The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:
A method and system for calculating customer values is described in the following description. For the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention.
“Having member” and “member of” are a pair of relationship types, representing the relationship between a company and a person, i.e., if a company has a person as its member, the company has a relationship type of “having member” and the person has a relationship type of “member of”. As shown in
Similar to relationship types “having member” and “member of”, “having contactor” and “having contactor” are also a pair of relationships, representing the relationship between a company and a person. As shown in
“Parent” and “subsidiary” are a pair of relationships between two companies, i.e., if a company is a parent of another company, the company has a relationship type of “parent” and another company has a relationship type of “subsidiary”. Here, it should be noted that this pair of relationship type is a hierarchical type. As shown in
The relationship type of “friend” represents the relationship between two persons. Here, it should be noted that the relationship type of “friend” is bi-directional. That is, when two persons are friends to each other, all of these two persons have the relationship type of “friend”. As shown in
Similar to the relationship type “friend”, the relationship type of “spouse” represents the relationship between two persons and is bi-directional, too. As shown in
Company A spent 300 on product B;
Company B spent 400 on product A and 350 on product B;
Company C spent 500 on product A;
Company D spent 450 on product B;
Company E spent 250 on product A and 150 on product C;
Person A spent 80 on product A;
Person B doesn't order any products;
Person C spent 90 on product C and 120 on product D;
Person D spent 130 on product D.
Person E doesn't order any products; and
Person F doesn't order any products.
Now, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to
Next in step 108, calculate base values of all the customers shown in
Similar to company B, all the base values of the customers shown in
Next in step 110, it determines a sequence for the selected four kinds of relationship types and defines weight for each of the relationship types. As shown in
Then, in step 112, according to the sequence shown in
Next, according to order 6, the current value of each of customers having the relationship type of “parent” is calculated. It should be noted herein that the relationship type of “parent” is a kind of hierarchy relationship. Therefore, customers relating to the relationship type must be sorted ascendingly according to the hierarchy relationship. The higher layer the customer located, the later the customer calculated. In the embodiment shown in
Then, process proceeds to order 7. The customer value of each customer having the relationship type of “contactor-of” is determined. In the embodiment shown in
Last, process proceeds to order 8. According to order 8, the customer value of each customer having the relationship type of “spouse” is calculated. In the embodiment shown in
Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment. And those skilled in the art should appreciate that calculation rules different from the calculation rules mentioned above can be adopted. And according to the method described above, it can calculate not only the customer value of any customer in the customer relationship net, but also the customer values of all the customers in the customer relationship net at the same time.
Further, there is provided a system for calculating customer values, the system comprises means for determining one or a plurality of relationship type(s) between at least one pair of customers selected from a plurality of customers; means for selecting a first customer from the plurality of customers; means for determining at least one of second customers having direct or indirect relationship with the first customer based on at least one of relationship types selected from the relationship types; and means for calculating the first customer value based on the first predetermined calculation rule by using first values and base values, wherein, the first values relate to at least one of relationship types, and the base values at least relate to consuming capability of the first customer or at least one of second customers.
Computer system 800 may be coupled via bus 802 to a display 812, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) or LCD, for displaying information to a computer user. An input device 814, including alphanumeric and other keys, is coupled to bus 802 for communicating information and command selections to processor 804. In the embodiment of the present invention, the customer and relationship types are input through input device 814.
The invention is related to the use of computer system 800 for implementing the techniques described herein. According to one embodiment of the invention, those techniques are performed by computer system 800 in response to processor 804 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 806. Such instructions may be read into main memory 806 from another computer-readable medium, such as storage device 810. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in main memory 806 causes processor 804 to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement the invention. Thus, embodiments of the invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.
The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to any medium that participates in providing instructions to processor 804 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 810. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 806. Transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus 802. Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications.
Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punchcards, papertape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer can read.
Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to processor 804 for execution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk of a remote computer. The remote computer can load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over a telephone line using a modem. A modem local to computer system 800 can receive the data on the telephone line and use an infra-red transmitter to convert the data to an infra-red signal. An infra-red detector can receive the data carried in the infra-red signal and appropriate circuitry can place the data on bus 802. Bus 802 carries the data to main memory 806, from which processor 804 retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions received by main memory 806 may optionally be stored on storage device 810 either before or after execution by processor 804.
Computer system 800 also includes a communication interface 818 coupled to bus 802. Communication interface 818 provides a two-way data communication coupling to a network link 820 that is connected to a local network 822. For example, communication interface 818 may be an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, communication interface 818 may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links may also be implemented. In any such implementation, communication interface 818 sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information.
Network link 820 typically provides data communication through one or more networks to other data devices. For example, network link 820 may provide a connection through local network 822 to a host computer 824 or to data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 826. ISP 826 in turn provides data communication services through the world wide packet data communication network now commonly referred to as the “Internet” 828. Local network 822 and Internet 828 both use electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. The signals through the various networks and the signals on network link 820 and through communication interface 818, which carry the digital data to and from computer system 800, are exemplary forms of carrier waves transporting the information.
Computer system 800 can send messages and receive data, including program code, through the network(s), network link 820 and communication interface 818. In the Internet example, a server 830 might transmit a requested code for an application program through Internet 828, ISP 826, local network 822 and communication interface 818.
The received code may be executed by processor 804 as it is received, and/or stored in storage device 810, or other non-volatile storage for later execution. In this manner, computer system 800 may obtain application code in the form of a carrier wave.
In the foregoing specification, embodiments of the invention have been described with reference to numerous specific details that may vary from implementation to implementation. Thus, the sole and exclusive indicator of what is the invention, and is intended by the applicants to be the invention, is the set of claims that issue from this application, in the specific form in which such claims issue, including any subsequent correction. Any definitions expressly set forth herein for terms contained in such claims shall govern the meaning of such terms as used in the claims. Hence, no limitation, element, property, feature, advantage or attribute that is not expressly recited in a claim should limit the scope of such claim in any way. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.