Patent Grant
7107238
1.1 Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for providing information on commodities (i.e., commodity information) to a user by using a computer. The present invention also relates to a method and an apparatus for utilizing commodity information provided to a purchaser by using a computer.
1.2 Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when a purchaser wishes to buy a commodity, the purchaser obtains information on the commodity from newspaper, magazines, television commercials, or the like. In addition, due to the recent development in telecommunications technologies such as the Internet technologies, it has become possible to obtain commodity information from homepages on the Internet. Generally, the commodity information is provided to consumers in various manners. For example, information items on individual commodities may be separately provided to a purchaser, or information on comparisons between a plurality of commodities may be provided to a purchaser.
For example, information items on individual commodities are separately provided to a purchaser with advertising leaflets, television commercials, advertisement banners indicated on homepages, and the like. Information items on individual commodities can also be separately provided to a purchaser by information delivery services, which collect evaluations of the individual commodities from consumers through the Internet, and deliver information on the collected evaluations to the consumers. Commodity rating services provided on commodity transaction sites on the Internet are examples of the information delivery services. Since the commodity information provided as above is produced based on the information collected from the consumers, purchasers can obtain impartial information on evaluations of commodities. In addition, some services collect information on commodities which have been sold, and deliver to purchasers information on recommendation of a commodity which have been sold most. K. Fujimoto et al. (“DSIU Systems: Decision Support for Internet Users,” Journal of Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 61–64, January 2000) proposes, as a new attempt to provide commodity information, an arrangement for collecting information on commodities through a network and making an inference from the collected information.
On the other hand, information on comparisons between a plurality of commodities are provided to consumers with magazine articles, television programs, and the like. That is, the consumers can obtain from the magazine articles and the television programs information on the comparison between the specific commodity and other commodities, for example, superiority or inferiority of the specific commodity to other commodities. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication, No. 2000-148848 discloses commodity comparison and sales supporting system. The system processes commodity information in such a manner that comparisons between commodities become easy. However, when the conventional methods of providing commodity information are used, it is difficult for consumers to obtain information on relative evaluations of the commodities, and it is particularly difficult when the relative evaluations of the commodities are requested to be made based on at least one specific evaluation criterion.
When information items on individual commodities are separately provided, the purchasers have to make sorting, analysis, and comparison of the collected information by themselves. Generally, the amount of commodity information provided through the Internet is great. Therefore, it is not easy to appropriately collect the commodity information, and make appropriate analysis and comparison of the collected commodity information. In addition, usually, information provided by an advertisement of a commodity emphasizes only the merits of the commodity, and does not mention the demerits of the commodity. Further, the information items on the individual commodities are displayed in various manners. Thus, it is very difficult to appropriately derive the relative evaluations of the commodities from the information items on the individual commodities which are provided separately.
In addition, although the inference from the collected information can be made for evaluating features of commodities as proposed in the K. Fujimoto reference, the inference cannot be made based on a specific evaluation criterion. For example, the technique proposed in the K. Fujimoto reference cannot answer the question what is a commodity useful for a specific purpose.
Further, even in the case where information on comparisons between a plurality of commodities is provided, the information is produced by predetermined experts and the like. Therefore, only limited types of information can be provided, and the time and cost necessary for the production of the information are great. Often, a price for the information is charged to each purchaser who receives the information. In addition, although the impartial, overall evaluations of commodities can be obtained when the aforementioned commodity rating services are used, purchasers are not informed of what evaluation criterion is used for the evaluation. Generally, each purchaser requires relative evaluations made based on an evaluation criterion which the purchaser prefers. However, in this case, such a requirement is not satisfied. Even in the system disclosed in JPP. No. 2000-148848, relative evaluations of commodities are not obtained by the processing of commodity information.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for providing commodity information to a user by using a computer so that the user can easily obtain information on relative evaluations of commodities.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for providing commodity information to a user by using a computer so that the user can easily obtain information on relative evaluations of commodities.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method for utilizing commodity information by using a computer so that the user can easily acquire information on relative evaluations of commodities.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for utilizing commodity information by using a computer so that the user can easily acquire information on relative evaluations of commodities.
(1) According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing information on commodities to a user by using a computer, comprising the steps of: (a) acquiring commodity-comparison information indicating at least one result of at least one comparison between the commodities; (b) storing the commodity-comparison information acquired in step (a); (c) producing a commodity-comparison map which visually indicates at least one relationship between the commodities by using the commodity-comparison information stored in step (b) in such a manner that at least one coordinate axis of the commodity-comparison map corresponds to at least one evaluation criterion used in evaluation of the commodities, respectively; (d) producing relative-evaluation information which indicates at least one relative evaluation of the commodities by using the commodity-comparison map; and (e) providing the relative-evaluation information to the user.
In the first aspect of the present invention, commodity-comparison information which indicates at least one result of at least one comparison between commodities is acquired and stored. By using the stored commodity-comparison information, a commodity-comparison map is produced, where the commodity-comparison map visually indicates at least one relationship between commodities in such a manner that at least one coordinate axis of the commodity-comparison map corresponds to at least one evaluation criterion used in evaluation of the commodities, respectively. Then, by using the commodity-comparison map, relative-evaluation information indicating at least one relative evaluation of the commodities is produced and provided to the user. Therefore, the user can easily obtain the information on the at least one relative evaluation of the commodities by viewing the relative-evaluation information.
(2) According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing information on commodities to a user by using a computer, comprising the steps of: (a) acquiring commodity-comparison information indicating at least one result of at least one comparison between the commodities, from at least one first terminal through a communication means, where the commodity-comparison information is input into the at least one first terminal; (b) storing in a storage device the commodity-comparison information acquired in step (a); (c) producing a commodity-comparison map which visually indicates at least one relationship between the commodities by using the commodity-comparison information stored in the storage device in such a manner that at least one coordinate axis of the commodity-comparison map corresponds to at least one first evaluation criterion used in evaluation of the commodities, respectively; (d) producing relative-evaluation information which indicates at least one relative evaluation of the commodities by using the commodity-comparison map; and (e) transmitting the relative-evaluation information to one of at least one second terminal through a communication means.
The method according to the second aspect of the present invention may also have one or any possible combination of the following additional features (i) to (vii).
(3) According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for providing information on commodities to a user, comprising: a comparison-information acquisition unit which acquires commodity-comparison information indicating at least one result of at least one comparison between the commodities, from at least one first terminal through a communication means, where the commodity-comparison information is input into the at least one first terminal; a storage unit which stores the commodity-comparison information acquired by the comparison-information acquisition unit; a commodity-comparison-map production unit which produces a commodity-comparison map which visually indicates at least one relationship between the commodities by using the commodity-comparison information stored in the storage unit in such a manner that at least one coordinate axis of the commodity-comparison map corresponds to at least one evaluation criterion used in evaluation of the commodities, respectively; a relative-evaluation-information production unit which produces relative-evaluation information which indicates at least one relative evaluation of the commodities by using the commodity-comparison map; and a transmission unit which transmits the relative-evaluation information to one of at least one second terminal through a communication means.
(4) According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for utilizing information on commodities, which is provided to a user by using a computer, comprising the steps of: (a) acquiring, by a terminal, relative-evaluation information through a communication means; and (b) displaying the relative-evaluation information on the terminal. The relative-evaluation information indicates at least one relative evaluation of the commodities by using a commodity-comparison map which visually indicates at least one relationship between the commodities in such a manner that at least one coordinate axis of the commodity-comparison map corresponds to at least one evaluation criterion used in evaluation of the commodities, respectively.
(5) According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a terminal for utilizing information on commodities, which is provided to a user by using a computer, comprising: a relative-evaluation-information acquisition unit which acquires relative-evaluation information through a communication means, where the relative-evaluation information indicates at least one relative evaluation of the commodities by using a commodity-comparison map which visually indicates at least one relationship between the commodities in such a manner that at least one coordinate axis of the commodity-comparison map corresponds to at least one evaluation criterion used in evaluation of the commodities, respectively; and a display unit which displays the relative-evaluation information.
(6) According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for providing information on commodities to a user, comprising: at least one first terminal; a commodity-information provision apparatus; and at least one second terminal. Each of the at least one first terminal includes a comparison-information reception unit which receives commodity-comparison information indicating at least one result of at least one comparison between the commodities, and a comparison-information transmission unit which transmits the commodity-comparison information to the commodity-information provision apparatus through a first communication means. The commodity-information provision apparatus includes a comparison-information acquisition unit which acquires the commodity-comparison information from the at least one first terminal through the first communication means, a storage unit which stores the commodity-comparison information acquired by the comparison-information acquisition unit, a commodity-comparison-map production unit which produces a commodity-comparison map which visually indicates at least one relationship between the commodities by using the commodity-comparison information stored in the storage unit in such a manner that at least one coordinate axis of the commodity-comparison map corresponds to at least one evaluation criterion used in evaluation of the commodities, respectively, a relative-evaluation-information production unit which produces relative-evaluation information which indicates at least one relative evaluation of the commodities by using the commodity-comparison map, and a relative-evaluation-information transmission unit which transmits the relative-evaluation information to one of the at least one second terminal through a second communication means. Each of the at least one second terminal includes a relative-evaluation-information acquisition unit which acquires the relative-evaluation information from the commodity-information provision apparatus through the second communication means, and a display unit which displays the relative-evaluation information.
(7) According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium storing a program which makes a computer execute a method for providing information on commodities to a user, the method comprising the steps of: (a) acquiring commodity-comparison information indicating at least one result of at least one comparison between the commodities, from at least one first terminal through a communication means, where the commodity-comparison information is input into the at least one first terminal; (b) storing in a storage device the commodity-comparison information acquired in step (a); (c) producing a commodity-comparison map which visually indicates at least one relationship between the commodities by using the commodity-comparison information stored in the storage device in such a manner that at least one coordinate axis of the commodity-comparison map corresponds to at least one first evaluation criterion used in evaluation of the commodities, respectively; (d) producing relative-evaluation information which indicates at least one relative evaluation of the commodities by using the commodity-comparison map; and (e) transmitting the relative-evaluation information to one of at least one second terminal through a communication means.
The computer-readable storage medium according to the seventh aspect of the present invention may also have one or any possible combination of the aforementioned additional features (i) to (vii).
(8) As described above, according to the second to seventh aspects of the present invention, commodity-comparison information which is input from the at least one first terminal and indicates results of comparisons between commodities is acquired (by the commodity-information provision apparatus) through a communication means, and stored in the storage unit. By using the commodity-comparison information stored in the storage unit, a commodity-comparison map is produced (by the commodity-information provision apparatus), where the commodity-comparison map visually indicates at least one relationship between commodities in such a manner that at least one coordinate axis of the commodity-comparison map corresponds to at least one evaluation criterion used in evaluation of the commodities, respectively. Then, by using the commodity-comparison map, relative-evaluation information indicating at least one relative evaluation of the commodities is produced (by the commodity-information provision apparatus), and transmitted to one of the at least one second terminal through a communication means. Therefore, the user can easily obtain the information on the at least one relative evaluation of the commodities by viewing the relative-evaluation information (supplied from the commodity-information provision apparatus), on the one of the at least one second terminal.
(9) According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing information on commodities to a user by using a computer, comprising the steps of: (a) acquiring commodity-comment information indicating at least one comment the commodities, from at least one first terminal through a communication means, where the commodity-comment information is input into the at least one first terminal; (b) storing in a storage device the commodity-comment information acquired in step (a); (c) acquiring from a second terminal through a communication means commodity-selection information indicating at least one of the commodities, where the at least one of the commodities is input into the second terminal; (d) extracting from the storage device a portion of the commodity-comment information corresponding to the at least one of the commodities; (e) producing a keyword map visually indicating the portion of the commodity-comment information and the at least one of the commodities; and (f) transmitting information arranged for display of the keyword map on the second terminal, to the second terminal through a communication means.
(10) According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a commodity-information provision apparatus for providing information on commodities to a user, comprising: a commodity-comment-information acquisition unit which acquires commodity-comment information indicating at least one comment the commodities, from at least one first terminal through a communication means, where the commodity-comment information is input into the at least one first terminal; a storage unit which stores in a storage device the commodity-comment information acquired by the commodity-comment-information acquisition unit; a commodity-selection information acquisition unit which acquires from a second terminal through a communication means commodity-selection information indicating at least one of the commodities, where the at least one of the commodities is input into the second terminal; a selected-information extraction unit which extracts from the storage device a portion of the commodity-comment information corresponding to the at least one of the commodities; a keyword-map production unit which producing a keyword map visually indicating the portion of the commodity-comment information and the at least one of the commodities; and a transmission unit which transmits information arranged for display of the keyword map on the second terminal, to the second terminal through a communication means.
(11) According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium storing a program which makes a computer execute a method for providing information on commodities to a user, the method comprising the steps of: (a) acquiring commodity-comment information indicating at least one comment the commodities, from at least one first terminal through a communication means, where the commodity-comment information is input into the at least one first terminal; (b) storing in a storage device the commodity-comment information acquired in step (a); (c) acquiring from a second terminal through a communication means commodity-selection information indicating at least one of the commodities, where the at least one of the commodities is input into the second terminal; (c) extracting from the storage device a portion of the commodity-comment information corresponding to the at least one of the commodities; (d) producing a keyword map visually indicating the portion of the commodity-comment information and the at least one of the commodities; and (e) transmitting information arranged for display of the keyword map on the second terminal, to the second terminal through a communication means.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiment of the present invention by way of example.
In the drawings:
Embodiments of the present invention are explained below with reference to drawings.
4.1 Basic Construction of Commodity-Information Provision System
As illustrated in
An example of a sequence of operations performed in the commodity-information provision system 1 is as follows.
In step S201, the commodity-information provision apparatus 3 collects commodity-comparison information which is input into, for example, the terminal 2 by a consumer or the like and indicates at least one result of at least one comparison between commodities. Then, in step S202, the commodity-information provision apparatus 3 stores the collected commodity-comparison information in a storage device 3a which is provided in the commodity-information provision apparatus 3. In step S203, the commodity-information provision apparatus 3 produces based on the commodity-comparison information a commodity-comparison map which visually indicates the result of comparison between the commodities. Next, in step S204, the commodity-information provision apparatus 3 produces relative-evaluation information which indicates details of relative evaluations of the commodities, by using the commodity-comparison map. Then, in step S205, the relative-evaluation information is transmitted to, for example, the terminal 4.
As described above, users of the commodity-information provision system 1 can easily obtain relative-evaluation information produced based on commodity-comparison information which is collected from consumers and indicates at least one result of at least one comparison between commodities. Then, the users of the commodity-information provision system 1 can easily recognize impartial, relative evaluations of the commodities by viewing the relative-evaluation information since the relative evaluations of the commodities are visually indicated in the relative-evaluation information.
4.2 First Embodiment
A commodity-information provision system as the first embodiment of the present invention is explained below.
4.2.1 Configuration of System 10
The commodity-information provision apparatus 20 and the terminals 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80 can be realized by personal computers, which process various types of information for achieving functions of the commodity-information provision system 10. The network 90 provides a communication link so that information can be transmitted between the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 and the terminals 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80. For example, the network 90 is realized by the Internet.
Although one commodity-information provision apparatus and six terminals are indicated in
4.2.2 Hardware Construction of Apparatus 20
The CPU 21, the HDD 22a, the ROM 22b, and the RAM 22c are connected to the host bus 23a so that information can be transferred between the CPU 21, the HDD 22a, the ROM 22b, and the RAM 22c. The input interface 24a, the image processing device 25a, and the communication interface 26 are connected to the external bus 23c so that information can be transferred between the input interface 24a, the image processing device 25a, and the communication interface 26. The host bus 23a is connected to the external bus 23c through the bridge 23b so that information can be transferred between the devices connected to the host bus 23a and the devices connected to the external bus 23c. The keyboard 24b and the mouse 24c are connected to the input interface 24a, and the CRT display device 25b is connected to the image processing device 25a.
For example, the HDD 22a may be realized by an unremovable hard disk drive, the ROM 22b may be realized by a mask ROM, and the RAM 22c may be realized by a DRAM (dynamic random access memory). The HDD 22a, the ROM 22b, and the RAM 22c store various programs including an operating system, application programs, and the like, and various types of data which are necessary for execution of the programs. The CPU 21 includes at least one processor as a main constituent, and executes the above programs stored in the ROM 22b and the RAM 22c in synchronization with a clock signal, which is supplied from an oscillator (not shown).
The host bus 23a and the external bus 23c are each an information transfer path constituted by a microprocessor, a memory, and the like. The bridge 23b relays data between the host bus 23a and the external bus 23c. The input interface 24a relays input signals from the keyboard 24b and the mouse 24c to the external bus 23c.
The image processing device 25a generates an analog signal corresponding to analog or digital image data supplied from the external bus 23c, under control of the CPU 21, and supplies the generated analog signal to the CRT display device 25b. The CRT display device 25b displays an image in accordance with the analog signal supplied from the image processing device 25a.
The communication interface 26 functions as an interface between the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 and the network 90 so that the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 can communicate with the terminals through the network 90. For example, the communication interface 26 complies with an appropriate one of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) standards.
4.2.3 Functions of Apparatus 20
The personal-information storage unit 20a stores personal information on users of the commodity-information provision system 10, i.e., users who are under a predetermined contract which allows the users to use the commodity-information provision system 10. The sales-history-information storage unit 20b stores information on sales histories of commodities which have been sold.
The commodity-comparison-information acquisition unit 20c acquires commodity-comparison information through the communication means (i.e., the network 90), where the commodity-comparison information indicates at least one result of at least one comparison between commodities. The comparison is made, for example, by the users, and the at least one result of the at least one comparison (e.g., superiority or inferiority) is input through at least one of the terminals (corresponding to the aforementioned at least one first terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention) in the commodity-information provision system 10. The commodity-comparison-information storage unit 20d stores the commodity-comparison information acquired by the commodity-comparison-information acquisition unit 20c.
The commodity-list-information storage unit 20e stores commodity-list information. The commodity-comparison information is information on a commodity list including, for example, commodities on which the commodity-information provision system 10 provides information. The commodity-list-information provision unit 20f transmits the commodity-list information to one of the terminals (corresponding to the aforementioned at least one second terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention and the aforementioned terminal in the fifth aspect of the present invention) in the commodity-information provision system 10.
The evaluation-criterion-option-item storage unit 20g stores evaluation-criterion selection items. The evaluation-criterion selection items are a plurality of evaluation criteria which can be used when a commodity-comparison map is produced. The selected-evaluation-criterion acquisition unit 20h acquires evaluation-criterion-selection information from the one of the terminals (corresponding to the aforementioned at least one second terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention and the aforementioned terminal in the fifth aspect of the present invention). The evaluation-criterion-selection information indicates at least one of the plurality of evaluation criteria which is selected by a user for use in production of a commodity-comparison map.
By using the commodity-comparison information stored in the commodity-comparison-information storage unit 20d and the evaluation-criterion-selection information acquired by the selected-evaluation-criterion acquisition unit 20h, the commodity-comparison-map production unit 20i produces a commodity-comparison map which visually indicates at least one relationship between commodities in such a manner that at least one coordinate axis of the commodity-comparison map corresponds to at least one evaluation criterion used in evaluation of the commodities, respectively. The relative-evaluation-information production unit 20j produces relative-evaluation information which indicates at least one relative evaluation of the commodities, by using the commodity-comparison map produced by the commodity-comparison-map production unit 20i. The relative-evaluation-information transmission unit 20k transmits the relative-evaluation information produced by the relative-evaluation-information production unit 20j, to the one of the terminals (corresponding to the aforementioned at least one second terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention and the aforementioned terminal in the fifth aspect of the present invention) through the network 90.
The individual-commodity-evaluation production unit 20l produces individual-commodity-evaluation information which indicates at least one relative evaluation of each of at least one commodity which is specified, for example, by a user. The individual-commodity-evaluation provision unit 20m transmits the individual-commodity-evaluation information produced by the individual-commodity-evaluation production unit 20l, to the one of the terminals (corresponding to the aforementioned at least one second terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention and the aforementioned terminal in the fifth aspect of the present invention).
As illustrated in
The personal information 101 is personal information on each user who is under a predetermined contract which allows the users to use the commodity-information provision system 10. In the example of
As illustrated in
The personal information 101 in the personal-information storage unit 20a is updated for example, when a new user makes a contract for use of the commodity-information provision system 10. That is, the information items constituting the personal information 101 are produced based on information supplied from each user when the user makes a user contract.
4.2.5 Sales-History Information
As illustrated in
The table illustrated in
The sales-history information 102 in the sales-history-information storage unit 20b is updated based on information which is on-line supplied when a new user makes a contract for use of the commodity-information provision system 10, or other information supplied from users.
4.2.6 Commodity-Comparison Information
As illustrated in
In the example of
The commodity-comparison information 103 in the commodity-comparison-information storage unit 20d is updated based on information supplied from a new user who makes a contract for use of the commodity-information provision system 10.
4.2.7 Commodity-List Information
As illustrated in
The table illustrated in
The commodity-list information 104 in the commodity-list-information storage unit 20e is updated based on information which is supplied from, for example, bookstores and the like.
4.2.8 Evaluation-Criterion-Option Items
As illustrated in
The evaluation-criterion-option items 105 in the commodity-list-information storage unit 20e is updated, for example, when a service provider of the commodity-information provision system 10 updates data in the commodity-information provision system 10.
4.2.9 Hardware Construction of Terminals
The CPU 31, the HDD 32a, the ROM 32b, and the RAM 32c are connected to the host bus 33a so that information can be transferred between the CPU 31, the HDD 32a, the ROM 32b, and the RAM 32c. The input interface 34a, the image processing device 35a, and the communication interface 36 are connected to the external bus 33c. The host bus 33a is connected to the external bus 33c through the bridge 33b so that information can be transferred between the devices connected to the host bus 33a and the devices connected to the external bus 33c. The keyboard 34b and the mouse 34c are connected to the input interface 34a, and the CRT display device 35b is connected to the image processing device 35a.
For example, the HDD 32a may be realized by an unremovable hard disk drive, the ROM 32b may be realized by a mask ROM, and the RAM 32c may be realized by a DRAM (dynamic random access memory). The HDD 32a, the ROM 32b, and the RAM 32c store various programs including an operating system, application programs, and the like, and various types of data which are necessary for execution of the programs. The CPU 31 includes at least one processor as a main constituent, and executes the above programs stored in the ROM 32b and the RAM 32c in synchronization with a clock signal, which is supplied from an oscillator (not shown).
The host bus 33a and the external bus 33c are each an information transfer path constituted by a microprocessor, a memory, and the like. The bridge 33b relays data between the host bus 33a and the external bus 33c. The input interface 34a relays input signals from the keyboard 34b and the mouse 34c to the external bus 33c.
The image processing device 35a generates an analog signal corresponding to analog or digital image data supplied from the external bus 33c, under control of the CPU 31, and supplies the generated analog signal to the CRT display device 35b. The CRT display device 35b displays an image in accordance with the analog signal supplied from the image processing device 35a.
The communication interface 36 functions as an interface between the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 and the network 90 so that the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 can communicate with the terminals through the network 90. For example, the communication interface 36 complies with an appropriate one of the IEEE standards.
In addition, the other terminals 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80 in the configuration of
4.2.10 Functions of Terminal 30
The terminal 30 comprises a commodity-comparison-request reception unit 30a, a commodity-comparison-request display unit 30b, a commodity-comparison information reception unit 30c, and a commodity-comparison information transmission unit 30d.
The commodity-comparison-request reception unit 30a receives information indicating a request for commodity-comparison information when the information indicating the request for commodity-comparison information is transmitted from the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 through the network 90. The information indicating a request for commodity-comparison information is arranged to prompt a user of the terminal 30 to input commodity-comparison information. The commodity-comparison-request display unit 30b displays the information indicating the request for commodity-comparison information when the commodity-comparison-request reception unit 30a receives the information indicating the request for commodity-comparison information. The commodity-comparison information reception unit 30c receives commodity-comparison information, which is input into the terminal 30. The commodity-comparison information transmission unit 30d transmits the commodity-comparison information received by the commodity-comparison information input unit 30c, to the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 through the network 90.
As illustrated in
Although not shown, the other terminals 40 and 50 in the configuration of
4.2.11 Functions of Terminal 60
The terminal 60 comprises a commodity-list acquisition unit 60a, a commodity-list display unit 60b, an evaluation-criterion-selection-request reception unit 60c, an evaluation-criterion-selection-request display unit 60d, a selected-evaluation-criterion reception unit 60e, a selected-evaluation-criterion transmission unit 60f, a relative-evaluation-information acquisition unit 60g, a relative-evaluation-information display unit 60h, an individual-commodity-evaluation acquisition unit 60i, and an individual-commodity-evaluation display unit 60j.
The commodity-list acquisition unit 60a acquires commodity-list information which is transmitted from the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 through the network 90. The commodity-list display unit 60b displays the commodity-list information acquired by the commodity-list acquisition unit 60a.
The evaluation-criterion-selection-request reception unit 60c receives information indicating a request for selection of at least one of evaluation criteria when the information indicating the request for the selection is transmitted from the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 through the network 90. The information indicating a request for selection of at least one of evaluation criteria is arranged for prompting a user of the terminal 60 to select at least one of the evaluation criteria. The evaluation-criterion-selection-request display unit 60d displays the information indicating the request for selection when the information is received by the evaluation-criterion-selection-request reception unit 60c.
The selected-evaluation-criterion reception unit 60e receives information on selection of at least one of the evaluation criteria (i.e., information indicating at least one evaluation criterion selected by the user of the terminal 60). The selected-evaluation-criterion transmission unit 60f transmits the information on the selection received by the selected-evaluation-criterion reception unit 60e, to the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 through the network 90.
The relative-evaluation-information acquisition unit 60g acquires the aforementioned relative-evaluation information through the network 90, where the relative-evaluation information indicates at least one relative evaluation of commodities. As explained before with reference to
The individual-commodity-evaluation acquisition unit 60i acquires the aforementioned individual-commodity-evaluation information which is transmitted from the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 through the network 90, where the individual-commodity-evaluation information indicates at least one relative evaluation of each of at least one commodity which is specified, for example, by the user. As explained before with reference to
As illustrated in
Although not shown, the other terminals 70 and 80 in the configuration of
4.2.12 Operations of System 10
The operations of the commodity-information provision system 10 are explained below. The main operations of the commodity-information provision system 10 can be divided into first and second sequences of operations. The first sequence of operations corresponds to collection of the commodity-comparison information, and the second sequence of operations corresponds to provision of the relative-evaluation information to users by using the collected commodity-comparison information. Hereinbelow, the first sequence of the operations for collecting the commodity-comparison information is first explained, and thereafter the second sequence of the operations for providing the relative-evaluation information to users is explained.
4.2.12.1 Collection of Commodity-Comparison Information
In step S1, the commodity-comparison-information acquisition unit 20c in the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 produces the aforementioned information indicating a request for commodity-comparison information. As explained before, the information indicating the request for commodity-comparison information is produced so as to prompt a user of the terminal 30, 40, or 50 to input commodity-comparison information. For example, the information indicating the request for commodity-comparison information may be arranged to indicate the request for commodity-comparison information in a GUI (graphical user interface) environment or the like, and produced in accordance with a predetermined format which is stored in a storage device (e.g., the HDD 22a illustrated in
Then, in step S2, the commodity-comparison-information acquisition unit 20c transmits the above information indicating the request for commodity-comparison information to at least one of the terminals 30, 40, and 50 through the network 90. The information indicating the request for commodity-comparison information may be transmitted to all of the terminals 30, 40, and 50 (i.e., all of the terminals corresponding to the aforementioned at least one first terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention), or at least one of the terminals 30, 40, and 50 used by at least one user which is specified based on a predetermined condition. For example, the information indicating the request for commodity-comparison information may be transmitted to only at least one of the terminals 30, 40, and 50 used by at least one user who has purchased at least one commodity and whose identification number is included in the sales-history information 102 stored in the sales-history-information storage unit 20b. The information indicating the request for commodity-comparison information can be transmitted by determining a user as a destination of the information indicating the request for commodity-comparison information, acquiring an address of the determined user from the personal information 101 stored in the personal-information storage unit 20a, and transmitting the information indicating the request for commodity-comparison information to the acquired address.
In step S3, the commodity-comparison-request reception unit 30a in the terminal 30 receives the information indicating the request for commodity-comparison information, which is transmitted as above from the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 through the network 90. Then, the commodity-comparison-request reception unit 30a transfers the received information indicating the request for commodity-comparison information, to the commodity-comparison-request display unit 30b.
In step S4, the commodity-comparison-request display unit 30b displays the transferred information indicating the request for commodity-comparison information. For example, the operation of the commodity-comparison-request display unit 30b is realized by generating an analog signal corresponding to the information indicating the request for commodity-comparison information, by the image processing device 35a (illustrated in
As displayed examples of the information indicating a request for commodity-comparison information, two commodity-comparison-input screens 111 and 112 are illustrated in
As illustrated in
On the other hand, as illustrated in
When the information indicating a request for commodity-comparison information is displayed as illustrated in
For example, when the user compares books respectively having titles “Introduction to JAVA” and “Understandable JAVA,” and determines that the book having the title “Understandable JAVA” is superior to the other book for the reason that the book having the title “Understandable JAVA” includes many illustrations, the user chooses the titles “Introduction to JAVA” and “Understandable JAVA” in the list boxes 111a and 111b in the commodity-comparison-input screen 111, respectively, and inputs a text indicating the above reason in the text box 111h in the commodity-comparison-input screen 111, as illustrated in
On the other hand, when the user who has purchased a book having a title “Beginner's JAVA” compares the book having the title “Beginner's JAVA” with the book having the title “Understandable JAVA,” and determines that the book having the title “Understandable JAVA” is inferior to the book having the title “Beginner's JAVA” for the reason that the book having the title “Understandable JAVA” includes too many technical terms, the user chooses the title “Understandable JAVA” in the list box 112a in the commodity-comparison-input screen 112, and inputs a text indicating the above reason for the inferiority in the text box 112e in the commodity-comparison-input screen 112, as illustrated in
Alternatively, two commodities under comparison based on each of at least one evaluation criterion may be fixed in order to determine superiority or inferiority of a commodity to another commodity by vote. In this case, the commodity-information provision system 10 may be arranged to pay a reward (e.g., a cash reward, a token reward, or a discount coupon reward) for the input of commodity-comparison information. An equal reward may be paid to every user who inputs commodity-comparison information, or the amount of the reward paid to each user who inputs commodity-comparison information for a commodity on which only a small number of commodity-comparison information items are collected may be increased.
In addition, the commodity-comparison information collected by the commodity-information provision system 10 may include information other than the information on superiority or inferiority of a commodity. For example, the commodity-comparison information may include information on whether a commodity is innovative or conservative, or suitable for business use or family use.
When the commodity-comparison information is received by the commodity-comparison information reception unit 30c as described above, the operation goes to step S6 in
Specifically, the commodity-comparison information includes the contents of the list boxes 111a to 111f and the text boxes 111g to 111l in the commodity-comparison-input screen 111 or the list boxes 112a and 112b and the text boxes 112e to 112h in the commodity-comparison-input screen 112. The commodity-comparison information transmission unit 30d acquires an address of the commodity-information provision apparatus 20, and transmits the commodity-comparison information to the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 through the network 90 by using the acquired address.
In step S7, the commodity-comparison-information acquisition unit 20c in the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 acquires the commodity-comparison information transmitted through the network 90. Then, in step S8, the acquired commodity-comparison information is stored in the commodity-comparison-information storage unit 20d so that the commodity-comparison information 103 is updated with the acquired commodity-comparison information. That is, the information items “USER ID,” “DATE AND TIME OF EVALUATION,” “EVALUATION CRITERION,” “NAME OF SUPERIOR COMMODITY,” “NAME OF INFERIOR COMMODITY,” “COMMENT ON SUPERIOR COMMODITY,” and “COMMENT ON INFERIOR COMMODITY” in the commodity-comparison information 103 are updated based on the identification number of the user who inputs the commodity-comparison information, the date and time of the input of the commodity-comparison (as illustrated in
4.2.12.2 Provision of Relative-Evaluation Information
In step S11, the aforementioned commodity-list information is displayed on, for example, the terminal 60 (i.e., one of the terminals corresponding to the aforementioned at least one second terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention and the aforementioned terminal in the fifth aspect of the present invention) in the form of a commodity-list screen. Details of operations performed in step S11 are explained later with reference to
Then, in step S12, it is determined whether or not a user of the terminal 60 requests relative-evaluation information for a commodity. When yes is determined in step S12, the operation goes to step S13. When no is determined in step S12, the operation goes to step S14.
In step S13, the relative-evaluation information is provided by the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 to the terminal 60. Details of operations performed in step S13 are explained later with reference to
In step S14, processing for purchasing a commodity specified by the user is performed. For example, on-line purchase processing is performed by using the Internet or the like.
In step S21, the commodity-list acquisition unit 60a in the terminal 60 receives from the user of the terminal 60 information indicating a request for acquisition of commodity-list information from the commodity-information provision apparatus 20. Generally, the information indicating a request for acquisition of commodity-list information may be input by a user by using the keyboard or the like which is provided with the terminal 60. For example, a certain classification of commodities is specified when the information indicating a request for acquisition of commodity-list information is input by the user.
Then, in step S22, the commodity-list acquisition unit 60a transmits the information indicating the request for acquisition of commodity-list information to the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 through the network 90 by using the address of the commodity-information provision apparatus 20.
In step S23, the commodity-list-information provision unit 20f in the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 receives the information indicating the request for acquisition of commodity-list information. Then, in step S24, the commodity-list-information provision unit 20f extracts from the commodity-list-information storage unit 20e commodity-list information corresponding to the classification of commodities specified in the information indicating the request for acquisition of commodity-list information. Next, in step S25, the commodity-list-information provision unit 20f transmits the commodity-list information extracted from the commodity-list-information storage unit 20e, through the network 90 to the terminal 60.
In step S26, the commodity-list acquisition unit 60a in the terminal 60 receives the commodity-list information transmitted from the commodity-information provision apparatus 20. Then, the commodity-list information is transferred to the commodity-list display unit 60b, which displays the commodity-list information in step S27, for example, as illustrated in
The commodity-list display screen 113 includes an evaluation display button 133a, a commodity selection area 133b, and a commodity purchase button 133c. The evaluation display button 133a is clicked when the user requests relative-evaluation information on a commodity. The commodity selection area 133b in the illustrated example includes the names of commodities (books) “Beginner's JAVA,” “Understandable JAVA,” “Illustrated JAVA,” “Easy-To-Understand JAVA,” and “Details of JAVA Language,” the names of publishers “XX,” “YY,” “ZZ,” “AA,” “BB,” and “CC,” the publication years “1999,” “1998,” “1999,” “2000,” “1999,” and “1997.” The commodity purchase button 133c is clicked when the user requests commodity purchase processing.
When the commodity-list display screen 113 is displayed, the user determines whether to request provision of relative-evaluation information or purchase at least one commodity chosen from the commodities the names of which are indicated in the commodity-list display screen 113.
When the user determines to purchase at least one commodity, the user first specifies at least one of the commodities in the commodity selection area 133b (for example, by clicking at least one name of the least one commodity), and clicks the commodity purchase button 133c. Then, the processing in step S14 in the sequence of
When the user requests provision of relative-evaluation information, the user clicks the evaluation display button 133a. Then, the processing in step S13 in the sequence of
In step S31 in
In step S32, the selected-evaluation-criterion acquisition unit 20h in the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 receives the information indicating the request for relative-evaluation information, which is transmitted from the terminal 60 through the network 90. Then, in step S33, the selected-evaluation-criterion acquisition unit 20h produces the aforementioned information indicating a request for selection of at least one of evaluation criteria. As mentioned before, the information indicating a request for selection of at least one of evaluation criteria is produced for prompting the user of the terminal 60 to select at least one of the evaluation criteria, and may be arranged to indicate the request for the commodity-comparison information in a GUI (graphical user interface) environment or the like. In addition, the information indicating the request for selection of at least one of evaluation criteria is produced by extracting the evaluation-criterion-option items 105 stored in the evaluation-criterion-option-item storage unit 20g, and processing the extracted evaluation-criterion-option items 105 into a format suitable for selection input by the user.
When the information indicating the request for selection of at least one of evaluation criteria is produced as above, in step S34, the selected-evaluation-criterion acquisition unit 20h transmits the information indicating the request for selection of at least one of evaluation criteria, to the terminal 60 through the network 90.
In step S35, the evaluation-criterion-selection-request reception unit 60c in the terminal 60 receives the information indicating the request for selection of at least one of evaluation criteria, which is transmitted from the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 through the network 90. The information indicating the request for selection of at least one of evaluation criteria is then transferred to the evaluation-criterion-selection-request display unit 60d, which displays the information indicating the request for selection of at least one of evaluation criteria in step S36.
When the information indicating the request for selection of at least one of evaluation criteria is displayed as above, the operation goes to step S37 in
In step S39, the evaluation-criterion-selection information transmitted from the terminal 60 through the network 90 is received by the selected-evaluation-criterion acquisition unit 20h in the commodity-information provision apparatus 20, and is then transferred to the commodity-comparison-map production unit 20i. Then, in step S40, by using the commodity-comparison information stored in the commodity-comparison-information storage unit 20d, the commodity-comparison-map production unit 20i produces a commodity-comparison map which visually indicates at least one relationship between commodities in such a manner that at least one evaluation criterion used in evaluation of commodities respectively corresponds to at least one coordinate axis in the commodity-comparison map. In the production of the commodity-comparison map, the evaluation-criterion-selection information received by the selected-evaluation-criterion acquisition unit 20h is used as well as the commodity-comparison information stored in the commodity-comparison-information storage unit 20d. Details of the operation of producing the commodity-comparison map are explained later.
The commodity-comparison map produced as above is then transferred to the relative-evaluation-information production unit 20j, and in step S41, the relative-evaluation-information production unit 20j produces relative-evaluation information which indicates at least one relative evaluation of commodities, by using the commodity-comparison map produced by the commodity-comparison-map production unit 20i. The relative-evaluation information is information arranged for display of the commodity-comparison map and input of information in a GUI (graphical user interface) environment or the like on the terminal 60 (corresponding to the aforementioned at least one second terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention and the aforementioned terminal in the fifth aspect of the present invention). The relative-evaluation information produced by the relative-evaluation-information production unit 20j is then transferred to the relative-evaluation-information transmission unit 20k, which transmits the relative-evaluation information to the terminal 60 through the network 90 in step S42.
In step S43, the relative-evaluation information transmitted from the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 is received by the relative-evaluation-information acquisition unit 60g in the terminal 60, and is then transferred to the relative-evaluation-information display unit 60h, which displays the relative-evaluation information in step S44.
The relative-evaluation display screen 115 in the example of
As illustrated in
In the commodity-comparison map 115a, the respective commodities are indicated by commodity-indication icons 115aa to 115ah, and at least one relationship between the commodities (the at least one relative evaluation of the commodities) can be recognized based on the relative locations of the commodity-indication icons 115aa to 115ah. For example, the commodity-indication icon 115aa representing the book A is located to the upper right of the commodity-indication icon 115ad representing the book D, where the horizontal direction corresponds to the degree of understandability and the vertical direction corresponds to the degree of richness in content. That is, the relative locations of the commodity-indication icons 115aa and 115ad respectively representing the books A and D indicate that the book A has more understandable and richer contents than the book D.
In addition, each line having an arrow in the commodity-comparison map 115a indicates that there is a commodity-comparison information item which indicates a result of comparison between commodities connected with the line, where the arrow points to a superior one of the commodities. For example, between the books B and D, there are two lines each representing a commodity-comparison information item using the evaluation criterion “understandability” and a line representing a commodity-comparison information item using the evaluation criterion “richness in content,” where each of the two lines has an arrow pointing to the book B and the other line has an arrow pointing to the book D. That is, the relative locations of the commodity-indication icons 115ab and 115ad respectively representing the books B and D indicate that the book B is superior to the book D in understandability, and the book D is superior to the book B in richness in content.
When the relative-evaluation information is displayed as above, the operation goes to step S45 in
In step S46, for example, the individual-commodity-evaluation acquisition unit 60i in the terminal 60 receives a request for the individual-commodity-evaluation information, which is input into the terminal 60 by clicking the at least one of the commodity-indication icons 115aa to 115ah and the confirm button 115b in the commodity-comparison map 115a in step S45 as mentioned above. Then, the individual-commodity-evaluation acquisition unit 60i generates information indicating the request for the individual-commodity-evaluation information, which includes information indicating the at least one commodity (e.g., the book D) on which the user requests individual-commodity-evaluation information. Next, the individual-commodity-evaluation acquisition unit 60i transmits the information indicating the request for the individual-commodity-evaluation information to the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 through the network 90 in step S47.
In step S48, the information indicating the request for the individual-commodity-evaluation information, which is transmitted from the terminal 60 through the network 90, is received by the individual-commodity-evaluation provision unit 20m in the commodity-information provision apparatus 20, and is then transferred to the individual-commodity-evaluation production unit 20l.
In step S49, the individual-commodity-evaluation production unit 20l produces individual-commodity-evaluation information. That is, the individual-commodity-evaluation production unit 20l extracts from the commodity-comparison-information storage unit 20d commodity-comparison information relating to the at least one commodity (e.g., the book D) on which the user requests individual-commodity-evaluation information. In the extraction, the aforementioned information indicating the at least one commodity (e.g., the book D) on which the user requests individual-commodity-evaluation information is used as a search key. Then, the individual-commodity-evaluation production unit 20l processes the extracted commodity-comparison information so as to produce the individual-commodity-evaluation information. For example, when the book D is selected as a commodity on which the user requests individual-commodity-evaluation information, the individual-commodity-evaluation production unit 20l extracts commodity-comparison information on comparison between the book D and other commodities (including information and comments on the commodities in comparison with the book D and the like) from the commodity-comparison-information storage unit 20d, and generates the requested individual-commodity-evaluation information, which is arranged for display of the extracted commodity-comparison information on the terminal 60.
Next, in step S50, the individual-commodity-evaluation provision unit 20m transmits the individual-commodity-evaluation information generated in step S49 to the terminal 60 through the network 90.
In step S51, the individual-commodity-evaluation information transmitted from the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 through the network 90 is received by the individual-commodity-evaluation acquisition unit 60i in the terminal 60, and is then transferred to the individual-commodity-evaluation display unit 60j, which displays the individual-commodity-evaluation information in step S52, for example, as illustrated in
In the individual-commodity-evaluation display screen 116, the individual-commodity-evaluation information relating to the book D is indicated. As illustrated in
In the example illustrated in
In step S53, the commodity purchase button 116a is clicked when the user requests purchase processing, and the commodity re-select button 116b is clicked when the user re-selects at least one commodity on which the user requests individual-commodity-evaluation information. Therefore, when the individual-commodity-evaluation display screen 116 is displayed on the terminal 60, the user can choose to purchase the commodity for which the individual-commodity-evaluation display screen 116 is displayed, or re-select another commodity on which the user requests individual-commodity-evaluation information.
For example, when the user clicks the commodity purchase button 116a in the individual-commodity-evaluation display screen 116, a request for processing for purchasing the book D is chosen, and the processing for purchasing the book D is started (in step S14 in
Next, a detailed sequence of operations realizing the operation in step S40 in the sequence of
In step S61, nodes (vertices) of a graph, respectively corresponding to commodities, are generated one by one. That is, nodes (vertices) corresponding to commodities under comparison in the commodity-comparison information are generated one by one. Specifically, when the commodity-comparison information includes the commodity-comparison information items illustrated in
When the generation of the nodes of the graph is completed, directional edges connecting the nodes are generated in step S62. Each of the directional edges is an edge with directionality like a line with an arrow, and indicates a result of comparison between commodities corresponding to nodes connected with the directional edge. Specifically, a node corresponding to a superior one of a pair of commodities is located at the ending point of each directional edge (i.e., the tip of the arrow), and another node corresponding to an inferior one of the pair of commodities is located at the starting point of the directional edge (i.e., the tail end of the arrow). In the example of
In addition, it is possible to connect two nodes corresponding to two evenly matched commodities with an undirectional edge instead of a directional edge.
Further, when there are a plurality of commodity-comparison information items for comparison between an identical pair of commodities (e.g., the books A and B), the thickness or color of a line representing a directional or undirectional edge connecting nodes corresponding to the identical pair of commodities may be varied with the number of the commodity-comparison information items.
Next, in step S63, a layout of the graph is determined by using, for example, a magnetic-spring layout algorithm. In the magnetic-spring layout algorithm, a virtual force acting on each edge is defined in order to control the direction of the edge, where the edge is generated in step S62 and indicates a relationship between commodities. Then, a virtual physical model in which the virtual force defined above is incorporated is generated corresponding to commodities and information on evaluations of the commodities, and a stable state of the virtual physical model is obtained so that a commodity-comparison map is produced. The outline of the processing for determining the layout of the graph in step S63 is explained below.
First, in order to define a virtual force acting on each edge which is generated in step S62 and indicates a relationship between commodities, for use in control of the direction of the edge, the edge is regarded as a virtual azimuthal magnet, and a virtual magnetic field is defined so that the direction of each virtual azimuthal magnet is determined according to the virtual magnetic field. In addition, the nodes generated in step S61 are virtually regarded as massless particles, and the directional edges generated in step S62 are regarded as virtual springs connecting the massless particles. It is possible to assume that each virtual magnetic field defined above is a magnetic field which acts on only at least one edge corresponding to a specific evaluation criterion among the edges generated in step S62. Further, a plurality of virtual magnetic fields acting on only at least one edge corresponding to a specific evaluation criterion may be defined in a plurality of directions. For example, in the commodity-comparison map 115a illustrated in
Next, a virtual physical model in which the virtual forces defined above are incorporated corresponding to commodities indicated in commodity-comparison information and information on evaluations of the commodities is generated. Specifically, in the virtual physical model, virtual magnetic fields and resilient forces of virtual springs defined as above are incorporated corresponding to the nodes in the graph generated in step S61 and the evaluation criteria used in comparison between the commodities. In other words, in the above virtual physical model, the nodes in the graph generated in step S61 are connected with the virtual springs defined as above, and the virtual magnetic fields defined as above are applied to the entire system.
Thereafter, a virtual stable state of the above virtual physical model is obtained. Thus, the layout of the graph is obtained. That is, the commodity-comparison map 115a illustrated in
When a commodity-comparison map is produced as above by the automatic graph layout method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,239 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication, No. 8-30799, the at least one relationship between the commodities can be visually indicated with the directional edges, so that users can easily recognize the at least one relationship between the commodities, e.g., superiority or inferiority determined based on a plurality of evaluation criteria.
In addition, even when commodities are evenly matched, a commodity-comparison map including the commodities can be produced by using the above method.
Further, even when mutually contradictory information items are included in the commodity-comparison information (e.g., when a commodity-comparison information item indicates that the book A is superior to the book B, and another commodity-comparison information item indicates that the book B superior to the book A), the commodity-comparison map produced by the above method settles into a position in which the entire system of the virtual physical model is totally balanced. Therefore, the layout is basically determined based on commodity-comparison information items in the majority, and users can visually recognize the majority of the commodity-comparison information items.
Furthermore, the number of comparisons between each pair of commodities can be recognized from the thickness or color of a line connecting the pair of commodities, or the number of lines connecting the pair of commodities. Therefore, users can visually recognize the amount of the commodity-comparison information based on which the locations of the commodity-indication icons of the respective commodities are determined, and can thus confirm the reliability of the locations of the commodity-indication icons of the respective commodities.
4.2.13 Advantages of First Embodiment
The first embodiment of the present invention has the following advantages.
(1) In the first embodiment, the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 acquires through the network 90 commodity-comparison information which is input from the terminals 30, 40, and 50 and indicates at least one result of at least one comparison between commodities, and stores the acquired commodity-comparison information in the commodity-comparison-information storage unit 20d. By using the commodity-comparison information stored in the commodity-comparison-information storage unit 20d, the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 produces a commodity-comparison map which visually indicates at least one relationship between commodities in such a manner that at least one evaluation criterion used in evaluation of commodities respectively corresponds to at least one coordinate axis in the commodity-comparison map. Then, by using the commodity-comparison map, the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 produces relative-evaluation information indicating at least one relative evaluation of the commodities, and transmits the relative-evaluation information to the terminal 60, 70, or 80 through the network 90. Therefore, users can easily obtain the information on the at least one relative evaluation of the commodities by viewing on the terminal 60, 70, or 80 the relative-evaluation information supplied from the commodity-information provision apparatus 20.
(2) In the first embodiment, the relative-evaluation-information production unit 20j in the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 produces information arranged for display of the commodity-comparison map on the terminal 60, 70, or 80, and the information arranged for display of the commodity-comparison map is then transmitted to the terminal 60, 70, or 80 through the network 90. Therefore, the users can recognize the at least one relative evaluation of the commodities visually and intuitively by viewing on the terminal 60, 70, or 80 the relative-evaluation information supplied from the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 through the network 90.
(3) In the first embodiment, after the relative-evaluation information is displayed on the terminal 60, 70, or 80, individual-commodity-evaluation information on a commodity specified by a user can be supplied from the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 to the terminal 60, 70, or 80 through the network 90. Therefore, users can easily obtain detailed information on at least one relative evaluation of a specific commodity by viewing on the terminal 60, 70, or 80 the individual-commodity-evaluation information supplied from the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 through the network 90.
(4) In the first embodiment, the selected-evaluation-criterion acquisition unit 20h in the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 receives through the network 90 the evaluation-criterion-selection information which is input from the terminal 60, 70 or 80 and indicates at least one evaluation criterion for a commodity, and the commodity-comparison-map production unit 20i produces a commodity-comparison map in such a manner that the at least one evaluation criterion indicated in the evaluation-criterion-selection information respectively corresponds to at least one coordinate axis of the commodity-comparison map. Therefore, each user can view a commodity-comparison map which is produced based on at least one evaluation criterion specified by the user. Thus, each user can easily obtain detailed information on at least one relative evaluation of commodities as needed.
4.2.14 Variations of First Embodiment
The first embodiment of the present invention has the following variations.
(1) In the first embodiment, the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 supplies to the terminal 60, 70, or 80 information indicating a request for selection of at least one of evaluation criteria, and users select a specific evaluation criterion in the evaluation-criterion-selection screen 114 which is displayed on the terminal 60, 70, or 80 based on the information indicating a request for selection. Alternatively, users may input at least one evaluation criterion in the form of a text into the terminal 60, 70, or 80, and the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 may obtain evaluation-criterion-selection information by text mining from the text describing the at least one evaluation criterion, and produce a commodity-comparison map by using the evaluation-criterion-selection information.
(2) It is possible to forbid use of commodity-comparison information which is provided before a predetermined date and time in production of the commodity-comparison map.
(3) In the first embodiment, information indicating a request for commodity-comparison information is displayed on the terminals 30, 40, or 50, and the user inputs commodity-comparison information in accordance with the information indicating request for commodity-comparison information. Alternatively, users may input commodity-comparison information in an arbitrary form, and the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 may obtain the commodity-comparison information by text mining, and produce a commodity-comparison map by using the commodity-comparison information.
(4) Although the commodity-comparison map in the first embodiment is displayed in two dimensions, the commodity-comparison map may be displayed in three or more dimensions.
(5) The evaluation criteria for selection may be displayed in the form of a menu.
(6) A price for the individual-commodity-evaluation information may be charged to each user who receives the individual-commodity-evaluation information.
(7) The commodity-information provision system 10 as the first embodiment of the present invention can be used as a portion of business functions of an on-line shopping site. Further, the commodity-information provision system 10 can be used as a common service provided by an application service provider (ASP) to a plurality of on-line shopping sites.
(8) Comments on commodities instead of the commodity-comparison information may be collected from users, and a keyword map instead of the commodity-comparison map may be produced and provided to the users. The keyword map visually indicates at least one relationship between keywords which are extracted from the collected comments by text mining, and the commodities on which the comments are collected.
The above functions of collecting the comments on commodities and producing and providing the keyword map can be realized when the commodity-information provision system 10 executes processing including the following steps:
(9) The evaluation-criterion-selection information acquired by the selected-evaluation-criterion acquisition unit 20h in the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 may be stored in a storage device (not shown), and the numbers of users who have selected the respective evaluation-criterion-selection information items are obtained based on the evaluation-criterion-selection information stored in the storage device. Then, summed-selection information indicating the numbers of users who have selected the respective evaluation-criterion-selection information items may be transmitted to the terminal 60 through the network 90. In this case, when a user views the summed-selection information on the terminal 60, the user can recognize which evaluation criterion is selected by the greatest number of users, and select and input an evaluation criterion in step S37 in the sequence of
As illustrated in
(10) The relative-evaluation-information production unit 20j in the commodity-information provision apparatus 20 may produce marketing information by attaching information on sales amounts of the respective commodities to the information on the commodity-comparison map generated by the commodity-comparison-map production unit 20i. In this case, the users of the marketing information are not consumers, and are for example, marketing persons in companies.
As illustrated in
Thus, marketing information in which correlations between relative evaluations and sales amounts of commodities are visually and intuitively indicated can be provided to the users.
4.3 Second Embodiment
A commodity-information provision system as the second embodiment of the present invention is explained below.
The second embodiment of the present invention is different from the first embodiment of the present invention in that the commodity-information provision system provides users with level-up information. Therefore, the following explanations of the second embodiment of the present invention are concentrated on the differences from the first embodiment, and the same features as the first embodiment are not repeated. In particular, the configuration of the commodity-information provision system, the hardware constructions of the commodity-information provision apparatus and the terminals, and the functions of the terminals 30, 40, and 50 (corresponding to the at least one first terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention) in the second embodiment are respectively identical to the corresponding constructions or functions in the first embodiment. Therefore, only the functions and operations of a commodity-information provision apparatus 220 and a terminal 260 which represents terminals corresponding to the at least one second terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention and the aforementioned terminal in the fifth aspect of the present invention are explained below.
4.3.1 Functions of Apparatus 220
As illustrated in
The personal-information storage unit 220a stores personal information on users of the commodity-information provision system as the second embodiment of the present invention. The sales-history-information storage unit 220b stores information on sales histories of commodities which have been sold.
The commodity-comparison-information acquisition unit 220c acquires commodity-comparison information through the communication means (i.e., the network 90), where the commodity-comparison information indicates at least one result of at least one comparison between commodities. The comparison is made, for example, by the users, and the result of comparison (e.g., superiority or inferiority) is input through one of the terminals (corresponding to the aforementioned at least one first terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention) in the commodity-information provision system as the second embodiment of the present invention. The commodity-comparison-information storage unit 220d stores the commodity-comparison information acquired by the commodity-comparison-information acquisition unit 220c.
The possessed-commodity-information storage unit 220e stores possessed-commodity information. The possessed-commodity information is information on at least one commodity which is possessed by each user who is under a predetermined contract which allows the users to use the commodity-information provision system. For example, the possessed-commodity information is collected from a sales history of each commodity or by a questionnaire survey of the users. The possessed-commodity-information provision unit 220f transmits the possessed-commodity information to one of the terminals (corresponding to the at least one second terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention and the aforementioned terminal in the fifth aspect of the present invention) in the commodity-information provision system as the second embodiment of the present invention.
The reference-commodity-selection-information acquisition unit 220h acquires reference-commodity-selection information from the one of the terminals (corresponding to the aforementioned at least one second terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention and the aforementioned terminal in the fifth aspect of the present invention). The reference-commodity-selection information indicates at least one reference commodity which is used as a reference when a commodity-comparison map is produced. Specifically, the reference-commodity-selection information indicates a commodity which is used as a reference when level-up information is provided, where the level-up information is information indicating a commodity which is leveled up in some way from the commodity used as a reference.
By using the commodity-comparison information stored in the commodity-comparison-information storage unit 220d, the commodity-comparison-map production unit 220i produces a commodity-comparison map which visually indicates at least one relationship between commodities in such a manner that at least one evaluation criterion used in evaluation of commodities respectively corresponds at least one a coordinate axis in the commodity-comparison map. The relative-evaluation-information production unit 220j produces relative-evaluation information which indicates at least one relative evaluation of commodities, by using the commodity-comparison map produced by the commodity-comparison-map production unit 220i. The relative-evaluation-information transmission unit 220k transmits the relative-evaluation information produced by the relative-evaluation-information production unit 220j, to the one of the terminals (corresponding to the aforementioned at least one second terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention and the aforementioned terminal in the fifth aspect of the present invention) through the network 90.
The individual-commodity-evaluation production unit 220l produces individual-commodity-evaluation information which indicates at least one relative evaluation of each of at least one commodity which is specified, for example, by a user. The individual-commodity-evaluation provision unit 220m transmits the individual-commodity-evaluation information produced by the individual-commodity-evaluation production unit 220l, to the one of the terminals (corresponding to the aforementioned at least one second terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention and the aforementioned terminal in the fifth aspect of the present invention).
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
The possessed-commodity information 301 in the illustrated example includes “Beginner's JAVA,” “Illustrated XML,” “All About Mobile,” and “Japanese Politics” as the information item “COMMODITY NAME.” The possessed-commodity information 301 also includes as the information items “COMMODITY NAME,” “PURCHASED DATE,” “METHOD OF PURCHASE,” “PUBLISHER,” and “PUBLICATION YEAR”: “2000.6.1,” “on-line,” “XX,” and “1999” corresponding to the COMMODITY NAME “Beginner's JAVA”; “2000.7.28,” “on-line,” “YY,” and “2000” corresponding to the COMMODITY NAME “Illustrated XML”; “2001.3.10,” “transaction in shop,” “ZZ,” and “2001” corresponding to the COMMODITY NAME “All About Mobile”; and “2001.4.1,” “on-line,” “AA,” and “1995” corresponding to the COMMODITY NAME “Japanese Politics.”
4.3.3 Functions of Terminal 260
The terminal 260 comprises a possessed-commodity-information acquisition unit 260a, a possessed-commodity-information display unit 260b, a reference-commodity-selection-information reception unit 260c, a reference-commodity-selection-information transmission unit 260d, a relative-evaluation-information acquisition unit 260e, a relative-evaluation-information display unit 260f, an individual-commodity-evaluation acquisition unit 260g, and an individual-commodity-evaluation display unit 260h.
The possessed-commodity-information acquisition unit 260a acquires the possessed-commodity information which is transmitted from the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 through the network 90. The possessed-commodity-information display unit 260b displays the possessed-commodity information acquired by the possessed-commodity-information acquisition unit 260a.
The reference-commodity-selection-information reception unit 260c receives reference-commodity-selection-information which is input into the terminal 260 by a user. The reference-commodity-selection-information transmission unit 260d transmits the reference-commodity-selection information received by the reference-commodity-selection-information reception unit 260c, to the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 through the network 90.
The relative-evaluation-information acquisition unit 260e acquires the aforementioned level-up information through the network 90, where the level-up information is transmitted as relative-evaluation information from the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 through the network 90. The relative-evaluation-information display unit 260f displays the level-up information acquired by the relative-evaluation-information acquisition unit 260e.
The individual-commodity-evaluation acquisition unit 260g acquires the aforementioned individual-commodity-evaluation information which is transmitted from the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 through the network 90, where the individual-commodity-evaluation information indicates a relative evaluation of a commodity specified, for example, by a user. The individual-commodity-evaluation display unit 260h displays the individual-commodity-evaluation information acquired by the individual-commodity-evaluation acquisition unit 260g.
As illustrated in
4.3.4 Operations of System
The operations of the commodity-information provision system as the second embodiment of the present invention are explained below in detail. The main operations of the commodity-information provision system as the second embodiment of the present invention can be divided into first and second sequences of operations. The first sequence of operations corresponds to collection of the commodity-comparison information, and the second sequence of operations corresponds to provision of level-up information to users by using the collected commodity-comparison information. Since the first sequence of operations for collecting the commodity-comparison information in the second embodiment are substantially the same as those in the first embodiment, only the second sequence of operations for providing the level-up information to users is explained below.
In step S71, a possessed-commodity-information display screen which indicates a commodity possessed by a user who uses one of the terminals (the aforementioned at least one second terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention and the aforementioned terminal in the fifth aspect of the present invention) is displayed on the terminal. Hereinbelow, the terminals corresponding to the at least one second terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention and the aforementioned terminal in the fifth aspect of the present invention are represented by the terminal 260, and details of the operation in step S71 are explained later.
In step S72, level-up information is provided by the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 to the terminal 260. Details of the operation in step S72 are also explained later.
In step S73, processing for purchasing a commodity is performed for a commodity selected by the user. Specifically, on-line processing for purchasing a commodity by using the Internet or the like is performed.
In step S81, the possessed-commodity-information provision unit 220f in the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 extracts possessed-commodity information. Specifically, the possessed-commodity-information provision unit 220f extracts possessed-commodity information stored in the possessed-commodity-information storage unit 220e or in a database (not shown) which is possessed by, for example, a shop.
In addition, in step S82, the possessed-commodity-information provision unit 220f extracts personal information from the personal-information storage unit 220a. The personal information extracted in the second embodiment is personal information on users who possess commodities indicated in the possessed-commodity information extracted in step S81. For example, the personal information extracted in the second embodiment includes addresses of the users.
Then, in step S83, the possessed-commodity-information provision unit 220f transmits the extracted possessed-commodity information to the terminal 260 through the network 90. At this time, the personal information on (for example, the addresses of) the users extracted in step S82 is used.
In step S84, the possessed-commodity information transmitted from the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 through the network 90 is received by the possessed-commodity-information acquisition unit 260a in the terminal 260, and is then transferred to the possessed-commodity-information display unit 260b, which displays the received possessed-commodity information in step S85, for example, as illustrated in
In step S91, the reference-commodity-selection-information reception unit 260c in the terminal 260 receives reference-commodity-selection information which is input by the user of the terminal 260. For example, the user of the terminal 260 chooses as a reference commodity one of the commodities indicated in the commodity selection area 311a in the possessed-commodity-information display screen 311 of
In step S92, the reference-commodity-selection-information transmission unit 260d transmits the reference-commodity-selection information received in step S91, to the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 through the network 90.
In step S93, the reference-commodity-selection-information acquisition unit 220h in the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 receives the reference-commodity-selection information transmitted from the terminal 260 through the network 90.
Then, in step S94, the commodity-comparison-map production unit 220i produces a commodity-comparison map. For example, the commodity-comparison-map production unit 220i produces a commodity-comparison map in which the reference commodity included in the reference-commodity-selection information is located at an origin, and leveled-up commodities are indicated around the reference commodity. The leveled-up commodities are commodities which are leveled up from the reference commodity. For example, when the commodities are books, the leveled-up commodities are books which are suitable for obtaining more profound knowledge.
In the commodity-comparison map produced in step S94, at least one relationship between a commodity which is possessed by the user and other commodities which are leveled up from the commodity which is possessed by the user is indicated by the relative locations (coordinates) of the indications of the respective commodities, where the coordinate axes of the commodity-comparison map correspond to the leveled-up features of the commodities, respectively. Thus, the level-up information on the commodities are visually indicated with commodity possessed by the user as a reference. For example, when the commodities are books, first, a commodity-comparison map is produced based on the evaluation criteria “profoundness of content” and “extent of content” in a similar manner to step S40 in the sequence of
The commodity-comparison map produced in step S94 is then transferred to the relative-evaluation-information production unit 220j, and the operation goes to step S95. In step S95, the relative-evaluation-information production unit 220j produces relative-evaluation information which indicates at least one relative evaluation of commodities, by using the commodity-comparison map produced in step S94. The relative-evaluation information is information arranged for display of the commodity-comparison map and input of information in a GUI (graphical user interface) environment or the like on the terminal 260 (corresponding to the aforementioned at least one second terminal in the second to fourth, sixth, and seventh aspects of the present invention and the aforementioned terminal in the fifth aspect of the present invention). The relative-evaluation information produced by the relative-evaluation-information production unit 220j is then transferred to the relative-evaluation-information transmission unit 220k, which transmits the relative-evaluation information to the terminal 260 through the network 90 in step S96.
In step S97, the relative-evaluation information transmitted from the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 is received by the relative-evaluation-information acquisition unit 260e in the terminal 260, and is then transferred to the relative-evaluation-information display unit 260f, which displays the relative-evaluation information in step S98, for example, as illustrated in
The relative-evaluation display screen 312 in the example of
As illustrated in
In the example of
In the commodity-comparison map 312a, the respective commodities are indicated by commodity-indication icons 312aa to 312ah, and the relative locations (coordinates) of the commodity-indication icons 312aa to 312ah indicate the features of the books (commodities) leveled-up from the book E, which is the commodity possessed by the user and represented by the commodity-indication icon 312ae. For example, the commodity-indication icon 312ad representing the book D is located to the upper right of the commodity-indication icon 312ae representing the book E. That is, the commodity-indication icon 312ad representing the book D is located at a position corresponding to higher degrees of usefulness for acquiring profound knowledge and extending knowledge than those of the book D. The location of the commodity-indication icon 312ad relative to the location of the commodity-indication icon 312ae indicates that the book D is evaluated as a more useful book than the book E for acquiring profound knowledge and extending knowledge.
In addition, each line having an arrow and connecting two of the commodity-indication icons 312aa to 312ah indicates that there is a commodity-comparison information item indicating a result of a comparison between the two of the commodity-indication icons 312aa to 312ah, and the arrow points to one of the two commodities which is determined by the comparison to be superior. For example, between the books B and D, there are two commodity-comparison information items based on usefulness for acquiring profound knowledge, and one commodity-comparison information item based on usefulness for extending knowledge. That is, between the commodity-indication icons 312ab representing the books B and the commodity-indication icon 312ad representing the book D, there are two lines each having an arrow which points to the commodity-indication icon 312ab, and one line having an arrow which points to the commodity-indication icon 312ad. Thus, the commodity-comparison map 312a indicate that the book B is evaluated as a book superior to the book D in usefulness for acquiring profound knowledge, and the book D is evaluated as a book superior to the book B in usefulness for extending knowledge.
When the relative-evaluation information is displayed as above, the operation goes to step S99 in
In step S100, for example, the individual-commodity-evaluation acquisition unit 260g in the terminal 260 receives information indicating a request for individual-commodity-evaluation information, which is input into the terminal 260 by clicking the at least one of the commodity-indication icons 312aa to 312ah and the confirm button 312b in the commodity-comparison map 312a in step S99 as mentioned above. The information indicating the request for individual-commodity-evaluation information includes information indicating the at least one commodity (e.g., the book D) on which the user requests individual-commodity-evaluation information.
When the individual-commodity-evaluation acquisition unit 260g in the terminal 260 receives the information indicating the request for individual-commodity-evaluation information, the individual-commodity-evaluation acquisition unit 260g transmits the information indicating the request for individual-commodity-evaluation information to the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 through the network 90 in step S101.
Then, in step S102, the information indicating the request for individual-commodity-evaluation information, which is transmitted from the terminal 260 through the network 90, is received by the individual-commodity-evaluation provision unit 220m in the commodity-information provision apparatus 220, and is then transferred to the individual-commodity-evaluation production unit 220l.
In step S103, the individual-commodity-evaluation production unit 220l produces individual-commodity-evaluation information. The individual-commodity-evaluation production unit 220l extracts from the commodity-comparison-information storage unit 220d commodity-comparison information relating to the at least one commodity (e.g., the book D) on which the user requests individual-commodity-evaluation information. In the extraction, the aforementioned information indicating the at least one commodity (e.g., the book D) on which the user requests individual-commodity-evaluation information is used as a search key. Then, the individual-commodity-evaluation production unit 220l processes the extracted commodity-comparison information so as to produce the individual-commodity-evaluation information. For example, when the book D is selected as a commodity on which the user requests individual-commodity-evaluation information, the individual-commodity-evaluation production unit 220l extracts commodity-comparison information on comparison between the book D and other commodities (which includes information and comments on the commodities compared with the book D and the like) from the commodity-comparison-information storage unit 220d, and generates individual-commodity-evaluation information as information arranged for display of the extracted commodity-comparison information on the terminal 260.
Next, in step S104, the individual-commodity-evaluation provision unit 220m transmits the individual-commodity-evaluation information generated in step S103 to the terminal 260 through the network 90.
In step S105, the individual-commodity-evaluation information transmitted from the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 through the network 90 is received by the individual-commodity-evaluation acquisition unit 260g in the terminal 260, and is then transferred to the individual-commodity-evaluation display unit 260h, which displays the individual-commodity-evaluation information in step S106.
In step S107, the user can choose processing for purchasing a commodity or re-selection of at least one commodity on which the user requests individual-commodity-evaluation information, in a similar manner to step S53 in the first embodiment of the present invention. When the user chooses the processing for purchasing a commodity, the processing for purchasing a commodity is performed in step S73 in the sequence of
4.3.5 Advantages of Second Embodiment
The second embodiment of the present invention has the following advantages.
(1) In the second embodiment, the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 acquires possessed-commodity information indicating at least one commodity which each user possesses, and the commodity-comparison-map production unit 220i produces a commodity-comparison map. In the commodity-comparison map, level-up information on commodities leveled up from a commodity which is possessed by the user is visually indicated in such a manner that the coordinate axes of the commodity-comparison map correspond to the leveled-up features of the commodities, and relationships between the commodity possessed by the user and the leveled-up commodities are represented by the relative locations (coordinates) of the indications (commodity-indication icons) of the respective commodities in the coordinate system determined by the coordinate axes. Therefore, it is possible to provide users with level-up information which indicates what commodity is appropriate for each user to purchase next in consideration of the commodity possessed by the user.
(2) In the second embodiment, the level-up information provided to a user visually indicates commodities leveled up from a commodity possessed by the user. Therefore, the users can recognize the leveled-up commodities visually and intuitively.
(3) In the second embodiment, the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 acquires through the network 90 commodity-comparison information which is input from terminals and indicates results of comparisons between commodities, and stores the acquired commodity-comparison information in the commodity-comparison-information storage unit 220d. By using the commodity-comparison information stored in the commodity-comparison-information storage unit 220d, the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 produces a commodity-comparison map which visually indicates relationships between commodities in such a manner that at least one evaluation criterion used in evaluation of the commodities respectively corresponds to at least one coordinate axis of the commodity-comparison map. Then, by using the commodity-comparison map, the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 produces relative-evaluation information indicating results of at least one relative evaluation of the commodities, and transmits the relative-evaluation information to the terminal 260 through the network 90. Therefore, users can easily recognize the at least one relative evaluation of the commodities by viewing on the terminal 260 the relative-evaluation information supplied from the commodity-information provision apparatus 220.
(4) In the second embodiment, the relative-evaluation-information production unit 220j in the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 produces information arranged for display of the commodity-comparison map on the terminal 260, and the information is then transmitted to the terminal 260 through the network 90. Therefore, the users can recognize the at least one relative evaluation of the commodities visually and intuitively by viewing on the terminal 260 the relative-evaluation information supplied from the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 through the network 90.
(5) In the second embodiment, after the relative-evaluation information is displayed on the terminal 260, individual-commodity-evaluation information on each of at least one commodity specified by a user can be supplied from the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 to the terminal 260 through the network 90. Therefore, users can easily recognize details of at least one relative evaluation of each of at least one specific commodity by viewing the individual-commodity-evaluation information supplied from the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 through the network 90.
(6) In the second embodiment, the reference-commodity-selection-information acquisition unit 220h in the commodity-information provision apparatus 220 receives through the network 90 the reference-commodity-selection information which is input from the terminal 60 and indicates a reference commodity used as a reference in production of the level-up information, and the commodity-comparison-map production unit 220i produces a commodity-comparison map in which features of commodities leveled up from the reference commodity are indicated by the locations (coordinates) of indications of the commodities on the commodity-comparison map. Therefore, each user can easily view level-up information on commodities which the user wishes to purchase, by using the terminal 260.
4.3.6 Variations of Second Embodiment
The second embodiment of the present invention has the following variations.
(1) It is possible to forbid use of commodity-comparison information which is provided before a predetermined date and time in production of the commodity-comparison map.
(2) Although the commodity-comparison map in the second embodiment is displayed in two dimensions, the commodity-comparison map may be displayed in three or more dimensions.
(3) The evaluation criteria option items may be displayed in the form of a menu.
(4) A price for the individual-commodity-evaluation information may be charged to each user who receives the individual-commodity-evaluation information.
(5) The commodity-information provision system as the second embodiment of the present invention can be used as a portion of business functions of an on-line shopping site. Further, the commodity-information provision system can be used as a common service provided by an application service provider (ASP) to a plurality of on-line shopping sites.
4.4 Third Embodiment
A commodity-information provision system as the third embodiment of the present invention is explained below.
The third embodiment of the present invention is different from the first embodiment of the present invention in that the commodity-information provision system provides users with recommendation information. Therefore, the following explanations of the third embodiment of the present invention are concentrated on the differences from the first embodiment, and the same features as the first embodiment are not repeated. In particular, the configuration of the commodity-information provision system and the hardware constructions of the commodity-information provision apparatus and the terminals in the third embodiment are respectively identical to the corresponding constructions in the first embodiment. In addition, the functions of the terminals corresponding to the first terminal in the eighth to tenth aspects of the present invention are substantially identical to the functions of the terminals 30, 40, and 50 in the first embodiment of the present invention. Therefore, only the functions and operations of a commodity-information provision apparatus 420 and a terminal 460 which represents terminals corresponding to the second terminal in the eighth to tenth aspects of the present invention are explained below.
4.4.1 Functions of Apparatus 420
As illustrated in
The personal-information storage unit 420a stores personal information on users of the commodity-information provision system as the third embodiment of the present invention. The sales-history-information storage unit 420b stores information on sales histories of commodities which have been sold.
The commodity-comparison-information acquisition unit 420c acquires commodity-comparison information through a communication means (i.e., the network 90), where the commodity-comparison information indicates at least one result of at least one comparison between commodities. The comparison is made, for example, by the users, and the result of comparison (e.g., superiority or inferiority) is input through one of the terminals (corresponding to the aforementioned first terminal in the eighth to tenth aspects of the present invention) in the commodity-information provision system as the third embodiment of the present invention. The commodity-comparison-information storage unit 420d stores the commodity-comparison information acquired by the commodity-comparison-information acquisition unit 420c.
The possessed-commodity-information storage unit 420e stores possessed-commodity information. The possessed-commodity information is information on at least one commodity which is possessed by each user.
By using the commodity-comparison information stored in the commodity-comparison-information storage unit 420d, the commodity-comparison-map production unit 420i produces a commodity-comparison map which visually indicates at least one relationship between commodities in such a manner that at least one evaluation criterion used in evaluation of the commodities respectively corresponds to at least one coordinate axis in the commodity-comparison map. The relative-evaluation-information production unit 420j produces relative-evaluation information which indicates at least one relative evaluation of commodities, by using the commodity-comparison map produced by the commodity-comparison-map production unit 420i. As explained in detail later, the relative-evaluation information in the third embodiment of the present invention is recommendation information. The relative-evaluation-information transmission unit 420k transmits the relative-evaluation information produced by the relative-evaluation-information production unit 420j, to the one of the terminals (corresponding to the aforementioned second terminal in the eighth to tenth aspects of the present invention) through the network 90.
As illustrated in
The terminal 460 comprises a relative-evaluation-information acquisition unit 460a and a relative-evaluation-information display unit 460b.
The relative-evaluation-information acquisition unit 460a acquires the aforementioned recommendation information through the network 90, where the recommendation information is transmitted as relative-evaluation information from the commodity-information provision apparatus 420 through the network 90. The relative-evaluation-information display unit 460b displays the recommendation information acquired by the relative-evaluation-information acquisition unit 460a.
As illustrated in
4.4.3 Operations of System
The operations of the commodity-information provision system as the third embodiment of the present invention are explained below in detail. The main operations of the commodity-information provision system as the third embodiment of the present invention can be divided into first and second sequences of operations. The first sequence of operations corresponds to collection of the commodity-comparison information, and the second sequence of operations corresponds to provision of recommendation information to users by using the collected commodity-comparison information. Since the first sequence of operations for collecting the commodity-comparison information in the third embodiment are substantially the same as those in the first embodiment, only the second sequence of operations for providing the recommendation information to users is explained below.
In step S110, the commodity-comparison-map production unit 420i produces a commodity-comparison map in a similar manner to that of the commodity-comparison-map production unit 220i in the second embodiment. For example, the commodity-comparison map produced by the commodity-comparison-map production unit 420i is a map which visually indicates the aforementioned level-up information, and has a similar form to that of the commodity-comparison map produced in the second embodiment. That is, the level-up information is produced by using as a reference commodity a commodity which is possessed by a user, and the information on the commodity is extracted from the possessed-commodity-information storage unit 420e.
The commodity-comparison map produced in step S110 is then transferred to the relative-evaluation-information production unit 420j, and the operation goes to step S111. In step S111, by using the commodity-comparison map, the relative-evaluation-information production unit 420j produces recommendation information by arranging information on commodities leveled up from the reference commodity and leveled-up features of the commodities for display of the information on the leveled-up commodities and the leveled-up features on the terminal 460.
The recommendation information corresponds to the relative-evaluation information. The recommendation information produced as above is transferred to the relative-evaluation-information transmission unit 420k, which transmits the recommendation information to the terminal 460 through the network 90 in step S112. In step S112, the recommendation information transmitted from the relative-evaluation-information production unit 420j is transmitted by the relative-evaluation-information transmission unit 420k to the terminal 460 through the network 90.
In step S113, the recommendation information transmitted from the commodity-information provision apparatus 420 through the network 90 is received by the relative-evaluation-information acquisition unit 460a in the terminal 460, and is then transferred to the relative-evaluation-information display unit 460b, which displays the recommendation information in step S114, for example, as illustrated in
The recommendation-information display screen 511 includes detail-request buttons 511a to 511d. The detail-request buttons 511a and 511b are arranged in the area in which the recommendation of the book H is indicated. When the user requests acquisition of at least one commodity-comparison information item on comparison between the recommended book H and the book E possessed by the user, the detail-request button 511a is clicked. When the user requests acquisition of all commodity-comparison information items on comparison between the recommended book H and other books, the detail-request button 511b is clicked. The detail-request buttons 511c and 511d are arranged in the area in which the recommendation of the book C is indicated. When the user requests acquisition of at least one commodity-comparison information item on comparison between the recommended book C and the book E possessed by the user, the detail-request button 511c is clicked. When the user requests acquisition of all commodity-comparison information items on comparison between the recommended book C and other books, the detail-request button 511d is clicked.
When the recommendation information is displayed as above, the operation goes to step S115, in which it is determined whether or not the user requests detailed-evaluation information. The detailed-evaluation information is commodity-comparison information on a commodity recommended in the recommendation information displayed in step S114. That is, a request for detailed-evaluation information is input by clicking one of the detail-request buttons 511a to 511d in the recommendation-information display screen 511 illustrated in
Then, in step S117, the relative-evaluation-information transmission unit 420k in the commodity-information provision apparatus 420 receives the detail-request information transmitted from the terminal 460 through the network 90, and transfers the detail-request information to the relative-evaluation-information production unit 420j.
In step S118, the relative-evaluation-information production unit 420j extracts at least one commodity-comparison information item from the commodity-comparison-information storage unit 420d in accordance with the detail-request information transferred from the relative-evaluation-information transmission unit 420k. For example, when the detail-request information is input by clicking the detail-request button 511a in the recommendation-information display screen 511 illustrated in
When the detailed-evaluation information is extracted as above, the operation goes to step S119, in which the relative-evaluation-information transmission unit 420k transmits the detailed-evaluation information to the terminal 460 through the network 90.
In step S120, the detailed-evaluation information transmitted from the commodity-information provision apparatus 420 through the network 90 is received by the relative-evaluation-information acquisition unit 460a in the terminal 460, and is then transferred to the relative-evaluation-information display unit 460b, which displays the received detailed-evaluation information in step S121. The detailed-evaluation information may be displayed in the form of either a commodity-comparison map or a list.
4.4.4 Advantage of Third Embodiment
The third embodiment of the present invention has the following advantage.
In the third embodiment of the present invention, the relative-evaluation-information production unit 420j acquires possessed-commodity information, and produces recommendation information which is arranged for display of information on commodities leveled up from a commodity possessed by a user as well as leveled-up features of the commodities, where the commodity possessed by the user is indicated in the possessed-commodity information. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently provide the user with information on commodities which meet the user's needs. Thus, when a shop utilizes the commodity-information provision system as the third embodiment of the present invention, the shop can efficiently advertise commodities, and users of the commodity-information provision system can efficiently collect information on commodities.
4.4.5 Variations of Third Embodiment
The third embodiment of the present invention has the following variations.
(1) It is possible to forbid use of commodity-comparison information which is provided before a predetermined date and time in production of the commodity-comparison map.
(2) A price for the detailed-evaluation information (corresponding to the individual-commodity-evaluation information) may be charged to each user who receives the detailed-evaluation information.
(3) The commodity-information provision system as the third embodiment of the present invention can be used as a portion of business functions of an on-line shopping site. Further, the commodity-information provision system can be used as a common service provided by an application service provider (ASP) to a plurality of on-line shopping sites.
4.5 Other Matters
(1) The functions of the commodity-information provision system as each of the first to third embodiments of the present invention can be realized by a server computer and at least one client computer. In this case, it is possible to provide a server program in which details of processing realizing the functions of each of the commodity-information provision apparatuses 20, 220, and 420 are described, and a client program in which details of processing realizing the functions of each of the terminals 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 260, and 460 are described. That is, when the above server program is executed on a server computer, the functions of each of the commodity-information provision apparatuses 20, 220, and 420 can be realized on the server computer. In addition, when the above client program is executed on a client computer, the functions of each of the terminals 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 260, and 460 can be realized on the client computer.
(2) Each of the above server program and client program can be recorded in a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium may be a magnetic storage device, an optical disk, an optical magnetic recording medium, a semiconductor memory, or the like. The magnetic storage device may be a hard disk device (HDD), a flexible disk (FD) drive, a magnetic tape storage device, or the like. The optical disk may be a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), a DVD-RAM (Random Access Memory), a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory), a CD-R (Readable)/RW (ReWritable), or the like. The optical magnetic recording medium may be an MO (Magneto-Optical Disk) or the like.
In order to put each of the above server program and client program into the market, the program may be stored in a portable storage medium such as a DVD and a CD-ROM. Alternatively, the client programs can be stored in a storage device belonging to a server computer, and transferred to the respective client computers through a network.
The server program recorded in the portable storage medium may be installed in a storage device provided with the server computer. In this case, the server computer reads the server program from the storage device, and executes processing in accordance with the server program. Alternatively, the server computer may directly read the server program from the portable storage medium for executing processing in accordance with the server program.
The client program, which is recorded in the portable storage medium or transmitted from the server computer, may be installed in a storage device provided with the client computer. Then, the client computer reads the client program from the storage device, and executes processing in accordance with the client program. Alternatively, the client computer may directly read the client program from the portable storage medium for executing processing in accordance with the client program. Further, the client computer may sequentially execute processing in accordance with each portion of the client program when the computer receives the portion of the client program from the server computer.
(3) The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principle of the present invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and applications shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be regarded as falling within the scope of the invention in the appended claims and their equivalents.
(4) All of the contents of the Japanese patent application, No. 2001-166263 are incorporated into this specification by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001-166263 | Jun 2001 | JP | national |
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|---|---|---|---|
| 4122895 | Sitton et al. | Oct 1978 | A |
| 6055513 | Katz et al. | Apr 2000 | A |
| 6191799 | Purdy | Feb 2001 | B1 |
| 6203932 | Hisakatu | Mar 2001 | B1 |
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| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| WO 02063424 | Aug 2002 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20020184108 A1 | Dec 2002 | US |
