WO2004036478A1

WO2004036478A1 - Method for providing beauty service using hair coordination simulation in franchise manner

Info

Publication number: WO2004036478A1
Application number: PCT/KR2003/001675
Authority: WO
Inventors: Byung-Cheol Cho
Original assignee: Taejin Infotech Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2002-10-17
Filing date: 2003-08-20
Publication date: 2004-04-29
Also published as: AU2003261615A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for providing beauty service using a hair coordination simulation in a franchise manner. In this method, a customer can select a desired hairstyle and have the selected hairstyle set while synthesizing selected hairstyle samples and the image of the customer, and the beauty information of customers and various contents can be shared and executed between a franchiser shop and franchisee shops on-line. To this end, the method includes the member authentication step of a member accessing a member terminal and having a membership of the member authenticated by inputting a phone number and a mobile phone number; the member information provision step of providing the member terminal with details of hairstyle setting of the member together with the image of the member; the hairstyle determination and setting step of searching for hairstyle samples, downloading the hairstyle samples, determining a hairstyle among synthetic images obtained by synthesizing the hairstyle samples and the image of the member stored in a pile through a hair coordination simulation, and having the determined hairstyle set; the treatment detail input and transmission step of transmitting the details of hairstyle setting of the member and the image of the member photographed by a program-operated Web camera to a database server after the setting of the hairstyles is completed; and the fee payment and point accumulation step of the member ascertaining the details of hairstyle setting, paying corresponding fees and accumulating bonus points.

Description

METHOD FOR PROVIDING BEAUTY SERVICE USING HAIR COORDINATION SIMULATION IN FRANCHISE MANNER

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to a method for providing beauty service using a hair coordination simulation in a franchise manner, which provides desired hairstyles to customers through image synthesis and, more particularly, to a method for providing beauty service using a hair coordination simulation in a franchise manner, in which hairstyles desired by members are selected through the virtual experiences of hairstyles based on the image synthesis of hairstyle samples provided from a server and the images of the members photographed and the beauty information of the members together with images are transmitted to and stored and managed in the server, thus sharing the beauty information of the members, and in which on-line education, electronic- commerce and brand advertisement, in which bi-directional communications between a franchiser shop and franchisee shops are possible, are performed.

Background Art

In general, a beauty shop is a place in which services, such as hairstyle setting, makeup and skin care, are provided. As an interest in individual beauty is increasing, systematic beauty services and customer management, which meet the likings and demands of individuals, are required of the beauty shop.

Meanwhile, when a hairstyle setting service is provided in a beauty shop, a customer verbally explains to a hair designer a desired hairstyle. If the communication between the customer, who is a non-specialist, and the hair designer is not clearly performed, a hairstyle that is not desired by the customer is provided. In this case, the hairstyle, once set, cannot be changed, so that there frequently occur the cases of not satisfying the demands of customers. To overcome such a problem, beauty shops may be furnished with catalogues regarding hairstyles. However, this is still insufficient for customers to select hairstyles suitable for them. Furthermore, since the systematic management of the beauty information of customers, such as hairstyles previously set and hair designers relevant to the customers is not conducted, this is considerably insufficient to provide satisfactory beauty services for respective customers.

Disclosure of the Invention

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for providing beauty service using a hair coordination simulation in a franchise manner, in which desired hairstyles are selected and set by synthesizing hairstyle samples selected by customers and the images of the customers and the beauty information of the customers together with the images are managed in a database server, so that the beauty information of the customers can be shared by franchisee shops, and in which various contents can be provided and executed between a franchiser shop and franchisee shops on-line, so that the various demands of the customers can be satisfied and the systematic business management of franchise beauty shops can be achieved. In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a method for providing beauty service using a hair coordination simulation in a franchise manner, including the member authentication step of a member accessing a member terminal and having a membership of the member authenticated by inputting a phone number and a mobile phone number; the member information provision step of providing the member terminal with details of hairstyle setting of the member together with the image of the member; the hairstyle determination and setting step of searching for hairstyle samples, downloading the hairstyle samples, determining a hairstyle among synthetic images obtained by synthesizing the hairstyle samples and the image of the member stored in a pile through a hair coordination simulation, and having the determined hairstyle set; the treatment detail input and transmission step of transmitting the details of hairstyle setting of the member and the image of the member photographed by a program-operated Web camera to a database server after the setting of the hairstyles is completed; and the fee payment and point accumulation step of the member ascertaining the details of hairstyle setting, paying corresponding fees and accumulating bonus points.

In particular, at the hairstyle determination and treatment step, the hairstyle to be set is determined while the image of the member displayed by the

Web camera in real time is compared with the hairstyle sample searched for and selected through the member terminal.

Furthermore, at the hairstyle determination and treatment step, a movie and a music video are automatically played when there has been no input to the member terminal for a predetermined period after the setting of the hairstyle started.

Furthermore, at the hairstyle determination and treatment step, when the member move from one location to another during the treatment of the hairstyle, service according to the member information of the member is continuously provided to the member without an additional authentication process by manipulating a standby registration button.

Furthermore, at the hairstyle determination and treatment step, designer information, such as careers and specialties, and multimedia services, such as online education, e-commerce and brand advertisement, are provided through the member terminal before or during the treatment of the hairstyle.

Furthermore, a beauty service providing system using a hair coordination simulation in a franchise manner is constructed so that member terminals for ascertaining member information and the details of treatment and executing a hair coordination simulation to select a desired hairstyle, an administrator terminal for inputting, storing and managing the member information and the details of treatment and Internet accessible terminals can transmit and receive data to and from a Web server and a database server through the Internet.

Furthermore, the member terminals, the administrator terminal and the

Internet accessible terminals are each equipped with a wireless Web camera, a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse so that on-line education, e-commerce and brand advertisement in which bi-directional communications between the franchiser shop and the franchisee shops are possible can be carried out.

Furthermore, one of the member terminals performs the image server function of storing the details of treatment and image of the member after hairstyle treatment is completed and backs up the member information while accessing the Web server.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a system in which a beauty service providing method of the present invention is implemented; Fig. 2 is a configuration diagram of the system, including an Internet data center and a franchisee shop, in which a beauty service providing method of the present invention is implemented;

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of the beauty service providing method according to the present invention; Figs. 4a and 4b are flowcharts showing the detailed steps of hair coordination simulation at the hairstyle determination and treatment step;

Fig. 5a is an exemplary view showing the log-in screen of a member management program according to the present invention;

Fig. 5b is an exemplary view showing the member information provision screen of the member management program according to the present invention;

Fig. 5c is an exemplary view showing the hair coordination simulation screen of the member management program according to the present invention;

Fig. 6a is an exemplary view showing the member management screen of an administration program according to the present invention; and

Fig. 6b is an exemplary view showing the treatment detail management screen of the administration program according to the present invention.

*Description of reference characters of principal elements in the drawings

10 : franchisee shop 12 : member terminal

14: administrator terminal 16: Internet accessible terminal

18: hub 20: Internet

30: Internet data center 32: Web server 34: database server 36: firewall

100: member authentication step 200: member information provision step

300: hairstyle determination and setting step

310: hairstyle sample selection step 320: member image reception step 330: member image adjustment step 340: member image photographing step

350: synthetic image display step

400: setting detail input and transmission step

500: fee payment and point accumulation step

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings below.

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the schematic configuration of a beauty service providing system in which various pieces of information and various contents are exchanged between franchisee shops 10, or between a franchiser shop and franchisee shops 10 in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the construction of the beauty service providing system in which the beauty information of members and various contents provided from the database server 34 of an Internet Data Center (IDC) 30 are provided to the terminals of the franchisee shops 10 via the Internet 20 in accordance with the present invention. Figs. 3, 4a and 4b are flowcharts showing the beauty service providing method according to the present invention and the detailed steps of hair coordination simulation at the hairstyle determination and setting step 300, respectively. Figs. 5a, 5b and 5c are exemplary views showing the log-in screen, member information provision screen and hair coordination simulation screen of a member management program according to the present invention, respectively. Figs. 6a and 6b are exemplary views showing the member management screen and treatment detail management screen of an administration program of an administrator terminal 14 according to the present invention, respectively.

As shown in the drawings, the system, in which the beauty service providing method of the present invention is implemented, is constructed so that the IDS center 30 composed of the database server 34 for storing and managing the beauty information of members and various contents, the Web server 32 and an authentication server is connected to the Internet 20 through a firewall 36, and the IDS center 30 transmits and receives member information and various contents to and from the terminals of a franchiser shop, a franchise sole agency and franchisee shops 10.

Information exchange between the franchisee shops 10 through the Internet 20 is enabled. Accordingly, the member information and the various contents received from the IDC 30 are transmitted to member terminals 10, an administrator terminal and 12 and Internet accessible terminals 14 through the hub of each of the franchisee shops 10.

In this case, each of the member terminals 10 stores the image of a member, and executes a hair coordination simulation downloaded from the Web server 32 and installed thereon. Each of the Internet accessible terminals 14 provides Internet and video to standby customers. The administrator terminal 12 functions to perform the management of member information, handle the payment of fees and perform the management of beauty shop while operating an administration program. The beauty service providing system is constructed so that a small-sized network can be constructed for each terminal and networking is enabled through an ultrahigh speed Internet communication network. As shown in Figs. 3 and 5a, in the process of the beauty service providing method performed by the beauty service providing system, there is performed the member authentication step 100 of a member accessing a member terminal 10 and being authenticated by inputting a phone number and a mobile phone number to the terminal 10. Next, after the member is authenticated, the process enters the member information provision step 200 of providing the beauty information of the member while the member management program is executed, as depicted in Fig. 5b. At this step, a list of the details of treatment together with the hairstyle images previously set is provided. Thereafter, as shown in Fig. 5c, the process enters the hairstyle determination and setting step 300 of searching for and selecting hairstyle samples, synthesizing the image of the member and the selected hairstyle samples through the hairstyle coordination simulation, determining a hairstyle to be set and having the hairstyle set. In that case, a hair coordination simulation method, in which the member determines a hairstyle, will be described in detail, as shown Figs.4a and 4b.

As shown in Fig. 4a, if the image of a member is stored in a database server 34, the hair coordination simulation method is constructed to undergo the hairstyle sample selecting step 310 of searching for and selecting a hairstyle sample, the member image receiving step 320 of receiving the member image from the database server 34, and the member image adjusting step 330 of resizing the member image, and the synthesized member image displaying step 350 of synthesizing the member image and the hairstyle sample and displaying a synthetic image. In this case, the member image stored in the database 34 is photographed and transmitted to the database 34 at the time of membership registration. The member image is formed by photographing the front, back, right and left images of a member. The hairstyle sample to be synthesized with the member image can be searched for and selected by manipulating the buttons of the menus of the member management program.

Meanwhile, as shown in Fig. 4b, the member image can be photographed and be combined with a hairstyle sample instantly. In this case, the hair coordination simulation method is constructed to undergo the hairstyle sample selecting step 310 of searching for and selecting a hairstyle sample, the member image photographing step 340 of operating a Web camera by executing a program, the member image adjusting step 330 of automatically resizing the member image photographed by the Web camera, and the synthetic image displaying step 350 of synthesizing the member image and the hairstyle sample and displaying a synthetic image. In that case, instead of the member image adjusting step 330, there may be performed the image matching and confirming step (reference numeral omitted) of the member matching the hairstyle sample displayed on a screen for the member image displayed behind the hairstyle sample while moving his or her body. Once the hair designer starts to set the hairstyle, the use of the member terminal 10 is interrupted. When there has been no input for a predetermined period, appointed movie and music video are automatically played on the member terminal 10.

Furthermore, when the member moves from one location to another for the purposes of, for example, washing his or her hair or getting permanent waves, the member terminal 10 continuously provides service without an additional authentication process. This is enabled by registering a current member as a standby in such a way as to press the button "standby registration" of the member management program. At the hairstyle determining and setting step 300, the information of hair designers, such as careers, specialties and photos, is provided from the database server 34 through the member terminal 12 to allow the member to directly select a hair designer suitable for him or her. In this case, this step may be constructed so that the member terminal 12 is linked to the homepages of respective hair designers.

The information of hair designers is constructed by designers inputting changed items and correcting the items while accessing the Web server 32. With this process, the hair designers may become enthusiastic for self- improvement so as to increase their abilities, so that the satisfaction of the member as well as the increased abilities of hair designers is achieved.

Further, to allow the member to use before or while the member has his or her hairstyle set, multimedia services, such as on-line education, electronic- commerce and bland advertisement, in which bi-directional communications are enabled between the franchiser shop and franchisee shops, are provided through the member terminal 12. To effectively provide such services, the member terminal 12 is equipped with a wireless Web camera, a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse.

Thereafter, as shown in Figs. 6a and 6b, at the setting detail input and transmission step 400, after the hairstyle treatment is completed, the details of treatment are inputted by the administration program executed on the administrator terminal 14, and the member image photographed by the Web camera, together with the details of treatment, is automatically transmitted to the database server 34.

In this case, the member image is formed by photographing the front, back, right and left sides of the member. As the file name and registration data of a corresponding image are recognized, a corresponding image file is automatically stored onto a desired directory in the database server 34.

One of the member terminals 12 is appointed to function as an image server. The appointed member terminal 12 accesses the Web server at regular intervals and backs up the member information. With the customer information management menu of the administration program executed on the administrator terminal 14, the details of treatment and images of the members are added, deleted and amended, which are transmitted to the member terminal 12 having the function of the image server. Finally, at the fee payment and point accumulation step 500, after ascertaining setting details on the administrator terminal 14, on which the administration program is executed, in a counter, the member pays corresponding fees and has corresponding bonus points accumulated. A prize or discount in fees is granted to the member for the accumulated bonus points. In the beauty service providing system composed of the steps described above, the member terminals 12, the administrator terminal 14 and the Internet accessible terminal 16 employs touch screens as screen interfaces to facilitate the manipulation of buttons at the time of selecting the items of menus.

In the meantime, when the present invention is applied to a franchise business, the IDC 30 manages a database storing beauty information, newest fashion information and commodity information and provides the beauty information, the newest fashion information and the commodity information using programs, such as a member management program and an administration program. Accordingly, there can be reduced the inconveniences of each of franchisee shops 10 collecting information and performing the registration of the information, and a franchiser may earn benefits from providing such information.

Between the franchiser shop and the franchisee shops 10 and between the franchisee shops 10, on-line education, e-commerce and brand advertisement, in which bidirectional communications are possible, may be carried out, in addition to information exchange. This enables a quick information exchange between the franchiser shop and the franchisee shops 10, and can promote coherence and unity between the franchisee shops 10.

In the on-line education, when the IDC 30 receives educational contents from the franchiser shop and uploads the educational contents on-line to allow only members to view the educational contents, the members frequently access the educational contents through the member terminals 12, the administrator terminal 14 and the Internet accessible terminals 16 at the franchisee shops 16, and play and view moving pictures and educational materials uploaded to an account. In this case, the educational materials uploaded on-line are stored and managed in the database server 34 of the IDC 30, so that hair designers and shop owners easily view not only updated materials but also previous materials.

Furthermore, in the on-line education, a video conference system may be introduced so that education is performed on-line and an exchange of opinions, such as questions and requests, with instructors can be conducted instantly so as to appropriately handle questions occurring during education, and a remote hairstyle setting system may be introduced so that hair designers practice hairstyle setting instantly while watching the remote hairstyle setting of instructors in video. In this case, with the video and audio support of the video conference system and the remote hairstyle setting system provided from the video conference server (not shown) of the IDS center 30, hair designers and shop owners access various terminals 12, 14 and 16 and, thereafter, perform bidirectional communications in which they make conversations through web cameras and microphones while watching video.

In the e-commerce, during page change or page loading in the member terminals 12, the administrator terminal 14 and the Internet accessible terminals 16, advertisement pages regarding the commodities of the franchise beauty shops are inserted and service users purchase the commodities. In this case, during page change or page loading, a commodity advertisement page is inserted or a commodity advertisement is inserted onto the terminals in a banner form. At this time, if a service user clicks on a desired advertisement when the advertisement regarding a desired commodity is displayed, the detailed information of the commodity is displayed. Furthermore, when a service user selects a commodity to purchase and presses a selection and storage button, the service user can purchase the selected commodity at the time of paying fees after the hairstyle setting is completed. The details of this purchase are stored in a previous purchase detail list.

When a large number of commodities are purchased through a beauty material wholesaler, the e-commerce may be executed in a group purchase manner in which the franchisee shops 10 purchase commodities in a group so as to provide service users with high quality commodities at low cost.

In such a group purchase manner, when the franchiser shop obtains information about commodities sold at discount prices and posts a commodity advertisement page regarding the commodities to the web server 32, a service user clicks on an advertisement regarding a desired commodity and views the advertisement.

Furthermore, when the service user stores a group purchase commodity and makes a request for an order by clicking on an order button, a mail for making a request for an order is automatically transmitted to a corresponding beauty material wholesaler and a commodity ordered is delivered after a certain period.

Meanwhile, the brand advertisement is executed in such a way that the franchiser shop manufactures video advertising franchise beauty shops and related materials and simultaneously provides the video and the related materials to all the franchisee shops 10, which is implemented by inserting a brand advertisement page during page change or page loading.

In this case, when a service user selects a page link, an argument value is transmitted at the time of page loading, a brand advertisement page and video are played for a certain period according to the argument value and a requested page is opened.

With the above-described on-line education, e-commerce and brand advertisement between the franchiser shop and the franchisee shops 10, hair designers and shop owners learn newest fashion and technology without the burden of time and expense and make consultation with and manage the members through the terminals, thus learning the administration ability of beauty shops and increasing economic effects through the brand advertisement and direct marketing with the members on-line.

For a system for allowing bi-directional communications to be effectively performed, a wireless camera having image quality superior to that of an existing wired Web camera, a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse may be provided to enable video conference and remote hairstyle setting without spatial limitations.

Furthermore, the system, in which the beauty service providing method according to the present invention is implemented, is constructed to enable information exchange between the franchisee shops 10, differently from a conventional system in which franchisee shops 10 are divided by respective accounts.

Industrial Applicability

In accordance with the method for providing beauty service using hair coordination simulation in a franchise manner, members can search hairstyle samples, ascertain results obtained by synthesizing the selected hairstyle samples and their images and select desired hairstyles, so that the satisfaction of the members in hairstyle is increased without the problem of communications with hair designers, thus improving the quality of beauty service. Further, since the database containing the beauty information of members, such as details of hair setting, newest fashion information and commodity information is provided by and managed in the IDC, costs and efforts that respective beauty shops must spend to manage members and collect information can be reduced, the various demands of customers can be satisfied and the systematic business administration of franchise beauty shops can be achieved.

Furthermore, since various contents can be provided and executed between the franchiser shop and the franchisee shops on-line, service users learn newest fashion and technology and economic effects can be obtained through brand advertisement and marketing on-line.

Claims

1. A method for providing beauty service using a hair coordination simulation in a franchise manner, comprising: the member authentication step (100) of a member accessing a member terminal (12) and having a membership of the member authenticated by inputting a phone numbers and a mobile phone number; the member information provision step (200) of providing the member terminal (12) with details of hairstyle setting of the member together with an image of the member; the hairstyle determination and setting step (300) of searching hairstyle samples, downloading the hairstyle samples, determining a hairstyle among synthetic images obtained by synthesizing the hairstyle samples and the image of the member stored in a pile through a hair coordination simulation, and having the determined hairstyle set; the setting detail input and transmission step (400) of transmitting the details of treatment of the member and the image of the member photographed by a program-operated Web camera to a database server (34) after the setting of the hairstyles is completed; and the fee payment and point accumulation step (500) of the member ascertaining the details of hairstyle setting, paying corresponding fees and accumulating bonus points.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein, at the hairstyle determination and setting step (300), the hairstyle to be set is determined while the image of the member displayed by the Web camera in real time is compared with the hairstyle sample searched for and selected through the member terminal

(12).

3. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein, at the hairstyle determination and setting step (300), a movie and a music video are automatically played when there has been no input to the member terminal (12) for a predetermined period after the setting of the hairstyle started.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein, at the hairstyle determination and setting step (300), when the member move from one location to another during the setting of the hairstyle, service according to the member information of the member is continuously provided to the member without an additional authentication process by manipulating a standby registration button.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein, at the hairstyle determination and setting step (300), designer information, such as careers and specialties, and multimedia services, such as on-line education, e-commerce and brand advertisement, are provided through the member terminal (12) before or during the treatment of the hairstyle.