Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7249057?dq=5,581,513
Timestamp: 2017-03-29 03:34:56
Document Index: 767228836

Matched Legal Cases: ['arts 402', 'arts 601', 'arts 601', 'arts 601', 'arts 601', 'art 604', 'art 604', 'arts 803', 'Application No. 2000', 'Application No. 2000']

Patent US7249057 - Product information supplying method, product information acquiring method ... - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inPatentsThere is provided a product information supply method for supplying a user who desires to purchase a product with proper information about a related product that could be bought in combination with the product, so that the user is assisted in purchasing products. Registration of combination information...http://www.google.com/patents/US7249057?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7249057 - Product information supplying method, product information acquiring method, product information registering method and recording mediumAdvanced Patent SearchTry the new Google Patents, with machine-classified Google Scholar results, and Japanese and South Korean patents.Publication numberUS7249057 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 09/817,289Publication dateJul 24, 2007Filing dateMar 27, 2001Priority dateNov 27, 2000Fee statusLapsedAlso published asUS20020065735Publication number09817289, 817289, US 7249057 B2, US 7249057B2, US-B2-7249057, US7249057 B2, US7249057B2InventorsHiroshi Hatakama, Hiroji KoikeOriginal AssigneeFujitsu LimitedExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (12), Non-Patent Citations (8), Referenced by (8), Classifications (13), Legal Events (6) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetProduct information supplying method, product information acquiring method, product information registering method and recording medium
US 7249057 B2Abstract
There is provided a product information supply method for supplying a user who desires to purchase a product with proper information about a related product that could be bought in combination with the product, so that the user is assisted in purchasing products. Registration of combination information to be supplied to the user is made with a database managed by a service provider server by a person who has bought the above product by means of a registration page so that a lot of combination information is accumulated in the database. The registered information includes not only information specifying a combinable product but also information about the effects of the combination and the ways of using products in combination. The database is searched in response to inquiry information from the user who makes reference to a page of products. Thus, corresponding combination information is extracted from the database and is sent to the user.
Taking the above into consideration, an object of the present invention is to provide a product information supply method for supplying a user who desires to buy a product with proper information about a related product that could be bought together with the desired product, a product information acquiring method for enabling the user to acquire combination information, and a product information registering method for making registration of combination information.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a process in the product information supply system;
The user information 301 is information about the user who utilizes the sales service provided by the service providing server 2, and contains items of information that may be “registration making person's ID”, “name”, “age”, “address”, “interesting use”, and “purchase information list”. The “registration making person's ID” is assigned to each user. The item “interesting use” indicates a use of a product that the user is now interested in. The item “purchase information list” shows a list of pieces of purchase information 302 respectively describing the products that the user has bought. When a person has made registration of combination information, the user information 301 includes items of “next reward” and “total reward”. The item “next reward” shows a reward for the next time based on access to the combination information by another. The item “total reward” shows the total of the rewards which have already been given. The registration making person's information 303 is concerned with a person who bought a product in the past and makes registration of combination information about that product. The registration making person's information 303 includes items of “registration making person's ID”, “name”, “age”, “address”, “interesting use”, “next reward”, and “total reward”. When the user has bought a product by using the sales service, the registration making person information 303 includes an item “purchased product information”.
The purchase information 302 is created when the user purchases a product using the sales service, and includes items of information “date of purchase” and “purchase product code” identifying the purchased product. If the combination information about the purchased product at that time have been stored, an ID of the above combination information is described in “combination information ID (registration)”. If the purchase was made based on reference of the combination information supplied to the user, an ID of the present combination information is described in an item “combination information ID (reference)”. The details of the product specified by “purchased product code”are described in the product master 305. The product master 305 describes, for each product, items of “product code”, “product name”, “price”, “type”, and “manufacturer”.
The contents of the combination information corresponding to the ID of the combination information are described in the combination information table 304. The combination information table 304 includes “combination information ID”, “date of registration”, “purchased product code 1”, “purchased product code 2”, “registration making person's ID”, “purpose for purchase”, “type of way of combining”, and “comment”. The “purchased product code 2” identifies the original product described in the purchase information 302. The “purchased product code 2” identifies the related product that is described in combination with the original product and is described in the purchase information 302. The registration making person's ID identifies the person who has made registration of the combination information. The “purpose for purchase” serves as information about the combination and indicates what the purchase of the related product is useful to. The “type of way of combining” describes a relationship between the combined products. The “comment” describes a comment on the combination. If a user of the sales service uses the combination information to see the page that introduces related products into the users and actually buy a related product, the number of times reference has been made to the combination information is described in “number of times reference has been made”, and the number of times a purchase of the related product has been made is described in “number of times a purchase has been made”. These items of information are used as a reference for calculating a reward given to the person who makes registration of combination information and also are used as a reference showing the degree of accuracy and quality of the combination information.
The contents of information that can be described in the “purpose for purchase” and “type of way of combining” in the combination information table 304 are also described in the type of use 306 and the type of way of combining 307, respectively. The type of use 306 is used to describe the purpose of purchase such as “gift” and “business”. The type of way of combining 307 is used to describe a relationship between the combined products such as “compatibility”, “complement” and “added value”.
A registration screen 400 shown in FIG. 4 is an example of a screen displayed at the terminal 4. The registration screen 400 is provided to a user who has bought a personal computer named “A”. On the screen 400, boxes 401 through 406 appear together with a message 401 which asks the user to make registration of combination information. The box 402 is used to choose a category of product. The box 403 is used to enter the name of a related product to be combined. The box 404 is used to choose the name of a sales shop in the online mall in which the related product is on sale. The box 405 is used to choose use of the related products. The box 406 is used to choose a type of way of combining. The box 407 is used to enter a comment about the combination. When arrow parts 402 a, 404 a, 405 a and 406 a respectively attached to the boxes 402, 404, 405 and 406 are clicked, selectable input items come out. The user uses the keyboard to enter his/her comment in the box 407.
The information that is entered by the person who makes registration of information is stored in the combination information table 304 in the database configuration. The “combination ID” assigned due to the registration making and “date of registration” are written in the combination information table 304. If the person who makes registration has been registered with the database as a user of the sales service or a person who has made registration of combination registration, the ID of the person who has made registration is registered with the table 304. Each time a person makes registration of information, the combination table 304 is created and stored in the database as a candidate for a piece of combination information that may be supplied to the user.
When the user chooses a product and puts it in the shopping cart, the service provider 2 receives the corresponding choice signal and searches the database in order to extract combination information about products related to the product that the user has chosen. This search is conducted in such a way as to refer to the combination table 304 in the database and extract combination information having “purchased product code 1” that coincides with the product code. The combination information thus extracted is sent to the user terminal 3. The user would see the combination information and access a related page on which related products are introduced. Then, the user may purchase a related product. The search of the combination information may be conducted when the user places a buy order of the related information or checks out the online mall.
A display screen 600 shown in FIG. 6 shows a plurality of pieces of information concerning related products that could be combined and bought as shown in FIG. 3. More particularly, FIG. 6 shows three products “B”, “C” and “D” as related products. As to each of the related products, three display parts 601, 602 and 603 are provided together with the name of related product. For example, the display parts 601, 602 and 603 show a comment on the related product, what effect is brought by the combination, and what use and scene the related product is useful to. The items of information respectively displayed in the display parts 601, 602 and 603 are respectively extracted from the items of “comment”, “type of way of combining” and “type of use” included in the combination information table 304. The items of information displayed in the display parts 601, 602 and 603 are primarily directed to a beneficial effect resulting from the combination with the original product (that is personal computer “A” in FIG. 6). It may also be possible to display a notice to be considered at the time of purchasing the related product or a caution message describing a negative matter such that the related product is not recommended.
The degree of usefulness or reliability of the combination information or information indicative of the degree of interest of the combination information by other users is represented by the number of stars in the display part 604. The number of times reference has been made to the Web page having the display screen 600 that introduces the related products is recorded in the item “number of times of reference made” of the combination information table 304 formed in the database of the service providing server 2. Similarly, for each of the related products displayed on the screen 600, the number of times a purchase of the related product has been made is recorded in the item “number of times a purchase has been made” of the combination information table 304. The number of starts in the display part 604 is based on the number of times reference has been made and the number of times a purchase has been made. That is, the degree of usefulness or interest of the combination information depends on the degree of frequency of utilization of the combination information, such as the number of times reference has been made to the Web page that introduces the related products based on the combination information supplied by another user or the number of times a purchase of the related products has been made.
A choice button for requesting a display of the combination information may be provided to the Web page in which the original product is introduced. The user clicks the choice button to conduct the search. The choice button may be an advise button that requests an advice about a related product combinable with the original product whose use is displayed. The choice button may be a check button that requests information about compatibility, an example of success or failure, or a notice with regard to the combination of the original product and the related product. The items of “type of use” and “type of way of combining” in the combination information table 304 of the service providing server 2 are the subject search items.
At the time of searching the database, the profile information about the user stored in the user information 301 may be referred to in order to extract combination information that has been registered by a person having a similar profile. At that time, given subject search items included to the user information 301, such as profile information about age and job and “interesting use”. The server refers to the information 303 about the person who has made registration and corresponds to the registration making person's ID described in the combination information table 304 of the corresponding product. Then, the items of information of record corresponding to the subject search items are compared with the items of user information. The combination information that includes a lot of items matched with those of the user information is provided to the user in preference.
After supplying the user with the combination information, the “number of times reference has been made” and the “number of times a purchase has been made” included in the information table 304 stored in the database of the service providing server 2 are incremented when the Web page for introducing the related products into the users is referred to by the user or a related product is purchased. The items of the “number of times reference has been made” and the “number of times a purchase has been made” are based on calculation of a reward that is to be given to the person who has made registration of the combination information. The person who has made registration may periodically receive a cumulative reward thus calculated, for example, via electronic money or a gift certificate.
In step S705, it is determined whether a choice signal generated by choosing a link to a Web page that introduces related products indicated in the combination information has been received. If such a choice signal has been received, the process proceeds to step S706. If not, the process ends. In step S706, image data forming a page that introduces related products is read from the HDD 23, and is forwarded to the user terminal 3. In step S707, the value of the item “the number of times reference has been made” in the combination information table 304 extracted by the search conducted in step S702. In step S708, it is determined whether a signal that places a buy order of the related product included in the combination information has been received. If such a signal has been received, the process proceeds to step S709. If not, the process ends. In step S709, the value of the item “the number of times a purchase has been made” in the combination information table 304 extracted by the search conducted in step S702 is incremented. A piece of purchase information 302 resulting from the buy order thus placed is created in the database. Further, the value of the “combination information ID” shown in the extracted combination information table 304 is described in the item “combination information (reference)”.
A registration screen 800 is a Web page that is displayed at the terminal 3 and asks the user who bought the original product and its related product in step S710 shown in FIG. 7. More particularly, the screen 800 asks the person who bought personal computer “A” and simultaneously bought related products of PC carry case “B” and virtual CD-ROM software package “D” to make registration of combination information concerning combinations of the original product “A” with the related products “B” and “D”.
The registration screen 800 has messages 801 and 802, and boxes 803, 804 and 805. The message 801 asks to make registration. The message 802 describes a list of products related to those that were bought. The box 803 is used to choose a use of the related products. The box 804 is used to choose a type of way of combining. The box 805 is used to describe a comment on the combination. When arrow parts 803 a and 804 a respectively attached to the boxes 803 and 804 are clicked, selectable input items come out. The user uses the keyboard to enter his/her comment in the box 805. The items of information entered in the boxes 803, 804 and 805 are sent to the service providing server 2, and are described in the items “type of use”, “type of way of combining” and “comments of the combination information table 304 included in the database. Simultaneously, the “combination information ID” in the combination table 304 is described in the item combination information ID (registration)” in the purchase information 302 created by the purchase of the product “A”.
The marketing information that can be produced from the combination information stored in the database is classified into three types, namely, target-based marketing information 901, purchaser information 902, and product development/improvement information 903. The target-based marketing information 901 may include lists of recommended combinations of products based on, for example, the ages, purposes and tastes of the users. These lists may be created from information described in the user information 301 and the information 303 about the person who has made registration in the database, or the items of “type of use” and “type of way of combining” in the combination table 304. The conventional data mining may result in a trend in combination of products or a ratio of the purchasers in view of a given reference, which serve as combination information about products classified on the target-purchaser basis. In contrast, the items of the target-based marketing information 901 suggest the reason why products are bought in combination or a use of products. Thus, a detailed analysis about the combination of products may be facilitated.
FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a description of the contents of the marketing information that is produced in the above-mentioned way. The marketing information shown in FIG. 10 is titled “marketing report” and has a description about purchases who are in their twenties and simultaneously bought a notebook type personal computer (hereinafter simply referred to as a notebook PC). The marketing report shown in FIG. 10 describes that a combination of notebook PC “A” and PC carry case “B”, and another combination of notebook PC “E” and PC carry case “F” enjoyed a favorable reputation from the users in view of color and design. The marketing report also describes that a combination of notebook PC “A” and PC carry case “B” enjoyed a favorable reputation from the users who are in their fifties because of “light” and “easy to carry”. Further, the marketing report shown in FIG. 10 has a description of the ratio of simultaneous purchase on the age basis.
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