Description
METHOD OF PURCHASING PRODUCT BASED ON
SLIDE SHOW, AND COMPUTER-READABLE
RECORDING MEDIUM INCLUDING PROGRAM FOR
IMPLEMENTING THE SAME
[i]
Technical Field
[2] The present invention relates to a method of purchasing a product based on a slide show, and a computer-readable recording medium storing a program for implementing the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of purchasing a product based on a slide show, which supplies slide show information for a selected product through a user terminal communicating via an information network, so that the user can rapidly decide to purchase product, which the user desires to purchase, after retrieving a large quantity of images for the products in a short time after verifying the supplied slide show information, and a computer-readable recording medium storing a program for implementing the same.
Background Art
[3] Recently, electronic commercial transaction systems using the Internet as a medium for commercial transaction have been widely used. In such an electronic commercial transaction system, a system designated in its roles to product selling is typically referred to as an Internet shopping mall.
[4] Today, consumers can purchase the desired products more comforl±ily and more cheaply through the Internet shopping mall. Particularly, the Internet shopping mall can minimize intermediate distribution costs, securing profits for both consumers and distributors.
[5] However, in a conventional Internet shopping mall, since a plurality of products are supplied on a web page as a list of items, each being detailed in different web pages, consumers must open every page corresponding to the products through a click operation on every item of the list in order to retrieve all the products sold on the Internet shopping mall. Therefore , from the view of the consumers, not only is opportunity for selecting the product narrowed, but a large quantity of burdens in time and labour are also imposed.
[6] Further, the conventional shopping mall just shows images of the products reduced
in size to such an extent that a name, price and shape of each of the products cannot be clearly recognized by the consumers, who try to retrieve the products on a screen. Thus, there is inconvenience in that in order to see images of the products detailed to the extent that detailed information or concrete shapes of the products can be acknowledged, the consumers move to other pages containing the detailed information or concrete shapes of the products through the click operation on the items corresponding to that information and the like.
[7] Further, there is provided a problem in that since one or more click operations are necessarily accompanied in order to verify a piece of information for the product, the number of the click operations is necessarily increased by the increased number of the products to retrieve, causing the consumers to waste lots of time and obstructing reason&le purchase of products.
Disclosure
[8] The present invention has been made to solve the iiove problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of purchasing a product based on a slide show, which supplies slide show information about a product selected by a user to a user terminal communicating via an information network, so that the user can not only retrieve a large quantity of images for the product in a short time but also rapidly decide to purchase a desired product by verifying the images of the product based on the supplied slide show information, and a computer-readable recording medium storing a program for implementing the same.
[9] In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the iiove and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a method of purchasing a product based on a slide show, comprising the steps of: a) est±ilishing a product information dat±ase using at least one product category and slide show information for products corresponding to the product category; b) sending a main web page associated with product purchase to a user terminal communicating via an information network, followed by receiving a selection signal for the product category selected by a user via the web page sent to the user; and c) supplying product information corresponding to the product category selected in the step b), followed by receiving a selection signal for a slide show viewing of the supplied product information, retrieving products corresponding to the product category selected by the user from the product information dat±ase and supporting a program to display a slide show of a web page including the retrieved product information according to a reproduction request of the user.
[10] The method of the present invention may comprise the steps of a) to c), and further
comprise the steps of d) receiving a selection signal for one of a shopping basket, a wish list and a buy-now command for the product selected by the user, who verifies the slide show information displayed in the step c); and e) supplying a service to correspond to one of the shopping basket, the wish list and the buy-now command for the product selected in the step d), followed by receiving a request signal for payment settlement from the user, receiving an input signal for purchaser information, shipping information and payment settlement information through a web page forwarded to the user responding to the request signal for the payment settlement from the user, and supporting the program such that the product selected by the user can be shipped after payment is completed.
[11] Prefer&ly, the step c) further comprises the step of receiving an input signal for the number of slides and images from the user, followed by supporting the program to display the slide show of the retrieved product information according to the input signal for the number of slides and pages of images received from the user.
[12] More preferϋy, the web page for supplying the slide show includes a retrieval column for inputting a retrieval word for different products, and the step c) further comprises the step of receiving an input signal for an adequate word input into the retrieval column by the user after supporting the program to display the slide show of the web page according to the reproduction request of the user, followed by allowing the different products desired by the user to be retrieved by the user.
[13] In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium storing a slide show-based product purchase program, the medium comprising a) a process for establishing a product information dat±ase using at least one product category and slide show information for products corresponding to the product category; b) a process for sending a main web page associated with product purchase to a user terminal communicating via an information network and receiving a selection signal for the product category selected by a user via the web page sent to the user; and c) a process for supplying product information corresponding to the product category selected in the process b), receiving a selection signal for a slide show viewing of the supplied product information, retrieving products corresponding to the product category selected by the user from the product information dal±ase and supporting a program to display a slide show of a web page including the retrieved product information according to a reproduction request of the user.
[14] The computer-readable recording medium storing a slide show-based product
purchase program may comprise the processes a) to c), and further comprise d) a process for receiving a selection signal for one of a shopping basket, a wish list and a buy-now command for the product selected by the user, who verifies the slide show information displayed by the process c); and e) a process for supplying a service to correspond to one of the shopping basket, the wish list and the buy-now command for the product selected in the step d), followed by receiving a request signal for payment settlement from the user, receiving an input signal for purchaser information, shipping information and payment settlement information through a web page forwarded to the user responding to the request signal for the payment settlement from the user, and supporting the program such that the product selected by the user can be shipped after payment is completed.
Description Of Drawings
[15] The iiove and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
[16] Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an entire slide show-based product purchase system according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[17] Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a slide show-based product purchase management server of Fig. 1 ;
[18] Figs. 3 and 4 are operational flow diagrams illustrating a method of purchasing a product based on a slide show according to the embodiment of the present invention;
[19] Fig. 5 is an exemplary view illustrating a screen for showing a main web page;
[20] Fig. 6 is an exemplary view illustrating a screen including a menu of the slide show for showing product information;
[21] Fig. 7 is an exemplary view illustrating a screen for showing a progressing state of the slide show;
[22] Fig. 8is an exemplary view illustrating a screen for showing detailed information of a product selected during the progress of the slide show of Fig. 7;
[23] Fig. 9 is an exemplary view illustrating a screen for showing products registered in a wish list;
[24] Fig. 10 is an exemplary view illustrating a screen for showing the products registered in a shopping basket;
[25] Fig. 11 is an exemplary view illustrating a screen for showing the product to be paid for; and
[26] Fig. 12 is an exemplary view illustrating a screen of a web page, into which a user
inputs purchaser information, shipping information and payment settlement information.
Best Mode
[27] Now preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily understand and repeat the present invention.
[28] The preferred embodiments of the present invention described hereinafter relate to a method of purchasing a product based on a slide show, which supplies slide show information iiout a product selected by a user to a user terminal communicating via an information network, so that the user can not only retrieve a large quantity of images of the product in a short time based on the supplied slide show information but can also rapidly decide to purchase the product, and a computer-readable recording medium storing a program for implementing the same. It should be understood that without being limited to these embodiments, the spirit of the present invention is modified and variously embodied by those skilled in the art.
[29] Further, the preferred embodiments of the present invention include a computer system and a computer program product, which are programmed to implement the method of the present invention. According to the embodiments of the computer system, a set of instructions for implementing the method of the present invention resides on one or more memories [Random Access Memory (RAM)] in the computer system and can be stored as the computer program product in the other computer memories, such as a disk drive, until the computer system requires the computer program.
[30] The method of purchasing the product based on the slide show according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to Figs. l to 4.
[31] Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an entire slide show-based product purchase system according to the embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a slide show-based product purchase management server of Fig. 1, and Figs. 3 and 4 are operational flow diagrams illustrating the method of purchasing the product based on the slide show according to the embodiment of the present invention.
[32] First, Fig. 1 shows the slide show-based product purchase system according to the embodiment of the present invention.
[33] As shown in Fig. 1, the system includes a user terminal 10 as an information demander, a slide show-based product purchase management server 30 acting as an in-
formation supplier, and an information network for establishing an interlace between the user terminal 10 and the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 via a wired or wireless communication system.
[34] The user terminal 10 is a communicable computer device and contains an Internet browser, which can display contents of a web site. The user terminal 10 comprises not only a personal computer, such as desktop computers, notebook computers and the like, but also mobile phones and IMT (International Mobile Telecommunications) 2000, through which wireless Internet communication is allowed. Here, the personal computer prefer&ly comprises an OS (Operating System) £>ove Windows 98, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) of Pentium- level or more, a memory of 64 Mb or more, and the like. Although in the present embodiment, the user terminal 10 is the personal computer, it should be understand that the present invention is not limited to the personal computer.
[35] The information network 20 includes the Internet network using Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), which can be connected to TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) by the wireless communication, or TCP/IP, which can be connected by wired communication.
[36] The slide show-based product purchase management server 30 is a large capacity computer system including the CPU, the RAM, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a network interlace, a data memory device, and the like. A traditional personal computer or a workstation having a great quantity of memory and operating cap&ilities can be used as a server computer.
[37] Further, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 can process a great quantity of operations by implementing a great number of mathematical operations. As the CPU, the Pentium microprocessor produced by Intel Corporation can be mainly available.
[38] Further, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 comprises a product information database 37, which stores at least one product category, and slide show information for products corresponding to the product category. After a selection signal for a product category, which the user desires to purchase, from the user terminal 10 communicating via the information network 20 is received from the user, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 supplies product information corresponding to the selected product category. When a selection signal for a slide show viewing of the supplied product information is received from the user, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 retrieves the selected
product category from the product information dat±ase 37 and supplies slide show information iiout a plurality of products corresponding to the retrieved product category according to a reproduction request of the user. Then, when a request signal for a shopping basket, a wish list and a buy-now command of the product supplied by the slide show information is received from the user, the product purchase management server 30 supports a program to supply a service corresponding to the request signal input by the user.
[39] Here, if a selection signal for a slide show viewing is received from the user, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 allows a predetermined program (for example, a program based on Java Script or a script language similar to the Java Script, which is not require to compiling) for driving the slide show to be implemented on the user terminal 10, so that at least one product corresponding to the selected category can be reproduced by the user terminal 10 according to the user's request.
[40] Functional construction of the slide show-based product purchase management server described iiove will be described hereinafter with reference to Fig. 2.
[41] As shown in Fig. 2, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 includes a product information management module 31, a slide show supply module 32, a product retrieval support module 33, a purchase selection module 34, a payment settlement information management module 35, a shipping support module 36, a product information database 37, a payment settlement information dat±ase 38 and the like.
[42] The product information management module 31 est±ilishes and manages the product information database 37 using at least one product category (for example, women's clothing, men's clothing, leports clothing, kid's/b±>y clothing, shoes, luggage, jewelry /watches, accessories and the like) and slide show information for products corresponding to the product category. Product information stored in the product information dal±ase 37 is classified according to sequences of new products, prices, selling amounts, suggestions and the like.
[43] Here, when receiving a selection signal for the slide show viewing of the product category from the user, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 retrieves the products corresponding to the selected product category from the product information dal±ase 37 and then allows the predetermined program for driving the slide show to be implemented on the user terminal. Then, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 supplies the slide show information iiout the
products corresponding to the retrieved product category according to a reproduction request from the user.
[44] Further, the product information management module 31 sends a slide show-based main web page associated with product purchase to the user terminal 10 communicating via the information network 20. Subsequently, when receiving a selection signal for the product category from the user through the main web page sent to the user, the product information management module 31 sends a web page including the selected product category and a menu for slide show viewing.
[45] If a selection signal for the slide show viewing is received from the user through the web page sent to the user terminal 10 communicating via the information network 20, the slide show supply module 32 retrieves the products corresponding to the selected product category and supplies the slide show information of the retrieved products.
[46] Meanwhile, in the present invention, as soon as the selection signal for the slide show viewing is received from the user, the slide show supply module 32 forwards the predetermined program (for example, the program based on Java Script or a script language similar to Java Script, which is not require to compiling) for driving the slide show to the user terminal 10, allowing the user terminal to implement the slide show. Qherwise, since the predetermined program for driving the slide show is installed in the user terminal 10 or has been previously installed in the user terminal 10, the slide show of the products corresponding to the retrieved product category can be verified according to the reproduction request input by the user.
[47] When a selection signal for suspending the slide show information is received from the user, the slide show supply module 32 automatically suspends the currently driving slide show information.
[48] Further, the slide show supply module 32 supports the program such that when the slide show supply module 32 receives an input signal for the number of the slides and images of the products corresponding to the selected product category (for example, knit wear) from the user, the slide show can be supplied by the number of slides and images of the products.
[49] When a selection signal for the product category (for example, knit wear), which the user desires to purchase, is received from the user terminal 10 communicating via the information network 20, the product retrieval support module 33 retrieves the product related to the selected product category from the product information dat±ase 37 and supplies the slide show information of the retrieved product to the iiove slide supply module 32.
[50] Meanwhile, the web page for supplying the slide show is provided with a retrieval column for the user to directly input a retrieval word for different products. Thus, when a request signal for the retrieval of the different products is received from the user verifying the slide show supplied through the slide show supply module 32, the product retrieval support module 33 allows a suit±ile retrieval word to be input into the retrieval column and the requested product to be retrieved.
[51] If a request signal for one of the shopping basket, the wish list and the buy-now command for the product is received from the user verifying the slide show for the desired product or detailed information of the desired product through the slide show supply module 32, the purchase selection module 34 supports the program such that according to the request signal from the user, the product selected by the user can be registered in the shopping basket or in the wish list or can be immediately purchased.
[52] If a selection signal for either the shopping basket or the wish list is received from the user, the purchase selection module 34 can allow the payment settlement or cancellation of the registration according to the request of the user after registering the product selected from the user into the shopping basket or into the wish list.
[53] If a request signal for an immediate purchase or for a payment settlement of the product registered on the shopping basket or on the wish list is received from the user through the purchase selection module 34, responding to the request signal received from the user, the payment settlement information management module 35 sends a web page, which allows purchaser information, shipping information and payment settlement information to be input, to the user terminal 10, and receives the purchaser information (such as, the name of the purchaser, Personal Identification Number, a telephone number, a mobile phone number, an E-mail address, an address and the like), the shipping information (such as, the name of the receiver, telephone number, a mobile phone number, an E-mail address, an address, shipping conditions and the like) and the payment settlement information (such as, payment settlement price, credit card payment, payment without bankbook and the like). The payment settlement information management module 35 stores and manages the purchaser information, the shipping information and the payment settlement information received from the user in the payment settlement dat±ase 35.
[54] Here, in case the purchaser has already been registered as a member, if it is determined that the purchaser information is the same as membership information, which has already been input by the user when registering, the payment settlement information management module 35 allows the membership information to be auto-
matically represented as the purchaser information. In the same manner, when the purchaser information is the same as the shipping information, the payment settlement information management module 35 also allows the membership information to be automatically represented as the shipping information. If the purchaser does not have the membership, both purchaser information and shipping information must be input.
[55] The embodiment of the present invention is described, but is not limited to, the case in which the purchaser does not have a membership.
[56] If the payment settlement for the product, which the user desires to purchase, is completed through the payment settlement information management module 35, the shipping support module 36 supports the program such that the product, which the user desires to purchase, can be shipped to the shipping address contained in the shipping information received from the user.
[57] A method of purchasing the product using the slide show according to the present invention will be described with reference to Fig. 3 and Fig. 4.
[58] First, a slide show-based product purchase management server 30 est lishes a product information database 37 using at least one product category (for example, women's clothing, men's clothing, leports clothing, kid's/b±>y clothing, shoes, luggage, jewelry /watches, accessories and the like) and slide show information for products corresponding to the product category (S100). Here, it is desirϋe that the information of the products classified according to sequences of new product, price, selling, suggestion and the like is stored in the product information database 37.
[59] The slide show-based product purchase management server 30 est±ilishes communication with the user terminal 10 through the information network 20 (S102).
[60] Then, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 sends a slide show-based main web page associated with product purchase, as shown in Fig. 5, to the user terminal 10 communicating via the information network 20 (S104).
[61] The slide show-based product purchase management server 30 receives a selection signal for the product category, which the user desires to purchase, (for example, knit wear among the women's clothing) through the slide show-based main web page associated with the product purchase (S106). Here, after receiving the selection signal of the product category, the product purchase management server 30 supplies a web page, which is provided with the menu for slide show viewing and the products corresponding to the product category, as shown in Fig. 6, to the user terminal 10.
[62] Then, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 determines whether a request signal for a slide show viewing of the product category selected
from the user is received or not (S108).
[63] As a result of the step S108, if the request signal for the slide show viewing of the product category selected from the user is received, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 retrieves the products corresponding to the product category from the product information dat±ase 37 responding to the request signal from the user, and supplies slide show information iiout the retrieved products (SI 10) (see Fig. 7).
[64] Here, if a selection signal for the slide show viewing of the product category selected by the user is received from the user, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 retrieves the products corresponding to the selected product category from the product information dat±ase 37. Then, after allowing the predetermined program for driving the slide show to be implemented, the slide show- based product purchase management server 30 supplies slide show information related to the products corresponding to the retrieved product category according to a reproduction request of the user.
[65] As shown in Fig. 7, a web page for supplying the slide show is provided with slide show progressing buttons (such as reproducing, stop and the like) at a lower portion of the web page, so that the user can easily verify a plurality of products through the slide show.
[66] Here, if a selection signal for the product desired by the user, who verifies a predetermined product from the progressing slide show, is received from the user, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 sends a web page for providing detailed information of the product selected by the user, as shown in Fig. 8.
[67] Meanwhile, the web page for providing the detailed information of the product is provided with a retrieval column to which the user can directly input a retrieval word for different products. Thus, when a retrieval request for different products is received from the user, who verifies the slide show corresponding to the products, the slide show-based product retrieval support module 33 allows the different products to be ret rieved by the user after receiving a suit±ile retrieval word input into the retrieval column.
[68] As the result of the step S108, if the request signal for the slide show viewing of the product category selected by the user is not received from the user, the slide show- based product purchase management server 30 retrieves the products corresponding to the selected product category from the product information dal±ase 37 and supplies the detailed information iiout the retrieved products (S109) (see Fig. 8).
[69] Then, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 determines whether a request signal for one of a shopping basket, a wish list and a buy-now command for the product is received from the user, who verifies the slide show information or the detailed information (SI 12).
[70] As a result of the step S 112, if the request signal for registration in the shopping basket is received from the user, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 supports the program such that the product selected by the user can be registered in the shopping basket responding to the request signal received from the user (SI 13). Here, when a selection signal for registration in the shopping basket is received from the user, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 supplies a web page provided with the shopping baskets for the registered products, as shown in Fig. 9.
[71] As the result of the step S 112, if the request signal for registration in the wish list is received from the user, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 supports the program such that the product selected by the user can be registered in the wish list responding to the request signal received from the user (SI 14). Here, when a selection signal for registration to the wish list is received from the user, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 supplies the other web page provided with the wish list for the registered products, as shown in Fig. 10.
[72] Then, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 determines whether a request signal for payment settlement for the products registered in the shopping basket or the wish list is received from the user (SI 16).
[73] As a result of the step S 116, if the request signal for the payment settlement of the products registered in the shopping basket or into the wish list is not received from the user, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 ends the process.
[74] As the result of the step S 116, if the request signal for the payment settlement of the products registered in the shopping basket or into the wish list is received from the user, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 supplies a list of the products to be paid for, as shown in Fig. 11. If the request signal for the payment settlement of the products is received from the user, who verifies the list, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 sends a web page, which allows purchaser information, shipping information and payment settlement information to be input, as shown in Fig. 12, and supports the program such that with the purchaser information, the shipping information and the payment settlement information received from the user terminal, the desired products can be shipped to the shipping address
after the payment is completed (SI 18).
[75] Here, the purchaser information includes the name of the purchaser, Personal Identification Number, a telephone number, a mobile phone number, an E-mail address, an address and the like, the shipping information includes the name of the receiver, telephone number, a mobile phone number, an E-mail address, an address, shipping conditions and the like, and the payment settlement information includes payment settlement price, credit card payment, payment without bankbook and the like.
[76] As the result of the step S 112, if a request signal for the direct purchase is received from the user, the slide show-based product purchase management server 30 supports the program such that after the purchaser information, the shipping information and the payment settlement information is received from the user terminal 10 in the step SI 18, the desired products can be shipped to the shipping address.
[77] In this way, the products corresponding to the desired product category are supplied through the slide show according to the user's request, so that the user can conveniently verify a plurality of products in a short time and conveniently select which products to purchase.
Industrial Applicability
[78] As apparent from the iiove description, according to the present invention, there are provided advantageous effects in that the slide show information including the details of the products selected by the user is supplied, so that the user can not only retrieve the plurality of product images in a short time on the basis of the supplied slide show but also rapidly purchase the products after verifying the product images in a short time without the click operation.
[79] Further, there is provided another advantageous effect in that the web page for supplying the slide show is provided with the retrieval column for the retrieval of the different products, so that the user can conveniently retrieve the predetermined products by inputting a suitable retrieval word and obtain the result of the retrieval in a short time.
[80] Further, there is provided another advantageous effect in that since the number of the slide show and images of the product can be selected by the user, so that the user can verify the products corresponding to the desired product category in a short time by adjusting the number of the slide show and images of the product.
[81] It should be understood that the embodiments and the accompanying drawings as described above have been described for il lustrative purposes and the present invention is limited by the
following claims. Further, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are allowed without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as set forth in the accompanying claims.