307, a comparison result is generated (step S309), at which time the server establishes a product data package by the comparison result (step S311). And transmitting to the handheld device of the user end, the product data package file includes one or more pieces of information related to the product, and each product data includes at least a product name, a price, and a sales location (step S313).

After receiving the package file of the product data by the user-side handheld device, the package file can be opened through the aforementioned client program, and the user can obtain the order of the product price, browse the product information, and further integrate the obtained product into the individual through the function provided by the software program. The list of favorites, which can be stored in the handheld device or stored in the database of the server. The generated messages can be recorded in the database, including browsing related information. The commodity data, the price ranking of one or a plurality of related articles, the collection list, the query history, etc., are received by the server, and the commodity-related records are set (step S315).

According to the foregoing embodiment, the handheld device has a positioning technology, and when the handheld device transmits the query data, the location information of the handheld device is transmitted, for example, the positioning information is generated through the global positioning system (GPS) in the device, according to the needs of the user, for example. Within a certain range, the server will be able to assist in querying the product information sold near the user based on the location information.

The flow shown in FIG. 4 is followed by an embodiment of the method for processing the client shopping information of the present invention. This example is a flow of the technology described in the present disclosure applied to the client.

When the user uses a handheld device with network communication capability, a software program for executing shopping information processing can be executed first, for example, installed in a smart type. The mobile phone program (APP), and other embodiments can access a webpage for processing shopping information through a web browser. After executing the relevant software or program, the handheld device screen displays a user interface for inputting product information, and the user can input product information by using various hardware and software support input methods of the handheld device. In step S401, the manner of inputting the product information includes The product image is captured by the camera to form a product image (41), which can be transmitted to the connected server via the program, and the image recognition technology in the server can be used to identify the data in the database. Similar product information. After being selected, the server compares the database to provide the corresponding product information.

Other input methods include direct description of the product text (42) in a specific field. After being transmitted to the server, the server searches for the text and returns the corresponding data to the user, which is displayed by the display of the handheld device. Search results of related product data.

The barcode (43) can be a general one-dimensional barcode or a two-dimensional barcode such as a QR code, and can obtain a barcode (43) image and transmit it to the server via a camera function of the handheld device. The server compares the corresponding data of the barcode and the product in the database, and continues to obtain the relevant product information, and returns the result.

Voice (44) input is also an input method commonly used in smart phones. The user reads the product name, and after voice recognition, converts the signal into a network packet and transmits it to the server, which is compared by the server. Goods, and information on obtaining this product.

The above various input methods are not used to limit the application of the present invention, and the product information generated by the input is transmitted to the server, and in step S403, the server (45) performs the product inquiry, and the server (45') returns the product information. Passed to the handheld device, the user interface displays one or more queries for the product As a result, the list can be presented. For example, in step S405, the displayed information, such as the price of the goods in each store, the store, the selling position, the related goods, and the like, in particular, the price, can provide a reference for the user to purchase, as in step S407, according to the price. Sorting is performed, and the user selects (step S409) to select and browse related materials (step S411). When the user browses the results of the query, the software program for the shopping information processing will provide the function of connection sharing through the user interface, including executing interface programs corresponding to various sharing methods, such as through social networking sites (such as Facebook) and blogs ( Share it to others, such as Twitter, plurk, or email, as shown in step S413. In addition to the price, the aforementioned sorted objects may also be determined by the user, such as the location of the selling place. After the user obtains the product data through the software program of the handheld device or the browser, the user himself can continue to perform further actions on the query result of the product. If the process displays, you can comment on the item (46), or the connection server can get other people's comments on the same item. Alternatively, the result of the inquiry may be collected (47), and the product data may be stored in the memory of the server or the handheld device, and the collected product data may be read later, or the reminding function may be set (49) Because each product has a corresponding price, or the user is not satisfied, the acceptable price range can be set through the reminder function (49), and the user can be actively reminded when the product meets the set conditions.

In addition, the present invention provides a map (48) function in the product data, which can clearly indicate the product sales location; if the product has a corresponding information web page, it also provides a function of linking the product information (50). The above comments, collections, maps and other information can be distributed on the Internet through various sharing methods.

5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 5D, 5F continuously show a schematic diagram of a screen presented on a handheld device using the technology of the present invention. The handheld device of this example is displayed as A mobile phone 5, but is not limited to this embodiment.

FIG. 5A shows a mobile phone 5, which has a screen on the display screen, for example, displaying product information 501, in particular, the product queryed by the foregoing processes in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the application provides at least two buttons on the screen, indicating that there is Users can check the history of their own shopping information search 502; you can also check my favorite 503, this feature allows users to mark specific products for later inquiry and browsing. The functionality provided by other software or specific web pages is not limited to this figure.

The mobile phone 5 screen shown in FIG. 5B is provided with the function of querying the location 504, that is, the user can input a specific area to obtain the product sales location, or the location of the mobile phone 5 can be used as a query basis, so the global positioning system can be utilized first. Or assisted positioning technology to obtain the location of the mobile phone 5, and then query the product information related to the location.

The screen of the mobile phone 5 shown in FIG. 5C is the query result 505. The query result includes, in particular, the corresponding product information, including the product name, photo, price, quotation time, and place of sale. The result of the query can also be displayed as a list showing the same goods sold in various places, especially the prices everywhere, so it can be sorted, as shown in the store, store 2, store 3 and store 4 Price list. Users can clearly get the price of the same item sold everywhere.

When the user selects an item of interest, as shown in FIG. 5D, the mobile phone 5 can obtain the corresponding product information 506 by the connection server, and the content includes the product name, the product category, the sales location, the product price, etc. Exclusions may include coupons, product reviews, consumer history, recommended products, other related products, and the like. The user interface displayed on the screen can provide the user with the collection 507 when the item is displayed, and when the collection 507 is pressed. The program will automatically record the product data or associated files, store them in the phone 5 memory, or return them to the server for storage in the database. The program can also provide the function of querying other products 508, allowing the user to continue to query other products.

The various setting functions 509 displayed on the screen displayed by the mobile phone 5 of FIG. 5E generally set such as whether the mobile phone 5 position priority query and the product information acquisition manner, such as photographing, text input, barcode scanning, and other input methods. The functions shown in the figure include: the collection 510 provides a function for recording specific product data; the comment 511 provides a function for the user to comment on the product; and the reminder 512 provides a notification message for the system to change the information of the specific product, reminding the notification Methods include the use of emails, newsletters, mobile phone programs, notifications, etc.; map 513 provides users with an electronic map to view the location of merchandise sales.

FIG. 5F shows that the mobile phone 5 has an electronic map 513 indicating one or more locations for selling the inquired merchandise, and the software function can also perform navigation according to the location of interest of the user, and guide the user to the purchaseable inquiring product. position.

According to the invention described in the disclosure, in particular, a user interface created by a user on a handheld device is used to query an item of interest, and after inputting product information (such as image, name, barcode), it will be automatically connected. To the server, the server judges the product information, and further provides the user's goods corresponding to the information sold everywhere, especially the price. In a particular embodiment, the user may only need to know the selling position of the lowest price of the product, so the program can directly sort through the lowest price selling location for the user's reference. The user can choose whether to browse the selling position of other prices.

The location of the sale is not limited to physical stores, including online stores, merchandise Materials include sales location, product name, category and price.

In addition, since the database of the server on the server side can record the record for the user, the login identification code for identifying the identity of the user can be provided. After the user logs in, the database of the server can record the user's database. Shopping history, place of purchase, etc.

In summary, the shopping information processing method and system thereof described in the disclosure are applied to a handheld device in particular, and the function of the handheld device is used to obtain product information first, and transmitted to the server to query the location and price of the sale, thereby providing The user immediately obtains an acceptable selling price of the product. This technology also provides a platform for the owner of each entity or online store to provide merchandise. The platform provides sales information that integrates various product information and preferential programs, and is based on user history. Record information about advertising services and products of interest.

However, the above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Therefore, equivalent structural changes that are made by using the specification and the contents of the present invention are equally included in the present invention. Within the scope, it is combined with Chen Ming.

10‧‧‧Server

12‧‧‧Database

101,101’‧‧‧Handheld devices

20‧‧‧Server

22‧‧‧Database

24‧‧‧Network

201‧‧‧Data Processing Unit

202‧‧‧Communication unit

203‧‧‧Database interface unit

204‧‧‧Customer Management Unit

205‧‧‧Sort program unit

206‧‧‧Commodity identification unit

220‧‧‧Product Information

221‧‧‧ text introduction

222‧‧‧ barcode

223‧‧ images

224‧‧‧Price

225‧‧‧Sold locations

230‧‧‧User data

231‧‧‧idental information

232‧‧‧History

233‧‧‧Collection

234‧‧‧Communication information

235‧‧‧Comment

41‧‧‧ Images

42‧‧‧ text

43‧‧‧ barcode

44‧‧‧ Voice

45,45’‧‧‧ server

46‧‧‧Comment

47‧‧‧Collection

48‧‧‧Map

49‧‧‧Set reminder

50‧‧‧Link product information

501‧‧‧Product Information

502‧‧‧History

503‧‧‧My favorite

5‧‧‧Mobile phones

504‧‧‧Query location

505‧‧‧Query results

506‧‧‧Product Information

507‧‧‧Collection

508‧‧‧Inquiring about other goods

509‧‧‧Setting function

510‧‧‧Collection

511‧‧‧Comment

512‧‧‧Reminder

513‧‧‧Map

Step S301~S315‧‧‧One of the shopping information processing procedures

Step S401~S413‧‧‧ Shopping Information Processing Process 2

1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a shopping information processing system according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of a shopping information processing system of the present invention; and the flow shown in FIG. 3 describes a server-side shopping information processing method of the present invention. Embodiments; the flow shown in FIG. 4 describes the user-side shopping information processing method of the present invention Embodiments; Figures 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 5E, 5F show schematic views of a screen presented on a handheld device using the techniques of the present invention.

10‧‧‧Server

12‧‧‧Database

101,101’‧‧‧Handheld devices

Claims (10)

A shopping information processing method includes: starting a client program via a handheld device, receiving a connection request of the client program by a server, and establishing a network connection; the server receiving a query data, the query data includes a product information; according to the product information, the server queries a database to identify a product; the server compares the data about the product in the database; and compares to generate a comparison result; the server Forming a product data package file according to the comparison result; and transmitting the product data package file to the handheld device, the product data package file includes one or more pieces of information related to the product, and each product data includes at least a product name and a price With the location of the sale. The shopping information processing method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: after transmitting the product data package file to the handheld device, the user program executed by the handheld device opens the product data package file , a user terminal instruction is generated when browsing the product data. The shopping information processing method according to claim 2, wherein the client instruction comprises performing price ordering on the data of the one or more related products. The shopping information processing method of claim 2, wherein the client instruction comprises selecting to view a piece of information related to the product. The method for processing shopping information as described in claim 4, further comprising including the browsed item in a list of favorites, the list of favorites Stored by the database of the server. The method for processing a shopping information according to claim 1, wherein the query information transmitted by the client program to the server is a product image, a product barcode, or a text description of the product. The shopping information processing method of claim 6, wherein the query data further includes location information generated by a positioning system in the handheld device. A shopping information processing system includes: a server for querying product data, comprising: a data processing unit for processing a signal in the server; a communication unit electrically connected to the data processing unit to provide the server connection a network, and connecting each client device via the network; a database interface unit electrically connecting the data processing unit, the server is connected to a database via the database interface unit, and according to each client device The generated query data performs an inquiry operation of the database, the query data includes a product information; a client management unit is electrically connected to the data processing unit for managing a plurality of client devices connected to the server; The sorting program unit is electrically connected to the data processing unit, and performs sorting according to the result generated by the querying operation; a product identifying unit electrically connected to the data processing unit for identifying the commodity information transmitted by each client device; a database connected to the server via the database interface unit, the database recording a plurality of commodity data Plural pen client data, wherein the plurality of product data including text description of goods Pen One or a combination of bar code, image, price, and place of sale; wherein the client data includes one or a combination of identity information, history, favorites, communication materials, and comments of a plurality of users. The shopping information processing system of claim 8, wherein the product identification unit identifies an item based on a product image, a barcode, or a text description transmitted by each client device. The shopping information processing system of claim 9, wherein each client device is connected to the server through a client program, and the client program generates each user by the client management unit in the server. The information of the end device and used to generate the product image, barcode or text description.