Patent Application
20250021902
The present application claims priority from Japanese patent application JP 2023-113180 filed on Jul. 10, 2023, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
The present invention relates to a technology to assist in retrieving suppliers.
In the manufacturing industry, a supply chain comprised of multiple enterprises such as a supplier, a factory and a sales company synchronizes to meet market demands. In recent years, the risk of disrupting supply chain synchronization has increased. Typical risks which can affect supply chains include various risks such as environmental risks typified by natural disasters and pandemics, geopolitical risks such as terrorism and political instability, economic risks such as economic crises and raw material price fluctuations, and technical risks such as cyber-attacks and system failures. When these risks occur and a problem occurs with a transaction supplier, it is necessary to immediately switch suppliers. Also, when selecting a new supplier, it is necessary to consider the impact of the above risks when selecting a supplier. When a buyer searches for a supplier, the supplier needs to disclose sufficient information for the buyer to determine whether the supplier can supply the item/specification that the buyer desires to procure. On the other hand, for the suppliers, in order to make it easier for buyers to retrieve targets, it is necessary to confirm whether the information that the buyers are looking for has been registered, and confirm whether the information representing their product's differentiation and superiority from those of other companies has been registered, and to register the information. Even after registration, it is desirable for the suppliers to update the information necessary for retrieval in response to changes in buyer needs or other companies' product lineups.
As a technique for retrieving a supplier, there are conventional techniques such as, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2019-212016 (Patent Document 1) and International Publication No. WO 2017/212667 (Patent Document 2).
There has been described in Patent Document 1, a technique in which “a transaction management system is provided by a buyer enterprise, which allows a buyer enterprise to search for an appropriate candidate supplier enterprise from information on the existing supplier enterprises and new supplier enterprises. (omitted) when a data registration function detects category information with respect to an unregistered item name code in item name information, it registers the detected category information. When the category matching function detects category relationships in the category information registered by the data registration function, information indicating the degree of association is registered in the category relationship information” (refer to Abstract).
There has been described in Patent Document 2, a technique in which “a matching unit selects a supplier from the supplier enterprise information based on the purchase desired information as a selected supplier. Further, the matching unit determines the degree of matching at which the specification of a supply product supplied from the selected supplier and the specification of a purchase desired product are matched” (refer to Abstract).
The technique described in Patent Document 1 has a function of registering data from information such as electronic commerce, and a matching function which shows the degree of relationship of category information between a buyer and a supplier, but does not have a function of updating registered contents. It may be difficult to quickly match the buyer and the supplier. Further, the technique described in Patent Document 2 described above has a function of matching the specifications of the product desired to purchase and the specifications of the supplied product to retrieve the appropriate supplier, but does not describe any means for prompting the specification to be revised or updated in the case where the method of writing the specification is different or the content is missing. It may be difficult to quickly match between the buyer and the supplier.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to register information which allows a buyer to determine whether a product or enterprise is suitable as a business partner when retrieving an alternative supplier or a new transaction partner supplier, and appropriately register and update information describing supply items so that a supplier is frequently hit in the buyer retrieval, and information representing differentiation and superiority from other companies can be registered.
In order to solve at least one of the above problems, the present invention is a retrieval method executed by a retrieval device having a processing section and a storage unit. The storage unit holds enterprise information including a business keyword indicating a business of each enterprise, classification code information indicating the classification of each item, and item keyword information including the enterprise and an item keyword corresponding to an item of a particle supplied by the enterprise. The retrieval method includes: a first procedure of allowing the processing section to receive at least one of a keyword indicative of a business of a first enterprise or a classification code of an item registered by the first enterprise as an input; a second procedure of allowing the processing section to extract the at least one item keyword corresponding to at least one of an enterprise similar to the first enterprise or an item similar to the item registered by the first enterprise, based on at least one of the keyword indicating the business of the first enterprise or the classification code of the item registered by the first enterprise, by referring to the enterprise information, the classification code information, and the item keyword information; and a third procedure of allowing the processing section to output the extracted at least one item keyword.
According to one aspect of the present invention, enterprise matching can be accelerated by proposing to a supplier the setting of keywords which is easily retrieved without being buried in other companies' information. Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will be made clear by the description of the following embodiments.
Embodiments will hereinafter be described, but the scope of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a supplier sets and updates keywords which describe target articles supplied from a supplier to a buyer. The target articles may include, for example, parts and material parts for an automobile, an electrical appliance, a mechanical product, elevator equipment, a train, an aircraft, a generator, a control device, a control panel, a storage device, a network storage such as a NAS (Network Attached Storage), a server, a water treatment device, etc., but are not limited to these.
The supplier retrieval system 1 includes a supplier retrieval device 10 and user terminals 20 of each enterprise, both of which are communicably connected via a network CN. The user terminal 20 of each enterprise includes a communication unit 21, an input unit 22, and an output unit 23. The user terminal 20 is an information processing device such as a PC (Personal Computer), and is operated by a user of a supplier retrieval service provided by the supplier retrieval device 10. The communication unit 21 transmits and receives information between devices connected via the network CN. The input unit 22 receives the input of information to the user terminal 20 via an input device such as a keyboard or a touch panel. The output unit 23 outputs information to an output device such as a display.
The network CN communicably connects the supplier retrieval device 10 and the user terminal 20. The network CN is, for example, either a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), a VPN (Virtual Private Network), or a communication network that partially or entirely uses a general public line such as Internet.
The supplier retrieval device 10 is an information processing device such as a PC or a server computer. The supplier retrieval device 10 includes a processing section 11, a storage unit 12, an input unit 14, an output unit 15, and a communication unit 16.
The processing section 11 includes a similar enterprise-item information generating unit 110, related performance information generating unit 111, a similar retrieval result display unit 112, a keyword registering unit 113, an access enterprise-item information generating unit 114, an additional retrieval keyword information generating unit 115, a recommend information generating unit 116, a recommend information display unit 117, and a keyword update unit 118.
The similar enterprise-item information generating unit 110 generates similar enterprise-item information from enterprise information, enterprise-by-item classification code information, and enterprise-by-item keyword information to be described later with respect to retrieval target information received from the supplier and stores the created similar item keyword information 127 in the storage unit 12.
The related performance information generating unit 111 generates the number of accesses and transaction performance information for each similar item keyword from access performance information and transaction performance information to be described later with respect to the above similar item keyword information 127 and stores the created similar retrieval result information 128 in the storage unit 12.
The similar retrieval result display unit 112 outputs the above similar retrieval result information 128 to a supplier's terminal (for example, any user terminal 20). At this time, the similar retrieval result display unit 112 performs concealment processing on information of non-disclosure items based on secret information 121 to be described later and then outputs the information.
The keyword registering unit 113 stores a keyword describing each item received from the supplier in the enterprise-by-item keyword information 123.
The access enterprise-item information generating unit 114 generates information indicating that already registered items are included in a buyer's retrieval result but are not accessed by the buyer, and items from other enterprises are accessed, from retrieval history information 129 and access history information 130 to be described later, and stores the generated information in the storage unit 12 as access enterprise-item information 131.
The additional retrieval keyword information generating unit 115 generates additional retrieval keyword information 132 indicative of keywords used in additional retrieval from the retrieval history information 129 and the access history information 130 after the already registered items are included in the buyer's retrieval result, and stores the generated additional retrieval keyword information 132 in the storage unit 12.
The recommend information generating unit 116 generates recommend information including access status/transaction performance information for currently registered keywords, keywords and their access status/transaction performance information for enterprises-items related to the registered keywords, and additionally retrieved keywords and retrieval frequency/transaction performance information from the access enterprise-item information 131, additional retrieval keyword information 132, enterprise-by-item classification code information 122, enterprise-by-item keyword information 123, access performance information 124, and transaction performance information 125, and stores the generated recommend information in the storage unit 12.
The recommend information display unit 117 outputs the recommend information 133 to the supplier's terminal. At this time, the recommend information display unit 117 performs concealment processing on the information of non-disclosure items, based on the secret information 121 to be described later and then outputs the information.
The keyword update unit 118 stores the updated content of the keyword describing an item received from the supplier in the enterprise-by-item keyword information 123.
The storage unit 12 stores the enterprise information 120, secret information 121, enterprise-by-item classification code information 122, enterprise-by-item keyword information 123, access performance information 124, transaction performance information 125, retrieval target information 126, similar item keyword information 127, similar retrieval result information 128, retrieval history information 129, access history information 130, access enterprise-item information 131, additional retrieval keyword information 132, and recommend information 133.
The enterprise information 120 is information indicating whether or not each enterprise is a supplier or a buyer, and information indicating what kind of business each enterprise is performing.
The enterprise information 120 includes an enterprise name 120a, a category 120b, and a business keyword 120c. The enterprise name 120a is a name that identifies each enterprise. The category 120b indicates whether each enterprise is a supplier or a buyer. The business keyword 120c is a keyword indicative of the business that each enterprise is conducting. Generally, a plurality of keywords indicating one business conducted by one enterprise may be recorded. Also, one enterprise may engage in multiple businesses. Further, one enterprise may be both a supplier and a buyer. Information related to them is registered in the enterprise information 120.
For example, when an enterprise called a company C is a supplier supplying parts for automobiles, a “supplier” may be registered as the category 120b corresponding to “Company C”, and “automobile” and “parts” may be registered as the business keywords 120c, respectively.
The secret information 121 is information related to the conditions under which each enterprise has decided whether or not it can disclose various information to other enterprises.
The secret information 121 includes an enterprise name 121a, an item 121b, and a disclosure/non-disclosure 121c. Information corresponding to the enterprise name 121a and the item 121b of the “non-disclosure” of the disclosure/non-disclosure 121c is subjected to concealment processing so that the content of the information cannot be identified when outputting it to the user terminal 20.
The enterprise-by-item classification code information 122 is information regarding a classification code of each item of the supplier.
The enterprise-by-item classification code information 122 includes a supplier name 122a, an item 122b, a classification name 122c, and a classification code 122d. The classification code applied in the present invention may be of any type, but may be, for example, the UNSPSC (United Nations Standard Product Service Code) or HS code (Customs Classification Number) or the like. In that case, the classification name 122c designates either the UNSPSC or the HS code, and the classification code 122d indicates a specific code in a designated classification code system, of the item supplied by each supplier enterprise.
Here, when “_” is described in the classification name 122c and the classification code 122d, it indicates that the classification name or the classification code is not registered. Further, the classification code 122d for each of a plurality of the classification names 122c may be registered for one item.
The enterprise-by-item keyword information 123 is information regarding keywords which describe each item of the supplier.
The enterprise-by-item keyword information 123 includes a supplier name 123a, an item 123b, and an item keyword 123c. The supplier name 123a is a name which identifies an enterprise that is a supplier. The item 123b indicates the item of articles supplied by each supplier enterprise. The item keyword 123c is a keyword that describes the article supplied by each supplier enterprise, for example, a keyword indicating specifications, properties, uses, etc. The enterprise-by-item keyword information 123 can be updated while operating the supplier retrieval system 1 as will be described later.
The access performance information 124 is information about access performance from a buyer with respect to each item keyword registered in the enterprise-by-item keyword information 123.
The access performance information 124 includes a supplier name 124a, an item 124b, an item keyword 124c, a registration date 124d, and an access number 124e. The supplier name 124a through the item keyword 124c correspond to the supplier name 123a through the item keyword 123c of the enterprise-by-item keyword information 123, respectively. The registration date 124d indicates the date when each item keyword is registered. The access number 124e represents a cumulative value of the number of times that from the time of registration until today, a buyer has retrieved a supplier using the item keyword and accessed the supplier's item page.
The transaction performance information 125 is information related to the transaction performance between the supplier and the buyer.
The transaction performance information 125 includes a supplier name 125a, an item 125b, a buyer name 125c, a start date 125d, an end date 125e, and a transaction number 125f. The supplier name 125a is a name which identifies each supplier enterprise. The item 125b indicates the item of articles to be transacted, which are supplied by the supplier enterprise. The buyer name 125c is a name which identifies a buyer enterprise that transacted the item with the supplier enterprise. The start date 125d and the end date 125e indicate the start and end dates of the transaction, and the transaction number 125f indicates the number of articles traded in the transaction. Here, when “_” is described in the end date 125e, it shows that the transaction is still ongoing. Then, the transaction number 125f represents a cumulative value of the transaction number from the start date to the end date. Note that the end date of the transaction may be inferred from the past transaction performance information.
The retrieval target information 126 includes information on keywords which are input for retrieval when registering or updating the keywords.
For example, when a person in charge of a certain supplier enterprise (company A in the present embodiment) tries to set a keyword related to an article supplied by the own company to the supplier retrieval device 10, it is assumed that the person will conduct a retrieval to obtain reference information. At this time, the retrieval target information 126 is generated based on the retrieval keyword input by the user (the person in charge of the supplier enterprise in this example).
The retrieval target information 126 includes an enterprise name 126a, an own company keyword 126b, an item 126c, a classification name 126d, and a classification code 126e. The enterprise name 126a is a name which identifies the own company. The own company keyword 126b is a keyword related to the business of the own company, and may be a business keyword 120c registered in the enterprise information 120, for example. A plurality of keywords may be input to the own company keyword 126b. In that case, keywords may be separated by blank characters, or symbols such as commas or # may be used as identifiers.
The item 126c, the classification name 126d, and the classification code 126e indicate the item of each own company's article for which a keyword is to be set from now on, and its corresponding classification code. Further, when the corresponding classification name 126d and classification code 126e are not input, “-” is displayed.
The example of
The similar item keyword information 127 is information about an enterprise-item that is similar to the enterprise-item combination (hereinafter also referred to as “enterprise-item”) included in the retrieval target information 126, and a keyword set for the item. That is, the similar item keyword information 127 includes information related to enterprises, items, and keywords obtained as a result of the retrieval based on the retrieval target information 126.
The similar item keyword information 127 includes an enterprise name 127a, an item 127b, a similar enterprise name 127c, a similar item name 127d, and a similar item keyword 127e. The enterprise name 127a and the item 127b indicate the enterprise and item to be retrieved. The similar enterprise name 127c, the similar item name 127d, and the similar item keyword 127e indicate the enterprise, item, and keyword registered corresponding to the item obtained by the retrieval.
The similar retrieval result information 128 is information obtained by adding the access performance information 124 and the transaction performance information 125 to the similar item keyword information 127.
The similar retrieval result information 128 includes a similar enterprise name 128a, a similar item 128b, a classification name 128c, a classification code 128d, a similar enterprise name 128e, a similar item 128f, a similar item keyword 128g, a registration date 128h, the number of accesses 128i, a similar enterprise name 128j, a similar item 128k, a buyer name 128l, a start date 128m, an end date 128n, and the number of transactions 128o. Details of these will be described later (refer to the description of
The retrieval history information 129 is information regarding a keyword retrieved by an enterprise being a buyer and the date and time when the retrieval is conducted.
The retrieval history information 129 includes a buyer name 129a, a retrieval keyword 129b, and a retrieval date and time 129c. A plurality of keywords may be input in the retrieval keyword 129b. In that case, the keywords may be separated by blank characters, or symbols such as commas and # may be used as identifiers.
The example of
The access history information 130 is information about item information of an accessed supplier and the accessed data and time when the buyer retrieves a supplier and actually accesses the retrieval result.
The access history information 130 includes a buyer name 130a, an access supplier name 130b, an access item 130c, and the date and time of access 130d.
The access enterprise-item information 131 is information indicating what the enterprise-item actually accessed is where a buyer retrieves a supplier and among the enterprise-items displayed in the retrieval result, there are an enterprise-item not accessed from the buyer and an enterprise-item accessed from the buyer.
The example in
The access enterprise-item information 131 includes a non-access supplied name 131a, a non-access item 131b, an access supplier name 131c, an access item 131d, and an item keyword 131e.
The first line of the example in
The additional retrieval keyword information 132 is information about keywords when a buyer retrieves a supplier and enterprises-items included in the retrieval results are additionally retrieved in a subsequent supplier retrieval.
The additional retrieval keyword information 132 includes a supplier name 132a, an item 132b, an additional retrieval keyword 132c, and a retrieval frequency 132d.
The first line of the example in
For example, as shown in
When “D01” of “company D” and “F01” of “company F” are the same type of articles as “A01” of “company A”, and the company A wants to do business with the company N (or an enterprise which performs business similar to the company N), a keyword including “material” (e.g., aluminum material, regenerated material, or the like) is added to “A01” of “company A” to make a hit in the retrieval, whereby it can be expected that the possibility of receiving access from the buyer enterprise will increase.
The recommend information 133 is information about the access status and additionally-retrieved keywords for the currently registered enterprise-item keywords.
The recommend information 133 is comprised of four tables. First, the first table stores additionally retrieved keyword information, a retrieval frequency, and information indicating what the enterprise-item for which the keyword is registered is, with respect to the enterprise-items to be retrieved (additional retrieval keyword 133a, the number of retrievals 133b, keyword registered supplier name 133c, and keyword registered item 133d). The second table stores information indicating the classification names and classification codes of enterprise-items to be retrieved and related enterprise-items (supplier name 133e, item 133f, classification name 133g, and classification code 133h). The third table stores information stores information indicating keywords, the date when the keywords are registered, and cumulative access numbers of enterprise-items to be retrieved and related enterprise-items (supplier name 133i, item 133j, item keyword 133k, registration date 133l, and the number of accesses 133m). The final fourth table stores information indicating a transaction partner buyer, a transaction start date, a transaction end date, and a cumulative transaction number of an enterprise-item to be retrieved and a related enterprise-item (supplier name 133n, item 133o, transaction partner buyer name 133p, transaction start date 133q, transaction end date 133r, and the number of transactions 133s). Details of these will be described later (refer to the description of
The input unit 14 is displayed and operated on a screen, for example, and receives the input of information to the supplier retrieval device 10 via an input device such as a keyboard, a touch panel, a mouse or the like.
The output unit 15 outputs, for example, screen information including the result of execution of predetermined processing to an output device such as a display.
The communication unit 16 transmits and receives information to and from the user terminal 20 connected via the network CN.
The present processing is started when the supplier retrieval device 10 is called up from the user terminal 20 of each enterprise at the timing taken when the supplier registers a keyword to describe the item.
First, the input unit 14 receives the retrieval target information 126 from an enterprise and stores it in the storage unit 12 (Step S01). Here, the screen displayed when processing is executed will be described.
For example, when the user terminal 20 of a supplier enterprise that is about to register a keyword calls the supplier retrieval device 10, a keyword registration screen 300 is displayed by the output unit 23 of the user terminal 20. The keyword registration screen 300 includes an input information area 301 which accepts the input of the retrieval target information 126 from an enterprise, a retrieval result area 302 which displays retrieval results to be described later, and a keyword registration area 303 where the supplier sets a keyword for the item in response to the retrieval results.
In Step S01, the input information area 301 is used. The input information area 301 includes an enterprise name 301a, an own company keyword 301b, an item 301c, a classification name 301d, a classification code 301e, and a retrieval button 301f. The supplier enterprise inputs information from the enterprise name 301a to the classification code 301e and operates the retrieval button 301f to generate the retrieval target information 126 including the information from the input enterprise name 301a through the classification code 301e as the enterprise name 126a through the classification code 126e respectively. In the present example, since the company A is trying to set the item keyword regarding the item A01, such retrieval target information 126 as shown in
Incidentally, in addition to this, the screen for inputting the retrieval target information is not limited to the form shown in the input information area 301 of
Refers again to
First, the similar enterprise-item information generating unit 110 extracts an enterprise name for which a similar business keyword is set, from the enterprise information 120, based on the own company keyword 126b of the retrieval target information 126. In the present example, the own company keyword 126b of “automobile” and “parts” is set, and the company C is extracted as the enterprise name 120a for which the category 120b of the enterprise information 120 is “supplier” and “automobile” and “parts” are set to the business keyword 120c.
Then, the similar enterprise-item information generating unit 110 extracts company C's items (for example, “C01”) and item keywords (for example, “20 inches”, “aluminum”, and “virgin material”) from the enterprise-by-item keyword information 123 and creates the similar item keyword information 127 (lines 1 to 3 in the example of
Next, based on the classification name 126d and classification code 126e of the retrieval target information 126, the similar enterprise-item information generating unit 110 extracts a similar enterprise-item (i.e., an item of an article similar to a target article for which a keyword is to be registered from now, and an enterprise to supply it) from the enterprise-by-item classification code information 122. In the present example, since the classification name “code 2” is set by the classification code “111”, D01 of the company D is extracted as the supplier name-item for which the classification name 122c of the enterprise-by-item classification code information 122 is “code 2” and the classification code 122d is “111”. In this case, the similar enterprise-item information generating unit 110 acquires the item keyword set to D01 of the company D from the enterprise-by-item keyword information 123. In the present example, “wheel” and “steel” are extracted as the item keywords set to D01 of the company D, and are added to the similar item keyword information 127 (4th and 5th lines).
Further, the similar enterprise-item information generating unit 110 considers that the enterprise-item for which each extracted keyword is set is also a similar enterprise-item, also extracts F01 of the company F for which “wheel” is set as the item keyword, as a similar enterprise-item, and further adds it to the similar item keyword information 127 inclusive of “free wheel” in addition to “wheel set to F01 of the company F (6th and 7th lines).
In the example of
Although
Then, the related performance information generating unit 111 reads the enterprise-by-item classification code information 122, the access performance information 124, the transaction performance information 125, and the similar item keyword information 127 from the storage unit 12 and generates the similar retrieval result information 128 by linking the related performance information (Step S03). Specifically, the related performance information generating unit 111 performs the following three processing.
First, in the first processing, the related performance information generating unit 111 combines the similar enterprise name 127c and similar item name 127d of the similar item keyword information 127 and the supplier name 122a and item 122b of the enterprise-by-item classification code information 122 as keys to obtain the classification name 122c and classification code 122d for each enterprise-item and create the similar retrieval result information 128 from the similar enterprise name 128a to the classification code 128d.
For example, three of “company” and “C01”, “company D” and “D01”, and “company F” and “F01” have been registered in the similar item keyword information 127 of
In the second processing, the related performance information generating unit 111 combines the similar enterprise name 127c, similar item name 127d, and similar item keyword 127e of the similar item keyword information 127, and the supplier name 124a, item 124b, and item keyword 124c of the access performance information 124 as keys to obtain the registration date 124d and the number of accesses 124e as access performance information for each enterprise-item-keyword and create the similar retrieval result information 128 from the similar enterprise name 128e to the number of accesses 128i.
Referring to the access performance information 124 of
In the third processing, the related performance information generating unit 111 combines the similar enterprise name 127c and similar item name 127d of the similar item keyword information 127, and the supplier name 125a and item 125b of the transaction performance information 125 as keys to obtain the buyer name 125c, the start date 125d, the end date 125e, and the transaction number 125f as the transaction performance information for each enterprise-item and create the similar retrieval result information 128 from the similar enterprise name 128j to the number of transactions 128o.
Referring to the transaction performance information 125 of
Then, the similar retrieval result display unit 112 reads the secret information 121 and the similar retrieval result information 128 from the storage unit 12, performs concealment processing based on the disclosure/non-disclosure conditions for each item of each enterprise stored in the secret information 121, and passes it to the output unit 15. The output unit 15 transmits the similar retrieval result information 128 to the user terminal 20 via the communication unit 16 (Step S04).
The retrieval result area 302 of
The enterprise name 302a corresponds to the similar enterprise names 128a, 128e, and 128j of the similar retrieval result information 128 shown in
The buyer 302j, the transaction start date 302k, the transaction end date 302l, and the number of transactions 302m correspond to the buyer name 128l, the start date 128m, the end date 128n, and the number of transactions 128o in the similar retrieval result information 128.
However, for the buyer 302j, the transaction start date 302k, the transaction end date 302l, and the number of transactions 302m, the tab 302i to select details of enterprise-by-item transaction performances is provided, and information about the combination of the buyer enterprise and item selected using the tab 302l is displayed.
Further, even in the information included in the similar retrieval result information 128, information set as non-disclosure in the secret information 121 is not displayed in the retrieval result area 302.
Specifically, in the present example, when referring to the number of transactions 128o from the similar enterprise name 128j, C01 of the company C has a performance of transactions with three buyers (companies M, N, and P). When referring to the secret information 121 for these three companies, a transaction performance_enterprise name and a transaction performance_number of transactions in the company N are “not disclosed.” Therefore, according to the similar retrieval result information 128, the buyer 302j of
Further, the retrieval result area 302 in
In this case, a supplier enterprise that has a performance of transactions with a buyer enterprise for which “automobile” and “parts” are registered as the business keyword 120c is identified, and only information on an item keyword set by the identified supplier enterprise is displayed in the retrieval result area 302. Thus, it can be expected that it is possible to recognize an item keyword set by the supplier enterprise already traded with the buyer enterprise that the own company desires to do business therewith, and using this as a reference when setting the own company's item keywords makes it easier for a buyer enterprise that the own company desires to conduct transactions therewith to find the own company's article.
Incidentally, in addition to this, the screen which displays the similar retrieval result information is not limited to the form shown in the retrieval result area 302 of
Finally, the input unit 14 receives the enterprise information 120, the enterprise-by-item classification code information 122, and the enterprise-by-item keyword information 123 from the user terminal 20 via the communication unit 16 and passes them to the keyword registering unit 113. The keyword registering unit 113 stores those pieces of information in the storage unit 12 (Step S05).
The keyword registration area 303 of
For example, a person in charge of a supplier enterprise refers to the item keywords or the like already set by each supplier enterprise displayed in the retrieval result area 302, determines the item keyword to be set for the own company's target item, and inputs it to the keyword input column 303a. In the example of
Incidentally, in addition to this, a screen to input a keyword describing a target item is not limited to the form shown in the keyword registration area 303 of
After that, the processing section 11 ends the processing of the present flow chart.
According to the present embodiment, for example, when a supplier enterprise tries to set new keywords related to articles provided by the own company, it is possible to retrieve keywords set for the similar enterprise-item and register keywords describing target items with the retrieval results as a reference. This can facilitate matching between the suppliers and the buyers.
The present processing is started when the supplier retrieval device 10 is called up from the user terminal 20 of each enterprise at the timing when the supplier confirms each keyword describing the item and updates the same as appropriate.
First, the input unit 14 receives the retrieval target information 126 from an enterprise and stores it in the storage unit 12 (Step S11). A description will be made here about a screen displayed when the processing is executed.
A keyword update screen 400 is displayed by the output unit 23 of the user terminal 20, for example, when the user terminal 20 of a supplied enterprise which tries to update a keyword calls the supplier retrieval device 10. The keyword update screen 400 includes an input information area 401 which receives the input of the retrieval target information 126 from an enterprise, a retrieval result area 402 which displays retrieval results to be described later, and a keyword update area 403 where the supplier updates the keyword for the item in response to the retrieval results.
In Step S11, the input information area 401 is used. The input information area 401 includes an enterprise name 401a, an own company keyword 401b, an item 401c, a classification name 401d, a classification code 401e, and a retrieval button 401f. The supplier enterprise selects a target item from the item 401c and operates the retrieval button 401f to generate the retrieval target information 126. In the present example, since the company A is attempting to update an item keyword about an item A01, such retrieval target information 126 as shown in
Incidentally, in addition to this, the screen to input the retrieval target information is not limited to the form shown in the input information area 401 of
Refer again to
The access enterprise-item information generating unit 114 generates the access enterprise-item information 131 based on its buyer's transition information. Specifically, the access enterprise-item information generating unit 114 stores “company A” and “A01” that were hit in the retrieval but were not accessed in the non-access supplier name 131a and the non-access item 131b, respectively. Then, the access enterprise-item information generating unit 114 stores “company D” and “D01” being enterprise-items accessed by the buyer in the access supplier name 131c and the access item 131d, respectively. The same also applies to “company F” and “F01” which are enterprise-items accessed by the buyer.
Next, the additional retrieval keyword information generating unit 115 reads the retrieval history information 129 and the access history information 130 from the storage unit 12 and generates the additional retrieval keyword information 132 (Step S13). This will be described using the previous example.
It can be seen that by referring to the retrieval date and time 129c of the retrieval history information 129 and the access date and time 130d of the access history information 130, the company N inputs “wheel” to conduct retrieval and accesses the page of the company D-D01, and thereafter further inputs “wheel material” to conduct retrieval. The additional retrieval keyword information generating unit 115 generates the additional retrieval keyword information 132, based on its buyer's transition information.
Here, a method for determining additional retrieval keywords will be described. For example, the additional retrieval keyword information generating unit 115 compares the first and second retrieval keywords and determines a keyword which is present in the second retrieval keyword but not in the first retrieval keyword as an additional keyword. In the present example, the first retrieval is taken for “wheel” and results in hits for company A-A01, company D-D01, and company F-F01, and the second retrieval is taken for “wheel material”, so that company A-A01, company D-D01, and company F-F01 are stored in the supplier name 132a and item 132b of the additional retrieval keyword information 132, respectively, and “material” is stored in the additional retrieval keyword 132c. When the combination of the supplier name 132a, the item 132b, and the additional retrieval keyword 132c appears for the first time, the number of retrievals 132d is set to “1”, and if a record of the same combination already exists, the number of retrievals 132d is increased by one.
Next, the recommend information generating unit 116 reads the enterprise information 120, the enterprise-by-item classification code information 122, the enterprise-by-item keyword information 123, the access performance information 124, the transaction performance information 125, the retrieval target information 126, the access enterprise-item information 131, and the additional retrieval keyword information 132 from the storage unit 12 to generate the recommend information 133 (Step S14). Specifically, the recommend information generating unit 116 performs the following four processing.
The first processing is to generate the keyword registered item 133d from the additional retrieval keyword 133a of the recommend information 133. First, the recommend information generating unit 116 filters records in which the supplier name 132a and item 132b of the additional retrieval keyword information 132 match the enterprise name 126a and item 126c of the retrieval target information 126, and stores the additional retrieval keyword 132c and the number of retrievals 132d in the additional retrieval keyword 133a and the number of retrievals 133b in the recommend information 133, respectively. Next, the additional retrieval keyword 133a stores the supplier name 123a and the item 123b obtained by filtering the records included in the item keyword of the enterprise-by-item keyword information 123 into the keyword registered supplier name 133c and keyword registered item 133d of the recommend information 133, respectively.
For example, when “company A” and “A01” are input as retrieval targets as shown in
That is, the additional retrieval keyword 133a to the keyword registered item 133d shown in
The second processing is to generate the classification code 133h from the supplier name 133e of the recommend information 133. First, the recommend information generating unit 116 stores the enterprise name 126a, item 126c, classification name 126d, and classification code 126e of the retrieval target information 126 in the supplier name 133e, item 133f, classification name 133g, and classification code 133h of the recommend information 133. Next, the recommend information generating unit 116 stores the access supplier name 131c and the access item 131d obtained by filtering the records that the non-access supplier name 131a and the non-access item 131b of the access enterprise-item information 131 match the enterprise name 126a and item 126c of the retrieval target information 126 in the supplier name 133e and item 133f of the recommend information 133.
Then, the recommend information generating unit 116 acquires the supplier name 133c and item 133d of the recommend information 133 and stores the result of eliminating duplication of enterprise-item combinations in the supplier name 133e and item 133f of the recommend information 133. Finally, the recommend information generating unit 116 acquires the classification name 133g and the classification code 133h corresponding to the supplier name 133e and item 133f of the stored recommend information 133 from the classification name 122c and classification code 122d of the enterprise-by-item classification code information 122 and stores them therein.
For example, “company A”, “A01”, “code2”, and “111” included in the retrieval target information 126 shown in
The third processing is to generate the number of accesses 133m from the supplier name 133i of the recommend information 133. First, the recommend information generating unit 116 stores the enterprise-item stored in the supplier name 133e and item 133f of the recommend information 133 in the supplier name 133i and item 133j. Next, the recommend information generating unit 116 acquires the item keyword 133k, registration date 133l, and the number of accesses 133m corresponding to the supplier name 133i and item 133j of the stored recommend information 133 from the item keyword 124c, registration date 124d, and the number of accesses 124e in the access performance information 124 and stores the same therein.
For example, “A01” of “company A”, “D01” of “company D”, “F01” of “company F”, “G01” of “company G”, and “H01” of “company H” acquired from the supplier name 133e and the item 133f are stored in the supplier name 133i and the item 133j shown in
The fourth processing is to generate the number of transactions 133s from the supplier name 133n of the recommend information 133. First, the recommend information generating unit 116 stores the enterprise-item stored in the supplier name 133e and item 133f of the recommend information 133 in the supplier name 133n and the item 133o. Next, the recommend information generating unit 116 acquires the transaction partner buyer name 133p, the transaction start date 133q, the transaction end date 133r, and the number of transactions 133s corresponding to the supplier name 133n and item 133o of the stored recommend information 133 from the buyer name 125c, start date 125d, end date 125e, and the number of transactions 125f of the transaction performance information 125 and stores the same therein. At this time, when there is no transaction performance information 125 corresponding to the supplier name 133n and the item 133o, the recommend information generating unit 116 deletes the record.
For example, since the transaction performance information 125 shown in
Then, the recommend information display unit 117 reads the secret information 121 and the recommend information 133 from the storage unit 12, performs concealment processing based on the disclosure/non-disclosure conditions for each particular of each enterprise stored in the secret information 121 and passes it to the output unit 15. The output unit 15 transmits the recommend information 133 to the user terminal 20 via the communication unit 16 (Step S15).
The retrieval result area 402 of
The enterprise name 402a corresponds to the supplier names 133e, 133i, and 133n of the recommend information 133 shown in
The buyer name 402j, the transaction start date 402k, the transaction end date 402l, and the number of transactions 402m correspond to the transaction partner buyer name 133p, transaction start date 133q, transaction end date 133r, and the number of transactions 133s of the recommend information 133.
However, for the buyer name 402j, the transaction start date 402k, the transaction end date 402l, and the number of transactions 402m, the tab 402i to select the details of enterprise-by-item transaction performances is provided, and information about the combination of the buyer enterprise and the item selected using the tab 402i is displayed.
The buyer filter 402n is provided to filter enterprises with transaction performances, based on buyer business keywords, and is similar to the buyer filter 302n shown in
The additional retrieval keyword 4020 and the number of retrievals 402p correspond to the additional retrieval keyword 133a and the number of retrievals 133b of the recommend information 133. The transaction performance 402q indicates the number of supplier enterprises that have actual transaction performances with buyers among the supplier enterprises having registered each additional retrieval keyword, which is calculated based on the keyword registered supplier name 133c.
For example, it can be seen that based on the keyword registered supplier name 133c and the keyword registered item 133d, the supplier for which “material” is registered in the additional retrieval keyword 133a is one company “company G”, and the item for which the keyword “material” is registered is “G01”. Then, it can be seen that based on the supplier name 133n and the item 133o, the transaction performance related to “G01” of “company G” is obtained, and the transaction is conducted with “company N” based on the transaction partner buyer name 133p. Therefore, the transaction performance 402q becomes one company. For example, when there is no data for “G01” of “company G” in the supplier name 133n and the item 133o, the transaction performance 402q becomes 0 company.
The enterprise 402r, the item 402s, the buyer 402u, the transaction start date 402v, the transaction end date 402w, and the number of transactions 402x correspond to the supplier name 133n, the item 133o, the transaction partner buyer name 133p, the transaction start date 133q, the transaction end date 133r, and the number of transactions 133s. The descriptive keyword 402t corresponds to the enterprise-item item keyword 133k indicated by the enterprise 402r and the item 402s.
Note that even in the case of the information included in the recommend information 133, information set as non-disclosure in the secret information 121 is not displayed in the retrieval result area 402.
Specifically, in the present example, when referring to the number of transactions 133s from the supplier name 133n, F01 of the company F has a transaction performance with buyers of two companies (company X and company Y). When the secret information 121 for these two companies is referred to, the transaction performance_enterprise name and transaction performance_transaction number of the company X are defined as “non-disclosure”. Therefore, the buyer name 402j of
Incidentally, in addition to the above, the screen displaying the recommend information is not limited to the form shown in the retrieval result area 402 of
Finally, the input unit 14 receive the enterprise-by-item keyword information 123 from the user terminal 20 via the communication unit 16 and passes it to the keyword update unit 118. The keyword update unit 118 stores the information in the enterprise-by-item keyword information 123 in the storage unit 12 (Step S16).
The keyword update area 403 of
For example, a person in charge of a supplier enterprise refers to the item keywords already set by each supplier enterprise displayed in the retrieval result area 402, and the access performance and transaction performance or the like by the buyer enterprise to the item keywords, and inputs information to update the item keyword set to the own company's target item to the keyword input column 403a. In the example of
In this case, referring to the retrieval result area 402, it is possible to find that the descriptive keyword “steel” has a large number of accesses, that there is a performance of retrieval added with keywords such as “material” or “regeneration”, and that there is a performance of transactions related to a vehicle wheel for a regenerated material. Based on these pieces of information, it can be determined that adding keywords related to materials will easily lead to more hits in the retrieval and lead even to actual transactions, so that it is possible to conduct the updating of adding “aluminum material” and “regeneration material”. After that, when the update button 403b is operated, update information of the input keyword is transmitted from the user terminal 20 to the supplier retrieval device 10, and the keyword stored in the storage unit 12 is updated.
Additionally, the screen for updating the keywords descriptive of the target item is not limited to the form shown in the keyword update area 403 of
After that, the processing section 11 ends the processing of the present flow chart.
According to the present embodiment, it is possible to set keywords that represent differentiation and superiority so that they are made it easy to be hit in buyer retrieval and made easy to access without being buried in other companies' information.
Further, the device configuration of the supplier retrieval system 1 can be changed as appropriate as long as the purpose of the present embodiment is not impaired.
The supplier retrieval device 10 includes an input device 171, an output device 172, an external storage device 173, a computing device 174, a main storage device 175, and a communication device 176, and each component is connected by a bus 177. The input device 171 is a device which accepts input operations from a user, and is, for example, a touch panel, a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, or the like. The output device 172 is a device which performs output processing of data stored in the supplier retrieval device 10, and is, for example, a display device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), or a printer or the like. Further, the functions of the input device 171 and the output device 172 may be realized by the user terminal 20 on the network CN. The external storage device 173 is a writable and readable storage medium such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive). The computing device 174 is a central processing unit and executes processing according to a program recorded in the main storage device 175 or the external storage device 173. Each of the processing units constituting the processing section 11 realizes each function by the computing device 174 executing a program. The main storage device 175 is a storage device such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a flash memory, and functions as a storage area from which a program or data is temporarily read. The communication device 176 is a device for connecting the supplier retrieval device 10 to the network CN, and is, for example, a communication device such as an NIC (Network Interface Card). The function of the storage unit 12 is realized by the external storage device 173 or the main storage device 175. Note that the processing of each component of the supplier retrieval device 10 may be executed by one piece of hardware, or may be executed by a plurality of pieces of hardware. Further, the processing of each component of the supplier retrieval device 10 may be executed by one program, or may be performed by multiple programs. Since the user terminal 20 of each enterprise also has the same hardware configuration as the supplier retrieval device 10, a description thereof will be omitted.
Further, the system of the embodiment of the embodiment of the present embodiment of the present invention will be configured as follows.
(1) In the retrieval method executed by a retrieval device (for example, the supplier retrieval device 10) having a processing section (for example, the processing section 11) and a storage unit (for example, the storage unit 12), the storage unit holds enterprise information (for example, the enterprise information 120) including a business keyword indicating a business of each enterprise, classification code information (for example, the enterprise-by-item classification code information 122) indicating the classification of each item, and item keyword information (for example, the enterprise-by-item keyword information 123) including the enterprise and an item keyword corresponding to an item of a particle supplied by the enterprise. The retrieval method includes: a first procedure (for example, Step S01) of allowing the processing section to receive at least one (for example, information to be a source of the retrieval target information 126) of a keyword indicative of a business of a first enterprise or a classification code of an item registered by the first enterprise as an input; a second procedure (for example, Step S02 and S03) of allowing the processing section to extract the at least one item keyword (for example, the similar item keyword information 127) corresponding to at least one of an enterprise similar to the first enterprise or an item similar to the item registered by the first enterprise, based on at least one of the keyword indicating the business of the first enterprise or the classification code of the item registered by the first enterprise, by referring to the enterprise information, the classification code information, and the item keyword information, and a third procedure (for example, Step S04) of allowing the processing section to output the extracted at least one item keyword.
Consequently, the keywords set for the similar enterprises and similar items are output, and the setting of keywords which are easy to be retrieved without being buried in other company's information is supported.
(2) In the retrieval method according to (1) described above, the storage unit further holds, for each item of articles supplied by the enterprise, the set item keyword, access performance information (for example, the access performance information 124) indicating a performance of access made to information related to the enterprise and the item after the item keyword has been set, and transaction performance information (for example, the transaction performance information 125) indicating a performance of transactions conducted between the enterprise and a buyer regarding the item, and in the third procedure, the processing section outputs, for each of the one or more extracted item keywords, a performance of access to information on the corresponding enterprise and item (for example, the number of accesses 128i), and a performance of transactions regarding the corresponding enterprise and item (for example, the number of transactions 128o).
Consequently, the setting of appropriate keywords based on the performance of access from each buyer and the performance of transactions with the buyers is supported.
(3) In the retrieval method according to (2) described above, the enterprise information includes a business keyword (for example, the business keyword 120c) indicating a business of an enterprise being the buyer, and when information designating the business of the buyer is input (for example, input to the buyer filter 302n is performed), the processing section outputs the item keyword corresponding to the enterprise and item having a performance of transactions with a buyer related to the designated business among the extracted item keywords in the third procedure.
Consequently, the setting of appropriate keywords based on the relevance to the own company business is supported.
(4) In the retrieval method according to (2) described above, the storage unit further holds secret information (for example, the secret information 121) indicating the particulars of information designated as non-disclosure by each enterprise, among the item keyword information, the enterprise information, the classification code information, the access performance information, and the transaction performance information, and in the third procedure, the processing section performs concealment processing (for example, designation of display of “non-disclosure” indicated in
Consequently, it is possible to prevent disclosure of information against the wishes of system users.
(5) In the retrieval method according to (1) described above, the storage unit further holds retrieval history information (for example, the retrieval history information 129) including information on a retrieval keyword used in the retrieval for the enterprise and the item performed by the buyer, and access history information (for example, the retrieval history information 129) including a history of access by the buyer to the enterprise and item obtained as a result of the retrieval, and the retrieval method further includes: a fourth procedure (for example, Step S11) of allowing the processing section to receive information designating the first enterprise and the item for which the item keyword has already been set by the first enterprise, as the enterprise and item for which the item keyword is to be updated; a fifth procedure (for example, Step S12) of allowing the processing section to, when, among the plurality of enterprises and items hit by retrieval using the item keyword set for the designated enterprise and item by referring to the access history information, access is not made for the designated enterprise and item, and access is made for at least one other enterprise and item, generate access enterprise item information (for example, the access enterprise-item information 131) including the information of the enterprise and the item for which the access is conducted; a sixth procedure (for example, Step S13) of allowing the processing section to generate additional retrieval keyword information (for example, the additional retrieval keyword information 132) including a retrieval keyword additionally input after retrieval using the item keyword set for the designated enterprise and item is conducted by referring to the retrieval history information; a seventh procedure (for example, Step S14) of allowing the processing section to generate recommend information (for example, the recommend information 133), the recommend information including: the item keyword included in the access enterprise item information and set corresponding to the enterprise and the item having been accessed, the item keyword including the retrieval keyword included in the additional retrieval keyword information, and the enterprise and the item corresponding the item keyword including the retrieval keyword; and an eighth procedure (for example, Step S15) of allowing the processing section to output the recommend information.
Consequently, the setting of keywords which are more likely to be hit in the retrieval by the buyer and are easier to access is supported.
(6) In the retrieval method according to (5) described above, the storage unit further holds, for each item of articles supplied by the enterprise, the item keyword which has been set, access performance information (for example, the access performance information 124) indicating a performance of access made to information related to the enterprise and the item after the item keyword has been set, and transaction performance information (for example, the transaction performance information 125) indicating a performance of transactions conducted to a buyer regarding the enterprise and the item, and in the eighth procedure, the processing section outputs, for the recommend information, a performance of access to information on the corresponding enterprise and item, and a performance of transactions regarding the corresponding enterprise and item.
Consequently, the setting of appropriate keywords based on the performance of access from each buyer and the performance of transactions with the buyers is supported.
(7) In the retrieval method according to (6) described above, the enterprise information includes a business keyword (for example, the business keyword 120c) indicating a business of an enterprise being the buyer, and when information designating the business of the buyer is input (for example, input to the buyer filter 302n is performed), the processing section outputs the item keyword corresponding to the enterprise and the item having a performance of transactions with a buyer related to the designated business in the eighth procedure.
Consequently, the setting of appropriate keywords based on the relevance to the own company business is supported.
(8) In the retrieval method according to (6) described above, the storage unit further holds secret information (for example, the secret information 121) indicating the particulars of information designated as non-disclosure by each enterprise, among the item keyword information, the enterprise information, the classification code information, the access performance information, and the transaction performance information, and in the eighth procedure, the processing section performs concealment processing on the particulars of the information designated as non-disclosure (for example, designation of display of “non-disclosure” indicated in
Consequently, it is possible to prevent disclosure of information against the wishes of system users.
(9) In the retrieval method according to (1) described above, in the second procedure, the processing section extracts an enterprise hit by retrieving the enterprise information using a keyword representing the business of the first enterprise, as an enterprise similar to the first enterprise.
Consequently, the setting of appropriate keywords based on the similarity to the own company business is supported.
(10) In the retrieval method according to (1) described above, in the second procedure, the processing section retrieves the classification code information using the classification code of the item registered by the first enterprise, acquires the at least one item keyword corresponding to the enterprise and item hit by retrieving the classification code information from the item keyword information, and extracts the acquired at least one item keyword as the at least one item keyword corresponding to one or more pairs of an enterprise similar to the first enterprise and an item similar to an item registered by the first enterprise.
This corresponds to, for example, in Step S01, when the classification name “code2” and the classification code “111” are input for “A01” of “company A”, in Step S02, referring to the enterprise-by-item classification code information 122, identifying “D01” of “company D” with “code2” and “111” registered, and further referring to the enterprise-by-item keyword information 123, acquiring “wheel” and “steel” corresponding to “D01” of “company D”, and adding the same to the similar item keyword information 127.
Consequently, the setting of appropriate keywords based on the similarity to the own company business is supported.
(11) In the retrieval method according to (10) described above, in the second procedure, the processing section retrieves the item keyword information using any of the at least one item keyword corresponding to the enterprise and item hit by retrieving the classification code information, and extracts at least one item keyword other than the item keyword used in the retrieval, corresponding to the enterprise and item hit by retrieving the item keyword information as the at least one item keyword corresponding to one or more pairs of the enterprise similar to the first enterprise and the item similar to the item registered by the first enterprise.
This corresponds to, for example, when “wheel” and “steel” corresponding to “D01” of “company D” are acquired as in the above (11), retrieving the enterprise-by-item keyword information 123 by “wheel”, acquiring “wheel” and “free wheel” corresponding to “F01” of “company F”, and adding the same to the similar item keyword information 127.
Thus, even when classification codes based on different classification code systems are registered, for example, the setting of appropriate keywords based on similarity to the own company's business is supported.
It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and includes various modification examples. For example, the embodiments described above have been described in detail to simply describe the present invention, and are not necessarily required to include all the described configurations. In addition, part of the configuration of one embodiment can be replaced with the configurations of other embodiments, and in addition, the configuration of the one embodiment can also be added with the configurations of other embodiments. In addition, part of the configuration of each of the embodiments can be subjected to addition, deletion, and replacement with respect to other configurations.
Further, each of the above-described configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, etc. may be partially or entirely realized in hardware by designing them in integrated circuits, for example. In addition, each of the above configurations, functions, etc. may be realized in software by a processor interpreting and executing a program realizing each function. Information such as a program, a table, file, etc. which realize each function can be stored in a storage device such as a non-volatile semiconductor memory, a hard disk drive, an SSD (Solid State Drive) or the like, or a computer-readable non-temporary recording medium such as an IC card, an SD card, a DVD or the like.
In addition, the control lines and information lines indicate what is considered to be necessary for description and does not necessarily indicate all control lines and information lines on the product. In practice, it may be considered that almost all configurations are interconnected.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-113180 | Jul 2023 | JP | national |
